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CockroachTeaParty
2008-03-01, 11:46 PM
As a testament to the stupid amount of free time I have, here's the results of the second match in my ongoing tournament to see who will emerge victorious as the true master of the Sublime Way.

Once again, these characters are far from optimized, but built to try and represent the ideals of their chosen disciplines. Each contestant wields one of the Nine Swords, and each were equipped with the same GP's worth of equipment. I'm not really trying to prove anything: these are just for fun.

Tournament Round II: Iron Heart vs. Shadow Hand

The next warriors to face off against each other are Gimithis Stealthmoon, a drow swordsage specializing in the deadly art of the Shadow Hand school, and Defurn Logar, a hobgoblin warblade who has mastered the Iron Heart discipline. Gimithis wields the insidious dagger Umbral Awn,, while Defurn wields the deadly bastard sword Kamate.

Note: These character's level adjustments have been bought off, the XP cost subtracted from their starting GP. Essentially, these two are equipped with slightly less gear than the other contestants, but the difference is relatively minor.

Gimithis
Gimithis Stealthmoon: male drow swordsage 20; medium humanoid (elf); HD 20d8+48; hp 141/141; init.+16; Spd. 30 ft.; AC 47, touch 33, flat footed 36; Base Atk+15/+10/+5; Grp.; Atk +27 melee (1d4+5/19-20, dagger); Full Atk +27/+27/+22/+17 (dagger); SA weapon focus (shadow hand), insightful strike (shadow hand), insightful strike (diamond mind), shadowhand, shadowstrike; SQ darkvision 120 ft., SR 31, light blindness, low-light vision, quickness to act+5, AC bonus, sense magic, defensive stance (shadow hand), improved evasion, defensive stance (diamond mind), dual boost 3/3 day, shadowcloak, shadowstep; AL NE; SV Fort.+10, Ref.+28, Will+24; Str 14, Dex 32, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 24, Cha 10.
Skills and Feats: Concentration+23, Diplomacy+2, Hide+35, Intimidate+23, Jump+25, Listen+2, Move Silently+28, Search+2, Sense Motive+23, Spot+2, Tumble+25; Shadow Blade, Weapon Finesse, Blade Meditation (Shadow Hand), Gloom Razor, Combat Reflexes, Spectral Skirmisher, Evasive Reflexes.
Languages: Common, Elven, Undercommon, Draconic.
Umbral Awn's Gifts: Hide from flat-footed creatures first round of combat. Sneak attack +3d6. If unarmed and provoke and AoO, draw the dagger as an immediate action and attack instead, against a flat-footed AC. +4 from flanks. 3/3 day: become incorporeal for 1 round, swift action.
Spell-like Abilities: (CL 20th) 1/1 day: Darkness, Dancing Lights, Faerie Fire. At will: Invisibility (CL 10th).
Drow Traits: +2 will saves vs. spells, immune to sleep, +2 saves vs. enchantments.
Umbral Awn's Toll: -2 attacks, -4 fort. saves, 12 hp lost.
Swordsage Maneuvers Known: 1: Shadow Blade Technique, Distracting Ember, Wolf Fang Strike, Stone Bones. 2: Drain Vitality, Shadow Jaunt, Emerald Razor. 3: Strength Draining Strike. 4: Hand of Death, Obscuring Shadow, Mind Strike. 5: Bloodletting Strike, Rapid Counter. 6: Stalker in the Night, Shadow Noose, Ghost Blade, Greater Insightful Strike. 7: Death in the Dark, Shadow Blink, Quicksilver Motion, Avalanche of Blades. 8: One With Shadow, Enervating Shadow Strike, Diamond Defense. 9: Five-Shadow Creeping Ice Enervation Strike, Mountain Tombstone Strike, Time Stands Still.
Stances Known: 1: Child of Shadow, Island of Blades. 3: Assassin's Stance, Dance of the Spider. 5: Step of the Dancing Moth. 8: Balance on the Sky.
Possessions: Umbral Awn (+2 speed ghost touch dagger), gloves of dexterity+6, periapt of wisdom+6, belt of constitution+6, cloak of resistance+5, ring of freedom of movement, ring of protection+5, bracers of armor+8, scabbard of keen edges, skin of the chameleon, handy haversack, boots of elvenkind, +5 moderate fortification buckler, 2 potions of Cure Serious Wounds, dose of Drow poison, 2 doses Shadow Essence, dose of greenblood oil.

