Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground XLVI

[Deadline]

This is how bad the secret ingredient is. It has discouraged me from entering. I am filled with shame.

That's why I've signed up to judge this round. I can always console myself with the thought that "I could have entered, but I was due to judge". It softens the blow to my ego a bit. Of course, I've only been competing for the last 3 ICs, so take my advice with many grains of salt.

[OMG PONIES]

Build submitted. Chairman, I had to submit in two parts and then realized a slight word choice difference in Part I, so I resent the revised version of Part I; Part II is unchanged. Sorry for any confusion.

[Vaz]

Spent a few minutes trying to understand what what might have been so bad about your first part that it was worth resenting.

Needing sleeepppp

[OMG PONIES]

Spent a few minutes trying to understand what what might have been so bad about your first part that it was worth resenting.

Needing sleeepppp

Not worth it at all, I'm just deranged. The whole thing is drivel; to steal a line from Argo I saw it as "the best bad option."

[Thurbane]

I'll be very interested to see if anyone managed to make a build that shines because of the SI, instead of in spite of it

The build I came up with very much fell into the latter category...

[Piggy Knowles]

I did my usual ritual when I manage to submit a build early, which is to not look at it until the very last day of the competition, and then to check it thoroughly for errors or obvious things I forgot or should include.

For once I actually didn't manage to find anything to fiddle with.

Is it weird that this disturbs me way more than if I had found something? Usually I find a minor issue, correct it, and it's fine. But with nothing to change, I'm convinced now I'll have missed something REALLY BIG AND OBVIOUS. Mine will somehow end up being the entry that forgot the build table or something...

[thethird]

Well I did a revision yesterday and I changed a couple of things, the problem is that I think I left two things out of the changes so I will probably go over it later this afternoon to make sure that everything is coherent, I might end pming a new version to the chairman. Sorry about that Kuulv

[Haluesen]

@Venger Wow that is a lot of entries. I'd say that is something to be proud of though. And I wouldn't blame you for choosing not to enter this one. I'm not a huge fan of my idea really, but I've put too much work into this crappy idea to back out now. I console myself with the thought that at least it is a unique idea.

That said I do think this will be one of those things were the character is alright in spite of the SI, instead of because of it. Those abilities were just too much to work with.

It's alright Piggy, I almost turned mine in without mentioning the first level ability of the SI, in the chart and in my breakdown. That would have sucked. And I'm sure you'll be doing better than that.

[dysprosium]

I have been able to enter three for this competition.

Mr Chairman I have submitted two to you today and one the other day.

And my guess for the next SI: Online Psionics baby! http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625c

[zlefin]

I never got around to making my build, i'll just wait until the builds are done and mention what my plan was in the discussion thread once the real builds have been posted.

[OMG PONIES]

I don't know how folks have ever had time to enter three entries--two was my max, and oftentimes meant at least one night without sleep. Anxious now to see what I'm up against.

[yugi24862]

For me, its more how do you have 3 different ideas which utilize this prestige class? I couldn't come up with one idea that was good with this prestige class, instead of better without it.

[The Viscount]

I have been able to enter three for this competition.

Mr Chairman I have submitted two to you today and one the other day.

And my guess for the next SI: Online Psionics baby! http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625c

Three builds? I am awed by your ability to make three builds with this class. I made one, and I'm still laughing at it.
As for Sanhegrim, I seriously doubt it. It may have a small powers known list and not many class features, but some of those powers are still pretty decent. Also having 9nth level powers locks this out a bit, especially when one of those is Psychic Chirurgery. Fast healing that's going to be active almost all the time is I think too powerful for IC, IIRC there's only one other class (Soldier of Light) that gives you limitless fast healing.

Excited for the reveal.

[dysprosium]

For me, its more how do you have 3 different ideas which utilize this prestige class? I couldn't come up with one idea that was good with this prestige class, instead of better without it.

I don't know how folks have ever had time to enter three entries--two was my max, and oftentimes meant at least one night without sleep. Anxious now to see what I'm up against.

From the beginning I had two build ideas floating around in my head and they were both pretty different. I was working on them simultaneously. My wife give me the third idea and it is a semi-serious build so that did not take much time at all.

[OMG PONIES]

For me, its more how do you have 3 different ideas which utilize this prestige class? I couldn't come up with one idea that was good with this prestige class, instead of better without it.

I was actually kicking around 3 ideas, but only one had any meat on its bones. I'll post them up after the reveal. I'm really excited to see what everyone else came up with.

[thethird]

I also had 3 ideas... but one almost didn't work and used evil cheesy things that should be left untouched for the lulz, the second one is great but works much better with the SI (although the SI offers some things to it), and the third one is the one that I am going with.

There is an extra one, but it sprang after a friend commented me his idea, and it is similar to his, so I'm keeping that one untouched in case he ends cooking.

On another note, I am really HAPPY that I checked my entry again, there were BIG mistakes on my part. Mostly due to changes and evolution on the build. That means that I am going to submit it for a third time Poor chairman is going to get his inbox filled with entries, and he will be overjoyed and then crushed when he discovers that they are the same.

Edit: Basically Kuulv ignore my entries before the last one.

[Kazyan]

Hahahahaha I forgot something important. Gotta fix.

[mattie_p]

Well, time for me to admit I need to bow out. I had something nearly completed last week, found some flaws and set it aside for a while until I had the chance to fix, never did, and now its like 90 minutes to the deadline, not gonna happen. I'll post my stub after the reveal, had a neat trick for one aspect of the SI, but I'm not going to lose sleep over not submitting.

[Venger]

an hour till the reveal. I'm excited to see what you guys have cooked up.

[Immabozo]

I'll be very interested to see if anyone managed to make a build that shines because of the SI, instead of in spite of it

The build I came up with very much fell into the latter category...

I had one, I really did, but lack of time meant I couldn't write it

[Kuulvheysoon]

I have been able to enter three for this competition.

Mr Chairman I have submitted two to you today and one the other day.

All received.

On another note, I am really HAPPY that I checked my entry again, there were BIG mistakes on my part. Mostly due to changes and evolution on the build. That means that I am going to submit it for a third time Poor chairman is going to get his inbox filled with entries, and he will be overjoyed and then crushed when he discovers that they are the same.

Edit: Basically Kuulv ignore my entries before the last one.

Understood. Can do.

[123456789blaaa]

I had one, I really did, but lack of time meant I couldn't write it

Make sure to post the idea after the reveal.

[WhamBamSam]

Managed to just sneak in my first IC build with minutes to spare. I unexpectedly happened upon an idea that I really liked. It's a little weak, but I'm proud enough of it to want it seen.

Good luck to all.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Make sure to post the idea after the reveal.

Speaking of which, everyone, please refrain from posting until I give the all-clear.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Lighting the Way

Joseph Knecht, Magister Ludi ("Master of the Game")

"The game as I conceive it," Knecht once wrote, "leaves the player with the feeling that he has extracted from the universe of accident and confusion a totally symmetrical and harmonious cosmos, and absorbed it into himself."*

THE TRANSCENDENT GAME: A General Introduction to its History for the Layman

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"Oh, if only it were possible to find understanding," Joseph exclaimed. "If only there were a dogma to believe in. Everything is contradictory, everything tangential; there are no certainties anywhere. Everything can be interpreted one way and then again interpreted in the opposite sense. The whole of world history can be explained as development and progress and can also be seen as nothing but decadence and meaninglessness. Isn’t there any truth? Is there no real and valid doctrine?"

The master had never heard him speak so fervently. He walked on in silence for a little, then said: "There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. Be prepared for conflicts, Joseph Knecht - I can see that they already have begun."

JOSEPH KNECHT, MAGISTER LUDI
Human, Wilderness Rogue 3/Totemist 2/Psychic Warrior 2/Cipher Adept 10/Heir of Siberys 3
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Wilderness Rogue 1|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|

+0

|Balance 4 ranks, concentration 2 ranks, handle animal 4 ranks, hide 4 ranks, jump 4 ranks, knowledge (arcana) 1 rank, knowledge (nature) 2 ranks, listen 4 ranks, move silently 4 ranks, survival 4 ranks, tumble 4 ranks, use magic device 4 ranks|Midnight Dodge, Agile, Improved Initiative|Trapfinding

2nd|Wilderness Rogue 2|

+1

|

+0

|

+3

|

+0

|Balance 5 ranks, handle animal 5 ranks, hide 5 ranks, jump 5 ranks, knowledge (nature) 3 ranks, listen 5 ranks, move silently 5 ranks, survival 5 ranks, tumble 5 ranks, use magic device 5 ranks|Combat Expertise|Spell Reflection

3rd|Totemist 1|

+1

|

+2

|

+5

|

+0

|Concentration 3 ranks, hide 6 ranks, knowledge (nature) 5 ranks, listen 6 ranks, survival 6 ranks|Darkstalker|Wild empathy

4th|Totemist 2|

+2

|

+3

|

+6

|

+0

|Concentration 6 ranks, move silently 6 ranks, listen 7 ranks, survival 7 ranks||Totem chakra bind (+1 capacity)

5th|Psychic Warrior 1|

+2

|

+5

|

+6

|

+0

|Autohypnosis 1 rank, concentration 8 ranks, hide 7 ranks|Psycarnum Infusion|

6th|Psychic Warrior 2|

+3

|

+6

|

+6

|

+0

|Concentration 9 ranks, listen 8 ranks, move silently 7 ranks|Open Least Chakra (Crown), Improved Trip|

7th|Wilderness Rogue 3|

+4

|

+7

|

+6

|

+1

|Hide 10 ranks, listen 10 ranks, move silently 10 ranks, use magic device 8 ranks||Spell sense +1

8th|Cipher Adept 1|

+4

|

+7

|

+8

|

+1

|Concentration 10 ranks, hide 11 ranks, move silently 11 ranks, use magic device 10 ranks|Improved Unarmed Strike|Strike the weak spot

9th|Cipher Adept 2|

+5

|

+7

|

+9

|

+1

|Concentration 11 ranks, hide 12 ranks, move silently 12 ranks, use magic device 12 ranks|Mindsight|Evasion

10th|Cipher Adept 3|

+6/+1

|

+8

|

+9

|

+2

|Concentration 13 ranks, hide 13 ranks, move silently 13 ranks, use magic device 13 ranks||Combat instinct +1

11th|Cipher Adept 4|

+7/+2

|

+8

|

+10

|

+2

|Autohypnosis 1.5 ranks, concentration 14 ranks, hide 14 ranks, move silently 14 ranks, use magic device 14 ranks|Combat Reflexes|

12th|Cipher Adept 5|

+7/+2

|

+8

|

+10

|

+2

|Autohypnosis 2 ranks, concentration 15 ranks, hide 15 ranks, move silently 15 ranks, use magic device 15 ranks|Heroic Spirit|Combination strike

13th|Heir of Siberys 1|

+7/+2

|

+10

|

+12

|

+4

|Autohypnosis 4 ranks, hide 16 ranks, move silently 16 ranks, use magic device 16 ranks|Action Surge|Additional action points

14th|Heir of Siberys 2|

+8/+3

|

+11

|

+13

|

+5

|Autohypnosis 6 ranks, hide 17 ranks, move silently 17 ranks, use magic device 17 ranks|Mark of Stars|Siberys mark (sentinel)

15th|Heir of Siberys 3|

+9/+4

|

+11

|

+13

|

+5

|Autohypnosis 8 ranks, hide 18 ranks, move silently 18 ranks, use magic device 18 ranks|Defensive Throw, Cunning Evasion|Improved Siberys mark

16th|Cipher Adept 6|

+10/+5

|

+12

|

+14

|

+6

|Concentration 17 ranks, hide 19 ranks, move silently 19 ranks, use magic device 19 ranks||Combat instict +2

17th|Cipher Adept 7|

+11/+6/+1

|

+12

|

+14

|

+6

|Concentration 19 ranks, hide 20 ranks, move silently 20 ranks, use magic device 20 ranks||Improved Evasion

18th|Cipher Adept 8|

+12/+7/+2

|

+12

|

+15

|

+6

|Concentration 21 ranks, hide 21 ranks, move silently 21 ranks, use magic device 21 ranks|Mobility, Elusive Target|

19th|Cipher Adept 9|

+12/+7/+2

|

+13

|

+15

|

+7

|Autohypnosis 8.5 ranks, concentration 22 ranks, hide 22 ranks, move silently 22 ranks, use magic device 22 ranks||Combat instinct +3

20th|Cipher Adept 10|

+13/+8/+3

|

+13

|

+16

|

+7

|Autohypnosis 9 ranks, concentration 23 ranks, hide 23 ranks, move silently 23 ranks, use magic device 23 ranks||Move without barriers[/table]

Alternate Class Features:

• Spell Reflection: If an enemy misses with a spell or SLA, you may redirect it back at the mage.
• Spell Sense: You gain a dodge bonus versus spells and SLAs.
• Wilderness rogue: Rogue skills and special abilities are geared more toward the natural world than underground caves and dungeons.
• Martial rogue: Gain bonus feats as a fighter instead of sneak attack.

Psychic Warrior Powers:

• Chameleon
• Call Item

Siberys Mark:

Joseph Knecht possesses the Siberys Mark of Sentinel. This allows him to use mind blank twice a day at CL 15.

Ability Scores:
32-PB: Str 15/Dex 14/Con 14/Int 14/Wis 12/Cha 10

Boost Strength at all available levels.

The Life of Magister Ludi Joseph Knecht

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"There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught."

THE CALL

There is a center to all things.

At the center of mind and being lies the Transcendent Order. At this central point, this moment of perfect balance, thought and purpose become one. And yet there is also a center to the Transcendent Order, and that center is the Game.

