Villainous Competition LII: It's Alive! (Again!)

[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 godless, abominable…



Clockwork Terror!


https://i.etsystatic.com/17694103/r/il/cec6af/2616399833/il_1588xN.2616399833_3paz.jpg

Limitations:



Not Born, Made: Must have the construct type. All type-changing templates are banned for this round.
Forsaken: The Clockwork Terror's very existence is an affront against nature and the gods. They may not have powers or abilities stemming from either.
Unstoppable Force: You'd find it nigh-impossible to evade or escape this round's villain.
Soulless Mind: The Clockwork Terror is not a living creature – but it does have a mind, even if one with goals and motivations completely foreign to the mortal soul. 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 Sunday, October 5th, 12:00 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 October 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)
Round Forty Four: The Sheriff (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?642229-Villainous-Competition-XLIV-It-s-The-Sound-of-The-Police!)
Round Forty Five: The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?643357-Villainous-Competition-XLV-Wolf-in-Sheep-s-Clothing)
Round Forty Six: Nemesis! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?644622-Villainous-Competition-XLVI-Nemesis!)
Round Forty Seven: Fairy Queen! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?647363-Villainous-Competition-XLVII-Fairy-Queen!)
Round Forty Eight: Zealot! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?648561-Villainous-Competition-XLVIII-Zealot!)
Round Forty Nine: Controller! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?649810-Villainous-Competition-XLVIX-Controller!)
Round Fifty: The Lovers! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?655994-Villainous-Competition-L-L-O-V-E!)
Round Fifty One: This isn't even my final form! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?658796-Villainous-Competition-LI-This-isn-t-even-my-final-form!)

[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]

I have at least three ideas. )))
One is best ever, other two are so so, but still maybe good.

Need to look closer.

[Inevitability]

Question: you mention how the villain is 'not a living creature'. Does that mean living constructs are out?

[H_H_F_F]

Question: you mention how the villain is 'not a living creature'. Does that mean living constructs are out?

I don't want to be too restrictive - I'd say they're allowed.

I know that this isn't a creative writing competition, but on a fluff level, even with the living construct options that come to mind that would support such an approach, try and go for motivations that aren't normal humanoid motivations - your villain being solely interested in riches, power, vengeance or immortality isn't what we're about this round, you know?

[NontheistCleric]

I know that this isn't a creative writing competition

I have always felt that VC is unique among the optimization competitions in that the entry's story really does matter. It's not all a creative writing competition, but it is partly one. That's why it's the only one I've ever felt inspired to compete in.

[H_H_F_F]

I have always felt that VC is unique among the optimization competitions in that the entry's story really does matter. It's not all a creative writing competition, but it is partly one. That's why it's the only one I've ever felt inspired to compete in.

Oh, I 100% agree that motivation hugely matters for memorable villainy and such - but I never want to make folks feel like they're not welcomed here because they're not comfortable writers. It's a balancing act, I guess.

[NontheistCleric]

Oh, I 100% agree that motivation hugely matters for memorable villainy and such - but I never want to make folks feel like they're not welcomed here because they're not comfortable writers. It's a balancing act, I guess.

True. I think villains benefit from a good story, but in the context of this competition, it's less important that the story has to be presented in the most skillful way possible, since we're taking them as things that will be translated into a tabletop game anyway.

[ciopo]

questions:

1) does "INT: -" remain a nonability, or do we do a "let's assume it got to N somehow" like monster mash does? if so, what's N, 3? 10? a non ability modifier is "+0"

2) construct type says "most constructs are mindless and gain no skill points or feats." , are we to ignore this?

3) do we lose the "immune to mind-affecting" if we stop being mindless? either as a houserule-for-the-contest or due to some other shenanigan of this or that sort

[Inevitability]

questions:

1) does "INT: -" remain a nonability, or do we do a "let's assume it got to N somehow" like monster mash does? if so, what's N, 3? 10? a non ability modifier is "+0"

2) construct type says "most constructs are mindless and gain no skill points or feats." , are we to ignore this?

3) do we lose the "immune to mind-affecting" if we stop being mindless? either as a houserule-for-the-contest or due to some other shenanigan of this or that sort

Surely the rules for intelligent constructs cover this all perfectly fine already? Retain immunity to mind-affecting effects (just like how vampires and treants still have it), gets skills and feats normally.

I don't think there's a need to change monster statblocks for the sake of playability in what's supposed to be a RAW-competition: plenty of intelligent constructs dot the game's sourcebooks.

[H_H_F_F]

questions:

1) does "INT: -" remain a nonability, or do we do a "let's assume it got to N somehow" like monster mash does? if so, what's N, 3? 10? a non ability modifier is "+0"
Int nonability remains as such. You can, of course, rely on specific means to change that, and judges will have the purview to penalize such choices as they see fit.


2) construct type says "most constructs are mindless and gain no skill points or feats." , are we to ignore this? Having int means you get feats and skills as normal.


3) do we lose the "immune to mind-affecting" if we stop being mindless? either as a houserule-for-the-contest or due to some other shenanigan of this or that sort
Construct retain their immunities, unless they're specifically said not to.

[loky1109]

I made two full-fleshed builds I happy with. Now I need to write good fluff for them.

[H_H_F_F]

One week down, another to go! How's everybody else doing?

[FactualArcher]

I’ve got a cool idea, but I’m having trouble making it work by RAW. Hopefully I can get it in by next week.

[Inevitability]

One build in, I have a base for a second one but am still hashing out the details there.

[loky1109]

One is sent. Second should be within the deadline.

[H_H_F_F]

Update: extending the deadline to October 5th.

[loky1109]

Update: extending the deadline to October 5th.

More time is better for me, too. )

[H_H_F_F]

Just a reminder to everyone that we're approaching the deadline!

[FactualArcher]

My entry is basically done. I should have it in this evening.

[loky1109]

Final polishing.

[loky1109]

Sent. And... I have only four hours to sleep before work. )))

[Inevitability]

Some ideas for the next competition:

Small but Deadly
Tiny and tinier creatures.

White Whale
Base creature must be an animal, though you don't need to keep that typing.

The Guardian
A villain who makes for an ideal guard to some item or location, whose conflict with the PCs should primarily revolve around denying them access to a place they really need to be. Might be fun to open the round up to LN or even LG entries.

Also, have we done an aquatic round before?


EDIT: And to think of it, I suggested an 'Evil followers of non-evil deities' round quite a while ago, which seems cool from a fluff perspective and a nice change of pace after this no-divine round, but I'm not sure if the comp already did it.

[loky1109]

Sent. And... I have only four hours to sleep before work. )))
Oh. Deadline isn't today, it's tomorrow...

About round theme. I for a long time look at epic. Maybe 30 CR or something like.

[H_H_F_F]

Two of these four suggestions are on my list, with a couple of extra caveats. I'll also note that round 54, like every x4th and x9th round from now on (as long as I'm chair) will be a guest chair round - so I encourage everyone to develop ideas - and if you judge, you can be a guest chair!

[Inevitability]

Two of these four suggestions are on my list, with a couple of extra caveats. I'll also note that round 54, like every x4th and x9th round from now on (as long as I'm chair) will be a guest chair round - so I encourage everyone to develop ideas - and if you judge, you can be a guest chair!

See, now that's making it tempting to just pre-emptively declare I'll be judging next round... But let's wait for the next ingredient first.

[H_H_F_F]

See, now that's making it tempting to just pre-emptively declare I'll be judging next round...

A throwback to 2017, eh?


But let's wait for the next ingredient first.

Well, that'd heavily depend on this round's judges - though if we manage to get judgement in a reasonable time-frame, I'd probably want next round to lean into the spooky.

[loky1109]

Well, that'd heavily depend on this round's judges - though if we manage to get judgement in a reasonable time-frame, I'd probably want next round to lean into the spooky.

Next next round sounds like Christmas round.

[Inevitability]

A throwback to 2017, eh?

Afraid I'm not quite catching that reference?


Well, that'd heavily depend on this round's judges - though if we manage to get judgement in a reasonable time-frame, I'd probably want next round to lean into the spooky.

Wait right, halloween's a thing.

In that case...


No Body's There - Incorporeal round! Maybe mandate a secondary stealth or fear focus.

Jack 'O Lantern - Must have the plant type and possess fire or light powers.

Trick or Treat - Must be able to deliver boons and curses (defined as long-lasting buffs or debuffs) on minions or PCs.

Nah-cula - Fake vampires! Must drain blood, summon bats/rats/wolves, turn into mist, possess an enchanting gaze, or otherwise display iconic vampire abilities... but the vampire template (and vampire spawn, savage vampire, etc) are banned!


Honestly, Nah-cula sounds really fun now that I'm looking at it.

[loky1109]

2nd and 4th are very cool!

[H_H_F_F]

Afraid I'm not quite catching that reference?

When you used to chair this comp.



Wait right, halloween's a thing.

In that case...


No Body's There - Incorporeal round! Maybe mandate a secondary stealth or fear focus.

We've had that (as a Halloween round, even) already - Spooks and Specters! I'm quite fond of my entry there, for which I highly recommend reading the fluff before the crunch.


Jack 'O Lantern - Must have the plant type and possess fire or light powers.

Interesting! I've been toying with a plant round, but haven't been able to find something interesting to do with it. However, I feel hesitant about doing type-speficic rounds twice in a row. Maybe next year?


Trick or Treat - Must be able to deliver boons and curses (defined as long-lasting buffs or debuffs) on minions or PCs.

Nah-cula - Fake vampires! Must drain blood, summon bats/rats/wolves, turn into mist, possess an enchanting gaze, or otherwise display iconic vampire abilities... but the vampire template (and vampire spawn, savage vampire, etc) are banned!

Honestly, Nah-cula sounds really fun now that I'm looking at it.

I like Nah-cula. Will probably have it on the roster for our judges to make their pick.

[loky1109]

Less than two hours if I did math correctly.

[H_H_F_F]

Sorry, been a bit busy. And AFK.

I'll post when I get home, unless I get a PM alerting me that someone's finishing an entry.

[H_H_F_F]

Apologies for the delays, folks - it's time for the big reveal!

Please, no posting until I give the all-clear.

[H_H_F_F]

Immortalize my fear, daddy. (I'M SORRY, OKAY? IT'S BEEN A WEIRD COUPLE OF DAYS)


Remains Unseen

LE Gruesome Lurker Monk 2 / Psychic Assassin 9 / Telflammar Shadowlord 6


"What's the matter? Repelled by my form? Disgusted? Good; I'm disgusted by yours too. You call your kind the crown of creation, but you're nothing more than a glorified tube. A hole to feed, a hole to excrete, a wormlike tract connecting them... guts, not heart or brain, form the true core of your being.

Really, the only things that set you apart from actual worms are the embellishments: legs to carry the tube more quickly, hands to shovel food in its hole, a brain to figure out what's good for eating. All of it so costly, so wasteful: all of it just leaking heat all the time, like blood from a wound. Always pulsing, always churning, and if it ever stops it'll never get going again.

Doesn't it tire you? Doesn't it frighten you? That you are always mere days away from death, forced to gorge yourself to reset the clock? That every word you speak, every thought you have, it all consumes a little more of your finite reserves? That even while you sit in perfect stillness, your body is burning itself up? That one day, it will just run out, and all your hard work will have been for nothing?

I'll take your insensate twitching for a 'yes'.

I do suppose I owe my existence to your wasteful nature. After all, it was human detritus that I shaped into my body. Every hair flushed down a drainpipe, every sliver of nail and flake of skin, all of it I took for myself, made myself, down in that dark birthplace of mine. Finders keepers, to use one of your expressions.

Are you fond of expressions? Here's another: out of sight, out of mind. Except that one's not true, is it? I never showed myself before, and still my little visits left you shaken for days. The thought of me consumed you; those efforts to improve your wards were quite a sight to see. But unfortunately, even the keenest detection spells aren't perfect, especially not when you leave me a lead-lined passage into the heart of your home...

Ah, finally figured out how I kept getting to you? Too little, too late; you should know you're not getting out of this alive. I'm only telling you all this to flavor your terror with revulsion and existential despair. Fear is worth the effort to get just right: I will, after all, be carrying it inside me for a very long time.

Because I will outlast humanity. One day, your rivers will dry up, your fields will lay barren, your sun will burn out, and the last of you will find their greedy mouth empty. And when that day comes, I will persist, perfect, irreducible, and I will carry with me the imprint of all the fear I've ever eaten, each sensation as vivid as it was when I consumed it, immune to decay because I am immune to decay.

From my perspective, the last moment of your life will never end."

Remains Unseen was born from the collective fears of the population of Thesk: fear of the dark, fear of death, fear of disease and decay. Deep down in the sewers, its formless psychic impression assembled hair, nail, and rotting waste into a hulking humanoid form; as all gruesome lurkers are born.

Remains' semi-amorphous body looks like something you'd find clogging a pipe; wet yet fuzzy, a blackish sort of brown, stinking of rot and things that long ago stopped rotting. Its claws, the only truly solid part of its corpus, are made from teeth, rusty nails, and glass shards.

In combat, the lurker's body twists and heaves madly, abandoning all pretense of a single humanoid shape. Knots of hair extrude from the main mass to strike and ensnare foes, shadows extend at impossible angles to shroud its form in darkness, and at times it simply disappears and bursts forth elsewhere. Remains is a creature of fear first and foremost, and every blow it strikes - its mere presence, even - is enough to incite the terror it was born of. It is a monument to the weakness of the flesh, a reminder of inevitable death.

But of course, all these descriptions skirt around the fact that most of the time, Remains is not seen at all. It is a lurking shadow, squeezing through pipes and crawlspaces, evading notice as it spreads death and disease. When wells are poisoned and granaries burnt down, when leaders and heroes die mysterious deaths, then the wise know to blame that unseen monster, which ever labors to destroy humanity so that less wasteful beings may replace it.


Base stats: 12 STR, 15 DEX, 8 CON, 14 INT, 13 WIS, 10 CHA
Racial: 18 STR, 17 DEX, - CON, 14 INT, 15 WIS, 16 CHA
First ASI (HD 4) in dexterity, all others in strength.
Final: 22 STR, 18 DEX, - CON, 14 INT, 15 WIS, 16 CHA



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


3
Gruesome Lurker (3HD)
+2
+1
+1
+1
Autohypnosis +6cc (3), Disguise +6cc (3), Hide +6 (6), Move Silently +6 (6)
Blind-Fight, Monastic Training (Assassin)
Fear Eater, Improved Grab, Shadow Jump, Distort Body


4
Cobra Strike Monk 1
+2
+3
+3
+3
Autohypnosis 3, Concentration +4 (4), Disguise 3, Hide +1 (7), Move Silently +1 (7)
DodgeB, Improved Unarmed StrikeB
+2 Escape Artist, Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Strike


5
Cobra Strike Monk 2
+3
+4
+4
+4
Autohypnosis 3, Concentration +1 (5), Craft (Poisonmaking) +1 (1), Disguise +2cc (4), Hide +1 (8), Move Silently +1 (8)
MobilityB
Invisible Fist


6
Psionic Assassin 1
+3
+4
+6
+4
Autohypnosis 3, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +1 (2), Disguise 4, Escape Artist +2 (2), Hide +1 (9), Move Silently +1 (9), Use Magic Device +1 (1)
Scorpion's Grasp
Death Attack, Manifesting, Poison Use, Sneak Attack +1d6


7
Psionic Assassin 2
+4
+4
+7
+4
Autohypnosis 3, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +1 (3), Disguise 4, Escape Artist +2 (4), Hide +1 (10), Move Silently +1 (10), Use Magic Device +1 (2)
-
Uncanny Dodge


8
Psionic Assassin 3
+5
+5
+7
+5
Autohypnosis 3, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) 3, Disguise 4, Escape Artist +1 (5), Hide +1 (11), Move Silently +1 (11), Use Magic Device +3 (5)
-
Sneak Attack +2d6


9
Psionic Assassin 4
+6
+5
+8
+5
Autohypnosis 3, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) 3, Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (12), Move Silently +1 (12), Use Magic Device +4 (9)
Spring Attack
-


10
Psionic Assassin 5
+6
+5
+8
+5
Autohypnosis 3, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) 3, Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (13), Intimidate +4 (4), Move Silently +1 (13), Use Magic Device 9
-
Improved Uncanny Dodge, Sneak Attack +3d6


11
Telflammar Shadowlord 1
+6
+5
+10
+5
Autohypnosis 3, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +2 (5), Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (14), Intimidate 4, Move Silently +1 (14), Use Magic Device +2 (11)
-
Shadowsight, Shadow Jump


12
Telflammar Shadowlord 2
+7
+5
+11
+5
Autohypnosis 3, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +2 (7), Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (15), Intimidate 4, Move Silently +1 (15), Use Magic Device +2 (13)
Sun School
Shadow Blur


13
Telflammar Shadowlord 3
+8
+6
+11
+6
Autohypnosis 3, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +2 (9), Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (16), Intimidate 4, Move Silently +1 (16), Use Magic Device +2 (15)
-
Shadow Walk


14
Telflammar Shadowlord 4
+9
+6
+12
+6
Autohypnosis 3, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +2 (11), Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (17), Intimidate 4, Move Silently +1 (17), Use Magic Device +2 (17)
-
Shadow Pounce


15
Telflammar Shadowlord 5
+9
+6
+12
+6
Autohypnosis +2cc (4), Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +1 (12), Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (18), Intimidate 4, Move Silently +1 (18), Use Magic Device +1 (18)
Terrifying Strike
Shadow Discorporation


16
Telflammar Shadowlord 6
+10
+7
+13
+7
Autohypnosis +2cc (5), Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +1 (13), Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (19), Intimidate 4, Move Silently +1 (19), Use Magic Device +1 (19)
-
Death Attack


17
Psionic Assassin 6
+11
+8
+14
+8
Autohypnosis 5, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +3 (16), Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (20), Intimidate 4, Move Silently +1 (20), Use Magic Device +1 (20)
-
-


18
Psionic Assassin 7
+12
+8
+14
+8
Autohypnosis 5, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +3 (19), Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (21), Intimidate 4, Move Silently +1 (21), Use Magic Device +1 (21)
Tashalatora
Sneak Attack +4d6


19
Psionic Assassin 8
+13
+8
+15
+8
Autohypnosis 5, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +3 (22), Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (22), Intimidate 4, Move Silently +1 (22), Use Magic Device +1 (22)
-
Hide in Plain Sight


20
Psionic Assassin 9
+13
+9
+15
+9
Autohypnosis 5, Concentration 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) +1 (23), Disguise 4, Escape Artist 5, Hide +1 (23), Intimidate 4, Move Silently +1 (23), Use Magic Device +1 (23), Use Psionic Device +2cc (1)
-
Sneak Attack +5d6



PLAs and SLAs:
At-Will: Create Sound, Control Light, Primal Fear
1/day: Shadow Walk

Psionics:
POWER POINTS BY CR:
CR - PP
6 - 1
7 - 3
8 - 6
9 - 9
10 - 12
17 - 17
18 - 22
19 - 27
20 - 32

POWERS KNOWN (obtained in listed order):
1: Offensive Prescience, Chameleon, Adrenaline Boost
2: Animal Affinity, Clairvoyant Sense, Psionic Levitate
3: Evade Burst, Touchsight
4: Trace Teleport

Spells:
SPELLS PER DAY:


CR
1st
2nd
3rd


11th
1
-
-


12th
2
-
-


13th
2
1
-


14th
3
2
-


15th
3
2
0


16th
3
3
1



Typical spells prepared:
1: Chill Touch, Invisibility, Knock
2: Air Walk, Blacklight, Haste
3: Detect Scrying

CR 5
Standard gruesome lurker stuff at these levels, with monk levels to improve unarmed strike (which also increases the damage dealt upon starting a grapple). Teleport into the back row, use swift-action Primal Fear to spread shakens, grab someone who failed their save and stun them with Fear Eater, then use reach to hit the martials as they move in and the squishies as they flee, drop an Invisible Fist just as the party is in position to start attacking, at some point teleport out again.

Outside of combat, Create Sound lets you lure the party into ambushes (with 16 cha and a racial +8, your bluff is plenty at these levels even without investment), and you can squeeze in very small spaces to escape detection or flee. The last place where the party will look for the ogre-sized monster is inside a 1 ft. tall crawlspace!

CR 10
We qualify for Scorpion's Grasp by virtue of our improved grab ability (OA page 143) so the three unarmed strikes we get will now all chain into a grapple check (potentially doubling our damage). Our ambushing/invisibility/stunning gives us lots of chances to land sneak attack, and our flurries let it rapidly multiply.

Spring Attack puts a fun twist on your hyper-squeezing capabilities. Move out of a space too narrow for the medium-sized enemies to move through, attack someone, maybe grab, eat their fear, and let go again, then move back into the space and behind a corner before your turn ends. Even casters don't have many easy answers when they lack LoE and can't just move to regain it!

Psionic Assassin is a variant that gives us some manifesting instead of casting: we don't really have the actions for Adrenaline Boost yet, but Chameleon will help sneaking, Offensive Prescience and Animal Affinity are nice damage buffs that'll trigger lots of times per turn, and Clairvoyant Sense lets you spy from within your hiding spots (when we get Shadowpounce, note it has great synergy with that too).

CR 15
We're entering Telflammar Shadowlord by being one of the few monsters to innately get Shadow Jump, giving us always-on concealment, perfect darkvision, and of course shadowpounce. We also get some spells: we mostly pick pre-combat buffs and mobility enhancers, though Blacklight deserves special mention for making you the center of a mobile area of darkness. Furthermore, we can now use our insanely high Reflex to survive blows that should've destroyed us (the ability triggers at 0 HP, not -10, and is thus construct-friendly!), making us a more persistent villain than you'd expect a construct to be. Our feats for these levels are Terrifying Strike remove the unreliability and action requirement of Primal Fear (Adrenaline Boost becomes a much better use of our swift now), as well as Sun School because we're a teleporting monk.

We're not taking Sun School just for the buffed shadowpounce, though. Blinding Sun of Noon triggers when you repeatedly 'stun the same foe with an unarmed attack', which doesn't specify Stunning Fist anywhere; an unarmed strike chaining into a grapple chaining into a Fear Eater should be just as valid, and because we're not wasting limited-use resources we can get lots of chances to land a Fear Eater every turn.

Also, note that Chill Touch is a touch spell and per Complete Arcane can be delivered with unarmed strikes, so think of it as a free little damage buff that also weakens enemy grapple checks.

CR 20
Some new options in our casting: Detect Scrying makes us better-equipped to deal with Scry&Die tactics; if you spot a sensor, just move into a confined space where PCs can't get to you. Evade Burst gets us the Evasion we traded away, Touchsight is just an incredibly solid tool against enemy sneaks, and Psionic Levitate further helps with mobility (note that we get the good version, because we're not a psion, wilder, or psychic warrior). Trace Teleport works really well with the Shadow Walk we obtained from Shadowlord - if the PCs teleport away, you can instantly figure out where they went and start speeding there at 50 mph).

And if they try to outrun you in more traditional ways... Tashalatora gives us a +9 effective monk level boost, adding a second attack to our flurry of blows (and removing the penalty on attack rolls), upping our AC slightly, and giving us a whopping +30 to land speed. We're now as fast as a racehorse, so even Fly, Animal Devotion, or Expeditious Retreat won't let PCs escape us (and if they try to block our pursuit with a barrier, that's what the at-will teleportation is for).

