Iron Chef... Appetizer Edition (E6) III

[Amechra]

After long hiatus... there is another one.

Welcome, contestants, judges, and guests to Iron Chef... EPIC 6. Here in Optimization Colosseum, contestants will endeavor to create an optimized and flavorful character using a specified D&D 3.5 prestige class as a "Secret Ingredient". D&D 3.5 BASE CLASS as the "secret ingredient"

Contestants: You will need to present your build at at least one of the following points: 3rd level, 6th level, after 5 feats, after 10 feats, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build. Feel free to present as many of these as you like, and please give a rundown of the build's abilities and playability at all of the levels you didn't show. The rules are as follows:

Menu: For most challenges, the "special ingredient" will be drawn from Core plus Completes. There will, from time to time, be special challenges that showcase secret ingredients from other books--for example, the XPH.

32 point-buy is the presumed creation method, but we have generally allowed other levels of point-buy.
If you do use a different point-buy, please make your case for its necessity in your entry. Keep in mind that for using exceptionally large or small point-buys may warrant deductions in elegance and/or power.

Kitchen: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Elegance below. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt are not allowed, as they create a different playing field.

Cooking Time: Contestants will have until 11:59pm CUT on Monday, March 12th, 2012 to create their builds and PM them to the Chairman, Amechra. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying.

Judging: Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated from 1 (very poor) to 5 (exemplary) in each area: Originality, Power, Elegance, Use of Secret Ingredient, which must make up half the build, at least.

Power level is up to you. Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered. In the words of one of my predecessors, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue. However, this is e6, so unless you want to be smacked, I advise a lack of characters with spells of levels higher than 3. Just saying.

Elegance could bear a little elaboration. It basically measures how skillfully you put your build together, and whether you sacrificed flavor for power. We're cooking here - if your dish doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter how well-presented it is. Use of flaws is an automatic loss of one point per flaw in this category. Other things that will cause lost points here are excessive multiclassing, and classes that don't fit the concept - using Cloistered Cleric in a front-line melee fighter, for example, will lose you points.

I am going to have to ask the contestants to PM me about any disagreement with the judges. Under no circumstances is a contestant to defend themselves inside the thread, since it breaks anonymity.

Presentation: Builds will be posted anonymously, in order to avoid the potential of bias towards a particular competitor. For this reason, please don't put your name in the build, as I'm likely to miss it when reviewing the entries!

Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry.

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NAME OF ENTRY
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

2nd|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

3rd|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

4th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

5th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

6th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities
[/table], along with a list of the first 10 bonus feats you are taking after you complete your 6th level.

Code

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[b]NAME OF ENTRY[/b]
{table=head][b]Level[/b]|[B]Class[/B]|[b]Base Attack<br>Bonus[/b]|[b]Fort Save[/b]|[b]Ref Save[/b]|[b]Will Save[/b]|[B]Skills[/B]|[B]Feats[/B]|[b]Class Features[/b]

1st|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

2nd|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

3rd|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

4th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

5th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

6th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities
[/table]

For entries with spellcasting, use the following table for Spells per day and Spells Known. (Spells Known only if necessary, i.e. Sorcerer or Bard, but not Wizard or Warmage)

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Spells per day/Spells Known
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd

1st|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-

5th|-|-|-|-

6th|-|-|-|-[/table]

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[SPOILER][b]Spells per day/Spells Known[/b]
{table=head][b]Level[/b]|[b]0lvl[/b]|[b]1st[/b]|[b]2nd[/b]|[b]3rd[/b]

1st|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-

5th|-|-|-|-

6th|-|-|-|-[/table]

For other systems (Psionics, ToB, Incarnum, etc.) keep track of PP/maneuvers/essentia separately, preferably in a nice neat list.

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.

Leadership is banned; we're producing a meal, not a seven-course banquet for a hundred diners.

So! Who wants to sign up as a contestant, and who wants to sign up as a judge? Looking for about 5 judges and as many contestants as feel like playing!

This week's special ingredient is:
Miniature Handbook's's Marshal
We will have trophies ABSOLUTELY NO TROPHIES for 1st through 3rd places, as well as a special lack of a trophy for honorable mention. People, vote for honorable mention by PMing me.

Allez optimiser!

Judges


Contestants


The Builds


Past Competitions
Divine Mind
Monk

[Zonugal]

Awwwwww Yeah!