Defurn
Derfurn: male hobgoblin warblade 20; medium humanoid (goblinoid); HD 20d12+144; hp 279/279; init.+3; Spd. 20 ft.; AC 34, touch 14, flat footed 31; Base Atk+20/+15/+10/+5; Grp.+29; Atk +37 melee (1d10+20/19-20+1d6 electricity, bastard sword); Full Atk +37/+32/+27/+22 melee (bastard sword); SA battle ardor, battle cunning, battle skill, battle mastery, accurate strike, perfect strike; SQ darkvision 60 ft., battle clarity, uncanny dodge, improved uncanny dodge, stance mastery, stance agility, weapon aptitude; AL NE; SV Fort.+21, Ref.+10, Will+7; Str 30, Dex 16, Con 26, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 8.
Skills and Feats: Balance+27, Concentration+31, Intimidate+22, Jump+26, Move Silently+4, Tumble+25; Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bastard sword), Power Attack, Ironheart Aura, Stormguard Warrior, Blade Meditation (Iron Heart), Weapon Focus (bastard sword), Combat Reflexes, Weapon Specialization (bastard sword), Melee Weapon Mastery (slashing), Slashing Flurry, Robilar's Gambit.
Languages: Common, Goblin, Draconic.
Kamate's Gifts: 5/5 day: Steel Wind. 3/3 day: swift action: ignore concealment, +4 critical confirmation. +4 reflex saves while in Iron Heart stance. 1/1 day: +20 single attack.
Spell-like Abilities: 1/1 day: Channeled Shocking Grasp (CL 5). 3/3 day: Lightning Bolt (DC 14, CL 10). 1/1 day: Chain Lightning (DC 16, CL 15).
Kamate's Toll: -1 Attacks, -4 saves, 16 hp lost.
Warblade Maneuvers Known: 2: Wall of Blades, Disarming Strike. 3: Iron Heart Surge, Exorcism of Steel. 5: Iron Heart Focus, Dazing Strike. 6: Iron Heart Endurance, Manticore Parry. 7: Finishing Move. 8: Lightning Throw, Diamond Defense. 9: Strike of Perfect Clarity, Mountain Tombstone Strike. Maneuvers Readied: 7
Stances Known: 1: Punishing Stance, Stance of Clarity. 3: Absolute Steel Stance. 8: Supreme Blade Parry.
Possessions: Kamate (+5 shocking burst bastard sword), +5 energy resistance heavy mithral shield, belt of giant strength+6, cloak of resistance+5, dust of disappearance, winged boots, +5 heavy fortification mithral full plate, ring of freedom of movement, ring of evasion, amulet of health+6, headband of intellect+4, handy haversack, dusty rose ioun stone, clear ioun stone, 3 potions of Cure Serious Wounds, adventuring gear. (AC pen. -3)

Conditions
100 ft. square arena, with a 100 ft. cubed Wall of Force surrounding it. Opponents begin 30 ft. away from each other in the center of the arena. Much to the chagrin of the drow, the randomly determined time of day was high noon, so Gimithis will be dazzled the entire fight.

Round 1
Derfurn attempts to engage Gimithis in a duel of wills, but the drow ignores the challenge: he has other plans in mind. The swordsage easily seizes the initiative, and his feet begin to float above the ground as he assumes the Step of the Dancing Moth stance. He floats backwards 20 feet, drawing Umbral Awn as he does so, and then suddenly the elf disappears from sight.
Well aware that some manner of trickery is no doubt afoot, Derfurn assumes the Absolute Steel and Supreme Blade Parry stances simultaneously, moving forward 30 ft. with boosted alacrity and speed. As he draws the dreaded sword Kamate, he infuses the blade with extra power, the crackling electricity of a shoking grasp spell ready to strike. Finally, he activates Robilar's Gambit, assuming a deceptively open position, yet ready to retaliate at the first attack.

