Junkyard Wars in the Playground I

[3WhiteFox3]

I intend to do another one after this. Next time, however, there will simply be a second post for "Rules for Judging" to clear up anything, and maybe a reserved third post for an FAQ.

Learned my lesson, but it's been exciting nonetheless!

According to some of the posters, you are not allowed to double post with the new forums. So you'd have to put the other posts deeper into the thread and link to them in the main thread. I know that the Monkday guide had some issues with that, as well as the Pathfinder Grab Bag competition.

I might throw a build up, I'm not sure how much time I'll have before Thursday however.

[Ikeren]

Submitted. I hope people find it amusing.

[OMG PONIES]

According to some of the posters, you are not allowed to double post with the new forums. So you'd have to put the other posts deeper into the thread and link to them in the main thread. I know that the Monkday guide had some issues with that, as well as the Pathfinder Grab Bag competition.

This seems to be causing some confusion; it looks like double posts made in a certain window after a post are simply added to the first as updates, while those after the window appear as true double posts. I just don't know how long the window is.

[Kazudo]

Sounds like it's time for a test, methinks.

[Seerow]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Rawhide has said that the post merging feature will be disabled soon, as they don't like the side effects it has on usability for many situations like this one. (Also for other long posts such as guides/handbooks, large homebrew, play by posts, etc)

[dysprosium]

I see that we have until the 3rd. That's good--I should be able to hammer out my build by then.

If I can't then I will definitely judge.

[Kazudo]

Alright, and here's a test at 10 mi-

Oh. Well. Drat. Good to hear though, Seerow. Glad they see the same things we do.

[Seerow]

According to Rawhide, the double post combining is now disabled.

[Kazudo]

According to Rawhide, the double post combining is now disabled.

Whoo! That sounds tasty. If it works out like that, I'll let ICOCitP know as well.

[Kazudo]

Aaaaaaaaand let's see how it does.

EDIT: Success!

In other news, I've received three submissions so far. I'll be posting them in a different order than I received them to ensure anonymity.

[Amphetryon]

I'll try to have a build submitted in time, term paper permitting.

[justiceforall]

Well crapola. I was going to join in on this, but I didn't take note of the closing date before the forums went down and now I only have one day.

I'll be interested to see if my idea would have been any good, it would highly depend on how much power is scored vs simplicity/etc.

Look forward to reading the submissions.

[Kazudo]

After the submissions have been revealed tomorrow, feel free to post a skeleton of what you were planning. Just for kicks.

AFTER the submissions are revealed.

[justiceforall]

Sounds like a plan. And yes I understand not doing it before - that would be against the rules :).

[Zombulian]

Having an exam tomorrow has turned this challenge into something less feasible than I had hoped. Which is pretty lame because I liked my idea, but I need to sleep now :/
I would still like to end up playing this character some day...

[3drinks]

I've never done one of these before, though I consider myself fairly rules-savvy (my groups always complain about my rules lawyering, power gaming, and higher levels of optimization than they're used to). I'll wait for this to finish, and try to get in on the next one. I can't wait!

Maybe someday I can judge too.

[Kazudo]

Only 9 hours remain to get those submissions in!

So far I have three submissions! It might be an easy time on any of our judges this time around, but who knows! There could be a last minute wave! See you all back at 11:59 PM!

[OMG PONIES]

Only 9 hours remain to get those submissions in!

So far I have three submissions! It might be an easy time on any of our judges this time around, but who knows! There could be a last minute wave! See you all back at 11:59 PM!

Ack, I've gotta get cracking on my submission!

[Ikeren]

I'd be happy with any competition that guarantees me a bronze medal

[sakuuya]

Last minute entry is last minute! And I doubt I'm threatening Ikeren's medal contention.

[OMG PONIES]

I've got my build all planned out, but no formatting or fluff means no entry for me.

[Ikeren]

Submitting anything competent probably threaten's my medal contention

[Telonius]

So when's the Big Reveal?

[Kazudo]

My ears started burning yesterday amidst the tornado sirens and internet outages. I had a feeling that I was being talked about.

PLEASE REFRAIN FROM POSTING UNTIL AFTER ALL BUILDS ARE REVEALED

[Kazudo]

Jackal! Jackal! Is it a Jackal? It's a Jackal! Jackal!

Background

Spoiler

Show

For a long time, Ayesha didn't even realize that her crèche had been wiped out. She had been sent by the Marrutact who led her cell to discover and report on the activities of a rival cell when the world fell down around her ears. She'd survived earthquakes before, but never anything like this—so much of the pyramid had collapsed around her that she could neither return home nor press on toward her target cell. She didn't know how long she picked her way through the endless maze of the sunken pyramid, but with time, and with nothing but dust and vermin for company, she began to forget the rituals of her people. A fever dream, caused by the sting of a monstrous scorpion, set her on a path toward her own rituals, aimed at duplicating the prowess of the arachnids. Soon, she became so adept at mimicking a scorpion that she could will herself to take on their form, which allowed her to squeeze into previously-inaccessible areas of the pyramid. She discovered many things in her travels: rooms once inhabited by the Marru themselves, now filled with abandoned machinery of inscrutable purpose; vast treasure troves, sometimes intertwined with the bones of unlucky interlopers; verdant gardens that should never have survived in the desert outside, let alone buried deep in the pyramid below it.

She also discovered one thing more: The children of Marru were not alone in their home. Her cell had always been vigilant against the odd intruder, of course, and during her journey through the pyramid she had encountered wandering creatures that were more than odd, but her long-held that the children of Marru were the only organized force was shattered by the entity that lurked in deep darkness at the bottom of the pyramid. It granted her power in return for her service, but she knew she was its thrall. Though her eyes were accustomed to darkness, she could never determine its form, and though she was adept at concealing herself, it could always find her. For most of her life, Ayesha would have been grateful to have a superior giving her direction, but she had become used to directing herself, and she rankled when it set her to retrieve particular pieces of treasure or assassinate some other pyramid denizen. Whether or not the entity sensed her dislike, it still bestowed upon her its gifts—the ability to fade into shadows, to teleport through the darkness, even to animate her shadow as an independent entity.

It was this last that proved the entity's undoing, for Ayesha's shadow was not under the same watchful eye as Ayesha herself and (along with some careful use of poison) was able to weaken the dark entity enough that it could not defend itself when Ayesha finally turned on it. Free again, Ayesha redoubled her dedication to her scorpion rituals and to remaining independent. The pyramid, though now bereft of the children of Marru, still contained dangers in the form of newly-freed thralls and other creatures rushing to fill the power void left by the dark entity's demise, but Ayesha had mastered the shadows, and no one saw her now unless she willed it.