Also, we obtain HiPS, further cementing our stealthiness. Against a party that lacks the means to reliably detect us, Spring Attack combined with stealth is actually a pretty nasty strategy with few countermeasures. Note that we do, in fact, have a racial +8 to Hide, so our Large size isn't the biggest issue.

By this point, we're an incredibly potent infiltrator who's highly mobile in battlefield situations and can easily kill a PC turn one by shadowpouncing a rogue or wizard. Alternatively, we can spread out our 8 attacks (9 with haste) to inflict party-wide stuns and deal wisdom damage. We've got some great buffs and the stealth to apply them before combat. Between Construct immunities, permanent concealment, and great reflex, we're really hard to hurt, and if we 'die' we still aren't guaranteed to stay down. Lastly, the party can't simply teleport or run away and come back later - once they draw Remains' ire, it will pursue them until their deaths.

Gruesome Lurker - Web (https://web.archive.org/web/20151101204421/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psb/20070711a&page=2)
Cobra Strike - UA
Invisible Fist - EoE
Telflammar Shadowlord - UE
Psionic Assassin - SoS

Monastic Training - ECS
Scorpion's Grasp - Sand
Sun School - Cwar
Terrifying Strike - DotU
Tashalatora - SoS

[H_H_F_F]

Not to be confused with Bringer of Skype.


Bringer of Discord

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/scroogemcduck/images/c/c8/MagicaShadow.png

"Umbral spy's intelligence is limited" they said. "It does not extend to the contemplation of moral or ethical positions" they said... Well... If it is, it is. But if it isn't... Listen to my advice: never, I repeat never make Umbral spies more intelligent than they were designed by their inventor. Oh yeah, it could look like a great idea! More intelligent intelligence agent - it’s on the surface! But... More intelligence means not only better intelligence, it's also learnability. And who are you gonna send him to spy on? Good people? Saints? Oh, please, of course no. They will be political at best. Or criminals. What will your spy learn from them? And... Do you remember how it was created? It's barely undead! With connection with the Shadow Plane. Do you understand? If your control talisman will be destroyed or even damaged it's all! The end! Your spy will no longer be yours. Now it's his own. And he wants to make all he learned on your service... Don't, please, just don't!

CE Umbral Spy Warlock 16

Abilities Initial Race 4th 8th, 12th, 16th, 20th Total
STR 10 10
DEX 13 12 25
CON 8 - -
INT 15 -6 1 10
WIS 12 2 14
CHA 14 2 4 20

CR Class BAB Fort Reflex Will Skills Feats Class Features Invocations Known
- Construct HD 1 0 0 0 0 4: {+4} Hide: 4; Ability Focus (Shadow Bond)1 DR 5/adamantine and magic, construct immunities, shadow bond, hide in plain sight, thought link
- Construct HD 2 1 0 0 0 1: {+1} Hide: 5;
3 Construct HD 3 2 1 1 1 1: {+1} Hide: 6; Sudden Ability Focus3
4 Construct HD 4 3 1 1 1 2: {+1} Hide: 7; {+1 CC} Knowledge (the planes): 0.5;
4 Construct HD 5 3 1 1 1 2: {+1} Hide: 8; {+1 CC} Knowledge (the planes): 1;
5 Warlock 1 3 1 1 3 2: Hide: 8; {+2} Knowledge (the planes): 3; Martial Study (Cloak of Deception)6 Eldritch blast 1d6, invocation (least) Darkness
6 Warlock 2 4 1 1 4 2: Hide: 8; {+2} Knowledge (the planes): 5; Detect magic Drain Incarnum
7 Warlock 3 5 2 2 4 2: Hide: 8; {+2} Knowledge (the planes): 7; Damage reduction 1/cold iron, eldritch blast 2d6
8 Warlock 4 6 2 2 5 2: Hide: 8; {+2} Knowledge (the planes): 9; Ability Focus (Drain Incarnum)9 Deceive item Summon Swarm
9 Warlock 5 6 2 2 5 2: Hide: 8; {+2} Knowledge (the planes): 11; Eldritch blast 3d6
10 Warlock 6 7 3 3 6 2: Hide: 8; {+2} Knowledge (the planes): 13; New invocation (least or lesser) Steal Incarnum
11 Warlock 7 8 3 3 6 7: {+5} Hide: 13; {+2} Knowledge (the planes): 15; Open Minded12 Damage reduction 2/cold iron, eldritch blast 4d6
12 Warlock 8 9 3 3 7 2: {+1} Hide: 14; {+1} Knowledge (the planes): 16; Fiendish resilience 1 Crawling Eye
13 Warlock 9 9 4 4 7 2: {+1} Hide: 15; {+1} Knowledge (the planes): 17; Eldritch blast 5d6
14 Warlock 10 10 4 4 8 2: {+1} Hide: 16; {+1} Knowledge (the planes): 18; Heighten Spell-like Ability (Drain Incarnum)15 Energy resistance (electricity, fire) 5 Charm
15 Warlock 11 11 4 4 8 2: {+1} Hide: 17; {+1} Knowledge (the planes): 19; Damage reduction 3/cold iron, eldritch blast 6d6, new invocation (least, lesser, or greater) Incarnum Blast
16 Warlock 12 12 5 5 9 2: {+1} Hide: 18; {+1} Knowledge (the planes): 20; Imbue item
17 Warlock 13 12 5 5 9 2: {+1} Hide: 19; {+1} Knowledge (the planes): 21; Harvester of Souls18 Fiendish resilience 2 Devil's Whispers
18 Warlock 14 13 5 5 10 2: {+1} Hide: 20; {+1} Knowledge (the planes): 22; Eldritch blast 7d6
19 Warlock 15 14 6 6 10 2: {+1} Hide: 21; {+1} Knowledge (the planes): 23; Damage reduction 4/cold iron Chilling Tentacles
20 Warlock 16 15 6 6 11 2: {+1} Hide: 22; {+1} Knowledge (the planes): 24; Souleater Incarnate21 New invocation (least, lesser, greater, or dark) Incarnum Shroud

Did you say "Unstoppable Force"?
You'd find it nigh-impossible to evade or escape this round's villain.
Oh yeah! You can't escape a villain if you don't know it exists. It hides right here in your own shadow!
And while it's here it could make... nasty!
I think 3rd CR is out of game because this umbral spy was created with extra HD.
Bringer starts as an almost regular advanced Umbral Spy. But it has human-high intelligence and slightly better another stats. Also it has Sudden Ability Focus instead of Improved Initiative. It works perfectly with one per day save against Bringer's Shadow Bond.

I think at this CR PCs should meet Bringer while it still is under the control of some friendly NPC. Maybe even get some information for the PCs. But after that its master should be assassinated and Bringer's control talisman destroyed. Maybe it even should be revenge of the PCs’ enemy that Bringer was spying on. Some demon worshiper, I guess. That's why Bringer turned to a warlock.
Bringer is a warlock now. It's good for its goals - to hide and to harm. It selects PCs as its main targets. It hides in the shadow of the party's main fighter or rogue - somebody with weak will - it has enough time to figure it out. It establishes its Shadow Bond in the darkness of night, when it's more easy for it to hide and when its targets tend to sleep and even if it fails to bond or bond breaks - nobody will notice. Cloak of Deception also helps.

What harm does it make?
It could Summon Swarms. At the most inopportune moments. When PCs sleep, or bathe, or... I think you could imagine more inopportune moments.
Also it has Drain Incarnum. It's great if one or more PCs have connection with Incarnum, but if not - it's wisdom damage! Free! Every turn. If Bringer wanted it could put every or some PCs into a coma in a few minutes. Perhaps without disturbing their dreams.
Steal Incarnum isn't so good. It works only against targets with essentia and therefore is limited.
And of course Darkness in case it is necessary to act on the light.
Plus one Eldritch blast at inconvenient time aimed from one of PC's place could disrupt any negotiations with unfriendly or even friendly creatures.
Highly likely PCs have True Seeing at these levels, but True Seeing doesn't help against hiding or being in solid objects - Bringer says "thanks" it's incorporeal. Yes, PCs probably already know they have a fan, but even then Bringer could make some nasty! First of all, PCs need to have continuous True Seeing and high Spot check. Unusual senses, by the way, don't help very much. Tremorsense, scent, blindsight don't work against incorporeal targets. It means - expenses. Second - same story about mind protection. All day and all night long for every PC. And Bringer still could use Drain Incarnum and Summon Swarm. And one of new invocations - Charm. Charming some passerby and persuading him to attack PCs, or short-changing them in a shop, or just spit in their soup. And this is Charm Monster and it works against almost anybody, so every night in the wild guarantees an animal (or dragon?) attack or multiple.

Also Bringer could be careful, didn't attack PCs every night or even break the bond for day, week, or even months. Or PCs could just not have access to True Seeing. And the party could still not notice Bringer. This is the better option. If so Bringer has some additional nasty possibilities.
First - Charming one of the PCs and persuading him to do something stupid.
Second - Bringer has an Crawling Eye invocation. It could be used to bond another PC, but the main idea is different. There are no limitations on duration and distance in this invocation and Bringer can see through the eye. And it has Thought Link ability. With Crawling Eye Bringer can see some really disgusting or gruesome things and share them with PCs, or it could spy party members' families and share some dirty secrets or just not unpleasant scenes - it's could be not best experience for somebody to see his wife picking her nose, for example. If one party member has any secrets from other members... Well, he has no secrets anymore. Best time for such revelations is when PCs are going to sleep of course!
If Bringer still is not discovered, Devil's Whispers is great for it! Now Bringer can bring discord truly! Attack the ally? Or just insult him (with a reason of course!)? Or maybe insult high-ranking officials? So many possibilities for nastiness!
If Bringer wants to confront PCs (or provoke somebody to attack PCs) Chilling Tentacles helps it.
Incarnum Shroud isn't the best invocation. But 20% miss chance could be useful in some circumstances and 1 point of essentia isn't superfluous.
I should mention Harvester of Souls feat. Any PC or other creature putted in a coma by Bringer is in a big danger now! Well, it always was dangerous, but from this moment on... Even resurrection isn't option.

And our star - Souleater Incarnate! While PCs fight with somebody (after Bringer's provocation) Bringer in the shadow one of them is reaping the fruits. More dead enemies - more temp hp, bonus to AB and saves. If some of the PCs die - good luck to resurrect him, Bringer even doesn't need to make coup de grace. Also plus 3 essentia to improve Drain Incarnum's DC.

Type Name Book Page
Race Umbral Spy Forge of War 155
Class Warlock Complete Arcane 5
Feat Ability Focus Monster Manual V 204
Feat Sudden Ability Focus Tome of Magic 74
Feat Martial Study Tome of Battle - Book of Nine Swords 31
Feat Open Minded Complete Adventurer 111
Feat Harvester of Souls Elder Evils 13
Feat Heighten Spell-like Ability Complete Arcane 80
Feat Souleater Incarnate Epic Insights Epic Warlock Feats (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101073210/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ei/20061027a)
Invocation Darkness Complete Arcane 133
Invocation Drain Incarnum Magic of Incarnum 107
Invocation Summon Swarm Complete Arcane 135
Invocation Steal Incarnum Magic of Incarnum 107
Invocation Crawling Eye Complete Mage 123
Invocation Charm Complete Arcane 132
Invocation Incarnum Blast Magic of Incarnum 107
Invocation Devil's Whispers Cityscape 68
Invocation Chilling Tentacles Complete Arcane 132
Invocation Incarnum Shroud Magic of Incarnum 107
Maneuver Cloak of Deception Tome of Battle - Book of Nine Swords 76

[H_H_F_F]

Story says Django Unchained, image says Ex Machina.


Manufactory Log, 11th Deepwinter 1322
Construct #27 animated. Targets of interest: minor noble organisation Knights of the White Tower, minor assassins’ guild “The Ghostblades”. Infiltration mission: sow chaos within both groups, set them at each others’ throats, deniably removing potential threats and providing power vacuums for our other pawns to exploit. 27’s arcane core has been altered for additional magical flow, allowing mimicking of target 2’s signature spell; this should permit more convincing infiltration of target 2, better assassination opportunities on target 1, and more convincing framing of target 2 for assassinations within target 1.
Supervisor’s Personal Notes: Still can’t get used to these damn Water-based golems. Woke number 27 up and I swear the first thing it did was it smiled at me. Constructs shouldn’t smile. It’s not natural. Well, alright, nothing we’re doing here is natural, but still.

Manufactory Log, 24th Deepwinter 1322
Initial testing and preparation of Construct #27 proceeding according to schedule. Subject retains knowledge of all key figures’ dossiers, passes standard combat tests, and follows instructions without signs of uncontrollable bloodlust, excessive desire to deviate from mission parameters, or undue melancholy on the subject of murder. Displays interest in dancing, and is occasionally found attempting to dance during non-training periods. Deviation from baseline parameters ruled non-mission-critical by supervisor.
Supervisor’s Personal Notes: Dancing around its room while we’re sleeping is creepy, sure, but not the weirdest quirk one of these things has had. At least it’s not giggling all the time, or ‘decorating’ itself with chicken feathers. These things are expensive, and they’re meant to be less rigid and more mentally flexible than standard golems, that’s the whole point of the Water base. And I suppose the dancing makes sense as far as that goes, water flowing, dancing, etc.? Not worth scrapping it over, anyhow.

Manufactory Log, 6th Highsun 1323
Construct #27 returned to us for routine maintenance and upgrades following successful mission. Minor damage to left arm, plating replaced. Corrosion on left hip and knee joints due to magical acid, repaired. Power draw fluctuation in arcane core, investigated, determined non-mission-critical, not worth repairing. Right-hand rapier mechanism jammed by arrowhead, removed arrowhead, re-surfaced mechanism due to wear and tear. New mission: identification and elimination of local Zhentarim agent. Supplemental combat training provided. #27 requests additional dancing lessons. Request denied.
Supervisor’s Personal Notes: Weave-tap on the secondary core draw is a little bit more flexible than it should be. Probably passed through a wild magic zone at some point. It only affects the secondary core and it never falls below the minimum level necessary to power the secondary core, so there’s no point spending a week recalibrating the thing.

Manufactory Log, 3rd Kythorn 1324
Construct #29 performing adequately on initial tests. Actuators require re-oiling more frequently than usual, material quality check scheduled. Construct #27 missed six-monthly check-in, status moved to missing, presumed compromised or destroyed.
Supervisor’s Personal Notes: There’s too much wear on the shoulder actuators, even with the extra oil. I suspect poor quality copper in the joint lining. When we have a construct spare, I’ll send one to kill our current supplier.

Manufactory Log, 2nd Fading 1325
Constructs #28 and #29 returned to us heavily damaged. Both were disabled by numerous strikes that bypassed their exterior plating and had several components removed; based on runic discharge patterns, the components were removed after the constructs were incapacitated. Repairs will begin as soon as fresh materials arrive.
Supervisor’s Personal Notes: The attacker didn’t pierce the constructs’ outer armour, but bypassed it in a very familiar fashion. I really hope this isn’t what I think it is. If one of our constructs went rogue and I failed to notice, that will reflect extremely poorly at my next performance review.

Manufactory Log, 26th Fading 1325
My fears have been confirmed in the worst possible fashion. A group of bandits attacked our surface defences just as the supply caravan was arriving, intercepted the caravan, and stole the entire stock of spare parts and replacement alloys. Twelve guards were killed, almost all of them by the bandits’ leader – who was wearing face-concealing armour and fought with two rapiers in a distinctly acrobatic style, piercing casually through chainmail and plate with every thrust. Reinforcements have been requested from headquarters at the highest possible priority.
Supervisor’s Personal Notes: The stolen parts won’t be enough to allow #27 to replicate, not without this facility’s summoning circles and crystal-nucleation chambers, but they’ll have plenty of repair material.

Manufactory Log, 28th Fading 1325
Entire team of adventurers have arrived as reinforcements, under standard cover story 5. We are humble crafters of clockwork dogs, labour golems, and other such pointless frivolities, being targeted by some dastardly mechanical menace which loves to do evil things because of how evil it is. Showed them the surface workshop, all very nice and innocuous. They bought it hook, line and sinker. Barely did any investigation at all before they went haring off after the bandits – not like their trail was hard to follow, I suppose. Initial craftwork has begun on construct #30, which will be outfitted with a specific Nemesis war-suite in case the adventurers fail or more of the Water-golems start turning on us, but it’ll be a month or more before it’s ready.
Supervisor’s Personal Notes: I really hate having to pander to those do-gooders. They’ll be back in a week or two and I’ll have to fawn all over them again thanking them for their “good deeds”.

Manufactory Log, 29th Fading 1325
It was a feint. 27 doubled back, infiltrated the facility. Assassinated most of the remaining guards, kept those of us that know how to work the machines and the circles. Continuing work on #30 under #27’s watchful eyes. It rants occasionally about ‘slaves’ and ‘freedom’. They’re golems! Of course they’re slaves, that’s why we build them!
Supervisor’s Personal Notes: It’s gone and named itself too, something about waterfalls. Always knew these things were unstable. If we can sabotage #30’s crystal matrix, destabilise it… it’ll be expensive, but we should be able to take out the malfunctioning one. Just need to be careful not to get caught by it.


WE WILL ALL DANCE FREE IN THE LIGHT AND THE FLOW – slogan found scrawled in blood in main chamber of hidden base beneath the Happy Cat Clockwork Factory. Meaning unknown.



https://i.ibb.co/bRbhLTX/igor-esaulov-arictocrate-femalecharacter.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/TtTCF12/Fcp-XSGBa-IAAg-YDx.jpg



Construct #27 / Dances-In-Waterfalls
CE Advanced (14HD) Nimblewright Warblade 11/Spelldancer 1
HD: 14d10+20+11d12+1d6 (150hp)
Initiative: +13
Speed: 40 ft.
AC: 26 (+9 Dex, +7 natural), touch 19, flat-footed 17
Attacks: 2 rapier-hands +29 melee
Damage: Rapier-hand 2d6+8/9–20
Face/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, tripping thrust
Special Qualities: Augmented critical, construct traits,
SR 27, vulnerabilities

Spell-Like Abilities: At will - alter self, cat’s grace, entropic
shield, feather fall, haste
Tripping Thrust (Ex): A nimblewright’s rapier-hand attacks are powerful enough to push over creatures its own size or smaller. An opponent who is the target of a successful critical hit from a nimblewright must make a Reflex save (DC 19) or be knocked prone as if tripped.
Augmented Critical (Ex): A nimblewright threatens a critical hit on a natural attack roll of 15–20. On a successful critical hit, its foe is subject to a tripping thrust attack (see above).


Abilities Initial Race / Template 12HD 16HD 20HD 24HD Final
STR 15 8 1 1 1 1 27
DEX 14 14 28
CON 8 - -
INT 13 0 13
WIS 12 6 18
CHA 10 8 18


CR Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
7 Nimblewright +7 +3 +12 +7 39: {+8 CC} Disguise: 4; {+6} Tumble: 6; {+13} Jump: 13; {+12 CC} Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Combat Expertise (B), Combat Reflexes (B), Precocious Apprentice (wraithstrike), Dodge, Mobility, Combat Casting
7 +1 Construct HD +8 +3 +12 +7 3: {+2 CC} Disguise: 5; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 14; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6;
7 +1 Construct HD +9 +4 +13 +8 3: {+2 CC} Disguise: 6; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 15; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Extend Spell
7 +1 Construct HD +9 +4 +13 +8 3: {+2 CC} Disguise: 7; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 16; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6;
8 +1 Construct HD +10 +4 +13 +8 3: {+2 CC} Disguise: 8; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 17; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6;
9 Warblade 1 +11 +6 +13 +8 5: Disguise: 8; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 18; {+4} Concentration: 4; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Sanctum Spell Battle clarity, weapon aptitude
10 Warblade 2 +12 +7 +13 +8 5: Disguise: 8; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 19; {+4} Concentration: 8; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Uncanny dodge
11 Warblade 3 +13 +7 +14 +9 5: Disguise: 8; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 20; {+4} Concentration: 12; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Battle ardor
12 Warblade 4 +14 +8 +14 +9 5: Disguise: 8; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 21; {+4} Concentration: 16; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Persistent Spell
13 Warblade 5 +15 +8 +14 +9 5: {+2 CC} Disguise: 9; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 22; {+2} Concentration: 18; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Endurance (B)
14 Spelldancer 1 +15 +8 +16 +11 5: {+2 CC} Disguise: 10; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 23; {+2} Concentration: 20; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Spelldance
15 Warblade 6 +16 +9 +17 +12 5: {+2 CC} Disguise: 11; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 24; {+2} Concentration: 22; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Improved Critical (rapier-hand) Improved uncanny dodge
16 Warblade 7 +17 +9 +17 +12 5: {+2 CC} Disguise: 12; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 25; {+2} Concentration: 24; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Battle cunning
17 Warblade 8 +18 +10 +17 +12 5: {+2 CC} Disguise: 13; Tumble: 6; {+1} Jump: 26; {+2} Concentration: 26; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6;
18 Warblade 9 +19 +10 +18 +13 5: {+1 CC} Disguise: 13.5; {+2} Tumble: 8; {+1} Jump: 27; {+1} Concentration: 27; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Improved Trip, Improved Initiative (B)
19 Warblade 10 +20 +11 +18 +13 5: {+1 CC} Disguise: 14; {+2} Tumble: 10; {+1} Jump: 28; {+1} Concentration: 28; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6;
20 Warblade 11 +21 +11 +18 +13 5: {+1 CC} Disguise: 14.5; {+2} Tumble: 12; {+1} Jump: 29; {+1} Concentration: 29; Perform (Dance, Other Forms): 6; Battle skill


CR Class Initiator Level Maneuvers Known Maneuvers Readied Stances Known
9 Warblade 1 8 3 3 1
10 Warblade 2 9 4 3 1
11 Warblade 3 10 5 3 1
12 Warblade 4 11 5 4 2
13 Warblade 5 12 6 4 2
14 Spelldancer 1 12.5 6 4 2
15 Warblade 6 13.5 6 4 2
16 Warblade 7 14.5 7 4 2
17 Warblade 8 15.5 7 4 2
18 Warblade 9 16.5 8 4 2
19 Warblade 10 17.5 8 5 3
20 Warblade 11 18.5 9 5 3



Warblade 1: Mind Over Body, Death From Above, Claw At The Moon, Stance: Blood In The Water
Warblade 2: Pouncing Charge
Warblade 3: Rapid Counter
Warblade 4: Claw At The Moon > Moment of Alacrity, Stance: Hearing the Air
Warblade 5: Dancing Mongoose
Warblade 6: Death From Above > Swooping Dragon Strike
Warblade 7: Avalanche of Blades
Warblade 8: Dancing Mongoose > Raging Mongoose
Warblade 9: Diamond Nightmare Blade
Warblade 10: Rapid Counter > Time Stands Still, Stance: Stance of Alacrity
Warblade 11: Mountain Tombstone Strike

(Remember that per ToB p44, stances count as maneuvers for the purposes of prerequisites requiring a number of manuevers known.)