The Game is considered to be the perfect implementation of Transcendence. The rules of the Game constitute a kind of highly developed secret language, capable of expressing and establishing interrelationships between all things. The Game is played not in opposition, as two might play a game of chess. A true master of the Game plays with its pieces as a painter might have played with the colors on his palette.

Among the Transcendent Order, there is only one title that bears respect among others: Magister Ludi, Master of the Game. A Magister Ludi plays the Game so perfectly that there can be no other way to play. When a Magister Ludi moves its pieces, it is as though the heavenly spheres themselves have moved in accordance with some ancient truths. Many study and strive to becomes Masters of the Game, but very few ever succeed. And among the Masters, only Joseph Knecht, for the brief time he remained here in Amoria, could claim true mastery.

THE MISSION

What is known of Joseph Knecht? He was brought to the monastery at Amoria at a very young age. The marks on his skin that developed as he grew have led many to believe he was once a member of House Deneith, and was possibly taken from the nation of Karrnath on the Material Plane.

Joseph Knecht quickly abandoned the Transcendent Order's early instruction, and sought his own path. He found the greatest beauty in the planes coterminous to Elysium, the Wilderness of the Beastlands and the Twin Planes of Bytopia. There he lived among the unchecked wilderness and magical beasts of the land, and realized that the true order could already be seen in all living things.

Upon his return to the monastery, Joseph declared that the Transcendent Order had a fundamental flaw. They had created an ivory tower by placing the monastery in Amoria, an ethereal protected community that was devoted to purely intellectual pursuits, but oblivious to the problems posed by life outside its borders.

He addresses this problem in his famous poem, Stages, written during his student years:

Serenely let us move to distant places
And let no sentiments of home detain us.
The Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us
But lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces.
If we accept a home of our own making,
Familiar habit makes for indolence.
We must prepare for parting and leave-taking
Or else remain the slaves of permanence.

THE LEGEND

Though he was the greatest Master of the Game the Transcendent Order has ever known, Joseph Knecht abandoned his monastery to seek perfection elsewhere. "Finding balance is a simple thing here in Amoria," he once said. "There is no great trick to finding it. Balance exists at the center of all things. In Amoria, the center is right in front of your eyes - all other things have been stripped away. Beyond this sacred place, the center is obscured, buried beneath the weight of the world. And yet I find myself drawn to these other places, where the point of balance is not plain and must be sought."

We of the Transcendent Order still hold hope that Joseph Knecht will one day return, and teach us the beauty of the Game. His teachings have reached all of us, and our Order no longer locks its monks away, but encourages all to seek balance in their own way.

Magister Ludi, we are ready for your return...

The Writings of Joseph Knecht

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When one action follows the next seamlessly and smoothly, without hesitation and without anxiety, oneness with the multiverse is touched upon, however briefly... When the blade passes from one enemy to the next in perfect seamless integration, the cipher adept knows bliss - no, the cipher adept IS bliss.

Joseph Knecht's fighting style is a physical manifestation of the Game, and his mastery thereupon. From an outsider, it appears that he is expending minimal effort, that his enemies are defeating themselves. Spells miss and somehow bounce back to their captors. Enemies fall over themselves trying to strike him. With a step he disappears, only to reappear far away.

Joseph Knecht fights with a guisarme, using his unarmed strike to strike enemies in close range. The reach of his guisarme allows him to trip, sunder and disarm at a distance, without facing the penalties many of these tactics normally would.

When engaged in melee, Joseph prefers to fight defensively, tripping enemies rather than attacking them directly. As he is primarily making touch attacks to hit, or striking prone enemies, he can easily absorb the penalties to his attack roll.

Joseph likes to move into flanked positions, applying his Midnight Dodge bonus to one of his enemies. When one attempts to strike him, Elusive Target kicks in and that first strike automatically misses and hits the other party instead. Since that still counts as a miss, it then triggers Defensive Throw, granting Joseph a free trip attempt and follow-up attack. All subsequent attacks are made from prone and against a huge AC (if he expends his psionic focus to max Midnight Dodge and fights defensively, he has a +12 dodge bonus to AC, which Combat Instinct raises to +15).

For a non-tripping offensive move, Joseph often binds the Basilisk Mask to his totem chakra. This gives him an at-will gaze attack that can petrify enemies. Though it is a full-round action to use, if it is successful, he can then use Action Surge to gain an additional standard action and strike the weak spot to shatter the statue. If he is focused, Psycarnum Infusion temporarily maxes the essentia in the Basilisk Mask, giving it a +5 to the DC without pulling essentia from other melds.

Joseph Knecht is also a great scout. He has superb stealth including Darkstalker and mind blank, he can never be surprised or flat-footed, and he has Mindsight in a 100' radius from his Shedu Crown. He can further boost his stealth at early levels via Kruthik Claws.

Most importantly, Joseph Knecht is exceedingly difficult to nail down and stop. He has quite a lot of effects that simply say "nope!" to anything the enemy tries to throw at him, thanks to:

• Mind Blank: Blanket immunity to mind-affecting, divination, etc. Combines with his stealth skills, chameleon and Darkstalker to make him almost impossible to detect.
• Improved Evasion/Cunning Evasion: Having trouble hitting me and want to just rain fiery death from the sky? Nope! (Improved) Evasion means that’s barely even a threat, and Cunning Evasion means that he can actually use this to his advantage and get a free five foot step into hiding. He can even use wands of area spells to attack enemies, including himself in the blast to trigger Cunning Evasion and get a free opportunity to hide.
• Spell sense and spell reflection: Combat Instinct, Combat Expertise, Midnight Dodge and spell sense all give you a potentially huge dodge bonus against spells, and spell reflection ensures that an enemy’s nastiest attacks are coming right back at them. Joseph can get as much as a +16 bonus to AC versus a particular enemy, which applies even against touch attacks.
• Mark of Stars: Never be surprised. Never be flat-footed. Period.
• Mindsight: What about stealth? I mean, Superior Invisibility or Darkstalker should still do the trick, right? Nope! Mindsight with a 100’ range means he is well aware of anyone near him. For bonus fun, a wand of anticipate teleportation will prevent enemies from trying to teleport inside his range unexpectedly. (Not that he'd be surprised. Mark of Stars is pretty boss that way.)
• Elusive Target/Defensive Throw: Joseph Knecht will detect you before you get to him, giving him the chance to make you the target of his Midnight Dodge. Want to ubercharge him? Nope! Negate Power Attack cancels that out. And every time you miss him (including on auto-miss effects like Diverting Defense), he gets a free trip attack. Oh, and if it crits, he gets yet another free attack, this time to disarm or sunder.
• Tracking: You can't run from perfection. When seeking out enemies, he can replace the Shedu Crown with the Hunter's Circlet. This gives him the Track feat, and alongside Psycarnum Infusion and his natural ranks, he has a +20 bonus to tracking before taking into account his Wisdom or any items beyond a masterwork tool. That means he is guaranteed to find an enemy over hard ground.
• Move without barriers: Did I mention that Joseph Knecht is impossible to stop? Move without barriers means that he can't be contained by a non-force effect, can bypass most traps or obstacles, and has a whole new method of scouting. This is his final "nope!" effect, and it's a doozy.
  
  Level-by-level
  
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  • Levels 1-5: Joseph begins as a stealthy character with excellent detection skills and some solid defense, including some neat anti-caster abilities. Kruthik Claws, chameleon and Darkstalker make you nearly impossible to find at these levels, while Hunter's Circlet on the totem chakra gives you scent to go alongside your ranks in Listen. Psycarnum Infusion is a nice work-around to your low essentia, especially for skill checks, allowing you to expend your focus to treat Midnight Dodge or one of your soulmelds as maxed. On off days, your affinity with animals can be used with the Beast Tamer Circlet to train animals to bring with you - if you bind it to your totem chakra, you're looking at a +15 bonus to your check.
  • Levels 6-10: Your abilities expand a good bit here. Once you get to level 9, you'll want to keep the Shedu Crown bound for Mindsight rather than using Hunter's Circlet for scent. At this point you can abandon your ranks in Listen, as Mindsight is a guaranteed detection method (which is good, because bafflingly Cipher Adept doesn't grant it as a class skill). Improved Trip helps with your combat options, Improved Unarmed Strike means you can use the guisarme without worrying about adjacent allies, and you also pick up strike the weak point, which can get you through doors and other obstacles. You can also use it alongside Basilisk Mask as a one-two punch: turn an enemy to stone as a full-round action, then next round destroy them. Eventually you can do this all in the same round, but it's still a pretty nice trick.
  • Levels 11-15: You have now picked up most of your "nope!" abilities. Evasion and Cunning Evasion help shore up your weakness to area effects. Mind Blank and Mark of Stars are HUGE, giving you flat-out immunity to a whole score of effects. Defensive Throw comes online to work alongside your massive defenses (boosted further via Combat Instinct). You also get Action Surge, which you can use to petrify enemies and destroy them with strike the weak point all in the same round. And you finally have a high enough UMD check to reliably use wands with no chance of failure.
  • Levels 16-20: You pick up your final two "nope!" abilities, Elusive Target and move without barriers. Combat Instinct improves to +3, Improved Evasion comes online, and your UMD gets high enough to begin using scrolls with higher caster levels.

  
  

The Three Lives

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"Each of us is merely one human being, merely an experiment, a way station. But each of us should be on the way toward perfection, should be striving to reach the center, not the periphery."

The Rainmaker (Cipher Adept and how it works)

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In addition to flavor, Cipher Adept is used in the following ways:

• Requirements: Joseph actually makes use of most of the entry requirements. 5 ranks in Balance keep him from being flat-footed early game (most of his abilities require him to retain Dex to AC to work), Survival is used alongside Hunter's Circlet to pick up Track and boost checks, and Listen is maxed until Mindsight comes along as an early-game detection method. (Midnight) Dodge and Improved Initiative are both big parts of Joseph's build, with many effects running off of Dodge, and high initiative plus immunity to surprise allowing him to switch off this dodge bonus to preempt attacks.
• Improved Unarmed Strike: This allows Joseph to strike adjacent enemies, and also qualifies him for Defensive Throw, a key part of his attack routine.
• Strike the weak spot: In addition to using this to bypass physical barriers, Joseph combines this with Basilisk Mask and Action Surge to petrify enemies and shatter them in the same round.
• Evasion/Improved Evasion: These both act as "nope!" abilities that add to Joseph's overall defensiveness, and combine with Cunning Evasion to give him additional opportunities to step away and disappear.
• Combat instinct: Stacking dodge bonus and initiative, both of which are very large parts of how Joseph functions.
• Bonus feats: Holy crud, this is a super feat-heavy build. Gaining three bonus feats that are all required elements makes a huge difference.
• Combination strike: With Improved Trip meaning that each attack gives two chances to crit, and Combat Reflexes/Defensive Throw/reach weapon also giving several off-turn attacks, critting is likely for Joseph. Wielding a reach weapon eliminates the main drawback of not having Imp Sunder/Disarm.
• Move without barriers: The capstone "nope!" ability, this allows Joseph to slip past obstacles and disappear into hiding, while being immune to most attacks and detection methods. It also renders Joseph immune to most forms of battlefield control.

The Father Confessor (items and other options for Joseph Knecht)

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Definitely pick up a belt of magnificence or similar stat boosters for Joseph Knecht. If a belt of magnificence isn't available, boost stats in the following order: Str -> Con -> Dex -> Wis.

Incarnum Focus items will both increase the potential skill loadout of Joseph Knecht and also boost Basilisk Mask's DC.

Wands in general add a lot of utility. Joseph always seeks out wands of area effects, which he can use to trigger his Cunning Evasion. Unfettered Heroism is another powerful option to have in wand form, especially once you get Action Surge. Heroics can let you pick up Martial Study or other feats (see the next section for ideas on other feats to take).

Decent armor and initiative boosters alongside a magical guisarme are also all useful. Shadow/Silent Moves armor will free up a soulmeld for you, allowing you to instead boost things like Strength checks for tripping.

Feat-wise, there are some other potential options for Joseph:

• Taking regular Dodge instead of Midnight Dodge means less of a crazy defensive boost alongside Psycarnum Infusion, but it also means you can switch your dodge bonus on someone else's turn. Either way has its advantages, or with flaws you could take both...
• Deceptive Dodge allows you to redirect attacks that miss you, similar to diverting defense. This can be a handy tool against full attacks, since you can then misdirect the first two attacks in a routine.
• Shape Soulmeld (Spellward Shirt) will provide additional magical resistance, especially in the early game, although it does not scale well toward the end.
• Psionic Meditation and, if available, Psicrystal Affinity/Containment, can allow you to use Psycarnum Infusion multiple times a round.
• Curling Wave Strike lets you give up your additional attack from Improved Trip to trip another enemy instead.
• If you'd like to focus more on Basilisk Mask, Ability Focus can boost your DC, or you can debuff saves by taking Improved Bind Vestige and Practiced Binder for Focalor.

The Intuitive Life (sources)

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• SRD/Unearthed Arcana: Wilderness rogue/martial rogue ACFs
• Complete Mage: Spell reflection and spell sense ACFs
• Magic of Incarnum: Totemist, Midnight Dodge, Psycarnum Infusion, Open Least Chakra, soulmelds
• Eberron Campaign Setting: Heroic Spirit, Action Surge, Heir of Siberys, Siberys marks
• Dragonmarked: Mark of Stars
• Lords of Madness: Darkstalker, Mindsight
• Complete Warrior: Defensive Throw, Elusive Target
• PHB2: Cunning Evasion

*Quotes from The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse.

