Villainous Competition LI: This isn't even my final form!

[H_H_F_F]

Cold-hearted crooks lurk in shadowy streets. Evil masterminds plot the demise of civilizations. Terrible abominations rise to slaughter and devour the innocent, and grim tyrants plan their next move. Welcome… to the Villainous Competition!

Each round of the villainous competition, our conniving contestants need to build a villain showcasing a different theme, and following a different set of associated limitations. This round's villain is the ever shifting, ever changing…



Evolver!


https://impossiblehq.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Final-Form.jpg

Limitations:



Evolve or die: The villain must significantly change at the very least once across its CR range. These changes should be physical, sure – but more importantly, the form of the encounter, the very heart of the villain's role in combat, should change too.
Staged combat: If you can, try and make sure individual encounters with the villain have distinct "stages" as well, where the villain changes through the encounter. Bonus points if rather than being voluntary, the changes are tied by mechanics to encounter progression (hit point loss, rounds of combat, etc)
Death is my specialty: As usual, must be evil.


Let the carnage begin!



Rules of the Competition:

Contestants:
It is highly recommended for a new contestants to look over a few entries from past rounds to understand what's the expected presentation. We're a little bit different than most optimization competitions. We use CR, not ECL. Each entry presents a villain going up to CR 20, with ability scores based on the elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8).
The contestant is to give a stub of the build (EG "Drow weretiger ranger 4/ Cleric 10"), flesh out the full build progression using the table(s) found in the submission and deadlines section, give notes on what the villain does and how it is to be used throughout its CR range, and fully source every aspect of the build that can't be found in the SRD. But what are the allowed sources?

Secret Laboratory:
Competitors will be free to use any official 1st party (WotC) 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon Compendium is allowed, but individual copies of Dragon magazine are disallowed. Unupdated 3.0 materials, as well as web exclusives by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere. Unearthed Arcana is allowed but limited: The variant character options (such as Wildshape Ranger and Thug Fighter) should not be penalized. Flaws carry a 1 point elegance penalty, and traits carry half of that. Item familiars, gestalt, alternate skill systems, alternate magic systems, alternate crafting rules, generic base classes, LA buyoff, fractional saves/BAB, and bloodlines are banned. Anything not mentioned here is up to individual judges.
Builds that are fully monstrous are allowed at no penalty. All class levels are to be added on as associated class levels – meaning, each class level adds 1 CR, with the exception of NPC classes. See clarifications for more details.
Leadership and similar abilities are completely banned. Undead Leadership and Dragon Cohort are likewise banned. Wild Cohort and Obtain Familiar are allowed. If you are not sure if a specific feat violates the 'no leadership' rule, err on the side of caution, or ask me.

Epic Rules:
We do not use epic progression for BaB and saves in this competition. Remember that four iteratives are still the maximum amount granted by BaB, even if it gets to 21 or more.
A villain is eligible to Epic feats from HD 21 and above, as normal, but Epic Spellcasting and all other Epic feats that affect spells, psionic powers, or item creation are not permitted. For Incarnum characters, Epic Open Chakra feats are allowed; other Epic Incarnum feats are not. The Essentia Capacity increases for Epic capacity as described on p. 212.

Submission and deadlines:
Contestants will have until Monday, September 4th, 9:00 GMT to create their builds and PM them to the Chair (H_H_F_F).
Put the name of your build and "Villainous Competition round n" as your PM subject. You may ask for an extension if required. The villains will then be posted anonymously – make sure that your PM does not include any identifying details. While waiting for the builds to be posted, please avoid speculation (see speculation rules below). A contestant may submit up to 2 entries.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Code immediately below (spoiler).

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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



Spells per Day/Spells Known
Spells per Day/Spells Known


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Code Immediately Below,
Spells per Day/Spells Known
Spells per Day/Spells Known


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

More useful tables can be found here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BG0-5sq4dL9Ooh7-QfXuyHzO4rXSz-CRcj29t6BeUVE/edit#gid=401538143), made by the immaculate Mattie_p.
Once the villains are posted, judges should strive to finish their judgement until September 21st.

Judging:
It is highly recommended that prospective judges read through some past judgements. Judges are to give scores between 1-5 in the following four criteria: Originality, Power, Elegance and Memorable Villainy. Judges are not to use alternative criteria or score ranges. A 0 in elegance is permitted for strictly illegal or incomplete builds, but a score lower than 1 in other categories is generally not allowed.
Originality: Is the build creative? Was it surprising in the context of this round? On the other hand, does it use expected or well-known methods?
Power: Is it a powerful and threatening villain? On the other hand, does it have any glaring weaknesses?
Elegance: Is it mechanically pretty? Is it clever? On the other hand, does it have rules or presentation issues? Does it rely on shaky interpretations of text? If you find that you have trouble with this category, remember: "no issues" doesn't have to be a 5! Like all others, this category has positive criteria to follow, not just negative criteria to be avoided.
Memorable Villainy: Is this a villain with style and presence? Is it interesting to face against? Does it live up to the established theme and the spirit of the round? On the other hand, does it feel more like an encounter-of-the-week than a true BBEG?
Please try to follow the following judging guidelines:
This rule means that every source that has been declared legal for this competition is fair game. Using obscure sources, or a large amount of sources, is not by itself subject to a penalty in elegance; Similarly, using only a small amount of sources, or sources that are very well known, is not by itself subject to a penalty in originality.

Judges are only allowed to penalize 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
Not giving credit for (note: not the same as penalising for) tactics using feats or classes 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



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.
An important note on power, cheese, and CR appropriateness:
Being "too strong for your CR" is not by itself something a judge should penalize here. Using poorly supported cheese or cheese that isn't doing anything interesting in the build can and should get an elegance penalty. Using well-known or otherwise obvious and boring tricks can and should be penalized in originality – but power level by itself is not to be addressed anywhere other than the power category. Same goes for being too weak – that should not affect memorable villainy or anything outside of power by itself. If it helps, you can imagine low-powered villains used against low-op groups, high-powered villains against high-op groups, and TO nonsense villains pitted against TO nonsense PCs.

Speculation:
Please don’t post or speculate on possible builds until the reveal, in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines.
Once builds are revealed, please do not comment on errors or rules issues on entries unless you are a judge. If you have such a comment, wait until the final reveal to post it.

Round One: Leader of Armies (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?395046)
Round Two: Nature's Avenger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?400517)
Round Three: Double Agent (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?406015)
Round Four: Grave Keeper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?413480)
Round Five: Crime Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?420704)
Round Six: Ultimate Predator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?430650)
Round Seven: Wicked Witch (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?444478)
Round Eight: Master of the Tundra (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?461482)
Round Nine: The Power of Villainous Thinking (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?474230)
Round Ten: Henchman Are Villains Too (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?478068)
Round Eleven: The Higher They Rise The Harder They Fall (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?483052)
Round Twelve: Power Comes at a Price (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?488846)
Round Thirteen: The Gadgeteer - You Are Not Batman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?491932)
Round Fourteen: The Thing That Should Not Be (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?496091)
Round Fifteen: The Horsemen Are Drawing Nearer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?500829)
Round Sixteen: Burn Baby Burn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?503974)
Round Seventeen: It's Alive! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?507768)
Round Eighteen: This is Heresy (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?511933)
Round Nineteen: He Slimed Me! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?516535)
Round Twenty: Elder Evil (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?521560)
Round Twenty-One: Yarr! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?527415-Villainous-Competition-XXI-Yarr!)
Round Twenty-Two: I Am The Night! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?531199-Villainous-Competition-XXII-I-Am-The-Night!)
Round Twenty-Three: Two Heads Are Better Than One! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?535437-Villainous-Competition-XXIII-Two-Heads-Are-Better-Than-One)
Round Twenty-Four: Wrong For The Right Reasons! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?541650-Villainous-Competition-XXIV-Wrong-For-The-Right-Reasons)
Round Twenty-Five: Keeper of the Gate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?550139-Villainous-Competition-XXV-No-Solicitors!)
Round Twenty-Six: Get In MY BELLY (Swallow Whole) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?556705-Villainous-Competition-XXVI-Swallow-Whole!)
Round Twenty-Seven: Multiple Personality Disorder (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559748-Villainous-Competition-XXVII-Multiple-Personality-Disorder)
Round Twenty-Eight: Tiny Only! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?565176-Villainous-Competition-XXVIII-Bad-Things-Come-in-Small-Packages)
Round Twenty-Nine: Halloween Special (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?573496-Villainous-Competition-XXIX-A-Halloween-Special)
Round Thirty: One Feat to Rule Them ALL (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?577930-Villainous-Competition-XXX-One-Feat-to-Rule-Them-ALL)
Round Thirty-One: In Cold Blood (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582492-Villainous-Competition-XXXI-In-Cold-Blood)
Round Thirty-Two: oh HELL NO! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?586377-Villainous-Competition-XXXII-Oh-HELL-NO!)
Round Thirty-Three: The Do Over (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?589107-Villainous-Competition-XXXIII-The-Do-Over)
Round Thirty-Four: Sword and Board (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?600139-Villainous-Competition-XXXIV-Sword-and-Board)
Round Thirty-Five: I Shall Call Him Mini Me! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?605444-Villainous-Competition-XXXV-I-Shall-Call-Him-Mini-Me!)
Round Thirty-Six: The Broken Man (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?612196-Villainous-Competition-XXXVI-The-Broken-Man)
Round Thirty-Seven: Yin and Yang (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?617485-Villainous-Competition-XXXVII-Yin-and-Yang)
Round Thirty-Eight: Spooks and Spectres (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?621069-Villainous-Competition-XXXVIII-Spooks-and-Spectres)
Round Thirty-Nine: Sorta Psuedo (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?625680-Villainous-Competition-XXXIX-Sorta-Psuedo)
Round Forty: Negative Nancy (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?629291-Villainous-Competition-XL-Negative-Nancy)
Round Forty-One: Gojira! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?632587-Villainous-Competition-XL-1-Gojira!)
Round Forty-Two: Caine?! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?635461-Villainous-Competition-XLII-Caine-!)
Round Forty Three: The Big Dumb Brute (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?641088-Villainous-Competition-XLIII-The-Big-Dumb-Brute)
Forty Four: The Sheriff (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?642229-Villainous-Competition-XLIV-It-s-The-Sound-of-The-Police!)
Forty Five: The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?643357-Villainous-Competition-XLV-Wolf-in-Sheep-s-Clothing)
Forty Six: Nemesis! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?644622-Villainous-Competition-XLVI-Nemesis!)
Forty Seven: Fairy Queen! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?647363-Villainous-Competition-XLVII-Fairy-Queen!)
Forty Eight: Zealot! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?648561-Villainous-Competition-XLVIII-Zealot!)
Forty Nine: Controller! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?649810-Villainous-Competition-XLVIX-Controller!)
Fifty: The Lovers! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?655994-Villainous-Competition-L-L-O-V-E!)

[H_H_F_F]

Clarifications

Monster Advancement and Challenge Rating:
Unless granted by a template or other unusual means, advancement through racial HD is only allowed for monsters with an advancement clause allowing it, and must comply with the rulings and limitations thereof. For example, an Aboleth can only advance up to 24 HD through normal advancement, an Aranea cannot be advanced that way at all, and an Assassin Vine has no limit for such advancement.
Class levels always come after racial HD, unless using non-standard means of gaining HD (Acquired templates granting HD, monsters with special advancement rules or fluff, etc.) If you're not sure, comply with this rule or PM the chair for guidance.
CR increase from HD advancement happens at the first HD of each CR bracket. For example: fey add 1 CR for each 4 HD, so adding 1 HD to an unadvanced fey creature would increase its CR by one, while the following 3 HD would not. Adding a fifth HD would increase CR by another step, and so on.
While all PC classes increase CR on a 1 to 1 ratio, NPC classes follow the rules set out in the DMG. NPC class levels increase CR by n-1 (at least 1) when n is the total number of NPC class levels. That is, adding a single adept level to an entry would increase its CR by 1; Adding a warrior level, or another adept level, would not increase its CR; and adding further levels in any NPC class would increase its CR on a 1 to 1 ratio.

3.0 content updates:
Official Errata and 3.5 updates to 3.0 content are considered valid regardless of whether their sources would otherwise be legal. This includes the 3.5 update of Oriental Adventures given in Dragon Magazine.

Deriving Ability score modifiers:
For monsters or races that don't have explicit racial ability scores, remember that the system assumes monsters start with three 11s and three 10s. Simply decrease 10 from even ability scores and 11 from odd ability scores, and you'll have your modifiers! Watch out for monsters that explicitly already use the Elite Array, though – those are handled differently, of course.

Miscellaneous House Rules and clarifications
We'll be using the following Iron Chef house rules:

All creatures are proficient with any natural weapons they may have or acquire.
Bonus feats that are granted even if you do not meet the prerequisites do not require you to meet the prerequisites in order to use.
Feats that affect class skills or the buying of skill ranks apply to the level you take them.
Weapons from soulmelds are considered to be magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming DR.
Unarmed Swordsage grants Improved Unarmed Strike at level 1.
One dispute per entry (per judgement). Submit disputes by PM to the Chair.
Ghostwalk ghost is banned
Gold, silver, and bronze are awarded regardless of ties (e.g., 2 silvers does not preclude bronze)
Spelltouched feats are legal and can be taken just like any other feat when you meet the prerequisites and have the feat slot available.

[loky1109]

Maybe I have an idea.

[AvatarVecna]

Got an idea for this one. Maybe two, but definitely at least one.

[Beni-Kujaku]

Ooooh, this one's good! I will participate if I find an idea.

[Inevitability]

Got an idea: let's see if something will come of it.

[H_H_F_F]

It's been a week! Are the wheels turning?

Also, do we have any prospective judges?

[FactualArcher]

I'd be interested in judging if you'll have me. It's my first time, but I've read some past judgements to get a handle on things. If you'll have me, I'll post my judging rubric in the next few days.

[loky1109]

It looks like I almost totally out of time next two weeks. But I could judge.

[Inevitability]

Currently I'm writing up a build, I got a full stub that I'm just not sure about including, and I have a smattering of unfinished ideas that may or may not get turned into an actual submission.

[H_H_F_F]

I'd be interested in judging if you'll have me. It's my first time, but I've read some past judgements to get a handle on things. If you'll have me, I'll post my judging rubric in the next few days.

Of course we will, thank you FactualArcher!


It looks like I almost totally out of time next two weeks. But I could judge.

That'd be great. Thanks, loky!

[Phoenix Duck]

I just had a crazy build idea. I'll throw my hat into the ring and see how far it goes.

[FactualArcher]

Here is my judging rubric. It's heavily inspired by ones used in past competitions. I've tried to make it as clear as possible for my first time. Each category is 4 questions which will determine how I score it.

Starts at 3 by default, will be adjusted up/down from there.
How expected is your base creature?
How expected are your classes and prestige classes?
How expected are your feats, spells, and skills?
Do you have a unique and interesting trick/tactic?


Starts at 3 by default, will be adjusted up/down from there.
Can you provide an appropriate challenge at your CR?
Can your villain last against a party for at least a few rounds, whether via illusions, skirmishing, or brute force?
Can you bring enough offense to seriously threaten the PCs or their goals?
Do you rely on items or minions to threaten the PCs?


Starts at 5, questions are up to -1 each, automatic 1 if most of the entry is illegal.
Is everything legal?
Does anything rely on ambiguous wording?
Does your build keep a low number of classes and templates?
Is your entry neat and are all sources listed?


Starts at 3 by default, will be adjusted up/down from there. Generally 0.5 points per question
How much is your strategy defined by shapeshifting?
Do you have the ability to survive fights with the PCs and fight them multiple times?
Do they have a distinctive style the PCs will remember?
Will the changes the villain goes through give them multiple memorable fights with different tactics and roles?

[Beni-Kujaku]

Okay, I've got an idea and a stub, I confirm I'll try to participate. I'll do what I can, but if I could have an extension until this weekend, that would be more comfortable.

[H_H_F_F]

Okay, I've got an idea and a stub, I confirm I'll try to participate. I'll do what I can, but if I could have an extension until this weekend, that would be more comfortable.

You've got it; I'll update the deadline when I'm back on my laptop.

Anyone else still working?

[AvatarVecna]

I've got an entry I'm inspired on but need time to tie it together yeah

[H_H_F_F]

Updated the deadline. You have until the end of this coming weekend, make the most of it!

[H_H_F_F]

A thought I've had for a while: do we have volunteers interested in starting work on a Villainous Competition spreadsheet, akin to the Iron Chef one in my signature?

I think it'd be nice to have, but it's a lot of work - going back through previous competitions, and noting the entries and judgements.

Does that sound like a resource we'd like to have? And if so, do we have anyone interested in compiling it?

[loky1109]

Maybe I. Ask me two weeks later.

[H_H_F_F]

Alright folks, it's time for the reveal!

Please, no posting until I give the all clear.

[H_H_F_F]

Confidence. It’s the food of the wise man, but the liquor of the fool.

Aren't the Ushemoi from MM V just perfect for this round? they have a baked in mechanic for "evolving" mid fight!
Of course, us munchkin would try to game the system, but that's no fault of the critters!

All the same, I find the fact that their scaling mechanic makes them more susceptile to fear endearing, and I thought it would be a cool justaposition if I took that to end up with dread witch, so here we are..

Storywise, I'm no good storyteller, but I like the "progression", very reminiscing of star wars. Pain leads to fear, fear leads to anger! Anger leads to hate, Hate leads to suffering!
In the enigmatic realm of Veridale, where arcane mysteries intertwine with shadows and uncertainties, a figure known as Howard emerges as the tragic antagonist, destined to test the mettle of a resolute band of adventurers. Howard's tale is one of transformation - from a timid and misunderstood Ushemoi of the Hadrimal subrace to a formidable necromancer, forever opposed to the heroes and aligned with an ancient malevolence that seeks to plunge the land into darkness.

Born amidst the secretive enclaves of the Ushemoi, a peculiar race whose strength, swiftness, or arcane power surges in response to stimuli, Howard's arrival was marked by uniqueness. As a Hadrimal, his form consisted of fibrous tendrils that responded to pain, granting him increased flexibility and speed. Yet, the moniker "Cowardly Howard" clung to him due to his reluctance to embrace his innate Ushemoi nature. His body's response to adversity stood at odds with his aversion to confrontation.

Within the hidden depths of Ushemoi society, Howard's distinct characteristics both intrigued and puzzled. Immersed in ancient tomes, he sought to fathom the source of his dual nature. Among these chronicles were tales of Ushemoi who transcended their birthright, embracing their potential to evolve into formidable beings. The accounts of Ushemoi spellcasters resonated deeply, sparking an insatiable curiosity for arcane magic within him.

As he delved into these esoteric arts, Howard's abilities underwent a metamorphosis. His fibrous tendrils, attuned to his burgeoning magical prowess, guided him toward necromancy - a path aligned with his intricate identity. Amidst the manipulation of life and death, he found an eerie solace, a stark contrast to his body's response to pain and turmoil.

Veridale's tranquility shattered when an ancient malevolence, long imprisoned, emerged to plunge the realm into unending darkness. As the land quaked beneath the looming cataclysm, Howard's fate converged with a resolute group of adventurers. Recognizing his latent potential, they extended an offer to join their ranks.

However, Howard's path diverged tragically. Instead of embracing the camaraderie offered by the heroes, he chose a darker course. Driven by a twisted sense of destiny, he turned his back on the adventurers and cast his lot with the malevolence that sought to engulf Veridale. The darkness within him found a symbiotic resonance with the ancient malevolence, and together, they plotted the downfall of the realm.

Throughout the campaign, Howard's evolution from reluctant adversary to the malevolent ally became evident. The line between antagonist and villain blurred as he harnessed his necromantic talents to aid the encroaching abyss. His unique Ushemoi traits, once a source of inner conflict, now resonated harmoniously with his newfound purpose—to bring about the realm's downfall.

As the climactic showdown approached, Howard's powers surged to unprecedented heights. His body responded to mounting conflicts, gifting him surges of strength, swiftness, and arcane supremacy. Embracing his role, Howard unleashed his mastery over necromancy, wielding the forces of life and death in a bid to aid the malevolence's ascent.

But fate had a tragic twist in store. The transition from Cowardly Howard to Determined Howard was not without its cost. The anger that smoldered beneath his newfound strength was akin to cold fire, born of his struggles and harnessed fears. This cold anger masked his insecurities, pushing him to the limits of his power. As the final confrontation loomed, it became evident that Howard's path was one of tragic self-destruction.

Upon the climactic battle's conclusion, the adventurers stood victorious over a broken and transformed Howard. Bereft of allies and consumed by his malevolent alliance, he was defeated but not without consequence. In his final moments, Howard's latent necromantic energy erupted, engulfing him in an explosion of dark power—a fitting tribute to his tragic alignment with the ancient malevolence.

As the echoes of the explosion faded, the adventurers were left with a bittersweet victory. Howard's tale was one of a soul forever opposed to the heroes, an embodiment of darkness birthed from a struggle between identity and malevolence. His legacy remained etched in the annals of Veridale's history—a somber reminder of the enduring consequences of choices made in the crucible of transformation, and the dire alliance between a tormented being and the abyss.
NE Hadrimoi, Barbarian 1 / Wizard 1 / Abjurant champion 2 / Rage Mage 7 / Dread Witch 4
Str 10 (8 +2 racial), Dex 32 (14 +8 racial +6 enhancement +4 inherent), Con 22 (13 +4 racial +4 enhancement +1 inherent), Int 32 (15 +2 racial +4 level +6 enhancement +5 inherent), Wis 16 (10 +2 racial +4 enhancement), Cha 16 (12 +4 enhancement)

HP 8 + 1d12+ 2d10 +15d8 + 5d4 + 144= 249

AC: in the 35-45 range
Saves : aroundish 22 30 25, but -3 against fear
DR 10/slashing AND piercing

Attack profile: native "full attack and still move" for 4 dagger strikes at about +35 for 1d4+11(+2d6+24 sneak attack)
DC 33ish "permanent paralysis" touch attack spell
Surprise explosion at death for 24d8 if the party deserves that, or 9d8 otherwise
HD/CRClassBase Attack BonusFort SaveReflex SaveWill SaveSkillsFeatsClass Features1/-Racial Hit Die 1+1+0+2+220: {+4} Hide: 4; {+4} Jump: 4; {+4} Listen: 4; {+4} Move Silently: 4; {+4} Spot: 4; Weapon FinesseDarkvision 60ft2/-RHD 2+2+0+3+35: {+5 CC} Balance: 2.5; Hide: 4; Jump: 4; Listen: 4; Move Silently: 4; Spot: 4; 3/-RHD 3+3+1+3+35: {+1 CC} Balance: 3; {+1} Hide: 5; Jump: 4; {+1} Listen: 5; {+1} Move Silently: 5; {+1} Spot: 5; Improved Initiative 4/-RHD 4+4+1+4+45: Balance: 3; Hide: 5; {+1} Jump: 5; {+2} Listen: 7; {+1} Move Silently: 6; {+1} Spot: 6; 5/-RHD 5+5+1+4+45: {+4 CC} Balance: 5; Hide: 5; Jump: 5; {+1} Listen: 8; Move Silently: 6; Spot: 6; 6/-RHD 6+6/+1+2+5+55: Balance: 5; {+4} Hide: 9; Jump: 5; {+1} Listen: 9; Move Silently: 6; Spot: 6; Martial Study(Shadow Jaunt) 7/-RHD 7+7/+2+2+5+55: Balance: 5; {+1} Hide: 10; Jump: 5; {+1} Listen: 10; {+3} Move Silently: 9; Spot: 6; 8/-RHD 8+8/+3+2+6+65: Balance: 5; {+1} Hide: 11; Jump: 5; {+1} Listen: 11; {+2} Move Silently: 11; {+1} Spot: 7; 9/5RHD 9+9/+4+3+6+65: Balance: 5; {+1} Hide: 12; Jump: 5; Listen: 11; {+1} Move Silently: 12; {+3} Spot: 10; Combat Casting 10/6Barbarian 1+10/+5+5+6+67: Balance: 5; Hide: 12; Jump: 5; {+2} Listen: 13; Move Silently: 12; Spot: 10; {+5} Tumble: 5; Fast Movement, Illiteracy, Rage 1/day, Skilled city-dweller11/7Wizard 1+10/+5+5+6+85: Balance: 5; Hide: 12; Jump: 5; {+3} Knowledge(Arcana): 3; Listen: 13; Move Silently: 12; {+2} Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; Martial Stance(Assassin Stance)Bonus Fighter feat, Focused Specialist(Necromancy), Immediate magic(Cursed Glance)12/8Abjurant Champion 1+11/+6/+1+5+6+106: Balance: 5; {+6} Concentration: 6; Hide: 12; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; Listen: 13; Move Silently: 12; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; Shadow BladeAbjurant Armor, Extended Abjuration13/9AC 2+12/+7/+2+5+6+116: Balance: 5; {+6} Concentration: 12; Hide: 12; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; Listen: 13; Move Silently: 12; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; Swift Abjuration14/10Rage Mage 1+12/+7/+2+7+6+116: Balance: 5; Concentration: 12; {+5} Hide: 17; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; Listen: 13; {+1 CC} Move Silently: 12.5; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; Spell Rage 1/day15/11RM 2+13/+8/+3+8+6+116: Balance: 5; Concentration: 12; {+1} Hide: 18; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; Listen: 13; {+5 CC} Move Silently: 15; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; CravenOvercome Spell Failure16/12RM 3+14/+9/+4+8+7+126: Balance: 5; Concentration: 12; {+1} Hide: 19; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; Listen: 13; {+5 CC} Move Silently: 17.5; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; Rage 2/day17/13RM 4+15/+10/+5+9+7+126: Balance: 5; Concentration: 12; {+1} Hide: 20; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; Listen: 13; {+5 CC} Move Silently: 20; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; 18/14RM 5+15/+10/+5+9+7+126: Balance: 5; Concentration: 12; {+1} Hide: 21; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; {+3 CC} Listen: 14.5; {+2 CC} Move Silently: 21; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; Spell Focus(Necromancy)Angry Spell, Spell Rage 2/day19/15RM 6+16/+11/+6/+1+10+8+136: Balance: 5; Concentration: 12; {+1} Hide: 22; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; {+3 CC} Listen: 16; {+2 CC} Move Silently: 22; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; 20/16RM 7+17/+12/+7/+2+10+8+137: Balance: 5; Concentration: 12; {+1} Hide: 23; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; {+4 CC} Listen: 18; {+2 CC} Move Silently: 23; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; Spell Fury21/17Dread Witch 1+17/+12/+7/+3+10+8+157: Balance: 5; Concentration: 12; {+1} Hide: 24; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; {+4 CC} Listen: 20; {+2 CC} Move Silently: 24; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; Greater Spell focus(Necromancy)Master of Terror, Unnatural Will22/18DW 2+18/+13/+5/+3+10+8+167: Balance: 5; Concentration: 12; {+1} Hide: 25; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; {+4 CC} Listen: 22; {+2 CC} Move Silently: 25; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; Absorb Fear23/19DW 3+18/+13/+5/+3+11+9+167: Balance: 5; Concentration: 12; {+1} Hide: 26; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; {+4 CC} Listen: 24; {+2 CC} Move Silently: 26; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; Fearful Empowerment 1/day24/20DW 4+19/+14/+9/+4+11+9+177: Balance: 5; Concentration: 12; {+1} Hide: 27; Jump: 5; Knowledge(Arcana): 3; {+4 CC} Listen: 26; {+2 CC} Move Silently: 27; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 10; Tumble: 5; Malign Spell FocusDelay Fear, Greater Master of Terror
0th level slots omitted
CRCasting asIntelligence1st2nd3rd4th5th7Wizard 1191+3 8Wizard 2203+3 9Wizard 3223+32+3 11Wizard 4224+33+3 13Wizard 5234+33+31+3 15Wizard 6254+34+33+3 18Wizard 7265+34+33+32+3 19Wizard 8265+34+34+33+3 20Wizard 9326+36+34+33+32+3

noncore spells by source
Spell Compendium
Nerveskitter: immediate action +5 to initiative
Swift Expeditious retreat: like expeditious retreat but swift action cast and lasting only one round
Daggerspell Stance: swift action for round/CL gain +2 insight bonus to attack and damage when making full attacks with daggers, gain SR 5+CL when fightning defensively with two daggers in hand
Wracking Touch: fortitude half, SR:yes, standard action touch attack dealing 1d6+CL(max 10) damage plus sneak attack even if target not flanked or flat-footed, but not if immune
Anticipate Teleportation: for 24 hours in a 5ft/CL aura teleportations are delayed, and you know of arrival of creatures
Wraithstrike: swift action your attacks resolve as touch attacks for 1 round
Spell Enhancer: swift action next spell cast this round is at +2 CL and +1 DC
Greater Blink: as Blink, but you control the blinking, so it never negatively affects you
Death Throes: standard action for hours/CL if you are killed, you explode for 1d8/CL damage in a 30ft burst
PHB II
Blade of Blood: swift action touched weapon deals +1d6 damage for one attack, self inflict 5 damage to increase this to 3d6
Deflect: immediate action gain deflection bonus equal to 1/2 CL against single attack