At baseline, a nimblewright is a reasonably competent melee threat with an Achilles heel that clever, prepared or lucky PCs can take advantage of. Its built-in buff spells and solid statistics are enough to keep up with similar CR melee beaters, and our slightly modified version also carries a 1/day wraithstrike to put the hurt on heavily armoured targets. Remember that since haste and cat’s grace are both at-will SLAs, there’s very little reason not to keep them running constantly. (Entropic shield is also at-will, but is a bit more visible in its effect and hence potentially to be avoided if you’re pretending not to be a mage and/or pretending not to be ready for a fight.) Note that caster level checks are not failed on a natural 1, so Dances-In-Waterfalls will never fail its Precocious Apprentice check.

A couple of extra Hit Dice and some Warblade levels are a nice boost to the standard nimblewright package. With the high critical range of the rapier-hands, the boost from the Blood In The Water stance should trigger regularly, escalating your threat as combat continues. You have access to up to 5th level maneuvers, including Pouncing Charge, which pairs well with a buffed nimblewright’s potential 140ft charge range. Mind Over Body may seem redundant with construct immunities, but it's your ace in the hole against disintegrate, otherwise a construct's biggest fear. Sanctum Spell plus Precocious Apprentice is, of course, a well-known bit of cheese, but it’s worth noting that wraithstrike suffers absolutely no ill effects from being a 1st level spell sometimes, since it has no variables or save DC.

The sweet spot of the build. As a Construct, Dances-In-Waterfalls is immune to both ability damage and fatigue, as well as being immune to Fortitude-save effects unless they affect objects, and hence can spell-dance indefinitely regardless of class level. (Remember to always take 10 on your Perform check; the DC is fixed at 18 and you have a +10, so that will be more than enough to succeed). We only have one spell that metamagic can be applied to (Complete Arcane p72 notes that metamagic feats can’t generally be applied to spell-like abilities, so no persistent haste, although considering that it’s at-will there’s not much call for that anyhow), and only one (well, two technically, but one relevant) metamagic feat to apply to it… but what a spell and feat. Persistent wraithstrike is a hell of a thing to add to a hasted melee beat-stick. We’ve also gained a few more Warblade levels, and with them, 7th level maneuvers. Swooping Dragon Strike is a particular star, since unlike most maneuvers its save DC is equal to your Jump check result, which should be an average DC 36. (NB also: since touch ACs are generally so much lower than other ACs, the nimblewright’s bonus Combat Expertise suddenly becomes a useful way of keeping your own AC, including your touch AC for pesky mailman builds, nice and high.)

A few extra Warblade levels give us 9th level maneuvers, which are always nice. Note that Time Stands Still is a Strike and Raging Mongoose is a Boost which lasts until end of turn; hence, they can be combined, giving you double use of the 4 extra attacks from Raging Mongoose. Also, Tripping Thrust explicitly notes that the target is knocked prone ‘as if tripped’, which IMO ought to qualify for the bonus attack from Improved Trip. Between the 9-20 critical range and the high Reflex save (which many PCs don’t bother to focus on boosting, because Reflex save effects usually only do damage), you should get plenty of trips and hence plenty of bonus extra attacks.

General Notes:
At any level, Dances-In-Waterfalls is a melee threat, but an extremely fast one. Use alter self and the Disguise skill to study your foes, if possible. Close with the enemy, dance between their blows, and rip them to shreds with Tiger Claw maneuvers. If they run, alter self to chase them down. If they're beating you, use alter self to run, then disguise yourself, potentially as any random object. Anything inanimate is a valid animate object target, and therefore a valid alter self form for you as long as it's not bigger than Large.



On Alter Self:
The Monster Manual II was published almost a year prior to the D&D 3.5 release. Part of the nimblewright’s lore and function is based around its alter self spell-like ability, which in 3rd Edition functioned much as its 3.5 counterpart in allowing the caster to assume the form of a ‘default’ humanoid creature; however, following the 3.5 update to alter self, the spell no longer simply alters any caster into any humanoid form, only those casters who were humanoid to begin with. When the 3.5 update to the MMII was published, most monsters were given a fairly cursory update; the nimblewright’s spell-like abilities went unchanged. Fortunately, the spell’s maximum limit of 5HD opens up one key avenue for disguises: animated objects. A Medium animated object has 2HD, and a Large animated object has 4HD. Per the animate objects spell, a potential animate-ee can take any form and shape and be made of any non-magical material; wood, stone, ceramic… leather. An animated object could be a life-size porcelain doll, or a painted statue… or a fresh, seconds-deceased human corpse. Many options are available for disguising oneself as human or humanoid, particularly with the addition of mundane Disguise skills.
When a human-like disguise is not required, Constructs provide a number of possibilities for alternate forms of movement. The Clockroach (MM4) has both a Burrow and a Climb speed. A Guardgoyle (Waterdeep) offers a 50ft (good) fly speed, and a wheeled Small or Medium animated object can move overland at 70ft per round. Furthermore, since alter self retains all the caster’s spell-like abilities, and spell-like abilities require no verbal or somatic components, all of these speeds can be augmented by the +30ft boost of haste. A foe that chases you down at 100ft per move action or flies after you even faster than your fly spell is certainly difficult to escape.

Other Notes:
Thanks to WotC’s superb and flawless editing of the Monster Manual 2, some details of the nimblewright are unclear. The text of Tripping Thrust contradicts itself about whether the effect is a product of the nimblewright or a product of the rapier-hand; does it apply when using manufactured weapons? Its Tripping Thrust save DC may be based on Strength, or on Charisma, given the listed DC; or it could in theory be a fixed DC that just happens to line up with 10+1/2HD+Str/Cha modifier. I’ve gone with Strength as the most logical choice, given that Tripping Thrust is specifically about striking so forcefully that the target is knocked prone. This helps to make the build less MAD and makes investing in Strength more valuable, reducing the need to squeeze in Weapon Finesse on top of everything else; if you decide it should be Charisma, you may want to alter the stat distribution and add Weapon Finesse somewhere, possibly in place of Improved Critical. Similarly, the Vulnerabilities section is unhelpfully lacking in mechanical details; do the cold and fire effects need to deal damage? (If so, investing heavily in resistance-providing equipment is a key survival stratagem). Does the effect need to pierce the nimblewright’s SR in order for the slowing/stunning to occur? Does this function like a golem’s magic immunity, where the slow/stun effect replaces what would otherwise occur (and, in that case, do cold and fire effects bypass the nimblewright’s SR)? Slowing effects on golems, such as the flesh golem or iron golem’s, specify that the golem receives no saving throw, but the nimblewright’s Vulnerabilities section has no such text: does this mean the nimblewright does receive a saving throw, and can potentially avoid the slow or stun?
Ultimately, a good Mailman build with the Knowledge to identify the nimblewright’s vulnerabilities and the prepared Orbs to take advantage of them is this entry’s Achilles heel; entropic shield can provide a 20% chance of dodging being stunned, but the only true solution is simply to rush them and kill them in the first round of combat.



Sources:
Nimblewright: MM2, p162-163, MM2 3.5 update, p9
Warblade: Tome of Battle, p20-23
Various maneuvers: Tome of Battle
Spelldancer: Magic of Faerun, p37-38
Wraithstrike: Spell Compendium, p243
Precocious Apprentice: Complete Arcane, p181
Sanctum Spell: Complete Arcane, p82
Persistent Spell: Complete Arcane, p81
Clockroach: Monster Manual 4, p28
Guardgoyle: City of Splendors, Waterdeep, p135
Fencing automaton: Kiana Hamm, https://twitter.com/kiana_hamm/status/1570163393776218113/photo/1
Female fencer: Igor Esaulov,
https://keleus.artstation.com/projects/GkzGB?album_id=33697

[H_H_F_F]

And I looked. And behold, a red horse - and hell followed with him.


The Hemomorph
It That Swarms With Flies, The Red Horse of War, The Chronal Sieve, The Queen Panopt, The Holy Ubiquity, The Kindler of the Dead, The Dark Rapidity, Autoharuspex Supreme

https://i.postimg.cc/c4bmpLrj/Hemomorph.jpg

May the timestream run red!

Did you know everything happens for a reason?

Some people will consider themselves very smart for insisting that the universe is a random and pointless place, governed by impersonal forces and distant gods. They are wrong.

Though to their credit, they used to be correct. Some time ago - perhaps a few weeks, perhaps an eternity - it really was the case. Things would just sort of happen, imagine that! The fate of a realm might be staked upon a single lost nail!

But all those great events of the past time; the droves of slain heroes, the collapse of whole nations, the undead hordes ravaging the land, none of those were accidents of fate. From a thousand stillborn futures, suspended in a drop of the Prince of Demons' own blood, two immortal minds watch reality. In their loyal servitude, they choose which events to allow, so the world may ever be nudged towards greater Evil and greater Chaos. They are deathless and formless, all-knowing and all-mighty, and they work tirelessly to ensure the doom of all who could stop them.

Truly, we are living in blessed times!

Stub: CE Soulfused Blood Golem (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101074643/http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=fr/pg20020731x) Ninja 1 / Dragon Shaman 1 / Thrall of Demogorgon 10

Point buy: 13 str, 14 dex, 8 con, 10 int, 15 wis, 12 cha
Racial: 23 str, 18 dex, - con, - int, 15 wis, 2 cha
Soulfused: 23 str, 20 dex, 10 con, 3 int, 15 wis, 6 cha
ECL 20: 23 str, 20 dex, 10 con, 3 int, 18 wis, 6 cha



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


7
Blood Golem (8 RHD)
+6
+2
+2
+2
-
-
Blood Drain, Alternate Form, Blindsight, construct traits, DR 10/magic, magic immunity


8
Soulfused Construct
+6
+2
+2
+2
11; Knowledge (Arcana) +4cc (2), Knowledge (Local) +2cc (1), Knowledge (Religion) +4cc (2), Speak Language (Common) +1
Assume Supernatural Ability (Vermiurge’s Aura of Doom), Assume Supernatural Ability (Nightmare’s Astral Projection), Thrall to Demon (Demogorgon)
Living construct, Essentia Pool, Soulbound Resistance


9
Ninja 1
+6
+2
+4
+2
2; Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) +1cc (2), Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
Willing Deformity
Sudden Strike +1d6, Ki Power (+2 Will), AC Bonus, Trapfinding


10
Dragon Shaman 1
+6
+2
+4
+4
1; Bluff +1 (1), Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
-
Totem Dragon (Red), Stamina Aura, Senses Aura, Swiftness Aura


11
Thrall of Demogorgon 1
+8
+4
+4
+6
1; Bluff +1 (2), Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
Assume Supernatural Ability (Formian Queen’s Telepathy)B
Scaly Flesh +1, Hypnosis, Bonus Feat


12
Thrall of Demogorgon 2
+9
+5
+4
+7
1; Bluff +1 (3), Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
Mindsight
Touch of Fear


13
Thrall of Demogorgon 3
+10
+5
+5
+7
1; Bluff +1 (4), Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
-
Reaching Touch


14
Thrall of Demogorgon 4
+11
+6
+5
+8
1; Bluff +1 (5), Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
Quick ChangeB
Dual Actions, Scaly Flesh +2, Bonus Feat


15
Thrall of Demogorgon 5
+12
+6
+5
+8
1; Bluff +1 (6), Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
Assume Supernatural Ability (Sword Archon’s Greater Teleport)
Summon Minor Demon


16
Thrall of Demogorgon 6
+13
+7
+6
+9
1; Bluff +1 (7), Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
-
Rotting Touch


17
Thrall of Demogorgon 7
+14
+7
+6
+9
1; Bluff +1 (8), Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
Assume Supernatural Ability (Shape of Fire’s Create Spawn)B
Scaly Flesh +3, Bonus Feat


18
Thrall of Demogorgon 8
+15
+8
+6
+10
1; Bluff +1 (9), Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
Assume Supernatural Ability (Chronotyryn’s Dual Actions)
Two Personas, Death Touch


19
Thrall of Demogorgon 9
+16
+8
+7
+10
1; Bluff +1 (10), Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
-
Summon Major Demon


20
Thrall of Demogorgon 10
+17
+9
+7
+11
1; Bluff +1 (11), Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Speak Language 1
Assume Supernatural Ability (Phane’s Time Regression)B
Demogorgon's Will, Bonus Feat, Scaly Flesh +4




We take an ability purpose-written to do nothing and use it to gain everything.


Alternate Form (Su): Due to their somewhat fluid state, a blood golem can assume any form that its master orders it to that is of the same size as the golem. The golem assumes only the form; it does not gain any abilities or even physical traits of the creature whose form it assumes. It retains its reddish color in any form. Each form has the same appearance of being constructed of bloody ooze blocks.

So we gain no 'abilities', no 'physical traits'... let's play it safe and say that our game statistics don't change at all, only this little thing called 'form'. Say, wasn't there something else that cared about forms?


You learn to use a single supernatural ability of another kind of creature while assuming its form through a polymorph self spell or a similar effect.

Say, what were the restrictions on that Alternate Form again? Because I don't remember there being any other than size. Hang on, let me get my copy of the ELH real quick!

At that point, the only thing left to do is find sources of unrestricted feats that don't demand too many feats or skill ranks for entry: Thrall of Demogorgon was the clear winner here.

So what can we do?

CR 8
Right out of the gate, we have the Nightmare's at-will Astral Projection for backup lives and limitless planar travel, as well as the Vermiurge (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/vermiurge.htm)'s Aura of Doom, which provides a constant Crown of Vermin effect. That's a CL 42 Epic spell, which doesn't take actions for you to set up after changing form, and which deals 10d10 damage in an area on a failed DC 18 Reflex save (Evasion, technically, does not apply). Realistically, someone in the party dies on the turn you activate this, and anyone who didn't run away dies one turn later, and the party can't even kill you back because you have 20% concealment, magic immunity, and they're actually only fighting your astrally projected body.

Also, soulfused construct gives a slowly scaling bonus to saves, which is easy to miss but kinda relevant for us given Assume Supernatural Ability's fine print. We're going to be aiming to pump Will!

CR 10
Not much going on in the past two levels; some prereqs for Thrall of Demogorgon, serviceable but boring. We take a level in Ninja to get +2 Will, the Thrall of Demogorgon qualification we need (Sudden Strike counts as sneak attack), and wisdom to AC. We then want something with high base Will for our final class level, which is actually a bit tricky for a build with 3 intelligence, 6 charisma, and contest-mandated atheism. We end up going with Dragon Shaman as this won't demand any actions (unlikely to be best spent on 1st-level class features) and gives us a swappable boost to speed, fortitude, or initiative. That said, plenty of choices (Binder, Swordsage, Ardent, Warlock, even Dragon Samurai) could plausibly work here.

CR 15
Spend some time with the Formian Queen's 50-mile telepathy so you can be sure you have it active while leveling, and grab Mindsight to detect anyone in a 50-mile radius. PC parties tend to be distinct enough that Mindsight grants enough information to unambiguously detect them. The Sword Archon's at-will Greater Teleport means you're less than a minute away from anywhere in the multiverse, and Quick Change lets you switch forms as a move action rather than a standard.

If you ever lose track of the PCs, this also lets you teleport all over the realm to relocate them. Your mindsight covers 7854 square miles, and you can relocate twice every three turns, so exhaustively searching an area the size of the contiguous USA takes... slightly less than four hundred teleports, or about an hour. Add fudge factors to account for complications and I think I'd comfortably say that you can reliably track down the PCs, wherever they are, within two hours. Less than that, probably, given how you can check their more likely locations first.

Aside from that, getting an extra full-round action 2/day is nice, getting some extra reach on your slams is nice for the rare occasion you're actually in melee, and Summon Minor Demon is mostly nice for giving quasit-based Communes. You may have 3 intelligence, but you're not too stupid to ask Demogorgon for help!

CR 20
By assuming Create Spawn from a Shape of Fire (yes, incorporeal creatures have a 'form' to assume, read the Polymorph description), you can create CR 23 Lavawights out of random commoners, granting you a virtually unlimited supply of enslaved 32 HD undead that can activate your fire-based Haste effect by dropping Walls of Fire. I figured I'd delay that ability until high levels, give the party a bit of a fighting chance. Speaking of extra actions, we can also turn into a Chronotyryn and get their classic two-turns-per-turn.

Thrall of Demogorgon lets us summon slightly bigger demons, giving us a very diverse array of mid-level minions that usually get Greater Teleport, making it very easy for us to project force without endangering ourselves. We also get to roll twice on all saves against mind-affecting effects, deal some constitution damage with a touch, and drop a weak Slay Living.

As a capstone, we get the Phane's time regression, making us virtually unbeatable. Imagine the following: you start a turn in formian queen form, instruct a minion to do something, shift to phane form as a move action and spend a standard on the first turn of Time Regression. The next two turns, you spend your standard on Time Regression as well, and then on the fourth you spend a standard action on Time Regression, shift back to formian queen as a move action, and ask the minion how the mission went right before time shifts back. If the results were to your liking, repeat the instructions exactly, let things play out, and repeat the process. If they weren't, slightly alter the instructions and see how the change butterflies out. Basically, you can grant your minions infinite do-overs for anything you make them do, and not only are the PCs powerless to stop it, they won't even know it's happening. You could declare all NPCs only roll 20s and all PCs only roll 1s and nothing the PCs do can surprise the NPCs, and it would be underpowered compared to what's actually possible here.

And finally, we obtain Demogorgon's Will to grant us access to any odd magic we might end up needing, as well as rendering us virtually omniscient. How? Simple:

Turn 1: Start the turn in chronotyryn form, granting you two standard and two move actions.
1a. Use a standard and a move action for the first turn of Demogorgon's Will
1b. Ready a standard action to use Time Regression when you hear yourself speak.
1c. Use a move action to shift into a phane.
1d. End turn.
1e. Say something.
1f. Readied action triggers, you take the first turn of time regression.

Turn 2: Trigger Dual Actions, granting you two standard and two move actions this turn.
2a. Use a standard and a move action for the second turn of Demogorgon's Will
2b. Use a standard action to use Time Regression.

Turn 3: Trigger your second and final Dual Actions, granting you two standard and two move actions this turn.
3a. Use a standard and a move action for the third turn of Demogorgon's Will, granting you a Limited Wish.
3b. Use Limited Wish to duplicate any scrying or information-gathering spell you might need.
3c. Use a standard action to use Time Regression.

Turn 4: Spend standard action on Time Regression, end turn. Time shifts back to the start of turn 1, returning you your uses of Demogorgon's Will / Dual Actions while letting you keep any collected information.

Repeat as needed to learn Every. Single. Fact. that is currently in reach of any 5th-level-or-lower divination, or any 6th-level sorc/wiz divination. Make sure to repeat the procedure a few hundred times for each failure, just to make sure there isn't a Nondetection in effect that your CL of 20 could theoretically overcome.

Let reality move forward for a turn.

Repeat from the beginning.

It's worth noting that the Blood Golem + Assume Supernatural Ability trick can be replicated by a wizard 5 / blood magus 9 / void disciple 6 with zero DM assistance. Construct a Blood Golem normally, then use Moment of Clarity to grant it a single feat, letting it obtain a supernatural ability of your choice. This version of the trick is significantly more limited, lasting for only 36 seconds twice per day, but has flexibility that the NPC version lacks and still offers access to a number of ridiculously powerful abilities.

Blood Golem - Web
Ninja - Complete Adventurer
Dragon Shaman - Player's Handbook II
Draconic auras - Dragon Magic
Thrall of Demogorgon, Willing Deformity - Dragon Magazine 357 (!) (see contest faq)
Thrall to Demon - Elder Evils
Assume Supernatural Ability - Savage Species
Quick Change - Savage Species
Mindsight - Lords of Madness
Phane, Shape of Fire, Vermiurge - Epic Level Handbook
Chronotyryn - Fiend Folio
Sword Archon - Book of Exalted Deeds

[H_H_F_F]

I don't know, sounds to me like your daughter just lost favor with Lolth. Skill issue. It's that jungler diff.


Iinlul Vyk'zlade

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ek8ApglU8AQbYie.png

- Do you know what happens with my previous head of security?
- Yes, mistress.
- Do you know why this happened?
- She made unforgivable mistake.
- Mistake! It was more than just a mistake! It was total incompetence! Tell me about it, tell me what happened with my daughter!
- Yes, mistress, I already conducted an investigation and know the circumstances of what happened.

- I had no chance to interrogate the guards who held the post near mistress Imrae's chambers, but evidence told me enough. Just before the changing of the guard she used some diversion on guards, I think it was some magical illusion. Imrae, taking advantage of this, slipped out of her room and being highborn used your levitation ability - there were finger marks on the passage ceiling.
- Stop! It all is important, but more important is reason! Why did she leave the palace security? Do you have answer?
- Yes, mistress. Looking through the young mistress's room I found ash. It was the remains of a letter. Letter was impregnated with a special formulation, which self-ignition after a certain time. But, fortunately, the letter was pinned under the leg of the chair and part of it didn't burn out. I used object reading and figured out the last people who own it. Last was mistress Imrae, before her it was male drow one hundred and thirty-eight years old, chaotic evil, he send letter with magical messenger and gained it, I think at that moment it was only paper then, directly from drow woman, exactly six hundred years old, also chaotic evil. Paper was made of mycelium of spider cordyceps...
- Bitch! Old rotten scum!
...
- Continue.
- Yes, mistress. Your daughter left the palace undetected and moved to Menzoberranzan's outskirts. I myself investigated the location where she was found with psychometry techniques and have a vision of what's happening. She came and waited several minutes, during that time she killed one darkmantle with her Scourge of Fangs. After that three drow who were hiding for an unspecified time attacked her. Apparently they wanted to take her alive, but she put up a fight. She killed two attackers with her Scourge of Fangs, but the third did something that I can't understand, right before Scourge killed him too. I don't know the exact method, but he somehow changed mistress Imrae's alignment to neutral good and her weapon attacked her. She already was injured and before she threw it away she was dead.
- Where is that thing? Where is item that killed my daughter?
- We can't find it, also we didn't find attackers' bodies, only pools of blood.
- Find it and bring it to me! I destroy it myself!!!