Build

Spoiler

Show

Ayesha

N Marrulurk Fighter 2/Scorpion Heritor 8/Shadowdancer 6

Pre-Racial-Adjustment Stats: Str 12, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 10
Post-Racial-Adjustment Stats: Str 14, Dex 24, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 14
Stat increases go to Dex.

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Marrulurk HDl	+1	+0	+2	+2	Hide 4, Know: Nature 2*, Move Silently 4, Survival 2*	Scorpion's Resolve	-
2nd	Marrulurk HD	+2	+0	+3	+3	Hide 5, Know: Nature 2.5*, Move Silently 5, Survival 2.5*	-	-
3rd	Marrulurk HD	+3	+1	+3	+3	Hide 6, Know: Nature 3*, Move Silently 6, Survival 3*	Combat Reflexes	-
4th	Marrulurk LA	+3	+1	+3	+3	-	Manyhot (Bonus Feat), Point Blank Shot (Bonus Feat)	Marrulurk Racial Features (including Sneak Attack +2d6)
5th	Fighter	+4	+3	+3	+3	Hide 7*, Know: Nature 3.5*, Survival 3.5*	Precise Shot (Bonus Feat)	-
6th	Fighter	+5	+4	+3	+3	Hide 8*, Know: Nature 4*, Survival 4*	Dodge (Bonus Feat)	-
7th	Scorpion Heritor	+5	+6	+3	+3	Hide 9, Know: Nature 5, Move Silently 9, Perform: Dance 5	Mobility, Scorpion's Instinct (Bonus Feat)	-
8th	Scorpion Heritor	+6	+7	+3	+3	Hide 10, Move Silently 10, Survival 5, Use Magic Device 7	-	Sneak Attack +3d6
9th	Scorpion Heritor	+7	+7	+4	+4	Craft: Poison 4, Hide 11, Move Silently 11, Use Magic Device 11	-	Scorpion Form
10th	Shadowdancer	+7	+7	+6	+4	Craft: Poison 6*, Hide 12, Move Silently 12, Use Magic Device 12*	Darkstalker	Hide in Plain Sight
11th	Shadowdancer	+8	+7	+7	+4	Craft: Poison 8*, Hide 13, Move Silently 13, Use Magic Device 13*	-	Evasion, Uncanny Dodge
12th	Shadowdancer	+9	+8	+7	+5	Craft: Poison 10*, Hide 14, Move Silently 14, Use Magic Device 14*	-	Shadow Illusion, Summon Shadow (5 HD)
13th	Shadowdancer	+10	+8	+8	+5	Craft: Poison 12*, Hide 15, Move Silently 15, Use Magic Device 15*	Able Sniper	Shadow Jump 20 ft
14th	Shadowdancer	+10	+8	+8	+5	Craft: Poison 14*, Hide 16, Move Silently 16, Use Magic Device 16*	-	Defensive Roll, Improved Uncanny Dodge
15th	Shadowdancer	+11	+9	+9	+6	Craft: Poison 16*, Hide 17, Move Silently 17, Use Magic Device 17*	-	Shadow Jump 40 ft, Shadow Companion (7 HD)
16th	Scorpion Heritor	+12	+10	+9	+6	Craft: Poison 18, Hide 18, Listen 5, Move Silently 18, Use Magic Device 18	Woodland Archer	Sneak Attack +4d6
17th	Scorpion Heritor	+12	+10	+9	+6	Craft: Poison 19, Hide 19, Listen 11, Move Silently 19, Use Magic Device 19	-	Envenom Blade, Immunity to Scorpion Venom
18th	Scorpion Heritor	+13	+11	+10	+7	Craft: Poison 20, Hide 20, Listen 17, Move Silently 20, Use Magic Device 20	-	Sneak Attack +5d6
19th	Scorpion Heritor	+14	+11	+10	+7	Craft: Poison 21, Hide 21, Listen 21, Move Silently 21, Survival 7, Use Magic Device 21	Craven, Scorpion's Sense (Bonus Feat)	-
20th	Scorpion Heritor	+15	+12	+10	+7	Craft: Poison 22, Hide 22, Listen 22, Move Silently 22, Survival 12, Use Magic Device 22	-	Sneak Attack +6d6

* indicates a skill that is cross-class the given level

Marrulurk Racial Features: Death Attack, Nauseating Breath, Poison Use, Sneak Attack +2d6, Darkvision 60 ft., Low Light Vision, Discriminating Hearing, Desiccation Resistance 10, Fire Resistance 5.

Tactics

Spoiler

Show

In General

Spoiler

Show

In combat, Ayesha works best as a hit-and-hide sniper (and I mean "sniper" as in the Hide skill use, not "attacking from very far away"). She pops out of hiding to deliver her sneak attack and poison, then fades back into the shadows. She really doesn't want to be in melee combat, and full attacking nets her at best one extra attack, which probably isn't worth becoming unhidden, since it would make her so much easier to hit.

A benefit of being built to make crazy in-combat Hide checks is that, when she's sneaking around outside of combat--away from that pesky -20 penalty--her Hide skill is bonkers high, and her Move Silently is very good as well. Aside from making her an excellent sneak, these skills mean that she can (and should!) pick her battles. She has no incentive to rush into combat, she's always going to be a bit fragile if caught in the open.

Level 5

Spoiler

Show

Ayesha has four racial levels, so at this point she's not all that different from a standard Marrulurk, save for some odd skill and feat choices. And speaking of her racial levels, I don't think her Monstrous Humanoid HD hurt her as much as they might: Even ignoring her racial features and ability boosts, having Hide and Move Silently as class skills means she's able to get into prestige classes in a timely fashion, and Monstrous Humanoid is her only class with a good Will save. The two special attacks she gets as a Marrulurk, Nauseating Breath and Death Attack, don't scale with her class HD, so they're already fast becoming obsolete. If you want to get some use out of them, though, now's the time! Her other big racial feature, +2d6 dice of Sneak Attack, is much more useful, since she relies on it for damage output. She also starts out with an Assassin-esque ability to use poison, which she should be taking advantage of as often as possible.

With no items, her Hide modifier at this level is +21, so if she hasn't gotten her hands on a Hide-boosting item yet, and maybe even if she has, it's probably in her best interest to stay hidden rather than try to fight, particularly since her one missing HD makes her relatively more fragile at at this level (where she has 20% fewer hitpoints than a non-level-adjusted character). Also assisting in her sneakiness (because part of proper sneaking is not being snuck up on oneself) is her Discriminating Hearing racial feature, which is like a hearing-based version of Scent. On the one hand, it's a bit less powerful than Scent because it can't detect undead or constructs unless they're moving, but on the other, it is not on the list of things Darkstalker negates, which is pretty darn cool.