Round 2
Silently, Gimithis moves forward 15 feet, sofly landing next to the hobgoblin. In an instant, the drow reappears, his dagger flashing toward a joint in his opponent's mithral full plate. Fortunately, Derfurn's magic armor protects him from sneak attacks, and his heightened senses reduce the disadvantage of being caught flatfooted, but the drow's dagger hits its mark, channeling the power of the deadly Mountain Tombstone Strike. Derfurn suffers 7 constitution damage and 13 hp of damage from the attack, effectively losing 93 hp in a single blow. However, he refrains from taking the opportunity to attack his foe, channeling the storm to come with his Stormguard Warrior training.
Like a tornado of razor sharp steel, the hobgoblin unleashes a devastating series of attacks. However, just before the first strike connects, the drow becomes transparent and insubstantial, having used the One With Shadow counter. All but one of Derfurn's attacks miss, but the one blow he does land is a nasty one. Gimithis' spell resistance negates the shocking grasp, but he still takes 46 points of damage.

Round 3
Gimithis tumbles backwards 10 ft., activates Umbral Awn's invisibility power again, and assumes the Balance on the Sky stance.
Enraged that his foe refuses to stand and fight, Derfurn hurls Kamate like a ballista bolt, using the Lightning Throw maneuver. He chucks the blade at the place he last saw Gimithis disappear, catching the invisible swordsage in the superhuman attack. The blade is thrown with such force that Gimithis can't get out of the way in time, but he still manages to avoid the worst of the attack.
He takes 32 damage, and learns that the hobgoblin is still a threat, even at range.

Round 4
Gimithis flies up 15 ft. in the air, and removes a dose of Shadow Essence poison from his pack.
Derfurn calms down, using Iron Heart Endurance to heal himself up to 'full,' or 199 hp in his damaged state. He heads north, keeping Absolute Steel's defensive edge up.

Rounds 5 through 11
For the next several rounds, Gimithis remains invisible and silent in the air. He drinks his two healing potions, healing 33 damage. He also applies the Shadow Essence poison to his dagger, and regains all of his expended maneuvers. He then silently approaches his target...
Derfurn in the meantime recovers all of his maneuvers. He begins to jog up and down the northern wall, keeping Absolute Steel up and waiting for his nemesis to reappear. He inwardly kicks himself for not investing in a potion of See Invisibility, or keeping a back up Ghost Touch weapon.

Round 12
Still invisible, Gimithis puts his feet on the ground, just 5 ft. away from the north wall. He prepares to strike the hobgoblin when he comes into reach...
Derfurn walks right into the trap. However, by virtue of the Absolute Steel stance, the drow's attack misses! Gimithis wastes another Mountain Tombstone Strike, and leaves himself open to attack. Knowing he may never again get such an opportunity, Derfurn takes the attack of opportunity, activating Kamate's Perfect Strike ability. He channels all of his strength into a devastating power attack, but again the drow become incorporeal, and the swing hits nothing but air.

Round 13
Caught off his game, Gimithis tumbles away from his foe, turns invisible, and then uses Quicksilver Motion to move away from the spot where he was last visible. An intelligent move, for the hobgoblin unleashes another Lightning Throw mere feet away from the drow's old position, hitting nothing in the process. Frustrated, Derfurn decides to change his tactics.

Rounds 14 through 16
Gimithis prepares his maneuvers again, while Derfurn recovers his abilities as well. He backs himself into the Northeast corner of the arena, assuming the Punishing Stance. Although he is open to attack, he plans on attempting to take out the wily swordsage with a single devastating strike. He waits for the inevitable surprise attack...

Round 17
Gimithis moves up to the hobgoblin, and again the deadly dance begins. This time, the drow decides to test his foe's fortitude as he unleashes the much-feared Five-Shadow Creeping Ice Enervation Strike. His blade hits home, dealing a devastating 72 damage, and an even more crippling 10 dexterity damage. As Derfurn feels the icy shadow power seep into his muscles, he supplements his physical fortitude with mental strength, activating the Diamond Defense counter and keeping his leg muscles from freezing in place. He also manages to ignore the effects of the poison coating the dagger. With a roar of pain and vengeance, the warblade takes his attack of opportunity, and even though the drow again turns incorporeal, the magic blade finds its mark, and deals 36 damage.
Putting the pain in his legs to the back of his mind, the hobgoblin then decides to risk everything in a single attack. Derfurn attempts a Strike of Perfect Clarity, but his swing passes through the drow's insubstantial body harmlessly.