[Kuulvheysoon]

I'm climbing in your window, I'm snatching your people up

Seamus the Smasher


I'm in your stuff, breaking your (unattended) items

Build progression (base skills & saves)

Human Kaotri Spellthief 1/Kaotri RHD 2/LA+2/Fiend of Possession 6/Cipher Adept 9

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

1st|Spellthief 1|

+0

|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|Listen 4, Hide 4, Conc 4, Knowledge (arcana) 4, UMD 4, MS 4, Balance 2, bluff 4|Imp Init, Human Bonus: TOUGHNESS|SA +1d6, Steal spell 0 or 1st, trapfinding

2nd|Kaotri (Outsider RHD) 1|

+1

|

+2

|

+2

|

+4

|Listen 4, Hide 4, Conc 5, Knowledge (arcana) 5, UMD 5, MS 4, Balance 2, bluff 4, Survival 5|-|Spell-like abilities: 1/day-alter self, color spray, feather fall, ray of enfeeblement, reduce, spider climb. Caster level 2nd; Vile transformation (Su), Material Vulnerability (Ex), Outsider Traits

3rd|Kaotri (Outsider RHD) 2|

+2

|

+3

|

+3

|

+5

|Listen 4, Hide 6, Conc 6, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 4, Balance 2, bluff 4, Survival 5, Disguise 1|Martial Weapon Proficiency (Greatclub)|-

4th|Kaotri LA +1|

+2

|

+3

|

+3

|

+5

|Listen 4, Hide 6, Conc 6, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 4, Balance 2, bluff 4, Survival 5, Disguise 1|-|-

5th|Kaotri LA +2|

+2

|

+3

|

+3

|

+5

|Listen 4, Hide 6, Conc 6, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 4, Balance 2, bluff 4, Survival 5, Disguise 1|-|-

6th|Fiend of possession 1|

+2

|

+5

|

+5

|

+7

|Listen 7, Hide 6, Conc 6, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 4, Balance 3, bluff 5, Survival 5, Disguise 1|-|Ethereal Form (Su), Hide presence (Ex), Possess Object (Su)

7th|Fiend of possession 2|

+3

|

+3

|

+6

|

+8

|Listen 8, Hide 8, Conc 6, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 4, Balance 3, bluff 5, Survival 5, Disguise 4|-|Curse (Su), Magic Item (Su)

8th|Fiend of possession 3|

+3

|

+3

|

+6

|

+8

|Listen 9, Hide 9, Conc 6, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 4, Balance 4, bluff 6, Survival 5, Disguise 5|Dodge|Control Object (Su)

9th|Fiend of possession 4|

+4

|

+7

|

+7

|

+9

|Listen 10, Hide 10, Conc 6, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 8, Balance 4, bluff 6, Survival 5, Disguise 5|-|Animate Object (Su), Possess Creature (Su)

10th|Fiend of possession 5|

+4

|

+7

|

+7

|

+9

|Listen 10, Hide 11, Conc 7, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 8, Balance 5, bluff 6, Survival 5, Disguise 6|-|Ally or Enemy (Su), Possess Noncontinuous Object (Su)

11th|Fiend of possession 6|

+5

|

+8

|

+8

|

+10

|Listen 10, Hide 12, Conc 8, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 9, Balance 5, bluff 7, Survival 5, Disguise 7|Agile|Control Creature (Su)

12th|Cipher Adept 1|

+5

|

+8

|

+10

|

+10

|Listen 10, Hide 13, Conc 13, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 10, Balance 5, bluff 7, Survival 5, Disguise 7|Improved Unarmed Strike (B)|Bonus Feat, Strike the Weak Spot (Ex)

13th|Cipher Adept 2|

+6

|

+8

|

+11

|

+10

|Listen 10, Hide 14, Conc 14, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 14, Balance 5, bluff 7, Survival 5, Disguise 7|-|Evasion

14th|Cipher Adept 3|

+7

|

+9

|

+11

|

+11

|Listen 10, Hide 15, Conc 15, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 15, Balance 5, bluff 7, Survival 5, Disguise 10|Power Attack|Combat Instinct (Ex)

15th|Cipher Adept 4|

+8

|

+9

|

+12

|

+11

|Listen 10, Hide 16, Conc 16, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 16, Balance 5, bluff 7, Survival 5, Disguise 13|Improved Sunder (B)|Bonus Feat

16th|Cipher Adept 5|

+8

|

+9

|

+12

|

+11

|Listen 10, Hide 17, Conc 17, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 17, Balance 5, bluff 7, Survival 5, Disguise 16|-|Combination Strike (Ex)

17th|Cipher Adept 6|

+9

|

+12

|

+13

|

+12

|Listen 10, Hide 18, Conc 18, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 18, Balance 5, bluff 8, Survival 5, Disguise 18|Steady Concentration (RoS)|Combat Instinct+2 (Ex)

18th|Cipher Adept 7|

+10

|

+12

|

+13

|

+12

|Listen 10, Hide 19, Conc 19, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 19, Balance 5, bluff 10, Survival 5, Disguise 19|-|Improved Evasion(Ex)

19th|Cipher Adept 8|

+11

|

+12

|

+14

|

+12

|Listen 10, Hide 20, Conc 20, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 20, Balance 5, bluff 12, Survival 5, Disguise 20|Improved Critical (Greatclub)|Bonus Feat

20th|Cipher Adept 9|

+11

|

+13

|

+14

|

+13

|Listen 10, Hide 21, Conc 21, Knowledge (arcana) 6, UMD 6, MS 21, Balance 5, bluff 14, Survival 5, Disguise 21|Combat Brute|Combat Instinct+3 (Ex)[/table]

Basic Stats

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Race: Human
Alignment: TN

Initially:

STR 14
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 10
CHA 16

Post Transformation:

STR 10 +1(lvl 4) +1(lvl 8)
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 18
WIS 10
CHA 22 +1(lvl 12) +1(lvl 16)

Level 20, ideal item setup
STR 18
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 18
WIS 10
CHA 34

Tactics by level

Level 1

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Not much to say here except Seamus is a baller for taking toughness (also so he can survive to level 2). Other than that, he is basically your standard spellthief. Spellthief provides a versitile chasis for him to progress even though he is destined for something quite different. Spellthief allows for a number of interesting abilities including stealing low level spells with sneak attack, a host of good skills, and access to the wizard/sorcerer list of abjuration, divination, enchantment, illusion, and transmutation spells for wand use!

ECL 5

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Poor Seamus encountered a group of Kaotri on a mission for one of his jobs. He was subject to the vile transformation and became an outsider with the evil subtype. HOWEVER, it explicitly notes that some adventurers resist the mental transformation and can resist the alignment change though the race remains an outsider with the evil subtype. At this point Seamus loses his human bonus feat as well since all his racial attributes have been replaced (actually granting a host of nice ability modifiers as well). It is worth noting that Outsider HD are extremely good, increasing his BAB and saves though the 2 LA hurts.

Although less tough, he has a number of interesting spell-like abilities now including alter-self as an outsider which opens up interesting possibilities. Spider, climb, feather fall, and reduce all help him sneak around (which his skills should be able to aid him). It also gives him access to color spray and ray of enfeeblement which can help him swing encounters in his favor.

While he has lost some strength from the transformation, he still picks up a greatclub (more on that proficiency later) that he can use to smash people. He picks up the Kaotri suit to survive on the material plane before abandoning the Kaotris who transformed him.

Ideal Gear: Remember, WBL is assigned to ECL not actual character level. With 9000g, you can have a standard Kaotri armor set for 300g +5 hide bonus enchant for 3750g, wand of mighty wallop (750g, remember it's on your spell list), some sort of masterwork maul probably mundane and maybe gauntlets of ogre power +2 for 4000g or just a better weapon.

ECL 10

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Seamus has embraced his new powers as an outsider and is learning how to possess and manipulate objects. He qualifies for it explicitly by being an outsider with the evil-subtype and having the appropriate saves and skills. The class does not require you to be evil, just the evil subtype of which Kaotri are.

There are a lot of fun tricks that he can do as a fiend. It is worth noting that at ECL 6 he is able to use Etherealness at will. This is the 9th level spell which indicates that you can also bring allies. The way it is phrased is ambiguous if it allows this or not. Regardless, it lasts for minutes/HD and it is at will. Seamus has a good CHA score so his save DCs should be reasonably high for his level.

His skills in hide are now put to good use in Hide Presence which allows him to avoid detection. His skills are further boosted by armor enchants and later the collar of umbral metamorphosis to give him the dark template. His hide check should be around 23 (11 ranks, 2 dex, 10 enchant) without any additional wands or anything. Seamus is a master spy and manipulator during these levels. He has a decent listen check and can use his senses as he possesses items. He can effective sneak into anything by possessing or animating objects up to colossal size.

It is important to note that he can make objects with moving parts move such as a cart of unattended weapons, so he could do entertaining stealing cart shenanigans. This would be highly entertaining in a steampunk campaign. At this point it is unclear whether or not he can animate an object, then possess it and use it as part of an object with moving parts, but probably not as it becomes a construct.

Gear starts to become more important. Seamus has 49,000g at this point. I'd recommend upgrading his hide enchant to the plus 10 version for 15,300g total. Cloak of Charisma +4 for 16,000 becomes a good deal for him as well though he may want to postpone this until later unless he is trying to optimize for the level, boosting the save DCs of his possession. There is some gold left over to play with for wands and such. Weapons are less important because Seamus mostly spends his days avoiding combat, but something to sunder with is necessary.

ECL 15 (Sweet Spot)

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Most of Seamus's tactics are finally starting to come together at this point in time. Seamus is an elite infiltrator and destroyer of unattended items of which he has many ways to access and obliterate people's stuff.

At this point thanks to Cipher Adept, the build comes together, it has a purpose, and it has the tools to do what it needs. Cipher Adept gives Seamus the ability to ignore hardness with a concentration check (which his check at this point is very high due to ranks and items). Seamus has a his maul of the titans with gives him triple damage to objects, improved sunder (also from Cipher Adept bonus feats), and now has access to power attack. This means Seamus can completely avoid the check for hardness to reduce the damage, and smash right through it. It is through Cipher Adept that you can destroy the unattended objects so easily. It is through Fiend of Possession, you can get the objects so easily.

Seamus at this point is working for contracts on destroying property or obtaining objects. There are a variety of ways he gets at your stuff. Seamus can also make carts roll away with your stuff, and then when they're far away and you're not looking, BAM STRIKE THE WEAK POINT. Seamus can possess you or your maid who has a weak mind, take your stuff, and strike the weak point in front of her as she stares on confused, Seamus can curse your items until you no longer want to use them, and then, as you toss them aside...STRIKE THE WEAK POINT! Seamus can animate the house next door, wait until you rush to defend the attack, and then BAM STRIKE THE WEAK POINT at whatever you left behind. Seamus can animate your chair, hope you don't fumble that stuff in your handy haversack...BAM STRIKE THE WEAK POINT. You don't know where he is. At this point Seamus could be in the wall, the clouds. He could be in the thing you most long to protect and after you built up safeguards around it, he jumps out and STRIKES THE WEAK POINT. He may be hiding somewhere innoccuous, but suddenly then objects that he animates which means your tables, your beds, your houses themselves may come to life with no goal but to TO STOMP ON THE WEAK POINT of your precious arms and equipment.

Here Seamus has a lot of choices for gear (and 200k to work with), but the most important piece (aside from upgrading your resin suit to +15 hide for 34,050 total) is the wonderous item Maul of the Titans (Srd) which gives triple damage against inanimate objects for a measely 25305g, adding on sundering for another +1 is a nobrainer (the interaction between adding additional enchants onto wonderous weapons is not entirely clear, this could be expensive or rather cheap depending on how the DM reads it). Picking up a collar of umbral metamorphosis (22k) (Tome of Magic) is necessary at this point to further keep up with the hide arms race. Seamus will need a +6 Strength enchant or belt of giant's strength (36k) plus a manual of bodily health (55k) to use that Maul successfully. A wand of greater mighty wallop here would be nice as well which would allow Seamus to hit extremely hard even before his damage is tripled. Items don't have much for AC either so using power attack will further increase his damage. Third eye concentrate is also a good choice at this point to further optimize his concentrate checks.

ECL 20

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Cipher adept continues to enhance the build. At this point Seamus's tactics are basically the same as before. However, he becomes more adept in combat with Combination Strike, allowing some proficiency in combat if caught when he crits an attack. His critical range has become large due to improved critical from Cipher Adept's bonus skills. Additionally, Seamus has become more slippery from improved evasion and combat instincts. The build continues to do what it is meant to do, but he now has better tools to survive and more options in combat as he will start to actually get caught more and more at this ECL and needs some options to defend himself or run which is what Cipher Adept provides.

At level 15, he had basically all he needed to destroy your junk out of combat, the additional levels in Cipher Adept just continue to allow him to do better in combat and also make him more slippery.

He also has an absurd amount of wealth now. He definitely can afford Third eye conceal (MIC). Using the item combine rules, combining third eye conceal with third eye concentrate would be amazing. Further enchant his weapons, armor, and buy whatever wands he needs to help him to continue to compete. A cloak of charisma +6 and manuals of charisma are also good options at these levels to make his abilities truly hard to ignore.

Why this is a Cipher Adept build and not just a FoP build with CA tacked on

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The build has two main points. The first is allowing Seamus to infiltrate and the second is allowing Seamus unleash his fury on your unattended items. For the first, most of the infiltration is derived from Friend of Possession, that much is obvious--and I dare say flashy but it is not the FOCUS of the build. Also CA continues to allow for him to have that stealthiness with hide and move silent class skills. Furthermore, it allows Seamus the extra damage and ability to sunder effectively. While he has some proficiency at this without the levels in CA, they enhance it tremendously using all the bonus feats effectively and using both major class skills (Strike the Weak Spot & Combination Strike). It does make better use of Strike the Weak Spot than Combination Strike, but strike the weak spot is the cornerstone of the major tactics of the build. Evasion & Improved evasion are both very useful to have as well and combat instinct could possibly give him an edge to duck into the ethereal plane, animate an object, or go somewhere to hide.