Frostburn
lesser shivering touch: standard action no save SR:yes touch attack dealing 1d6 DEX damage
shivering touch: standard action no save SR:yes touch attack dealing 3d6 DEX damage

Complete Mage
heart of Water: for hours/CL have swim speed and water breathing, end early for round/CL freedom of movement
Touch of Vecna: standard action touch attack (SR:yes) dealing 1d8+10 damage and shaken for 1 round. Fortitude save to prevent being permanently paralyzed

Complete Scoundrel
Spell Theft: Standard action attempt to dispel (max CL +15) all spells on the target, for each success, you gain the benefit of that spell
Hadrimoi: Monstrous Humanoid from Monster manual V 9 D8 Racial Hit die, full BAB, good reflex and Will, 2+INT skill points, Darkvision 60ft, DR 10/slashing and piercing
+2 STR, +8 DEX, +4 CON, +2 INT, +2 WIS
Speed from pain(ex): Each time it takes damage, it gains a cumulative +2 dodge bonus to AC, untyped +1 to attack rolls and reflex saves, +10 untyped bonus to land speed. bonuses last 1 minute, and can stack up to 5 times
Falling Courage(Ex): if the stacks of speed from pain are 3 or more, he has -4 to saves against fear, and can be affected by fear regardless of HD limits
Perfect simmetry(Ex): as a full attack, can attack with up to four light weapons with no penalty
Dagger Dance(Ex): if the stacks of speed from pain are 3 or more, he can move up to its speed as part of a full attack
Barbarian: Base Class from the Player's Handbook D12 hit die, good BAB, good fortitude, 4+INT skill points
Fast movement(Ex): +10ft of land speed when wearing medium armor or less and not encumbered
Illiteracy(Ex): can't read or write unless spending 2 skill points for it, or gaining a level in any other class
Rage(Ex): Free action gain +4 STR, +4 CON, +2 morale to will, -2 AC for 3+CON rounds, fatiqued for the encounter when it ends. Prevents using brainy stuff while active
Skilled city-dweller (https://web.archive.org/web/20070302073055/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a): an ACF, exchanges ride for tumble as a class skill
Wizard: Base Class from the Player's Handbook D4 hit die, poor BAB, good Will, 2+INT skill points
Spellcasting, INT/INT/INT based, prepared, standard progression
Focused Specialist(Necromancy): Complete Mage, +3 spell slot per level usable only for necromancy spell, but one less universal slot and 3 forbidden school, these will be enchantment, evocation, conjuration for us.
"Combat Wizard": ACF from unearthed arcana, exchanges scribe scroll and bonus metamagic feats for Bonus fighter feat
Immediate magic: ACF from PHB II, exchange familiar for an immediate action, for necromancy it's a DC 10+INT -2 penalty to AC and saves, usable when attacked on the attacker. INT/day uses
Abjurant Champion: Prestige Class from Complete Mage D10 hit die, good BAB, good Will, 2+INT skill points
Prerequisites: BAB +5, Combat Casting, Able to cast at least one 1st level arcane abjuration spell, proficency in at least 1 martial weapon
Advances spellcasting at every level
Abjurant Armor(Su): Add class level to any armor/shield AC bonus gained from abjuration spells
Extended Abjuration(Su): Abjuration spells are automatically extended
Swift Abjuration(Su): First level abjuration spells are automatically quickened
Rage Mage: Prestige Class from Complete Warrior D8 hit die, medium BAB, good Fortitude, 2+INT skill points
Prerequisites: BAB +4, Combat Casting, Able to cast 2nd level arcane spells, rage or frenzy class feature, nonlawful alignment
Advances spellcasting at every even level
Spell Rage(Ex): Separate "rage-like" effect that last for 3+CON, gives another -2 to AC, but allows concentrating and spellcasting. Abjuration, conjuration, evocation, necromancy, transmutation spells cast while raging have their Caster Level set to be equal to HD
Overcome Spell Failure(Ex): Arcane spell failure chance is reduced by 10% in light or medium armor
Rage(Ex): More uses of the standard barbarian rage
Angry Spell(Ex): spells of the above-mentioned schools casts while raging have +2 DC
Spell Fury(Sp): Once per rage, can quicken for free a spell of 4th or lower level
Dread Witch: Prestige Class from Heroes of Horror D4 hit die, poor BAB, good Will, 2+INT skill points
Prerequisites: Base Will save +4, Able to cast cause fear and scare, must have failed at least one save against a fear effect
Advances spellcasting at every level except the first
Master of Terror(Ex): +1 DC to spells with the fear descriptor, +2 per class level to intimidate
Unnatural Will(EX): as the feat, +CHA to will saves against fear effects
Absorb Fear(Su): while shaken/frightened/panicked, we have +1/+2/+3 to caster level for CHA rounds. Alternatively, while shaken/frightened/panicked, within CHA rounds we can cast one 0th/1st/2nd level spell without expending the spell slot. If you save for a lesser condition, you're take the bonus for the worse condition
Fearful Empowerment(Su): 1/day add the fear descriptor to any spell, causing it to have an additional shaken for 1d4 rounds, DC 10+class level+CHA+other applicable bonuses
Delay Fear(Su): You can choose to delay fear effects you cause by CHA minutes. 2/day, you can choose to delay receiving fear effects for CHA rounds. You still gain the absorb fear bonuses
Greater Master of Terror(Ex): the DC bonus to spells with the fear descriptor increases to +2. Your fear spells ignore fear immunity of creature with HD least than the CL
Feats: Weapon Finesse: PHB. Prereq BAB +1. Can use DEX instead of STR for attack rolls with light weapons, including touch attacks
Improved Initiative: PHB. No prereq. +4 to initiative check.
Martial study(Shadow hand:shadow jaunt): Tome of Battle. No prereq. Hide always a class skill, 1/encounter standard action teleport up to50ft within line of sight and effect
Combat Casting: PHB. no prereq. +4 to concentration for casting defensively and casting while grappled
Martial stance(Shadow hand:assassin stance): TOB. Prereq one martial manouver. Gain Sneak attack ability for 2d6 (deal extra 2d6 damage against enemies denied their DEX bonuses or flanked)
Shadow Blade: TOB. Prereq one shadow hand stance. Add DEX to damage done with dagger, short sword, sai, siangham, unarmed strike, and spiked chain
Craven: Champions of Ruin. Prereq not being immune to fear, sneak attack class feature. -2 to will save but sneak attacks deal +1 damage per HD
Spell Focus: PHB. No prereq. Spells of the selected school have +1 DC
Greater Spell Focus: PHB, Prereq Spell Focus. Spells of the selected school have another +1 DC
Malign Spell Focus: Champions of Ruin. Prereq evil alignment. Spells with the evil descriptor have +1 DC
CR 5
At these levels, you're just a melee chump, so get meleeing! The chassis as is is not too scary, but it's fairly tanky. Sure, those four attack at +15-+20 will feel scary for them at CR 5, but it's only 1d4 damage each.
Much more relevantly, high AC, a DR that's more or less "DR 10/-" if read straight, and a chonky 71 HP makes it likely you won't get smurfed on the sidewalk. If the party failed to cotton up the fear vulnerability, you should find some way to lead them to that water somehow anyhow, because that's a perfect excuse to disengage from them and set up the recurring villian. It shouldn't be too difficult running away, what with potentially 90ft of movement on top of the emergency shadow jaunt
Suggested equip: a mithral chainshirt that you would conveniently "slink out of to run away faster", perhabs one +1 vicious dagger and three rubbish dagger you "drop in your panic". You gotta find some way to self-flagellate in case they have no way to overcome your AC and DR, after all, if you want to showcase the building frenesy!

CR 11
Suggested spell prepared
1st level 4+3 Nerveskitter, Shield, Swift Expeditious retreat, Protection from (party alignment) + specialist 3x Blade of Blood
2nd level 3+3 Invisibility, Mirror Image, Daggerspell Stance, Specialist 3x Wracking Touch
This is the suggested second encounter point, as the party should have accumulated class features to deal with shenanigans and/or do shenanigan themselves.
as for you, the main difference is that you got that bit of spellcasting making it a bit more likely you can get one round of sneak attack in, or one single sneak attack if a whole round is too much damage, because yikes that craven and shadow blade make a bunch of difference to the output.
With the spell selection, you should have the tools for getting the drop on the party, and burst down one enemy, before shamelessly running away! Or maybe stay a while and run away only when you risk dead.
The tentative idea is to "be nearby" and enter spell rage to buff up with the increased CL. You should cast invisibility and mirror image from far away enough, as those don't benefit from the increase of CL, then get close enough for the round/level stuff, particularly blade of blood, that way you can telegraph that something is wrong because the party hear the casting ( and maybe identify it), casting blade of blood on the weapons don't break invisibility, so you're good to go for one hell of an alpha strike if they just let you do it. Party will allegedly have access to 6th level spells by now, so it should be fiiiine.
This has the bonus effect of charging up your pain is speed.
I'd personally suggest to keep the (normal) rage in reserve for getaway purposes. You get a nice instant "heal" of 30HP when you trigger it, so it kind of works as a fake second wing to skeedaddle away. It's not like the increase to STR matters anyway.

CR 16
Suggested spell prepared
1st level 4+3 Nerveskitter, Shield, Swift Expeditious retreat, Prot. from (X) + specialist 3x lesser shivering touch
2nd level 3+3 Deflect, Mirror Image, Daggerspell Stance + Specialist 3x Wracking Touch
3rd 3+3 Displacement,Haste,Anticipate Teleportation + Specialist Vampiric touch, 2x Shivering touch
Lean some into "cold rage", will you? and do a surprise quickened(spell fury) maximized (rod, it's only 3 level and they're 16th level bro) Vampiric touch as a nice "third wind", if the rage second wind wasn't windy enough!
Make full use of that CL=HD of spell rage.
The intent here as transition goes, is that our HP damage scaling topped out at CR 11, and even that was mostly a flavor choice, Original Howard kept being a silly bugger with 4d4 melee damage for all 20 levels. All the same, doing DEX damage with spells present an alternate way to stonk one enemy, before, again, running away <3
BE CAREFUL OF THE TEMPO: your speed from pain stacks drop to 0 every minute, so if the combats are long, it becomes an interesting "cycle" thing!
An interesting thing about having two spell rages now, is that you can use a spell rage while safe away from the party, just to make use of CL boost (CL 20 is much yum!), afterward, you are fatiqued "for the rest of the encounter", so until you exit initiative... therefore, a grand total of 0 rounds!
of course, none of the suggested spell prepared are listed with that purpose in mind, and here the focused specialist comes a bit to bite our asses, but villain preparation is relative to "have to encounter the party todaish"
One I want to call out is nondetection, which will be automatically extended by abjurant champion, that's to nix/becalm scry&die

CR 20
Suggested spell prepared
1st level 6+3 Nerveskitter, Shield, Swift Expeditious retreat, Prot. from (X) x3 + specialist 3x chill touch
2nd level 6+3 Mirror Image, Daggerspell Stance, 2x resist energy, 2x Wraithstrike + Specialist 3x Wracking Touch
3rd level 4+3 Displacement,Haste,Anticipate Teleportation, Heart of water + Specialist 3x Vampiric touch
4th level 3+3 Greater invisibility,Dimensional Anchor,Spell Enhancer +Specialist 1x Fear, 1x Enervation, 1x Bestow Curse
5th level 2+3 Spell theft, Greater Blink, + specialist 1x Touch of Vecna, 1x Death Throes, 1x Symbol of Pain

Party is CR 20 now, and hopefully out for your blood if you managed to kill one-or-two in previous encounters, before running away.
And now you're not "scared" anymore, you're the scary one, so behave accordingly, and fight till death!
At least one dispel is mandatory at this level, so there it is. I'd recommend using spell fury to tag someone with dimensional anchor. The big ticket spells are Touch of Vecna and Evil glare.
But if all that fails, Having overcomed your fear, yo go out with a boom!

Is it weird I tagged on some wraithstrike only now? On one hand, for a good while you're supposed to be casting spells, on the other hand, the meleeing is a valid fallback option!
Assassin stance qualifying for Craven: Technically it doesn't, because it's not "a class feature", I didn't even want craven, we hardly have "enablers" so most of the time we wouldn't even be sneak attacking, it just too on theme to skip!. That whole block of feat was originally combat reflexes+pursue+raging luck+spell opportunity. Do not judge this as an alternative, I'm just explaining my choice. It was thematically "out of place" because I had to take the spell focuses before I even had any spellcasting, which was so BLEH, and not conductive to the "feel" of character evolution at all. I'm happier with study-stance-blade-craven, even if I could safely drop craven for something else.

Taking Ferocity(cityscape) instead of Rage on the barbarian level: that would have made a lot more sense to me, normal rage does almost nothing for us, and the cityscape one that increases DEX at the cost of ranged attack rolls is much more appealing, BUT, it's not named neither rage nor frenzy, so it doesn't qualify for rage mage, unless you decide otherwise as the GM, of course. But for the entry itself, I'm sticking to the standard rage

Spell rage and rage being different features: this is a case of blehness in the editing of the class rage mage, I feel. As written, they are indipendent features and it's unclear if the limitation of "1 rage per encounter" is "1 rage per type of rage" or "1 rage, period", I choose to go with the interpretation of "you can use both rage and spell rage together, they have different names and different rules"

DR 10/slashing AND piercing: this feels like it might be a typo to me, but then the other ushemoi all have "slashing or piercing", so it's clearly not a copypaste problem, make of that what you will.

Class ordering: I originally had wizard and abjurant champion before barbarian, but that "martial weapon proficency" prerequisite was bugging me. Allegedly I could handwave it away, since monstrous humanoids are "proficient with any martial wepaon present in their stat blocks", and as the GM making villains here, we write the statblocks! My point being, I feel having wizard before barbarian would have been more elegant,
but that qualification snag was annoying, so here we are. Functionally it makes little to no difference, so if you feel it's "better ordered" to put wizard before barbarian, by all means go for it!

So many cross class ranks man!: Well, this is a design perspective, we're making a villain that us, the GM, control. Unlike player characters, which have to deal with "the world and everything in it", a DMPC can be tailored to the party, but more to the point only combat-relevant skills are relevant, because a DMPC will never have to make out-of-combat skill checks. Most keenly in this case: normally if this was a PC/IC/monster mash submission, I would have maxed spellcraft, because it's important to identify spells being cast and for wizard to scribe spells to the spellbook. But I know for a fact as the GM we aren't going to be doing that. Drop listen for spellcraft if you want to mantain the fiction that GM characters operate by the same building rules of PC characters, but you don't really need it, 2 ranks+taking 10+INT bonus is good enough for scribing spells in your spellbook

Protection from X, Resist energy X don't stack: I respectfully disagree, I'm of the school of thought that "resist energy:fire" is a different spell from "resist energy:cold", same goes for Protection from good/law/chaos, but if you are of a different opinion, as IU've sometime seen, we'll just prepare something else, as is our wont

You could have 2 epic feats and you do nothing with it, what a waste!: This is funny, I originally was playing around with "epic destinies", specifically the eternal hero villain one, which long story short, is a contingent true resurrection once per day at dawn. This was before I landed on preparing a death throes, but the two together is just too funny not to mention in passing. The "problem" here is a byproduct of the "switch" of focus, If I were to make one coherent build start-to-finish that didn't pay homage to a rogueish beginning, and focused fully on endgame shenanigans, I could frontload the spell focuses at early levels, and be properly epic at epic, but alas. Technically, we could also have more skill ranks, depending on when we consume our tome of intellect, but I've put all of those at CR 20 to not deal with that headache, the only "real" item assumption is +2 INT by CR 11, +4 INT by CR 16 and +6+5INT at CR 20, anything else is just "big six" stuff

Why no darkstalker man!? : Player characters generally don't have exotic form of detections. It was a strong contender against improved initiative, but in the end... player characters generally don't have exotic form of detection!
Originally it was much more martial, going barbarian 1/suel arcanamach1 /abjurant champion 3/rage mage 10, with feats geared toward making use of mage slayer+pursue+raging luck+spell opportunity, using the excuse of spell rage setting CL=HD to bypass the mage slayer malus, and theoretically casting spells "for free" via spell opportunity. I like it, but I didn't like how it was.. not very evolving! Like, it was fairly cohesive, and cool, but from an evolution point of view? we take a rogueish base creature, completely ignore it's rogueish coloring, and just "I'm going to rage mage with it, because that's cool"
While war cry is fairly cool, and "I can arbitrarily set my BAB and CL to be equal to my HD" is cool, but a bit wasted when the BAB was, like, 21 anyway?

I was tinkering/thing about dread witch in all that, because I saw a strong appeal into playing the opposite given the racial weakness to fear. Originally it was still with doing mage slayer+pursue+raging luck+spell opportunity(+ combat reflexes, of course), but I ended up dropping that for shadow blade+craven because I felt it better exemplified character development

A very last minute revision was dropping mage slayer for improved initiative. I was keeping mage slayer, thinking "I can feel clever of bypassing the malus with spell rage!", but there's a serious gotcha: illusion spells are good but don't benefit from spell rage! Mirror image/Displacement/greater invisibility are too good for survivability!

[H_H_F_F]

A usual suspect.

Yssaros
The Unseen Nightmare

CE Changeling Bard 1/Educated Mantled Wilder 9/Anarchic Initiate 7/Unarmed Swordsage 1/Black Dragon Disciple 2

Rumors abound in this city of an impossible creature of many faces. Some call it the viper of the slums. Some call it the nightmare dragon. To your horror, you find that most call it friend.

The investigator looked down at the papers on the table and sighed. Three sketches, three police reports. Before him sat a middle aged man whose trembling legs shook his rickety chair. "Mr. Edmund, you stand accused of three counts of murder. I can try to do what I can for you, but until you confess there's not much that can be done."

"Gods, not you too," the man replied. "I've already told all your guys I didn't have nothin' to do with any of this!"

"Right, right. I've got your testimony right here. It was..."

"That bloody monster!" The man slammed his shaky fist on the table, finally looking the investigator in the eye.

The investigator thumbed over to the man's testimony. "Twenty feet tall, beady red eyes, slicked black skin-"

"Black as midnight, soaked with blood!" the man interrupted.

"Claws, jaws, flaming tentacles," the investigator continued, "...and absolutely nobody else could see it."

The man nodded. "Not a soul. Damned thing was walking right though the street and nobody turned an eye. In broad bloody daylight..."

"Yes, and then it proceeded to walk up the wall and through the fourth story window," said the investigator as he returned the papers to the table.

"Precisely."

The investigator pondered his words for a moment.

"I hope you realize how utterly crazy you sound right now. I suppose we could go for an insanity defense-"

"Blast it all!" the man yelled. "I've bloody laid it right out 'fer ya! The thing lives in this very city - it walks the same streets, lives in the same buildings! It can look like anyone it wants to. Acts just like 'em! I've seen it pretend to be farmer Jim, old Betty - Why, I've got a good bet that one of its disguises is the bloody mayor!"

"And you're telling me that such a creature, which has never appeared in any investigation, divination, or even any known bestiary, has only ever been sighted by you?"

The man's face fell. "The thing's tauntin' me, I swear it."

After a long pause, the investigator stood up.

"Well, Mr. Edmund, this has been a very... enlightening... conversation. I do hope you can find some relief to your paranoia before our next meeting."

The investigator turned and walked towards the door, hearing faint sobbing from the man behind him. He smiled a smile full of vicious teeth.

"After all, good farmer Jim isn't even one of my disguises."




Ability
Base
4th
8th
12th
16th
20th
Dragon Disciple
Total


Strength
13

+1


+1
+2
17


Dexterity
10






10


Constitution
12






12


Intelligence
14






14


Wisdom
8






8


Charisma
15
+1

+1
+1


18





Level
Power Points
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th


2nd
3
Charm, Psionic









3rd
6
Urban Strider









4th
15










5th
23

Cloud Mind








6th
32

Expansion








7th
44


False Sensory Input







8th
56










9th
70

Psionic Lion's Charge
Escape Detection







10th
85










11th
103

Concealing Amorpha








12th
122










13th
144





Form of Doom, Cloud Mind, Mass




15th
166










16th
198






Mind Blank, Personal



17th
225










18th
253







Greater Teleport, Psionic, Bend Reality



Bard Spells:
0th: Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Message
Can cast 3 0th level spells per day. Improves to 4 at 19th level and 5 at 20th level, thanks to Dragon Disciple.

Martial Maneuvers:
1st: Distracting Ember
2nd: Burning Brand, Shadow Jaunt, Cloak of Deception
3rd: Assassin's Stance
4th: Searing Charge



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


1
Bard 1
0
0
+2
+2
Bluff 4 (+4), Diplomacy 1 (+1), Disguise 4 (+4), Hide 4 (+4), Intimidate 4 (+4), Knowledge(Psionics) 4 (+4), Knowledge(The Planes) 4 (+4), Move Silently 4 (+4), Perform(Song) 3 (+3)
Able Learner
Bardic Music, Inspire Courage (+1), Fascinate, Lore Song, Mimicking Song


2
Wilder 1
0
0
+2
+4
Bluff 5 (+1), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 5 (+1), Hide 5 (+1), Intimidate 5 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 5 (+1), Knowledge(The Planes) 5 (+1), Move Silently 5 (+1), Perform(Song) 3

Wild Surge (+1), Psychic Enervation


3
Wilder 2
+1
0
+2
+5
Bluff 5, Diplomacy 1, Disguise 5, Hide 6 (+1), Intimidate 6 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 6 (+1), Knowledge(The Planes) 6 (+1), Move Silently 5, Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk (+2)
Aberrant Blood (Bulging Eyes)
Deception Mantle


4
Wilder 3
+2
+1
+3
+5
Bluff 5, Diplomacy 1, Disguise 6 (+1), Hide 7 (+1), Intimidate 7 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 7 (+1), Knowledge(The Planes) 7 (+1), Move Silently 6 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk

Wild Surge (+2)


5
Wilder 4
+3
+1
+3
+6
Bluff 5, Diplomacy 1, Disguise 7 (+1), Hide 8 (+1), Intimidate 8 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8 (+1), Knowledge(The Planes) 8 (+1), Move Silently 7 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk

Surging Euphoria (+1)


6
Anarchic Initiate 1
+3
+1
+3
+8
Bluff 5, Diplomacy 1, Disguise 8 (+1), Hide 9 (+1), Intimidate 9 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 8 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered (+2)
Expanded Knowledge (Expansion)
Chaotic Surge


7
Anarchic Initiate 2
+4
+1
+3
+9
Bluff 5, Diplomacy 1, Disguise 10 (+2), Hide 10 (+1), Intimidate 10 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 10 (+2), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered

Anarchic Grace


8
Anarchic Initiate 3
+5
+2
+4
+9
Bluff 7 (+2), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 11 (+1), Hide 11 (+1), Intimidate 11 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 11 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered

Wild Surge (+3)


9
Anarchic Initiate 4
+6
+2
+4
+10
Bluff 9 (+2), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 12 (+1), Hide 12 (+1), Intimidate 12 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 12 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered
Expanded Knowledge (Psionic Lion's Charge)
Clarity of Confusion


10
Anarchic Initiate 5
+6
+2
+4
+10
Bluff 11 (+2), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 13 (+1), Hide 13 (+1), Intimidate 13 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 13 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered




11
Anarchic Initiate 6
+7
+3
+5
+11
Bluff 13 (+2), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 14 (+1), Hide 14 (+1), Intimidate 14 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 14 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered

Chaotic Breach, Minor


12
Anarchic Initiate 7
+8
+3
+5
+11
Bluff 15 (+2), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 15 (+1), Hide 15 (+1), Intimidate 15 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 15 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered
Deepspawn
Wild Surge (+4)


13
Wilder 5
+8
+3
+5
+11
Bluff 16 (+1), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 16 (+1), Hide 16 (+1), Intimidate 16 (+1), Knowledge(Arcana) 1 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 16 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered
Expanded Knowledge (Form of Doom)
Educated Wilder ACF


14
Unarmed Swordsage
+8
+3
+7
+13
Bluff 17 (+1), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 17 (+1), Hide 17 (+1), Intimidate 17 (+1), Knowledge(Arcana) 4 (+3), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 17 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered

Quick to Act (+1), Discipline Focus (Weapon Focus)


15
Wilder 6
+9
+4
+8
+14
Bluff 18 (+1), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 18 (+1), Hide 18 (+1), Intimidate 18 (+1), Knowledge(Arcana) 5 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 18 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered
Multiattack



16
Wilder 7
+10
+4
+8
+14
Bluff 19 (+1), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 19 (+1), Hide 19 (+1), Intimidate 19 (+1), Knowledge(Arcana) 6 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 19 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered

Wild Surge (+5)


17
Wilder 8
+11
+4
+8
+15
Bluff 20 (+1), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 20 (+1), Hide 20 (+1), Intimidate 20 (+1), Knowledge(Arcana) 7 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 20 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered




18
Wilder 9
+11
+5
+9
+15
Bluff 21 (+1), Diplomacy 1, Disguise 21 (+1), Hide 21 (+1), Intimidate 21 (+1), Knowledge(Arcana) 8 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 21 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered
Improved Multiattack, Expanded Knowledge (Greater Teleport, Psionic)
Educated Wilder ACF


19
Dragon Disciple 1
+11
+7
+9
+17
Bluff 21, Diplomacy 1, Disguise 21, Hide 22 (+1), Intimidate 22 (+1), Knowledge(Arcana) 8, Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 22 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered

Natural Armor Increase (+1)


20
Dragon Disciple 2
+12
+8
+9
+18
Bluff 21, Diplomacy 1, Disguise 21, Hide 23 (+1), Intimidate 23 (+1), Knowledge(Arcana) 8 (+1), Knowledge(Psionics) 8, Knowledge(The Planes) 8, Move Silently 23 (+1), Perform(Song) 3, Assume Quirk, Never Outnumbered

Ability Boost (Str +2), Claws and Bite



Yssaros starts out as a psychic cutpurse. One level of Bard combined with Able Learner gives him plenty of good social and sneaky skills, and his Wilder levels provide a bevy of deceptive tricks thanks to Deception Mantle. Charm, Urban Strider, and Cloud Mind allow him to get out of danger and creep around places he shouldn't be. As the icing on the cake, taking the Mimicking Song and Lore Song ACFs lets him boost his Move Silently checks noticeably.