Round 18
His patience running thin, Gimithis decides to press the attack. He activates the magic of his dagger, becoming incorporeal once again, and releasing the dreaded Mountain Tombstone Strike once again. The ghostly blade pierces Derfurn's ribs, and he suffers 9 constitution damage, and 19 damage on top of that, effectively losing a devastating 104 hp of damage. The drow then tumbles away 10 ft., so as to avoid a full attack in retaliation.
The warblade is hurt in a bad way: bleeding heavily, he summons the power of the Iron Heart Endurance boost once more, healing 40 hp of damage. He then moves toward his still-visible foe, and unleashes a Mountain Tombstone Strike of his own. By the grace of the gods, his sword strikes true, dealing a crippling 32 damage and 6 constitution damage on top of that. The drow crumples dead on the dusty floor of the arena, his body becoming corporeal again.

Derfurn sheathes The First Sword, wipes the sweat off his brow, and spits on the crushed corpse of his opponent. Through sheer perseverance the hobgoblin had survived a series of fatal ambushes. A lesser warrior would have had no chance of survival: only through patience, fearlessness, and a hefty helping of luck had he emerged victorious. The warblade was anxious to fight an opponent with honor and dignity, rather than play cat and mouse games with a filthy dark elf.

Aftermath
Victor: Derfurn, Master of Iron Heart.
Time Passed: 1 minute, 48 seconds.
Most Damage Dealt in a Single Round: Gimithis, with his final Mountain Tombstone Strike, dealing an effective 104 points of damage.

Now this was a battle! It became clear that repeated ambushes or sniping would have been slow, if not impossible, to kill the warblade, thanks to his healing abilities. Only by wittling away his CON score could Gimithis hope to defeat his foe, and he very well might have succeeded in doing so had a few 50% miss chances rolled the other way. This fight was testament to the deadly power of Umbral Awn, as it was far more useful than Kamate from a tactical perspective. However, much like the previous match, Derfurn only needed to land a few hits on the comparably weaker swordsage to bring him down.
Many of the other contestants have abilities to aid them against invisible opponents. However, Derfurn had essentially no way to detect Gimithis, what with his floating stances, invisibility, and maxed ranks in the stealth skills. If it were not for Robilar's Gambit, Uncanny Dodge, and his Heavy Fortification armor, this fight would have almost certainly ended with a victory for Shadow Hand.

Tune in next time for Round 3: Tiger Fang vs. Diamond Mind!

Stycotl
2008-03-02, 12:04 AM
nice. forgive my retardation, but i am not seeing how the hobgoblin kept getting attacks of opportunity when the drow struck at him. what was that from?

CockroachTeaParty
2008-03-02, 12:10 AM
Robilar's Gambit. A feat from PHB II. It gives opponents a +4 bonus to attacks and damage, but in exchange you get an AoO for each swing at you.

Chronos
2008-03-02, 12:16 AM
Much to the chagrin of the drow, the randomly determined time of day was high noon, so Gimithis will be dazzled the entire fight.It's too bad the drow wasn't the Iron Heart guy, or he could have Surged the sun out of existence :smallwink: .

ElHugo
2008-03-02, 12:18 AM
Robilars Gambit, from your trusty PHB2

EDIT: Slow reading ftw

The_Snark
2008-03-02, 12:23 AM
Iron Heart Endurance can only be used when you're at half hit points or below, can't it? I haven't run the numbers, but it seems like the warblade was using it when he shouldn't have been able to.

CockroachTeaParty
2008-03-02, 12:27 AM
Iron Heart Endurance can only be used when you're at half hit points or below, can't it? I haven't run the numbers, but it seems like the warblade was using it when he shouldn't have been able to.

Good call. I forgot about that. Hmm... I don't think in the end it would have made too much of a difference. During the first break in the battle he could have downed his healing potions, and the final Iron Heart Endurance didn't effect the battle in any meaningful way, since that was the round he finished the drow off.

EDIT:

The maneuver reads "Half normal hit points," and after all the CON damage, his normal total of 279 was reduced. I suppose it's rather open to interpretation, but the final Iron Heart Endurance could have been legal.

KIDS
2008-03-02, 08:04 AM
I was particularly impressed by the mountain tombstone strike. CON damage is hard to heal up from, and the effect quickly stacks up over time!

UserClone
2008-03-02, 08:31 AM
How was the Drow using a swift action to turn incorporeal on his opponent's turn, in response to his attack? Shouldn't that have to be an immediate action?

Grey Paladin
2008-03-02, 09:34 AM
Too bad the arena isn't full of obstacles, if I was a Warblade I'd be far more worried about Stalker in the Dark.