Level 10

Spoiler

Show

Now we're talking. Getting both Darkstalker and Hide in Plain Sight means that this level is where Ayesha really starts to shine beyond "has a great Hide score." Another lovely stealth booster is Scorpion's Instincts, which she gets as a bonus feat--+2 Hide is always welcome, and bumping that up to +4 Hide/+2 Move Silently in sandy or dusty areas is even better, particularly for someone who lives in an ancient half-buried-in-sand pyramid, in which finding areas where the floor isn't dusty or sandy is likely more difficult than finding ones where it is. The other half of that feat (sharply decreasing the distance at which she can be tracked by scent) is pretty good during levels 7-9, but Darkstalker totally blows it out of the water.

And hey, you know what has a better Hide bonus than a small jackal-lady? A tiny scorpion, which Ayesha can turn into once per day. However, in order for Ayesha to use Scorpion Form for stealth purposes, her Hide-enhancing gear needs to be wearable by a scorpion, whatever that entails. Otherwise, Scorpion Form is still a great exploration utility, as a tiny scorpion can get into a lot of places that Ayesha usually can't.

Level 15

Spoiler

Show

Ayesha's damage-dealing abilities flag during these levels, but that's ameliorated by the great defensive bonuses she gets from Shadowdancer. Evasion means that AoE attacks (which, since they don't need to be precisely aimed, are a pain for anyone trying to avoid damage by hiding) are much less scary. Uncanny Dodge and Improved Uncanny Dodge hopefully won't come into play much, but they give her a significant survivability boost when things don't go according to plan and she ends up the quarry instead of the hunter--same with Defensive Roll, though I suspect that that'll see more use than either of the Uncanny Dodges. Shadow Jump is likewise most useful for getting out of sticky situations. Once Ayesha is out of her opponents' line of fire and can re-hide, they're not going to find her until she starts shooting at them again, if then. Darkvision is, unfortunately, redundant; as a monstrous humanoid, she's had it all along.

Her Shadow Companion is probably best reserved for non-combat scouting, since it's quite fragile for the level she gets it at but is even better than her scorpion form at scouting around in places Ayesha can't get to normally. If it does end up in combat...well, it's probably gonna die, but if it's able to land attacks, Ayesha should back it up with Str-damaging poisons; between the two of them, they might be able to cut down the attacker's efficacy to the point where the shadow can get away.

Finally, the one new feat Ayesha gets by this level is Able Sniper, which gives a small bonus to hit if Ayesha is exactly 30' away from her target (she doesn't want to be more than 30' away because she'd lose Sneak Attack damage), and, more importantly, gives +4 to Hide checks when attempting to re-hide after attacking, which is just when she needs it most.

Level 20

Spoiler

Show

More Scorpion Heritor levels, which mostly means more Sneak Attack dice. She also finally has room to pick up Craven at 19th level, which gives her an even better damage boost. Envenom Blade's poison is lackluster for the level Ayesha gets it, but free poison is free poison, and the increasable DC means that if she wanted to put effort into improving her Wisdom, she could boost get the DC up in the dangerous range. It's probably not worth the investment for 1d4 Con/1d4 Con damage, though. The Woodland Archer feat (which I wish was titled something more fitting…) sharply increases her mobility, allowing movement while sniping. Its Pierce the Foliage maneuver is nice too, because it means that she only has to pierce an enemy’s concealment once rather than every round.

For defensive abilities, Immunity to Scorpion Venom seems mostly a flavor thing (because monstrous scorpion venom is, again, delicious), but given her environment, it's actually a pretty likely type of poison to run into. The real defensive coup here is getting Scorpion's Sense as a bonus feat, which grants a small area of tremorsense that gets bigger in sandy or dusty environments. Between this and her Discriminating Hearing, she should be very difficult to sneak up on.

Suggested Equipment

Spoiler

Show

Hide Boosters: Hide is important for every sneaky character, but Ayesha is regularly gonna be making Hide checks at a -20 penalty, and while she gets a net positive bonus on those checks pretty early, assistance in this area will go a long way toward helping her survive. Straight-ahead skill boosters like Shadow armor and Hat of Anonymity are great, of course, but don't neglect things like invisibility and size reduction, particularly when she starts getting a decent UMD score at mid levels.

Weapon: Poison-enhancing enchantments--particularly Assassination, from the Cityscape Web Enhancement, and Toxic, from Drow of the Underdark, each of which is +1--synergize well with Ayesha's modus operandi. Additionally, Splitting bows (+3, from Champions of Ruin) are as sweet for her as they are for any other archer; even if Splitting doesn’t allow Sneak Attack damage to apply more than once, that’s an extra chance to hit and free doubling of poison applied to arrows. Yes, please.

Poisons: Oh, yeah, speaking of poison! Marrulurks are described in their monster entry as carrying poison, and Ayesha, with her scorpion theme, shouldn’t be an exception. Monstrous scorpion venom is the top pick for flavor (yum!), and Sandstorm features its cool cousin crystal scorpion venom, which renders creatures helpless for hours. Level-appropriate Str-draining poisons are also a good choice, as they combo well with the shadow companion's touch attack.

Other: Ayesha benefits from the usual rogue-y gear like Dex-increasing items, sneak attack boosters, and non-AC defensive items.

Adaptation

Spoiler

Show

Ayesha would benefit from LA buyoff, should a DM allow it. If you do get to buy off her +1 LA, the best thing to do with the extra level is to take a seventh level of Shadowdancer, which not only nets Ayesha Slippery Mind, but also increases her base attack bonus by one, pushing her over the threshold for a third iterative attack. The other option is to take Scorpion Heritor 8 for a ghostly scorpion tail, but that (a) only functions once a day (b) requires you to be in melee, and (c) does piddly damage compared to poisons she could be making/buying at high levels. Go for Shadowdancer 7.

If Dragon Magazine content is in play, holy crap is Concealed Ambush (from DM 339) good. Take it instead of Able Sniper—they stack, as far as I know, but this build only has room for one, and Concealed Ambush is better for what Ayesha is trying to do.

Sources

Spoiler

Show

Player's Handbook: Fighter, Combat Reflexes, Point Blank Shot, Manyshot, Dodge, Mobility
Dungeon Master's Guide: Shadowdancer
Sandstorm: Marrulurk, Scorpion Heritor, Scorpion's Resolve, Scorpion's Instinct, Scorpion's Sense
Lords of Madness: Darkstalker
Races of the Wild: Woodland Archer, Able Sniper
Champions of Ruin: Craven

[Kazudo]

And from Undystopia, somewhere in Uneurope, maybe?
(name for entry given by chairman due to a lack of one provided. It seems fitting.)