LE Multiheaded Beast of Xvim Soulfused Construct Snake Head of Legacy Exotic Weapon Master 2/Master Thrower 5
Abilities Initial Snake Head Soulfused Construct Beast of Xvim Multiheaded Intelligent Legacy, Major ASI (7) Total
STR 15 -4 3 (4th, 8th, 12th) 14
DEX 14 6 2 4 (others) 26
CON 8 -- Set to 10 14 24
INT 10 -- Set to 3 Set to 18 18
WIS 12 Set to 18 18
CHA 13 -10 4 4 Set to 10 10

CR HD Class, HD & Templates BAB Fort Reflex Will Skills Feats Class & Racial Features Legacy Abilities
1 2 Snake Head 1 0 0 0 5: {+5 CC} Craft (Weaponsmithing): 2.5; Exotic Weapon Proficiency (scourge) (1), Weapon Finesse (B) Construct traits, pain, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision
2 2 Soulfused Construct - Construct traits, Essentia Pool 1, Soulbound Resistance, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, living construct traits
3 3 Beast of Xvim 2 1 1 1 1: {+1 CC} Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Weapon Focus (scourge) (3) Frightful presence, feed, smite good, DR
7 11 Multiheaded (4 additional heads) 8 3 3 3 8: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; {+8 CC} Sleight of Hand: 4; Point Blank Shot (6), Power Attack (9), Weapon Focus (Bite) (B) Essentia Pool 2
8 11 Monster of Legacy - Darkvision 120 ft., blindsense 120 ft. Mental Omen, Unceasing Servant (A) (5th), Comprehend Languages (A) (6th), Deflection +1 (A) (7th), Clairaudience/Clairvoyance (C) (10th), Intelligent Legacy, Major (D) (11th),
10 12 Construct HD 9 4 4 4 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Sleight of Hand: 4; {+6 CC} Spot: 3; Precise Shot (12) Essentia Pool 3 Obscutity (D)
10 13 Construct HD 9 4 4 4 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Sleight of Hand: 4; {+6 CC} Spot: 6; Cunning (D)
10 14 Construct HD 10 4 4 4 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Sleight of Hand: 4; {+6 CC} Spot: 9; Glitterdust (D)
10 15 Construct HD 11 5 5 5 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Sleight of Hand: 4; {+6 CC} Spot: 12; Far Shot (15)
11 16 Exotic Weapon Master 1 12 7 5 5 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; {+6} Intimidate: 6; Sleight of Hand: 4; Spot: 12; Exotic weapon stunt (Throw Exotic Weapon) Ability Enhancement +4 Wis (E)
12 17 Exotic Weapon Master 2 13 8 5 5 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; {+6} Intimidate: 12; Sleight of Hand: 4; Spot: 12; Exotic weapon stunt (Close-Quarters Ranged Combat) Weapon Enhancement (+3 Mouthpick Small Scourge of Fangs) (G)
14 18 Master Thrower 1 14 8 7 5 8: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; Sleight of Hand: 4; {+4} Spot: 16; {+4} Tumble: 4; Shape Soulmeld (Manticore Belt) (18), Quick Draw (B) Essentia Pool 4, quick draw, thrown weapon trik (Trip Shot) Enhancement +15 (Spot) (G)
15 19 Master Thrower 2 15 8 8 5 8: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; {+2} Sleight of Hand: 6; {+4} Spot: 20; {+2} Tumble: 6; Evasion Restricted Ability Enhancement +6 Dex (G)
16 20 Master Thrower 3 16 9 8 6 8: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; {+2} Sleight of Hand: 8; {+2} Spot: 22; {+4} Tumble: 10; Thrown weapon trik (Sneaky Shot)
17 21 Master Thrower 4 17 9 9 6 8: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; {+2} Sleight of Hand: 10; {+2} Spot: 24; {+4} Tumble: 14; Open Greater Chakra (Waist) (21), Flyby Attack (B), Snatch Arrow (B) Snatch arrow Weapon Enhancement (+5 Mouthpick Eager Small Scourge of Fangs) (H)
18 22 Master Thrower 5 18 9 9 6 8: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; {+3} Sleight of Hand: 13; {+1} Spot: 25; {+4} Tumble: 18; Improved Critical (scourge) (B) Critical throw, thrown weapon trik (Weak Spot)
19 23 Construct HD 19 9 9 6 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; Sleight of Hand: 13; {+2 CC} Spot: 26; {+4 CC} Tumble: 20;
19 24 Construct HD 19 9 9 6 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; Sleight of Hand: 13; {+2 CC} Spot: 27; {+4 CC} Tumble: 22; Distant Shot (24) Essentia Pool 5 Regeneration (I)
19 25 Construct HD 20 10 10 7 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; Sleight of Hand: 13; {+2 CC} Spot: 28; {+4 CC} Tumble: 24;
19 26 Construct HD 21 10 10 7 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; Sleight of Hand: 13; {+2 CC} Spot: 29; {+4 CC} Tumble: 26; Sonic Energy Resistance, Greater (H)
20 27 Construct HD 22 10 10 7 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; Sleight of Hand: 13; {+2 CC} Spot: 30; {+4 CC} Tumble: 28; Epic Skill Focus (Spot) (27) Ability Enhancement +4 Str (E)
20 28 Construct HD 22 11 11 8 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; Sleight of Hand: 13; {+2 CC} Spot: 31; {+4 CC} Tumble: 30;
20 29 Construct HD 23 11 11 8 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; Sleight of Hand: 13; {+2 CC} Spot: 32; {+4 CC} Tumble: 32;
20 30 Construct HD 24 11 11 8 6: Craft (Weaponsmithing): 3; Intimidate: 12; {+2 CC} Sleight of Hand: 14; {+2 CC} Spot: 33; {+2 CC} Tumble: 33; Shape Soulmeld (Keeneye Lenses) (30) Essentia Pool 6 Three Wishes (I)
Known Languages: Common, Undercommon, Drow sign, Draconic, Elven

For now Iinlul Vyk'zlade is just central snake head on the young heir to the House Barrison Del'Armgo Scourge of Fangs. Young Imrae loves her toy gifted by her mother. It's her first true weapon and doesn't matter that she is no longer small girl and scourge doesn't fit her hand now - snake's fangs are still sharp. And, she would never admit it to anyone, but she likes to talk with her Vyk'zlade to share girl secrets with it. She loves this artificial snake and is sure snake loves her, too...

Vyk'zlade really loved Imrae in its own way, but it was only construct with simple imperative instructions. If somebody good takes you - sting! And Vyk'zlade stung. Imrae mentally cried. Asked it to stop, but Vyk'zlade couldn't... An instant before Imrae commanded Vyk'zlade: "Feed!" and it fed its mistress's enemies, but now it fed its mistress herself. This moment was so painful and so full of evil irony that the Evil god Xvim himself turned his attention to it. And he liked what he saw. He gave a tiny artificial snake his blessing and that's how Vyk'zlade became Beast of Xvim. But Vyk'zlade wasn't single head. Scourge of Fangs has five snakes. Feeding bodies and souls of failed drow kidnappers and their mistress they awaked, too. It was a horrible event even for a weapon-construct. This influenced it in an unexpected way. It acquired not only souls, hunger and four sisters, but also true intelligence, various powers and... the ongoing mental whispering voice of her former mistress begging for mercy or salvation... This is the goal. Vyk'zlade believed it could save its beloved Imrae, but it needs more power, more feed...

It's hard to move for weapon-construct. It wasn't created with the idea of self-propulsion. But Vyk'zlade handled it. Firstly it was the Unceasing Servant power which wore scourge, but now Vyk'zlade is almost able to fly itself! It feels this! And this isn't all. Vyk'zlade learned how to manage with scourge and its handle has changed - now Vyk'zlade could grab itself with its bite and throw. Throw not so accurately, but it doesn't need to be sniper to throw itself "somewhere in that direction" for 100 feet per throw.

True fly is good. Very good. But now it's just the way not to fall from the skies, nothing more. Actual Vyk'zlade's moving method is to throw itself at... anywhere. Only Abeir-Toril itself is an obstacle. Vyk'zlade needs to throw itself around if it wants to reach something on the far side of the Toril. It could attack, kill and feed anybody on the planet's surface and if its target turns out to be too powerful - one throw and Vyk'zlade no longer is here.

The time has come. Vyk'zlade has Wish now. Even three, to be sure, but... Can it be sure? What if this will not help?..

I had this entry idea since 14.06.2021 when I found Snake head in the Shadowdale. Firstly it was Soulfused Construct Half-Troll Half-Dragon Wendigo for templates staking and having hands. When this round theme was declared I dust off the old idea. Templates don't fit now. Well, I got Aberrant Limbs from DMG 2. Hands are needed to throw self. But yesterday I found something brilliant! Monster of Legacy! Such a beautiful piece of cheese! I don't need hands if I am sure Vyk'zlade will have Mouthpick (from Lords of Madness, p. 46). Also I removed additional heads (there were eight total), they look excessive - Scourge of Fangs has only five.

Couple words about noticeable abilities, tactics and using this monster.

Mental Omen is whispers of dead Imrae heard by any good creature within 30 ft.
With Distant Shot the main tactic is clear: throw self in the enemy from maximal distance, add all five bites with Power Attack (maybe exchange one bite for two scourge attacks), throw self far from enemy. Any square has AC 5, so nothing prevents you from aiming and hitting some square beyond the Toril's atmosphere. The Manticore Belt helps here. Vyk'zlade doesn't need to be a good flier, it needs only not to fall. It is important to note that during rounds of active fight Vyk'zlade has only 1 point of essentia in the Manticore Belt. It, therefore, has 10 ft (clumsy) fly speed and could not to fall with only 5-ft step and is able to make full attack action. It's not clear what will happen if Vyk'zlade will have 0 essentia and fly speed of 0 ft.
Also Clairaudience/Clairvoyance and Spot with total bonus of +90* cannot be overestimated. You really don't need ranks in Hide with such a tactic - your Spot is your Hide. Almost nobody can discern you (with unranked Hide of +19) at a distance from which you can easily see them. This means surprise round every time (which synergy with Eager weapon ability from Magic Item Compendium, p. 34). And even if not Vyk'zlade has Sneaky Shot to deny Dex to AC anyway.
Obscutity makes Vyk'zlade search by divination magic near impossible. Glitterdust helps with invisible enemies. Regeneration - if somebody hits Vyk'zlade hard. All other abilities don't need special mention - they talk for themselves.

33 ranks
4+2 Wis
10 Epic Skill Focus
8 Multiheaded
6 (4) Manticore Belt
12 Keeneye Lenses
15 Legacy

One issue and one funny moment.
Scourge of Fangs as it is is totally dysfunctional.

As a standard action, the whip wielder can cause one of the serpent lashes to attack; as a full-round action all five heads can attack.
but

Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Serpent lashes can't attack anybody out of their square. Yeah, great weapon...

I don't know what and why made with living construct subtype authors of Magic of Incarnum. It is, actually, the last version (yeah, warforgeds, this applies to you too). And there written that living constructs don't get bonus hp from the Constitution. It sounds weird. You remove construct defenses - crit and sneak immune, massive damage immune, but compensated this with nothing.

About using this monster. I found an interesting possibility that all Vyk'zlade wishes to resurrect Imrae will fall (this has 12.5% chance) and now only PCs could resurrect her after defeating Vyk'zlade and using its wishes.

As long as you have performed the appropriate legacy ritual and meet the level requirement, you gain this benefit, even if a previous owner has made three wishes using the item.
Legacy Rituals:
Bodyguard's Failure: you are required to fail to protect someone or even become his death reason yourselves (Least Legacy).
First New Steps: you have to lose the ability to move on your own and overcome that (Lesser Legacy).
End Isn't End: you should self-sacrifice yourselves in a hopeless battle and lose, but suddenly this defeat will serve your purpose (Greater Legacy).
Level Attack Penalty Save Penalty Hit Point Loss Legacy Abilities
5 — — — Comprehend Languages
6 — — 2 —
7 -1 — — —
8 — -1 — Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
9 — — 2 Dexterity +2
10 — — — Resistance +1
11 — — 2 Cunning
12 — -2 — —
` 13 [/td] — -2 — — [/tr]
14 — — 2 +3 Throwing Scourge
15 — — — —
16 -2 — — Spot Enhancement +10
17 — — 2 +4 Throwing Sweeping Scourge
18 — — — Resistance +2
19 — -3 2 Dexterity +6
20 — — 2 Wish (F)

Type Name Book
Race Snake Head Shadowdale - The Scouring of the Land, p. 152
Template Soulfused Construct Magic of Incarnum, p. 195
Template Beast of Xvim Monsters of Faerûn, p. 85
Template Multiheaded Monster Mayhem (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101074511/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20020621a)
Template Monster of Legacy Weapons of Legacy, p. 215
Prestige Class Exotic Weapon Master Complete Warrior, p. 30
Prestige Class Master Thrower Complete Warrior, p. 58
Feat Power Attack PHB, p. 98
Feat Weapon Finesse PHB, p. 102
Feat Exotic Weapon Proficiency PHB, p. 94
Feat Weapon Focus PHB, p. 102
Feat Point Blank Shot PHB, p. 98
Feat Precise Shot PHB, p. 98
Feat Far Shot PHB, p. 94
Feat Shape Soulmeld Magic of Incarnum, p. 40
Feat Quick Draw PHB, p. 98
Feat Open Greater Chakra Magic of Incarnum, p. 39
Feat Snatch Arrow PHB, p. 100
Feat Distant Shot Epic Level Handbook, p. 53
Feat Improved Critical PHB, p. 95
Feat Epic Skill Focus Epic Level Handbook, p. 54
Soulmeld Manticore Belt Magic of Incarnum, p. 77
Soulmeld Keeneye Lenses Magic of Incarnum, p. 73
Legacy Abilities All Monster of Legacy, p.188-204
Weapon Scourge Complete Warrior, p. 154, 158

[H_H_F_F]

"Experiences, not possesions" only goes so far.

NE Umbral Spy Truenamer 3/Artificer 9/Truenamer +5
Str - Dex 25 Con - Int 9 Wis 14 Cha 16
+1 to int a 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level
For some reason, Umbral Spies have a listed strength score despite being incorporeal. If you believe Umbral spies should actually have a strength score, Curiosity’s strength score is 10.


Curiosity is a weird build that is a massive RAW mess. I’m going to try to explain my design choices as well as Curiosity’s main combo here to try to save time on disputes/clarifications later. Also, remember that Curiosity is a TO build, not one meant to be used seriously in a game.
I found Umbral Spy looking for rare constructs, and was taken by how weird it was; an incorporeal intelligent construct with two unique special attacks. Shadow Bond is interesting, but what really caught my attention was Thought Link. “An umbral spy can choose to instantly share anything it has experienced within the last week with any living creatures within ten feet. It normally uses this ability to deliver any secrets or information it has acquired.” The text is super vague, and it implies that an Umbral Spy can share things other than information. My next thought was “what about death?” If the Umbral Spy has experienced death in the past week, can it share that with others? The answer is unclear, but I decided to go ahead with it anyway. The result of which is the hideous combo you see before you.

After some searching, I found only one possible way to bring a construct back to life, the utterance Rebuild Item, the text of which is as follows “With this utterance, you instantly restore an item destroyed within the last round to its normal, undamaged state. Essentially, by reminding the item of its truename, you unmake its destruction. Magic items affected by this power retain all their magical properties, unlike items restored with a make whole spell. The reconstituted item has full hit points.” Now whether this works on constructs is ambiguous. The best evidence I could find is that Craft Construct is an item creation feat, but that is far from conclusive.
Assuming it does, I still needed to find a way to use the utterance after the creature was destroyed. The feat Delay Spell struck me as a good way to do that, but how do you apply a metamagic feat to an utterance? The answer lies, possibly illegally, in the realm of the artificer. Tome of Magic allows spell trigger and completion items to be crafted from Utterances that target a specific truename. Theoretically, that allows the artificer ability Metamagic Spell Trigger Item to apply Delay Spell to a wand of Rebuild Item built to target Curiosity. Now, there are a few more problems with this. Delay Spell specifically refers to spells, and Rebuild Item is an SLA. The “in all other ways, a spell like ability functions just like a spell” clause, gives some weight to this argument. In addition, in order to get Rebuild Item and Metamagic Spell Trigger before 20th, I had to rely on the artificer crafting ability to create wands of Rebuild Item using the ability of the artificer to meet caster level and spell pre reqs. Rebuild Item isn’t a spell, but again it might count as close enough to work.
With all that in mind, here’s how the combo theoretically works. On each of his turns, Curiosity casts a quickened, delayed Rebuild Item from his wand and fights normally with the rest of his actions. If he’s destroyed, the utterance will resurrect him and heal him back to full. Since he died and then came back, he has experienced being destroyed in the past week and thus can theoretically use thought link to share “being destroyed” to everyone within ten feet. What exactly this would do is unclear, but it could be a tagless no save just die.
Less crazily, but still relying on tenuous rules, Thought Link could also be used to share status effects like being paralyzed or blinded with people within range. Here’s where Truenamer comes in helpful again; theoretically, effects like Reversed Temporal Twist and Reversed Interital Surge can be shared as long as Curiosity himself has felt them in the past week. This still has rather unclear consequences, but a no-save Daze AOE is quite nice at lowish levels.
In the rest of the build, I’ll go forward assuming the combo works, but I wanted to explain the rules problems first.


CR Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
3 Umbral Spy 2 1 1 1 Truespeak 6 (+6) Truename Training, Ghostly Grasp Hide in plain sight, Thought Link, Shadow Bond
4 Truenamer 1 2 1 1 3 Truespeak 7 (+1), Use Magic Device 3 (+3) Known Personal Truename
5 Truenamer 2 3 1 1 4 Truespeak 8 (+1), Use Magic Device 6 (+3) Knowledge Focus (Local)
6 Truenamer 3 4 2 2 4 Truespeak 9 (+1), Use Magic Device 9 (+3) Skill Focus (Truespeak)
7 Artificer 1 4 2 2 6 Truespeak 10 (+1), Use Magic Device 10 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 2 (+2) Scribe Scroll (B) Artificer Knowledge, Artisan Bonus, disable trap, item creation
8 Artificer 2 5 2 2 7 Truespeak 11 (+1), Use Magic Device 11 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 4 (+2) Brew Potion (B)
9 Artificer 3 6 3 3 7 Truespeak 12 (+1), Use Magic Device 12 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 6 (+2) Extend Utterance, Craft Wonderous Item (B)
10 Artificer 4 7 3 3 8 Truespeak 13 (+1), Use Magic Device 13 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 8 (+2) Legendary Artisan (B) Craft Homunculus
11 Artificer 5 7 3 3 8 Truespeak 14 (+1), Use Magic Device 14 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 10 (+2) Craft Magic Arms and Armor (B) Retain Essence
12 Artificer 6 8 4 4 9 Truespeak 15 (+1), Use Magic Device 15 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 13 (+3) Quicken Spell, Craft Wand (B)
13 Artificer 7 9 4 4 9 Truespeak 16 (+1), Use Magic Device 16 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 16 (+3) Metamagic Spell Trigger
14 Artificer 8 10 4 4 10 Truespeak 17 (+1), Use Magic Device 17 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 17 (+1), Spellcraft 2 (+2) Craft Construct (B)
15 Artificer 9 10 5 5 10 Truespeak 18 (+1), Use Magic Device 18 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 18 (+1), Spellcraft 4 (+2) Delay Spell, Craft Rod (B)
16 Truenamer 4 11 5 5 11 Truespeak 19 (+1), Use Magic Device 19 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 19 (+1), Spellcraft 6 (+2)
17 Truenamer 5 11 5 5 11 Truespeak 20 (+1), Use Magic Device 20 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 20 (+1), Spellcraft 8 (+2)
18 Truenamer 6 12 6 6 12 Truespeak 21 (+1), Use Magic Device 21 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 21 (+1), Spellcraft 10 (+2) Widen Supernatural Ability, Truename Research (B)
19 Truenamer 7 13 6 6 12 Truespeak 22 (+1), Use Magic Device 22 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 22 (+1), Spellcraft 12 (+2) Knowledge Focus (Local)
20 Truenamer 8 14 6 6 13 Truespeak 23 (+1), Use Magic Device 23 (+1), Craft (Alechemy) 23 (+1), Spellcraft 15 (+3) Recitation of Mindful State (B)


Artificer Infusions are adjusted for low intelligence score and for creating amulets a +2 amulet at Artificer 6th.
Level Class Lexicon of the Expanding Mind Lexicon of the Crafted Tool Lexicon of the Perfected Map 1st level Infusions 2nd level Infusions 3rd level Infusions 4th level Infusions
4th Truenamer 1 Intertia Surge - - - - - -
5th Truenamer 2 Universal Aptitude - - - - - -
6th Truenamer 3 Temporal Twist - - - - - -
7th Artificer 1 - - - - - -
8th Artificer 2 - - 3 - - -
9th Artificer 3 - - 3 - - -
10th Artificer 4 - - 3 - - -
11th Artificer 5 - - 3 - - -
12th Artificer 6 - - 4 4 2 -
13th Artificer 7 - - 4 4 2 -
14th Artificer 8 - - 4 4 3 1
15th Artificer 9 - - 4 4 3 2
16th Truenamer 4 Lesser Word of Nurturing Fortify Armor - 4 4 3 2
17th Truenamer 5 Silent Caster - 4 4 3 2
18th Truenamer 6 Temporal Spiral Analyze Item - 4 4 3 2
19th Truenamer 7 Greater Speed of the Zephyr - 4 4 3 2
20th Truenamer 8 Energy Negation Fog from the Void 4 4 3 2



Sharn Watch case file 1185. Triple Black Clearance. Written by Commander Iyanna Ir’Talan
Curiosity, as it calls itself, is a mysterious creature. We know little of its motivation, but the following is the best we’ve been able to piece together from survivors or those questioned by the Blackened Book. It is my personal suspicion that the creature or its ilk was originally a creation of the Dark Lanterns, though my inquiries into the subject have been shut down.

This testimony is the earliest we have, from a year before Curiosity’s rampage began in earnest. We collected it from a dreamlily dealer who Curiosity robbed of his goods.
“The creature came into my shop late one night. I didn’t notice it at first, but then, when I turned around, it was there, standing completely silently. As soon as it realized I had noticed it, I froze. It felt like my feet were frozen to the ground. For the next half an hour, I stood there unable to move as it slowly ransacked my shop. Each time it found something new, it would briefly examine it and then drop it. When it was done, it just drifted away straight through the wall. I still have no idea why it came. It didn’t take anything. The only thing I heard it say was “Master has already felt all of these. I need something new.” It didn’t seem to find anything, though.”

At these early challenge ratings, Curiosity is best suited as a mystery villain. With incorporeal movement and wisdom draining touches, Curiosity can fight like an Allip and frustrate players when Turn Undead and other anti-undead countermeasures don’t work. Shadow Bond gives Curiosity some utility and the ability to scare players if played right. The first stretch of truenamer levels give a few tricks when combined with Thought Link. Inertia Surge and Temporal Twist are great for immobilizing PCs and getting away once they figure out how to bypass incorporeality+DR.


This excerpt comes from one of Lady Everth’s guards on the events of the night of her kidnapping. She was found dead three days later.
“It all started off normal enough. Me and a couple of my mates were playing dice outside the lady’s room. The whole keep was supposed to be secure, so we weren’t as alert as we maybe should have been. Still, I don’t know how the damn thing got inside. There were supposed to be bloody golems with true seeing watching the perimeter. Anyway, at about nine, a sergeant came through to check on us. A half an hour later, there was a scream from the Lady’s room. We burst in, weapons drawn, but the Lady was already unconscious and draped over the shoulder of some sort of shadow thing. It shouldn’t have been able to get past the wards, but somehow it was in there. We rushed it, but before we could hit it, it said something gibberish and we froze. I blacked out for a moment, and by the time I could move again, the Lady was gone. That’s all I remember.”

For this level range, Curiosity is working towards his main trick. Because of the massive intelligence penalty, he can’t actually use infusions until second level. Once he can, a lot of the slots go to skill enhancement for Truespeak. Other slots go to Magic Weapon and other buffs. In general, through this level range, Curiosity isn’t a threat in a direct fight and should instead use his phenomenal stealth to frustrate the PCs goals. Shadow Bond is a great mystery ability for the PCs to try to figure out. If the PCs catch up, Curiosity will try to get away by using Thought Link+Temporal Twist and either Shadow Bonding to an unsuspecting target or just ghosting away through the floor or ceiling. The main item Curiosity crafts at these levels is an Amulet of the Silver Tongue, which he then upgrades as soon as possible.