Additionally, Fiend of Possession is only a 6 level prestige class. One cannot claim that it would be better to continue with FoP since it ends. You then have to go somewhere and Cipher Adept is a place to go. The two classes synergize very nicely with manipulation and then destruction of objects.

Seamus could fit the party role of scout, manipulator, or with some skill adjustments social face of a party. He would fit in well in a highly social/RP heavy game, an intrigue/mercantile game where there are objectives to destroy objects, or a game where you want a strange character to troll your friends. Seamus has the added bonus of being good for a player who needs to be absent for many days since he can enhance a weapon of an ally. However, I see him more as an absolutely terrifying reoccurring villain your players will absolutely hate as he slowly smashes the gear that your players have come to love.

Variants

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Variant option #1: An interesting option is using the same possession theme, but using the Ghostwalk rules to create a creature who behaves very similarly. Something like Marshal 2 (bonus to sunder aura/other auras)/Hexblade 4 (debuffing)/Eidolon 4/CA 10. I didn't want to submit a build from that book since it's riddled with errors and variants which is the DM's call to accept or not to accept. However, using ghost ride, and the malevolence feat line, your cipher adept can just assume control of other people or corpses and then use their physical scores paired with the good mental scores to break items in or out of combat. This build also provides good debuffs and has improved evasion with mettle with pretty good saves.

Variant option #2: You could use the same build but change it around at the end. Spellthief 1/Kaotri 2/LA+2/FoP 6/Cipher Adept 5/Hexblade 4. You again have evasion (but not improved) with mettle, and have better debuffing and BAB. This build does not incorporate the SI as well and additionally you lose out on improved critical and improved evasion. Still, it's not a bad option and uses the unique class features to CA as well.

Sources

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RoS--Steady Conc
Fiend Folio--Kaotri, Fiend of possession
PHB--Dodge, Agile, Imp Init, TOUGHNESS
Complete Adventurer--Spellthief
Planar Handbook--Cipher Adept
Magic Item Compendium--Items not found in the DMG
Complete Warrior--combat brute
Tome of Magic--collar of umbral metamorphosis
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[Kuulvheysoon]

The road goes on forever, and the party never ends

Vitarri Azile, N Elf

Sources Used

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PHB
PHB II
Planar HandBook

The Build

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Azile Elf Ranger 6/Rogue 1/Fighter3/Cipher Adept 10
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features
1st|Ranger|

+1

|

+2

|

+2

|

+0

| Handle Animal+4 ;Hide+4 ;Listen+4 ;Move Silently+4 ;Balance+2 ;Survival+4 ;Ride+4|Weapon Finesse ;Track |Favored Enemy(Animal)+2 ;Wild Empathy
2nd|Ranger Level|

+2

|

+3

|

+3

|

+0

| Handle Animal+5 ;Hide+5 ;Listen+5 ;Move Silently+5 ;Balance+2.5 ;Survival+5 ;Ride+5|Two Weapon Fighting| Combat Style
3rd|Ranger|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

+1

| Handle Animal+6 ;Hide+6 ;Listen+6 ;Move Silently+6 ;Balance+3 ;Survival+6 ;Ride+6|Improved Initiative ;Endurance | Bonus Feat-(endurance)
4th|Ranger|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

+2

| Handle Animal+7 ;Hide+7 ;Listen+7 ;Move Silently+7 ;Balance+3.5 ;Survival+7 ;Ride+7|-|Animal Companion- Wolf ; Spells ; +1 Dex
5th|Ranger|

+5

|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

| Handle Animal+8 ;Hide+8 ;Listen+8 ;Move Silently+8 ;Balance+4 ;Survival+8 ;Ride+8|-|Favored Enemy(Magical Beast) +2 ;Favored Enemy(Animal)+4
6th|Ranger|

+6/+1

|

+5

|

+5

|

+2

| Handle Animal+9 ;Hide+9 ;Listen+9 ;Move Silently+9 ;Balance+4.5 ;Survival+9 ;Ride+9| Agile ; Improved 2 weapon fighting | Improved Combat Style
7th|Rogue|

+6/+1

|

+5

|

+7

|

+2

| Hide+10 ;Balance+5.5 ;Move Silently+10 ;Listen+10 ;UMD+3 ;Tumble +2|-|Sneak Attack +1d6 ; Trap Finding
8th|Fighter|

+7/+2

|

+7

|

+7

|

+2

| Handle Animal+11 ;Ride+10| Agile | Fighter Bonus Feat ; +1 Dex
9th|Fighter|

+8/+3

|

+8

|

+7

|

+2

| Handle Animal+12 ;Balance+6 ;Ride+11| Combat Expertise ;Improved Critical(Rapier)| Fighter Bonus Feat
10th|Cipher Adept|

+8/+3

|

+8

|

+9

|

+2

| Hide+11 ;Ride+12 ;UMD+4|Improved Unarmed Strike| Bonus Feat ; Strike the Weak Spot
11th|Cipher Adept|

+9/+4

|

+8

|

+10

|

+2

| Hide+12 ;Ride+13 ;UMD+5| Evasion | Bonus Feat
12th|Cipher Adept|

+10/+5

|

+9

|

+10

|

+3

| Hide+13 ;Handle Animal+13 ;UMD+6|Mobliity|Combat Instinct +1 ; +1 Dex
13th|Cipher Adept|

+11/+6/+1

|

+9

|

+11

|

+3

| Hide+14 ;Handle Animal+14 ;UMD+7| Improved Disarm | Bonus Feat
14th|Cipher Adept|

+11/+6/+1

|

+9

|

+11

|

+3

| Hide+15 ;Handle Animal+15 ;UMD+8|-|Combination Strike
15th|Cipher Adept|

+12/+7/+2

|

+10

|

+12

|

+4

| Hide+16 ;Handle Animal+16 ;UMD+9| Greater Two Weapon Fighting | Combat Instinct+2
16th|Cipher Adept|

+13/+8/+3

|

+10

|

+12

|

+4

| UMD+12| Improved Evasion| Bonus Feat ; +1 Dex

17th|Cipher Adept|

+14/+9/+4

|

+10

|

+13

|

+4

| UMD+15| Spring Attack | Bonus Feat


18th|Cipher Adept|

+14/+9/+4

|

+11

|

+13

|

+5

| UMD+18| Combat Focus | Combat Instinct +3

19th|Cipher Adept|

+15/+10/+5

|

+11

|

+14

|

+6

| Hide+19|-| Move Without Walls

20th|Fighter|

+16/+11/+6/+1

|

+11

|

+15

|

+7

| Handle Animal+17 ;Hide+20(cc)|-| +1 Str [/table]

Skills and Combat Modifiers

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Hide +26 = 20 Ranks + 6 Dex
Handle Animal + 17 = 17 Ranks + 0 Cha
UMD + 18 = 18 Ranks + 0 Cha
Ride + 19 = 13 Ranks + 6 Dex
Balance + 12 = 6 Ranks + 6 Dex
Tumble + 8 = 2 Ranks + 6 Dex
Listen + 10 = 10 Ranks + 0 Wis
Move Silently + 16 = 10 Ranks + 6 Dex
Survival + 9 = 9 Ranks + 0 Wis

HP = 8 + 6d8 + 1d6 + 3d10 + 10d8 = Avg 100Hp

Fort 11
Ref 16
Will 7 (This Increases to +9 when Combat Focus Activates)

Initiative Modifier - + 13 (6Dex + Improved Initiative +4 + Combat Instinct + 3)

Build Snapshots
Lv5

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At this Point Azile Is just an everyday Ranger who uses TWF, Using Rapiers to gain weapon finesse and the TWF feat help to balance out the cons of dual wielding at low levels. He can operate as a stealthy rogue or as the Party’s guide in the wilderness.

In Combat He functions like a rogue without sneak attack, flanking with his pet and getting multiple attacks off.

Lv10

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Azile Picks up a lot of goodies through multi classing in these Few levels.
A dip into Rogue gives him ranks in Tumble and UMD which come in handy for battlefield mobility and spell casting. Plus it gives him sneak attack dmg, which he uses a lot while flanking with his animal companion.
Fighter Levels give some bonus feats that will be used to qualify for Cipher Adept and some other combat feats later in the build.

Lv14 (Sweet Spot)

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The sweet spot of the build happens here because the key ability, Combination Strike is picked up. Now Azile’s 25% crit chance will allow him a free disarm attempt on average once per round because of his 5 attacks per round (3 from BAB, 1 off hand at -2, 1 off hand at -7). And despite the class not granting the ability to avoid AoO from the Disarm/Sunder attempt he has picked up Improved disarm from the free feat the class gives. Normally Disarm attempts by rogues don’t work but these attempts are reliable for a few reasons:
1) Rapier isn’t a Light weapon so Azile doesn’t take a -4 penalty during his Disarm attemps.
2) Improved Disarm gives a + 4 to Disarm attempts, this will negate anyone’s bonus for wielding a 2h Weapon
3) + 5 Dex +11 Bab, These bonuses will be able to match even a full BAB class of equal level, Please note this is without buffs so the bonuses are subject to being higher than this

Lv15

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Almost the winner for the Sweet spot, Here Azile picks up Greater two weapon fighting giving him a 3rd off hand attack, bringing his total to 6 attacks per round. (17%chance to not get at least one disarm attempt per round)
Evasion and mobility provide good battle field mobility, while improved disarm gives the build some serious oomph.
Improved unarmed strike and strike the weak spot don’t see much action here, unless Azile is disarmed in a counter attempt, in which case he will be able to keep fighting.

Lv20

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Spring attack and Combat focus come around in these levels making Azile’s will save average and allowing him to take a new look into sneak attacks, Now he can slip out of the shadows unleash a flurry of attacks and slip away to make use of move without walls to disappear through a wall and be gone.
Azile Has 7 attacks in his full attack now making Critical Hits even more likely and deadly.

Tactics

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Azile Plays a very rogue based style, fighting with flanks and sneak attacks and flurries of attacks, but instead of doing the massive sneak attack damage of a rogue, Azile plays a supporting role in the Party. Azile can render several combatants useless with his disarm attempts leaving them open for other members of the party to slaughter.
Azile can also fulfill the party’s scout and trap checker, His dip in rogue allows him to find traps above the dc 20 threshold, and is near invisible at 20th level with his ranks in Hide, Move Silently, Balance.

Items

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Azile is a very low needs build. Truly all he needs to perform is a Rapier, Short sword, Leather Armor for max Dex Bonus, and Locked Gauntlets, but anything that has +Dex will increase his effectiveness.

Wands of invisibility, Master Work and magical weapons, and a partner who can decimate his unarmed opponents will give the most throughput for Azile.

UoSI

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Improved Unarmed Strike and Strike the Weak Spot Don't really have a good use in this build so they're sort of Dead weights.

The Bonus feats going to Improved Disarm and Spring Attack Make the build come together as a "Disarm and Move" build.

Combat Instinct builds with Improved Initiative and massive a Dex score to insure that Azile will almost always have the first move and be able to disarm an opponent before suffering any massive damage. It also gives the build's AC, which uses mundane armor, the extra boost to get to 21AC.

Combination Strike is actually the center of the build, by making 7 attacks at 25% critical hit chance you're almost guaranteeing yourself at least 1 if not 2 Disarm chances per round of attacks.

Move without Walls is a tricky capstone to incorporate after dumping wisdom at the start(reading ahead is for dummies anyway right?) but the one round of Ethereal Jaunt can be used as a solid ambush/retreat tactic.

[Kuulvheysoon]

These baby blues aren't innocent

Blue Eyes

It has been said she was born to a noble human family but instead of being loved she was feared for being "cursed." She was born an azurin and her eyes shone with the brilliance of incarnum. The family did not want to keep the child but were loathe to actually harm her. Instead she was carried off into the wilderness and left near a tribe of barbarians. Once she was found, the infant was given to the tribe’s shaman to raise. What the “civilized” world thought was a curse, these People of the Wild believed to be a blessing. She was given the name Blue Eyes.

As she grew she became one of the tribe’s greatest hunters. Sometimes she felt as though she was truly an ancient predator stalking her prey. While on a hunt one day she could feel herself changing and becoming more animal like. Blue Eyes looked down at her feet and saw large talons. She looked at how her hands had become wicked claws. She stalked her prey and was able to bring down a large elk by herself with just her claws. Once she completed her task, she reverted back to her humanoid form. She brought her prize back to her village eager to show her adoptive father what she was able to accomplish.

But Blue Eyes was not able to show her father her kill. He along with most of the village was decimated by the Empire’s Legions. The wretched Empire took from her all that she knew. An anger swelled inside of her that she never knew was there. She lunged at the nearest Legionnaire and pummeled him with strength that she had not known before. Unfortunately for her there were too many for her to take. She was subdued and taken prisoner.

Alone in her cell she cried out in anguish. Then a robed man approached her cell. Quite calmly he looked at her and asked, "What if there was a better way? I can show you. Then you can have what you want."

Her journey had begun.