32 point buy: Human:
Str: 14, Dex: 16. Con: 14. Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 8
Non Lawful Evil worshipper of Taiia who killed someone for joining the assassins and has fled or been exiled from the service of a feudal lord, commonly for disobeying orders, displaying rudeness or cowardice at a crucial juncture, or failing in a crucial task. This pretty much writes the story for you; of a sworn soldier who got bought out by a better dollar and runs into hiding. This requires fractional BAB, otherwise you can not qualify for Justiciar of Taiia or Roanin or Staggering Strike --- indeed, at level 8 you'd have an abysmal BAB of +3.

Spoiler: level 5

Show

I'm a hired man for lord McLordyson, but I find myself growing weary of this life, and I've been offered a good chunk of coin to kill prisoner McPrisonerson instead of transporting him to Town. What could go wrong?

You've got 3d6 sneak attack here, same as a pure rogue. Feat selection is abysmal; flaws would let you get Two Weapon fighting in, though one of your swordsage manoeuvres can make up for that a little. But you're basically a rogue here, with the same BAB, Sneak attack, a mix of meh skills and bad feats. This is not this builds best level.

Spoiler: level 10

Show

I've been running and hiding for so long --- I really should get better at hiding. These days I'm good at fighting, picking up different ways of waylaying people when they aren't expecting it from every person I meet --- including another former bondsman and a priest (at least, I think it was a priest).

At 10th level, you have +8d6 sneak attack, which is most of a rogues. Your saves are solid, and your BAB is 7, which is standard 3/4ths BAB. And now you have staggering strike; when you hit people, they have to make a fortitude save or be staggered. With the sneak attack damage (avg: 28) + weapon + whatever, you're looking at regularly requiring a fortitude save around 40ish versus stagger on hits.

Spoiler: level 15

Show

Tumbleweed passes by. Then a man suddenly appears in front of you, and then vanishes again. He appears behind you. “Now I'm invisible.”

You've got hide in plain sight, full ranks of hide + move silently, and the ever important Darkstalker feat. Plus your sneak attack is up to a full +10d6, and you've got your 3rd attack (if you can get the gloves of the balanced hand, that provides TWF, and gives you a 4th attack; flashing sun gives you a 5th). Defensively, saves are huge, with evasion and uncanny dodge and shadow jumps.

Spoiler: level 20

Show

You innately get TWF now, but man does it come on late. But with gloves of the Balanced hand, you're looking at 5 attacks with the full +10d6 sneak attack, staggering strike, and some decent maxed out skills. You're basically a rogue --- without ever taking a single level of the class.

Seriously, rogue 20 has +1 BAB, -13 saves, trap sense, +4 special abilities (if they pick Defensive Roll, Slippery Mind, and Improved Invasion, it's +1 special ability) and more/better skills, versus this guy, who has about the same, plus some shadows, shadow jumps, hide in plain sight, and a bit of casting and manoeuvres.

Obviously the messy part is the first 10 levels, which involve 8 classes, but hey, look, I recreated a rogue!

Spoiler: Gear you Care about

Show

Manoeuvre items can add some much useful versatility; with an IL of 10, you can get 5th level moves if you want.

You want some of the TWFing gear, using a shadowhand weapon, which is probably short swords. So enchant them up in your favourite way. The http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=279079 Two Weapon Fighting Offhandbook has some great suggestions. Also the standard +1 eager warning wand chamber nerveskitter wand staff to carry around and win initiative then drop as a free action.

I particularly like multicharging a stack of chronocharms of the horizonwalker, the shadow cloak , Deathstrike bracers (crit/sneak attack whatever you want for 5000gp), bracers of lightning (11000gp for +1d6 lightning damage), Gloves of Ghost Fighting (4000gp for ghost touch), Gloves of the Balanced Hand (pick up Improved TWFing), Ring of Adamanite Touch (6000gp), the ever cheesy belt of battle.

Standard arrays of stat boosters on melee stats + defensive items, are of course, always useful. You're short on special ways to deal with casters, aside from sneaking up on them and stabbing a dagger in their back, but staggering strike reduces them to a single move or standard action --- and that standard action is still plenty to nuke you with.

Spoiler: It's basically a recreation of a rogue, as close as I could get to accurate.