Theoretically, Harbinger Bard could be taken instead to grant extra synergy with the ranks in Intimidate we're picking up, but being able to buff allies in combat is a good way to make friends for later nefarious purposes.

At this point, Yssaros isn't much of a combatant. As a villain, his main strengths are to spread rumors, make friends, and hide behind alternate personas. He's skittish and clever, and he enjoys getting away with theft just to prove that he can. In a pinch, however, he can use the Deception Mantle power to survive a bad fight and live to steal another day.

Strategy-wise, this is pretty much business as usual - though a heavy investment into Intimidate alongside Never Outnumbered and the size bonus from Expansion gives Yssaros a bit of kick as a supporting debuffer for his allies. Psionic Lion's Charge also lets him take more advantage of the ambushes he can set up with his other deceptive powers. Of course, he still doesn't like starting fights, and now he boasts yet another defensive escape option thanks to Anarchic Grace.

The most noteworthy thing about this level is just how many things he can hide from by this point. False Sensory Input can fool true seeing, Escape Detection can prevent scrying, and Urban Strider is now letting him walk around on walls. Even when you do find him, he's still a changeling with max ranks in disguise.

As a villain, Yssaros is getting good at stalking. He will monitor people for months on end while remaining completely unseen, then disguise as his victims to frame them for his crimes. At this point, he does it more out of routine than anything - his mind is beginning to fray from the chaotic forces he toys with.

The hints of horrifying chaotic power are beginning to become more obvious. Form of Doom, Psionic Lion's Charge, and Searing Charge are combining to give Yssaros some serious aggressive power as a charger. Depending on your reading of Searing Charge and Pounce, Yssaros is dishing out 6 tentacle attacks that each deal an extra 5d6 fire damage plus a bonus 2d6 from Sneak Attack thanks to Assassin's Stance. The addition of Frightful Presence also plays into the Intimidate focus he's had, letting him stack fear effects on crowds.

Levels in Anarchic Initiate have also provided Chaotic Breach, which essentially allows Yssaros to create a bootleg anti-magic field at a range that affects everyone but him. Because of how good he is at messing with perception and laying traps, he should have no problem working this into his ambush game plan as either a way to box people in or as a way to stifle enemy casters.

At this point, we're also seeing the main reason Anarchic Initiate was taken in the first place: we've been able to delay our Educated Wilder Expanded Knowledge feats to exactly the levels we actually need them, in this case to pick up Form of Doom the moment we can learn 6th level powers. That trick will be coming up again shortly.

By this point, Yssaros is committing regular murders. He observes, impersonates, and then completely replaces his victims. To him, it's all just fun and games. Subliminally, however, his mind is little more than a puppet of Limbo designed to bring chaos to the world.

Yssaros has reached his final form.

Dragon Disciple comes online in the final two levels to grant a claw/claw/bite on top of the previous tentacle attacks, plus a handy boost to Strength. This means he doesn't need Claws of the Beast and Jaws of the Wolf like most natural weapon manifesters, saving a good chunk of time and power points and making him a bit more tolerant of anti-magic effects.

Other than that, we've also got Greater Teleport and Bend Reality, with the latter specifically doing a lot to counteract Yssaros' lack of power variety. Thanks to Chaotic Surge, he's even got a chance to boost the otherwise underpowered powers that he can emulate through Bend Reality. On top of that, he can arguably use this power better than a psion can thanks to his lack of forbidden disciplines, granting him access to all 6th level psion discipline powers.

The extreme pull of Limbo has, by now, utterly dominated Yssaros. The man is gone, and all that is left is a living rift to the nightmares of chaos. He brazenly stalks the streets and singles out specific people to witness his murders. The stories spread like wildfire, and if his plains go unfoiled, entire cities will erupt in paranoia and murder.

Complete Psionic: Anarchic Initiate prestige class, Mantled Wilder and Educated Wilder variants
Complete Scoundrel: Never Outnumbered and Assume Quirk skill tricks
Dungeonscape: Mimicking Song and Loresong Bard variants
Lords of Madness: Abberation Blood and Deepspawn feats
MM3: Changeling race
Races of Destiny: Able Learner feat, Urban Strider power
Tome of Battle: Swordsage class and all martial maneuvers

[H_H_F_F]

Look closer.

The Blade of Cold Ash

https://darktide.gameslantern.com/storage/sites/darktide/weapons/FYIFlzQGeyVmtlLAnX6VXl9L8YGmqQb7ravZ1uNN.png

An indeterminate time of abuse and neglect have left this sword dull and rusted. Elaborate geometric patterns of right angles and curved parallel lines have been carved into the heavy leather hilt, though some have faded with age. The blue-gray blade is covered with a thin layer of some black, sooty substance, which resists any attempt to wipe it off. The weapon appears intended for small wielders - a halfling, a gnome, perhaps a goblin. Strange; the zombie you found carrying it around was of normal human length.

In spite of its current state, the weapon is expertly forged and deceptively sturdy: once properly cleaned and sharpened, you should be able to sell it for about a hundred and fifty gold pieces.

You identify the weapon's decorations as characteristic of the Cult of Iborighu. Weapons so adorned rarely see actual combat, but rather serve as ceremonial and sacrificial tools - and status symbols within the faith, of course.

The gnome-sized fey called uldra commonly serve Iborighu: could this blade have been made for one of them?

A seemingly innocuous hole in the leather hilt reveals itself to be part of something much more deadly: a hidden trap! Embedded in the hilt lies a subtle mechanism that will, once the sword is gripped with enough force, propel a spring-loaded needle into the hand holding the weapon. The same exit hole can also be used to apply a dose of poison to the trap.

Though hard to find, this sort of trap doesn't leave much room for sophisticated mechanisms, and disabling it shouldn't be too hard... Besides, any poison that it might once have been loaded with should be long dry by now.

You turn away from the weapon and look around - startled? There's nothing here, just you and your allies. There's not much left of the zombies, but their remains are utterly still.

You strain your eyes - nothing there. What are you even looking for?

Something's there.

You don't know how you know, you don't know how you could know, but you know.

You're starting to get the feeling that this is a really bad idea. Just get out (https://forums.giantitp.com/forumdisplay.php?59-D-amp-D-3e-3-5e-d20) while you still can.

It's right in front of you.


The Ashen Haunt

https://e0.pxfuel.com/wallpapers/260/977/desktop-wallpaper-blue-dark-smoke-spirit-artwork-faces-blurred-ghost-face-blur-dark-smoke-space-ghost-thumbnail.jpg

CE Trap Haunt Domovoi Rogue 1 / Divine Bard 3 / Winterhaunt of Iborighu 8 / Divine Oracle 2 / Divine Bard +3

Elite array: 10 STR, 14 DEX, 8 CON, 12 INT, 13 WIS, 15 CHA
Racial: 8 STR, 18 DEX, 10 CON, 16 INT, 19 WIS, 21 CHA
ASIs at 4,8,12 HD in charisma, 16 HD in intelligence.
Trap Haunt removes Strength and Constitution, sets Intelligence to 3.
Final stats:
- STR
18 DEX
- CON
4 INT
19 WIS
24 CHA
Languages: Common, Sylvan, Ignan, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling



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


1
Domovoi (2 RHD)
+1
+0
+3
+3
45 (9*5): Balance +5 (5), Concentration +2.5cc (2.5), Hide +5 (5), Knowledge (Arcana) +2.5cc (2.5), Knowledge (the Planes) +2.5cc (2.5), Knowledge (Religion) +2.5cc (2.5), Move Silently +5 (5), Perform (Sing) +2cc (2), Sleight of Hand +5 (5), Tumble +1 (1)
Chosen of Iborighu
Small Fey (Fire), +2 natural armor, Slippery, Produce Flame at-will, Pyrotechnics at-will, Flaming Sphere 3/day


2
Rogue 1
+1
+0
+5
+3
11 (8+3): Balance 5, Bluff +5 (5), Concentration 2.5, Forgery +1 (1), Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 2.5, Knowledge (the Planes) +0.5cc (3), Knowledge (Religion) +0.5cc (3), Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) +3 (5), Sleight of Hand 5, Tumble 1
Piercing Cold
Sneak Attack +1d6, Mimic


3
Divine Bard 1
+1
+0
+7
+5
9 (6+3): Balance 5, Bluff +1 (6), Concentration +2.5 (5), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) +2.5 (5), Knowledge (the Planes) +1 (4), Knowledge (Religion) +1 (4), Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) +1 (6), Sleight of Hand 5, Tumble 1
-
Bardic Music, Lore Song, Countersong, Fascinate, Inspire Awe, Spellcasting


4
Divine Bard 2
+2
+0
+8
+6
9 (6+3): Balance 5, Bluff +1 (7), Concentration +2 (7), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) +2 (6), Knowledge (Religion) +2 (6), Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) +2 (8), Sleight of Hand 5, Tumble 1
-
-


5
Divine Bard 3
+3
+1
+8
+6
9 (6+3): Balance 5, Bluff +2 (9), Concentration +1 (8), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) +3 (9), Knowledge (Religion) +2 (8), Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) +1 (9), Sleight of Hand 5, Tumble 1
Craft Wondrous Item, Haunting Melody
Bonus feat


6
Winterhaunt of Iborighu 1
+3
+3
+8
+8
5 (2+3): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +2 (10), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft +3 (3), Tumble 1
-
Cloak of Winter's Chill


7
Winterhaunt of Iborighu 2
+4
+4
+8
+9
5 (2+3): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (11), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft +4 (7), Tumble 1
-
Resistance to Cold 5


8
Winterhaunt of Iborighu 3
+4
+4
+9
+9
5 (2+3): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (12), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft +4 (11), Tumble 1
Energy Substitution (Cold)
Frozen Skin


10
Trap Haunt (+2 CR)
+4
+4
+9
+9
-
-
Incorporeal Undead, cold touch, Animate Dead, Animate Trap, Chill Aura, Energy Drain, Bonded Trap, Invisibility, +4 Turn Resistance


11
Winterhaunt of Iborighu 4
+5
+5
+9
+10
1 (2-4): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (13), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft 11, Tumble 1
-
Coldstrike +1d6


12
Winterhaunt of Iborighu 5
+5
+5
+9
+10
1 (2-4): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (14), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft 11, Tumble 1
-
Resistance to Cold 10


13
Winterhaunt of Iborighu 6
+6
+6
+10
+11
1 (2-4): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (15), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft 11, Tumble 1
Skill Focus (Knowledge (Religion))
Constant Piercing Cold


14
Winterhaunt of Iborighu 7
+6
+7
+10
+11
1 (2-4): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (16), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft 11, Tumble 1
-
Cold Subtype


15
Winterhaunt of Iborighu 8
+7
+8
+10
+12
1 (2-4): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (17), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft 11, Tumble 1
-
Coldstrike +2d6


16
Divine Oracle 1
+7
+8
+10
+14
1 (2-4): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (18), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft 11, Tumble 1
Lord of the Uttercold
Oracle Domain, Scry Bonus


17
Divine Oracle 2
+8
+8
+10
+15
1 (2-3): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (19), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft 11, Tumble 1
-
Prescient Sense, Trap Sense +1


18
Divine Bard 4
+9
+8
+11
+16
3 (6-3): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (20), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) +2 (11), Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft 11, Tumble 1
-
-


19
Divine Bard 5
+9
+8
+11
+16
3 (6-3): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (21), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) +2 (13), Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft 11, Tumble 1
Sudden Maximize
-


20
Divine Bard 6
+10
+8
+12
+17
3 (6-3): Balance 5, Bluff 9, Concentration +1 (22), Forgery 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Perform (Sing) +2 (15), Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft 11, Tumble 1
-
Suggestion




Spells per Day


CR
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th


3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-


4
3
2
-
-
-
-
-


5
3
3
-
-
-
-
-


6
3
4
2
-
-
-
-


7
3
5
3
-
-
-
-


8
3
5
4
-
-
-
-


11
3
5
4
1
-
-
-


12
3
5
5
2
-
-
-


13
3
5
5
4
-
-
-


14
3
5
5
4
1
-
-


15
3
5
5
5
2
-
-


16
3
5
5
5
3
-
-


17
3
5
5
5
3
1
-


18
4
5
5
5
4
2
-


19
4
6
5
5
4
3
-


20
4
6
6
5
4
3
1



Spells Known (CR learned):
The spells that are swapped out at caster level 8 and 11 have been struck through. The replacements has been italicized.

Cantrips: Prestidigitation (3), Mage Hand (3), Detect Magic (3), Ghostharp (3), Easy Math (5), Mending (7)
1st-level: Charm Person (4), Cheat (4), Alibi (5), Instant of Power (7), Secret Weapon (12), Obscure Object (15), Improvisation (20)
2nd-level: Ice Darts (7), Harmonize (7), Sound Burst (8), Desecrate (11)
3rd-level: Sonic Shield (11), Infernal Threnody (11), Dirge of Discord (12), Creaking Cacophony (14)
4th-level: Thunder Field (14), Dimension Door (14), Dominate Person (15), Ray Deflection (17)
5th-level: Discordant Malediction (17), Commune (17), Wail of Doom (18), Cacaphonic Burst (20)
6th-level: Irresistible Dance (20), Unhallow (20)



The long winters of the far north spawn many fireside tales: some false, some exaggerated, and some unbelievable but true. In the third category we find the stories about the domovoi; these small, soot-covered men, said to lurk in attics and beneath floorboards, feeding themselves with sticks and vermin. In some tales, they reward their hosts' piety and kindness, and keep the hearth burning even as the firewood runs out. In others, they punish sloth and selfishness. Always, they are humble and dedicated; always their greatest wish is to tend to the home's fires.

But would you take joy in such an existence? Serving humans from the shadows, watching them dine on game and wine while you must contend yourselves with leftovers and rats? Would you tolerate such a life, where your endless servitude is not even rewarded with recognition? Most Domovoi, however impossibly, do.

The young lad called Vadim Ashguard, born to a small family that inhabited a coal shed, did not. Bitterness grew and grew - against the humans for taking without giving back, against his family for letting themselves be exploited, against the fire for monopolizing their attention. And so he left for the city, determined to make something of himself, to earn through wit and scrap all that had been denied to his kind.

So great was his resentment that he even took up worship of the dark god Iborighu, god of spiteful greed and life-ending frost. All the fire, all the toil, all the things his people had given the humans without even a kind word in return - he'd take it all back, more besides - and he'd worship any god that sought to do the same!

And take he did. Known now as the Wisp, Vadim quickly made a name for himself as a petty thief and conman. But fate, and his god, had greater things for him in store...

Domovoi Rogue 1 / Divine Bard 3

At low levels, Vadim/the Wisp is a social encounter first and foremost. A solid bluff skill, great charisma, and 2/day Lore Song let him reliably roll very high on social skill checks, and spells like Charm Person pick up where mundane words won't cut it anymore. Alibi is a very fun spell that gives its target a false memory of having met you (great for a conman!) and Cheat can con some PCs out of their money in a nearly undetectable fashion.

Note that Vadim has taken the rogue ACF that grants 1/day Disguise Self - without components! Being able to run around a corner and quietly assume the appearance of a passed-out halfling drunk, or a lost child, or an innocent gnomish minstrel, is very useful to anyone trying to shake pursuers. Our language choices are taken to help enable such strategies.

The Wisp's main tactics in a fight are to not seem part of it at all. While the PCs are dealing with some common thugs, they'll suddenly find themselves plagued by wall-mounted torches spewing noxious smoke, or flaming spheres appearing from nowhere, or an unexpected blast of numbing cold (Chosen of Iborighu's gaze attack, which is actually pretty strong at low levels). All of which is coming from the disguised Wisp, who to the naked eye seems like an innocent bystander: the PCs will have to unmask him before they can fight him!

Once that happens, the ranged touch attacks offered by Produce Flame, combined with any ongoing Flaming Sphere, makes for a decent amount of fire damage per round. If allowed the chance to flank, two claw attacks that both receive sneak attack can hit surprisingly hard. Lastly, if your table allows the Inspire Awe + Haunting Melody combo (legal by RAW, but probably not intended to be), the Wisp can force a round of saves vs frightened and hopefully escape in the chaos.

Sample campaign usage: The PCs first run into the Wisp when they enter town, where they find him confronted by a guard. A break-in last night matches the Wisp's modus operandi, but the domovoi (falsely) swears up and down that he wasn't even in town yesterday. Suddenly, the party's dimmest-looking character finds themselves targeted with Alibi, ideally making them back up the domovoi's cover story while also informing your players (and the other PCs) that something strange is going on here. Nevertheless, in the confusion the rogue is either allowed to leave, or simply sneaks away, and the event can serve as a springboard for further involvement with the guards and criminals of the town.

Over the course of the next few levels, the players keep running into the never-do-well. Perhaps he's trying to pull a con, perhaps he's pickpocketing passerby or cheating at games of chance, or maybe one of the town's criminal gangs has recruited him as muscle for their shakedowns (the whole "Would be a shame if anything happened" speech gets really enhanced if you bring along a guy with innate fire powers). NPCs might call on the PCs to help in such situations, or the PCs might be his targets themselves. At any rate, even if the Wisp is sent to prison (he's careful never to commit a crime that would warrant execution or exile), his charms and criminal connections tend to get him out before long, allowing him to return and bother the party another day. Though selfish, amoral, and more than willing to employ unethical methods, Vadim is hardly a committed champion of evil at this level, but that's about to change.


Four adventurers, hands and feet bound, knelt on the cold marble floor of the shrine. A tall, thin man stood before them, but he didn't spare them a glance; his pale eyes were only on the small fey kneeling before him.

"Rise, brother Wisp. Take this blade to slay the interlopers, and fulfill your duty to Iborhigu. Do this, and you shall become a true priest of the faith."

The domovoi leapt to his feet, a savage grin adorning his bearded face. With greedy hands, he grasped the hilt offered to him, turned, took a step towards the prisoners. Already he was raising the weapon, already his grip tighte-

snikt!

The sacrificial blade clattered to the ground. Uncomprehending, the domovoi stood there, staring at a small red point in the middle of his palm, at the blackening veins in his hand, and then at nothing at all. With a dull thud, he collapsed, spasmed twice, and died.

The frost-priest watched with a cruel smile, then walked over to the adventurers. The body was in his way, but a quick kick remedied that - the corpse skidded over the icy floor and came to a stop against the wall, a second kick sent the sword sliding after its victim. The priest stared at it for a second, spoke some words, his voice quiet and cold.

"Disgusting thing, really. Spawn of fire, spirit of hearth - can't believe it thought we'd allow it into the priesthood."

Then his face softened again, he turned to face his captives, hands outstretched, smiling a wall of bright white teeth.

"As for you... consider this a peace offering. I believe this particular individual has been a thorn in your side for some time? And look, whatever has made you fight us so far... I promise you we're not all bad. We've recently had a position open up, and we have our ways to ensure compliance - are you sure you'd not rather escape certain death, and join the winning team? First one to take up the offer only."

The party didn't respond. Their leader, a woman in plate armor, muttered a curse under her breath.

"Ah well, a pity; either way little of value has been lost. Guards! Put them in the dungeon - we'll see if we can get any ransom out of those would-be heroes before we sacrifice them. And while you're at it, someone clean up the refuse by the wall!"

Trap Haunt Domovoi Rogue 1 / Divine Bard 3 / Winterhaunt of Iborighu 3

Becoming undead is quite the power boost for the little fey bard. You now enjoy charisma to AC and concentration checks, traded in your two claws for cold-damage touch attacks (which get charisma to damage and drain a level each), and can be permanently invisible (you also have a cold aura, but activating it negates your invisibility and 1d6 damage isn't worth that hassle). Most importantly, anyone you kill can be animated for free as a full-round action; get a bunch of skeletons and watch them beat face while you debuff the heroes using the same spells that've been working fine for you so far. Your racial Pyrotechnics being at-will is really helpful here: just have one skeleton hang back carrying a torch, turn it into a smoke cloud every few minutes, then re-light it and repeat. If you're willing to give away that there's an invisible caster, Sound Burst is a pretty nasty AoE save-or-suck that your undead are immune to, otherwise you can just hang around invisibly and snipe AoOs.

Oh, also, you're immortal. If you get slain you return 'at full strength' 2d6 rounds later, and the only way to stop that from happening is by destroying the trap that killed you in the first place. The downside is that you (and your zombies) cannot move more than 30 feet from that spot... but who said that the trap has to be stationary? The Book of Vile Darkness includes extensive rules for working traps into armor or weapons, so Vadim happens to die to a trapped weapon that can then simply be given to a skeleton to carry around.

(if this seems cheesy: the Trap Haunt description specifically says that the trap can be moved; most traps are just too bulky for that to be a viable combat strategy)

Surviving encounters is easy with your endless revival. Even if the PCs slay every undead you got, they're unlikely to painstakingly inspect the bodies - at most they'll poke around to figure out what that weird source of smoke and fear was, find nothing, and leave, allowing you to slowly Mage Hand your weapon away until you reach a new body to kill. Alternatively, strap the weapon to a mobile undead (zombie dragon wyrmlings keep their high fly speeds and still have okay maneuverability, burrowers aren't hard to get by either) and rely on it to cart you to safety once those hordes start looking thin.

Winterhaunt offers some minor perks while we're still fleshy: +2 on all charisma-based checks is useful to Vadim's social side, cold resistance helps mitigate our fire subtype's weakness, and a +2 increase to natural armor is always welcome. Still, the real reason we're in the class is yet to come.

Sample campaign usage: The Wisp disappears for a time: once returned, he is a proper initiate of the cult of iborhigu, more ruthless and brazen than ever and ready to serve his god in any way asked of him... only for his new masters to betray him and imprison his soul. The PCs may be present for this moment, or slowly piece it together afterwards (finding Vadim's body while infiltrating a cult compound might be an effective twist if his devotion to the cult was foreshadowed beforehand, and helps emphasize the evil and threachery of the cult leaders). Do not immediately after reveal that Vadim has returned as trap haunt, but do introduce one or two fights with bands of zombies that fight without a clear controller present. If the PCs don't catch on something strange is going on, that's fine; there's plenty of time for that.



Boris Cryophorus, Head Priest of the Cult of Iborhigu, winced a little behind his gag. A short distance away, the four damnable adventurers that had subdued him were rifling through his minions' possessions, excitedly chattering about an enchanted mace here, a potion there. Such trifles overjoyed them: disgusting. They could at least save their excitement for the good stuff, which Boris had carefully kept to himself over the years.

But indignation wasn't the only thing on the archpriest's mind. The moment that wizard's spell had shut down his muscles and the thief had tied him up, he'd started formulating a plan. He wasn't able to cast in this predicament, but he need not be; already his many undead minions were converging on this position, called by his mental commands. All he'd need to do was stay alive for an hour or so and he'd be as good as freed again. And those same undead minions formed a perfect dead man's switch: once he shared the nature of the cult's newly acquired asset - the haunt once known as Ashguard, these 'heroes' would understand that freeing it from his control would be a terrible mistake.

Ah, that rogue was strolling over: excellent. Time, then, for their subtle game of verbal swordplay to commence, time for them to face the terrible truth that they needed him alive for now, for long enough that his escape would be assured.

"Hey buddy, how's that paralysis treating ya?"

An inane remark, a question he couldn't even answer, great. But Boris supposed that every passing second only rendered his ultimate triumph more guaranteed. These fools weren't aware of the frigid death that was, even now, rushing to meet them, ignorant of their inevitable doom. He'd reanimate their bodies, of course, maybe make them part of the temple waitstaff, it seemed like a fitt-

...the rogue had started talking again. Boris tuned in mid-sentence.

"-igure I can't exactly go and torture it outta you, right? It's just much too unreliable, and 'morally unacceptable' or whatever Alicia calls that stuff. So that leaves interrogation as the only way to figure out what you're up to. Except I'm always a bit shaky about untying casters, leaves me nervous about what they might be able to pull. We all know that you magic folk can do all sorts of things without warning, right? Probably even while tied up. They wouldn't have sent me here to stand watch if they didn't consider that possible."

Boris wasn't sure he liked where this was going.

"So yeah, I really don't want to have a face-to-face talk with ya. But guess what? I don't think we need to! Priest-man knows a spell that lets him talk to corpses, and from what I can tell they speak the truth just fine. Worst case, he can't cast it until tomorrow, but someone's here gotta be the cautious one, y'know?"

Thaaaat was a knife. That little guttersnipe was brandishing a knife at him. This was bad.

"So yeah, sorry about this I guess, but in my defense you killed, like, a lot of people, so I guess this is pretty deserved actually."

No no no no n-

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

"STILL can't believe you just killed him! I'm never letting you watch prisoners again!"

"You JUST told me that it's fine and we can just ask his corpse all that complicated religious stuff! Excuse me for getting a little antsy when the guy who froze off my skin starts mumbling weird stuff behind his gag!"

"Ah me lad, yer skin was a trifle ta heal, quiet yer whinin'."

"It's not about what does or doesn't make you 'antsy', Nico! It's about responsibility! It's abou-"

"Why'd you stop talking?

"Is anyone else getting chills all of a sudden?"

Trap Haunt Domovoi Rogue 1 / Divine Bard 3 / Winterhaunt of Iborighu 8

Winterhaunt gives us the Cold subtype, making us one of those (Cold, Fire) creatures that enjoys immunity to two common types of energy damage. It also gives us Coldstrike, which adds +3d6 cold damage to all our spells, spell-likes, and supernatural abilities that deal cold damage in the first place. Like, say, our two touch attacks. Or our aura of cold. Or all those spells we can energy substitute, like Sound Burst (which also stuns), or Sonic Shield (which applies every time someone hits you and pushes them away), or Thunder Field (which also knocks prone). And all those spells automatically overcome resistance to cold and are only halved by most immunities, thanks to Constant Piercing Cold.

...oh, and we can cast Cold Substituted Creaking Cacophony (Howling Hypothermia?) to no-save give everyone in a huge spread vulnerability to cold damage. That's pretty nifty too.

On the topic of non-cold spells, Dirge of Discord applies nasty debuffs and gives us yet another way to reduce dexterity, making all those clerics rue the day they decided to dump that stat, Dimension Door gives us an escape route that actually lets us take items and zombies along, Infernal Threnody boosts our caster level (and that of any divine allies we might have) and makes our undead harder to turn, and Desecrate is a free +2 HP/HD for every undead we raise plus a ton of little buffs if we can prepare the battlefield with it.

Sample campaign usage: As the cult of iborhigu comes to take up a larger and larger role in the campaign, the PCs end up slaying the local high priest. For one moment, it seems like the threat from the cult has finally been ended... until the Ashen Haunt appears, now uncontrolled by any mortal and only steered by the malicious will of Iborhigu himself. The PCs, likely low on resources from the previous fight, will be forced to flee and regroup, while the Haunt begins the process of taking over the remnants of the cult. It quickly acquires new bases of operation, corpses to rise, and doomsday rituals to pursue, unconstrained by mortal concerns like the former leadership was.

The next segment of the campaign is focused on stopping the cult's new iteration, but also on figuring out just what ghastly thing leads them now. Even if the PCs identify their adversary as a trap haunt, they'll need to square that with its apparent mobility, and they'll still have to figure out its mortal identity (which, per the variant rules on page 12 of Libris Mortis, might be able to stir the spectre's memories and briefly stop its assaults).