Build

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N female azurin Wild Shape Ranger 5/Bear Totem Barbarian 2/Cipher Adept 10/Primeval 3

Abilities by Level 32 point buy
{table=head]Level|Str|Dex|Con|Int|Wis|Cha
1st|16|12|16|12|10|10|-|-|-|-
4th|17|12|16|12|10|10|-|-|-|-
8th|18|12|16|12|10|10|-|-|-|-
12th|18|12|17|12|10|10|-|-|-|-
13th|19|13|18|11|11|9|-|-|-|-
16th|20|13|18|11|11|9|-|-|-|-
20th|20|14|18|11|11|9|-|-|-|-[/table]

{table=head]Level|Class|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Wild Shape Ranger 1|

+1

|

+2

|

+2

|

+0

| Balance 1, Concentration 4, Handle Animal 4, Hide 4, Knowledge (nature) 4, Listen 4, Spot 2, Survival 4|Improved Initiative, Midnight Dodge, Track (B)| fast movement, first favored enemy, wild empathy

2nd|Wild Shape Ranger 2|

+2

|

+3

|

+3

|

+0

| Balance +1, Concentration +1, Handle Animal +1, Knowledge (nature) +1, Listen +1, Survival +1| |

3rd|Wild Shape Ranger 3|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

+1

| Balance +1, Concentration +1, Handle Animal +1, Knowledge (nature) +1, Listen +1, Survival +1|Agile, Endurance (B)|

4th|Wild Shape Ranger 4|

+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

| Balance +1, Concentration +1, Handle Animal +1, Knowledge (nature) +1, Listen +1, Survival +1| |distracting attack acf

5th|Wild Shape Ranger 5|

+5

|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

| Balance +1, Concentration +1, Handle Animal +1, Knowledge (nature) +1, Listen +1, Survival +1| |second favored enemy, wildshape

6th|Bear Totem Barbarian 1|

+6

|

+6

|

+4

|

+1

| Climb 1, Handle Animal +1, Jump +1, Listen +1, Survival +1|Extra Wild Shape, Toughness (B)| rage 1/day

7th|Bear Totem Barbarian 2|

+7

|

+7

|

+4

|

+1

| Climb +1, Handle Animal +1, Jump +1, Listen +1, Survival +1|Improved Grapple (B)|

8th|Cipher Adept 1|

+7

|

+7

|

+6

|

+1

| Use Magic Device 3|Improved Unarmed Strike (B)| strike the weak spot

9th|Cipher Adept 2|

+8

|

+8

|

+7

|

+1

| Concentration +1, Survival +1, Use Magic Device +1|Cobalt Rage|evasion

10th|Cipher Adept 3|

+9

|

+8

|

+7

|

+1

| Concentration +1, Survival +1, Use Magic Device +1| |combat instinct +1

11th|Cipher Adept 4 Level|

+10

|

+10

|

+8

|

+2

| Concentration +1, Survival +1, Use Magic Device +1|Self Sufficient (B)|

12th|Primeval 1|

+11

|

+11

|

+8

|

+2

| Jump +1, Listen +1, Survival +1|Shape Soulmeld (dread carapace)| animal empathy, primeval form 1/day

13th|Primeval 2|

+12

|

+11

|

+8

|

+2

| Listen +1, Survival +1| |low light vision, regression 1

14th|Primeval 3|

+13

|

+11

|

+9

|

+3

| Listen +1, Survival +1| |feral power

15th|Cipher Adept 5|

+13

|

+12

|

+9

|

+3

| Survival +1, Use Magic Device +1|Open Lesser Chakra (dread carapace)|combination strike

16th|Cipher Adept 6|

+14

|

+12

|

+10

|

+4

| Survival +1, Use Magic Device +1| |combat instinct +2

17th|Cipher Adept 7|

+15

|

+12

|

+10

|

+4

| Survival +1, Use Magic Device +1| |improved evasion

18th|Cipher Adept 8|

+16

|

+12

|

+11

|

+4

| Survival +1, Use Magic Device +1|Bonus Essentia, Lightning Reflexes (B)|

19th|Cipher Adept 9|

+16

|

+13

|

+11

|

+5

| Survival +1, Use Magic Device +1| |combat instinct +3

20th|Cipher Adept 10|

+17

|

+13

|

+12

|

+5

| Survival +1, Use Magic Device +1| |move without barriers
[/table]

Level 1-5 The Huntress

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Blue Eyes is a Wild Shape Ranger meaning she has traded away her combat style for fast movement and the druid wild shape ability. Another good thing is getting the (lame) Endurance feat for free, as it is a prerequisite for Primeval. The earliest part of her career is spent as any front line fighter would be. Trading away the animal companion for distracting attack makes any rogues travelling with her very happy. When she gains the wild shape ability, she prefers the form of the fleshraker dinosaur – pounce, multiple claw, talon and bite attacks. It also fits the theme of her primeval shape (q.v.). As Blue Eyes is an azurin she is able to make use of incarnum feats. Midnight Dodge gives more essentia and fulfills one of the SI’s feat requirements.

Level 6-10 The Student

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Bear Totem Barbarian? Not that barbarian alternate class feature to get pounce? Yes, Bear Totem. Blue Eyes effectively gets pounce from her wild shape ability so she does not need that here. She also gains the (very lame) Toughness feat for free which is one of the feats she will need for Primeval. She also gains the much more useful Improved Grapple feat. That goes nicely with her wild shape ability especially with the forms Blue Eyes can take. Extra Wild Shape is needed because let’s face it, she is not going to get any more uses of wild shape with class levels. She enters Cipher Adept at level 8. Improved Unarmed Strike is nice so she never has to be with a weapon. Evasion goes well with her high Reflex saves. Need to break down a door? Use the strike the weak spot. Blue Eyes also gains the Cobalt Rage feat for more essentia to fuel her rage or dodge as she thinks she would need at the beginning of the day. Finally who couldn’t use insight bonuses to Armor Class and initiative?

Level 11-15 The Megaraptor

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Here is where the majority of Blue Eyes’ abilities come online. For her bonus Cipher Adept feat Blue Eyes takes Self Sufficient, the last of her lame feat taxes to get into Primeval. How awesome is it to get the feat taxes paid through bonus feats? The primeval form is the megaraptor, so now Blue Eyes can become a large dinosaur with pounce, two big talons, two smaller claws, and a vicious bite. Also unlike wild shape, the primeval form actually adds to her physical statistics so we are adding +10 Strength, +4 Dexterity, and +10 Constitution as well as natural armor. Also at level 12 Blue Eyes learns to shape the soulmeld dread carapace. The essentia part of this soulmeld can be adjusted to taste with her essentia pool, but the real benefit of this comes from the Open Chakra Bind feat allowing all of her natural attacks to have double critical range. Two levels later her primeval form gains an additional +2 to Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and natural armor. Level 15 means we are back into the SI and we gain the combination strike. Remember how all of our natural attacks have doubled crit ranges? We have basically upped our percentages. True Blue Eyes does not have the Improved Disarm feat, so in full megaraptor mode, Blue Eyes would provoke attacks of opportunity but at least she cannot be disarmed. Another great part about the Primeval form is that Blue Eyes can use her wild shape ability to turn into her megaraptor form.

The robed man watched Blue Eyes and rejoiced at her ability to hunt. Her Cipher Adept training helped unlock her primal instincts inside of her. Whenever she assumes her megaraptor form, the robed man knows that Blue Eyes is hunting. When she hunts, whether it is for survival or for revenge, she has climbed the Pinnacle.

Level 16-20 The Pinnacle

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From here Blue Eyes returns to complete the SI. The Bonus Essentia feat is great so that she can now power all of her incarnum feats and not have to choose. During this time Blue Eyes gains improved evasion, and her combat instincts increases to 2 then to 3. Her other bonus Cipher Adept feat goes to Lightning Reflexes which only increases our chances of negating damage through most magic or traps. The capstone ability of moving without barriers can come in handy many ways. In her primeval form she has scent and if she senses an enemy behind a wall or door, she can become ethereal, and attack through the walls. Jaunting to the ethereal plane is also a good escape route if Blue Eyes is facing overwhelming odds. All of her Cipher Adept levels have had skill ranks spent on Use Magic Device. Though her base ability scores makes using this skill dubious at best, she can at least attempt to use wands of animal growth or enlarge person.

Design Notes

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Imagine a velociraptor the size of a box truck with bright blue eyes and transparent blue armor angrily barreling towards you. Our main battle form (without any enhancing magic) is a large raging pouncing incarnum melding megaraptor: Strength 36, Dexterity 19, Constitution 35, Armor Class 26 (-1 size, +4 dex, +8 natural, +3 insight, +2 dodge), Initiative +11 (+4 improved initiative, +4 dex, +3 insight), 70 foot movement speed, all natural weapons double crit range. Things that would help make Blue Eyes more formidable? Wilding clasps (and lots of them). Attach one to any magical light armor since all of her class abilities can still function. Put more on ability or save enhancing items. Of course any item that provides bonus essentia would be welcome as well.

You could also ask your DM if he would allow the secondary maneuver of the combination attack be a grapple. It is not RAW but an argument could be made that the grapple attack could fit with the thematic of the combination attack. At least Blue Eyes has the Improved Grapple feat so she would not provoke attacks of opportunities.

If your DM is one of those people who believes in CustServ’s (lame) interpretation of the Open Chakra Feat, replace it with Improved Natural Attack. The essentia that would have been spent for the soulmeld can power her other incarnum feats.

Source List

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Complete Divine: Extra Wild Shape feat
Frostburn: Primeval prestige class
Magic of Incarnum: azurin race; Bonus Essentia, Cobalt Rage, Midnight Dodge, Open Chakra feats; dread carapace soulmeld
Planar Handbook: Cipher Adept prestige class
Players’ Handbook II: distracting attack alternate class feature
Unearthed Arcana: Bear Totem Barbarian and Wild Shape Ranger class variants

[Kuulvheysoon]

MacGyver? Pfffft. Meet his cousin.

The Fixer
N Karsite Psychic Warrior 3/Forsaker 5/Cipher Adept 10

Stats

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Before Racial Mods
Str 16
Dex 10
Con 12
Int 14
Wis 16
Cha 8

After Racial Mods
Str 16 (4th Level and Forsaker increases here)
Dex 10
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 16 (8th, 12th, and 16th Level increases here)
Cha 10

Build

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The Fixer
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|LA 1|

-

|

-

|

-

|

-

|-||SR 10 + class levels, DR 5/magic, Magic Draining Attacks, Spell Healing, Spellcasting Inability, Human Feat and Skillpoints

2nd|LA 2|

-

|

-

|

-

|

-

|||

3rd|Psychic Warrior 1|

+0

|

+2

|

+0

|

+0

|Autohypnosis 4, Balance 4(2), Concentration 4, Listen 4(2), Tumble 4*|Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative(B), Iron Will(H)|Bonus Feat, *Skilled City Dweller

4th|Psychic Warrior 2|

+1

|

+3

|

+0

|

+0

|Autohypnosis 5, Balance 2.5, Concentration 5, Listen 2.5, Tumble 5|Dodge(B)|Bonus Feat

5th|Psychic Warrior 3|

+2

|

+3

|

+1

|

+1

|Autohypnosis 6, Balance 3, Concentration 6, Listen 3, Tumble 6|Lightning Reflexes|

6th|Forsaker 1|

+3

|

+5

|

+1

|

+3

|Balance 3.5 Listen 5, Survival 2| |Str+1, Fast Healing 1(10), Forsake Magic, SR 11

7th|Forsaker 2|

+4

|

+6

|

+1

|

+4

|Balance 4, Listen 7, Survival 4||Str+1, DR 3/magic, magic destruction, SR 12

8th|Forsaker 3|

+5

|

+6

|

+2

|

+4

|Balance 4.5, Listen 9, Survival 5, Tumble 7|Agile|Str+1, Fast Healing 1(20), Natural Weapons, SR 13, Tough Defense

9th|Forsaker 4|

+6/+1

|

+7

|

+2

|

+5

|Balance 5, Listen 10, Tumble 10||Str+1, DR 5/magic, SR 14

10th|Forsaker 5|

+7/+2

|

+7

|

+2

|

+5

|Sense Motive 4, Tumble 11||Str+1, Fast Healing 2(30), SR 15

11th|Cipher Adept 1|

+7/+2

|

+7

|

+4

|

+5

|Concentration 10, Tumble 12|Combat Expertise|Improved Unarmed Strike, Strike the Weak Spot

12th|Cipher Adept 2|

+8/+3

|

+7

|

+5

|

+5

|Concentration 13, Sense Motive 5, Tumble 13||Evasion

13th|Cipher Adept 3|

+9/+4

|

+8

|

+5

|

+6

|Sense Motive 9, Tumble 14||Combat Instinct +1

14th|Cipher Adept 4|

+10/+5

|

+8

|

+6

|

+6

|Sense Motive 10, Spellcraft 4(2)|Improved Disarm, Mage Slayer|Bonus Feat

15th|Cipher Adept 5|

+10/+5

|

+8

|

+6

|

+6

|Sense Motive 15||Combination Strike

16th|Cipher Adept 6|

+11/+6/+1

|

+9

|

+7

|

+7

|Hide 3, Sense Motive 17||Combat Instinct +2

17th|Cipher Adept 7|

+12/+7/+2

|

+9

|

+7

|

+7

|Hide 7, Sense Motive 18|Snatch Weapon|Improved Evasion

18th|Cipher Adept 8|

+13/+8/+3

|

+9

|

+8

|

+7

|Hide 11, Sense Motive 19|Improved Critical (Flail)|Bonus Feat

19th|Cipher Adept 9|

+13/+8/+3

|

+10

|

+8

|

+8

|Hide 15, Sense Motive 20||Combat Instinct +3

20th|Cipher Adept 10|

+14/+9/+4

|

+10

|

+9

|

+9

|Hide 19, Sense Motive 21|Staggering Critical|Move Without Barriers[/table]

Psionics

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Powers Known: Bite of the Wolf (1st), Expansion (2nd), Compression (3rd), all 1st level powers. PP: 0* at ECL 3, 1* at ECL 4, 3* at ECL 5 and on. *Bonus PP from Wis not included.