Arbitrarity
2008-03-02, 09:40 AM
Oddly, when I make the same style of characters, the shadow hand swordsage almost always wins. He just appears, dealing 300'ish damage, and instantly slays his opponent, then diappears. If his oppenent isn't dead, he does it again in two rounds. Prehaps his opponents need to get fire resistance and heavy fortification, but then I need to nerf their AC, resulting in more pain.

Azerian Kelimon
2008-03-02, 10:17 AM
I'm anxiously awaiting the battle the master of Setting Sun will have. It's a pathetic and lousy discipline, but it has one of the most powerful stances, Baffling defense. If anyone manages to defeat that, it'll be only because of the craptastic strikes.

BTW, Why didn't the shadow hand master use Hand of Doom and the like? A single paralysis and a coup de grace later, and it'd 'ave been over. It's acknowledged to be one of the most powerful maneuvers out there for a reason.

Also, has anyone considered doing a battle of the nine swords using human contestants? I have the feeling the results would be extremely different.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-03-02, 12:29 PM
10 gp on Diamond Mind.

Also, if someone does this again, it might be a good idea to do it single-classed. As in, have the 6 Swordsages battle it out, then do the same for Warblades and Crusaders, then have the top 3 fight each other round-robin. Just a thought.

CockroachTeaParty
2008-03-02, 03:05 PM
I'm anxiously awaiting the battle the master of Setting Sun will have. It's a pathetic and lousy discipline, but it has one of the most powerful stances, Baffling defense. If anyone manages to defeat that, it'll be only because of the craptastic strikes.

BTW, Why didn't the shadow hand master use Hand of Doom and the like? A single paralysis and a coup de grace later, and it'd 'ave been over. It's acknowledged to be one of the most powerful maneuvers out there for a reason.

Yeah, the Setting Sun master is quite the underdog.

As for Hand of Death and other Shadow Hand strikes, the drow's strategy was to reduce the hobgoblin's CON score enough so that his Fortitude saves would be severely reduced. Otherwise, he would have easily made most of the saves, and even recovered from some of the status effects with Iron Heart Surge.

I also considered pitting the sages against sages, warblades against warblades, etc, but I decided to go with random duels instead. Oh, the possibilities.

Swordsages are truly in their element working with other warriors, or using terrain and cover to their advantage. Out of laziness, really, I just decided to go with a blank empty space. Perhaps when I'm done with this initial tournament, I might do something else, like a 5 on 4 team battle, or something.

Azerian Kelimon
2008-03-02, 03:21 PM
Once this tourney is over, I suggest doing a tourney with human participants, just to see if this work in a true PvP battle. If you do that, BTW, I volunteer to make a Shadow Hand or Tiger Claw character.

CockroachTeaParty
2008-03-02, 03:35 PM
That's not a bad idea. Of course, there's actually more optimized builds for ToB characters than just taking a martial adept class for 20 levels. It might be fun. Depending on how busy I am, I might just DM it myself.

Azerian Kelimon
2008-03-02, 03:39 PM
Good idea. The only limits should be single classing on one martial adept class.

Oh, and maybe we should include the tenth ranged discipline. It'd round it up, though that class could have a gross advantage against some schools.

Blue Paladin
2008-03-04, 01:25 PM
Again, a poor fight. But then again, the SS build is missing the all-important Shadow Stride. Shadow Blink is higher level and consumes a too-valuable swift action. In comparison, using a move-action incurs much less opportunity cost.

Anyway, to the meat of the fight.

Here's how combat should have gone:

Gimithis: Shadow Noose. Draw Umbral Awn, turning invisible, moving towards opponent, 5' up in the air.
Defurn: If he failed the save, he's stunned and can't do anything; if he makes the save, can do whatever he wants
Gimithis: If Defurn was stunned, smack him with either FSCIESS or more probably, Mountain Tombstone Strike, then move away (preferably up). If not, recover maneuver and break off combat.
Defurn: has got Lightning Throw, and that's about it. Gimithis shouldn't be too worried either, with his Improved Evasion.
*repeat*

Gimithis has invisibility at will, can teleport away while unseen, and has both range and air superiority. This should not have been at all close.

I think the main problem I'm seeing is that your swordsages are being played as if they were main tank combatants. That path leads solidly to defeat (as shown in this and Clash 1).

EDIT: If you're playing the Setting Sun Swordsage in this style, he has no chance at all.