Show

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Spellthief 1 (Complete Adventurer pg 13) (d6)	+0.75	+0	+0	+2	Bluff +4, Gather information +3, hide +4, move silently +4, search +4, spellcraft +4, spot +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1	Dodge, Mobility	Sneak attack +1d6, steal spell (0 or 1st), trapfinding, proficiencies
2nd	Thug, Sneak Attack variant (d10) 1 (Unearthed Arcana)	+1.75	+2	+0	+2	Bluff +5, Disguise +1.5, Gather information +3, hide +4, intimidate +3, move silently +4, search +4, spellcraft +4, spot +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1	No Feat	Simple, Martial, Light armor proficiencies, +2d6 sneak attack
3rd	Thug 2	+2.75	+3	+0	+2	Bluff +6, Disguise +4, Gather information +3, hide +4.5, intimidate +3, move silently +4, search +4, spellcraft +4, spot +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1	Combat Reflexes	No New Class Abilities
4th	Thug 3	+2.75	+3	+1	+3	Bluff +7, Disguise +4, Gather information +3, hide +7, intimidate +3, move silently +4, search +4, spellcraft +4, spot +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	No Feat	Sneak Attack +3d6
5th	Swordsage 1 (d8)	+3.5	+3	+3	+5	Bluff +8, Disguise +4, Gather information +3, hide +8, intimidate +3, move silently +8, search +4, sense motive +3, spellcraft +4, spot +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1,	Feats	Quick to Act +1, Discipline Focus (Weapon Focus), 6/4 manouvers +1 stance, IL4
6th	Assassin 1 (d6)	+4.25	+3	+5	+5	Bluff +8, Disguise +4, Gather information +3, hide +8, intimidate +3, move silently +8, search +8, sense motive +4, spellcraft +4, spot +6, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	Persuasive	Sneak attack +4d6, death attack, poison use, spells --- 1 per day, 2 known, both divinations: Critical Strike and Vigilent Slumber
7th	Shadow Thief of Amn, pgtf pg 74, d6	+5	+3	+7	+5	Bluff +8, Disguise +4, Gather information +3, hide +8, intimidate +3, move silently +8, perform (dance) +3.5, search +8, sense motive +4, spellcraft +4, spot +8, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1 ,	No Feat	Doublespeak, Sneak Attack +5d6
8th	Unseen Seer 1, complete mage 81, d4	+5.5	+3	+7	+7	Bluff +8, Disguise +4, Gather information +3, hide +8, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, move silently +8, perform (dance) +5, search +8, sense motive +4, spellcraft +4, spot +8, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1 ,	No Feat	Sneak Attack +6d6, +1 assassin spell known (whatever you want)
9th	Justiciar of Taiia, Deities and Demigods pg 205	+6.25/+1.25	+3	+9	+9	Bluff +9, Disguise +4, Gather information +3, hide +12, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, move silently +12, perform (dance) +5, search +8, sense motive +4, spellcraft +4, spot +8, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword, Staggering Strike	1st level spell slot if bonus wisdom in the cleric list, as cleric, etc. +7d6 sneak attack
10th	Roanin 1 (d10)	+7.25/2.25	+5	+9	+9	Bluff +13, Disguise +5, Gather information +3, hide +12, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, move silently +12, perform (dance) +5, search +8, sense motive +4, spellcraft +4, spot +8, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	No Feat	Imfamy, Sneak Attack +8d6
11th	Shadowdancer 1	+8/+3	+5	+11	+9	Bluff +14, move silently +14, hide +14, Disguise +9, Gather information +3, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, perform (dance) +5, search +8, sense motive +4, spellcraft +4, spot +8, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	No Feat	Hide in Plain Sight
12th	Shadowdancer 2	+8.75/+3.75	+5	+13	+9	Bluff +15, move silently +15, hide +15, Disguise +15, Gather information +3, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, perform (dance) +5, search +8, sense motive +4, spellcraft +4, spot +8, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	Darkstalker	Evasion, darkvision, uncanny dodge
13th	Shadowdancer 3	+9.5/+4.5	+6	+13	+10	Bluff +16, move silently +16, hide +16, Disguise +16, search +13 Gather information +3, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, perform (dance) +5, sense motive +4, spellcraft +4, spot +8, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	No Feat	Shadow illusion, summon shadow
14th	Shadowdancer 4	+10.25/+5.25	+6	+14	+10	Bluff +17, move silently +17, hide +17, Disguise +17, search +17, spot +9, Gather information +3, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, perform (dance) +5, sense motive +4, spellcraft +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	No Feat	Shadow jump 20 ft.
15th	Shadowdancer 5	+11/+6/+1	+6	+14	+10	Bluff +18, move silently +18, hide +18, Disguise +18, search +18, spot +13, Gather information +3, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, perform (dance) +5, sense motive +4, spellcraft +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	Martial Stance: Assassin's Stance (10d6 sneak attack)	Defensive roll, improved uncanny dodge
16th	Shadowdancer 6	+11.75/+6.75/+1.75	+7	+15	+11	Bluff +19, move silently +19, hide +19, Disguise +19, search +19, spot +17, Gather information +3, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, perform (dance) +5, sense motive +4, spellcraft +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	No Feat	Shadow jump 40 ft., summon shadow
17th	Shadowdancer 7	+12.5/+7.5/+2.5	+7	+15	+11	Bluff +20, move silently +20, hide +20, Disguise +20, search +20, spot +20, sense motive +5 Gather information +3, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, perform (dance) +5, spellcraft +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	No Feat	Slippery mind
18th	Shadowdancer 8	+13.25/+8.25/+3.25	+7	+16	+11	Bluff +21, move silently +21, hide +21, Disguise +21, search +21, spot +21, sense motive +8 Gather information +3, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, perform (dance) +5, spellcraft +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	Two Weapon Fighting	Shadow jump 80 ft.
19th	Shadowdancer 9	+14/+9/+4	+8	+16	+12	Bluff +22, move silently +22, hide +22, Disguise +22, search +22, spot +22, sense motive +11 Gather information +3, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, perform (dance) +5, spellcraft +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	No Feat	Summon shadow
20th	Shadowdancer 10	+14/+9/+4	+8	+17	+12	Bluff +23, move silently +23, hide +23, Disguise +23, search +23, spot +23, sense motive +14 Gather information +3, intimidate +3, knowledge religion +6, perform (dance) +5, spellcraft +4, use magic device +4, speak language 2skillpoints, tumble +1, slight of hands +1	No Feat	Shadow jump 160 ft., improved evasion

Spells: 1st level assassin spell + bonuses, with 3 known (Critical Strike, Vigilant Slumber, and your choice). Cleric casting with 0 1st level cleric spots + bonuses for high wisdom --- no spontaneous casting or domain, but otherwise cleric casting.
Manoeuvres known: 6, IL 10: Shadow Jaunt, Rabid Wolf Strike, Fire Riposte, Flashing Sun, Cloak of Deception, Distracting Ember, 4 Readied (usually Distracting Ember, Flashing Sun, Cloak of Deception and Rabid Wolf Strike at lower levels, Shadow Jaunt at higher)
Stances Known: Assassin's Stance, Island of Blades

[Kazudo]

She'll rogue you. With the power of HER SOUL!

Spoiler

Show

Kelia the Souldancer
Human Cobra Strike Monk2/Thug Sneak Attack Fighter1/Incarnate1-4/Shadowdancer1/Incarnate5-16
Lawful Neutral

Starting stats:
Str 15
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 14
Wis 8
Cha 8