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Level 5

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A Karsite Psychic Warrior seems a bit weird, but it’ll make sense later. Karsite is an LA+2 race, but it’s worth that LA, giving +2 to Con and Cha, freeing up points for things like Wis for PP and Str for combat. Magic draining attacks mean that anyone struck by a melee attack by the Fixer must make a DC 10 Will save or have one of their magic weapons, armors, or shields stop functioning for 1 round. The DC isn’t spectacular, but everyone rolls a 1 once in a while, and this applies to every attack. At this level failure is more likely, and the loss of a benefit will be more strongly felt. DR 5/magic helps keep the Fixer alive and compensates for having 2 less HD to rely on. Spellcasting inability explicitly allows psionics, so no problem there. Spell Resistance is an important part of Karsite, and important for the Fixer. It’s 10+class levels, so scales at a nice gradual pace. At this point SR is 13, a bit of a problem for some casters. Spell Healing means every time a spell fails to overcome SR, that spell heals the Fixer (2*spell level) hp. That’s a neat way to burn off damage, and it’s just going to get better in a level. SR doesn’t block your own powers, so you can manifest freely, even with magic/psionics transparency.

Invest in the best heavy armor you can get. You’ll be able to enjoy the full benefit until you enter the SI and have to stick with light.

Feats are flying all over the place at these early levels, but they’re all going towards prereqs for the SI, or Forsaker, which starts in a level. Get your jollies out of your magic items now, just don’t get too attached to anything, or make a major investment for a personal item. You’re going to have to give it up at ECL 6. Go ahead and use healing stuff to keep you alive until your other tricks kick in at ECL 6.

Bite of the Wolf is a nice way to add on another attack. Use a two-handed weapon for now, then bite as a secondary attack. Expansion is great for combat, being Large brings a lot of benefits. Spend 2 extra PP to make it last 30 minutes if you really need to be big for that long. It’s well worth the cost. Compression comes in handy when you need to sneak or squeeze through small spaces.

Level 10

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That’s right, It’s Forsaker! “WHY?!” I hear you ask. Do not worry, all will become clear. Forsaker has a lot of things that go into it, so I’ll explain as best I can. First: yes, you really do have to give up all your magic items and swear off using magic items or magic. You are not allowed to benefit from others magic. If you do unknowingly or unwittingly, you lose your class features for a week. “But wait,” I hear you ask, “What about your psionics?” Forsaker doesn’t say anything about psionics. Psionics did exist at the time, so it’s not that they didn’t know. The line between psionic items and magic items is too blurry for my comfort, so I’ll assume those are also not allowed, either. Your DM may have a different view.

Your Forsaker levels begin with a +1 inherent bonus to a stat of your choice (I went with Str) at every level. At ECL 10 your strength is now 22, which helps with damage and attacks.

The fast healing you gain is a little weird, but definitely a neat perk. You heal the first number indicated per round, to a maximum of the second number indicated per day. For example, at ECL 10 you have fast healing 2(30), meaning you heal 2 points per round until you have healed 30 points, a decent chunk of hp for you at this point.

That fast healing can’t heal you all day, which is where Forsaker’s lovely spell resistance comes in. Forsaker gives you SR based on your level that explicitly stacks with existing SR. That means Karsite now really starts paying for itself. At ECL 6 your SR jumps from 13 to 25. That’s a rather higher barrier for casters, especially at such a low level. As always, when it doesn’t overcome your SR, it heals you instead. This is now a semi-reliable tactic for healing, and it will stay this way, because your SR just keeps rising. At ECL 10 your SR has climbed to 33. That’s still pretty difficult for most casters. Monsters with SLAs usually have even lower caster levels, so they shouldn’t pose much of a threat. March right into combat and get hit with AoEs, provided they allow SR. You can even ask any party member casters to include you in multi-target spells if they can spare. Another way to milk this spell healing is to have your party members cast unused spells on you at the end of the day. When they fail to overcome your SR, you get healed. You can even buy them rings of wizardry, with the understanding that they’ll save their low level spells for you. It’s not like they’ll be using most of their 1st level spells at this point.

Natural Weapons makes it so that all your weapons overcome DR as if they were natural weapons, that is, they overcome DR/magic. Tough Defense gives you natural armor equal to your Con bonus, which will be very handy when you switch to light armor in a few levels.

A note about your Forsaker DR. The class technically gives DR 3/+1 and then 5/+2, but these DR types are not found in 3.5. I can find no master update system saying “change all DR/+x to DR/magic” but it’s the common sense thing to assume as they do it in all specific cases, so I wrote it that way in the chart. Your DM may decide that you keep the DR as 5/+2, but it’s quite unlikely. Forsaker requires you to destroy 500gp worth of magic items per day to gain this DR, but if it’s treated as DR 5/magic, don’t bother. Karsite gives you DR 5/magic anyway, so don’t waste the items. Forsaker doesn’t require you do destroy magic items, you just can’t use them, so you can let your teammates enjoy them. In the unlikely event that your DM says your DR stays at 5/+2, you can choose on a daily basis whether you want to make use of it or not. Consider asking a party member to keep a few baubles on hand for you to break when you want them. As for other uses of your money, buy all the weird alchemical things. They aren’t magical, but they give all sorts of nifty benefits.

Level 15 (Sweet Spot)

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It’s Cipher Adept time. Things start changing. Your SR is now 38. This still represents a significant barrier to casters. Combat Expertise is necessary for the Improved Disarm you’ll get from the SI. Evasion means you’ll be in light armor from ECL 12 on out. Tumble’s up to the magic number, so you can avoid AoOs just fine. Concentration is similarly up, so manifesting in combat is no problem. Start using a heavy flail at this point for the +6 bonus on disarm attempts (+4 from two-handed, +4 from flail itself), every little bit helps. Buy a locked gauntlet to protect yourself if the attempt fails and your opponent tries to disarm you. If something weird happens, Improved Unarmed Strike and Bite until you can get a weapon back in your hands.

Combat Instinct, combined with Dodge and Tough Defense keep your AC respectable. The initiative bonus also stacks with improved initiative, so don’t be surprised if you go first rolling at +5.

Mage Slayer means it’s time to start making life difficult for those casters. You don’t have to worry about the penalty because you have a manifester level, not a caster level.

Improved Disarm and Combination Strike are now online, so it’s time to start using some nasty tactics. The heavy flail’s expanded crit range means that critical hits come by more frequently, so disarming is more likely with combination strike, though you’re fully capable of disarming on your own. If you make yourself Large before this, you get another nice bonus. Once you have disarmed your enemy, Use strike the weak point to attack the now unattended object. When the concentration check comes up, expend your psionic focus, treating it as if you had rolled a 15. 15+13 skill ranks+2 Con bonus =31, so you ignore the hardness of any item of hardness 21 or lower. Smash it to pieces. If it was magic, it’s fueled your Forsaker DR. Enemies usually fight much more poorly without their weapons. If you want to get cheesy, armor spikes count as a weapon, and there’s nothing that says you cannot disarm a character of spiked armor, so you can knock that off too, if you feel like being a real stinker. If your DM tries to stop you with a character with spiked gauntlets and a weapon, citing disarm’s text that a character with spiked gauntlets cannot be disarmed, counter by citing the description for spiked gauntlets which states you cannot be disarmed of spiked gauntlets. Note that you can disarm enemies of items that aren’t weapons, such as wands, then break those as well. Disarming opponents of their spell component pouches is possible but inadvisable. It makes people angry and will simply lead to encountering a bunch of casters with eschew materials.

Level 20

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Now it all comes together. Your SR is 43 at this point. You’ll need to switch over to a flail from the heavy flail now so you can use Snatch Weapon, which lets you take a weapon after succeeding on a disarm attempt if you have a free hand. Snatch Weapon also lets you make a free attack with the weapon you just grabbed. If it’s non-magical, feel free to do so. Try and get your party caster to do some recon ahead of time or during the fight so you can know if it’s safe to use. A great tip off to magic weapons, as per the srd, is that 30% of magic weapons glow. That's an easy way to know not to use the thing, and just break it. Free Improved Critical keeps the chance of critical hits up, which helps with Staggering Critical, slowing enemies (as the spell) for 1 round when they are hit with a critical hit. More Combat Instinct means you’re rolling initiative at +7, better than some of those pesky casters with their nerveskitter.

Your tactic as above works well. If you feel so inclined you can now use a modified version. After disarming your opponent and taking the weapon with Snatch Weapon, you can go ethereal and sunder the weapon safely tucked away from your foes. Laugh as they attempt to attack you with spells, their only real option, and fail to penetrate your SR. Use etherealness to bypass barriers they put in your way to stop you. It also works against ghosts. You make it your business to make life tough for the magicals, and you’re pretty good at doing it.

Adaptation

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The most obvious adaptation here is the use of LA buyoff. If it’s allowed, don’t forget to add to your SR, as it’s based off of class levels. More Forsaker seems an obvious choice, especially for the neat slippery mind. If you are taking more Forsaker, be sure to assign the bonuses from level 6+ to a different stat than Str, as inherent bonuses only go up to +5. I’d recommend Wis. If your DM is of the forgiving sort and allows the use of Otyugh Hole, you can use it to buy Iron Will, thus removing the need for the 3rd level of Psychic Warrior (drop compression from your list) and opening a spot for another level of Forsaker. You can afford it, as it’s not like you’re using the money for magic items. These possible 3 more levels will net you slippery mind, Fast healing 2(40), SR 49, and DR 9/magic, or 9/+4 on that off chance. If you do take more forsaker levels, your DR will actually be an improvement over your Karsite DR (7/magic starting at level 6), which means you will have to decide whether or not you want to use your DR. If you don’t have the items to support it or the money to buy them, it’s fine. You can live without higher DR.

Something you might use, but probably won’t, is grafts. You need something to spend your money on, and some grafts are certainly interesting. Their status as a magical item is undetermined, and the process for attaching them is vague. I left them out because they’re too borderline for my comfort and require a DM call. If the DM says yes, then go ahead and buy some grafts.

Your DM might allow psionic items instead of magical ones, in which case those are also worthwhile uses of your money.

Backstory

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The Fixer was happy and peaceful once, living the simple contemplative life in a monastery. The holier monks treated him with kindness. They knew that he did not have within him a great piety, but he had a strong back and an eagerness to help. He did what he could to repair the old rotten beams and keep the pavilions clean, all the while hoping to one day reach the deep universal truths that the monks did. In the monastery, when not doing his chores, he reflected on the vast wonders of the multiverse, honed his mental powers, and wondered as to his purpose in it all.

Then everything changed when the adventurers attacked. They came with fire. They came with axes. Gnawing, biting, breaking, hacking, burning. They tore down whole walls with their spells, running faster than the eye could track, striking down all in their path, all the while jangling like some demonic mockery of prayer bells. Charms, helms, goggles, and all variety of magic items bedecked their bodies. The very air was distorted and colored by the concentrated presence of so much magic. They stole everything of value that they hadn't destroyed. They even raided the reliquaries in the mad hopes that the holy powers of those passed on could add something more to their power. They were consumed by greed, lusting after stronger and stronger magic. The Fixer moved to do something, but as he stepped toward one of the group, she waved her hand dismissively at him, snarling twisted words that seemed to aim straight for his ears. He was struck by a great fear of these monsters as their faces deformed into grotesque versions of their former selves. He fled like a coward, making himself small and cowering in fear of the thundering sounds of the raid. Another of the group saw him hiding in fear and laughed, casually tossing back a globule of sickly green acid that appeared from the air. The Fixer screamed, and then everything went black.

When the dust had cleared he limped out in search of his master and found him lying on the steps. He tried to ask him what had happened, but he was already gone. His old body was too weak to withstand the punishment. The Fixer did what he could to help the dead, burying them with all the proper rites they deserved. When he was finished, he burned his robes and donned the cloak of a traveler. He could not continue his life at the monastery. How could he reflect on the ways of the multiverse when his heart burned with hate? He searched for work in the nearest town, doing simple labor for those who would offer it, but never for the spellcasters, and never for the adventurers.

On one day like many others, after the last of the ragtag groups of bloodthirsty vagabonds had stepped out of the door of the tavern, the Fixer spat on the floor and ordered another ale, muttering about the damn magicals. An old man clad in dull brown stood from the table where he had been sitting alone and sat down beside him at the bar.

“I take it you don’t have too high of an opinion of magic users,” he said calmly.

“What of it?” The fixer said harshly as he turned toward the man, bringing his milky, blue-white eye to bear. The eye was sightless ever since the attack on the monastery, but it could still be used to unnerve people, unnatural and surrounded by scar tissue as it was. The old man blinked and took a calm sip from his drink.

“You don’t scare me, lad,” he said, pulling back his hood to reveal the right side of his face, or what was left of it. His own eye was entirely missing, and deep lines down his cheek showed where bizarrely shaped claws had once carved out bloody furrows. He replaced his hood, shadowing his face once more as he spoke. “I was just wondering if you wanted to do anything about them. You could, you know. We’re a little group of like-minded individuals who think the damn magicals don’t deserve the fame and glory they have. Come back here tomorrow at the same time if you’re interested.” He slid away from the bar and returned to his table as a loud group of adventurers entered, eager to celebrate their latest victory.

The Fixer took him up on his offer and learned the secrets of the magic haters. They taught him much, and he learned quickly. When he had learned all he could from them he set out to travel the land, ridding it of the magicals and those who would grow powerful off their baubles. He reveled in the vengeance he took on the magicals he fought and in their faces as they came to understand that their magic would not help them against one such as he.

As time passed the Fixer found himself increasingly despondent. His hatred was satisfied by the killing of the magicals he encountered, but hatred cannot sustain a man for long before it consumes him whole. Though vengeance was an enjoyable occupation, he could not escape the feeling that there must remain for him a purpose in it all. In his increasingly random travels he happened upon a rather plain monastery, not unlike the one where he had spent his carefree days in a different lifetime. They took him in with great hospitality, offering him what they could of their humble meals. He asked them what order they were. They explained their philosophy to him, how the multiverse had a great purpose, and that by education or intent people strayed from their own minor purpose.