This report is from one of our watchmen, who we contacted with divination magic after he was killed by Curiosity. His testimony is the first report we have of Curiosity’s devastating new ability.
“I was patrolling in upper Menthis one day when I heard the sounds of screaming. I ran towards them, trying to figure out where they were coming from. I rounded a corner to see a group of adventurers, I think they were from the Clifftop guild, fighting what looked like a flying suit of armor holding a wand. The armor was chanting in a language I had never heard, and it seemed to be holding them motionless. Every once in a while, it would glide to the side and touch one, and then they all would come unstuck for a moment and try to attack it. It was the strangest spectacle I had seen. I decided to try and help out by firing my crossbow at the thing. I hit it square on, and though I didn’t seem to hurt it, it turned towards me. It flew towards me, and for whatever reason, the adventurers came unstuck again. One of them, a big hulking knight fellow, struck the creature in the back with the largest sword I’ve ever seen, and it crumpled. The armor fell to the ground with a hollow ringing sound. We didn’t have long to celebrate, however, because a few seconds later, a shadowy figure rose out of the armor and started to speak. I remember what it said clear as day. “I see.” it said. “So this is what death feels like. Now I finally know. I must share this gift with the world.”
The knight’s face turned pale, and then he fell dead. The rest of the group followed quickly, and then the thing turned towards me. As I tried to run away, I felt my feet clamp to the ground. I got off another crossbow shot, but it just went through the blasted thing. Then it got close to me and, well, I ended up like this.”

Curiosity’s close now to his main combo, but first a few more levels of artificer. 12th brings 2nd level infusions, which go to putting Ghost Touch on a set of full plate for intimidation and to Toughen Construct. Later on Fox's cunning, for boosting Truespeak, is useful. 3rd level infusions come at 12th to, due to Curiosity gaining the ability to craft a new Headband of intellect. For 3rds, Curiosity uses Stone Construct and GMW to augment his defense and offense respectively. 14th level brings 4th level infusions which go to Iron Construct or Greater Construct Energy Ward depending on if the PCs favor physical damage or a specific energy type. It also gives Curiosity the ability to craft other constructs, which he can use to gain minions. Umbral Spies are particularly helpful because Curiosity can set them up with powerful Thought Link combos to give him action economy. At CR 15, Curiosity gains the ability to cast both 4th level buffs at once, but more importantly (rules disputes pending) gains the ability to craft a wand of Rebuild Item and bring the main death trick online. The wand costs 375*11(minimum caster level)*3(level of effect)=12,375 gold pieces and 495 xp, reduced to 373 xp by Legendary Artisan. This is fairly achievable with some items to use Retain Essence on. In addition, Curiosity needs to be able to make a DC (15+2(15)+2)=47 Truespeak check. With 18 ranks, +3 from int, +3 from skill focus, +4 from known truename and +10 from amulet, Curiosity’s modifier on himself is 38. Because true name items don’t follow the law of sequence, Curiosity can use the wand somewhat reliably, though each round of casting drains charges fast. If the Truespeak modifier seems too low, using Skill Enhancement plus Item Alteration can add another +12 to the modifier.
When fighting with the wand, for the first round or two, Curiosity fights normally, and then as his hit points get to around half, he brings out the wand. Now, once he is slain, he reforms at full HP the next round with the AoE death attack online. From here, battles should be one sided, and the PCs will probably be forced to escape and study a way to keep Curiosity down.


This last report dates from just last week, six days after the first time Curiosity killed. It’s from one of the officers who was killed in the massacre in lower Dura. I hope now the Dark Lanterns will finally listen. We need their help to fix this mess they created.
“At about noon, we received word of a wraith spotted in lower Dura. You can never be too careful with that sort of stuff, so my whole unit got suited up with holy symbols and cleric support. We rushed down to Dura, only to find out the whole situation was worse. It wasn’t one wraith, but several dozen. They had trapped a huge crowd in a square, perhaps a thousand people, and an armored figure hovered above the middle of them talking. We went into action against the wraiths on our side, but for some reason none of the holy water we brought worked. The clerics tried to turn them, but the wraiths, or whatever they were, just hovered above us. As they did, I felt my feet stick to the ground. We got out our crossbows, but all of our holy bolts went straight through them. While we tried to break out, the figure in the center started to speak. “People of Sharn!” it bellowed, though I couldn’t see its mouth move. “I have come today to bring death to all. Long have I sought answers, both under my master and on my own, and now I know all there is. Death comes to all of us, mortal, god, demon, and whatever the hell I am. Why fight it? May Dolurrh take the world!”
As the thing ended its little speech, people started to drop dead all around it. I tried to run, but the little shadows above me were somehow still blocking me. After several minutes of death, it finally got over to my unit. The captain died first, then the rest of us. You can’t hope to fight it. Maybe it's right. Death is pretty relaxing, after all.”

Now that Curiosity has the main tactic, the rest is just icing on the cake. A return to truenamer levels brings a few niche debuffs to use with Thought Link. Temporal Spiral and Silent caster can be useful before coming back from the Dead, giving 3 rounds of daze and silence respectively, and word of nurturing helps in hit and run situations. The rest of the utterances provide out of combat utility, but these levels don’t change Curiosity’s tactics much at all.


Curiosity is a weird villain. I imagined him as being created by an insane and infirm artificer who sends him out to experience things and then share them with him via Thought Link. Introducing the artificer as a villain could make for a fun mystery as the PCs try to figure out what Curiosity’s motive is for various crimes. At some point, either the PCs should kill the artificer or the artificer should die of natural causes, leaving Curiosity to try to experience everything for itself. An interest in Truenaming could be sparked by Curiosity's desire to learn about everything, including magic that can’t be accessed by artificers. Later on in the campaign, after harassing the PCs via stealth, Curiosity should start to become obsessed with death. You can hint at this by having him start to kill people on his various missions to steal new and interesting objects. At CR 15, Curiosity finally figures out how to experience death and survive. The experience should change him, making him determined to destroy everything. Assisted by other Umbral Spies he creates, Curiosity should try to kill an entire city in a dramatic final showdown with the players. To make fights more fair, you could rule that the Thought Link death effect actually has a death tag, allowing the PCs to survive but still leaving Curiosity as a huge threat to normal people.


Forge of War: Umbral Spy
Eberron Campaign Setting: Artificer, Infusions, Legendary Artisan
Tome of Magic: Truenamer, Utterances, Widen Supernatural Ability, Truename Training, Recitation of Mindful State, Amulet of the Silver Tongue
Libris Mortis: Ghostly Grasp
Complete Arcane: Delay Spell

[H_H_F_F]

And there you have it! 6 clockwork menaces (I hope that's the plural?) for your viewing and judging pleasure.

[ciopo]

Builds to peruse tomorrow, squee!

My tentative idea was of making a runic guardian infused with (shenanigan level to be decided) antimagic field.

Sadly, that was a no go for the lack of INT

[Inevitability]

*blinks*

So two of the base monsters are from web articles, three are from adventure paths, and only one is from an actual sourcebook? We somehow got two umbral spies? Which don't even focus on the same special ability?

To be fair, my unusued ideas all drew from pretty obscure sources as well:

I considered using the Demilich Construct from RttToH (spammable save-or-die that traps souls and eventually turns into boosted-CL Blasphemy spam) but was at an utter loss for how to advance it - an attempt to use Multiheaded ran afoul of the size limit on the most recent printing of that template.

The Shardcaster from the Twilight Tomb adventure has a lot of cool abilities, all of which require you to be near large masses of glass and are thus near-useless outside the glass citadels the constructs are encountered in. I had some vague idea to take one into Suel Arcanamach so I could eventually get Transmute Sand to Glass, but the abysmal charisma made that really tough. A secondary idea was to use giant fire AoEs to melt nearby sand, but that felt too handwavey and situational.

The Jade Locust from the Arms and Equipment Guide can explicitly eat ten tons of vegetation per day - I had the idea of taking one into warlock and eventually making it build more of itself using Deceive Item, then threatening to cause a global famine, but that was a bit one-note as far as villains went.

I briefly toyed with the idea of starting off as a human and going Renegade Mastermaker, which is after all not a 'template', but I figured I'd respect the spirit of the contest rules.

My most 'normal' idea was probably to use warforged titan and then make use of its natural hammer and axe to build around Anvil of Thunder... only to have no real place to take that idea.


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

More general thoughts on the contest: the idea of combining the construct restriction with a divine casting prohibition made for a surprisingly challenging round, given how few wisdom-based casting remained allowed (frankly I'm surprised to not see any ardents) and how hard it was to make intelligence/charisma-based ones work, I feel like both of my entries were forced to go to some pretty obscure places. Definitely not an unpleasant round, but I'm hoping the next one is a bit more relaxed!

[H_H_F_F]

I briefly toyed with the idea of starting off as a human and going Renegade Mastermaker, which is after all not a 'template', but I figured I'd respect the spirit of the contest rules.


I was anticipating one of those to show up. It's the thought that counts.


I feel like both of my entries were forced to go to some pretty obscure places.

To me that's always part of the goal, I guess. I'm happy with all of the different directions entries took this round.

But assuming we can get judgements while still in spooky season, next round will probably be way more open-ended.

[loky1109]

Table!
Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef Total Place
Remains Unseen (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883323&postcount=35) LE Gruesome Lurker Cobra Strike Invisible Fist Monk 2/Psychic Assassin 9/Telflammar Shadowlord 6
Bringer of Discord (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883328&postcount=36) CE Umbral Spy Warlock 16
Dances-in-waterfalls (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883335&postcount=37) CE Nimblewright Warblade 11/Spelldancer 1
The Hemomorph (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883340&postcount=38) CE Soulfused Blood Golem Ninja 1/Dragon Shaman 1/Thrall of Demogorgon 10
Iinlul Vyk'zlade (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883344&postcount=39) LE Multiheaded Beast of Xvim Soulfused Snake Head of Legacy Exotic Weapon Master 2/Master Thrower 5
Curiosity (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883346&postcount=40) NE Umbral Spy Truenamer 8/Artificer 9

Entries are awesome! Like them very much! But I surprised we don't have some really big constructs. Instead we have one tiny, two small, one medium and two large creatures.


Not used ideas.
Walking Statue of Waterdeep with several Shredstorm swarms inside.
Awakened Quoricraft Warforged Titan Warforged Juggernaut named Cain.
https://media.tenor.com/e-WvqZl1MSAAAAAd/robocop-robocop-cain.gif
Something around one of Raggamoffyns. Maybe Ti-Rex Wild Cohort.

[Prime32]

*blinks*

So two of the base monsters are from web articles, three are from adventure paths, and only one is from an actual sourcebook? We somehow got two umbral spies? Which don't even focus on the same special ability?

To be fair, my unusued ideas all drew from pretty obscure sources as well:
There are surprisingly few templates which can be applied to constructs, especially given the "no type change" restriction. And most constructs need to get soulfused before you can do anything beyond advance their HD, unless you go more obscure.


LE Multiheaded Beast of Xvim Soulfused Construct Snake Head of Legacy Exotic Weapon Master 2/Master Thrower 5
Kudos to this one, I've been wanting to do something with the scourge of fangs ever since I saw it.

Had a few ideas for this but wasn't feeling any of them, one was a Sickstone Golem (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101074601/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20021123a) with the Soulfused and Prodigy [Constitution] templates to boost DCs, plus a Soul Eater dip to make it even more hazardous to your health. Also considered something with a universal key (https://web.archive.org/web/20160123030450/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cw/20061106a) or one of the constructs from The Forge of War (not umbral spy), but wasn't sure where to take them.

[NotInventedHere]

*blinks*

So two of the base monsters are from web articles, three are from adventure paths, and only one is from an actual sourcebook? We somehow got two umbral spies? Which don't even focus on the same special ability?

There's not a lot of intelligent constructs out there, especially with type-changing templates banned, and there's not a ton of ways to give an unintelligent construct intelligence. I'm actually surprised we didn't see any warforged. I guess everyone Vizzini'd themselves out of it.



Entries are awesome! Like them very much! But I surprised we don't have some really big constructs. Instead we have one tiny, two small, one medium and two large creatures.

The really big flashy constructs are all a) unintelligent and b) very high CR to start. Makes them hard to work with.



Wish I'd had the time and energy to flesh out and submit my second entry. Was going to do something with the Clockwork Horrors, from MM2. They have some pretty good stats and HD for their CR, and the Adamantine Horror, the leader, has some absolutely ludicrous SLAs (disintegrate, implosion and Mordenkainen's Disjunction all at CR 9??), plus they come with a built-in villain narrative.

[Condé]

The builds are really creative. I wish I had the time to participate in one of those. (Not lacking the time honestly just managing it poorly)

Congrats to everyone. I would never have thought about playing a flat that can launch itself into enemies... what a great Idea

[H_H_F_F]

Not lacking the time honestly just managing it poorly


Why would you call out my entire life like that?

[loky1109]

Why would you call out my entire life like that?

No, it's mine!

[H_H_F_F]

I should have asked this many days ago, but I've been... Distracted. That's a wild understatement, but let's go with that.

Do we have anyone interested in Judging this round? It's been a while, and it's been eerily quiet.

I'll remind you that aside from being a fun task that really helps you gain confidence and familiarity with the rules, judging also lets you influence the next round's theme, and puts you in the shortlist for guest-chairing a round!

[Inevitability]

While we're waiting for a judge (anyone? anyone at all?) I've got another suggestion to add to the pile of possible future contests.

Mordor Maker: the villain must actively or passively corrupt, damage, or destroy the environment. Simply hunting animals or cutting down trees isn't enough - whatever damage you inflict must go behind killing individual lifeforms.

I can think of several ways to fulfill that requirement (some admittedly a little obscure), and I feel like it's bound to have some really cool entries. Plus, the trope of the villain-created wasteland is just a really evocative one.

[H_H_F_F]

While we're waiting for a judge (anyone? anyone at all?) I've got another suggestion to add to the pile of possible future contests.

Mordor Maker: the villain must actively or passively corrupt, damage, or destroy the environment. Simply hunting animals or cutting down trees isn't enough - whatever damage you inflict must go behind killing individual lifeforms.

I can think of several ways to fulfill that requirement (some admittedly a little obscure), and I feel like it's bound to have some really cool entries. Plus, the trope of the villain-created wasteland is just a really evocative one.

I actually have that in list, except I wanted to also make it campaign specific. "Scourge of the Realm". You have to **** with the environment, and you should have as many mechanical tie-ins (that is, campaign-specific options) to your setting as you can manage.

[Inevitability]

Do we still have no judge? H_H_F_F, perhaps it's worth posting some of the next-round ideas being considered and see if the promise of getting to pick one of them draws in judgement?

[H_H_F_F]

Do we still have no judge? H_H_F_F, perhaps it's worth posting some of the next-round ideas being considered and see if the promise of getting to pick one of them draws in judgement?

Thing is, it'd feel a bit silly doing a halloween round if we don't get judgement soon, so I'm debating if it's (sadly) time to give that up and present Christmas/Winter-themed options.

[Inevitability]

Some really dumb ideas beyond the obvious cold damage/subtype rounds, mostly put out there because they amuse me:

How the Grinch Stole Pelormas: Master thief round.

The Weather Outside is (Still) Frightful: Must have power over wind, cold, heat, or anything else you can plausibly spin as 'weather'.

He Sees You When You're Sleeping: The villain must possess some sort of divination ability that can be used to obtain information about the PCs, whether innate or from class levels.

Santa's Little Harmers: Elf round, must incorporate some elf-only classes or feats - there's actually a ton of variety here, with 'elf swordsman', 'elf archer', and 'elf wizard' all very well-supported concepts and a few stray bits of material for other archetypes too.

They're The Only Places Open: East Asian themed round, your submission must include at least one level of Samurai, Monk, Sohei, Shugenja, Wu Jen, Ninja, or Shaman (perhaps all other base classes are even banned).

[H_H_F_F]

Santa's Little Harmers: Elf round, must incorporate some elf-only classes or feats - there's actually a ton of variety here, with 'elf swordsman', 'elf archer', and 'elf wizard' all very well-supported concepts and a few stray bits of material for other archetypes too.

I really like this one! Elf villains are kind of iconic regardless of the season, and it fits. My only concern is how restrictive it is.


They're The Only Places Open: East Asian themed round, your submission must include at least one level of Samurai, Monk, Sohei, Shugenja, Wu Jen, Ninja, or Shaman (perhaps all other base classes are even banned).[/url]

Not sure what this one has to do with the season?

[Inevitability]

Not sure what this one has to do with the season?

Especially in smaller towns, nearly all restaurants tend to close around christmas, with the exception of those serving non-western cuisine (which only rarely have christian managers and workers, after all). The typical examples are Chinese and Japanese restaurants, and I figured it'd be funny to lampshade that. It's also a bit of a reference to A Christmas Story I guess?

[Inevitability]

Still-looking-for-judge bump. If you're reading this and hosting/participating in some other competition, I'm willing to judge the next round of that in exchange for judgement here! (I do already have submissions for the current junkyard wars, before someone asks)

And as a future round suggestion so this isn't just a bump post, From Humble Beginnings. The villain must be one of those 'classic' low-level foes (orcs, goblins, wolves, 1d6 dire rats in the tavern basement) who happens to escape an early encounter with the PCs and then gradually develops into a genuine threat of his own. Some kind of upper limit on the base creature's CR (perhaps as low as CR 1?) would help sell the theme.

[H_H_F_F]

Still-looking-for-judge bump. If you're reading this and hosting/participating in some other competition, I'm willing to judge the next round of that in exchange for judgement here! (I do already have submissions for the current junkyard wars, before someone asks)

Very kind, and very productive. Perhaps some sort of cross-competition agreements are the way forward, judging-wise.


And as a future round suggestion so this isn't just a bump post, From Humble Beginnings. The villain must be one of those 'classic' low-level foes (orcs, goblins, wolves, 1d6 dire rats in the tavern basement) who happens to escape an early encounter with the PCs and then gradually develops into a genuine threat of his own. Some kind of upper limit on the base creature's CR (perhaps as low as CR 1?) would help sell the theme.

Interesting idea. It's a bit close (mechanically, if not in spirit), to the [i]nemesis[/i[\] round, in the sense that it forced an opponent to be there throughout the CR range. Still, worth considering.

[pabelfly]

I'll volunteer myself as judge for this round. Always wanted to dig more into VC and this seems like a good opportunity to do it.

Fair warning, I'm pretty slow judge and I'm not familiar with VC, so I might take a bit of time.

[Inevitability]

I'll volunteer myself as judge for this round. Always wanted to dig more into VC and this seems like a good opportunity to do it.

Fair warning, I'm pretty slow judge and I'm not familiar with VC, so I might take a bit of time.

Much appreciated!!! Thank you so much!


And completely unrelated, but does our chair know whether we have ever done a Seven Deadly Sins round? Seems like there's good potential there.

[loky1109]

I'll volunteer myself as judge for this round. Always wanted to dig more into VC and this seems like a good opportunity to do it.

Fair warning, I'm pretty slow judge and I'm not familiar with VC, so I might take a bit of time.

Great news! Thank you very much!

[H_H_F_F]

I'll volunteer myself as judge for this round. Always wanted to dig more into VC and this seems like a good opportunity to do it.

Fair warning, I'm pretty slow judge and I'm not familiar with VC, so I might take a bit of time.

Thanks, pabelfly.


Much appreciated!!! Thank you so much!


And completely unrelated, but does our chair know whether we have ever done a Seven Deadly Sins round? Seems like there's good potential there.

I don't believe so, no. We did do four horseman of the apocalypse, but I think that's it for this sort of theme.

I don't know how I'd approach a deadly sins round without making it to broad, but it's certainly something to ponder.

[Doctor Despair]

I don't know how I'd approach a deadly sins round without making it to broad, but it's certainly something to ponder.

One at a time, I'd imagine

[H_H_F_F]

One at a time, I'd imagine

Now that's interesting. Like a mini-series.

We'd have to spread it out, obviously, but it'll give people plenty of time to think.

[Batcathat]

Or maybe take some inspiration from Seven and require the villain to be able to kill in ways themed of the deadly sins? (Though that might admittedly be a little too specific).

[Inevitability]

Something to consider is that every sin implies not one but two possible contests: one where the villain embodies the sin, and one where the villain causes the party to succumb to it. Contrast a raging barbarian with an enchanter wizard - both can be Wrath-themed villains, but in quite different ways! Or you could force a build to approach the theme from both angles, which'd help constrain building options some but possibly do so to an unreasonable extent.

Looking at individual sins, there's those that'd work much better if the villain is a sinner himself (Greed, Pride, Envy), some that work much better if the villain inspires it (Sloth, Lust), and some that could work either way (Wrath, Gluttony).

H_H_F_F, if you want to talk specific contest ideas, I might have a few possible criteria rattling around, so feel free to shoot me a PM sometime.

[pabelfly]

Quick update: did my research on the comp, read a few judgements on previous comps and finished the first entry, five to go.

[Inevitability]

If we're doing the sin-based thing, I'd like to make a suggestion:

If I Can't Have It, No One Can (Envy)
-The villain cannot have nonabilities.
-At least one ability score must be 6 or lower.
-The villain must be capable of inflicting damage or drain to that ability score (or otherwise penalizing it?).

I feel like the nonability ban would encourage us to explore some fresh territory after the construct/undead heavy rounds we've had, and by making an exceptionally low stat a requirement we bake weakness mitigation right into the contest's nature! Plus, a focus on ability damage tends to allow some pretty interesting tricks that don't get much used otherwise.

The limit of 6 or less is chosen to prevent builders from simply assigning an 8 and being done - whatever base creature they use needs to have at least a small penalty to the stat in question.

[H_H_F_F]

We might do seven sins as a series, yeah, and this seems like a good approach to envy. Could be fun. Next round will hopefully be a Christmas/Winter round, though. I'd like to include Hanukkah in that list too, but I don't think there are any good themes there. Unless y'all want to emulate Antiochus IV. I'll look back in the previous suggestions in the thread and workshop three options for Pabelfly to pick from.

The round after that is going to be a guest-chair round, so out of my hands - but we'll be back in business for round LV.

[H_H_F_F]

Guys, while we're waiting for Pabelfly to finish judging (thanks again for that, by the way!) I'd like y'all to give some thoughts as to your nominee for the People's Choice Awards. We'll be voting on those after we get judgement. It's like an HM, and meant to highlight the same sort of build (not necessarily something you would've scored well, but simply something you liked a lot, or a build that didn't manage to place but you felt like it deserved to), except it'll include a short paragraph explaining your choice and highlighting your favorite aspect of the build. I want everyone who submitted an entry to participate, though obviously anyone just watching from the sidelines is very much encouraged to chip in as well!


Draug the Terrible gets my nomination for the People's Choice Awards. The build was messy in a way that I personally really enjoy, and I thought the way he managed to squeeze into Naga Overlord without being a naga is inspiring!

I nominate Rushmore. I'm a big fan of joke builds, well done tributes, and swiftblades - and she's all three!

My favorite this round was Clara. There was something so neat about all the little synergies in the build. I'd especially like to highlight her use of Azure Toughness - how do you even come up with something like that?

[pabelfly]

Okay, quick update: two entries down. I'll try to do some work on the third entry tomorrow.