[Zaq]

Oh man, it's back! Now I just need to cram enough time into or out of my schedule to make a build. One week isn't very long, but if I can find a way . . .

Also, man, E6 is NOT kind to this class. You knew that, of course, but man. NOT kind.

[Urpriest]

This is actually kind of interesting. E6 is the kind of environment where I would expect the Marshal (even Marshal 6) to not be horrendously painful. I look forward to seeing what gets presented.

[smasher0404]

Are we allowed to use the feats presented here? or are they considered off-limits?

[Amechra]

With my mighty powers of CHAIRMAN JUDGEMENT!...

Yes, they are allowed.

[grarrrg]

We will have trophies ABSOLUTELY NO TROPHIES for 1st through 3rd places, as well as a special lack of a trophy for honorable mention.

So does this mean that everyone who participates but doesn't win DOES get a trophy?

[dextercorvia]

Marshal? I'll have to consider this.

[Amechra]

NO! Trophies are a potential allergen, and this meal is allergen free!

{If you know a guy who would be willing to help make trophies, on the other hand...}

[Xodion]

Awesome, I love the Marshall, and I have next week off work . Now, I just need to learn how E6 works...

EDIT: Oh yes, I remember looking at this last year. Also, the deadline is next monday? Is it usually that soon?

[Lonely Tylenol]

It really is too bad that I can't think of a way to make a dedicated Marshal build useful before 7th level, but I'm willing to try.

[Zaq]

Hmm. I've come up with a few ideas. I think at least one is sorta original, though a couple are pretty obvious. The elephant on the room is still glaring at me, of course, but that's a problem we're all just going to have to address. I've said enough.

If I have time, I might even do two builds, but that's a really big if.

[motoko's ghost]

I'll help judge if you need judges

[Zaq]

OK, I've got the early parts of at least one build finished, but man, this class loses steam in the long run, doesn't it? It doesn't give you a lot to build on in ways that still emphasize its unique strengths, such as they are.

Also, this would be at least 60% easier if it were full BAB. Seriously.

I think I can do this, though. I love this kind of challenge.

For the record, we're cool with one person submitting multiple builds, right? I've got two divergent ideas that are just refusing to play nice with each other. I know that multiple builds are cool in normal Iron Chef, so . . .

[JoeYounger]

I've never played in one of these, but I'd like to give this a shot!

How much wbl do we get? Or are we just making builds and not actual characters?

[Cieyrin]

I've never played in one of these, but I'd like to give this a shot!

How much wbl do we get? Or are we just making builds and not actual characters?

You're building a character, who should be able to stand on its own. Generally speaking, IC entries frown on depending on specific equipment being available. Normal WBL is fine, though what normal is in Epic is somewhat up to debate. If we go strictly be XP gained, an E6 Epic character 10 feats in should be ECL 11 WBL or just shy of it.

[JoeYounger]

Awesome, I wont be dependant on an item, but an item familiar never hurt anyone amirite?! I'll start working with normal WBL for a level 10 character, but I'd appreciate it if I get get an official responce on how much there is to work with.

Also, can I get a ruling on if its ok to do a LA buy off and start with 9 extra feats?

Also, are typical E6 feats like the +1 bab on the table?

[Cieyrin]

Item familiars are likely to get you hit in Elegance, due to the main contest's banning of them, though I leave that to individual judge's interpretation.

For LA, I would assume you'd use the normal change of point buy via amount of LA thing E6 has.

For the last....I leave that to Amechra.

[JoeYounger]

Ok, yeah, I didn't know that they were banned in the typical IC, not did I know about the ob thing. Is there a place where I can find stuff like that? Or should I just start reading the old ic posts?

[Cieyrin]

Ok, yeah, I didn't know that they were banned in the typical IC, not did I know about the ob thing. Is there a place where I can find stuff like that? Or should I just start reading the old ic posts?

All I'm saying is Item Familiars aren't explicitly banned here but, like a lot of material in Unearthed Arcana, may get you hit point-wise for using it.

Looking at the main contest or previous Appetizer rounds are a good way to see what works well and what doesn't for the contest, though, really, make what you think will work well for the contest. If you like what you made, the judges may share the sentiment.