It was at that moment that the Fixer finally understood. If education and an excess of thought led one to stray from the path, then surely magic, with its abundance of study and concentration, was the greatest force opposing the purpose. Magic altered the very nature of the multiverse, leaking planes into each other, moving about swaths of energy, creating whole new demiplanes. Magic must then be corrupting and perverting the one great purpose. Every being had their own purpose. The Fixer now knew his. It was his duty to set right the wrongs magic had created, to slay the users of magic and destroy the things they had created. From this purpose grew a great energy, a driving force which would sustain the Fixer in the years ahead. This was not the dangerous consumptive fires of vengeance, but the reassuring warmth of purpose. The Fixer slept that night in great contentment. He rose early and departed the next morning, leaving the monastery a sack of gold the size of two fists, a gift in return for the gift of purpose they had given him. He set out not with grim resolve, but with eagerness to set the multiverse right again. There was much work to be done.

Sources

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Karsite: Tome of Magic
Skilled City Dweller: Cityscape Web Enhancement
Forsaker: Masters of the Wild
Mage Slayer: Complete Arcane
Snatch Weapon: Song and Silence
Staggering Critical: Drow of the Underdark
Psychic Warrior, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Agile, Improved Evasion, Improved Disarm, Great Fortitude, Lightning Reflexes, Iron Will: srd
Second Paragraph Quotes: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

[Kuulvheysoon]

Hmmm... more Kyoshi than Aang, methinks

Togashi Mitsu; Lesser Shyft Ninja 8/Dungeon Crasher Fighter 2/Cipher Adept 10

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“Welcome, Miya Hatori, to the end of your journey.”
Hatori glances up in surprise, eyes widening as he noticed the man standing at the top of the twenty-foot boulder, grinning down at him. He wore only a loose hakama. His broad shoulders and shaven head gleamed in the setting sun, revealing a complex tattoo pattern of a white dragon, coiled about his chest and limbs. The Unicorn guards that accompanied Hatori gathered about the old shisha warily, pointing their bows and lances at the strange man.
“Who are you?” Hatori asked, unafraid as he studied the stranger.
The tattooed man shrugged. “Just a curious observer” he said. “I am Matsuo.”
“What do you wish from me?” Hatori asked.
“I mean no harm,” Matsuo said, holding out his hands, and grinning at the Unicorn soldiers to calm them. “You are undertaking a legendary journey, and I only wished to be a part of it. Like Sun Tao of old, you have visited the Great Clans, and learned from them.”
“True,” Hatori replied, “but I am not the great general Sun Tao was.”
“Perhaps,” Matsuo replied. “On the other hand, unlike Sun Tao, it appears you are going to make survive your adventure. So in a way, you are more successful than he.”
“You dragon have a peculiar way of looking at things,” Fuzake Sekkou said. The young Shugenja shielded his eyes as he looked up at the Dragon. “You are not the first to have made such a statement, and I’ve just realised who you are. Togashi Matsuo! You are Togashi Mitsu’s student!” The shabby girl got awkwardly off her horse, striding forward and extending her hand to Matsuo, who only stared upon the gesture with surprise. Sekkou caught herself at the last moment, realising that the Gaijin customs of the Unicorn clan were alien to the rest of the Rokugani clans-people. However, before she could lower her hand, Matsuo hopped down off of his rock, shrugged and shook it anyway.
“You have heard of me?”
“My master, Lord Toku, was a friend of your master. I read aloud the correspondence when mine own Daimyo’s eyes began to fail. Lord Toku had naught but praise for the legends surrounding Lord Mitsu’s own extraordinary adventures. He has sent an invitation to your master and his dojo to the Vigilant Keep. You feature prominently within the stories.”
“Really?” Matsuo said, fascinated, a curious half grin forming. “I had no idea I was famous. Perhaps I should allow that fame to go to my head. I’ve always wanted to be arrogant, and now I have an excuse to be so at long last.”
“You are much like your teacher,” Hatori said with a grin. “I knew of him of old and read his treatise. How is Mitsu lately?”
“Fine presumably.” Matsuo said, looking back at Hatori. “When last I saw him, he plummeting into a collapsing cavern filled with molten lava. I have not seen him since, but there is no reason to believe we will not mean again.”
“How can you be sure he survived?” Sekkou asked. The earth-focused Shugenja of the Monkey clan was cynical of even so great a man as Togashi Mitsu to survive a fall into a volcanic lahar as a mountain crashed around him.
“How can you be so sure he didn’t?” retorted Matsuo with his half-smile again. “Either my master is alive, or he is not. Either way, we’ll meet again. I shall tell him what I’ve seen, he’ll tell me what he’s seen, we’ll both grow from our adventures and lessons. Come, let’s go somewhere more comfortable. There’s an inn down the road and a geisha house next to it. There’s a girl called Mae, there. The Tao says that each and all with find their own path to enlightenment in their own time. I know that mine own is deep within her eyes.”
Sekkou blushed crimson, despite her grubby complexion, clearly embarrassed about the open talk. “Is that not unseemly, Matsuo-san? I thought that the tattooed clans-people were supposed to be the holy-men and –women of the Dragon?"
“Ah, my dear Shugenja. But there are some who are more holy than others.” Matsuo turned and began to walk down into the valley to the village and the inn with the geisha house next to it and Mae with her eyes that led to enlightenment. “Plus,” he called over his shoulder as Hatori helped the Shugenja clumsily regain her mount and the Unicorn Guards followed the Dragon Monk, “a man who has sworn off sweets can still enjoy the smells of the bakery!”

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

1st|Ninja 1|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|

+0

|Balance (4), Concentration (4), Disable Device (4), Hide (4), Listen (4), Move Silently (4), Search (4), Spot (4), Survival (2 cc)|Magic In The Blood|AC Bonus, Ki Power, Sudden Strike +1d6, Trapfinding

2nd|Ninja 2|

+1

|

+0

|

+3

|

+0

|Balance (5), Concentration (5), Disable Device (5), Hide (5), Listen (5), Move Silently (5), Search (5), Spot (5), Survival (2.5 cc)||Ghost Step (Invisible)

3rd|Fighter 1|

+2

|

+2

|

+3

|

+0

|Balance (5), Climb (2), Concentration (5), Disable Device (5), Hide (5), Jump (2), Listen (5), Move Silently (5), Search (5), Spot (5), Survival (3 cc)|Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff)|

4th|Fighter 2|

+3

|

+3

|

+3

|

+0

|Balance (5), Climb (4), Concentration (5), Disable Device (5), Hide (5), Jump (4), Listen (5), Move Silently (5), Search (5), Spot (5), Survival (3.5 cc)||Dungeon Crasher

5th|Ninja 3|

+4

|

+4

|

+3

|

+1

|Balance (6), Climb (5), Concentration (6), Disable Device (5), Hide (6), Jump (5), Listen (6), Move Silently (6), Search (5), Spot (6), Survival (4 cc)||Sudden Strike +2d6, Poison Use

6th|Ninja 4|

+5

|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

|Balance (7), Climb (6), Concentration (7), Disable Device (5), Hide (7), Jump (6), Listen (7), Move Silently (7), Search (5), Spot (7), Survival (4.5 cc)|Dodge|Great Leap

7th|Ninja 5|

+5

|

+4

|

+4

|

+1

|Balance (8), Climb (7), Concentration (8), Disable Device (5), Hide (8), Jump (7), Listen (8), Move Silently (8), Search (5), Spot (8), Survival (5 cc)||Sudden Strike +3d6, AC Bonus +1

8th|Ninja 6|

+6/+1

|

+5

|

+5

|

+2

|Balance (9), Climb (7), Concentration (9), Disable Device (7), Hide (9), Jump (7), Listen (9), Move Silently (9), Search (6), Spot (9), Survival (5)||Acrobatics +2, Ki Dodge

9th|Ninja 7|

+7/+2

|

+5

|

+5

|

+2

|Balance (10), Climb (7), Concentration (10), Disable Device (8), Hide (10), Jump (7), Listen (10), Move Silently (10), Search (8), Spot (10), Survival (5)|Agile|Sudden Strike +4d6, Speed Climb

10th|Ninja 8|

+8/+3

|

+5

|

+6

|

+2

|Balance (11), Climb (7), Concentration (11), Disable Device (8), Hide (11), Jump (7), Listen (10), Move Silently (11), Search (8), Spot (11), Survival (5), Tumble (2)||Ghost Strike, Skill Trick (Listen To This)

11th|Cipher Adept 1|

+8/+3

|

+5

|

+8

|

+2

|Balance (12), Climb (7), Concentration (12), Disable Device (8), Hide (11), Jump (8), Listen (11), Move Silently (11), Search (8), Spot (12), Survival (5), Tumble (3)|Improved Unarmed Strike|Strike The Weak Spot

12th|Cipher Adept 2|

+9/+4

|

+5

|

+9

|

+2

|Balance (13), Climb (7), Concentration (13), Disable Device (8), Hide (11), Jump (9), Listen (11), Move Silently (11), Search (8), Spot (13), Survival (5), Tumble (4)|Stunning Fist|Evasion

13th|Cipher Adept 3|

+10/+5

|

+6

|

+9

|

+3

|Balance (14), Climb (7), Concentration (14), Disable Device (8), Hide (11), Jump (10), Listen (11), Move Silently (11), Search (8), Spot (14), Survival (5), Tumble (5)||Combat Instinct +1

14th|Cipher Adept 4|

+11/+6/+1

|

+6

|

+10

|

+3

|Balance (15), Climb (7), Concentration (15), Disable Device (8), Hide (11), Jump (11), Listen (11), Move Silently (11), Search (8), Spot (15), Survival (5), Tumble (6)|Mobility|

15th|Cipher Adept 5|

+11/+6/+1

|

+6

|

+10

|

+3

|Balance (16), Climb (7), Concentration (16), Disable Device (8), Hide (11), Jump (12), Listen (11), Move Silently (11), Search (8), Spot (16), Survival (5), Tumble (7)|Forceful Staff Style|Combination Style

16th|Cipher Adept 6|

+12/+7/+2

|

+x7

|

+11

|

+4

|Balance (18), Climb (7), Concentration (17), Disable Device (8), Hide (11), Jump (12), Listen (11), Move Silently (11), Search (8), Spot (17), Survival (5), Tumble (8)||Combat Instinct +2

17th|Cipher Adept 7|

+13/+8/+3

|

+7

|

+11

|

+4

|Balance (19), Climb (7), Concentration (18), Disable Device (8), Hide (11), Jump (12), Listen (11), Move Silently (11), Search (8), Spot (18), Survival (5), Tumble (9)||Improved Evasion, Skill Trick (Nimble Charge)

18th|Cipher Adept 8|

+14/+9/+4

|

+7

|

+12

|

+4

|Balance (20), Climb (7), Concentration (19), Disable Device (8), Hide (11), Jump (12), Listen (11), Move Silently (11), Search (8), Spot (19), Survival (5), Tumble (10)|Pharaoh's Fist, Spring Attack|Skill Trick (Spot the Weak Point)

19th|Cipher Adept 9|

+14/+9/+4

|

+8

|

+12

|

+5

|Balance (21), Climb (7), Concentration (20), Disable Device (8), Hide (11), Jump (12), Listen (11), Move Silently (11), Search (8), Spot (20), Survival (5), Tumble (12)||Combat Instinct +3, Skill Trick (Extreme Leap)

20th|Cipher Adept 10|

+15/+10/+5

|

+8

|

+13

|

+5

|Balance (23), Climb (7), Concentration (20), Disable Device (8), Hide (11), Jump (12), Listen (11), Move Silently (11), Search (8), Spot (21), Survival (5), Tumble (13)||Move Without Barriers, Skill Trick (Acrobatic Backstab)[/table]

Ability Scores
Str; 14 (-2 Racial); 12
Dex; 12 (+2 Racial); 14
Con; 10
Int; 16
Wis; 16 (+2 Racial); 18 (+5 Inherent); 23 final
Cha; 8 (-2 Racial); 6

Level-by-Level Breakdown

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Level 5

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From the start I am an adequate scout. Magic in the Blood allows me to scout. Many would state "take Darkstalker" but Ethereal Jaunt renders me immune to that; "invisible, inaudible, insubstantial and scentless" making Darkstalker less useful than it normally would be; even Mindsight cannot cross planar boundaries. I get a Ki Pool of 6 gives me the ability to become Invisible for 1 round; this is near enough Hide In Plain Sight without needing to waste Plane Shift, while the Sudden Strike can be combined with that to increase damage; doubly so if I can force a Bull Rush out of it; gaining 4d6 Bull Rush+2d6 Sudden Strike on a two handed quarterstaff can quickly get a bit naughty. While True Neutrality is required, teaming that up with a Ninja's poison use makes me able to help disable enemies if really needed. The additional Feat is useful with regards to qualification and sets up the Forceful Staff style chain later on in the build. It also means that I have the same AB as a Full BAB character until 6th level when they gain their first iterative attack.

If usages of Invisibility or Ethereal Jaunt are getting low, I can alternatively simply wrench the door off its hinges or punch through a wall; I'm no 22 Strength Half Orc, but I'm still fairly capable (+6 as opposed to +11), despite the racial Strength penalty. It means I become a little less stretched for feats.

As a more niche ability, my Ethereal ability from the start can be used to apply ingested poisons to foods, assuming that once the liquid or minerals or herbs etc have left the container they are no longer in my possession and hence can affect the Material Plane. I simply trigger the ability, and then I have 54 seconds to make my way into a room, and then pour the contents of the vial into the wine glass/decanter etc. The Dungeon Crasher ACF has a couple of very useful abilities as well, however, that are usually forgotten in favour of the Bullrush additional damage; the extra AC and bonus to Saves versus traps means that at this level, I have a +7 Reflex Save and an AC of 16 versus trap attacks. I am as capable in the palace and social situation as I am in the dungeons and caves (even though I cannot party face to save my life; I can literally “wish like the ground would swallow me up” and hide).