Combat takes a bit of a diferent form again: the Haunt will use its Disguise Self to take the form of a lich, vampire, or humanoid priest and initially fight from the back rows as a regular caster would. Once the PCs break through the line of zombies, it will simply walk into the floor or wall (thus providing proof that it's not corporeal and breaking the glamer) and switch to fighting as a skirmishing caster (with the cold aura) and finally as a sneaky invisible sneak attacker.


"Alright team, this is it, the final battle! We know what we're dealing with and we know how to stop it. You all know what to do: Bromnar?"

"Healin' and turnin', lass. Might smash a few undead with me hammer if the opportunity knocks."

"Exactly. Melchior?"

"I shall endeavor to locate the accursed receptacle that shackles our target's animating force and proceed to destroy its carrier with extreme prejudice. I will then ensure our procurement specialist safe passage to its remains."

"Nico?"

"Sneak around the edge of the room, then when Mel dusts the right skellie I just zip in, snatch the sword away, and... okay so you're sure that'll work, right?"

"We know these undead need to stay within thirty feet of the needle trap, and we know the trap's in the sword. Once you throw that sword across the room you'll be safer than us, because we still have to deal with a spectre while all the skeletons near you are just going to freeze up."

"Eyyyy! ...what, no pun intended?"

"...we're all set then. Kicking down the door in three, two, one..."

The heavy stone doors flew open, cracking the ice walls besides them, and revealing to the adventurers the site of their final battle; the vast and cavernous temple-room where a horrible ritual was already ongoing.

They hesitated for a brief moment.

What gave them pause, in that moment, wasn't the blast of bone-chilling cold that issued forth from the temple beyond. It wasn't the deafening wind, inexplicably howling around the subterranean chamber, drowning out all words that were not Iborighu's. It wasn't even the enormous skeletal dragons, flanking the throne of blue ice that dominated the room, or the legion of chanting zombies arranged before it, nor was it the blue-tinged apparition floating above the throne, this time wearing no shape but its true one.

No, it was the terrible sight of countless identical, indistinguishable scabbards, one strapped to every zombie's belt.


Trap Haunt Domovoi Rogue 1 / Divine Bard 6 / Winterhaunt of Iborighu 8 / Divine Oracle 2

We round the build out with more levels of Divine Bard, giving us a Suggestion ability (pretty meh compared to the domination spells we already have, but it saves us a spell slot, the DC is going to be high and it's harder to notice) and more skill ranks than we've had in a while. Divine Oracle grans us evasion, which is nice on a build forced to cluster with all its minions. Commune and Unhallow play up our divine theme, and Ray Deflection is there in case Disintegrate affects incorporeals at your table.

Lord of the Uttercold converts half of our cold damage to negative energy, further providing us with a way to get around cold immunity. A creature that'd normally expect to take nothing from a blast of frost is now taking 75%, and if we can get our hands on some cold-subtype skeletons (I recommend white dragons) they take no damage and are healed for 50% of the damage roll (we, at any rate, are always so healed). A blasting spell like Cacaphonic Burst isn't just hurting all our foes, it helps us keep ourselves and our undead healthy.

But the main combo is yet to come, and it's a doozy. At the core of it lies Discordant Malediction, a very mediocre debuff that tries to disrupt enemy casting by making its target take a bit of sonic damage every time they cast a spell with a verbal component.

Well, its target, and everyone standing within ten feet.

And it doesn't offer anyone a save.

And it lasts 24 hours.

And it can be energy substituted to cold, which we're immune to, so our concentration check becomes trivial to make.

Well, cold + negative, thanks to Uttercold, so it heals cold-subtype undead like all our blasting does.

And its effect straightforwardly counts as dealing cold damage with a spell of ours, so we add coldstrike.

And Sudden Maximize affects all variable numeric effects, doesn't matter how often they are rolled throughout the spell's duration, so that's a nice effect to put on there too.

We keep ourselves permanently under the effect of a Sudden Maximized Piercing Cold Uttercold Discordant Malediction, so every time we cast a spell with a verbal component, we blast everyone near ourselves with 3d6+12 piercing cold damage (average 22.5) while healing our skeletons. This happens twice a round: we got plenty of swift and immediate action spells to cast (I recommend Instant of Power, it's only 1st-level and gives a very nice +4 to your next save or attack roll). High-level PCs will probably have HP totals in the neighbourhood of 200 at worst, so 45 cold damage on top of your normal actions is very significant. 4d6 aura + 18d6 from a coldstrike cacophonic burst + 6d6+24 from this averages 122 damage; enough to kill full casters, leave 20th-level necropolitans with a sliver, and seriously dent even the bulkiest martial... unless they're in the area of your Creaking Cacophony, in which case the party better have a good bulk-discount resurrection plan.

Sample campaign usage: The big finisher fight. By this time, the PCs understand the nature of what they're facing and know how to put the Haunt to rest: but the clock is ticking, and if the Haunt is not stopped then [suitably apocalyptic end-game thing] will come about! In an unhallowed temple, guarded by skeletal white dragons, dominated cleric minions, and hordes of disposable zombies, the PCs must find the haunted trap, smash it, and then deal with their adversary one last time... or die in the attempt.

At this point, emphasize how much the original personality has been subsumed by Iborhigu: castings of Commune and similar spells have slowly eroded what little remained of Vadim's decision-making ability, and now the haunt is possessed by a strange sort of neurosis, aware of just how much smarter its god is and very desperate to enact its master's will adequately.


Obviously, you can go pretty crazy with the weapon that houses the trap our villain is bound to. Adamantine gives it crazy hardness, while something like blue ice is less powerful but more thematic. Augment Object is a Stronghold Builder's Guidebook spell that will double hardness and HP for days/level and takes only a 5th-level cleric or wizard to cast. Hardening is less potent but lasts permanently. Any of these are plausibly obtainable from cleric servants. Directly available from the bard list is Secret Weapon, to conceal the weapon on a zombie or skeleton rather than leave it out in the open: especially fun if you're also spreading decoys around!

That said, I recommend keeping the blade itself nonmagical - partially so that Mage Hand can be used to move it when needed, but also because the PCs are unlikely to leave nonmagical loot behind, while few parties are thorough enough to relieve NPCs of their nonmagical weapons.

Security through obscurity is your main defense - even if the party identifies Vadim as a trap haunt, they'll still have to figure out just how he isn't near an obvious trap, and where that trap ends up being located. Smashing the actual hilt is always going to be easier than figuring out that it's what they should be targeting.

In Faerun-based campaigns, a good fit for the implied setting (bustling town in cold climate) is Neverwinter, and a long-term goal of the Cult of Iborighu could be to extinguish the volcanic source that heats the city. Auril could be a good stand-in for Iborighu if you're unwilling to introduce new deities into the cosmology.

In Eberron, few outright cold climates exist on Khorvaie, but the interconnected nature of the world make it easy to cast Vadim as a distant migrant from the northern Lhazaar islands, Sarlona, or Xen'Drik; this also allows the city to lie anywhere from Karrnath to Stormreach. Alternatively, Vadim might simply hail from a mountainous, rather than northern, climate; the Ironroot Mountains would make for a fine location. The cult of Iborighu can be reworked as an organization that seeks to control and spread manifest zones of Risia, and the climax of the campaign could deal with the threat of such a zone being created over a major population center.

Race and classes:
Domovoi - Frostburn
Trap haunt - Dragon Compendium

Mimic - Exemplars of Evil
Divine Bard - Unearthed Arcana
Lore Song - Dungeonscape
Inspire Awe - Player's Handbook II
Bonus Feat Bard - Eberron Campaign Setting
Winterhaunt of Iborighu - Frostburn
Divine Oracle - Complete Divine

Feats:
Chosen of Iborighu - Frostburn
Haunting Melody - Heroes of Horror
Piercing Cold - Frostburn
Energy Substitution - Complete Arcane
Lord of the Uttercold - Complete Arcane
Sudden Maximize - Complete Arcane

Spells:
Ghostharp - Spell Compendium
Easy Math - Sound and Silence
Cheat - Spell Compendium
Alibi - Exemplars of Evil
Secret Weapon - Cityscape
Improvisation - Spell Compendium
Ice Darts - Frostburn
Harmonize - Races of Stone
Sonic Shield - Player's Handbook II
Infernal Threnody - Spell Compendium
Dirge of Discord - Spell Compendium
Ray Deflection - Spell Compendium
Wail of Doom - Spell Compendium
Cacophonic Burst - Spell Compendium
Discordant Malediction - Complete Mage
Instant of Power - The Forge of War
Creaking Cacophony - Spell Compendium
Thunder Field - PHB II

[H_H_F_F]

Should've been blink turtles.

Can you imagine the frustation of having at will Polymorph Any Object, from ECL7 onward, and NOT be allowed to use it on yourself?

Well, isn't an obvious conclusion for this kind of thought "I guess I'll get minions then"

Mini story blurb: Party gets excited about getting "PAO and grafts basically for free" by exploiting one naive Silthilar hive-mind. and so there are CONSEGUENCES!
Said Silthilar, going down the rabbit hole of EEEEVIL, decides that he doens't really really need volunteers for his experementations, because wouldn't you know it, class-granted companions are "always loyal"!

And what better than the good old teleporting doggos, found, of course, in that dungeon over yonder we feel compelled to explore for mysterious qualification reasons! Took a whole week and a whole meat to befriend them! Easy do when you can Fly-to-Whale!

CE Silthilar, Racial hit Die 9 / Wizard 1 / Totemist 2 / Beast Heart Adept 10
Str 1 (10 -10 racial), Dex 24 (14 +10 racial), Con 24 (15 +6 racial +3 level), Int 23 (13 +10 racial), Wis 10 (8 +2 racial), Cha 18 (12 +6 racial)

HP 8+1d4+20d8 + 154 (254) naked

AC about 25 naked, but immune to weapon damage
Saves +20 fort +18 reflex +22 will naked, but immune to targeted spells

Full attack 8x natural attacks at about +24/+19 attack bonus, each dealing paltry 1d4 damage, but with a DC 30 rider dealing 1d4 STR or DEX or CON damage (chosen at random)

ACCOMPANIED BY: A free-action teleport GOON SQUAD of 4 lovable critters, each ready to RIP FACE!
HD/CRClassBase Attack BonusFort SaveReflex SaveWill SaveSkillsFeatsClass Features1/-Racial Hit Die 1+0+0+0+232: {+4} Concentration: 4; {+4} Diplomacy: 4; {+4} heal: 4; {+4} Know(Arcana): 4; {+4} Know(Dungeon): 4; {+4} Listen: 4; {+4} Sense Motive: 4; {+4} Spot: 4; Ability Focus(Infestation), Graft Flesh2/-Racial Hit Die 2+1+0+0+38: {+1} Concentration: 5; {+1} Diplomacy: 5; {+1} heal: 5; {+1} Know(Arcana): 5; {+1} Know(Dungeon): 5; {+1} Listen: 5; {+1} Sense Motive: 5; {+1} Spot: 5; 3/-Racial Hit Die 3+2+1+1+38: {+1} Concentration: 6; {+1} Diplomacy: 6; {+1} heal: 6; {+1} Know(Arcana): 6; {+1} Know(Dungeon): 6; {+1} Listen: 6; {+1} Sense Motive: 6; {+1} Spot: 6; Weapon Finesse4/-Racial Hit Die 4+3+1+1+48: {+1} Concentration: 7; {+1} Diplomacy: 7; {+1} heal: 7; {+1} Know(Arcana): 7; {+1} Know(Dungeon): 7; {+1} Listen: 7; {+1} Sense Motive: 7; {+1} Spot: 7; 5/-Racial Hit Die 5+3+1+1+48: {+1} Concentration: 8; {+1} Diplomacy: 8; {+1} heal: 8; {+1} Know(Arcana): 8; {+1} Know(Dungeon): 8; {+1} Listen: 8; {+1} Sense Motive: 8; {+1} Spot: 8; 6/-Racial Hit Die 6+4+2+2+58: {+1} Concentration: 9; {+1} Diplomacy: 9; {+1} heal: 9; {+1} Know(Arcana): 9; {+1} Know(Dungeon): 9; {+1} Listen: 9; {+1} Sense Motive: 9; {+1} Spot: 9; Magical Artisan(Graft Flesh) 7/-Racial Hit Die 7+5+2+2+58: {+1} Concentration: 10; {+1} Diplomacy: 10; {+1} heal: 10; {+1} Know(Arcana): 10; {+1} Know(Dungeon): 10; {+1} Listen: 10; {+1} Sense Motive: 10; {+1} Spot: 10; 8/-Racial Hit Die 8+6/+1+2+2+68: {+1} Concentration: 11; {+1} Diplomacy: 11; {+1} heal: 11; {+1} Know(Arcana): 11; {+1} Know(Dungeon): 11; {+1} Listen: 11; {+1} Sense Motive: 11; {+1} Spot: 11; 9/7Racial Hit Die 9+6/+1+3+3+68: {+1} Concentration: 12; {+1} Diplomacy: 12; {+1} heal: 12; {+1} Know(Arcana): 12; {+1} Know(Dungeon): 12; {+1} Listen: 12; {+1} Sense Motive: 12; {+1} Spot: 12; Extraordinary Artisan 10/8Wizard 1+6/+1+3+3+88: {+1} Concentration: 13; {+5} Craft(Grafts): 5; Diplomacy: 12; heal: 12; Know(Arcana): 12; Know(Dungeon): 12; {+1} Know(Nature): 1; {+1} Know(Planes): 1; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; Combat ReflexesSummon Familiar, Bonus Fighter Feat11/9Totemist 1+6/+1+5+5+810: {+1} Concentration: 14; {+3} Craft(Grafts): 8; Diplomacy: 12; {+4} handle Animal: 4; heal: 12; Know(Arcana): 12; Know(Dungeon): 12; {+1} Know(Nature): 2; {+1} Know(Planes): 2; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; Wild Empathy, Illiteracy12/10Totemist 2+7/+2+6+6+810: {+1} Concentration: 15; {+3} Craft(Grafts): 11; Diplomacy: 12; {+4} handle Animal: 8; heal: 12; Know(Arcana): 12; Know(Dungeon): 12; {+1} Know(Nature): 3; {+1} Know(Planes): 3; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; Animal AffinityTotem Chakra Bind (+1 Capacity)13/11Beast Heart Adept 1+8/3+8+6+1010: {+1} Concentration: 16; {+5} Craft(Grafts): 16; Diplomacy: 12; handle Animal: 8; heal: 12; Know(Arcana): 12; Know(Dungeon): 12; {+2} Know(Nature): 5; {+2} Know(Planes): 5; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; Monstrous Companion, Monster Empathy, Monster Handler14/12Beast Heart Adept 2+9/+4+9+6+1110: {+1} Concentration: 17; {+1} Craft(Grafts): 17; Diplomacy: 12; handle Animal: 8; heal: 12; Know(Arcana): 12; Know(Dungeon): 12; {+4} Know(Nature): 9; {+4} Know(Planes): 9; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; Monster Lore15/13Beast Heart Adept 3+10/+5+9+7+1210: {+1} Concentration: 18; {+1} Craft(Grafts): 18; Diplomacy: 12; {+4} handle Animal: 12; heal: 12; Know(Arcana): 12; Know(Dungeon): 12; {+2} Know(Nature): 11; {+2} Know(Planes): 11; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; EnduranceAlternate Monstrous Companion16/14Beast Heart Adept 4+11/+6/+1+10+7+1210: {+1} Concentration: 19; {+1} Craft(Grafts): 19; {+1} Diplomacy: 13; {+1} handle Animal: 13; heal: 12; {+1} Know(Arcana): 13; {+1} Know(Dungeon): 13; {+2} Know(Nature): 13; {+2} Know(Planes): 13; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; Monstrous Flank17/15Beast Heart Adept 5+12/+7/+2+10+7+1310: {+1} Concentration: 20; {+1} Craft(Grafts): 20; Diplomacy: 13; handle Animal: 13; heal: 12; {+2} Know(Arcana): 15; {+2} Know(Dungeon): 15; {+2} Know(Nature): 15; {+2} Know(Planes): 15; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; Extra Monstrous Companion18/16Beast Heart Adept 6+13/+8/+3+11+8+1310: {+1} Concentration: 21; {+1} Craft(Grafts): 21; Diplomacy: 13; handle Animal: 13; heal: 12; {+2} Know(Arcana): 17; {+2} Know(Dungeon): 17; {+2} Know(Nature): 17; {+2} Know(Planes): 17; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; Strong Stomach 19/17Beast Heart Adept 7+14/+9/+4+11+8+1410: {+1} Concentration: 22; {+1} Craft(Grafts): 22; Diplomacy: 13; handle Animal: 13; heal: 12; {+2} Know(Arcana): 19; {+2} Know(Dungeon): 19; {+2} Know(Nature): 19; {+2} Know(Planes): 19; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; Monstrous Tactics20/18Beast Heart Adept 8+15/+10/+5+12+8+1410: {+1} Concentration: 23; {+1} Craft(Grafts): 23; Diplomacy: 13; handle Animal: 13; heal: 12; {+2} Know(Arcana): 21; {+2} Know(Dungeon): 21; {+2} Know(Nature): 21; {+2} Know(Planes): 21; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; 21/19Beast Heart Adept 9+16/+11/+6/+1+12+9+1510: {+1} Concentration: 24; {+1} Craft(Grafts): 24; Diplomacy: 13; handle Animal: 13; heal: 12; {+2} Know(Arcana): 23; {+2} Know(Dungeon): 23; {+2} Know(Nature): 23; {+2} Know(Planes): 23; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; Steadfast DeterminationExtra Monstrous Companion22/20Beast Heart Adept 10+17/+12/+7/+2+13+9+1510: {+1} Concentration: 25; {+1} Craft(Grafts): 25; Diplomacy: 13; handle Animal: 13; heal: 12; {+2} Know(Arcana): 25; {+2} Know(Dungeon): 25; {+2} Know(Nature): 25; {+2} Know(Planes): 25; Listen: 12; Sense Motive: 12; Spot: 12; Monstrous Team-up
Omitting cantrips and assuming no items whatsoever other than the spellbook, as a generalist wizard we'll have 3 first level slots thorough our career.
Putting aside "everyday utility" during downtime, for party engagement days I suggest: 3x nerveskitter, From the Spell Compendium, immediate action +5 to an ally initiative check
and that's about all really, wizard is there for the familiar!, First level wizard spells aren't going to make much of a difference, especially when you can't even cast the interesting one on yourself, since you're immune to targeted spells

Soulmelds, we can shape 3 soulmelds, we have 2 essentia, and one totem bind
We bind Girallon Arms to our totem chakra, giving us 4 more claw attacks, a irrelevant bonus to grapple, and investing essentia grants enhancement bonus

We shape two of the following, depending on what we suspect/know the player casters are bringing to the fight, almost surely phoenix belt
phoenix belt, granting an effect rougly equivalent to endure elements (hot weather only), investing essentia grants resistance to fire damage (5*essentia invested)
Frost helm, granting an effect rougly equivalent to endure elements (cold weather only), investing essentia grants resistance to cold damage (5*essentia invested)
Behir Gorget, granting a Irrelevant bonus to better resist things we are immune to, but investing essentia grants resistance to electricity damage (5*essentia invested)

Silthalar, Creature from Lords of Madness Fine Aberration (shapechanger, swarm), 9 Racial Hit Die, baseline CR 7
D8 Hit Die, medium BAB, poor/poor/good saves, 2+INT skill points
Darkvision 60ft, Low-light vision, 20ft land speed, 40ft perfect manouverability fly speed
Immune to critical hits, flanking, weapon damage, diseases, grapples, trips, bull rushes, targeted spells, aging
+50% damage from area-of-effect attacks/spells, vulnerable to winds effects
Racial adjustment -10 STR, +10 DEX, +6 CON, +10 INT, +2 WIS, +6 CHA
Personal extradimensional pocket, and Graft Flesh as a bonus feat
Coaelesce: can switch from swarm form to a medium aberration form that has 4 manipulators/natural attacks. set STR to 10, loses size bonus but gain natural armor 8, retains swarm immunities but lose swarm attack/distraction.
Class features can only be used while coalesced. Taking damage while coalesced forces a DC 10+damage concentration check or revert to swarm form and be nauseated for 1d4 round
Swarm attack: automatic damage to creatures in the same square when in swarm form
Distraction: DC 10+1/2HD+CON or nauseated 1 round when dealing damage with swarm attack
Infection: swarm and claw/natural attacks causes 1d4 point of (randomly chosen) STR/DEX/CON damage, DC 10+1/2HD+CON
Warp Flesh: Full round action that provokes for DC 10+1/2HD+CON at will special attack that emulates Polymorph Any Object, but can only trasform living to living, usable only in swarm form
Wizard, base class from the player's Handbook D4 Hit Die, poor BAB, poor/poor/good saves, 2+INT skill points
Summon familiar, baseline it's a weasel for +2 to reflex saves
Bonus fighter feat, ACF from Unearthed Arcana, trades scribe scroll for one bonus fighter feat
no School specialization taken
Totemist, base class from Magic of Incarnum D8 Hit Die, medium BAB, good/good/poor saves, 4+INT skill points
Wild Empathy: can use diplomacy against Girallons with a +4 bonus
Illiteracy: fluff that does nothing
Totem Chakra bind: Can bind a soulmeld to the totem chakra
Beast Heart Adept, Prestige class from Dungeonscape Prerequisites Animal Affinity feat, ranks 8 Handle Animals 4 Know(Arcana) 4 Know(Dungeons), spend at least a week in a dungeon complex
D8 Hit Die, good BAB, good/poor/good saves, 4+INT skill points
Monstrous Companion: Gain something similar to a druid animal companion, except the list is of aberrations and magical beasts
Monster Empathy: Can use Diplomacy against magical beast, with a LEVEL bonus, regardless of intelligence score. Can also be used against 1-2 INT animals/aberrations, but at a -4 malus
Monster Handler: Can use Handle animals against 1-2INT magical beast/aberrations without penalties
Monster Lore:Can make a special LEVEL+INT knowledge check to identify living creatures, even untrained, separated from normal knowledge checks
Alternate Monstrous Companion: expanded list of possible companions, but at a lower HD advancement
Monstrous Flank: When flanking with a monstrous companion, you both gain an untyped +2 to attack and damage
Extra Monstrous Companion: gain a 2nd/3rd Monstrous Companion, but at LEVEL-4 and LEVEL-8 advancement
Monstrous Tactics: once per target per round, when a monstrous companion strikes an opponent, that opponent provokes an attack of opportunity from you.
Monstrous Team-up: All your allies gain the benefit of Monstrous Tactics and Monstrous Companion
Feats Ability Focus, Monster Manual. Prereq special attack. the DC for resisting that special attack is increased by 2
Graft Flesh, Lords of Madness, prerequisite waived (granted as bonus feat). Can Create Silthilar grafts
Weapon Finesse, Player's Handobook, Prereq BAB +1. Can use DEX instead of STR for attack rolls with light and natural weapons
Magical Artisan, Player's Guide to Faerun, Prereq any item creation feat. Cost of creating items with selected feat are 75% of normal
Extraordinary Artisan, Eberron campaign setting, Prereq any item creation feat. Gold base price for crafting is reduced by 25%
Combat Reflexes, Player's Handbook, no prereq. can do DEX extra attack of opportunity per round
Animal Affinity, Player's Handbook, no prereq. +2 to Handle Animal and ride checks
Endurance, Player's Handbook, no prereq. +4 to some fortitude checks
Strong Stomach, Cityscape, prereq Endurance and CON 13. Nauseated condition is reduced to Sickened, and Sickened to nothing
Steadfast Determination, Player's Handbook II, prereq Endurance. Use CON instead of WIS for will save. Fortitude saves no logner automatically fails on a 1
Incarnum primer, Magic of Incarnum
As an action roughly equivalent to wizards preparing spells, after resting you can spend one hour to decide what soulmelds to shape, and/or bind
shaped soulmelds are associated to an item slot, but don't occupy that slot unless it's also binded. You can't shape two soulmelds to the same slot
You have a pool of essence you can invest into soulmelds with a swift action, essence stays invested until moved around with a swift action.
Soulmelds are susceptible to dispel effects

Grafts primer, Lords of Madness
They are Crafted using magic item rules, so 1000GP per day of progress, and 1/25 of xp cost.
They are slotless item-equivalent, whose effect are classified as (Ex), and requires access to a "donor" of the correct kind, which is ourselves in this case.
They may have other prerequisites for crafting, such as spells, exactly like normal magic items
The "cost" here presented are with the feats and self-crafted rebates already applied, so it's a (price-25% Magical artisan) *(75% exceptional artisan)*(50% crafting)= a total modifier of 28.125% GP coston the price
Yes, they are very expensive, probably because of being slotless and not susceptible to dispel magic/antimagic aura
Those of interest to me are Silthilar Bones/Muscles/Tendons, which are priced at 110000 GP (30937.5 GP cost), requires bear's endurance/bull's strength/cat's grace, and increases CON/STR/DEX for the recipient by 2.
Given the spell requirement, we add 7470 GP for the 83 2nd level wand charges we'll have to use, putting the graft cost at 38407.5 GP per "+2" CON/STR/DEX we give to our goons. 83 charges because magical artisan reduces the price
We could have picked "Undead" or "Beholder" instead as our graft type of choice.
From Undead (Libris Mortis or Fiend Folio), the only easily matched prerequisite would have been for Weakening arm, a +4 inherent bonus to STR for only 11250 GP cost
From Beholder (Fiend Folio), nothing itnerests me much, the useable one is +4 natural armor bonus that stacks with other natural armor bonuses, at 18000 GP cost

So.... let the convolution begin! I was thinking making something about grafts would be interesting, givne the optic of evolution/transhumanism, and I remembered there was some critter in lords of madness that where grafty, imagine my surprise when upon rereading, I found out they had at will PAO!
So, that sent me down a rabbit hole about how I should make use of it, since the swarm traits make us invalid target ( putting aside the sillyness of it being a special attack, and thus "stop hitting yourself :D"

My first go was actually cleric 3/ mystic wanderer 2 / X 8, with transformation and devil/diabolic domains, because I was thinking "I can PAO my familiar, what if I get alter self and Assume Supernatural Ability of the "feed" that barghests nabassus have, thus "eating" my familiar to gain permanent power? after all, the RAW of familiar is that it's considered to have HD=my HD, so valid target for barghest when they're PAO'd into humans! Alas, it was clunky, and I was looking at barghest CR and missing the 6HD, and so, noped.

I ended up waffing around Beast Heart Adept because I find it cool Blink Dogs keep their DDoor when PAO'd, and therefore shenanigans. It was only what to put in those other 3 levels that took a while to decide, with most of hte time paying almost no attention to grafting, and going more along the lines of fighter 1 (needs the annoying handle animal in class!)+warblade 2 to abuse stormguard warrior "attack as touch but don't deal damage" as a method of delivery of infestation.

Frontloading a wizard level and getting two item creation reducers was a fairly late revision, as was going totemist for twice the infestation.

Originally I had strong stomach and steadfast determination much earlier ( like, both by CR 13 ), but I felt leaving them for later and taking the reducers first made more sense, in part because "overcoming a weakness" makes for a better story, in part because "If I'm going to craft stuff, I should be crafting stuff from as early as possible"

There was a strong temptation to make a wizard 3/ fleshgrafter (LoM) 10, and properly make our familiar and/or wild cohort a nightmare of "all the grafts", but while certainly thematic, I felt it was weak/boring. Like, "you're a Silthilar and you're taking wizard to then enter fleshgrafter? Like, D'uh?"