[JoeYounger]

Awesome, thanks for the input! :)

[Lonely Tylenol]

You're building a character, who should be able to stand on its own. Generally speaking, IC entries frown on depending on specific equipment being available. Normal WBL is fine, though what normal is in Epic is somewhat up to debate. If we go strictly be XP gained, an E6 Epic character 10 feats in should be ECL 11 WBL or just shy of it.

I would like a ruling on this, because while in terms of strict EXP comparison, E6+10 feats is ECL 11, the game recommends considering PCs to be one ECL higher for every 5 feats they have after reaching level 6 (which means E6+10 feats is ECL 8). It would be nice to know where we are going forward from.

[Amechra]

In my opinion, the ECL is used primarily to make sure CRs match up; you are stuck with ECL 6 WBL, I'm afraid.

[MukkTB]

Is too bad speculation is banned or I'd be having fun. I'll probably submit a build but I don't have the system mastery to make much of this.

[DeAnno]

The topic doesn't have a specific exemption for Dragon Magazine Compendium; that's allowed as normal right?

[Amechra]

It is allowed.

[Zaq]

How many judges do we have? We probably need more.

I'm eager to see the reveal. My submission has been sent. I can't wait to see how it stacks up!

[DeAnno]

Submitted.

[The Underlord]

I'm here if you need judges.

[Amechra]

Let's get down to buisness
To defeat the huns.
Did they send me daughters
When I asked for sons?

Chief Silent-Tongue, Dragonwrought Kobold

Marshal 1/Sorcerer 2/Marshal +2/Mindbender 1

Chief Silent Tongue is a Marshal/Sorcerer that specializes in leading groups of sneaky, ranged characters on raids and ambushes, and is also eminently capable of infiltrating an enemy alone for espionage and sabotage. As one might expect, he makes a fine leader for a tribe of Kobolds, with more than a few tricks up his sleeves and a surprising amount of raw power.

Fluff

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Cloudscale waited eagerly for the start of his first battle. The war-band was hidden in the woods just East of the trail, waiting for the party of greedy human traders to pass so they could take their riches. It was day so Cloudscale would have trouble seeing, but Chief Silent-Tongue always made sure everyone had Sunglasses to see in daytime. Cloudscale wasn't actually too good at hiding, but Chief Silent-Tongue had told him in his head just where to sit behnd the tree and warned him that his tail was sticking out. Cloudscale wouldn't have been confident alone, but Chief Silent-Tongue was a Dragon and he never lost.

Soon, the caravan was passing by and Cloudscale wanted to jump out, but Chief Silent-Tongue told him in his head he had to wait for the right time so he waited, and waited, and just when he couldn't wait anymore Chief Silent-Tongue told everyone in their heads to attack and sprayed a big cone of Grease all over the traders and their caravan. Chief Silent-Tongue told him in his head who to shoot, and he shot him right through the neck while he was slipping over the Grease.

All the humans looked real confused, and the ones that weren't confused anymore were dead. Chief Silent-Tongue didn't let up though, and told everyone to switch to wands and fire a volley. Most of them didn't know much about wands, but Chief Silent-Tongue did and he was in all their heads. Cloudscale pulled out his wand and waved it at one of the big armored humans coming at them and a big ball of acid came out splashed him right in the head. He was pretty surprised it worked since he usually couldn't get it on the first try, but when Chief Silent-Tongue was there everything worked better.

Soon the battle was over and all the humans were either dead or had run away, except one on the ground. Acid and grease were everywhere and the whole place looked like a big Dragon had breathed on it a whole lot. Bold as a big Dragon himself, little Chief Silent-Tongue walked right up to the hurt human on the ground and stared in his eyes for a little bit, and the human stared right back and didn't look too afraid. I guess that just shows how dumb humans are, since a minute later Chief Silent-Tongue was done with the human and killed him with more acid. Chief Silent-Tongue said in their heads he knew where everything was now and told Cloudscale to go to the Caravan with 3 holes in the side and get the scrolls from inside.

Everyone was doing their jobs getting stuff and packing up the riches, and Chief Silent-Tongue had gotten some of the human food and given it to everyone to eat. When they were done they hustled back into the woods and left the rest of the destroyed caravan and all the dead humans on the road. If this was what battles were like Cloudscale couldn't wait for the next one.