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Soulmelds/ Essentia/ Chakra Binds	Base Essentia Capacity	Class Features
1st	Cobra Strike Monk1	+0	+2	+2	+2	Balance(4) Hide(4) Move Silently(4) Perform(Dance)(4) Tumble(4) Jump(4) Climb(4)	Combat Reflexes (1st), Able Learner(Human), Dodge(Monk Bonus), Improved Unarmed Strike	0/0/0	1	Flurry of Blows -2/2 Unarmed Strike +Wis to AC while unarmored Unarmed Damage +1d6 +2 to Escape Artist
2nd	Monk2	+1	+3	+3	+3	Balance(5) Hide(5) Move Silently(5) Perform(Dance)(5) Tumble(5) Jump(5) Climb(5)	Mobility(Monk Bonus)	0/0/0	1	Evasion
3rd	Thug Sneak Attack Fighter1	+2	+5	+3	+3	Hide(7) Move Silently(7) Tumble(7) Spot(2) Listen(2)	Craven Simple Weapon Prof. Martial Weapon Prof. Light Armor Prof.	0/0/0	1	+1d6 Sneak Atta
4th	Incarnate1	+2	+7	+3	+5	Hide(7) Move Silently(7) Tumble(7) Spot(2) Listen(2)	Medium Armor Prof. Shield Prof.	2/1/0	1	Aura Detect Opposition +1 Dex
5th	Incarnate2	+3	+8	+3	+6	Hide(8) Move Silently(8) Tumble(8) Spot(3) Listen(3)	-	3/2/1	1	Chakra Bind(Crown)
6th	Incarnate3	+3	+8	+4	+6	Hide(9) Move Silently(9) Tumble(9) Spot(4) Listen(4)	Darkstalker	3/3/1	2 (+1 Soulmelds)	Exp. Soulmeld Capacity +1 Incarnum Radiance 1/day
7th	Incarnate4	+4	+9	+4	+7	Hide(10) Move Silently(10) Tumble(10) Spot(5) Listen(5)	-	4/4/1	2 (+1 Soulmelds)	Chakra Binds (feet, hands)
8th	Shadowdancer1	+4	+9	+6	+7	Hide(11) Move Silently(11) Tumble(11) Spot(6) Listen(6) UMD(x4, 5)	-	4/4/1	2 (+1 Soulmelds)	Hide in Plain Sight +1 Str
9th	Incarnate5	+4	+9	+6	+7	Hide(12) Move Silently(12) Tumble(12) Spot(7) Listen(7)	Exp. Soulmeld Capacity (Dissolving Spittle)	4/5/1	2 (+1 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle)	Rapid Meldshaping 1/day
10th	Incarnate6	+5	+10	+7	+8	Hide(13) Move Silently(13) Spot(8) Listen(8) UMD(6)	-	4/6/2	2 (+1 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle	-
11th	11th Incarnate7	+5	+10	+7	+8	Hide(14) Move Silently(14) Spot(9) Listen(9) UMD(7)	-	5/7/2	3 (+1 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle)	Share Incarnum Radiance
12th	Incarnate8	+6	+11	+7	+9	Hide(15) Move Silently(15) Spot(x2, 11) Listen(10)	Indigo Strike	5/9/2	3 (+1 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle)	Incarnum Radiance 2/day +1 Con
13th	Incarnate9	+6	+11	+8	+9	Hide(16) Move Silently(16) Spot(12) Listen(11) UMD(8)	-	5/10/2	3 (+1 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle)	Chakra Binds (arms, brow, shoulders)
14th	Incarnate10	+7	+12	+8	+10	Hide(17) Move Silently(17) Spot(13) Listen(x2, 13)	-	6/11/3	3 (+1 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle)	-
15th	Incarnate11	+7	+12	+8	+10	Hide(18) Move Silently(18) Spot(14), Listen(14) UMD(9)	Bonus Essentia	6/14/3	3 (+1 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle)	Rapid Meldshaping 2/day
16th	Incarnate12	+8	+13	+9	+11	Hide(19) Move Silently(19) Spot(x2, 16) Listen(15)	-	6/15/3	4 (+1 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle)	+1 Con
17th	Incarnate13	+8	+13	+9	+11	11 Hide(20) Move Silently(20) Spot(17) Listen(16) UMD(10)	-	7/16/3	4 (+1 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle)	Incarnum Radiance 3/day
18th	Incarnate14	+9	+14	+9	+12	Hide(21) Move Silently(21) Spot(18) Listen(x2, 18)	Feat: Left open (season to taste)	7/17/4	4 (+1 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle)	Chakra Binds (throat, waist)
19th	Incarnate15	+9	+14	+10	+12	Hide(22) Move Silently(22) Spot(19) Listen(19) UMD(11)	-	7/19/4	4 (+2 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle)	Exp. Soulmeld Capacity +2
20th	Incarnate16	+10	+15	+10	+13	Hide(23) Move Silently(23) Spot(20) Listen(x2, 21)	-	8/21/4	4 (+2 Soulmelds) (+1 Diss. Spittle)	Chakra Binds (Heart) +1 (Ability: left open)

At 5th level, the build is just starting out. Kelia started her career as a Monk of the Cobra Strike school. Growing disaffected by the school’s “ivory tower” qualities, she set off on her own to test her strength in the fighting ring. Her dancing skills gained her a few more fans than usual, and she met with moderate success. From her experiences there, particularly during tag-team matches, she learned to take advantage of gaps in her opponent’s defenses. All that changed during one fight where she was knocked senseless by an Azurin. After the fight was over, she implored him to teach her the secrets of Incarnum. The Incarnate agreed, and she began her inner quest anew. At this point in the build, Kelia is fairly resilient. She survives combat by trickery and focuses on outlasting the competition (thanks to her high saves and relatively high HP). She’s started to use a few Incarnum tricks, but hasn’t mastered them.

By 10th level, Kelia has progressed in opening her chakras, and has developed her own style that meshes her previous experiences with her newly-awakened Incarnum abilities. She has gained a greater awareness of the shadows around her, using them to her advantage. She is the calm center of darkness, striking out at the chaos around her.

By 15th level, Kelia is firmly on the path to unlocking her chakras. (This is most likely the sweet spot). She has balanced defenses. Her soulmelds (and her UMD check) allow her to fill a variety of different roles, depending on the need.

By 20th level, Kelia has finally opened her Heart Chakra, and attained a self-mastery that she could have only dreamed of in her early career.

Key soulmelds: Dissolving Spittle (Bound to Throat chakra), Fellmist Robe (Soul), Mage’s Spectacles(Brow). Other suggested soulmelds: Strongheart Vest (heart), Enigma Helm (crown), Acrobat Boots (feet), Theft Gloves (hands), Bluesteel Bracers (arms), Pauldrons of Health (shoulders), Vitality Belt (waist)

The general idea is to pump up Dissolving Spittle to as far as it will go. At 20, you’ll have a base capacity of 4, plus 2 for expanded soulmeld capacity from Incarnate, plus 1 for a feat, giving you 7. 7 essentia invested means 7d6+1d6+20 acid damage two rounds in a row (more if you invest Indigo Strike). With Hide in Plain Sight (and also, potentially, with Fellmist Robe), maxed ranks in Hide and Move Silently, and Darkstalker, you’ll be able to snipe from concealment regularly. This obviously isn’t the most optimized build, but it offers an unusual and flavorful take on Sneak Attack with a dash of Shadowdancer.

I’ve left the feat at 18th level open, as well as the ability bonus at 20th. By this point you should probably have at least one odd score from Tomes or Manuals; put the bonus there.