The Familiar: mr. Weasel!
as a familiar, even if it's a tiny weasel, it uses the better between his and your statistics for the following values: BAB, saves, skill ranks. It counts as having HD equal to your character level, and his total hit points are half yours, regardless of HD/ability scores
STR/DEX/CON, natural armor bonus, size, type, subtype, movement modes, natural attacks, Extraordinary special attacks are gained from/set by the PAO

Monstrous Companions: the advancement gives them +2/4/6/8 HD, Natural Armor bonus, STR and CON relative to our Beast Heart Adept level.
their STR/DEX/CON, NA, size, type and subtype, movement modes, natural attacks and extraordinary special attacks will be overridden by PAO
They will keep any SU and Sp of their natural form, as well as INT/WIS/CHA, BAB, saves, HD, hit points (modulo CON)
Depending on type and INT being less than 3, you may have to make free action handle animal to tell your goons what to do. Here's the shortlist of baseline pre-PAO goons I find useable
Blink Dog, also known as Best Doggo. free action at will SU blink, free action 1/round SU dimension door that leaves him free to act after teleportation, what's not to love? INT 10 and HD going from 4 to 12
Winter Wolf, aka Cold doggo. comes with a SU 15ft 4d6 cold cone breath attack, reflex halves, 1d4 round recovery time, INT 9 and 6 to 12 HD
Chimera, aka bad breath. comes with a SU breath attack, doing 3d8, damage type and area of effect are dragon color-coded. INT 4 and 9 to 13 HD
Destrachan, aka whiny doggo. has the SU at-will Destructive harmonics, which manifest as either a 80ft cone or a 30ft burst. Doing either 4d6 lethal or 6d6 nonlethal sonic damage, or shatter-equivalent for one of wood, stone, metal, or glass. INT 12 and 8 to 10 HD
Dragonne, aka Loud boy. 1d4 round recovery SU Roar, 120/30ft radius will save or fatiqued/exhausted. INT 6 and 9 to 11 HD
Ok so, this is a bit of cluster****, because let's level with each other.
There is a bit of a pyramid of "this works like X, except", and it's alter form <-- polymorph <-- polymorph any object <-- warp flesh , let's wrap our head around it.

I'm going to list for each "layer" only stuff that isn't "excepted" at a higher layer

Alter self says you keep : Ability scores, class and level, hit points, alignment, BAB, base saves. all SU and SLA except those that require a specific body part, example a mouth for a breath attack
Alter self says you gain : physical form/aspect , size, physical movement modes, natural armor, natural attacks
Polymorph says you're limited to : forms of creatures of MAX HD between your HD and your CL, up to 15. not of type construct, elemental, outsider, undead. not of subtype incorporeal, not "gaseous form"
Polymorph says you gain/change : physical ability scores (STR,DEX,CON), type and subtype, extraordinary special attacks
Polymorph Any Object, same as polymorph, but with a wiggly duration based on compatibility, and explicitly gives an example of a transformation breaking the HD rule (1/2 HD lizard to 6 HD manticore)
PAO esplictly says the creature will have the INT of the new form
warp flesh says it works as PAO, but only "living to living", it mentions it has CL 9, and that's about it.

So, the conondrums are:
given the examples we are given, we are clearly not bound to the "HD of new form can't be higher than HD of old form", but!
are we still limited by CL?
Does warp flesh CL increase as we gain more HD?
If it does, is PAO "new form" capped to 15 HD like polymorph is?
Are we still limited to polymorph allowed types, or can we make outsiders?

For ease of mind, I'm going to assume the strictest read of those, therefore, I'm limiting myself to 9HD or less living forms that aren't outsiders/elementals/constructs/undead.

How does this interact with "monstrous companion" adding HD : luckily that doesn't have much issue, because the PAO line do not actually change the HD.

Much more difficult is the increase to STR/CON/Natural Armor, and tangentially the grafts. We need to adjudicate what to apply first, because it's undeniable that narratively, we can PAO our goons before we gain levels in Beast Heart Adept, thus causing our goons to gain HD/STR/CON/NA
This is an headscratcher that to me ties back to exactly where that advancement exists. to me it's a property of the class level, not of the creature, and as such it's tied to us. So I'll go PAO first, advancement after.
Note a very interesting conseguence of this: we lose the goons anytime we are forced back to swarm form, because Silthilar esplictly say that class features are lost/unusuable when in swarm form

Graft are much less of an headscratch: if we graft before the PAO, the grafts become nonfunctional just like any other magic item. By the same account, any graft we make after the PAO affects the PAO'd form, same way that if we put a cloak of resistance on a PAO'd goon, they would gain the item effects.

CR7
This is the earliest we can meet, so what are we, mmmh?
Well, we're a damn a swarm that can act as normal, that's what we are! and those four natural attacks do piddly damage but oh boy, a DC 21 abiolity damage rider is no small thing at this CR! Hope they brought some wind, or they're in for an harsh time!
--- be coalesced, stay coalesced, that "concentration check or be forced to go swarm" is a bit weird, because it's DC is 10+damage taken when being struck by "a physical attack" ... but we're frigging immune to those attacks, so what the gives!? I'd suggest making the check anyway, at DC 10 for those attacks dealing no damage ( because, immune, d'uh! ), but we can't fail those, so ????. But if they contrive SOMETHING to take advantage of that, forced transformation is cool! (and on theme *wink wink*)
And, that gives us a phase 2! because if in phase 1 you're there, happily poking with your spines( claws!?) to cause some ability damage, now that you're swarm you can use your warp flesh!, Who cares that it provokes? it's not like those piddly martials are doing any damage to you anyway!

CR 10
Here we are, with a valiant weasel for company! And since the deadline is kinda-around the corner, I'm going to say that mr. weasel and all future goons are going to be 9-headed hydras (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/hydra.htm). Easy bake go CHOMP!
The bit of "blah" I've realized only now is that we can warp flesh only while in swarm form, but class features are suppressed while in swarm form, so mr weasel is in fact shrodinger weasel! So... beat the poor weasel unconscious with nonlethal damage, go swarm form, warp his flesh to a hydra, re-coalesce, presto done!
As for incarnum shenanigans that we now have, I suggest shaping those that give some energy resistance, because as swarms we take +50% damage from area of effects.
You all know about girallon arms, the bit of "blah" here is "do they carry infestation?" Honestly, my gut feeling says "no" but choosing a different soulmeld is easy enough. Honestly, I'd almost say to meld and bid the blink shirt, which would give you a move action dimension door. Or perhabs the GReat Raptor mask, which gives evasion, which is very YUM given our immunities and vulnerabilities

You know that WBL that we're softkey taught to kinda ignore for these competition? we, as chefs are supposed ot pretend it doesn't exists and let you, the judge, assume we have "the big 6" and other standard items.
You know what's neat for VC specifically? Wealth By Level is calculated on ECL (Effective Character LEvel), not CR. and Silthilar have an LA of +8, which is funny in this context, because that means we have access to the WBL of a 20th level character at CR 10.
And we got nothing to spend it on, except grafts on the familiar, and perhabs equipping him, just how much can equipment for a 9 headed hydra could possibly cost!?
Anyway, the three grafts for +2 STR/DEX/CON on the weasel-***-hydra are 122k GP or so, the remaining 638k GP or so will be left to your imagination, as mandated by the powers to be!

CR 11-20
DOGS, TELEPORTING DOGS WITH EFFECTIVELY SELECTIVE BLINKAGE! EXCEPT THEY'RE HYDRAS, HOORAY!
Napkin math puts my three DOGES to 12-8-4 HD, for average 186/108/50 HP, that selective blink ( effectively 50% concealment ), and 9 bites for circa +24/+18/+12 of 1d10+12/+10/+8 damage
As for feats and ASI, BIG DOGGO gets 3 feats and 2 ASI, with feats let's go for (on top of the native iron will and run) Combat reflexes, Mage slayer, and Improved natural attack (bite). Mage slayer is a feat from Complete Arcane, and makes it impossible for threatened enemeis to cast defensively, the other two mentioned feats are core
MEDIUM DOGGO gets 1 feat over baseline, so a backup Mage slayer, just in case.
SMALL DOGGO doesn't get any extra HD, and so no extra feats

HAIL HYDRA!

Weasel should have about 127 HP, and 9 itty bitty bites at circa +24 of 1d10+7 damage

You haven't forgotten about monstrous team-up, have you? each of them give yummy provokes!, and some yummy extra +2 when flanking

Oh yeah, that nauseated condition is VERY DANGEROUS if we do get somehow forced to uncoalesce, so have strong stomach! many food! and STEADFASTELY RESIST THOSE WINDS, given how vulnerable we are to those, too

Well, that's about 31000 characters and a wrap, folks! Should've probably rewritten everything as a straight wizard / fleshwarper 10 , but time is fleeting.

Mandatory mention that there's quite some self-imposed limits, to stay "within bounds" with Polymorph any object. If the party is stronger, it's a simple matter to interpret PAO limits just a bit differently, and throw bigger goons at the problem, it's not like it isn't dangit sueprcharged polymorph!

[H_H_F_F]

Little solace comes to those who grieve.


https://cdn.openart.ai/stable_diffusion/5ebf655a55f74832e8e055b91867ef9d80a8e061_2000x2000 .webp

Highsun 12
I write this entry in good spirits, as we have accomplished the purpose of our delve. The idol of Lak-Mur, thought lost for a hundred generations, has at last been retrieved! Three thousand pounds of solid gold shine brighter than I could ever have imagined, and the fee it will fetch us should see us set for life. Its naga guardian proved trivial to overcome, thanks to Khark's axe and Petyr's spells! The only obstacle now is to drag our newfound wealth back to town (what a problem to have!). It's a daunting task, but an eminently doable one thanks to the wagon we had the foresight to bring. When next I write here, I will be a rich man!

Highsun 13
My earlier optimism was clearly unfounded. Even with the wagon's load, our journey out of the dungeon should not have taken more than an hour, but somehow we have gotten lost in the sprawling temple complex. Meck, our designated pathfinder, swears up and down that his maps are accurate, and that it's the walls that have moved; I think it more likely that he took a wrong turn and is now trying to save face. Fortunately, even though we've blundered into a new area of the dungeon, it appears to be one without denizens, so we shall spend the night here and retrace our steps tomorrow.

Highsun 14
Meck seems even more restless today. I cannot fault him: I would almost swear that he is right, and those corridors have subtly changed since we last walked them. Doorways have disappeared or changed position, former dead ends now connect to new rooms, and in one uncanny case, a pair of statues seems to have changed places (we smashed both, just to be sure; they seemed perfectly mundane). We have come to a stop before a doorway that seems to have narrowed overnight, and Khark is busily hammering away at the rock to allow the wagon through again.

Highsun 15
We have reached what Meck swears is the entrance room, but the entryway has disappeared and only a solid gray wall remains. Khark is calling him a 'useless waste of pay' and insists this must be a different room somehow, Meck is insulting Khark's parentage. I'm pretending that this log is important enough to warrant not getting involved.

Highsun 15 (continued)
After watching the heated debate for a few minutes, Petyr strode over and knocked on the gray wall, confirmed it hollow, and blasted it down with a spell... only to find that rather than the exit, what laid beyond was just another dark passage.

It seems different than the dungeon corridors we've explored so far. The walls and floors are all made out of the same gray stone that blocked the tunnel off to begin with, and not a single adornment disrupts their smoothness: no carvings, no sconces, not even scratches or bootmarks. Implausibly enough, Petyr swore that not a single part of it detected as magical, and that if this was some sort of portal-mouth, it was one his spells could not discern.

Highsun 16
Decided to venture into the passage. We quickly figured out that the walls are hollow, and Khark smashed another open, but only more of the same dark gray corridors laid beyond. Immediately after, a terrible howl echoed through the tunnels, chilling me to the bone and sending poor Meck into fits, but though we remained on guard for many minutes, no foe appeared.

However, our passage immediately became more difficult. The corridor began to branch and loop back on itself, the ceiling lowered (forcing tall Khark to stoop), and in places we found the floor twisted into jagged points. At times, the floor would drop away into pits of indeterminable depth, or a passage would bent into a tall skyward shaft.

After six hours of travel, we came across a larger room in which two rows of columns held up the ceiling and a large cracked font adorned the wall. We have made camp here, hoping that this sign of civilization means the exit is near.

Highsun 17
We awoke after a seemingly uneventful night, but as we returned to the corridors, I happened to glance back and found my own visage staring at me! Crudely hewn into the pillars, located as to be invisible from the campsite, were our faces, each twisted into an expression of madness and pain. Petyr insisted no magic marked them, and they were ordinary stone carvings in all respects, but we hurried out of the chamber all the same.

The passages seem to go on forever. By Petyr's calculations, we have traveled nearly twenty miles since leaving the entrance room, and yet no end seems in sight. I don't understand: we entered the dungeon only a week ago: what could've built all this in such short time, without leaving the merest trace of its presence?

Highsun 18
After a full day of travel, hampered by many twisting pathways and sloping floors, we rounded a corner... and found ourselves back in the pillar room, the twisted carvings still in place. Meck insisted this wasn't possible, and we should have been traveling nearly straight away from it, while Petyr suggested this place might loop back in on itself in some fashion. At any rate, none of us fancied spending another night in the chamber, and we traveled for another two hours, this time in another direction.

No further chambers were encountered; perhaps it's for the best. As I write this, we're making camp in the middle of an expansive hallway: I have the fortune of taking the last watch.

Highsun 19
Some horrible thing struck in my sleep. Meck's screams woke us, the ground around him red with blood, a large chunk of his arm gone. A healing spell stopped the blood loss, but not the screaming: only with concentrated effort did Meck calm down. Even then, the tracker was unable to identify his attacker. A blur of something hairy and big, a flash of teeth, a burst of pain - and then it was gone again, back into the shadows. Petyr suggested we set double watches from now on: it will only slow our progress further, but I have little issue with this. Truth be told, part of me suspect we won't find an exit unless this place allows us to.

Highsun 19, continued
Our progress today was slow: every corner I feared some monstrous bogeyman would jump out and charge, but no such thing occurred. Petyr, now clearly anxious to find a way out, began experimenting more, sending arcane sensors up and down shafts, painstakingly taking samples of the walls, even drilling through a floor (only to find yet another gray passage). Aside from the discovery that sparse pinprick holes connect some corridors, he found no way out: whatever this complex is, it seems to extend eternally in all directions. We must have traveled more than fifty miles east from the original dungeon by now: did we cross into a demiplane or folded space? Or are these corridors real, and has a sprawling gray blot replaced the Talon Forest and Khaldran Plain? I don't know which thought is more horrifying.

Highsun 20, early morning
Meck is gone. I don't know what happened.

We were on watch together, staring into the blackness that stretched beyond the fire's light, listening to distant groans and growls that might even have been real, trying to not show the other our fear. Without warning, Meck began to scream, jumped up, tore at his face with nails that (looking back on the memory) seemed sharper than I recall them being. Then he ran off into the darkness with incredible speed; for some reason, I recall smelling burnt meat. I woke the others, then ran after him, following two parallel trails of blood and charred meat. But before long, his cries disappeared in the distance, and the trails ended in ashen smears, and seconds later i felt jagged chunks of stone tear through my shoes and rend my soles to ribbons. I truly believe that I would have kept running to whatever dark fate awaited me had the pain not forced me to stop.

The others caught up with me not long after. We have decided to abandon the wagon for now. Khark has decided to break up the idol (a loss for the historians; too bad for them) so we may at least take the small portion we can carry, and Petyr is preparing a teleportation spell as we speak. Soon, we will finally escape.

Highsun 20, afternoon
Blue skies! Smiling people! Real food! I should be mourning my friend, but it's hard to do so when every breath of fresh air fills me with joy. Petyr's teleportation spell took us to our home of Rubyriver, a thousand miles away, so news from the region we escaped is sadly quite sparse, but rumor does have it some strange construction has appeared over there. I'll hunt down some rumors later: first we sell what gold we brought back, and then we party!

Every second back among friends reinvigorates me, and in fact part of me already finds itself wondering if we could mount an expedition to recover the remnants of the idol... and Meck's body, of course. Petyr is already researching some new divinations, and I truly do believe we can prepare for anything that place has to pull. Some twisty corridors and a big scary monster? So what? I'm an adventurer, I deal with those as my job!

Highsun 21
It's back. I'm back. No no no no no no no no no no no

Highsun 22
Spent the last day traversing the corridors in a blind panic, only for them to spit me back out here: my room at the Rubyriver Inn, all of its walls and windows engulfed by that gray stone, the one door leading to a bare corridor instead of the common room.

I don't understand. I was supposed to have gotten out. It's not fair. It's not fair. I don't even have the others with me, I don't even have food with me.

It's not fair.

Dungeons aren't supposed to follow you home.




All remaining pages blank



Tzimtzum, Building Nothingness

CE Wendigo Sun Giant Ranger 1 / Jaunter 4 / Fighter 1

Array: 13 str, 10 dex, 12 con, 14 int, 8 wis, 15 cha
Racial: 39 str, 14 dex, 26 con, 18 int, 16 wis, 19 cha
Post-wendigo: 43 str, 22 dex, 30 con, 18 int, 18 wis, 23 cha
16 HD increase in charisma for a final 24 charisma.

Languages known: Common, Giant, Draconic, Dwarven, Goblin, Undercommon
CR 15+: Sylvan (only)



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


12
Sun Giant (13 RHD)
+9
+8
+4
+4
Hide +16 (16), Knowledge (The Planes) +8cc (4), Listen +16 (16), Move Silently +16cc (8), Spellcraft +16cc (8), Spot +16 (16), Survival +8cc (4)
Expeditious Dodge, Mobility, Tomb-Tained Soul, Tomb-Born Vitality, Spring Attack
Rock Throwing, Rock Catching, SLAs, Fire Subtype


13
Ranger 1
+10
+10
+6
+4
Hide 16, Knowledge (The Planes) +4cc (6), Listen 16, Move Silently 8, Spellcraft 8, Spot 16, Survival +6 (10)
TrackB
Favored Enemy (Humans), Voice of the City


15
Wendigo (+2 CR)
+10
+10
+6
+4
Hide 16, Knowledge (The Planes) 6, Listen 16, Move Silently 8, Spellcraft 8, Spot 16, Survival 10
-
Fey (Cold), Fly 120 ft. (perfect), AC bonus, Bite (2d6), Disease, Maddening Whispers, Ravenous Bite, Corner of the Eye, Regeneration 5, Wind Walk


16
Jaunter 1
+10
+10
+8
+4
Hide +2 (18), Knowledge (The Planes) +2 (8), Listen 16, Move Silently +2 (10), Spellcraft 8, Spot 16, Survival +2 (12)
Snatch
Travel Power, Benign Transposition


17
Jaunter 2
+11
+10
+9
+4
Hide +1 (19), Knowledge (The Planes) +3 (11), Listen 16, Move Silently +2 (12), Spellcraft 8, Spot 16, Survival +2 (14)
-
Baleful Transposition, Fast Movement


18
Jaunter 3
+12
+11
+9
+5
Hide +1 (20), Knowledge (The Planes) 11, Listen 16, Move Silently +4 (16), Spellcraft 8, Spot 16, Survival +3 (17)
-
Dimension Door, Teleport


19
Jaunter 4
+13
+11
+10
+5
Hide +1 (21), Knowledge (The Planes) 11, Listen 16, Move Silently +5 (21), Spellcraft 8, Spot +2 (18), Survival 17
Astral Tracking
Freedom of Movement, Plane Shift


20
Fighter 1
+14
+13
+10
+5
Hide +2cc (22), Knowledge (The Planes) 11, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +2cc (1), Listen 16, Move Silently +2cc (22), Spellcraft 8, Spot 18, Survival 17
Bounding AssaultB
Hit-And-Run, Bonus Feat




CR 12-13
Pre-transformation Tzimtzum is a big, burly brute, made only slightly more interesting by the Sun Giants' affinity for hiding in desert conditions (and even then, +18 isn't too impressive). His ability to Spring Attack can be used to decent effect if the terrain allows it (and his base 40 speed and reach make him at least a little annoying to slower PCs), his rocks hurt a solid amount and his immunity to the cleric's shiny new Harm may come as a surprise. He actually makes for a pretty good over-CRd puzzle threat: how will the players elude a sleepless boulder-flinging tracker too powerful for them to fight directly?

I envision this Tzimtzum working as an overseer on the construction of some great monument or dungeon, serving some greater master (a death giant? a lich? pick whatever fits best; but playing up the negative energy connection helps justify Tomb-Tainted Soul) with the PCs sent to free his enslaved laborers. After annoying them with boulders for a while and maybe fighting a bit in melee, Tzimtzum ends up falling/jumping/fleeing into the massive quarry next to the construction site (or perhaps a nearby planar portal? gotta qualify for jaunter somehow) and is presumed dead.

In fact, the giant survives, legs shattered and skull fractured (good thing falling damage caps out at 20d6 huh?). His semi-undead nature allows him to go without food or sleep, but not without water, and Tzimtzum is forced to feed upon the blood of the other corpses that have fallen down. Before long, the terrible wendigo curse overcomes him... but rather than awaken as a simple blood-crazed beast, a strange madness forms in his shattered mind. His shame and frustration at failing to defend the construction site combine with a lust for revenge, and a single, insane goal looms larger than any other: the desire to imprison the PCs in an eternal dungeon.

CR 15
With no need to sleep, at-will Stone Shape and Wall of Stone, and continuous Wind Walk, Tzimtzum is ready to begin constructing his dungeon. CL 13 Wall of Stone produces 26 5-ft squares if you halve the wall's thickness to 1.5 inches (each square still has hardness 8 and 22 HP, so nontrivial to bust down), which lets us create 32.5 feet of cramped 5x5 corridor, or slightly more than 15 feet of 10x10 corridor. Over the course of a day, that's 41 miles of 10x10 corridor, and twice that if you narrow it; note that your average party with one heavy armor wearer or small-sized PC travels about 16 miles per day, and that in a compact mazelike design all the walls are essentially doing double duty.

And if Tzimtzum wants to slow the PCs down further, he can force them to squeeze, waste time on dead ends, ascend vertical shafts, climb down pits, or very nervously tiptoe around a Stone Shaped statue that probably isn't going to come to life but let's not take any risks. In brief: he's building allways faster than they can walk, so they'll never escape his realm unless they put in some serious effort.

(More fun things to include in the dungeon: wafer-thin floors covering pits, random inscriptions that don't mean anything, large footprints leading into a random wall, a single corridor that just goes on ahead for fifty miles, grave markers with nothing beneath them, nonfunctional doors, and Spike Stones, lots and lots of Spike Stones that all take a DC 29 search check to detect and force the rogue to take point)

While the PCs are trying to navigate this ever-growing maze, you're free to stalk one with Corner of the Eye and Maddening Whispers, slowly wearing away at their wisdom (if this is the party tracker, they'll steadily get worse at their job, too). When the time is right, split the party up (narrow corridors that only the small-sized member can explore, cryptic puzzles that suggest multiple distant switches must be flipped at once, or when all else fails a crude Wall of Stone) and attack, trying to infect a PC, then cause more paranoia and infighting when the wendigo curse takes hold.

As another way of wearing down the party, given that the PCs will presumably carry a light source, Tzimtzum can watch them from afar (20 time the radius of their light, the rules compendium tells us), Wall of Stone + Stone Shape up some boulders, then send surprise rocks rocketing towards the party from hundreds of feet away, leaving them spooked and confused while he escapes once more. A boulder sailing in from the edge of darkvision every couple dozen turns, with Spike Stones acting as a second layer of defense, is certainly a cheap way to win the war of attrition, but what's the party going to do about it? Nothing but long-range spells or longbows can even function over that distance, and if anything actually threatens Tzimtzum he can flee before it gets to him.

If they somehow force him in straight combat, PCs will -still- find Tzimtzum quite hard to kill. High natural armor gets further boosted by charisma to AC, and Wendigo regeneration combines with his fire subtype to leave him impossible to straightforwardly kill (+20 fortitude works well enough against most death effects), and his 120 ft. fly speed combines with spring attack to allow for 60 ft. move, attack with reach, and 60 ft. move back to the original position: sufficient to put him outside of charging range, let alone regular movement range (especially because we fly, and can thus prepare the whole battlefield with spike stones). And if he has to flee, engaging Wind Walk is a move action and lets him jet away at 600 ft. per turn. PCs who misidentified Tzimtzum as an incorporeal or undead might further waste actions (or refrain from trying anything undead are immune to), or at least be surprised when his very corporeal jaws bite down for 2d6+24 damage.

CR 20
Snatch now means our biting spring attacks give us a free grapple attempt (at +38) and let us immediately drag the poor unfortunate soul with us into the darkness (up to 115 feet, depending on how close the party just approached you). Bounding Assault grants a second chance to hit, or at least allows us to avoid AoOs from the fighter while snatching up the wizard behind him. Once grabbed, a lot of PCs will struggle to get loose even while we're taking the -20 penalty, so we can then proceed to drag them 240 ft. further away from their allies every turn (or simply grapple normally and effortlessly make the check to move 120 feet every turn). If we grab someone small, they even take automatic bite damage every round! It's the classic horror monster move: pull one PC with you and let the others hear their friend's screams fade away... right before they blunder into whatever hazard you prepared in advance.

Astral Tracking and Jaunter levels combine to let us ensure the PCs can never, ever escape. With +8 to tracking from Wendigo, 17 ranks, and a +4 bonus from wisdom, we have +29 to survival and can always determine where a teleportation spell (including Plane Shift) took them. We then follow with our travel power (Plane Shift + Teleport + Wind Walk means it takes at most 8 hours to arrive at their location, even if your spells are greatly off-target) and begin constructing the dungeon right where we left off!

Wendigo - Fiend Folio
Sun Giant - MM2

Jaunter - Expedition to the Demonweb Pits
Hit-And-Run - Drow of the Underdark
Voice of the City - Cityscape Web Enhancement

Tomb-Tainted Soul, Tomb-Born Vitality - Libris Mortis
Expeditious Dodge - RotW
Bounding Assault - PHB II
Snatch - MMV
Astral Tracking - DComp

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

[H_H_F_F]

Spooky Scary... Nevermind.