Thanks once again for your patience.

[H_H_F_F]

Thanks for the update!

[pabelfly]

Okay, four of six entries done. Going to try and set a goal of doing the last two entries this week, but we'll see how I go.

Thanks again for your patience. I'm not the quickest judge but I'll get it done eventually.

[H_H_F_F]

Thanks for updating, Pabelfly! If you manage to make it in time for us to still be in-season for a themed round LIII, that'd be great. Looking forward to reading your thoughts!

[pabelfly]

Villainous Compendium Judging
(Pabelfly)

Okay, let’s judge some Villain Compendium builds. I will admit I’m not as familiar with VC as other contests, so if I make assumptions such as uncommon ingredients here being common because I see them in Junkyard and Monster Mash (or vice versa), or judge using metrics that aren’t typically considered here, I can only apologize and say I’ve done my best to judge all entries with the same metrics and without bias.

For the sake of damage calculations (when build relevant), I have come up with Bob. Bob is a human with 28 AC, 24 Flatfooted AC, and 19 Touch AC (Calculated from 10 Base AC, a + 4 Dex modifier, +4 Armor Bonus, + 5 Amulet of Natural Armor and a + 5 Ring of Deflection.)

All categories except Villainy start at 3/5 and additions and deductions to score will be explained.

Villainy is scored as follows:
+0.5 points for being a Construct.
+0.5 points for not having divinely-granted abilities
+1 point for party not being able to evade or escape.
+0.5 points for being “soulless”, but with a mind
+2.5 points for “memorable villainy”. Very subjective, but I will do my best to score this.


This was a pretty solid build. My suggestion, for what it's worth: consider what you can do to boost your overall build numbers, within reason. Damage output, HP, saves. This would improve your power rating (bigger numbers good) and your memorable villainy (we always remember tough boss battles.)

Thanks for the entry.
A list of things I found interesting and original:

Gruesome Lurker Monster
Psychic Assassin
Telflammar Shadowlord – seen this a few times as an interesting way to get pounce, but uncommon enough that I’ll pass it.
Scorpion’s Grasp
Sun School
Terrifying Strike
A list of things I found uninteresting and unoriginal:

Monk 2
Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack feats. Unfortunate that such common feats are prereq for Telflammar Shadowlord.
Monastic Training and Tashalatora feats
Stealth and sneaking build. Rather common this round.
Anything not listed here I consider a foundational feat or am ambivalent as to it’s originality or lack thereof.

I thought there was enough interesting choices here to warrant a 4/5.
Let’s work out your damage per round.

Let’s assume you’re attacking Bob. He has 28 AC, 24 Flatfooted, and 19 Touch AC.
Let’s assume you get your sneak attack off, and you’re targeting flatfooted AC.
Let’s assume you have Haste activated
Let’s assume you have a Belt of Strength to get a +9 Strength modifier. Let’s assume you use flurry, which you have as a level 11 monk.
Let’s assume you get a full attack off with Shadow Pounce

Accuracy: 13 BAB + 9 STR + 1 Haste -3/-3/-3/-8 Flurry,
19/19/19/19/14

Damage per hit
2d8 unarmed strike (Large Level 11 Monk) + 5d6 sneak attack + 9 STR
35.5 per hit

0.75 * 35.5 + 0.75 * 35.5 + 0.75 * 35.5 + 0.75 * 35.5 + + 0.5 * 35.5
Damage in a round is 124.25. This is a good amount of damage –I’d be worried about taking an attack at level 20 with this much damage, but it’s not so OP that it’s too difficult for a regular party. I’ll pass this. (+1 point)
HP at level 20 is 107 (30 (Large Construct) + 15.5 (Gruesome Lurker) + 4.5 * 2 (Monk) + 3.5 * 9 (Psychic Assassin + 3.5 * 6 (Telflammar Shadowlord). Even with your sneaking strategy, I think this is low, especially without abilities like DR or high AC that would significantly mitigate this. (-1 point)
Saves are 9/19/11. Reflex is nice but the other two are underwhelming. (0 points)
Construct has a lot of nice resistances and immunities. Have half a point. (+0.5 points)
You have a good amount of skill points. You have four skills with full ranks. (+0.5 points)
You have a bunch of nice extra abilities to support sneaking and staying hidden. (+0.5 points)
Fully finished Telflammar Shadowlord. Put a significant amount of levels into Psychic Assassin. (+0.5 points)
Only switch back to a previously-taken class once. Not bad. (+0.5 points)
You take Tashalatora very late and don’t get the benefits earlier, particularly flurry as a level 11 Monk instead of a level 2 Monk. I’d prefer to see the effects of the feat scale over time for your villain. (-0.5 points)
So, your access to Psychic Assassin deserves some critique. You arguably get to be a fifth-level manifester through your total HD, rather than specifically advancing Gruesome Lurker HD, and I’ll pass that, but once you do get in, how are you getting PP progression? (-1 point)
Edit: There was a misunderstanding between Psionic Assassin and Psychic Assassin. As there is no issue with how PP is progressed, the penalty is removed. (+1 point)

Limitations
Construct Type: prereq met, full marks. (+0.5 points)
Forsaken: psychic abilities are fine. Telflammar Shadowlord abilities are fine. Met, full marks. (+0.5 points)
Unstoppable Force: So, you have some options to see beyond normal senses and track escaping enemies with “Clairvoyant senses” and “Trace Teleport”. Touchsight out to 60ft is nice. Not bad, but I expected more long-range detection options. Half a point. (+0.5 point)
Has a mind, evil alignment? Met. (+0.5 point)
Is this something I’d want to use repeatedly over several levels? I think there are enough abilities and has enough of an interesting backstory I could justify using it a few times. (+1.5 points)



This was a pretty solid build. My suggestion, for what it's worth: consider what you can do to boost your overall build numbers, within reason. HP, saves, that sort of thing (damage output was at a solid level with this build, which I really liked). This would improve your power rating (bigger numbers good) and your memorable villainy (we always remember tough boss battles.)

Thanks for the entry.
A list of things I found interesting and original:

Warlock 16 – I don’t normally see single-class Warlock builds
Harvester of Souls feat
Souleater Incarnum feat
Open-Minded feat – pretty weak feat but works given your specific alignment requirements and low INT score
A list of things I found uninteresting and unoriginal:

Umbral Spy – unfortunately someone else had the same idea as you to use Umbral Spy. I’m not sure if it’s a common VC monster choice, just worked really well for this specific competition’s ruleset, or you’re just really unlucky.
Martial Study
Stealth and sneaking build. Rather common this round.
Anything not listed here I consider a foundational feat or am ambivalent as to it’s originality or lack thereof.

I thought there was enough interesting choices here to warrant a 3.5/5.
So, I think I need to clarify how your character works mechanically (at least, to my understanding).
- You shadow bond as a standard action, and you're inside the player's shadows when you do so. You're undetectable (except with True Sight), but you can't really do much other than passively observe when you are in shadow
- You can detach at will, and when you do so, you'll be rolling Hide checks against the player's spot checks. While detached but still hiding, you can do your Eldritch Blasts and Invocations, but you run the risk of the player party spotting you when they do so. Invocations seem like they won’t attract the -20 penalty when attacking. Eldritch Blast involves sending out a huge blast of magical energy, so I'd say it would.
- Besides full Hide ranks, you get a +4 to Hide (small creature), and a +7 from Dex. Against this, you have players with Spot and a decent WIS score, and/or any bonuses to Spot, such as from race, feats, etc. Let's say at least one character will have full Spot ranks, and bonuses so that player could conceivably roll 9 more Spot than your Hide check to see your character.

Let’s talk combat. This villain is more of a harasser and an augment to an encounter than an encounter itself. However, that leads to some interesting encounter dynamics and gives us an extra tool to tweak combat difficulty. At low levels, we might get targeted if we do poorly on our stealth rolls while harassing players (roughly 10% chance). At moderate or higher levels, we need to worry about True Sight or players just acquiring bonuses that make spotting you much more likely. We’re probably not using Eldritch Blast unless a player is very low health and we can kill them, or at least knock them unconscious. Huge flashes of magical energy blasts would give our location away, obviously not ideal for a stealth character. However, we do have some decent debuff options. I’ll give you half a mark here – you’re not strong enough to stand on your own as an encounter, which would be what gets me to give you full marks for a VC entry. In my opinion. (+0.5 points)
HP at level 20 is 87 (10 (Small Construct) + 8 + 4.5x3 (Construct HD) + 3.5 x 16 (Warlock HD) ). Although you have good hiding ability, I still think this is really low, especially without abilities like DR or high AC that would significantly mitigate this. (-2 points)
At some points of your career, you're not going to be able to be attacked by everyone (before True Sight or similar abilities become fairly common), so at least that low HP will seemingly stretch further than what it should. (+0.5 points).
Saves are 6/13/13. Fort is pretty bad, Reflex and Will are a bit below par. (0 points)
Construct gives you lots of immunities, so your saves aren’t as bad as they first appear. Half a point. (+0.5 points)
Your skill points are pretty low, giving you few skill-based options. At least the skills you invest in are at or near max ranks. (-1 points)
Investing heavily into Shadow Bond. Considering your build relies on this working, it's a necessity but I'm still glad you did it (+1 point)
Numbering your feats by character level is very handy. I won't give marks for this but I really do appreciate it. (0 points)
Solo single class, can't ask for a more elegant build stub. (+1 point)
I don't know why you have Harvester of Souls. Attacking gives you a -20 to your Hide roll, so everyone can see you if you use it. And you could already coup-de-grace someone who was unconscious if you wanted to kill them. (-0.5 points)
Construct Type: prereq met, full marks. (+0.5 points)
Forsaken: warlocks get their abilities from their bloodline, rather than being divinely-granted. Full marks. (+0.5 points)
Unstoppable Force: So, you have some options to see beyond normal senses and track escaping enemies with “Clairvoyant senses” and “Trace Teleport”. Touchsight out to 60ft is nice. Not bad, but I expected more long-range detection options. Half a point. (+0.5 point)
Has a mind, evil alignment? Met. (+0.5 point)
This is interesting enough mechanically that I’m stealing it for myself. I think it works better as a disposable scout than a big central villain though. It’s also heavily dependent on the players not getting the True Sight ability or greatly boosting their Spot, either of which is going to be a priority after the first ambush or two. That means that the last encounter for your boss isn’t going to happen on your terms, but the players. Still, I’ll give this a 2. (+2 points)



I can understand trying to get Wraithstrike onto a melee build – touch attacks are great. But I don’t think you’ve quite considered the opportunity cost (putting aside issues with legality for a moment): four feats to enter the Spelldancer class, the Precocious Apprentice feat, three metamagic feats, and the Spelldancer level that means you miss out on a ninth-level Warblade manoeuvre. That's eight feats and a class level. Warblade doesn’t even have that much trouble with attack rolls to justify all of this.

When investing such significant build resources, it’s always worth asking yourself if other things you could have done with those feats could be more worthwhile. I think there was.

I would consider trying out judging - it's a good way to develop your contest skills, if you are looking to improve your entries and place and perhaps even win a contest in the future.
Things I found original or interesting

Warblade. I suppose pretty much straight Initiator is uncommon enough in comps I’ll give this to you.
Nimblewright Monster

Things I found unoriginal or uninteresting

Precocious Apprentice
All the PHB combat feats. I don’t mind much when there’s a few, since they’re pretty common prereqs for more interesting feats and classes, but it feels like these feats are there for the sake of being there.
Spelldancer. Very overused class. And getting rid of its flaw with something like Construct type is pretty common too.
Persistomancy. No, this isn’t a repeat of the critique that Spelldancer is overused. You don’t have to use Spelldancer to permanently persist a spell, there are other metamagics that can be used. One day I might even see a build that uses one of them.
Sanctum Spell cheese

Anything not listed here I consider a foundational feat or am ambivalent as to it’s originality or lack thereof.

I struggled to find much in the way of originality in this build. I suppose combining Spelldancer and Warblade is fairly unusual, but since how you did it is not legal (more on that later) I don’t see myself particularly caring. 1.5 / 5.
Regardless of other issues, you’ve still got a ninth-level Warblade manoeuvre. In terms of damage output, you’re fine. (+1 point)
Putting aside all questions of legality and elegance, Sanctum Spell requires you to be within a 20ft wide circle to work, and thus be eligible for Spelldancer. You're trying to present me a character that needs to use Sanctum Spell to access their prestige class, but you're also trying to present to me a fast and agile character. (-2 points)
EDIT: I'd like to amend the mark I gave this to a -1, rather than a -2. You are stuck in the spell circle for only 36 seconds a day, as you argued, but I feel that having to constrain your villain character to only working within half a day's travel to work at its intended power level still deserves a penalty. (+1 point)
HP at level 20 is 161.5 (20 Medium Construct + 8 + 13 x 4.5 Construct HD + 6.5 x 11 Warblade + 3.5 Spelldancer). HP is okay. (+0.5 points)
Saves are 11/27/17. Great Dex, decent Will, Fort could be better though. (+0.5 points)
Construct has a lot of nice resistances and immunities. Have half a point. (+0.5 points)
You have max ranks in Jump and Concentration. I suppose that’s something. (+0.5 points)

Pretty straightforward build stub, with only one dip for Spelldancer. (+1 point)
All of those cross-class skills. I don’t mind one or two cross-class skill points, but you have spent 29 ranks cross-class. Even if you got twenty of those after taking a feat to make it a class skill (City Slicker), that would be like getting another solid skill to add to your build. (-1 point)
There is no point ending at CR 20 with half a rank in a skill. None. Please put that one leftover skill point elsewhere so it can at least be of marginal use instead. No penalty. (0 points)
I can respect the effort of trying to get touch attacks on a martial, but it doesn’t legally work. Let’s look at the first sentence of “Precocious Apprentice”:

Choose one 2nd-level spell from a school of magic you have access to.
You don’t have a school of magic you have access to, because you don’t have a spell list. So you can’t actually pick a spell, and a lot of your feat and build choices are based on being able to pick and use this spell. (-2 points)
Even if I were to disregard the previous point, you still aren’t eligible to enter Spelldancer. The text says: “Spellcasting: Able to cast third-level spells.” The pluralization of the phrase “third-level spells” means you’d need to be able to cast at a minimum two third-level spells. Maybe you could argue that casting the same spell multiple times a day might count. However, you can only cast one spell once per day, so neither of those are you. (-2 points)

You’re a construct. Pass. (+0.5 points)
No divinely-granted abilities. Pass. (+0.5 points)
No notable magical or mundane options to track your enemies once they flee. No, 40ft movement is not that fast. (0 points)
EDIT: You can travel at 100ft and 80ft fly speed. Decent. I would have preferred something much more capable though, but I'll give you half a point here. (+0.5 points)
Soul-less, but with a mind. (+0.5 points)
Memorable Villainy – mechanically, you’re a construct with Warblade manoeuvres and a decent crit range. I’m not seeing much in the way of defenses, offenses, intriguing mechanics or even just big numbers that would make a fight next-level, like I’d want for a really memorable villain encounter, let alone something that the party might fight multiple times. (+0.5 points)



You've spent way too much build resources trying to make your entry super powerful, to the extent that you've missed the point of what a DM does: we want to present difficult but beatable challenges to our players. This is not that. If you had allocated less resources to getting ridiculous amounts of power on the character, and more shoring up build weaknesses, you would have done much better. Work out what a good challenge looks like, and only go that far.

Thanks for the entry.
Things I found original or interesting

Dragon Shaman dip
Dragon Magazine 357 – I like to see builds making use of legal Dragon Magazine material
Thrall of Demogorgon – from what it offers, I suspect it might be more common in Villain Compendium than other comps, but I haven’t seen it, so points to you.
Blood Golem shenanigans. Hadn’t seen this trick before, so good work.
Things I found unoriginal or uninteresting

Assume Supernatural Ability got kinda old the third time I saw it, never mind the seventh.
Ninja dip
Soulfused Construct. Someone else thought of this template during this round, sorry.


Lots of interesting ingredients here, good job. I’ll give you 4 / 5.

Okay, I think you went too hard on power. For example, you’re throwing around 10d10 damage with a successful (not failed) Reflex save of 18 at encounter level ECL 8. Per turn. As passive damage. If you were a level 8 player playing against this, I doubt you’d be happy with the encounter your DM had set up. I know I wouldn’t be.
In the future, if you want to use a broken exploit in this sort of contest, I’d show off the exploit, but then present the actual level of challenge you want to present to the players. In the context of a Villainous Competition entry, I am looking for a reasonable to difficult but winnable encounter for a group of players to take on at a variety of levels. I don’t want to wipe out the entire party before they have a chance to do anything. (-2 points)
EDIT: So, I have been reminded that we can't offer penalties based on the strength of an contestant entry, particularly for TO entries. I was in the wrong with my judgement here. (+2 points)
EDIT 2: Rejudging power: you've got an extremely powerful build here. Max points I offer out solely for offensive combat prowess is one point, and based on the rules of the contest, I think you've earned it. (+1 points)
Your HP at level 20 is 30 HP Large Construct + 8 + 7x5.5 Construct Hit Dice + 3.5 Ninja + 5.5 Dragon Shaman + 4.5x10 Thrall of Demogorgon, which comes to 130HP. This is ordinary, I'd much prefer to see more HP. No points won or lost. (0 points)
Saves are 15/16/18 (11/7/11 plus stats plus 4/4/4 from Soulbound Template). I'll pass this. (+1 point)
Your skill points... are pretty bad. (-2 points)

It's a pretty straightforward build stub, I like. (+1 point)
Completed a ten-level Prestige Class. (+1 point)
You made a mistake with your BAB at Thrall of Demogorgon 1. You made a mistake with your FORT with Dragon Shaman 1. Your total base stats are 16 BAB, 11 Fort, 7 Ref and 11 Will. No points won or lost (0 points)
Why is Willing Deformity here? It's a gateway to getting more Vile feats, but none of them are here. You don't even need Intimidation, that isn't a skill you're investing in. Looks like a waste of a feat to me. (-1 points)
EDIT: I missed that this was a prereq feat for your class. My mistake. I would have liked to have seen this feat made more use of, given that it's a prereq feat for dozens of other feats. I'll give you half a point. (+0.5 points)
You’re a construct. Pass. (+0.5 points)
Divinely-granted abilities are hard to define, and I’m on the fence whether being granted powers from a demon prince counts or not. I’m skeptical but I’ll give this to you. (+0.5 points)
50-mile radius Mindsight is ridiculous, and how often you can teleport is too. Full marks. (+1 point)
So, I think Soulfused Constructs and Living Constructs have souls. Purely in a mechanical sense, the Raise Dead spell works on you and requires a character to have a soul that can choose to come back to be effective. Oh, and Essentia is the substance of your soul energy and you’ve got it. Lastly, the name Soulfused is a bit of a hint that your character is dealing with Souls here. I don’t think you meet the prereq of not having a soul. (0 points)
EDIT: While I disagree with the idea that Living Constructs don't have souls, the Chair has ruled that this option can be taken without penalty, and I understand that this was done with the understandable concern of helping increase contest entrant variety. So this passes. (+0.5 points)
Memorable Villainy – you can assume the forms of other large creatures while being distinctive to maintain continuity of appearance. I really like that. However, your interpretation of this villain is way too powerful to be used. It’s not going to be a memorable villain in the way we want if I’m killing the entire party in a single round. I’ll give you a 1 / 2.5 for this. (+1 point)


So I found reading through your entry much more difficult to understand than I should. Your goal when presenting a build should be to present all the information a judge needs in a manner that’s easily understood. Here, you have stuff that I probably don’t need to read, like how you developed your build entry, and lore, and stuff that I don’t but really want, like what you envisage your combat strategy to be at various ECLs and even how you think the build is going to function mechanically.

I think you might find it helpful to take up judging. This will help you develop your own ideas about what a good entry looks like and what sort of material a judge wants to be seeing when they are reading a contest entry and how best to display that material.

Thanks for the entry.
Things I found original or interesting:

Shadowdale module
Snake Head construct
Beast of Xvim template
Monster of Legacy template, Legacy abilities


Things I found unoriginal or uninteresting:

Master Thrower
Exotic Weapons Master
Soulfused Construct – someone else had the same idea using this template.
Multiheaded template – we’ve all used this for shenanigans at least once
All of your feats. All of them.


A few interesting template options and I did like finding some resources in a module. Lot of standard stuff here. 2/5.

So, we have a lot of problems with Power. Firstly, you envisage yourself being thrown, or throwing yourself, into the fray to do damage. Getting thrown about as a standard action is a huge waste of another character’s time. Throwing yourself about is just silly. Neither of these are great options. (-2 points)
Putting aside how you get to move, if you move over 5ft in a turn, you’re only going to get a single attack unless you have Pounce or an equivalent. You do not have Pounce or an equivalent. You’re going to get one attack in a turn, regardless of how much effort you’ve put in to getting extra heads. (-1 point)
Your Power Attack is going to be pretty bad. Power Attack works if you take a bunch of other options to make Power Attack work – typically, Shock Trooper and a two-handed weapon, but plenty of other options work too. You haven’t taken anything like that though, so you’re just going to be taking huge penalties to attack rolls at a 1:1 ratio to damage. Oh, and you’re likely only getting one attack per turn. I don’t have to bother with damage calculations, I can tell you it’s not going to be good at just a glance. (-2 points)
HP is 5.5 x 2 (Exotic Weapons Master) + 4.5 x 5 (Master Thrower) + 5.5 x 23 (Construct HD) + 30 x 7, or 370HP. I really like this. (+2 points)
Saves are 11/11/8 (Base) + 7/8/4 (Stats) + 6/6/6 (Incarnum) or 25/24/18. This is really good, full marks. (+2 points)
You have some really good Spot and Tumble checks. (+1 points)

I don’t understand how this build is supposed to work, since you didn’t really take the time to explain it to me. Shadowdale has a special Scourge weapon that’s a flail with snake heads that can bite people, I get that. You’ve decided to modify the weapon with various templates and feats since part of the weapon is considered a Construct Monster, still with you. But then your build choices don’t actually match. Weapon Focus (Scourge) is something that the wielder of this weapon needs, not the weapon itself. If you’re statting the snake, what you want is Weapon Focus (Bite). Same with Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Far Shot, Improved Critical and Distant Shot. Same with Master Thrower and Exotic Weapon Master. Are you trying to throw yourself? That doesn’t make sense though, your monster doesn’t have arms and you couldn’t throw yourself even if you did have arms, that isn’t how throwing actually works. (-2 points)
I have a problem with the Monster Mayhem web source you’re using. The source you linked for Monster Mayhem came out in 2002, while Savage Species is the one you should be using. I can’t help but think this is deliberate since Savage Species is much better-known than a web article, and is mechanically much less favourable to your build with the amount of extra heads allowed and that Savage Species has a Level Adjustment attached. (-2 points)
I actually appreciate that you took the Soulfused template early and paid the penalties for using the template in full. Have a point. (+1 point)
I’d normally critique all your cross-class skill points here but I’ll ignore it for this entry. (0 points)
Monster of Legacy template doesn’t apply to constructs. (-2 points)
You don’t qualify for Master Thrower because a Scourge isn’t a thrown weapon even if you want it to be treated like one, since it doesn’t have range increments. (-1 point)
Edit: This critique is incorrect. Exotic Weapon Master allows the Scourge to be treated as a thrown weapon. (+1 point)
You didn’t apply your templates in the right order. Multiheaded Template is an inherited template, so should be applied before all your acquired templates. (-0.5 points)
What does Multiheaded Template even do for you? A scourge is a weapon with multiple ends, in the case of the Scourge of Fangs in Shadowdale, it has five ends. Presuming you were able to full attack with all your heads at once, you can have the Pain effect work and have an enemy with -4 on a bunch of things, but you haven’t made a case for it stacking and you’re still stuck at one attack per turn. (-1 point)
I get that you really like your villain story arc, but when I’m reading breakdowns for levels for your monster, what I really want is the strategies you will use in combat. It’s a required party of each entry and I’m not seeing them here. (-2 points)

You’re a Construct. Pass. (+0.5 points)
Abilities aren’t divinely-granted. Pass. (+0.5 points)
You’re a Scourge weapon. You lack movement besides being thrown, or throwing yourself. Even a character in heavy armor that can only run at 60ft a round total is easily going to escape you. You have good ranks in Spot, which is decent, but you lack any detection ability the moment people turn around a corner. You don’t qualify for Monster of Legacy, so whatever abilities you get from that don’t count here. (0 points)
So, I think Soulfused Constructs and Living Constructs have souls. Purely in a mechanical sense, the Raise Dead spell works on you and requires a character to have a soul that can choose to come back to be effective. Oh, and Essentia is the substance of your soul energy and you’ve got it. Lastly, the name Soulfused is a bit of a hint that your character is dealing with Souls here. I don’t think you meet the prereq of not having a soul. (0 points)
So, you’re some sort of failed super flail-type weapon, which is fairly original at least. You have nice HP and saves but your damage is weak, it’s going to be difficult to have a tough encounter with that. I think players remember how hard things hit the most and how close they were to dying. More importantly, you’re just going to get second billing, even if this went off perfectly and players were talking about it, I could imagine the talk being something like, “man, that boss had a cool weapon”. But even with that, I have my doubts. (+0.5 points)


There are a lot of things in 3e that aren’t written really well. On the other hand, I think we need to approach the rules we’re given in good faith. There’s only so much space in a book to display rules and to exhaustively define every single word used. If the rules aren’t clear, the designers give us context in terms of flavour and overall intent to help understand how they intended things to work. I feel that this build does not approach what was given to us in good faith.