The Build

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Point Buy 32, Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold (with Web Enhancement)
{table=head]Ability Score|Buy Cost|Base Score|Modifiers|Final Score

Strength

|

0

|

8

|

-4 Racial

|

4

Dexterity

|

4

|

12

|

+2 Racial

|

14

Constitution

|

6

|

14

|

-2 Racial

|

12

Intelligence

|

5

|

13

|

+3 Age

|

16

Wisdom

|

1

|

9

|

+3 Age

|

12

Charisma

|

16

|

18

|

+3 Age, +1 HD

|

22

[/table]


Chief Silent-Tongue
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Marshal 1|

+0

|

+2

|

+0

|

+2

|4 Bluff, 2* Concentration, 4 Diplomacy, 2* Hide, 4 Intimidate, 4 Sense Motive, 2* Tumble|Dragonwrought (Green), Skill Focus (Diplomacy)|Minor Aura (Motivate Charisma), Rite of Draconic Passage (Disguise Self)

2nd|Sorcerer 1 (Dragonblood)|

+0

|

+2

|

+0

|

+4

|4 Move Silently, 1 Use Magic Device|Draconic Heritage (Green)|Arcane Insight +2

3rd|Sorcerer 2|

+1

|

+2

|

+0

|

+5

|2 Move Silently, 3 Concentration|Practiced Spellcaster|-

4th|Marshal 2|

+2

|

+3

|

+0

|

+6

|1 Bluff, 1* Concentration, 1* Move Silently, 1* Hide|-|Major Aura (Motivate Urgency)

5th|Marshal 3|

+3

|

+3

|

+1

|

+6

|2 Bluff, 1* Move Silently, 1* Hide, 1 Sense Motive|-|Minor Aura (Motivate Dexterity)

6th|Mindbender 1|

+3

|

+5

|

+1

|

+8

|3 Concentration, 1* Move Silently|Draconic Reservoir|Telepathy 100 feet, Greater Rite of Draconic Passage
[/table]

Spells per day
{table=head]Level|0th|1st|2nd

1st|-|-|-

2nd|5|5|-

3rd|6|6|-

4th|6|6|-

5th|6|6|-

6th|6|8|5[/table]

Spells Known
{table=head]Level|0th|1st|2nd|New Spells

1st|-|-|-|-

2nd|4|2|-|Charm, Grease, Caltrops, Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Mage Hand

3rd|5|2|-|Read Magic

4th|5|2|-|-

5th|5|2|-|-

6th|6|3|1|Invisibility, Lesser Orb of Acid, Ghost Sound[/table]

Extra Feats
1)Combat Charm
2)Silent Spell
3)Sculpt Spell
4)Acidic Splatter
5)Craft Wand

6)Extra Spell: Color Spray
7)Versatile Spellcaster
8)Mindsight
9)Extra Spell: Create Trap
10)Extra Spell: Shock and Awe

Levels 1-3

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Dragonwrought Kobold: As a low level Marshal you want as high a Charisma bonus as possible to boost up your Minor Auras, and there's no better deal than the +3 Cha from Dragonwrought Kobold for 0 LA. Kobold is also extremely useful as a Sorcerer, giving us Disguise Self as an SLA with the Rite of Draconic Passage and eventually an extra level of Sorcerer casting with the Greater Rite. Unfortunately these luxuries cost us our 1st and 6th level feats, but the sacrifice is worth it. In addition, the Slight Build and small size offer a +8 bonus to Hide checks, great for Ambush tactics.

Minor Aura: Motivate Charisma: This aura is actually most useful for yourself right now, but you can get a whole lot of use out of it. Effectively your Charisma bonus for checks and skills is doubled to +10, letting you get away with a lot of stuff combined with your already high social skills. In addition, this is useful for helping nearby allies with Wands they might have scavenged, giving them a +5 bonus to UMD checks. As Silent-Tongue grows he'll get more and more use out of this Aura.

Disguise Self (SLA): This is most useful to disguise yourself as some less hated small creature, like a Halfling or Gnome, so you can easily approach your enemies or enter populated areas. Your outrageous Charisma and social skills will synergize well with this, and often you'll be able to dismantle a group from the inside using this tactic.

Charm Person: This is most useful right now if you can get somebody alone while Disguised to persuade them to do useful things like giving you information, wandering off into the wilderness, or picking disagreements with erstwhile allies. Normally, it can be difficult making the opposed Charisma checks required to get the most out of this spell, but with your +10 (and rising) Charisma checks you should have an easier time than most.