My more mundane defences include my ability to add my Wisdom to AC, and as that only works while Unarmoured, I gain my Dex to that usually as well; meaning that without augmentation, I have an AC of 16. In regards to going first; my Initiative is +6, meaning I am typically going first.

Level 10

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The main tactic that was intended to work with the SI's capstone is now online; Ghost Strike; this allows me to attack at the expense of a point from the Ki-Pool; and it works also with the racial Ethereal Jaunt. I round out the prequisites for Cipher Adept, all the while keeping up my role as a skill monkey; Great Leap, Acrobatics, and Agile all going towards useful abilities while in a dungeon or roof-rafters. The Sudden Strike damage keeps advancing, as does the Ki-Pool increasing the number of times I can Strike from Ethereal, gaining Sudden Strike while punting said target into a wall, doing around 9d6 damage on each hit; as the Quarterstaff is a double weapon, and I'm attacking a Denied Dex foe while Invisible, I can stack some fairly decently accurate hits despite the mediocre BAB. My Ki Pool has 9 points in it now. I should typically always be initiating combat, but this is not always the case; but with my Ethereal Jaunts now lasting for a Minute for each use, and with 3 of them, I should usually have some sort of ability to go at least Invisible as soon as the combat starts.

Ki-Dodge can be useful when I am out of uses of my racial Etherealness, but on the other hand, Invisibility is usually the better option, and if I am still able to be Ethereal at some point later that day, keep the Ki Pool for Ghost Strike. In trapfinding though, those which use attack rolls might find the 20% miss chance a bit troublesome. With my Intelligence score bonus, I can take 10 to notice difficult non-magical traps, and then disable, and reset a trap. With the skill trick "Listen To This" I can scout ahead as an Ethereal, and then return to the party and quote verbatim what the party would like to hear regarding conversations.

With Speed Climb, I can quickly ascend cliffs that have handholds. In conjunction with Great Leap, Acrobatics and Taking 10 with skill synergies I can make jump DC's of 28 as if I was always running; I am nearly able to make 30ft long jumps and 7ft high jumps to help with traversing natural cliffs similar to mission impossible, despite having only a climb check of +10 (Circumstance, Strength and ranks). If I fall, there's no real danger; I can always go Ethereal, at which point I get 360 degree movement at will. However, usages are limited, to I'd prefer not to, so unless in a rush, it's back to going slow, and hamering in pitons and taking rope to support myself, as well as providing an easier climb for my allies (Note; tying a firm knot (as in one to support myself while climbing) is a DC10 Task; taking 10 is enough.

By this stage, I have also taken Survival to its limit; I am able to use my Search synergy to gain bonuses while tracking (in place of a Ranger or another dedicated tracker), I can always find north (very useful while Ethereal) and in the event of a lower tier Survival-style game (appropriately named), I can provide adequate food myself and the majority of my party if there is no-one else capable of doing so (another Survival based character).

Level 15

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And now we're in to the SI. At 12th level, I gain Evasion, the same level as if I had continued as a Ninja (Ninja 12), which was nice. Combat Instinct is adding to my AC and to my Initiative, while Strike the Weak Spot gives me a mundane way of breaking into places that is a little more subtle than kicking in the wall, and doesn't waste a use of my Plane Shift.

Improved Unarmed Strike sets me up nicely for Stunning Fist, although sadly I cannot use it with my weapon until 15th level when Forceful Staff Style comes into play, which allows me to use Stunning Fist through my Staff, which if successful gets the ability to bull rush people, which is where Dungeon Crasher comes in. If this just so happens to confirm a critical hit, then I can also either attempt to disarm or sunder something belonging to the target, leaving them unarmed, and unable to reach their weapon (the weapon is on the floor where they dropped it, not in the square where they were bullrushed). Disarming is by far the more preferable; sundering isn’t fantastic, to destroy loot, although it does have its place on occasion. The chance to do either however is the same; all references from here-on that refer to disarm also refer to sunder with very little difference between the two.

Although I lack the bonus to Disarm for lacking Improved Disarm, I am immune to the targets retaliatory attack (regardless of whether they were flat footed or not) and as I cannot take damage, it cannot fail. I am not sure as to how a target can make an opposed attack roll against an Ethereal opponent, but with a 2 Handed Weapon, Invisibility, and a midway decent BAB, it's a decent chance at disarming by RAW.

Strike the weak spot is less useful in higher powered campaigns, where it's assumed every man and his empowered maximised awakened Dire Bear buddy is packing an Adamantine multi-tool dagger. However, not everyone is able to use that, and as my resources for Etherealness are not useable at will, I need to conserve them. Sometimes, breaking and entering just has to be done. Before, when I had a Dungeon Crasher's ability to break down doors and walls, it was not a particularly high check. Given time, I could break down all but an Iron Door (DC26 required rolling a 20), but the continual banging as I kicked it in were likely to attract the guards attention; not always brilliant on a stealth mission, but I had Etherealness to counter that, either bypassing it, or just scaring the bejezzus out of the guards as they heard poltergeist noises all over. However, Strike the Weak Spot allows me, in conjunction with Improved Unarmed Strike (say I'm being held captive in an Anti-magic Field cell), to kick down that same Iron Door with my bare hands. (I just wish I was a druid, so I could mis-type and say Bear-hands). A strong wooden door is unlikely to take more than 30 seconds or so to get through, while breaking into a treasure chest with a trap attached is less of an issue if I can just carve through it in a couple of rounds. This allows me to bypass locked doors etc and save wasting my daily resources on trivial mundane matters, although I still have those to fall back on if need be.

Even a completely solid stone wall can be broken through with enough time; 3ft of Hewn Stone has 540 HP; with a single punch a round, despite the very sore knuckles, it should not take more than ~12 minutes to get through. Castle walls are no match for me, or those people behind me, more well trained in Architectural Engineering who know where to plant lots and lots of explosives to put even bigger holes in something.

Level 20

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Between Pharaoh's Fist and Spring Attack, the build is now complete. I get additional, and more importantly, more flexible usage out of the "Move Without Barriers" ability to Ethereal Jaunt; while it's not as long a duration as the racial Plane Shift (which is 2 minutes long), it is instead able to be split up into chunks.

Combat Instinct increases my Initiative to +9, while my AC is +11 (+12 with Dodge, +16 with Mobility). This is fairly low, but there should be little reason now as to why I am in combat without being Incorporeal.

As to the Feats; Pharaoh's Fist is an AoE stun, affecting all those adjacent to the target. Normally, this is a terrible feat unless you can do it with reach, as it would otherwise include yourself, however, I am Ethereal, and therefore on another plane, and not "adjacent to that opponent" (as per the wording). This means that all those affected must pass a DC26 Save or all be affected by Forceful Staff style and be bull-rushed taking Dungeon Crasher Damage. As these are all typically going to be flat-footed targets as well, these also take Sudden Strike Damage. As I can only critical one target (the rest are automatically affected by the Stun), there is sadly no AoE Disarm by RAW, but it's worth asking the DM simply because of the rule of cool, that should you manage to get a critical on the AoE Stun that it's strong enough to knock away the held items.

As I'm Ethereal and "invisible, inaudible, insubstantial and scentless", I just need to walk into a group of people, and then slam my staff into the round like it's some sort of special effects heavy kung fu movie, and blow away a load of opponents. Spring Attack allows me to move before and after the attack, and if I get to choose in which order to apply the feats, then I'm able to move more than the 5ft normally specified, and catch up the main target. Ghost Strike is only on a single attack for each use of the ability, so it's normally limited, but the additional damage stacking on top makes that more useable. While I'm not always going to be the most able in normal combat, I have an AC of 21 by this stage, the equivalent of +3 Full Plate armour; but with taking additional defensive actions in dangerous situations (if my Ethereal nature has ran out or someone has weapons of force, such as with a Sonic Dragonfire Inspiration, or similar), I can get a +6 rather than +4 when fighting defensively, and I can combine that tumble (with the Mobility Feat shoring up the defence by being able to cause a situation for Flat-footedness. Twisted Charge allows me to turn on the charge as well.

At this level, Ethereal is mostly important when facing off against any spellcasters who can target my Will. Despite my highish wisdom, it is a poor save in all 3 classes I have taken, so by going Ethereal, I cannot be affected without Transdimensional Spell or Force affects (or someone else using Ethereal Jaunt).

Although I'm lacking a climb speed and skill check boosting spells like a cleric, I can still get a skill check of 31 on Balance (23 ranks, +2 Agile, +2 Tumble, +2 Dex, +2 Item) which I can take 10 on, I can effectively climb up a cliff under my own steam despite having low ranks in climb, and I can balance on a ledge less than an inch wide. Combined with my Jump score and Extreme Leap, I am unlikely to be caught short (Jump check of 31 taking 10) allows 30ft long jump with a 10 ft Extreme Leap skill trick. Even if I don’t make it, going Ethereal will “catch” me.

All these combined turn me into a Ninja extraordinaire; up the walls, under the walls, through the walls (punching or gliding) I’m in there. Nothing is capable of stopping me getting into something. Other useful abilities include the Spot the Weak Point Skill Trick; essentially, any target with an AC of 29 or lower (not including augmentation outside of a +2 Circumstance), my next attack is a touch attack. Very useful to ensure I have the ability to AoE stun a group of people while Ethereal, and I can get right up close so that there’s no spot penalties. And if I ever need to deal more damage in combat; Acrobatic Backstab comes in handy to key Sudden Strike damage.

Build Notes

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Shyft are Planetouched from the Fiend Folio with a LA of +3. Lesser Planetouched from the Players Guide to Faerun states that lesser versions "never have to worry about level adjustments". The example of Drow being that their ECL is no longer 3, but 1. Some people choose to interpret this as Planetouched being -1 LA, but this is against RAW. If a judge so chooses to go via that route, then I am still able to make the build work, but this requires the use of LA Buy Off. Alternatively, if that is still not available, dropping the 2 fighter levels and the last level of the SI (as I already have a similar ability from the race) in favour of taking Flaws gets the same result, although misses out on the bonus damage of the Dungeon Crasher and its AC versus traps.

While mentioning flaws, if Flaws were available, viable options would have been Craven and Increased Ki Pool for increased damage, and yet further attacks from the Ethereal Plane, or Darkstalker if the DM felt like throwing lots of creatures with non-standard detection at ranges that exceeded your ability to detect them yourself.

I particularly like that that build doesn't suffer from any dead levels; I always gain some new class ability or bonus feat at each new level.

I use every single level of the SI; admittedly some more than others, as some are just bonus feats, while others are straight bonuses.
- Improved Unarmed Strike; entry into Stunning Fist/Forceful Staff Style/Pharaoh's Fist chain
- Strike the Weak Spot; according to the PHB, the hardest thing is a Adamantine at 20; taking 10 on the check with 20 ranks in Con means that short of +1 adamantine objects, I should be passing that check each and every time.
- Evasion and Improved Evasion; not much you can really say or do about that; however, with a decent Dexterity score, and having good Reflex Saves on all but two levels, I can be pretty confident to make the save.
- Combat Instinct; with decent dexterity, Improved Initiative and the Combat Instinct, I have a very decent Initiative check with which to get Sudden Strike with against flat footed foes even when I'm not Ethereal. The AC is EXTREMELY helpful as Ninja requires no armour for its abilities.
- Move without Barriers; gives more useability to my racial shifts, making it far more flexible, and Ghost Strike lets me hit from the Ethereal Plane while in that form.
- The Listen Skill check, despite not being available as a class skill (and lacking Able Learner), when combined with Etherealness for scouting means I can make use of the “Listen To This” Skill Trick.
- Balance in conjunction with Tumble allows me to make a “Twisting Charge” Skill Trick, and also meshes in nicely with the Ninja's Speed Climb ability.
- Survival is less useable, which is why it was cut off at its lowest level. However; it still makes use of the 5 ranks to know whichever way is north, and I can help locate food for the party should a cleric not be at hand and we are in a survival style campaign.

Items

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- A Quarterstaff weapon of Impact is about as simple a weapon as needed. This can further optimized in many ways if the campaign allows; particularly as a double weapon, one of my favourite is to make one side a Defending Weapon, with Warning (note, doesn't stack with Combat Instincts) and Eager enchantments; gives me additional Initiative, while ensuring that I have additional AC (+7 and +5 respectively), while Smoking gives me concealment. The other side of the weapon is to aid with the damaging/bullrushing/disarming side; Brutal Surge, Disarming, Deadly Precision, Blurstrike, etc.An Aptitude weapon can replace this, however; it does not specifically need to be a Quarterstaff in this aspect, but it would allow me to improve my critical range.
- Items or Tomes of Wisdom, Strength, and Dexterity
- Relevant Skillcheck boosting items; note that the Quarterstaff can double as a balancing tool for the +2 bonus to Balance checks.
- Belt of Battle; Strike the Weak Spot is a Standard Action. That extra action can allow me to turn Ethereal if I fail to breach the door.
- Necklace of Natural Attacks; with Collision, Corrosive, Sonic, etc. All those which do additional damage to objects, to make Strike the Weak Spot better with my Improved Unarmed Strike.

Sources

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Fiend Folio; Shyft
Player's Guide to Faerun; Lesser Planetouched, Magic In The Blood
Complete Adventurer; Ninja
Dungeonscape; Dungeoncrasher Fighter
Cipher Adept; Planar Handbook
Ghostwalk; Forceful Staff Style
Sandstorm; Pharaoh's Fist
Complete Scoundrel; Skill Tricks
Any other sources missed or needing explained I will be happy to clarify.