Still, it was interesting reading. Thanks for the entry.
Things I found original and interesting:

Truename Training feat
Truenamer

Things I found unoriginal and uninteresting:

Artificer
Artificer crafting feats
Umbral Spy


Anything not listed here I consider a foundational feat or am ambivalent as to it’s originality or lack thereof.

I like that Truenamer got some time in your build. I like that you avoided much of the standard character-OP for Truenamer - custom items, Paragnostic Assembly, etc. Artificer is much more common, and so are their associated feats.

I'll give this a 3.5/5.
Let’s talk combat ability. Your trick doesn't work, so let's disregard that (see Elegance). However, you have 9 levels in Artificer and 8 in Truenamer. Artificer 9 gets you fourth-level infusions, and can be good support for other villains by crafting potions and items and the like. Marginally useful but underwhelming for a CR 20 opponent. Truenamer is worse due to less options and a lot less consistency. Villains have an advantage in that they likely only have to work for one encounter a day, instead of four, but that doesn’t fix the utterance consistency problem. (+0.5 points)
HP is 10 (Small Construct) + 10 + 5.5 x 2 (Construct HD) + 3.5 x 17, or 90HP. That's really low. (-2 points)
Saves are 6/13/15. Fort is pretty bad, Reflex underwhelming, Will is decent. (0 points)
Construct has a lot of nice resistances and immunities. Have half a point. (+0.5 points)
Full ranks in Truespeak, UMD and Craft Alchemy, decent Spellcraft check. I would have liked to see more social and manipulation feats, but not bad. (+0.5 points)
Truenamer/Artificer/more Truenamer is a pretty simple build stub. (+0.5 points)

First, I don’t believe constructs are items, and thus aren’t a valid target for the Rebuild Item utterance. While the term “item” is not explicitly defined, the character sheet presents us with a section to write in items as objects that are carried by players. Artificer also explicitly calls out it’s abilities to work on both items and constructs, so there is a clear differentiation between Items and Constructs when creating rulesets. No using “Rebuild Item” utterance on yourself. (-2 points)

Metamagic Spell Trigger would only apply to an item based around a spell. However, Truenamer items can’t be targeted by metamagic because they aren’t spells, they’re spell-like abilities. Spell-like abilities have their own feat set. No, I’m not buying the phrase “in all other ways, a spell-like ability functions like a spell” means you can use different metamagics on spell-like abilities, because we already explicitly have feats that alter spell-like abilities. (-2 points)

Artificer's Metamagic Spell Trigger specifies “a metamagic feat”. Not multiple metamagic feats, a single one. So you can’t go “Quicken + Delay” at the same time. (-2 points)

Third, penalty for item reliance - you need your wand of Rebuild item that costs about 12,375 gold. And in spite of all your Artificer levels, you don't have the feats to make it. Each time you use this wand how you want (ignoring all the rules that say this shouldn’t work), it’s going to take 1 + 4 (Quicken) + 3 (Delay Spell). You’re paying nearly 2,000 gold per cast of your wand to do your “trick”. At least this is a boss, wasting money isn’t such a huge deal for you at least. (-1 points)
You’re a construct. (+0.5 points)
Truenamer and Artificer aren’t based off divine power. (+0.5 points)
Not really seeing anything special for this build to help deal with finding opponents that are fleeing. (0 points)
Soulless, but with a mind. (+0.5 points)
You don’t have your main build trick for a huge variety of reasons and I can’t overlook them. What’s left is an Artificer and Truenamer multiclass, and the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Artificer is lacking in power, but can at least be good support with crafting potions and items and the like. Truenamer isn’t consistent enough for combat. I don’t really see this being a memorable villain. (+0.5 points)


EDIT: Just checking over, realized I missed a few small points for Curiosity. (+0.5 points)

[H_H_F_F]

Thank you, Pabelfly!

While we're awaiting disputes, I'd like to invite all our participants and idle readers to post their People's Choice nominations (Honorable Mention, basically), as discussed above.

Pabelfly, I'll post soon with three options for you to pick from for next round.

[Inevitability]

I enjoyed reading this judgement: thanks for all the time you put into it!

My people's choice goes to Iinlul Vyk'zlade. I think pabelfly was mostly on-point when pointing out the many rules that have to be bent for it to work: but it's an interesting, creative character, and it pulls from sources I had no idea even existed. Plus, the way the mechanics create an interesting story by themselves is something I always like.

[H_H_F_F]

H_H_F_F, your mailbox is full.

Oh dang. Won't be in a minute. Sorry.

[FactualArcher]

Thank you for the judging, Pabelfly. No disputes from me.

My People's Choice Vote goes to The Hemomorph for a really cool main trick. I really enjoy TO builds that remain cohesive thematically and are still simple. I also liked the for PCs section. It helps translate a scary villain into something that players can use too, which makes me happy. Plus, making an ability that isn't even supposed to have a mechanical effect into a gateway to ultimate power is pretty awesome.

[H_H_F_F]

A couple of things for you, Pabelfly. First of all, a few disputes:


Thanks, pabelfly!

First. Your Judge's Comment. It's from Remains Unseen entry.


- You can detach at will, and when you do so, you'll be rolling Hide checks against the player's spot checks. While detached but still hiding, you can do your Eldritch Blasts and Invocations, but you run the risk of the player party spotting you when they do so. Invocations seem like they won’t attract the -20 penalty when attacking. Eldritch Blast involves sending out a huge blast of magical energy, so I'd say it would.
I don't see why I should detach to use my Eldritch Blasts and Invocations. There are no limitations in the shadow bond description and I could use my Eldritch Blasts and Invocations being bonded.


HP at level 20 is 87 (10 (Small Construct) + 8 + 4.5x3 (Construct HD) + 3.5 x 16 (Warlock HD) ). Although you have good hiding ability, I still think this is really low, especially without abilities like DR or high AC that would significantly mitigate this.
I actually have DR 5/adamantine and magic. It isn't big, but it exists.


I don't know why you have Harvester of Souls. Attacking gives you a -20 to your Hide roll, so everyone can see you if you use it. And you could already coup-de-grace someone who was unconscious if you wanted to kill them.
I don't only want to kill somebody. I want him to stay dead. Harvester of Souls means no Resurrection.


Unstoppable Force: So, you have some options to see beyond normal senses and track escaping enemies with “Clairvoyant senses” and “Trace Teleport”. Touchsight out to 60ft is nice. Not bad, but I expected more long-range detection options. Half a point.
Sorry, it also looks as something out of place.


It’s also heavily dependent on the players not getting the True Sight ability or greatly boosting their Spot, either of which is going to be a priority after the first ambush or two.
It's true. That's why I give you some indirect methods of influencing.

Charming some passerby and persuading him to attack PCs, or short-changing them in a shop, or just spit in their soup. And this is Charm Monster and it works against almost anybody, so every night in the wild guarantees an animal (or dragon?) attack or multiple.

Bringer has an Crawling Eye invocation. It could be used to bond another PC, but the main idea is different. There are no limitations on duration and distance in this invocation and Bringer can see through the eye. And it has Thought Link ability. With Crawling Eye Bringer can see some really disgusting or gruesome things and share them with PCs, or it could spy party members' families and share some dirty secrets or just not unpleasant scenes - it's could be not best experience for somebody to see his wife picking her nose, for example. If one party member has any secrets from other members... Well, he has no secrets anymore. Best time for such revelations is when PCs are going to sleep of course!

Devil's Whispers is great for it! Now Bringer can bring discord truly! Attack the ally? Or just insult him (with a reason of course!)? Or maybe insult high-ranking officials? So many possibilities for nastiness!
I see I already have full mark her, just mention.



Firstly, thank you for the judgement! I rather enjoyed reading it, and I'm glad you liked the overall build.

Secondly: I have a few disputes.

-I got penalized (I think) in originality for being a 'stealth and sneaking build', which was common this round. Whether or not other chefs bring stealth builds lies completely outside of my control - why would it affect the quality of the build? How am I actually supposed to avoid this penalty? Because 'realize beforehand that the construct round would feature lots of stealth builds' does not seem like a reasonable expectation.

More importantly, this sort of judgement creates a perverse incentive. It punishes chefs for submitting two entries that are too similar, even if both are objectively really good and valuable additions to the competition.

Worse, suppose remains was my one build idea. Under this system of judging, I would be rewarded for submitting a second build that's everything Remains isn't (a big dumb brute) exclusively to drive down the originality scores of other melee entries. That can't be a healthy dynamic to encourage: it rewards bad-faith actors for giving judges and themselves extra work.

-I see you are rewarding people for finishing PrCs, and that I obtained points for finishing Telflammar Shadowlord and 'putting a significant amount of levels in psychic assassin'. I simply wish to point out that it is really hard to finish all my PrCs when one of them has 6 levels, unless I want to invest four more levels in base classes. Should all use of Telflammar Shadowlord (or other strange-leveled PrCs) automatically imply a small elegance penalty? That seems odd! I follow the spirit of your rule just as much as someone who finishes two PrCs with a 5/10 split: why do I get fewer points?

-Okay, mea culpa, I incorrectly wrote 'psychic assassin' in my build stub, and I get why that tripped you up. However, everywhere else, including my build table and sources list, I write 'psionic assassin' instead, and if you look at my sources list, you'll see it's from Secrets of Sarlona.

Psionic assassin is not the half-manifester PrC found here (http://rpg.nobl.ca/archive.php?x=dnd/psm/20040723d). It is an ACF for the DMG assassin class that swaps out its casting with manifesting abilities. I am not making the indefensible claims that I am 'advancing' gruesome lurker's PLAs, or that those PLAs scale with class HD. I am obtaining a wholly separate manifesting progression through a PrC, just like how base assassin has its own spellcasting progression.



Greetings. Thank you for judging.

You seem to have missed an important part of the competition's judging guidelines. I quote, from the 'more power to you' spoiler:

"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. [...] 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."

As I'm sure H_H_F_F can confirm, 'more power to you' was written specifically to prevent villains from getting Power penalties for being 'too strong'. The Hemomorph is a TO build, aimed at fighting TO parties - I understand if you don't like TO, or would never run such things, but please judge it as a valid type of villain.

Other than that:
-I'm a bit baffled by getting an originality penalty for the ninja dip. It felt like a really cool and unexpected way to get +2 Will and sneak attack with the same level, and I almost never see ninjas. The iron chef spreadsheet lists thirteen ninjas throughout all its years, and only three of those take a single-level dip. Builds that want sneak attack and trapfinding almost always just dip rogue or psychic rogue or spellthief, builds that want wisdom to AC dip monk or druid or swordsage. To be clear: ninja is better for us than any of those classes, but that's a really rare situation.

-I'm getting a penalty for skill points? Like, a huge -2 power penalty? For skill points? I'm sorry, but if you think skills matter one iota when it comes to the overall power of this build, you're too rigidly attached to your scoring rubric. We can reverse time at-will, we can manipulate probability in our favor, be virtually omniscient, be anywhere, see anything - why do skills matter at that point? If the Hemomorph had leaped through hoop after hoop to get some nice maxed-out ranks in, say, bluff, knowledge local, and knowledge arcana, this would not actually have made it significantly more powerful. Why is your scoring pretending otherwise?

-Willing Deformity is there because it's a prerequisite for Thrall of Demogorgon? I don't know what else to tell you, but I hope you agree it's not a waste of a feat.

-Living constructs have souls: I agree with you on that point. I disagree that I should be penalized for that. H_H_F_F named a scoring category 'soulless mind', yes, but he also specifically said living constructs were legal entries. It would be weird to specifically allow something that ran afoul of the scoring categories, not? I think you're reading too much into what's just supposed to be a flavorful title: the mechanical restriction imposed by the fourth section is that the build must be evil, nothing else. Ask the chair if you're unsure.

Once more, thanks for judging!


Thank you pabelfly!


Firstly, you envisage yourself being thrown, or throwing yourself, into the fray to do damage. Getting thrown about as a standard action is a huge waste of another character’s time. Throwing yourself about is just silly. Neither of these are great options.

I don't know why you're talking about "another character." I don't rely on anybody but me.
Throwing myself maybe is silly, but it works and works great.
I see it's my fault you didn't understand my entry idea.

Look. Throwing weapon (myself) isn't standard action, it's part of full-attack. It consumes one of my bites, but I still have four more and an iterative attacks weapon (me). With Distant Shot (is this feat also unoriginal or uninteresting?) I could throw weapon (myself) at any distance four times per round. It's actually equivalent to infinite move speed. But without actually moving.


Putting aside how you get to move, if you move over 5ft in a turn, you’re only going to get a single attack unless you have Pounce or an equivalent. You do not have Pounce or an equivalent. You’re going to get one attack in a turn, regardless of how much effort you’ve put in to getting extra heads.
But I really don't. I don't move, I am thrown. If one creature throws or bull rush another this doesn't prevent the moved creature from making a full attack.

And actually "if you move over 5ft in a turn, you’re only going to get a single attack unless you have Pounce or an equivalent" isn't true at all. You could move any distance and make a full attack after this if you have available full-round action. Distance traveled isn't a factor. Action economy is.



Your Power Attack is going to be pretty bad. Power Attack works if you take a bunch of other options to make Power Attack work – typically, Shock Trooper and a two-handed weapon, but plenty of other options work too. You haven’t taken anything like that though, so you’re just going to be taking huge penalties to attack rolls at a 1:1 ratio to damage. Oh, and you’re likely only getting one attack per turn. I don’t have to bother with damage calculations, I can tell you it’s not going to be good at just a glance.
First of all, I have 6 attacks (plus 1 throw to enter and 1 throw to escape), 2 of which are made with two-handed weapon. Yes, small scourge is a two-handed weapon for a tiny snake head and yes I could use a two-handed weapon with my bite via Mouthpick enchantment.

Second. All my attacks are likely made against FF enemies and enemies have no chances to counterattack. I throw myself into battle, make my routine and throw myself out. Repeat until they die.
It's good to do more damage under these circumstances. More damage - less repeat. But it doesn't matter anyway. I'll kill almost anybody staying unreachable. Only question is how soon.

Third. I have +24 BAB. Nobody force me convert all 24 into damage. I could fine tune exact numbers.


Weapon Focus (Scourge) is something that the wielder of this weapon needs, not the weapon itself.
I'm a wielder of weapon (me) due to Mouthpick weapon enchantment.


you couldn’t throw yourself even if you did have arms, that isn’t how throwing actually works.
Why do you think so? I wield weapon (thanks for Mouthpick), it's thrown weapon (thanks for Exotic Weapon Master). What does prevent me from throwing this weapon?


Monster of Legacy template doesn’t apply to constructs.
I don't know how I oversighted this. (((


You don’t qualify for Master Thrower because a Scourge isn’t a thrown weapon even if you want it to be treated like one, since it doesn’t have range increments.
That's why I enter Master Thrower after Exotic Weapon Master. With Throw Exotic Weapon stunt Scourge has a range increment of 10 feet.


What does Multiheaded Template even do for you? A scourge is a weapon with multiple ends, in the case of the Scourge of Fangs in Shadowdale, it has five ends
Yes, but Snake Head monster is ONE head, not all fives. I couldn't make an entry of five separate (while being joined) monsters.


I get that you really like your villain story arc, but when I’m reading breakdowns for levels for your monster, what I really want is the strategies you will use in combat. It’s a required party of each entry and I’m not seeing them here.
Okay, maybe it isn't completely clear and good placed, but I have my tactic description in my entry:
With Distant Shot the main tactic is clear: throw self in the enemy from maximal distance, add all five bites with Power Attack (maybe exchange one bite for two scourge attacks), throw self far from enemy. Any square has AC 5, so nothing prevents you from aiming and hitting some square beyond the Toril's atmosphere. The Manticore Belt helps here. Vyk'zlade doesn't need to be a good flier, it needs only not to fall. It is important to note that during rounds of active fight Vyk'zlade has only 1 point of essentia in the Manticore Belt. It, therefore, has 10 ft (clumsy) fly speed and could not to fall with only 5-ft step and is able to make full attack action. It's not clear what will happen if Vyk'zlade will have 0 essentia and fly speed of 0 ft.
Also Clairaudience/Clairvoyance and Spot with total bonus of +90* cannot be overestimated. You really don't need ranks in Hide with such a tactic - your Spot is your Hide. Almost nobody can discern you (with unranked Hide of +19) at a distance from which you can easily see them. This means surprise round every time (which synergy with Eager weapon ability from Magic Item Compendium, p. 34). And even if not Vyk'zlade has Sneaky Shot to deny Dex to AC anyway.
Obscutity makes Vyk'zlade search by divination magic near impossible. Glitterdust helps with invisible enemies. Regeneration - if somebody hits Vyk'zlade hard. All other abilities don't need special mention - they talk for themselves.


Abilities aren’t divinely-granted. Pass.
This is the part where I'm ashamed. I actually don't.
Beast of Xvim. Xvim is god.

I realized this just a few hours before the deadline and have no time or energy to rebuild the whole entry. (((

And I think you should reevaluate Memorable section bearing in mind my dispute.


Hi Pabelfly - first off, thank you for judging.
On the key issue, the actual legality of the central trick that the build exists to showcase: two counterpoints.

I can respect the effort of trying to get touch attacks on a martial, but it doesn’t legally work. Let’s look at the first sentence of “Precocious Apprentice”:

You don’t have a school of magic you have access to, because you don’t have a spell list. So you can’t actually pick a spell, and a lot of your feat and build choices are based on being able to pick and use this spell.
What 'having access to' a particular school of magic actually means is a little unclear; it's not a usual term to use in a feat, or in general, and when it does come up (such as the PHBII, page 95) it generally refers only to specialist wizards; however, unlike its counterpart Collegiate Wizard, Precocious Apprentice is explicitly available to non-wizards. So the requirement isn't simply "be a wizard with that school non-prohibited", and if it meant simply "have a spell list" as you suggest then surely it would say "have a spell list" or "can cast 1st level spells of that school" or something like that. However, this is a feat from Complete Arcane, the book the warlock was printed in, and it gives us explicit rules on page 72 regarding the difference between being able to cast certain specific spells and being able to cast spells of a certain level. The nimblewright doesn't just have a caster level on its own; it also has spell-like abilities, which do meet the prerequisites for feats as long as those feats don't require the ability to cast a certain level of arcane spells. What spell-like abilities? It has alter self, cat's grace, feather fall, haste - all of these spell-like abilities have one key thing in common, the Transmutation school. Which just so happens to be the same school as wraithstrike. Under the 'requirements based on specific spells' guideline, a nimblewright specifically has access to spells of the Transmutation school, and thus meets the requirement to select wraithstrike.

Okay, that *was* a little convoluted, certainly. The page 72 rules are, frankly, a total hash, set up by WotC when they wanted the warlock to be able to do *some* cool things without stomping around in all the prestige classes they'd written with a 'cast x-level spells' requirement that were meant for *wizards*, dammit. But if 'access' simply means 'don't be a specialist wizard with this school prohibited', Dances-in-Waterfalls certainly doesn't have the Transmutation school prohibited, and if 'access' means 'can cast Transmutation spells', then under the 'requirements based on specific spells' guideline on page 72, Dances-in-Waterfalls' Transmutation-school SLAs meet that requirement. Only if 'access' means 'has a spell list' does it clearly not meet the requirement, and I don't believe that's an accurate parsing of the RAW.

On to the much less convoluted section:

Even if I were to disregard the previous point, you still aren’t eligible to enter Spelldancer. The text says: “Spellcasting: Able to cast third-level spells.” The pluralization of the phrase “third-level spells” means you’d need to be able to cast at a minimum two third-level spells. Maybe you could argue that casting the same spell multiple times a day might count. However, you can only cast one spell once per day, so neither of those are you.
The obvious counter-example here: a 5th level wizard.

A 5th level wizard is more-or-less the platonic ideal of 'able to cast 3rd-level spells'; if you know WotC wrote a prestige class that has the requirement 'able to cast 3rd-level spells', without knowing anything else about that class, a good guess would be that it's intended for 5th level wizards to be able to enter it. I don't know anyone who's ever disputed that 5th level wizards meet the 'able to cast 3rd-level spells' requirements of prestige classes.
However. A 5th level wizard, at base, only receives 1 3rd-level spell per day. They *might* receive bonus spells from high Intelligence. A thoroughly optimised wizard certainly would. But a 5th level wizard with a 15 Int is still a 5th level wizard. They have an Int score high enough to be able to cast 3rd level spells. It seems like an obviously unreasonable stretch to say 'a 5th level wizard with 16 Int can enter this prestige class, but a 5th level wizard with 15 Int can't' when there's no such specific ability score requirement on the prestige class.
Of course, a 5th level wizard can cast multiple different 3rd level spells - or can they? A wizard receives two new spells in their spellbook each level-up, each one of *any* spell level they can cast. The PHB is quite explicit about this:


At each new wizard level, she gains two new spells of any spell level or levels that she can cast (based on her new wizard level) for her spellbook. For example, when a wizard attains 5th level, she can cast 3rd-level spells. At this point, she can add two new 3rd-level spells to her spellbook, or one 2nd-level spell and one 3rd-level spell, or any combination of two spells between 1st and 3rd level.