[Kazudo]

[poorlydonequote] Ha' you seen a six-fingered man around here? Six fingeres on his lefta hand? [/poorlydonequote]

Blaine Night the Six-Fingered


Build Stub: Ranger2/Binder3/Fighter2/Shadowdancer 9/Telflammar Shadowlord 4
Attributes(level 1): Str 16; Dex 14; Con 14; Int 14; Wis 12; Cha 08
Attributes (level 20): Str 30; Dex 20; Con 20; Int 14; Wis 12; Cha 08

Spoiler: The Build

Show

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Ranger 1	+1	+2	+2	+0	Perform(Dance) 2, Iajutsu Focus 2, Hide 4, Move Silently 4, Spot 4, Listen 4, Search 4, Survival 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge(Dungeoneering) 4	Able Learner, Dodge	Favored Enemy+2, Wild Empathy, Trapfinding
2nd	Ranger 2	+2	+3	+3	+0	Hide 5(+1), Move Silently 5(+1), Spot 5(+1), Listen 5(+1), Search 5(+1), Survival 5(+1), Disable Device 5(+1), Intimidate 2(+2)	Two-Weapon Fighting(Combat Style)	Combat Style
3rd	Binder 1	+2	+5	+3	+2	Intimidate 4(+2), Move Silently 6(+1), Hide 6(+1), Search 6(+1)	Improved Binding	Soul Binding(1 Vestige) [2nd level Vestiges]
4th	Binder 2	+3	+6	+3	+3	Iajutsu Focus 3(+1), Perform(Dance) 3(+1), Move Silently 7(+1), Hide 7(+1), Search 7(+1)	-	Pact Augmentation (1 Ability), Suppress Sign
5th	Binder 3	+4	+6	+4	+3	Iajutsu Focus 4(+1), Perform(Dance) 4(+1), Move Silently 8(+1), Hide 8(+1), Disable Device 6(+1)	-	- [Gain access to 3rd level Vestiges]
6th	Fighter 1	+5	+8	+4	+3	Move Silently 9(+1), Hide 9(+1), Disable Device 8(+2), Search 8(+1)	Blind Fight(Fighter Bonus), Mobility	Bonus Feat
7th	Fighter 2	+6	+9	+4	+3	Move Silently 10(+1), Hide 10(+1), Iajutsu Focus 5(+1), Perform(Dance) 5(+1), Search 9(+1)	Combat Reflexes(Fighter Bonus)	Bonus Feat
8th	Shadowdancer 1	+6	+9	+6	+3	Move Silently 11(+1), Hide 11(+1), Disable Device 11(+3), Search 11(+2), Spot 7(+2)	-	Hide in Plain Sight
9th	Shadowdancer 2	+7	+9	+7	+3	Move Silently 12(+1), Hide 12(+1), Disable Device 12(+1), Search 12(+1), Iajutsu Focus 6(+1), Spot 11(+4)	Spring Attack	Evasion, Darkvision, Uncanny Dodge
10th	Shadowdancer 3	+8	+10	+7	+4	Move Silently 13(+1), Hide 13(+1), Disable Device 13(+1), Search 13(+1), Spot 13(+2), Listen 8(+3)	-	Shadow Illusion, Summon Shadow
11th	Shadowdancer 4	+9	+10	+8	+4	Iajutsu Focus 7(+1), Move Silently 14(+1), Hide 14(+1), Disable Device 14(+1), Search 14(+1), Spot 14(+1), Listen 11(+3)	-	Shadow Jump 20ft
12th	Telflammar Shadowlord 1	+9	+10	+10	+4	Move Silently 15(+1), Hide 15(+1), Disable Device 15(+1), Search 15(+1), Spot 15(+1), Listen 13(+2)	EWP(Gnomish Quickrazor)	Shadowsight, Shadow Jump
13th	Telflammar Shadowlord 2	+10	+10	+11	+4	Iajutsu Focus 8(+1), Move Silently 16(+1), Hide 16(+1), Disable Device 16(+1), Search 16(+1), Spot 16(+1), Listen 14(+1)	-	Shadow Blur
14th	Telflammar Shadowlord 3	+11	+11	+11	+5	Move Silently 17(+1), Hide 17(+1), Disable Device 17(+1), Search 17(+1), Spot 17(+1), Listen 16(+2)	-	Shadow Walk
15th	Telflammar Shadowlord 4	+12	+11	+12	+5	Iajutsu Focus 9(+1), Move Silently 18(+1), Hide 18(+1), Disable Device 18(+1), Search 18(+1), Spot 18(+1), Listen 17(+1)	Improved Two-Weapon Fighting	Shadow Pounce
16th	Shadowdancer 5	+12	+11	+12	+5	Move Silently 19(+1), Hide 19(+1), Disable Device 19(+1), Search 19(+1), Spot 19(+1), Listen 19(+2), Survival 7(+2)	-	Defensive Roll, Improved Uncanny Dodge
17th	Shadowdancer 6	+13	+12	+13	+6	Iajutsu Focus 10(+1), Move Silently 20(+1), Hide 20(+1), Disable Device 20(+1), Search 20(+1), Spot 20(+1), Listen 20(+1), Survival 9(+2)	-	Shadow Jump 200ft, Summon Shadow
18th	Shadowdancer 7	+14	+12	+13	+6	Move Silently 21(+1), Hide 21(+1), Disable Device 21(+1), Search 21(+1), Spot 21(+1), Listen 21(+1), Survival 12(+3)	Craven	Slippery Mind
19th	Shadowdancer 8	+15	+12	+14	+6	Iajutsu Focus 11(+1), Move Silently 22(+1), Hide 22(+1), Disable Device 22(+1), Search 22(+1), Spot 22(+1), Listen 22(+1), Survival 14(+2)	-	Shadow Jump 400ft
20th	Shadowdancer 9	+15	+13	+14	+7	Move Silently 23(+1), Hide 23(+1), Disable Device 23(+1), Search 23(+1), Spot 23(+1), Listen 23(+1), Survival 17(+3)	-	Summon Shadow

Final Skill Ranks at Level 20: Disable Device 23, Hide 23, Iajutsu Focus 11, Intimidate 4, Knowledge(Dungeoneering) 4, Listen 23, Move Silently 23, Perform (Dance) 5, Search 23, Spot 23 and Survival 17

Spoiler: Spells Per Day

Show

This character is not a caster, but he does get some spells picked up via Telflammar Shadowlord, and some of these are at least situationally useful, so it's worth nothing. The spells per day however are very low, as shown on the table below.

Spells per day/Spells Known

Level	0th	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12th	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13th	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
14th	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15th	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
16th	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
17th	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
18th	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
19th	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20th	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Spoiler: Fluff Description

Show

Okay, I'm really bad at creative writing, so I'm going to spare you my sorry attempt at it and describe the fluff in a straightforward way.