Grease, Caltrops: Grease is your weapon of choice for leading ambushes now, setting up ranged sneak attack for your Rogue friends and slowing down melee attackers from getting at your party. Caltrops is sort of a lesser Grease that you can set up before the battle in a strategic location or use when your slots are running low. Liberal use of both will be great for hit and run tactics.

Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Read Magic, Mage Hand: Standard useful cantrips.

Dragon Heritage (Green): Since being a Kobold gives us a +8 to Hide checks, Green Dragon Heritage is handy for picking up a better Move Silently Check. The Dragonwrought feat gives us +2 and we will buy up lots of Move Silently Skill ranks as well.

Practiced Spellcaster: This feat will allow us to qualify for Mindbender, fix problems with being behind against SR, and make our Lesser Orb of Acid damage respectable.

3rd Level Pertinent Statistics:

Marshal/Magic:
Minor Auras: Motivate Charisma +5
Spell Save DC (1st level spells): 16

Skills/Checks modifiers (assumes Cha aura, no check penalties):
Charisma: +10
Initiative: +2
Bluff: +14 = +4+10
Concentration: +6 = +5+1
Diplomacy: +17 = +4+10+3
Disguise (with Disguise Self): +20 = +10+10
Hide: +12 = +2+2+8
Intimidate: +10 = +4+10-4
Move Silently: +10 = +6+2+2
Sense Motive: +5 = +4+1
Tumble: +3 = +1+2
Use Magic Device: +11 = +1+10

Defenses: (highly gear dependent, assumes Chain Shirt and no Magic)
HP: 15
AC: 18 = 10+2+4+1+1
Fort: +3 = +2+1
Refl: +2 = +0+2
Will: +6 = +5+1

Levels 4-6

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Note: It is assumed that you begged, borrowed, or stole a +2 Cloak of Charisma or similar by now as it is common as dirt and your most important possible piece of gear. With the stat bump, your Charisma is now 24.

Major Aura: Motivate Urgency: While most of the major Auras are pretty underwhelming with a +1 bonus, Motivate Urgency can actually be very useful for leading raids. That extra 5 feet of speed means your side wins in a footrace, and will usually be able to escape melee pursuit. Escapes are aided and abetted by strategic Grease and Caltrops.

Motivate Dexterity: This is the optimal alpha-strike Aura, netting Hide, Move Silently, and Initiative all at once. Unfortunately at level 5 it is difficult to use this to help your allies hide as you must make noise to communicate with them, but this will be solved at level 6 with Telepathy. In any case a +7 bonus for the entire group to Hide, Move Silently, and Initiative is extremely useful for setting up Ambushes and successfully carrying them out. Often you will set an ambush, try to do a large amount of damage in a round or two, then flee battle with your party to set another Ambush before melee can close with you.

Telepathy 100 feet: This is the reason you are a Mindbender, and in fact it is even a large part of the reason you are a Sorcerer. Having telepathy means your party can take full advantage of Motivate Dexterity's Alpha Strike potential without giving away your position by speaking. Telepathy is also extremely useful with Charm Person as it allows you to communicate silently with someone already charmed, to either prevent detection or to allay suspicion.

Draconic Reservoir and Greater Rite of Passage: The extra level of Sorcerer spells is huge because it gets you your second level spell, Invisibility, AND second level spell slots (which will be great with metamagic later). Even Draconic Reservoir itself gives you more uses of the Disguise Self SLA, which is quite useful as well.

Lesser Orb of Acid: This is your main form of hit point offense, and generally used when Charm Person won't work and Grease is already covered. This spell tends to actually be more useful as a wand for your allies, which you will eventually be able to craft yourself. It tends to make a very good weapon for Rogues due to ignoring SR, being a ranged touch attack, and having a good energy type. Lastly, it is thematic with your Green Dragon Heritage.

Invisibility: This allows for a less diplomatic method of infiltration than Disguise Self, and can also be used on other members of your party. It is useful but expensive to use with alpha strikes; its best use is with Scouting, especially combined with Telepathy for the silent communications.