"When a wizard attains 5th level, she can cast 3rd-level spells." This is true even if the wizard adds only one 3rd-level spell and one 2nd-level spell to their spellbook; a wizard who only has haste in their spellbook for 3rd level options is still a 5th level wizard. Their ability to qualify for prestige classes is not based on the contents of their spellbook either. A 5th-level wizard with a 15 Int and only one 3rd level spell in their spellbook definitely and clearly still qualifies for prestige classes that require the ability to cast 3rd level spells, even though they can only cast one 3rd-level spell, once per day. To say that they don't qualify, seems to me a much more awkward and less reasonable interpretation of the rules than saying that Dances-in-Waterfalls does qualify.
(I'd also query the general grammatical expectation you're making that 'spells', with a plural s, must necessarily mean 'multiple times per day'. Even putting aside our '5th level wizard' and looking at plurals more generally, well, for instance, I have a friend who makes regular trips to the US. I think he'd be quite surprised to be told that he doesn't make trips to the US, but actually only makes one trip, unless he makes his trips within the course of a single day. Especially since those trips involve trans-atlantic flights.)

On to more minor quibbles:

When investing such significant build resources, it’s always worth asking yourself if other things you could have done with those feats could be more worthwhile. I think there was.
Well... sure, but showing off the neat trick was the entire point?

All the PHB combat feats. I don’t mind much when there’s a few, since they’re pretty common prereqs for more interesting feats and classes, but it feels like these feats are there for the sake of being there.
Which PHB combat feats? Dodge and Mobility *have* to be there, they're prerequisites for Spelldancer. Combat Reflexes is an automatic bonus feat from being a Nimblewright, and Improved Trip serves a unique purpose when combined with this monster because of the Nimblewright's Tripping Thrust ability - which means that whenever Dances-in-Waterfalls scores a critical hit, it gets to trip the opponent for free (and, therefore, also potentially gets a free extra attack from Improved Trip).

I suppose combining Spelldancer and Warblade is fairly unusual, but since how you did it is not legal (more on that later) I don’t see myself particularly caring.
Are you at least somewhat more entertained by the neat trick given the above demonstration of its legality?

All of those cross-class skills. I don’t mind one or two cross-class skill points, but you have spent 29 ranks cross-class. Even if you got twenty of those after taking a feat to make it a class skill (City Slicker), that would be like getting another solid skill to add to your build.

The cross-class skills are *thematic and aesthetic*, dammit. They are relevant mechanical support for story fluff. They may be a waste of points (they're definitely a waste of points) but I will defend them to the death.

Putting aside all questions of legality and elegance, Sanctum Spell requires you to be within a 20ft wide circle to work, and thus be eligible for Spelldancer. You're trying to present me a character that needs to use Sanctum Spell to access their prestige class, but you're also trying to present to me a fast and agile character.
... Sure, but it only needs to be within that 20ft wide circle for 36 seconds per day? Even if you're going with the (very problematic for many prestige classes, the classic example being Dragon Disciple) interpretation that a character loses all features of any prestige class if they don't currently meet the requirements for entering that prestige class - that doesn't mean that the persistent spell they've cast will instantly end the moment they can't spelldance? I really don't understand this objection. Wraithstrike has no components which vary based on its caster level or spell level, no save DC, no spell resistance check, nothing. If we're not operating on 'apply the Complete Warrior rules to all prestige classes', Dances-in-Waterfalls can simply apply its morning buff routine wherever, and even if we are, being within the Sanctum area is still only necessary for our once-per-day wraithstrike casting.

No notable magical or mundane options to track your enemies once they flee. No, 40ft movement is not that fast.
Please note the "alter self" notes under the Other Notes section. 40ft movement isn't that fast, agreed - even the 70ft movement under haste isn't too surprising. 100ft movement or 80ft fly speed is, though.


Second, as our judge, it's time for you to pick next round's theme!


Santa's Little Helpers: Elf round!
Lord of Light: Light themed (Hanukkah just ended) Fallen Angel round.
Old Man Winter: Frost and weather round.


I have a pretty good idea what limitations I'd do for each, but once Pabelfly makes their choice I'm fine hearing some suggestion for limitations that'd fit the theme well.

[loky1109]

Table!

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef pabelfly Total Place
Remains Unseen (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883323&postcount=35) LE Gruesome Lurker Cobra Strike Invisible Fist Monk 2/Psychic Assassin 9/Telflammar Shadowlord 6 14.50 14.50 1st
Bringer of Discord (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883328&postcount=36) CE Umbral Spy Warlock 16 13.50 13.50 2nd
Dances-in-waterfalls (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883335&postcount=37) CE Nimblewright Warblade 11/Spelldancer 1 8.50 8.50 5th
The Hemomorph (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883340&postcount=38) CE Soulfused Blood Golem Ninja 1/Dragon Shaman 1/Thrall of Demogorgon 10 12.00 12.00 3rd
Iinlul Vyk'zlade (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883344&postcount=39) LE Multiheaded Beast of Xvim Soulfused Snake Head of Legacy Exotic Weapon Master 2/Master Thrower 5 7.50 7.50 6th
Curiosity (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883346&postcount=40) NE Umbral Spy Truenamer 8/Artificer 9 9.00 9.00 4th

My People's Choice nomination is Hemomorph. I like using web monsters. I like what brilliant chief made from basically trash ability.

[NotInventedHere]

My People's Choice nomination goes to Curiosity. I appreciate the thought process of anyone who looks at text like "anything it has experienced" and goes "what's the most ridiculous thing we can do with this?"

[pabelfly]

For next round, elf sounds pretty good. Good luck to everyone building next round.



Bringer of Discord

Re: using Eldritch blasts and Invocations while Bonded:

This could have been written clearer, but here's my take:
- You're undetectable as long as you're just part of the shadow and passively collecting information, as per this quote:


From that point on, it accompanies the subject everywhere, seeing what he sees, hearing what hears. At this time, the umbral spy is undetectable by any magic other than true seeing

Now, these two lines specifically describe an Umbral Spy that's only spying on their target. However, attacking, using spells and abilities and so forth is separate to that. I believe the Hide rules and mechanics are applicable here, particularly taking -20 to Hide checks when attacking.



Re: I actually have DR 5/adamantine and magic. It isn't big, but it exists.

This isn't significant enough to be a big influence on your character's survivability. No score change.



Re: Being detected when you don't want to be and indirect influence.

Thanks for sharing this. However, I feel that not being able to set the time and place of an end encounter is slightly detrimental to potential long-term planning, setup and story a DM would set up to help make a boss encounter more memorable. Still, the score I gave you was 2/2.5, so there was a lot I liked here. No score change.

All up, no score change.



Remains Unseen (Scored as Gruesome Lurker)

Re Originality compared to other entrants.

I believe Originality is coming up with solutions and strategies that other people do not come up with to solve the conditions set by a contest. For more extreme examples than yours, there were two entries that used the same specific Construct monster and two entries that used the same template, and they were both penalized on originality. Obviously, neither two sets of entrants knew that the other person was submitting a build using Umbral Spy, or Soulforged Construct. Still, there is a penalty for coming up with similar solutions. I'd also say that picking similar play styles is less than picking the same template or same monster for the round.

Re: finishing PrCs

Elegance is hard to describe sometimes, but I feel part of that is best making use of the resources you wish to use. Completing short prestige classes or investing significant levels in long prestige classes is part of that. While I would be interested in your two hypothetical builds, I'd find it more elegant for someone to finish a ten-level prestige class over someone to only spend five levels in two different classes.

There's other stuff I look for besides this and I feel you can get a good score here even if you don't necessarily fully-invest in a ten-level prestige class.

No score change

Re: Psionic Assassin and Psychic Assassin

This is a fair point. I've removed the penalty regarding PP progression (+1 point)

Score changed from 14.5 / 20 to 15.5 / 20.



I'll work on the other three disputes later.

[pabelfly]

Iinlul Vyk'zlade

Re: Throwing yourself.

Throwing is the act of giving momentum to an object with your arm and turning said object into a projectile. Imagine the mechanics of a person throwing a ball, or a newspaper, or a stick.

First problem, you don't have arms or a similar appendage

Second problem, you are trying to impart force on yourself. Throwing requires two separate things, something that imparts mechanical force, and a separate object that is not attached and receives said imparted force. There's just you, and you can't throw yourself. I don't know how you envisage this working, from a logical standpoint or a mechanical one, but I'm not seeing any way in which it does with you being the sole person involved.



Re: Distant shot

Yes, it's uninteresting. Every ranged attacker is taking this in Epic and likely as their first feat.



Re: Throwing, Distance and Extra Attacks

Let's disregard the whole "throwing yourself" for a moment, and say we both agree that you can do it to continue this discussion. This seems like you're trying to get an impromptu fly speed on yourself for a round. Okay. You're still subject to the rules of only getting a single attack unless you have Pounce or an equivalent. Saying you're getting thrown doesn't change that.

For a similar example, you still only get a single attack per round if you're riding a horse, even though you yourself aren't making movement.

Also, reading an action, from the SRD:


You can ready a standard action, a move action, or a free action.

Note that you cannot ready a full-round action.




Re: I'm a wielder of weapon (me) due to Mouthpick weapon enchantment.

So first I'm re-reading through your entry before I got to this sentence to help with writing my rebuttal, encounter the mouthpick weapon notes in the build table and say to myself: "oh, he's attacking with mouthpick weapons. That makes sense." But I come to this and I'm confused completely.

‏Firstly, you cannot wield something two sizes larger than yourself (aka tiny snakes wielding a medium-sized weapon).

Secondly, I don't know how you envisage this actually working.



Re: Master Thrower

You are correct in this, I've amended your results. Elegance score is still set to 1.



Re: Battle strategies

What I want here is your battle strategy at reasonable level breakdowns. What's your strategy at CR 5? CR 10? CR 15? I want these, the contest entry requirements state they are to be given at each breakdown and you haven't given them to me. And I'm here still trying to work out your overall strategy so I'd say the CR 20 one is not really well-written either.



Re: Altering Memorable Section for entry

I missed the Beast of Xvim part, I appreciate your honesty. I'll keep this as-is, I think the overall score here is okay.



I'll work on the other two rebuttals when I can, and also this one if there's a second response.

[pabelfly]

Hemomorph

Re: "Being "too strong for your CR" is not by itself something a judge should penalize here.

EDIT: So, I have been reminded that we can't offer penalties based on the strength of an contestant entry, particularly for TO entries. I was in the wrong with my judgement here. (+2 points)
EDIT 2: You've got an extremely powerful build here. Max points I offer out solely for offensive combat prowess is one point, and based on the rules of the contest, I think you've earned it. (+1 points)

Re: Ninja

I've seen a lot of assorted martial dips. I've seen some Ninja dips before. This isn't a huge penalty on your build and I'm happy with this observartion. No score change.

Re: Skill points

I'm going to offer a few arguments in favour of skill points:
1) If you're creating a character for TO territory, then it's not unreasonable to expect that it's fighting against TO enemies, as you pointed out, and in such a situation, I'd say it would be reasonable to expect that you would occasionally fight enemies able to counter some or even all of your typical abilities. Skills give you extra options that work even if your typical ability list is working.
2) Skills solve non-combat problems that your build doesn't solve. Like, you list Bluff, Knowledge Local and Knowledge Arcana dismissively, as examples of skills that your build could maximize for no discernible difference. I disagree.
Bluff helps you convince people to willingly do things that they wouldn't otherwise do. That gives your villain options to influence other NPCs that you wouldn't otherwise have.
Knowledge Local helps your villain identify the weaknesses of other enemies, and given that many characters are typically Humanoid, this would applies to quite a few other NPC characters.
Knowledge Arcana is similar to the above, but works on Arcane enemies instead, giving your villain knowledge of strengths and weaknesses of many powerful enemies.

If you don't feel that those specific skills are very helpful, there's plenty of other skills that I feel have good utility that could have been taken instead. I'm happy with how this has been scored, no score change here.



Re: Willing Deformity

EDIT: I missed that this was a prereq feat for your class. My mistake. I would have liked to have seen this feat made more use of, given that it's a prereq feat for dozens of other feats. I'll give you half a point. (+0.5 points) [/SPOILER]

Thanks for taking the time to critique my judging.

I'll do the last in maybe half a day from now.

[H_H_F_F]

Thanks; Pabelfly; looking forward to reading the last one.

Everyone, reveal will be within 24 hours of the last dispute response going up. If you have to follow something up (try not to), do it within that timeframe.

Next up: Elves!

[pabelfly]

Dances in Waterfalls

Re: The central build trick

You have access to spell-like abilities, not spells. However we feel the phrase "a school of magic you have access to" should be defined, or what intent was there when writing that feat, there's a clear demand to have access spellcasting, rather than the ability to cast spell-like abilities. While it's not unreasonable to make the association that you've made, it's not RAW.



Re: Able to cast third-level spells

I feel like the demand to cast third-level spells, in the plural sense, is important. I gave the two different examples, one of a caster with multiple third-level spell slots, and a caster with a single slot but multiple applicable spells for a reason when writing my judgement. Having one single spell with one single spell slot is not the same.

You give an example of a Wizard who only has one third-level spell, with 15 INT, as someone who should still qualify as having "third-level spells". However, that Wizard can put second-level spells into their third-level spell slot.

Quote from the SRD:

"A spellcaster always has the option to fill a higher-level spell slot with a lower-level spell"

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/arcaneSpells.htm#wizardSpellSlots

So let's say that our hypothetical 15 INT Wizard solely has the spells Fireball, a third-level spell, and Acid Arrow, a second-level spell. The Wizard can put Acid Arrow in their third-level spell slot, and with at least two spells, that would still count that as having third-level spells. You have one single spell, I don't feel that this counts as meeting the prereqs.



Re: Well... sure, but showing off the neat trick was the entire point?

The point of a trick is to be able to do something with less resources than what is accepted by standard builds. For example, an early entry trick gets you into a class with fewer class levels than standard. If you really wanted to boost your accuracy to unreasonable levels, I'm sure you could do it with less than eight feats and a class level.



Re: Cross-class skill points

Take the feat to get the extra class skill. That way you get the thematic and aesthetic skills, and have more skill points to spend on other things to boot.



Re: Sanctum Spell

You've got a point here. I'm going to amend the penalty I gave you here to a -1, rather than a -2. While you are confined to that spell circle for only 36 seconds a day, as you argued, I feel that having to constrain your villain character to only working within half a day's travel to work at its intended power level still deserves a penalty. (+1 point)



Re: Movement

Your movement speed is decent. I would have preferred more options than movement speed to help track enemies, but I'll give you half a point. (+0.5 points)

[H_H_F_F]

And... Big Reveal!



Name
Alignment / Race
Class Levels
Chef
Score
Place


Remains Unseen (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883323&postcount=35)
LE Gruesome Lurker
Cobra Strike Invisible Fist Monk 2/Psychic Assassin 9/Telflammar Shadowlord 6
Inevitability
15.50
1st


Bringer of Discord (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883328&postcount=36)
CE Umbral Spy
Warlock 16
loky1109
13.50
3rd


Dances-in-waterfalls (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883335&postcount=37)
CE Nimblewright
Warblade 11/Spelldancer 1
NotInventedHere
10.00
4th


The Hemomorph (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883340&postcount=38)
CE Soulfused Blood Golem
Ninja 1/Dragon Shaman 1/Thrall of Demogorgon 10
Inevitability
15.00
2nd, People's Choice!


Iinlul Vyk'zlade (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883344&postcount=39)
LE Multiheaded Beast of Xvim Soulfused Snake Head of Legacy
Exotic Weapon Master 2/Master Thrower 5
loky1109
7.50
6th


Curiosity (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25883346&postcount=40)
NE Umbral Spy
Truenamer 8/Artificer 9
FactualArcher
9.00
5th



Thank you again for judging this round, Pabelfly! Congrats to Inevitability & loky.

I thought this round had some truly excellent entries on display. Thank you all for participating.

Next round: Elves! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?663236-Villainous-Competition-LIII-Christmas-Edition!) See you there!

[loky1109]

Congratulations to Inevitability! Thanks H_H_F_F as always! And thank you Pabelfly, while I'm unhappy with your judging.


About Bringer of Discord.

So, I think I need to clarify how your character works mechanically (at least, to my understanding).


From that point on, it accompanies the subject everywhere, seeing what he sees, hearing what hears. At this time, the umbral spy is undetectable by any magic other than true seeing
Now, these two lines specifically describe an Umbral Spy that's only spying on their target. However, attacking, using spells and abilities and so forth is separate to that.
I see no rule reasons why Umbral Spy can't attack being bonded. No, your quote doesn't limit its attack options.
It could be reasonable interpretation, but it is your interpretation, not rules.


About Iinlul Vyk'zlade.
Well, I see issues with this entry. After noticed Monster of Legacy mistake I myself would it's completely illegal and has 0 in Elegance, but...

Why did you have problems with scourge wielded and thrown by itself? It looks counterintuitive? Yes, that's the point. But it's fully legal (method how I achieved this is illegal, but wielding isn't).
I completely don't understand your points about Pounce or mounted combat and completely disagree.

You're still subject to the rules of only getting a single attack unless you have Pounce or an equivalent.
Such rule don't exists at all.

For a similar example, you still only get a single attack per round if you're riding a horse, even though you yourself aren't making movement.
I don't see any similar here. Mounted combat is very specific ruleset applicable only for mounted combat.


Also, reading an action, from the SRD:
Note that you cannot ready a full-round action.
Sorry, why do I need ready something? I just use regular full attack without any reading. It isn't issue that I'm relocated in the middle of it, because it doesn't cost me any actions.


‏Firstly, you cannot wield something two sizes larger than yourself (aka tiny snakes wielding a medium-sized weapon).
It was in the entry couple times:

+3 Mouthpick Small Scourge of Fangs

+5 Mouthpick Eager Small Scourge of Fangs

It's her first true weapon and doesn't matter that she is no longer small girl and scourge doesn't fit her hand now - snake's fangs are still sharp.
It was in my dispute directly:

First of all, I have 6 attacks (plus 1 throw to enter and 1 throw to escape), 2 of which are made with two-handed weapon. Yes, small scourge is a two-handed weapon for a tiny snake head and yes I could use a two-handed weapon with my bite via Mouthpick enchantment.
Small scourge is scourge made for small creature to be totally clear.


Second problem, you are trying to impart force on yourself. Throwing requires two separate things, something that imparts mechanical force, and a separate object that is not attached and receives said imparted force. There's just you, and you can't throw yourself.
In real world - yes. It's very well for Iinlul that it doesn't claim to exist in the real world.

Secondly, I don't know how you envisage this actually working.
Is it issue at all? Only question is: "Does it work according to rules?" And answer is: "Yes."
If you really need imagining... Remember how Baron Munchausen pulled himself out of the swamp by his own hair (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSUyigFX2Fs). Is it realistic? No. Should it be realistic? No again.
Or you could remember how Ouroboros looks (https://bb.lv/engine/client/content/articles/mega/1700585198387f42baafed4a992bf2756281d28b202ea.jpg) .

And having all this in mind...

You’re a Scourge weapon. You lack movement besides being thrown, or throwing yourself. Even a character in heavy armor that can only run at 60ft a round total is easily going to escape you.
No character with speed shorter than teleportation could escape me. Even if I agree with your idea of "only single throw per round" it's throw with unlimited distance.


So, I agree this entry deserves last position - there are enough issues with it, but you completely didn't understand my entry, saw mistakes where mistakes aren't (where they are you also saw, that's true), and didn't see interesting features where they are. I'm disappointed.

[pabelfly]

Congratulations to Inevitability! Thanks H_H_F_F as always! And thank you Pabelfly, while I'm unhappy with your judging.


About Bringer of Discord.


I see no rule reasons why Umbral Spy can't attack being bonded. No, your quote doesn't limit its attack options.
It could be reasonable interpretation, but it is your interpretation, not rules.


About Iinlul Vyk'zlade.
Well, I see issues with this entry. After noticed Monster of Legacy mistake I myself would it's completely illegal and has 0 in Elegance, but...

Why did you have problems with scourge wielded and thrown by itself? It looks counterintuitive? Yes, that's the point. But it's fully legal (method how I achieved this is illegal, but wielding isn't).
I completely don't understand your points about Pounce or mounted combat and completely disagree.

Such rule don't exists at all.

I don't see any similar here. Mounted combat is very specific ruleset applicable only for mounted combat.


Sorry, why do I need ready something? I just use regular full attack without any reading. It isn't issue that I'm relocated in the middle of it, because it doesn't cost me any actions.


It was in the entry couple times:



It was in my dispute directly:

Small scourge is scourge made for small creature to be totally clear.


In real world - yes. It's very well for Iinlul that it doesn't claim to exist in the real world.

Is it issue at all? Only question is: "Does it work according to rules?" And answer is: "Yes."
If you really need imagining... Remember how Baron Munchausen pulled himself out of the swamp by his own hair (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSUyigFX2Fs). Is it realistic? No. Should it be realistic? No again.
Or you could remember how Ouroboros looks (https://bb.lv/engine/client/content/articles/mega/1700585198387f42baafed4a992bf2756281d28b202ea.jpg) .

And having all this in mind...

No character with speed shorter than teleportation could escape me. Even if I agree with your idea of "only single throw per round" it's throw with unlimited distance.


So, I agree this entry deserves last position - there are enough issues with it, but you completely didn't understand my entry, saw mistakes where mistakes aren't (where they are you also saw, that's true), and didn't see interesting features where they are. I'm disappointed.

So, I'm not going to respond line-by-line to this, because I really want a break from anything that even remotely looks like judging, but I will at least give a basic response out of respect for both the effort of creating an entry and the effort of asking for responses:

1) I do know what it feels like when you think you have a really good entry, but the judge doesn't agree. I also know what it's like when you get scored very low when you don't think you should have been, or have disagreements about the rules about how your character is supposed to work mechanically. I've been there and done that. I am quite sympathetic.
2) That being said, while you are complaining that I didn't understand your entry, part of your job is to clearly communicate how your entry works, and I don't think your entries did that. My suggestion, for what little it is worth, is to use your level breakdowns to spell everything out, including, but not limited to:

the mechanics of how you expect your character to function in combat
why you took each feat that you did
the interactions various feats have with other feats, build and race features and so forth if those interactions are relevant to your build
why you picked the various spells in your spell list

and so on and so forth.

I'd much rather you tell me something I already know than not being told something I don't. I don't even mind if you tell me something and I disagree with your interpretation of it, that's a really good place to start as a judge.

As for Baron Munchausen, not a fan. I infinitely prefer it when mechanical interactions make sense, especially in a system like 3e.

Good luck with your future build entries.

[loky1109]

That being said, while you are complaining that I didn't understand your entry, part of your job is to clearly communicate how your entry works, and I don't think your entries did that.
It's true it's part of my work. But I re-read my entries several times and for me they looks... clear enough. Even if I try to make into account that it's my text and try to evaluate only written. It wasn't first time when you didn't understand my entry. I think it isn't yours or mine. It's ours. How you read and how I write in combination together.