The beast of the cursed mountain
Hellen Honeyteeth
Hel, deathwrought abomination

LE Avolakia Dread Necromancer 8 Fatespinner 2

https://i.imgur.com/SiOm3wc.png


Abilities Initial Race / Template 12th 16th 20th Total Juju Zombie
STR 16 +8 24 32
DEX 10 +6 16 22
CON 12 +6 -2 (bloodtouched rite) 16 --
INT 12 +6 18 14
WIS 10 +10 20 20
CHA 16 +12 1 1 1 31 33




CR Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
- 1st Aberration 1 0 0 0 2 24: {+4} Bluff: 4; {+4} Concentration: 4; {+4} Diplomacy: 4; {+4} Intimidate: 4; {+4 CC} Sleight of Hand: 2; {+4} Spellcraft: 4; Multiattack (B), Corpsecrafter Poison, change shape ability
- 2nd Aberration 2 1 0 0 3 6: {+1} Bluff: 5; {+1} Concentration: 5; {+1} Diplomacy: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 5; {+1 CC} Sleight of Hand: 2,5; {+1} Spellcraft: 5; spell-like abilities, suggestion
- 3rd Aberration 3 2 1 1 3 6: {+1} Bluff: 6; {+1} Concentration: 6; {+1} Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 6; {+1 CC} Sleight of Hand: 3; {+1} Spellcraft: 6; Nimble Corpse defensive aura, resistance 10, immunities, SR 21
- 4th Aberration 4 3 1 1 4 6: {+1} Bluff: 7; {+1} Concentration: 7; {+1} Diplomacy: 7; {+1} Intimidate: 7; {+1 CC} Sleight of Hand: 3,5; {+1} Spellcraft: 7; regeneration 4
- 5th Aberration 5 3 1 1 4 6: {+1} Bluff: 8; {+1} Concentration: 8; {+1} Diplomacy: 8; {+1} Intimidate: 8; {+1 CC} Sleight of Hand: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 8;
- 6th Aberration 6 4 2 2 5 6: {+1} Bluff: 9; {+1} Concentration: 9; {+1} Diplomacy: 9; {+1} Intimidate: 9; {+1} Knowledge (Arcana): 1; {+1 CC} Sleight of Hand: 4,5; Spellcraft: 8; Deadly Chill
- 7th Aberration 7 5 2 2 5 6: {+1} Bluff: 10; {+1} Concentration: 10; {+1} Diplomacy: 10; {+1} Intimidate: 10; {+1} Knowledge (Arcana): 2; {+1 CC} Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8;
- 8th Aberration 8 6 2 2 6 6: {+1} Bluff: 11; {+1} Concentration: 11; {+1} Diplomacy: 11; {+1} Intimidate: 11; Knowledge (Arcana): 2; Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8; {+2} Conceal Spellcasting;
- 9th Aberration 9 6 3 3 6 6: {+1} Bluff: 12; {+1} Concentration: 12; {+1} Diplomacy: 12; {+1} Intimidate: 12; {+2} Knowledge (Arcana): 4; Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8; Conceal Spellcasting; Quicken Spell-like (Ghoul Touch)
10 10th Aberration 10 7 3 3 7 6: {+1} Bluff: 13; {+1} Concentration: 13; {+1} Diplomacy: 13; {+1} Intimidate: 13; Knowledge (Arcana): 4; Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8; {+2} Distracting Taunt, Conceal Spellcasting;
11 11th Dread Necromancer 1 7 3 3 9 6: {+1} Bluff: 14; {+1} Concentration: 14; {+1} Diplomacy: 14; {+1} Intimidate: 14; Knowledge (Arcana): 4; {+2} Knowledge (Religion): 2; Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8; Distracting Taunt, Conceal Spellcasting; Charnel touch, rebuke undead
12 12th Dread Necromancer 2 8 3 3 10 6: {+1} Bluff: 15; {+1} Concentration: 15; {+1} Diplomacy: 15; {+1} Intimidate: 15; Knowledge (Arcana): 4; {+2} Knowledge (Religion): 4; Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8; Distracting Taunt, Conceal Spellcasting; Craft Contingent Spell Lich body DR 2
13 13th Dread Necromancer 3 8 4 4 10 6: {+1} Bluff: 16; {+1} Concentration: 16; {+1} Diplomacy: 16; {+1} Intimidate: 16; {+1} Knowledge (Arcana): 5; Knowledge (Religion): 4; {+1} Profession (Gambler): 1; Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8; Distracting Taunt, Conceal Spellcasting; Negative energy burst 1/day
14 14th Dread Necromancer 4 9 4 4 11 6: {+1} Bluff: 17; Concentration: 16; {+1} Diplomacy: 17; {+1} Intimidate: 17; {+1} Knowledge (Arcana): 6; Knowledge (Religion): 4; Profession (Gambler): 1; Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8; {+2} Never Outnumbered, Distracting Taunt, Conceal Spellcasting; Advanced learning, mental bastion +2
15 15th Dread Necromancer 5 9 4 4 11 6: {+1} Bluff: 18; Concentration: 16; {+1} Diplomacy: 18; {+1} Intimidate: 18; {+1} Knowledge (Arcana): 7; Knowledge (Religion): 4; {+2} Profession (Gambler): 3; Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8; Never Outnumbered, Distracting Taunt, Conceal Spellcasting; Arcane Disciple (War) Fear aura
16 16th Dread Necromancer 6 10 5 5 12 6: {+1} Bluff: 19; Concentration: 16; {+1} Diplomacy: 19; {+1} Intimidate: 19; {+1} Knowledge (Arcana): 8; Knowledge (Religion): 4; {+2} Profession (Gambler): 5; Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8; Never Outnumbered, Distracting Taunt, Conceal Spellcasting; Scabrous touch 1/day
17 17th Dread Necromancer 7 10 5 5 12 6: {+1} Bluff: 20; Concentration: 16; {+1} Diplomacy: 20; {+1} Intimidate: 20; {+1} Knowledge (Arcana): 9; Knowledge (Religion): 4; {+2} Profession (Gambler): 7; Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8; Never Outnumbered, Distracting Taunt, Conceal Spellcasting; Lich body DR 4, summon familiar (Imp)
18 18th Dread Necromancer 8 11 5 5 13 6: {+1} Bluff: 21; Concentration: 16; {+1} Diplomacy: 21; {+1} Intimidate: 21; {+1} Knowledge (Arcana): 10; Knowledge (Religion): 4; {+2} Profession (Gambler): 9; Sleight of Hand: 5; Spellcraft: 8; Never Outnumbered, Distracting Taunt, Conceal Spellcasting; Sickening Grasp Advanced learning, negative energy burst 2/day, undead mastery
19 19th Fatespinner 1 11 5 5 15 6: Bluff: 21; Concentration: 16; Diplomacy: 21; Intimidate: 21; Knowledge (Arcana): 10; Knowledge (Religion): 4; Profession (Gambler): 9; {+6} Sleight of Hand: 11; Spellcraft: 8; Never Outnumbered, Distracting Taunt, Conceal Spellcasting; Spin fate
20 20th Fatespinner 2 12 5 5 16 6: Bluff: 21; Concentration: 16; Diplomacy: 21; Intimidate: 21; Knowledge (Arcana): 10; Knowledge (Religion): 4; Profession (Gambler): 9; {+6} Sleight of Hand: 17; Spellcraft: 8; Never Outnumbered, Distracting Taunt, Conceal Spellcasting; Fickle finger of fate




Level Class 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th Dread Necro 1 3
12th Dread Necro 2 4
13th Dread Necro 3 5
14th Dread Necro 4 6 3 (Ghoul Glyph)
15th Dread Necro 5 6 4
16th Dread Necro 6 6 5 3
17th Dread Necro 7 6 6 4
18th Dread Necro 8 6 6 5 3 (Undead Lieutenant)
19th Dread Necro 9 6 6 6 4
20th Dread Necro 10 6 6 6 5 3


This avolakia originally didn't have a name. She didn't need one. Humanoids were preys, Undead were slaves, and monsters were enemies and undead-to-be. For most of her life, she lived in the misty mountains, amusing herself seeing the fear she struck into the hearts of humans. One day, she tried to take control of a town and start her own country. That's when she started attracting adventurers. Humanoids who weren't preys. Working together, they could destroy undead more powerful than they were. One particular group almost killed her and she could barely flee to regenerate. She started becoming jealous, she wanted to know what it was like to have others she could call equal. She shifted into a darfellan girl, that she called Hellen, and explored the world of humans. But she only found weak-willed humans that would submit to her every whim. So she looked for a higher power, until she found the Church of the Blood of Vol. They taught her that undeath is victory against death, and that there's no divine power except the one inside each creature. This was exactly what she wanted to know. Having companions is just a cheap tactics to hide one's weakness, and strength overwhelming is the only path to ruling, to success, and to victory against death through awakening one's divinity.
She quickly took control of one branch of the Church with her mind-control powers and her power over undeath, and started a slow takeover of the whole city, then the whole country. But she still obsessed over that party of adventurers. Could they still become stronger? Could she make powerful undead out of them?
Presenting herself as a favored soul interested in archeology, she asked them to bring her to various relics of the Blood of Vol, while continuing her intrigues. It was an interesting journey. Seeing the party become stronger as they overcome many challenges was impressive, and sparked evermore desire to control them. After they had found the key to a necromantic ritual of the Blood of Vol, she thought that it was now time. She revealed herself as the master of most of the undead they had fought until then, and started a quick takeover of the country by force with her army of the dead. Her last message to the party of adventurers was an invitation: if they wanted to end it all, they would join her in her palace, and they would settle this with swords and sorcery. Would she kill them and keep them as her undead pets, or would they prevail. She looked forward to both outcomes. Maybe she could perfect herself in defeat and finally claim the immortal reward of undeath...

At that point, the avolakia that would eventually become Hellen is basically a melee necromancer. Her Undead are much stronger than normal thanks to the Corpsecrafter line and her high caster level compared to her CR that theoretically allows her to have an Old Red Dragon skeleton (the only Gargantuan true dragon with 28 RHD), but even less powerful Undead will still offset the action economy in favor of the avolakia. She herself is mainly a melee fighter, using her multiple natural attacks to both inflict poison with her bite and have high chances to deliver her Quickened Ghoul Touch (+13 to hit with the bite, +11 with the claws, Ghoul Touch DC 21). She also has high SR and AC thanks to her defensive aura, that stacks with her natural armor if she changes shape into some of the weirder humanoids out there (Mutant Four-Armed Gargoyle from Tomb of Horrors 3.5 has +13 natural armor. It also has 30 Str and should definitely not be a Humanoid, but hey, I don't make the rules :P ). And finally, creating an uncontrolled undead out of a random corpse or one of the PCs she has killed can turn the tide of a difficult battle.
"Hellen" is meant as more of a monster of the week, that would terrorize a village with her undead and should get whacked by the PCs, but probably survive due to her undead, and her regeneration (if the PCs don't have K (Dungeoneering), leaving her for dead is very easy. And if they are about to kill her, a zombie dragon can snatch her and move a hundred feet away in a round.
Hellen at that point isn't really supposed to fight the PCs. Actually, she's more supposed to act as a quest giver and/or DMPC, masquerading as a darfellan favored soul using her Conceal Alignment spell. She may follow the group, helping them with low-level cleric spells, and using her new War domain spells and her Intimidation capabilities to offset her necromantic focus (she doesn't have any healing spell for living creatures, but using Magic Vestment, Magic Weapon and Death Ward for the PCs as tokens of her loyalty should win most parties over). Being a darfellan, she keeps her bite attack and can still instill poison in combat, which helps making the party think she's useful with them.
One of her possible goal may be to find the secret to the Bloodtouched Rite of the Blood of Vol, which allows her to trade some points of Con for a permanent increase to her turning level and necromancy caster level. Notably, improving her animate dead pool and gaining new undead to create. She may want to excavate some relics of the Blood of Vol, or open a portal to the Nine Hells.
When she has nothing to do, she may use Conceal Spellcasting to cast spells as prepared actions during opponents' turns, making it look like they did it and making the PC's job more difficult, or more easy depending on her goals. During the night, she will use the powerful corpses in the PCs wake to Create Undead, as she is now able to Command them, thanks to her Dread Necromancer levels. Her favorites are the Defacer, who can follow her around from inside the earth, and the bonesinger for additional bardic music support, but her animate dead capabilities have not decreased, and simply creating mummies, gasts and Bone Creature beholders are not off the table, leaving a lot of customization space for the DM.
If she is discovered, she can use her new toy: Craft Contingent Spells. Notably, her new spell, Ghoul Glyph, functions particularly well in environment that make its 1 minute casting time irrelevant, like Contingent spells. Inscribing a ghoul glyph on herself by a free action allows her to paralyze all other adjacent creatures for 1d6+2 rounds with no save, giving her all the time she needs to either coup-de-grace, flee, or call her undead, which the party will recognize as their previous enemies. She can also produce Contingent Darkness, or simply use her racial Suggestion and high Bluff and Diplomacy to turn the party against each other. In a pinch, activating the Dread Necro's fear aura followed by a Never Outnumbered Intimidate attempt should frighten enough opponents to allow her to escape while leaving her undead behind, especially with a Defacer 30ft into the ground making everybody shaken with no save afterwards, for good fear escalation on anything without Mind Blank.
After being discovered, Hellen can now use all her undead servants to act as a true final boss, ruling her own country from her castle. Her deal with the Blood of Vol culminated in her gaining a devil familiar, with which she can now survey the PCs' action, since her imp can cast Commune 1/week (a true final enemy should always be aware of everything for that extra "it was Hellen all along" revelation). Undead Mastery is incredibly good, especially with her massive Charisma, leading to an undead pool of 300 HD of Undead before items, and without counting the Undead controlled through rebuking (ETL 9) and through Command Undead (up to 99 Undead at the same time, using only 2nd level spell slots on Command Undead). Speaking of minions, if she has to investigate something, creating an Undead Lieutenant (using her Advanced Learning) and giving it a part of the army not only increases her pool even more, but allows her to act more directly on remote parts of her queendom. If need be (and if the PCs are really optimized), she can even use Unhallow as a Magic Circle, and call for devils with lesser planar binding.
With her army, she raises new taxes, which she can use for even more Contingent spells, both on herself and on her most trusted minions.
Contingent Fear combined with Intimidate, or even better, Defacer, look very much like a no-save frighten. Undead with Contingent Black Tentacles makes battlefield control easy. Contingent Unhallow bypasses the super-long casting time, and allows even more battlefield control (on top of the rebuking bonus, assymetric silence, deeper darkness or freedom of movement inside her throne room can make the last fight feel more like a climactic battle against impossible odds). But the most important use for Contingent spell is to create a two-phase boss fight. Hellen starts the fight in her darfellan form as a support caster for her undead, using her battlefield control spells, creating more undead when some are destroyed, using her Suggestion every turn so that PCs stop fighting, and coming into melee only to cast her powerful touch spells, from Ghoul Touch/Glyph to simply Slay Living. She also likes to use her levels in Fatespinner to force an opponent to fail a save, generally against Slay Living, forcing them to roll twice against a DC 2 higher than it should be (that is Fort DC 27). Fatespinner also improves her Sleight of Hand abilities to cast spells more stealthily against those filthy Mage Slayers.

However, when Hellen is finally put down, her Contingent Create Undead (reaching CL 16 with the Bloodtouched Rite and the bonus from Sickening Grasp, or an Orange Prism Ioun Stone or anything else if you rule that Sickening Grasp doesn't work on SLAs) and Contingent Divine Power activate, making her rise as a Juju Zombie, keeping all her class levels and abilities, but gaining more strength and losing some intelligence. Upon death, she reverts to her abominable avolakia form, maybe even surprising the PCs if they didn't connect the dots until now. In a way, she's so mad she reverts mentally back to her old monster mentality and starts attacking all out with her ten natural attacks. But contrary to the first encounter, she gains very useful feats as a Juju zombie, notably Improved Init and Power Attack. She has now full BAB and a Str bonus due to Divine Power, and can give up two claw attacks to wield a two-handed weapon instead (total of 38 Str, for an attack bonus of +33/+28/+23/+18, and +31 for her bite, 6 claws and slam, all before items). Quickened Ghoul Touch is still a possibility. But most of all, she's now an undead created by herself, and benefits from her own Corpsecrafter feats, dealing cold damage with each claw and gaining a total of +4 HP/HD (or +6 if she can buy the service of an evil cleric long enough to craft a Contingent Desecrate), which makes her even sturdier as an Undead than when she was alive. The last fight for the future of the country shall be in melee, blade versus tentacle.

Book of Vile Darkness: Bone Creature
Complete Arcane: Fatespinner, Craft Contingent Spell
Complete Divine: Arcane Disciple
Complete Mage: Sickening Grasp
Complete Scoundrel: Skill tricks
Ghostwalk: Bonesinger
Heroes of Horror: Dread Necromancer
Libris Mortis: Corpsecrafter, Nimble Bones, Deadly Chill
Monster Manual II: Avolakia
Monster Manual IV: Defacer
Player's Guide to Eberron: Bloodtouched Rite
Spell Compendium: Undead Lieutenant, Ghoul Glyph, most spells
Unapproachable East: Juju Zombie

[H_H_F_F]

A villain of biblical proportions.

Stubs
Initial Form: Colossal Animated Object (Hivenest: Bloodfiend Locust Swarm x4)
Final Form: Bloodfiend Locust Swarm (Hivemind) Factotum 11



CR
Build
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Skills
Feats
Features


13
Colossal Animated Object
Hivenest (Bloodfiend Locust Swarm x4)
+24
+10
+10
+10
-
-
-













9
Bloodfiend Locust Swarm
Hivemind
+10
+9
+4
+4
1372
Evil's Blessing
Delay Spell
Extra Spell x92
Improved Initiative
Knowledge Devotion
Quicken Spell
Quick Reconnoiter



10
Factotum 1
+10
+9
+6
+4
1476
Font Of Inspiration
Cunning Insight
Cunning Knowledge
Inspiration
Trapfinding


11
Factotum 2
+11
+9
+7
+4
1580

Arcane Dilettante


12
Factotum 3
+12
+10
+7
+5
1684

Brains Over Brawn
Cunning Defense


13
Factotum 4
+13
+10
+8
+5
1788
Font Of Inspiration
Cunning Strike


14
Factotum 5
+13
+10
+8
+5
1892

Opportunistic Piety


15
Factotum 6
+14
+11
+9
+6
1996




16
Factotum 7
+15
+11
+9
+6
2100
Font Of Inspiration



17
Factotum 8
+16
+11
+10
+6
2204

Cunning Surge


18
Factotum 9
+16
+12
+10
+7
2308




19
Factotum 10
+17
+12
+11
+7
2412
Font Of Inspiration



20
Factotum 11
+18
+12
+11
+7
2516

Cunning Breach





Host Stats
Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha


Base
15
14
-
-
13
12


Race
+18
-6
-
-
-10
-10


Total
33
8
-
-
3
2





Swarm Stats
Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha


Base
13
15
14
-
12
8


Race
-10
+8
+4
-
+2
+0


Hivemind



207

+197


HD 16

+1






HD 20

+1






HD 24

+1






Total
3
26
18
207
14
205




To summarize: when you gather enough creatures of the same type together in one place, they can become a hivemind. Usually this requires a mechanical catalyst, but since we're on the fun side of the DM screen we don't have to worry about that too much. What a hivemind gets is, if you can gather 150 creatures in the same place, you can give them Int 10; for every 50 extra creatures, Int +1/Cha +1. For every point of Int mod, they get one feat and one skill point per HD. Of note: a common interpretation of that is "[one feat and one skill point] per HD" but I'm choosing to read it as "[one feat] and [one skill point per HD]" because that just makes life simpler. I'm also assuming this is a one-time buff to each member of the hivemind rather than an ongoing effect. So no extra feats from further Int boosting, and no double-Int to skill points when I start taking class levels.

The main abuse here is combining the hivemind rules with the swarm rules, taking advantage of how a swarm of Fine creatures is 10000 creatures with a single shared statblock. This gives us rather a lot to work with.



I did not make a table for spell slots and spells known because it's the same from the first moment you gain casting:

Spells/Day: 6/31/30/30/30/30/29/29/29/29

Spells Known: 9/5/5/4/4/4/3/3/3/3

0th: Amanuensis, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Prestidigitation, Sonic Snap

1st: Alarm, Blockade, Charm Person, Detect Undead, Disguise Self, Ebon Eyes, Hail Of Stone, Hoard Gullet, Hypnotism, Identify, Locate City, Magic Missile, Obscuring Mist, Portal Beacon, Power Word Pain, Scholar's Touch, Silent Image, Tenser's Floating Disk, Wall Of Smoke

2nd: Arcane Lock, Baleful Transposition, Blindness/Deafness, Entice Gift, Glitterdust, Heroics, Hypnotic Pattern, Locate Object, Masochism, Melf's Acid Arrow, Obscuring Snow, Ray Of Stupidity, Sadism, Scorching Ray, Shatter, Spymaster's Coin, Touch Of Idiocy, Web

3rd: Alter Fortune, Arcane Sight, Blood Snow, Chain Missile, Clairvoyance/Clairaudience, Dispel Magic, Energy Vulnerability, Fireball, Haboob, Hold Person, Magic Circle Against Good, Major Image, Nondetection, Rockburst, Scintillating Sphere, Shivering Touch, Stinking Cloud

4th: Animate Dead, Celerity, Detect Scrying, Dimension Door, Dimensional Anchor, Evard's Black Tentacles, Force Missiles, Ice Storm, Mass Whelm, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Parboil, Polymorph, Ruin Delver's Fortune, Scrying, Summon Monster IV, Wall Of Salt

5th: Arc Of Lightning, Choking Sands, Cloudkill, Contact Other Plane, Dominate Person, Fabricate, Feeblemind, Hold Monster, Mirage Arcana, Permanency, Sending, Shadow Evocation, Spiritwall, Summon Monster V, Summon Undead V

6th: Acid Fog, Contingency, Create Undead, Disintegrate, Fleshshiver, Greater Anticipate Teleportation, Greater Dispel Magic, Hardening, Mass Suggestion, Overwhelm, Planar Binding, Scry Location, Starmantle, Summon Monster VI

7th: Ability Rip, Antimagic Ray, Arcane Spellsurge, Barghest's Feast, Banishment, Energy Transformation Field, Forcecage, Greater Scrying, Mass Flesh To Salt, Plane Shift, Prismatic Spray, Reality Maelstrom, Summon Monster VII

8th: Embrace The Dark Chaos, Fimbulwinter, Greater Arcane Fusion, Greater Celerity, Greater Planar Binding, Greater Prying Eyes, Otiluke's Telekinetic Sphere, Polymorph Any Object, Prismatic Wall, Shun The Dark Chaos, Summon Monster VIII

9th: Mordenkainen's Disjunction, Shades, Time Stop

(Also, probably obvious, but these are just my suggestions: if you make a hivemind for your game you should really customize the spell selection to better fit what the challenge your players need.)

The table doesn't list skills. That's mostly to prevent the table from getting absolutely unreadable. But I also won't be going into full detail even here because it's just not very helpful to most anybody. When the hivemind initially sets in, they gain 1372 skill points; all skills are cross-class and they have 14 HD, so maximum of 16 points spent on any given skill, for a maximum of 8 ranks...which they can get for 85 skills, with 6 skill points left over. By CR 20, they'll have 28 ranks in 57 different skills, with the rest still at 8. The player's handbook has 32 skills other than specialties in Craft/Knowledge/Perform/Profession. 57 maxed out skills is enough for all PH skills, all knowledge skills, and then 5 each of Craft/Perform/Profession.

Technically speaking, if one were to track down every skill ever mentioned in the entire game, including all explicit specialties for the aforementioned skill groups, the total would be over 200, so we can't actually have literally every skill maxed immediately (or ever for that matter, at least without more swarms getting hiveminded). But realistically, the hivemind is going to have every relevant skill maxed out pretty quickly. For the sake of being thorough, for each Factotum level I'll make note of which skills join the "skills I have maxed out" group at that level; for CR 9, and for all skills not mentioned, they should be assumed to have 8 ranks. And I'll make sure that the statblocks I present actually have all the skills listed out (which is why I'm only presenting one such stat block, cuz screw doing that more than once).

Factotum 1: Knowledge (all ten specialties)

Factotum 2: Disable Device, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search, Spot, Use Magic Device

Factotum 3: Appraise, Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Gather Information, Intimidate, Sense Motive, Speak Language

Factotum 4: Autohypnosis, Concentration, Craft (Alchemy), Decipher Script, Lucid Dreaming, Spellcraft

Factotum 5: Balance, Climb, Jump, Swim, Tumble

Factotum 6: Escape Artist, Forgery, Sleight Of Hand, Use Rope

Factotum 7: Handle Animal, Heal, Ride, Survival

Factotum 8: Craft (Poison), Perform (Oratory), Profession (Sailor)

Factotum 9: Craft (Weaponsmithing), Iaijutsu Focus, Perform (Tea Ceremony), Profession (Samurai)

Factotum 10: Craft (Writing), Perform (Acting)

Factotum 11: Craft (Armorsmithing), Perform (Singing), Profession (Playwright)

A month now that you've been hacking your way through the thick undergrowth in this swamp. And what a miserable month it's been: barely any sunlight due to a thick canopy, the air is practically boiling you alive from the combination of heat and humidity, every solid patch of ground is either occupied by wildlife or enemy undead, and the bugs! You've killed so many creepy-crawlies you're sure there's a god of insects out there royally ticked at you. You can tell its getting to the others as well.

But you have to be here. The swamp may be just the most godawful place to go aimlessly wandering, but when there's evidence of a vampire lord building his base of power, you can't just play wait-and-see on rumors like that. That's how towns disappear.

Pause. The swamp is quiet for once. Except for - there, crashing through the trees. It looks like a bull, but far too large...fifty feet tall if it's an inch, and just as long, the whole thing made of grimy, rusty iron. There's pockmarks in the surface big enough to stick your head in, and they're oozing some kind of dark smoke. As the beast approaches, barreling towards you, you realize it's not smoke, but miniscule midges, so thick as to seem like a cloud. Of course. Of course the thing that's gonna crush you is also oozing bugs, what else would you expect?



Size/Type
Colossal Construct


Hit Dice
32d10+80 (256 hp)


Initiative
-1


Speed
30 ft (multiple legs)


Armor Class
13 (-8 size, -1 dex, +12 natural), touch 1, flat-footed 13


BAB/Grapple
+24/+51


Attack
Slam +27 melee (4d6+16 plus energy drain)


Full Attack
Slam +27 melee (4d6+16 plus energy drain)


Space/Reach
30 ft/20 ft


Special Attacks
Hivenest Attack, Hivenest Distraction, Trample


Special Qualities
Construct Traits, Darkvision 60 ft, low-light vision, Hardness 10, Hivedeath


Saves
Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +6


Abilities
Str 33, Dex 8, Con -, Int -, Wis 3, Cha 2


Skills
-


Feats
-


Environment
Any


Organization
Hivenest


CR
13


Treasure
-


Alignment
always Neutral


Advancement
-


LA
-




The Iron Bull in all it's glory while it's still in one piece. They've got good speed and reach, and don't benefit from making full attacks so they're free to charge around the battlefield. Hardness 10 will allow them to trample with movement while making them hard to take down. Distraction will put melee foes in danger of losing actions, and anyone who gets tapped by an attack accumulates negative levels. Decently nasty, but nothing extraordinary for the actual boss fight it presents.

The main point of interest here is that it serves as a good "final boss" for a long-running problem: the energy drain on its attacks makes vampire spawns, who can themselves use energy drain to make wights. A low-level party could be encountering random intelligent spawn-creating undead since way back at first level (when a single wight would be a rough boss encounter). You can give them false leads and red herrings to track down necromancers and vampires that might be behind the problem but who are ultimately not doing anything related to the sudden glut of undead in whatever corner of the globe your PCs are in. When they finally track down The Iron Bull, they can put an end to the plague it's been unknowingly unleashing. This could be a rather-rough-but-doable boss fight for a lvl 9 party, but more likely a decently-challenging boss fight for a lvl 10 party.

Once it falls to pieces, four swarms emerge...



Size/Type
Fine Vermin (Swarm)


Hit Dice
14d8+56 (119 hp)


Initiative
+6


Speed
20 ft, fly 20 ft (perfect)


Armor Class
21 (+6 dex, +5 natural), touch 16, flat-footed 15


BAB/Grapple
+10/-


Attack
Swarm (3d6 plus energy drain)


Full Attack
Swarm (3d6 plus energy drain)


Space/Reach
10 ft/0 ft


Special Attacks
Distraction (DC 19), energy drain


Special Qualities
Reanimate, swarm traits, vermin traits


Saves
Fort +13, Ref +10, Will +6


Abilities
Str 3, Dex 23, Con 18, Int -, Wis 14, Cha 8


Skills
-


Feats
-


Environment
Any


Organization
Hivenest


CR
8


Treasure
-


Alignment
always Chaotic Evil


Advancement
-


LA
-




The swarms are a nice way of shaking up the combat at the last minute. Immunity to weapon damage is a pain to deal with, and more than likely the casters were more prepared for a single big enemy than a literal swarm of tiny ones. Encounter goal here is that in the chaos, three of the swarms end up perishing as the party pulls itself together to deal with the new threat, while the fourth swarm manages to slip away before dying...