6th Level Pertinent Statistics:

Marshal/Magic:
Minor Auras: Motivate Charisma +7, Motivate Dexterity +7
Major Aura: Motivate Urgency +5 feet
Spell Save DC (1st level spells): 18

Skills/Checks modifiers (assumes relevant aura, no check penalties, includes synergy bonuses):
Charisma: +14
Initiative: +9
Bluff: +21 = +7+14
Concentration: +10 = +9+1
Diplomacy: +25 = +4+14+3+2+2
Disguise (with Disguise Self): +26 = +14+10+2
Hide: +21 = +4+2+7+8
Intimidate: +16 = +4+14-4+2
Move Silently: +20 = +9+2+7+2
Sense Motive: +6 = +5+1
Tumble: +10 = +1+2+7
Use Magic Device: +15 = +1+14

Defenses: (highly gear dependent, assumes Chain Shirt and no Magic)
HP: 21
AC: 18 = 10+2+4+1+1
Fort: +6 = +5+1
Refl: +3 = +1+2
Will: +9 = +8+1

Extra Feats

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Combat Charm: This one is fairly simple, in that it makes the use of Charm Person during Combat a much easier proposition. Often Charming the leader of the enemy force can cause enough confusion to finish off the enemy or allow your forces to escape to fight another day.

Silent Spell: Mainly useful with Charm Person, this makes it much easier to Charm someone while infiltrating a group. You do still have to prevent people (other than the target) from noticing your gestures somehow, but this generally requires much less in the way of distraction and seperation than covering up verbal components. This also can be handy for casting an Invisibility or a Mage Hand in a tight spot, and qualifies us for Sculpt Spell.

Sculpt Spell: Sculpt is extremely good with Grease and Caltrops, especially using the 20 foot burst and 40 foot cone. Setting up a ton of Caltrops prebattle with this can really make an Ambush, and with Grease it can make following your party up a hill or through a tunnel nearly impossible.

Acidic Splatter: Since you always have Silent Lesser Orb of Acid available if you have a 2nd level slot, this is a nice little boost for emergencies. The 10 foot range is less than you want, but enough to get by. Just as importantly, the +1 CL to Acid spells raises the base damage on your Lesser Orb to 4d8, which is great for Crafting 7th CL wands of it for your allies using the next feat.

Craft Wand: This is mainly useful for creating wands of your Acid spells and giving them out to allies, enabling high damage at range for anyone with even decent UMD. Since your Motivate Charisma Aura hands out a +7 bonus to UMD checks, even a 1st level Rogue with 12 Charisma and 4 ranks has a 65% chance of successfully using a CL 7 wand for 4d8 plus possible Sneak Attack. The expense can get fairly high, but your allies can pony up part of the capital making this easier to use. It's worth noting that though a wand of Acid Splash does little base damage, it's cheap and lets a Rogue do Sneak Attack damage with a ranged touch attack.

Extra Spell: Color Spray: This is another fairly close in option but it can be a lifesaver, especially sculpted. Save or stun can set up an extra turn for your side to deal sneak attack damage or get away from a bad situation.

Versatile Spellcaster: It's a great trick for converting your 0th level slots into something more useful, and you can even use it to get more 2nd level slots should you have to spam Invisibility or Silent Spells.

Mindsight: This is a good way to make sure you don't get counter-ambushed, giving you a pretty good idea of the surrounding 100 feet. Depending on DM interpretation you might be able to temporarily mark a target for your allies by sending Grease at it, but you should be ok even if you have to tell them since Telepathy is so convenient.

Extra Spell: Create Trap: This is a very Koboldy option which helps with the ambushes, especially in tight spaces to defend. You can also place them strategically beforehand to defend a retreat, possibly aided by Caltrops.

Extra Spell: Shock and Awe: This further aids your alpha strikes, effectively giving your party 10 more initiative. When you get this off your allies have a net +17 initiative bonus just from you, meaning they should get all get a surprise round and a normal round before the enemy can act.

Sources

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SRD: Sorcerer, Silent Spell, Craft Wand, Grease, Charm Person, Invisibility, Color Spray, All Cantrips but Caltrops
Miniatures Handbook: Marshal
Races of the Dragon (and Web Enchancement): Dragonwrought Kobolds, Versatile Spellcaster, Create Trap
Complete Arcane: Mindbender, Sculpt Spell
Complete Mage: Acidic Splatter
Spell Compendium: Lesser Orb of Acid, Shock and Awe, Caltrops
Lords of Madness: Mindsight
Dragon Magazine Compendium: Combat Charm