CN Gnome Factotum 4 / Egoist 1 / Martial Rogue 2 / Marshal 1 / Fighter 1 / Gnome Giant Slayer 10 / Exemplar 1
Level-up points go to INT at level 4 and level 8, and into CHA at every level thereafter. (This increases skill points earned starting at level 8.)
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Jagt, like many gnomes, holds a special hatred in her heart for giants and giantkin. Unlike many gnomes, however, she believes that the best way to take down a tribe of giants is from within.
Jagt is very good at disguising herself. Her Change Shape ability gives her a very nice +10 bonus on Disguise checks, usable at will. (Technically, by the strictest RAW, it gives a total bonus of +20: +10 typeless bonus from the Disguise Self effect, and a +10 circumstance bonus from the text of Change Shape, but most GMs limit this to just +10 total.) Add in full ranks, a synergy bonus from Bluff, and the occasional bonus from Cunning Knowledge (once per day, but you shouldn't need it more than once per day anyway; you make a good disguise, and then you keep it up, possibly even for days at a time), and she can do a very convincing job of disguising herself as a giant. Now, you may be thinking that she's going to look a little short for a giant, but that's okay: you only take a –2 penalty for disguising yourself as a different race. It is true that you can't alter your apparent height by more than 10% by using Disguise, but that doesn't matter—she's not pretending to be a 12 foot tall gnome, after all, but rather pretending to be a 4 foot tall giant. This is D&D, after all—it's totally plausible for a giant to have been born a mutant, or to have been cursed by a Wizard, or to have some other effect making them look Small. Jagt has enough Bluff to pull off whatever cover story she needs. Her skill tricks help her in that regard, though her skills are high enough that she shouldn't need them very often, especially once she picks up Skill Mastery from Exemplar.
Anyway, once she finds a tribe of giants living somewhere, Jagt disguises herself as the appropriate kind of giant and tries to join them. She gains their trust slowly, using Bluff and Diplomacy as needed, and she blends in with the locals over a long period of time. Once they know her and trust her, she works her way closer to a position of power within the giant hierarchy, and she starts spreading disinformation. A hint here, a false rumor there, and Jagt slowly turns the giants against one another. She has a lot of bonuses to Bluff (full ranks, a +10 from Conceal Thoughts, a small but helpful bonus from Cunning Knowledge 1/day, and a scaling bonus from Favored Enemy: Giants), and she doesn't try to spread a ton of rumors all at once—she plays the long game, and she very slowly plants the seeds of mistrust in her “fellow” giants' ears.
One way or another, she tears apart the unity of the giant tribe. If she can accomplish this with her words alone, she does so. Her Bluff and Diplomacy will take her pretty far in that regard, and if she can split the tribe into factions, or get them turned against themselves until they are driven away one by one, nothing makes her happier.
Occasionally, of course, things come to blows—giants are impulsive folk, after all, and they often think with their muscles instead of their brains. Whenever Jagt can keep up an innocent facade, she aims to do so—she has a ton of defensive bonuses that make it very hard for giants to hit her (a bonus from their size differential, a +4 racial bonus, the bonus from Crafty Fighter, and so on), so if she can play at being innocent while dodging away and fast-talking her way out of the problem, that's best for her. (Her Fast Movement and Improved Mobility abilities make it easy for her to get out of range of a full attack, as well.) At times, though, she needs to defend herself with force. Underfoot Combat allows her to enter a giant's space without taking an attack of opportunity, and Confound the Big Folk makes them flat-footed when she does so. Since they're flat-footed, they're vulnerable to her Iaijutsu Focus skill (made possible by her gnomish quickrazors). Between Iaijutsu Focus and Favored Enemy: Giant, she can actually bring a fair bit of pain to a giant who crosses swords with her. She isn't likely to take them down in a single round, but with all of her defensive bonuses in play, she can almost certainly outlast them. If she has trouble hitting, she can use her inspiration points to add her INT to her attack rolls, though overall, it isn't too hard to hit consistently flat-footed AC when you have as much of a size differential as Jagt enjoys. If a giant decides to use the time-honored tactic of throwing a rock at her, she can send it right back with Return Shot, usually accompanied with a Bluff to the extent of “you know that giants can catch rocks you throw at them! What did you expect, throwing a rock at a fellow giant?” (Return Shot works on projectiles up to one size category larger than you are, and MM1 pg. 119 specifies that Large giants throw Small rocks and Huge giants throw Medium rocks, so that's absolutely within the limit.)
As I said, Jagt plays the long game. Once she has torn apart a tribe of giants from the inside, she hunts down the scattered members one by one if the circumstances are right for it; if not, she simply moves on to the next tribe of giants, assumes a new identity, and starts the process anew.
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Mimic, which Jagt gets from her Rogue levels, is unlikely to stack with Change Shape, but it's not totally useless to have around, and it's more useful to her than Trapfinding. Her level of Marshal allows her to double up on her Charisma bonus, and more importantly, it's instrumental in getting Confound the Big Folk online as soon as possible. Exemplar makes Jagt even better at disguising herself (it is her most important skill, after all), and it allows her to take 10 on her favorite skills even when circumstances conspire against her.
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Since Jagt relies very heavily on CHA-based skills, anything that makes those skills better is going to be very valuable for her. This can be as simple as a Cloak of Charisma (which is literally doubly valuable in her case, since her Motivate Charisma aura doubles the effectiveness her CHA has on her skills), or it might be something like a Circlet of Persuasion or an Admiral's Bicorne. Although she doesn't like having to rely on her quickrazors to get her out of trouble, it's not a bad idea for her to make sure that they're as magical as she can safely afford. Basic defensive items, like magical armor and a Cloak of Resistance, are as useful to Jagt as they are to everyone else. On a mundane front, a simple disguise kit is worth a +2 to her most important skill, and every +2 counts.
If flaws are allowed, Skill Focus: Disguise is certainly useful, and Psionic Meditation can make Return Shot more reliable, but Jagt functions pretty well as she is.
Originally Posted by Jagt
Re: Irogn Chef Optimisatiogn Challegnge ign the Playgrougnd LXVII
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