The swarm descends from the sky, oozing confident and magic so strong it's practically visible to the naked eye. A thousand insects arrange themselves into a dozen shapes, and you find a dozen spells heading straight for your head. You scramble away from the others, hoping that even if it takes out one of you with this volley, it won't get all of you. Your hope is in vain.



Size/Type
Fine Vermin (Swarm)


Hit Dice
25d8+100 (212 hp)


Initiative
+112


Speed
20 ft, fly 20 ft (perfect)


Armor Class
24 (+8 dex, +5 natural, +1 insight), 19 touch, 16 flat-footed


BAB/Grapple
+18/-


Attack
Swarm (3d6 plus energy drain)


Full Attack
Swarm (3d6 plus energy drain)


Space/Reach
10 ft/0 ft


Special Attacks
Distraction (DC 19), energy drain, spellcasting


Special Qualities
Reanimate, hivemind, factotum features, swarm traits, vermin traits


Saves
Fort +20, Ref +15, Will +9


Abilities
Str 3, Dex 26, Con 18, Int 207, Wis 14, Cha 205


Skills
Appraise +126, Autohypnosis +30, Balance +138, Bluff +125, Climb +122, Concentration +32, Craft (Alchemy +126, Armorsmithing +126, Poison +126, Weaponsmithing +126, Writing +126), Decipher Script +126, Diplomacy +137, Disable Device +126, Disguise +129, Escape Artist +134, Forgery +126, Gather Information +129, Handle Animal +125, Heal +30, Hide +134, Iaijutsu Focus +125, Intimidate +129, Jump +126, Knowledge (Arcana +126, Architecture & Engineering +126, Dungeoneering +126, Geography +126, History +126, Local +126, Nature +130, Nobility & Royalty +126, Religion +126, The Planes +126), Listen +30, Lucid Dreaming +30, Move Silently +134, Open Lock +134, Perform (Acting +125, Oratory +125, Singing +125, Tea Ceremony +125), Profession (Playwright +30, Sailor +30, Samurai +30), Ride +138, Search +126, Sense Motive +30, Sleight Of Hand +134, Speak Language x28, Spellcraft +130, Spot +30, Survival +30, Swim +122, Tumble +138, Use Magic Device +125, Use Rope +134, 29 other skills 8 ranks


Feats
Delay Spell, Evil's Blessing, Extra Spell x92, Improved Initiative, Font Of Inspiration, Knowledge Devotion, Quicken Spell, Quick Reconnoiter


Environment
Any


Organization
Solitary


CR
20


Treasure
-


Alignment
always Chaotic Evil


Advancement
-


LA
-




Enormous save bonuses once Evil's Blessing is active. All skills but Concentration and Wis-based have triple-digit bonuses. More spell slots than the whole party put together thrice over, with 188 caster levels. Smart enough to out-chessmaster all but deities and the smartest, oldest dragons, and 16 inspiration points to apply that huge intelligence to basically any roll in the game in their favor.

Swarm Of Vengeance should not be played to the hilt. Rather, it is an excuse to go as hard as your players need you to. You've got the casting to force your way to whatever power level makes sense for opposing what your players are bringing to the table, and the smarts to be the Mastermind behind even the most convoluted plots.

[H_H_F_F]

And... That's that! Seven villains for our judges to consider, all the way to CR 20 - though remember, this isn't even their final form!

[Inevitability]

An interesting set for sure: I'll take my time to read them in more detail tomorrow.

My main stub that didn't end up going anywhere was a harssaf assassin / unseen seer / sand shaper / nar demonbinder, a sort of twisted indiana jones who'd use his racial sand shape (and Unseen Seer-nabbed Sweet Water) to infiltrate dungeons ahead of the PCs and harry them with bound fiends, poisons, traps, etc, then lurk unseen in the 'boss room' and fight them once they grabbed the big treasure. The big capstone was going to be Sand Shaper's 10th-level feature: I'd argue that if you died in harssaf sand form, you wouldn't return to your original shape, making it nearly impossible to remove your 'corpse' from the desert sand and prevent you from resurrecting ten minutes later. I'd probably have gone for it if I could've squeezed a little more casting out of the build; as it was, I was one level short of getting Greater Planar Binding and the whole thing just felt a little too weaksauce. Also, there wasn't a clear point where the build definitely shifted from 'kukri-wielding ambusher' to 'fiendbinding controller', and the in-fight phases weren't too present either.

I was also vaguely playing around with the idea of a build using Curse of the Brute, an obscure cleric spell that gives you a bonus to any physical stat up to your CL, at the cost of imposing the same as a penalty to intelligence and charisma, to get what's potentially a very crazy jekyll-and-hyde type of build. I was leaning towards using drider as the base creature, as it gets innate cleric casting, pretty good allround stats and comes with a drastic transformation baked into its backstory. No idea on the progression, though.

[loky1109]

I had some vague ideas about swarm-shifter some undead hell wasp swarm infested its wild cohort/wild cohort's corpse.

[loky1109]

We have table now:

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef Total Place
Cowardly Howard (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861045&postcount=21) NE Hadrimoi Skilled City-Dweller Barbarian 1/Focused Specialist Immediate Magic Martial Wizard 1/Abjurant Champion 2/Rage Mage 7/Dread Witch 4
Yssaros (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861047&postcount=22) CE Changeling Mimicking Song Loresong Bard Bard 1/Educated Mantled Wilder 9/Anarchic Initiate 7/Unarmed Swordsage 1/Black Dragon Disciple 2
Vadim Ashguard (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861053&postcount=23) CE Trap Haunt Domovoi Mimic Rogue 1/Lore Song Inspire Awe Eberron Divine Bard 6/Winterhaunt of Iborighu 8/Divine Oracle 2
Master Sphincters & the Goon Squad (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861056&postcount=24) CE Silthilar Martial Wizard 1/Totemist 2/Beast Heart Adept 10
Tzimtzum (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861058&postcount=25) CE Wendigo Sun Giant Voice of the City Ranger 1/Jaunter 4/Hit and Run Fighter 1
Hellen Honeyteeth (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861059&postcount=26) LE Juju Zombie Avolakia Dread Necromancer 8/Fatespinner 2
Kicking The Nest (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861060&postcount=27) TN Hivenest Colossal Animated Object/CE Hivemind Bloodfiend Locust Swarm Factotum 11

I read entries first time. Some are very cool. I'll start judging in a couple of days.

[H_H_F_F]

Thanks, loky.

[Prime32]

Had a concept for this but never got around to writing up the full progression. Started with a monster which already has a "second phase" built into its stats, and added a third.

SoulfusedMoI 8 HD Magmacore golemMM5 Barbarian 1/Bear WarriorCWar 5/Ranger 1/FrostragerFrost 1/Barbarian +6
Barbarian ACFs: Berserker StrengthPHB2, Fangshields RSLCoV 3, Spiritual Lion TotemCC, Wastelands Bonus FeatSand
Feats: 1: Improved Unarmed Strike, 3: Power Attack, 6: Frozen BerserkerFrost, 9: Mage SlayerCArc, 12: Blind-Fight, 15: Pierce Magical ConcealmentCArc, 18: Pierce Magical ProtectionCArc, 21: Shape SoulmeldMoI (vitality belt)
Bonus Feats (barbarian): Blazing BerserkerSand
Bonus Feats (ranger): Track
Favored Enemy: Arcanists (arcane hunter ACF)

A golem that became sentient, killed its creator, and dedicated itself to tracking down other spellcasters and killing them (note that Bear Warrior allows it to track by scent).

In its normal form it's a Medium creature vulnerable mainly to cold attacks. It starts combat with a longbow until enemies get in close, using Molten Step to make that harder to pull off.

When it drops to half HP the magmacore golem's core becomes exposed, lowering its defenses but causing it to become superheated and gain a blur effect.

When its hp drops below 35 it automatically gains 88 bonus hp and transforms into a Large bearlike creature which leeches the heat out of things, gaining immunity to cold and a murderous full attack but losing its immunity to magic.

And then when it dies it triggers a weak death throes effect.

[Inevitability]

Welp, just spotted a really dumb error in one of my submissions. It's nothing build-destroying (quite the opposite, in fact), but it does make me feel silly. I guess that's what happens when you try to speedrun building...


Also, I like the magmacore golem idea; I spent some time browsing the MMs but didn't think of using it. Pity it wasn't submitted.

[loky1109]

I like Magmacore golem idea very much.

Also, if we talk about not used ideas, I looked at Deadborn Vulture. It's funny, I looked in MMV right now and Deadborn Vulture Zombie form has CR —. It's so abusable!

[loky1109]

Okay! It's my judging.

Starting from 3 in Originality and Memorable Villainy, from 0 in Power, and from 5 in Elegance.

Hadrimoi. Okay, I didn't remember this creature's name, but when I saw its image I remembered it clearly. It's a very interesting creature, I toyed with it once for some competition. But it still is original. Maybe not so much, but enough.
Wizard, Barb, Abj. Champion are well known and overused.
Rage Mage and Dread Witch also are well known, but rare guests.
Your feats... Really boring. Very much.

Total: 2.5
Good spellcasting, pounce-but-some-better with good AB, okay damage and amount of attacks. Good speed, good AC, hp and saves, useful DR. Skill set is ok for scout, but without darkstalker you have obvious issues. Yes, I think PCs often have unusual detection methods.

You are good, but not best - Total: 4
I dislike taking Combat Casting before the first casting level, yeah, RAW it's ok, but I think it's inelegant (-0.25).

Not taking eternal hero.. for two extra Spell Focuses? I think it's a waste (-0.25).

Double qualify with Combat Casting works in your favor (+0.25).

You are sorta item-dependent. It's not hard to just ignore enhancement and inherent stat bonuses, but it could be easier if they didn't exist (-0.25).

Idea of having a penalty on saves against fear and being a Dread Witch is very flavorful, but also very anty-synergic (-0.25).

Also I want to see a more clear spell known progression (-0).

Total: 4.25
Howard has some story behind him. He could be an interesting encounter, it's good. He has some potential for escape and return. Not the best recurrent villain I saw, but good enough.

What about round limitations?
Evolve or die - I really didn't see any significant changes, did you mean it's about becoming a Dread Witch? I don't think it counts. It's a penalty.
Staged combat - Here you're good. There is some rhythm in combat with Howard. But actually 10 rounds is too much. At high CRs it will not be fully revealed. You have a bonus here, but not full marks.

Total: 3
Total: 13.75
Wilder into Anarchic Initiate? Great!
Bard and Dragon Disciple? Ok.
Changeling and Unarmed Swordsage? Really not great.

Aberrant feats? Interesting. All other feats... Meh!
Power and maneuver selection and tactics overall... Well, not something mind-blowing, but also not overused.

Total: 2.75
8th level powers, some bard spells and martial maneuvers. But your tactics in general are about hide and charge. And here you have problems. At high levels Cloud Mind has good chances not to work on at least part of PCs - it's Mind-Affecting, and only 20 Will save DC isn't so great. Your charge... Well, you have 9 natural attacks with AB about +17 and up to 3 unarmed iteratives (and not great damage), pounce, frightful presence, but I don't think it all will impress a party of appropriate level. Searing Charge adds some damage, but it's a single maneuver. Chaotic Breach is interesting, but... too chaotic in my opinion.
Your protection... not great, too. Good Will, average over saves, low to average hp, low AC with some miss chances and DR.
You are good in non-combat utility, social interaction, hiding and some power versatility thanks to the Bend Reality.

I give you total: 3 here.
Discipline Focus with what discipline did you choose? (-0.25)


Damned thing was walking right though the street and nobody turned an eye.
Well, it's the story part, plus it's from the NPC's words, but Mass Cloud Mind doesn't work this way. It has a target limitation in numbers - 16-21 people doesn't look enough for a city with an investigator and a mayor. Plus, it has close range. 65-75 ft also isn't great. What if somebody comes when Cloud Mind was already manifested? I don't think you are as unseen as you want to be. (-0)

2 levels of Dragon Disciple? Is it really better than 2 levels of Wilder? +1 Wild Surge, 9th level power? No? I'm not sure here, but I think it's sorta a waste (-0.25).

You used 7 skill points at 2nd level, only 3 sp at 19th level, at 20th level you add 1 sp in Knowledge(Arcana), but it still is 8 (-0.25).


Complete Psionic: Anarchic Initiate prestige class, Mantled Wilder and Educated Wilder variants
Mantled Wilder and Educated Wilder variants are from web (https://web.archive.org/web/20210211064050/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a) (-0.5).

You have multiclass penalties starting from 4th level (-0.5).

Total: 3.25
First. It's Villainous Competition, it isn't Iron Chef. Let's make something more monstrous, not just regular PC race with regular PC classes, please. (no penalty here)
I have another problem here. Why does Yssaros do what he does? What is his motivation? Because he is Evil and is Chaotic? Really? Not good. Don't get me wrong. It could be okay, but we talk about social chameleon, maniac, and serial killer. It's the most important part!

Could he be memorable as an interesting encounter if we put motivation out of the bracket? Not really. It's another glass canon tentacle charger.

Yssaros has some potential to escape with Teleport or Changeling things, but not really big.

And round limitations.
Evolve or die - don't at all.
Staged combat - Well, sorta yes, but only a bit. You really don't want to start combat not in the Form of Doom.

Total: 1.5
Total: 10.5
Portable trap Trap Haunt... It's brilliant, but you are unlucky - I had exactly the same idea in mind for a long time. Well, it deserves some bonus, but you didn't surprise me.
Domovoi is something obscure. Divine Bard is also a slightly rare version. Winterhaunt and Divine Oracle don't surprise me, but are ok.
Your feats are ordinary.
Your tactic is... not new, but interesting. Especially your Discordant Malediction combo!

Total: 3.75
Your offensive power is very good. Almost full Bard casting, plenty of minions, all these cold things. Great.
Defensively you are almost immortal. HP and AC are not great, but you don't need them so much.
And you have not bad variety of skills for creature with 4 Int. )

Total: 4.5
I didn't find any mistakes - full mark, Total: 5.
You have a good story and great presentation!
Vadim clearly is very Memorable - as villain and as encounter.
He has great potential to return. Again and again. And it could have been a great surprise when the party realized that all time every time it was him! Cool!

Round limitations.
Evolve or die - you took both! ))) Yes, Vadim evolved. Undeaddoom is expected, but reliable.
Staged combat - Well... Yes, but no. His zombie horde isn't really part of Vadim and it is a stage of combat, but not the stage of Vadim himself. Yes, he could turn on and turn off his Chill Aura/Invisibility, but it's very minor.

Total: 4.25
Total: 17.5
I didn't expect Silthilar - every time I flipped through LoM I just skipped this monster and didn't know how cool it is. Thanks!
I didn't expect Beast Heart Adept. At all. As well as your tactics.

Wizard and Totemist... Yeah. But, at least you got Wizard for his Familiar, that's something new.

Artisan feats are expected in the context of slightly unexpected in VC item creation feats.

Strong Stomach makes sense in the context of Silthilar and is equally surprising.

Steadfast Determination is an obvious choice with your stats and vulnerabilities to mind-affecting effects/winds.

Total: 4
Your immunity to weapon damage is a pretty cool trait. Also you have good saves and immunity to targeted effects. You have weakness against AoE damage even with your soulmelds - they really don't do much - and it looks like obvious tactics against swarm creatures. It's good for you that you have a good amount of HP. Maybe you also have evasion.
On the offensive side you have 8 (or 4) attacks with low-to-average AB, awful base damage and good rider effect. I see two issues here. First is for Elegance section, second - rider effect doesn't work if you fail to make base damage. Even DR 5/magic ruins one of your main weapons. It's not good.
You have PaO - great for offense.
Also you have four 9-headed hydras as companions/familiar. That's good.
You have good knowledge skills and some okish others.

Total: 3.5
Go to issue with your attack's rider I was talking about earlier. Infestation is Su... Yes, I'm talking about the Souleater problem. Maybe you can't combine it with full attack, it’s up to DM (-0.25).

You depend on WBL. It's reasonable for your base creature and you have feats to decrease your dependence, but it still is an integral part of your entry (-0.25).

I don't like your idea to take a wizard and almost ignore its spells somewhere in the guts (-0.25 - really it's 0 - you got your plus in Originality for this).

And that's all. Pretty elegant entry!

Total: 4.25
Well, Sphincters has some clear while simple motivation, it's good for memorability. He could be an interesting encounter, but I think this works only the first time. He has bad potential to escape and return next time. Well, not zero potential, but...

Round limitation.
Evolve or die - I don't see any evolution across CR range.
Staged combat - here you're good. Forced transformation into swarm is bulls-eye hit in theme in my eyes. )

Total: 3.25
Total: 15
I'm not surprised by Wendigo, ranger and drow fighter. All other: Sun Giant, Jaunter, Tomb-Born Vitality, Snatch, Spring Attack, tactics overall - opposite.

Total: 4.5
Of course you're a great scout. You have only one bite, but it's the best bite in all game with good Str, Snatch and double Spring Attack. Yes, grappling isn't a secure tactic, but it could work and with your speed and bite you are competent even against FoM enemies.
Having wendigo's regeneration and Fire subtype is a strong bid to survive.

But your main power is your SLAs and tactics built around them. In the best case you'll win without a fight!

Astral Tracking and Jaunter's Travel Powers are great additions!

Well, if PCs have set themselves the goal to defeat you they can - low will, bad action economy and inability to kill enemy quickly are issues.

Starting from 13 CR isn't good. I'm not sure if this penalty here or in Memorability, but sure it deserves -0.5 points.
Total: 3.5
You have some issues with Jaunter's special requirement. Well, it's solvable, but only by DM will (-0.25).

The very idea of infinite Wall of Stone doesn't look very elegant in my eyes (-0.25), but it isn't actually complaint for you, but for system (remove penalty).

I see some issues with building a dungeon in any random place, but it's quibble (-0).

And that's all.

Total: 4.75
You made the perfect horror monster! With lunatic but strong motivation and a great atmosphere. He's very memorable as a story/idea and as a unique encounter. He also has good potential to be a recurrent villain.

Round limitations.
Evolve or die - Yes, you did it.
Staged combat - No and yes. You building a dungeon around isn't part of combat, but it definitely part of confrontation. Also you have Wind Walk form, but it can't really be used in combat. It's a method to lurk or retreat.

Total: 4.75
Total: 17.5
Avolakia isn't totally new, but it definitely wasn't in my mind. Juju zombie opposite - was one of my not used ideas for this round. Dread Necromancer is so so in this category, Fatespinner always was my oversight.
This is the first time I hear about Bloodtouched rite.
But your feats... Really didn't surprise me.
Your tactics also are nothing new.

Total: 2.5

After dispute: +0.25 for darfellan, total: 2.75
Avolakia is a pretty strong chassis. Good stats, regeneration, bonus AC, SR, many natural weapons, many useful SLAs, change shape. Plus you really have an army of various undead.
Of course spells and Features of Dread Necro. Plus Contingent Spells.
Also good social skills, some knowledges and other skills.
And you became even stronger after becoming a juju zombie.

You started from 10 CR. I'm not sure if this is a penalty here or in Memorability, but I give you -0.25 points.

Total: 4

After dispute: +0.25, total: 4.25
Distracting Taunt is from Dragon Mag (-0.5).

You used 32 point buy although you should use elite array (-0.5).

Bloodtouched Rite and Sickening Grasp both don't work on SLAs, only on spells. And this is an essential part of your build. I give you -1 here. I remove 0.5 if you find me another +1 CL working on SLAs - now you have only 15 (with Orange Prism) and can't become a juju zombie at all.

Why only 4 ranks on Knowledge (Religion)??? Replace 1 from Profession (do you really need it more?) and you got synergy bonus on your turns. Missed opportunity (-0.25).

Using Corpsecrafter on yourself... On one hand it slightly blows my mind every time, on other hand it's smart every time. Let's say it's +0.25 and -0.25 which annihilate each other.

It'd be better to see Juju Zombie also as a line in your table (-0).

Total: 2.75

After dispute: +0.5, total: 3.25
Sure strong story. I slightly dislike Hellen's motivation in part of obsession with PCs, but... It's okay?...
Peaceful cooperation with the party could add Hellen memorability. Final combat should be interesting and memorable, too.

Round limitations.
Evolve or die - Yes. Both. )
Staged combat - Also yes, plus it could be very interesting, surprising and clearly involuntary.

Total: 4.5
Total: 13.75
After dispute: 14.75
Say "Hello" to my Casu (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25441612&postcount=24) Martzu (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25441614&postcount=25).
Hivenest construct, specific construct and specific swarm types also aren't surprising.
Factotum and feats, either.

Total: 1 Sorry.
You win in D&D.
Total: 5
Do you really need all these Extra Spells? Or is it just lazy development (-0.5)?

Do you really need 11th level of Factotum? It gives you... nothing. Why not Metamagic specialist sorcerer (-0.5)?

You had Dark Chaos spells. Tell me that you trade some of your 92 Extra Spells for extra Font Of Inspiration. 5 extra FoI means 61 IP. This doesn't work (later about this), but it'd be very cool and not excessive. Why didn't you (-0)?

Hivenest Colossal Animated Object and Hivemind Bloodfiend Locust Swarm are actually two separate monsters - not one turning in another (-0.25).

Using Hivemind with Swarms is inelegant. I think you understood this and it was a conscious choice (-0.25).

Many of your spells are useless.
Disguise Self, Ebon Eyes, Hoard Gullet, Scholar's Touch, and it's only 1st level. All these spells are personal or touch buffs. You are swarm, you can't be target for spells with specific number of creatures (-0.5). It makes your feat decisions even worse.

Swarm damage of Swarm Of Vengeance should be 5d6 (-0.25).

Total: 2.75
I don't know what Swarm Of Vengeance’s motivation is, but it could be a memorable villain. Encounter... Well, if the DM doesn't play giveaway with PCs it's memorable, but very disappointing.
Recurrent villain? We should talk about recurrent PCs.

Pound limitation.
Evolve or die - Sorta, yeah, but it's slightly not fair - as I said earlier your entry isn't a single evolving monster, but two monsters.
Staged combat - No at all.
Total: 1.75
Total: 10.5
I didn't mean to make all these ties. )))

And table.
Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef LOKY1109 Judge 2 Total Place
Cowardly Howard (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861045&postcount=21) NE Hadrimoi Skilled City-Dweller Barbarian 1/Focused Specialist Immediate Magic Martial Wizard 1/Abjurant Champion 2/Rage Mage 7/Dread Witch 4 13.75 13.75 4th
Yssaros (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861047&postcount=22) CE Changeling Mimicking Song Loresong Bard Bard 1/Educated Mantled Wilder 9/Anarchic Initiate 7/Unarmed Swordsage 1/Black Dragon Disciple 2 10.50 10.50 5th
Vadim Ashguard (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861053&postcount=23) CE Trap Haunt Domovoi Mimic Rogue 1/Lore Song Inspire Awe Eberron Divine Bard 6/Winterhaunt of Iborighu 8/Divine Oracle 2 17.50 17.50 1st
Master Sphincters & the Goon Squad (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861056&postcount=24) CE Silthilar Martial Wizard 1/Totemist 2/Beast Heart Adept 10 15.00 15.00 2nd
Tzimtzum (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861058&postcount=25) CE Wendigo Sun Giant Voice of the City Ranger 1/Jaunter 4/Hit and Run Fighter 1 17.50 17.50 1st
Hellen Honeyteeth (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861059&postcount=26) LE Juju Zombie Avolakia Dread Necromancer 8/Fatespinner 2 14.75 14.75 3rd
Kicking The Nest (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861060&postcount=27) TN Hivenest Colossal Animated Object/CE Hivemind Bloodfiend Locust Swarm Factotum 11 10.50 10.50 5th

[H_H_F_F]

Thanks for judging, loky!

[FactualArcher]

I’m still working on judging. So far I’m slightly over halfway done and I hope to be done by next weekend.

[Inevitability]

Thank you for the judgements!

[H_H_F_F]

I’m still working on judging. So far I’m slightly over halfway done and I hope to be done by next weekend.

Appreciate the update!

[loky1109]

I’m still working on judging. So far I’m slightly over halfway done and I hope to be done by next weekend.
Waiting to read your judgement and compare it with mine. )

[H_H_F_F]

One dispute for you, Loky, while we're waiting for our second judge:


Hi loky, thanks for judging.

Just to be sure, how is starting at CR 10 a problem? A BBEG can only be revealed at mid-game without losing in memorability, and I really don't see how it would affect power. It's not weaker, it's just not there at low level (or more accurately, it's not fighting the PCs). One of the appeals of Villainous Comp is the ability to play monstrous creatures, and I feel like penalizing what makes a comp unique isn't the best thing to do to have more diversity in future comps.

About "things that affect spells should not affect SLAs", we know SLAs work "just like spells" except the differences you know, and we know multiple monsters use spell-specific feats to apply them to their SLAs. Summoning Ooze and Grimweird have Augment Summoning, Aoa Sphere has Spell Focus (Abjuration), Fiends of Corruption say that if they had Spell Focus (Enchantment), it would affect their Suggestion SLA, and Ultroloth actually has it. There is an explicit rule that metamagic works for SLAs if they don't require spell slots. If everything else works for SLAs, why shouldn't caster level boosters?

If you don't buy it, then Hellen can definitely buy a Magic Tattoo on the day she's crafting. An item of Magic Tattoo 1/day at CL 13 is less than 10k gp, and she could just buy the service of a spellcaster.

Hellen is not using Rebuke Undead in combat. Her turning level is too low for that anyway. If need be, she'll rather use Command Undead. She only uses it to control Undead she creates, at which point synergy doesn't matter. Profession (Gambler) is just a way she uses to meld in the city, which Knowledge (Religion) wouldn't give her.

Also, no point in originality for choosing a darfellan form as a way to keep a bite attack while being very human-like? :smallsmile:

I'm also a bit bummed out by only 4 in power. I feel like she's really competent on both sides of the spectrum, both as a caster and as a melee fighter as a Juju zombie, with good social skills and the ability to act by proxy with Undead Lieutenant. There's not even a negative point in that section...

Anyway, thanks again for judging!

[FactualArcher]

Here's my judging:
First a few words on how I judged. In Memorable Villainy, my original criteria referred to shapeshifting, but when I read the actual round parameters again, entries aren’t required to literally change shape. Now I’m more evaluating on the role change/stages rather than only on physical changes. Sorry if this caused any confusion. Also, I wrote only the answers to each question in the judging, so if you want to see the question, you should refer back to my original rubric. Here it is again to help-

Starts at 3 by default, will be adjusted up/down from there
How expected is your base creature?
How expected are your classes and prestige classes?
How expected are your feats, spells, and skills?
Do you have a unique and interesting trick/tactic?


Can you provide an appropriate challenge at your CR?
Can your villain last against a party for at least a few rounds, whether via illusions, skirmishing, or brute force?
Can you bring enough offense to seriously threaten the PCs or their goals?
Do you rely on items or minions to threaten the PCs?


Starts at 5, questions are up to -1 each, automatic 1 if most of the entry is illegal.
Is everything legal?
Does anything rely on ambiguous wording?
Does your build keep a low number of classes and templates?
Is your entry neat and all sources are listed?


Starts at 3 by default, will be adjusted up/down from there. Generally 0.5 points per question
How much is your strategy defined by shapeshifting?
Do you have the ability to survive fights with the PCs and fight them multiple times?
Do they have a distinctive style the PCs will remember?
Will the changes the villain goes through give them multiple memorable fights with different tactics and roles?


Without further ado, here's my actual judging:
Originality 4
-I hadn’t heard of Ushemoi before this, but they fit the round perfectly. +0.5
-Rage Mage and Dread Witch were both interesting choices, though AbjChamp is extremely common +0.1
-Spell choice is interesting, Blade of Blood is clever, and Touch of Vecna is nasty. Skills are pretty expected. Among feats, Martial Study, Stance, Shadow Blade, and Craven are all fairly common, as are Improved Initiative and Weapon Finesse. All in all, the feats are not very original, but spells cancel out most of the penalty. -0.1
-Gishy sneak attacker is fairly common, but the focus on fear and rage is interesting in combination, particularly with the Ushemoi base +0.5

Power 4.25
-Howard should provide a good challenge across the level range +0.5
-Your defense is solid, as is your stealth, giving you good, but not great, survivability +0.25
-Offense is also solid, particularly at high levels. Your basic melee damage is probably enough to take out most PCs, and you have a nice spread of pretty nasty effects and alpha strike potential on top. +0.25
-Howard works well alone and can do most of his tricks without items +0.25

Elegance 4.5
Starting from 5
-Most of your build seems good, rules wise, save for the Assassin’s Stance/Craven thing -0.25
-Assassin’s Stance/Craven could also have gone here, but I docked you a little for it last question. Otherwise, everything else seems fairly clear. -0
-2 base classes for one level each and three prestige classes isn’t the best, but it could have been much worse. No templates at all, which is nice. -0.25
-The entry is well formatted and neat. Thanks for the skill totals. -0

Memorable Villainy 3.25
-You visibly and dramatically change over the fight, and while it doesn’t define your strategy entirely, it is a major part. +0.25
-Speed boost+fear is a decent, and entertaining, way to survive fights, but it doesn’t work as well at high levels. +0.25
-Howard’s style is reasonably distinctive, though I feel like it’s hard to make every element of his
build show up in a small number of encounters. He doesn’t have too much personality, however, so he might be hard to remember. +0
-Howard can survive some fights, but his role transition is a lot less dramatic than I like. Even at high levels, I feel like he’d be better off buffing and only occasionally using spells in combat. Dread Witch doesn’t seem to add too much to your abilities, so the tactics change comes off as a little forced. -0.25

Final thoughts
I like Howard’s concept a lot. Mechanically, he wasn’t amazing at any one thing, but all around he was very solid. I appreciate the attention to detail and the commitment to the concept. As a character, he wasn’t super clear, but he should be an entertaining boss to fight. I feel like the monster fit this round extremely well, but the character that followed moved a little farther away. All in all, an interesting entry that feels like it could be a PC or a boss.


Originality 2.95
-Changeling is one of the things I would have most expected this round. It’s a PC race and a shapeshifter. -0.5
-Bard is never completely unexpected, and Swordsage dips are always popular, but Wilder, Anarchic Initiate, and Dragon Disciple are very rarely seen. +0.1
-The blend of deception powers and natural attack buffers is interesting, and works well with the double role. Nothing unexpected with skills, but Aberrant feats are fairly rare. +0.1
-Cloud Mind and illusions+lots of Natural Weapons are cool together, though the broad monster concept is something I’ve seen before. +0.25

Power: 4
-For the first few CRs, Yssaros has a little trouble, but he becomes a formidable foe fairly quickly. +0.25
-Yssaros is pretty stealthy, though between his fairly poor defense and melee heavy strategy at high levels, I think he would have trouble surviving. -0.25
-Offensively, Yssaros can do a lot of damage and with Bend Reality, he has some versatility. +0.5
-Yssaros works well as a solo unsupported threat and can accomplish all of his goals without help. +0.5

Elegance- 4.15
Starts at 5
-You take Deepspawn with only Aberration Blood, however it requires a second aberrant feat to take. You can fix this by removing an expanded knowledge, but it is still illegal. -0.5
-Nothing you do relies on ambiguous wording, however.
-Number of classes isn’t too bad, though two 1 level dips hurts slightly -0.25
-Sources are listed and the entry is fairly neat. Your powers table confused me slightly, with no denotation of bonus powers from feats or Educated Wilder, but that’s only a minor nitpick. -0.1

Memorable Villainy: 4.5
-Yssaros evolves from a sneaky social type to an insane, warped monstrosity in a satisfying way. At high levels, your tactics are defined by your form shifting, though your fight does lack definable stages within a fight. +0.25
-Yssaros has decent escape abilities with the deception mantle powers, the ability to teleport at high levels, and good disguise. He should be able to fight the PCs multiple times. +0.5
-At low levels, Yssaros isn’t a particularly memorable villain, but at high levels, his Cloud Mind abilities make him a scary and memorable foe. +0.25
-Yssaros’ first fight or two won’t be particularly exciting, but the drastic transformation he undergoes will be quite distinctive. Personality wise, the shift from trickster to insane mass murderer should be memorable. +0.5

Final thoughts:
Yssaros is a scary villain, and he embodies the spirit of the round quite well. A strong and pretty interesting build, though it’s held back a little by a few fairly classic optimization tricks that don’t add too much to its power.


Originality 3.85
-Domovoi was not something I see commonly or something I really expected this round. Ghost was something that I thought was a possibility, though obviously Trap Haunt isn’t a monster manual ghost. +0.25
-Bard is never completely unexpected,and neither is rogue. Divine Oracle is a fairly popular dip, though Divine Bard and Winterhaunt of Iborighu are rarely seen. +.1
-Almost all of your feats are pre-reqs, but Sudden Maximize isn’t something I see a lot. Haunting Melody is very common on bard builds, though. Your skills aren’t too exciting, and though some of your spells are fairly common, Discordant Malediction is new to me. +0.1
-The concept itself is very interesting. I’ve heard of animated object characters, but never an undead trap, and most of your spell combos are interesting as well. +0.5

Power- 3.75
-The Ashen Haunt Struggles a bit at low levels in a straight fight, but pretty quickly becomes a menacing threat. +0.25
-Zombie minions and decoys give the Ashen Haunt impressive survivability, and your extremely high resistance to death makes the Ashen Haunt extremely hard to put down. +0.5
-Your offense is solid, though not spectacular for most of the CRs. At high levels, the Cold Creaking Cacophony combo is quite powerful, as is the Discordant Malediction combo. +0.1
-Technically, you rely extremely heavily on items and minions, but because you have some minion making ability, you still are a threat by yourself. Your inability to move without at least one minion is a bit of a problem, however. -0.1

Elegance- 4.5
Starts at 5
-I don’t think you have two divination spells before entering Divine Oracle. This is a fairly easy fix however, so only a minor penalty. -0.25
-You don’t rely on any ambiguous wording. You also understated the power of the Discordant Malediction combo slightly. All skeletons are immune to cold for some reason, so even baseline skeletons will heal some from Lord of the Uttercold. +0
-Two classes, two prestige classes, some racial hit dice and a template isn’t too bad, though the rogue dip felt like it did basically nothing other than qualify for Trap Haunt. -0.25
-The format is neat and every source is listed. The unconventional nest of quotes at the beginning was entertaining. +0

Memorable Villainy- 4.75
-Your strategy completely changes when you become a Trap Haunt, and you integrate your trap haunt powers well with your spellcasting. +0.5
-Regenerating every 2d6 rounds gives you great survivability, though it does leave you vulnerable if the PCs get lucky or successfully guess where you are coming from. +0.25
-The Ashen Haunt is a unique blend of miniomancer and annoying ghost, and I think discovering what happened to Vadim should be quite memorable. +0.5
-Your first few encounters should be fairly interesting, and the last few fights should be epic. The identical scabbard trick especially should be quite memorable. +0.5

Final thoughts:
I really liked Vadim. Overall, he was fairly powerful and quite distinctive, as well as having an interesting backstory. Getting around almost all of the drawbacks of Trap Haunt was impressive, though its few vulnerabilities do hold him back slightly.


Originality: - 4
-Silthilar is sometimes talked about for its grafts, though using Warp Flesh was new to me. +0.25
-Martial Wizard 1 and Totemist 2 are pretty common dips, but Beast Heart Adept is pretty rare. +0
-I didn’t expect crafting reducers for this round, and your choice of Soulmelds avoids most of the most common. Hydra and their variants are a fairly common polymorph choice, though. +0.25
-Teleporting doggo hydras led by a humanoid swarm is a pretty unique image. +0.5

Power: 5
-Master Sphincters is a challenge all the way through, with durability, versatility and high defense. +0.5
-Self generated minions and your swarm defenses make you hard to get to, and pretty hard to kill once there. Complete immunity to physical damage would do that for you. +0.5
-You can do a massive amount of damage, and your polymorph any object gives you huge versatility when needed. +0.5
-You craft and generate your own items and minions, meaning you work fine on your own. +0.5

Elegance: 3.75
-From a strict RAW standpoint, your main trick doesn’t work. Your class features go away in swarm form meaning you can’t PAO your animal companions. It doesn’t make sense that they would disappear completely, but still, using Warp Flesh on a creature granted by your class feature is illegal. This is especially bad for the familiar, as they are summoned by magic rather than lured by your skill with animals. -0.75
-Advancing your animal companions after they are polymorphed is questionably legal, but I agree that it probably works, however. Also covered in this category is the WBL exploit you mentioned. As non-PCs, you don’t get wealth by level, meaning you have a far smaller budget. -.25
-Racial hit dice, two classes and a prestige class are small, and they flow reasonably well. +0
-I couldn’t find your sources for some of your feats. Otherwise the entry is reasonably neat. -0.25

Memorable Villainy: 2.75
-Your strategy is heavily defined by shapeshifting, though you don’t generally Warp Flesh during fights, making it slightly difficult for the PCs to actually figure out how you got your pet hydras. +0.25
-Your defense is fairly strong, but once you’ve lost your minions, you are left pretty vulnerable to being killed off and you don’t have a great ability to escape fights. -0.25
-Teleporting Doggos is pretty intimidating, but without a great reason to motivate the PCs, it will eventually become a little tiring. +0.25
-Unfortunately, you don’t change your role at any point. You remain a secondary melee combatant that buffs monster friends throughout. Your first fight or two will be entertaining, but Master Sphincters never changes tactics and just keeps throwing in Hydras. -0.5

Final Thoughts-
Master Sphincters is a creative and entertaining build, but suffers some from a lack of personality and rules issues. I get the feeling that if you had more time, this build could have fixed some of its issues and become really strong.


Originality 4
-I’ve never seen Sun Giant used in a comp before, and while Wendigo is fairly popular, it isn’t used too often. +0.25
-Ranger 1 and Fighter 1 are fairly common dips, though Jaunter is pretty rarely seen. All in all, they cancel out. +0
-Tomb Tainted Soul is popular, though I don’t usually see entries go deeper into its line. Astral Tracking is cool, though I haven’t seen it used before. Most of the rest of your feats are pre-reqs. Hide and Move Silently on a big creature is interesting as well. +0.25
-Endless Dungeon creation is definitely new and interesting, as well as very creepy. +0.5

Power 4.5
-Tzimtzum isn’t particularly strong in a direct fight, but when played intelligently is always dangerous. +0.25
-Your status as an Ikea Tarrasque, your Skirmishing tactics, and your high maneuverability make you ridiculously hard to bring down. +0.5
-Tzimtzum has trouble killing PCs, but the whole infinite dungeon thing can also easily prevent the PCs from accomplishing anything. +0.25
-Tzimtzum works perfectly without items or allies. +0.5

Elegance 4.75
-Everything in your build seems legal. +0
-Also, you nicely avoid ambiguous wordings. +0
-Racial hit dice+template, and three classes including one completed prestige class are nice, but the two 1 level dips hurt slightly. -0.25
-Your entry is nice and neat, and all your sources are listed. +0

Memorable Villainy 3.75
-Becoming a Wendigo helps you, though your Jaunter powers and Sun Giant abilities do most of the work, and your overall role doesn’t change too drastically. +0
-You can easily escape from fights and come fight the PCs multiple times. +0.5
-The PCs should easily remember the time they were caught in an endless dungeon. +0.5
-You’ll have at best two unique fights, pre and post transformation, and while you can repeatedly harass the PCs, Tzimtzum doesn’t really gain a benefit from doing so. Instead, it’s more likely to be one fight that drags on endlessly. -0.25

Final Thoughts-
Tzimtzum is a great horror monster that is really difficult to run away from. He fulfills his function very well, and though he’s almost too efficient, he would be quite the beast to throw at players. His main drawback is being difficult to base a campaign around.


Originality 3.5
-Avolakia wasn’t something I expected, though an undead template was something I thought might show up. +0.25
-Dread Necromancer is fairly popular, though not something I’d expected for this round. Same thing for Fatespinner. All in all, reasonably surprising. +0.25
-Corpsecrafter feats are common on necromancers, and craft contingent spell is always popular. Arcane Disciple (War) is something that a fair number of arcane gishes take. On the other handQuicken spell like ability and Sickening grasp aren’t common. Of the two spells you chose, Undead Lieutenant is quite popular for Necromancer BBEGs, and Ghoul Glyph is somewhat popular. Your skills are fairly normal, and your skill tricks are some of the most common. All in all, most of this isn’t very surprising. -0.25
-Necromancers are pretty common bad guys, but turning into an undead when killed is a nice trick for the final battle. +0.25

Power 3.75
-Hellen is reasonably powerful at most of the level ranges, but lags a little in the teens. At level 20, she can provide a very satisfying boss fight. +0.25
-Hellen’s defense is good but not great. Still, with luck she can last a few rounds against PCs, or more with minion help. +0.25
-On her own, Hellen’s offense is mediocre, but she can project quite a lot of power with her undead. +0.5
-However, relying on the undead means that usually Hellen has trouble on her own. She’s reasonably capable, but until CR 20, she has trouble against a party by herself. -0.25

Elegance 4.8
-Everything here is legal +0
-Juju zombie is technically forgotten realms material, and the Blood of Vol is from Eberron. Mixing setting materials isn’t great, but this is pretty minor. -0.1
-Race, one class, and one prc with a surprise bonus template is quite elegant and straightforward. +0
-Your entry is quite neat. You didn’t source Darfellan, but given that it’s mostly for flavor, only an extremely minor penalty. -0.1

Memorable Villainy 4.25
-The switch from Hellen to the scary necromancer should be pretty memorable, though the surprise might be ruined if the PCs manage to pierce her Undetectable Alignment. The final transformation into a zombie should also be quite exciting. +0.5
-Regeneration means you can probably survive a fight or two, though if the PCs get lucky you could still be killed off early. +0.25
-The reveal that Hellen was making things harder behind the scenes should be entertaining, but the PCs might miss it entirely if you don’t explain the Conceal spellcasting mechanic. +0.25
-Hellen is more or less a melee necromancer, but the surprise zombie transformation should make the last boss fight quite memorable. +0.25

Final Thoughts: Hellen is a fairly straightforward villain, and while she’s not overwhelmingly powerful, she does have style. She would be a good villain for a fairly basic campaign.


Originality 2.25
-Hivemind abuse is very much known cheese, though Hivenest is somewhat interesting. Overall, not a particularly interesting pick. -0.25
-Factotum is always fairly popular, though going straight classed helps a little. -0.25
-Actually doing out a skill table as a hivemind earns you some points, though the feats you took are fairly standard for a hivemind. Your spells are also fairly typical. I was amused by Tea Ceremony and Profession (Playwright), however. +0
-Be a hivemind is a fairly cliched trick, and you don’t have too much unique style to go with it. -0.25

Power 5
-Swarm of Vengeance is a ridiculous challenge the whole way through. +0.5
-Also, you can last pretty well against a party. +0.5
-Your offense is also all around insane. +0.5
-Look, you’re a hivemind, I don’t think you can get less than a 5 in power. +0.5

Elegance 3.5
-Quicken Spell doesn’t work for a hivemind, as you cast like a sorcerer. This messes a decent bit with your action economy, but doesn’t completely cripple you. -0.25
-The whole hivemind rules are a mess of ambiguities, and though you generally take the sane approach, the fact that you bent the rules to allow Kicking the Nest to form a hivemind is worth a slight penalty. You also sort of switched your creature from an animated object to a hivemind. Some of the creature survives, but it’s not quite the same creature, given that only a quarter of it transformed. -0.5
-I can hardly fault one class, one template, and two ish creatures. +0
-You didn’t list sources for any of your stuff. I had to look up pretty much everything. -0.75

Memorable Villainy 2.75
-Your strategy is mostly defined by your change, first from nest to swarm, and then from swarm to hivemind. However, PCs might not understand that, and there isn’t really any reason to delay the hivemind and start with the animated object CR wise, given how much stronger the hivemind is. +0
-You are designed to fight the PCs more than once, and you shouldn’t have trouble doing that. +0.5
-Your style isn’t particularly interesting because you basically have to hold back to make the fight fair at all, which is super frustrating for the PCs if they find out. -0.5
-The first fight should be interesting, but every fight afterwards suffers from overwhelming power and a lack of personality. -0.25

Final Thoughts: Kicking the Nest is undeniably powerful, but isn’t a build with great nuance. TO of this caliber isn’t super conductive to good play, but in certain games it can work well.


So there's my first judgement. If anything's unclear, please dispute. I'll do my best to explain fairly.

[loky1109]

Answer for Hellen.


Just to be sure, how is starting at CR 10 a problem?
I judged with idea that best villain should be available at as many CR as possible. If your villain is available only in half CRs it's not good. Now I think it should be penalty in Memorable Villainy, not Power.


I feel like penalizing what makes a comp unique isn't the best thing to do to have more diversity in future comps.
After all it isn't -5.0, it just -0.25


About "things that affect spells should not affect SLAs"
I know these points, but it isn't enough for me.


If everything else works for SLAs, why shouldn't caster level boosters?
I'm not sure if everything else works for SLAs (apart from Metamagics). More like MM3 editors didn't know how SLAs work.


If you don't buy it, then Hellen can definitely buy a Magic Tattoo on the day she's crafting. An item of Magic Tattoo 1/day at CL 13 is less than 10k gp, and she could just buy the service of a spellcaster.
I get it. Remove -0.5.


Hellen is not using Rebuke Undead in combat. Her turning level is too low for that anyway.
While it's true, but I still think +1 rank in Knowledge (Religion) will be much more than Profession (Gambler) for Hellen. And your turning level isn't too low, it just low, but useful in some circumstances.


Also, no point in originality for choosing a darfellan form as a way to keep a bite attack while being very human-like?
It's fair. Darfellan was an original choice +0.25.


I'm also a bit bummed out by only 4 in power.
4.25 actually (-0.25 for CR 10 also in power).
But I looked one more time at your entry and at another entries.. Well, I'll give you +0.25 in power.

Total: +0.5 in Elegance, +0.25 in Originality, and +0.25 in Power.
+1 overall.

Updated table:
Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef LOKY1109 FactualArcher Total Place
Cowardly Howard (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861045&postcount=21) NE Hadrimoi Skilled City-Dweller Barbarian 1/Focused Specialist Immediate Magic Martial Wizard 1/Abjurant Champion 2/Rage Mage 7/Dread Witch 4 13.75 16.00 29.75 5th
Yssaros (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861047&postcount=22) CE Changeling Mimicking Song Loresong Bard Bard 1/Educated Mantled Wilder 9/Anarchic Initiate 7/Unarmed Swordsage 1/Black Dragon Disciple 2 10.50 15.60 26.10 6th
Vadim Ashguard (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861053&postcount=23) CE Trap Haunt Domovoi Mimic Rogue 1/Lore Song Inspire Awe Eberron Divine Bard 6/Winterhaunt of Iborighu 8/Divine Oracle 2 17.50 16.85 34.35 2nd
Master Sphincters & the Goon Squad (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861056&postcount=24) CE Silthilar Martial Wizard 1/Totemist 2/Beast Heart Adept 10 15.00 15.50 30.50 4th
Tzimtzum (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861058&postcount=25) CE Wendigo Sun Giant Voice of the City Ranger 1/Jaunter 4/Hit and Run Fighter 1 17.50 17.00 34.50 1st
Hellen Honeyteeth (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861059&postcount=26) LE Juju Zombie Avolakia Dread Necromancer 8/Fatespinner 2 14.75 16.30 31.05 3rd
Kicking The Nest (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861060&postcount=27) TN Hivenest Colossal Animated Object/CE Hivemind Bloodfiend Locust Swarm Factotum 11 10.50 13.50 24.00 7th

[H_H_F_F]

Thanks for judging, FactualArcher! And thanks again for the table, loky.

[H_H_F_F]

One dispute for you, factual:

Hello FactualArcher, thank you for judging! Master Sphincters cook here.

you say:
-I couldn’t find your sources for some of your feats. Otherwise the entry is reasonably neat.

which one(s)? I'm relatively sure I covered them all in the crunchy stuff subsession, and the extra ones the doggos get have the source mentioned in tactics in the same paragraph I mention the feat, I don't remember mentioning other feats elsewhere! Do you perhabs mean stuff mentioned in build history? Because I include that section more for "here's my thought process for those curious", it's fairly evident it's not a part of the entry itself I feel, is what I mean.
I'll stop digging my own grave now! thanks for judging!

Pals, You have 30 more hours for disputes, before we do the reveal.

[H_H_F_F]

Another dispute for you, FactualArcher:

Thank you very much for judging. I have a few small disputes.

1. I meet Divine Oracle's prerequisite. Right from his first bard level, Vadim is capable of casting Detect Magic (a divination spell) and Ghostharp (another divination spell). This meets the criteria and thus the -0.25 penalty is in error.

2. "You don’t rely on any ambiguous wording. You also understated the power of the Discordant Malediction combo slightly. All skeletons are immune to cold for some reason, so even baseline skeletons will heal some from Lord of the Uttercold."

Skeletons are immune to cold, but Winterhaunt of Iborhigu 6 gives me always-on Piercing Cold that I cannot turn off. That means that I ignore the skeletons' regular immunity to cold and need skeletons of creatures that actually have the cold subtype, like white dragons.

3. "Technically, you rely extremely heavily on items and minions, but because you have some minion making ability, you still are a threat by yourself. Your inability to move without at least one minion is a bit of a problem, however."

Don't Mage Hand, and later Dimension Door, take care of this just fine? Vadim has enough mobility to get from place to place once combat is over, and he has enough mobility to flee combat. I don't see how a villain needs more than that, to be fair.

[FactualArcher]

Dispute responses:

I did miss the feats for the companions, but now I see they are clearly sourced. Penalty removed. New score 15.75

Good point about the divination spells. I think thought Ghostharp was conjuration, but it is indeed divination. Penalty removed, bringing your Elegance to 4.75.

About the cold immunity thing, you're right. I misunderstood how piercing cold works. I didn't penalize this, however.

As for the movement issue, I forgot mage hand. Apparently I needed to read your zero level spells more carefully. Penalty removed there as well. Power is now a total of 3.85.
New total score is 17.2

[loky1109]

Updated table:

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef LOKY1109 FactualArcher Total Place
Cowardly Howard (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861045&postcount=21) NE Hadrimoi Skilled City-Dweller Barbarian 1/Focused Specialist Immediate Magic Martial Wizard 1/Abjurant Champion 2/Rage Mage 7/Dread Witch 4 13.75 16.00 29.75 5th
Yssaros (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861047&postcount=22) CE Changeling Mimicking Song Loresong Bard Bard 1/Educated Mantled Wilder 9/Anarchic Initiate 7/Unarmed Swordsage 1/Black Dragon Disciple 2 10.50 15.60 26.10 6th
Vadim Ashguard (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861053&postcount=23) CE Trap Haunt Domovoi Mimic Rogue 1/Lore Song Inspire Awe Eberron Divine Bard 6/Winterhaunt of Iborighu 8/Divine Oracle 2 17.50 17.20 34.70 1st
Master Sphincters & the Goon Squad (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861056&postcount=24) CE Silthilar Martial Wizard 1/Totemist 2/Beast Heart Adept 10 15.00 15.75 30.75 4th
Tzimtzum (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861058&postcount=25) CE Wendigo Sun Giant Voice of the City Ranger 1/Jaunter 4/Hit and Run Fighter 1 17.50 17.00 34.50 2nd
Hellen Honeyteeth (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861059&postcount=26) LE Juju Zombie Avolakia Dread Necromancer 8/Fatespinner 2 14.75 16.30 31.05 3rd
Kicking The Nest (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861060&postcount=27) TN Hivenest Colossal Animated Object/CE Hivemind Bloodfiend Locust Swarm Factotum 11 10.50 13.50 24.00 7th

[H_H_F_F]

While we're waiting for the reveal, what would our esteemed judges like to see next round? I've decided to be less cryptic, now that judges are calling the shots.


I'm not disappointed... I'm just angry. Rage round.
It's alive! Again! Construct round.
I'm you, but I'm better: Playable monsters round.


Since we were lucky enough to get two of you this round, you might choose different options. If that ends up being the case, we'll just let the public decide which of the options you've picked they prefer. Sounds fair?

[loky1109]

It's alive!

[FactualArcher]

I’ll vote I’m You, But Better, though I don’t have too strong of an preference.

[H_H_F_F]

Then it's up to the public!

Folks, are we doing It's Alive! Again! or I'm you, but I'm better next round?

[Frostmoon]

I vote for It's Alive! Again!. :3

[Inevitability]

I love constructs: It's Alive for sure!

[Beni-Kujaku]

Definitely It's Alive. Playable monsters, well, can already be played.

[ciopo]

I'm for playable monsters too

[H_H_F_F]

Alright friends, here's the big reveal!



Name
Alignment / Race
Class Levels
Chef
LOKY1109
FactualArcher
Total
Place


Cowardly Howard (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861045&postcount=21)
NE Hadrimoi
Skilled City-Dweller Barbarian 1/Focused Specialist Immediate Magic Martial Wizard 1/Abjurant Champion 2/Rage Mage 7/Dread Witch 4
Ciopo
13.75
16.00
29.75
5th


Yssaros (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861047&postcount=22)
CE Changeling
Mimicking Song Loresong Bard Bard 1/Educated Mantled Wilder 9/Anarchic Initiate 7/Unarmed Swordsage 1/Black Dragon Disciple 2
Phoenix Duck
10.50
15.60
26.10
6th


Vadim Ashguard (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861053&postcount=23)
CE Trap Haunt Domovoi
Mimic Rogue 1/Lore Song Inspire Awe Eberron Divine Bard 6/Winterhaunt of Iborighu 8/Divine Oracle 2
Inevitability
17.50
17.20
34.70
1st


Master Sphincters & the Goon Squad (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861056&postcount=24)
CE Silthilar
Martial Wizard 1/Totemist 2/Beast Heart Adept 10
Ciopo
15.00
15.75
30.75
4th


Tzimtzum (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861058&postcount=25)
CE Wendigo Sun Giant
Voice of the City Ranger 1/Jaunter 4/Hit and Run Fighter 1
Inevitability
17.50
17.00
34.50
2nd


Hellen Honeyteeth (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861059&postcount=26)
LE Juju Zombie Avolakia
Dread Necromancer 8/Fatespinner 2
Beni-Kujaku
14.75
16.30
31.05
3rd


Kicking The Nest (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25861060&postcount=27)
TN Hivenest Colossal Animated Object/CE Hivemind Bloodfiend Locust Swarm
Factotum 11
AvatarVecna
10.50
13.50
24.00
7th



Congratulations to everyone, especially to our medalists and to first-time participant (right?) Phoenix Duck!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to our judges, FactualArcher and Loky1109, for your expedient and diligent work (and to loky, as always, for your help with the table).

Next round will go up after the holiday - in the meantime, Shana Tova everyone!

[H_H_F_F]

Happy new year! Kicking off 5784 with round 52 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?660169-Villainous-Competition-LII-It-s-Alive!-(Again!)&p=25870843#post25870843), which is now up!