Blaine starts out as a standard skilled warrior. He comes from the Thesk region of Faerun and his story is much like any typical adventurer. Early in his career, he discovers the power of pact binding, and dives headfirst into those, learning to bully vestiges more powerful than himself into granting him special powers.

Eventually he binds Andromalius, who is different. The two connect and actually become friendly with each other. Andromalius convinces Blaine that continuing to pursue this path could end very badly for him, and gets him to abandon developing his pact-binding ability, and sticking with him. With Andromalius continuing to provide his power in exchange for getting the ability to continue a facsimile of life through Blaine.

The Six-Fingered Monicker actually comes from the Andromalius Vestige, which has the "sign" of each limb gaining an extra digit. So as long as bound to Andromalius, unless he attempts to hide the suppress the sign, he has 6 fingers and 6 toes.

Blaine then somehow or another ends up drawn to the Shadows, where he focuses the rest of his career, steadily gaining an increased mastery over shadow in an instinctual, almost visceral way (as opposed to the more learned way a Shadowcraft Mage, or Shadowcaster might).

By mid-high levels, Blaine can melt into any shadow and hide himself perfectly, jump through shadows so often it may as well be at will, travel through the plane of shadow itself to cross large distances nearly instantly, see through any magical or non-magical darkness, and gain miss chance while in the shadows.

Spoiler: Build Explanations

Show

The build does seem a bit erratic at low levels. I needed to hit the Sneak Attack requirement early for Telflammar Shadowlord, and get Hide/Move Silently as Class Skills, but also needed feats to get into both classes on time, so couldn't go the easy route of the Sneak Attack Fighter, or waste feats/skills qualifying for a third prestige class to pick up some sneak attack. The result is what you see above.

The Ranger ACF is only in there for the extra out of combat utility, I find Trap finding more useful than Tracking in most situations. It can easily be eliminated to reduce source bloat if desired. This then results in maxing Survival instead of Search/Disable Device early on, and lets you pick two other skills to have high rated (one max one at 15 ranks). I'd suggest Bluff/Disguise.

Binder qualifies us for Sneak Attac by virtue of the Andromalius Vestige, which the build has by 5th level. At the start of each day, the one vestige the character can bind goes to binding Andromalius. This vestige grants Blaine 2d6 of sneak attack, plus some other fun utilities that remain useful through to level 20.

Once Shadowdancer comes online, it's much more straightforward. The build goes Shadowdancer until Shadow Jump comes online, then hops over to Telflammar Shadowlord to get Shadowpounce + other goodies.



One fun bit of synergy I picked up on that as far as I know hasn't been used before now is that Telflammar Shadowlord and Shadowdancer both get "Shadow Jump". The ability has the exact same name, and works the exact same way, so they are in effect the same ability. This is important because it explains the very high Shadow Jump numbers in my Table above. Shadowlord grants 20ft of Shadow Jump capability per level. So in 4 levels you go from 20ft of Shadow Jump (from Shadowdancer) to 100ft of Shadow Jump (Shadowdancer = Shadowlord).

Now the interesting part. Shadowdancer doesn't just get a set amount of extra jump as it levels up. Referencing the text, it says "Every two levels higher than 4th, the distance a shadowdancer can jump each day doubles". The table provides the 40/80/160ft on the assumption that the Shadowdancer is your only source of Shadow Jumping. But Telflammar Shadowlord provides Shadow Jump as well, by RAW this will get doubled as well. So at level 6 Shadow Dancer, you go up to 200ft of Shadow Jump. At level 8 Shadow Dancer, you go up to 400ft. If there were some way to get the 10th level (there is a way: Discussed in UA variants below), you get all the way up to 800ft.

This synergy is something I find really cool as it makes the Shadowdancer's contribution to the overall build much more meaningful than I anticipated, instead of giving 8 extra 10ft jumps to the Shadowlord, it actually provides 32 of them. This is a massive increase in utility and longevity. It still has a long way to go to match some of the stronger classes out there, but for a core base class, this is a pretty neat trick. And it's not like that's the only thing Shadowdancer is giving you.

Spoiler: Class Feature Highlights

Show

Trapfinding-Yeah, I used the Trapmaster variant from Dungeonscape on the Ranger because I like Trapfinding more than I do Tracking (Though if you can get an extra feat somehow, Blaine can totally do both if desired, he has the survival for it).

Hide in Plain Sight-This is a Shadowdancer build, of course it has the best ability from the Shadowdancer class. Step into a shadow, and with his high hide/move silently modifiers, nobody's going to see Blaine. Step into a shadow and shadow jump to another nearby one, and nobody who saw you enter will even know where to look for him. Blaine straight up amazing at sneaking/scouting, and have excellent perception skills to back it up.

Shadow Pounce-The effective capstone of the build. It comes online late, but it is amazing. You have a very effective baseline teleportation method, and with Magic Items and the Variants listed below, you can easily get 2-3 full attacks per round with this, and have so many effective teleportations that you can do it basically at will.

Shadow Walk-Because sometimes you need to travel more than a few feet. This ability puts you ahead of just about everyone but the Tier 1s when that becomes necessary.

Vestige Binding-You are always binding Andromalius. It's a fact of life. You need that sneak attack to qualify for Shadowlord, and you can only go up to 3rd level vestiges anyway. On the bright side, Andromalius is great. In addition to the Sneak Attack, it provides you with Locate Item and See Invisibility at will, and a few minor skill bonuses. See Invisibility at will in particular is great for scouting, but there are a number of missions where Locate Item at will can provide very handy.

Sneak Attack-One of the ingredients of the challenge, Blaine only has the 2d6 from Andromalius. However, with equipment this gets boosted to 5d6 easily, and 7d6 depending on a specific ruling.

Spellcasting-Blaine gets a few spells per day from Telflammar Shadowlord, which includes Invisibility, Knock, and Levitate at level 1, and Haste, Displacement, Improved Invisibility, Nondetection, and Air Walk at level 2. You don't get a lot of these, but that's a nice selection of spells given that you get them basically for free since you were taking the class anyway.

Shadow-As a 9th level Shadowdancer, Blaine has a 9 hit die shadow companion. It serves a useful role in helping to scout, and can be used to incapacitate certain enemy types without risk (read: anything that can't hurt an incorporeal creature). Against anything that can hurt an incorporeal, the Shadow won't be risked because of annoying exp penalties.

Defenses-Okay, not a class feature, but several class features are worth noting here, I want to talk about them all at once. Blaine has an average con, and mostly d8 or higher hit dice, so can take a hit, and has Defensive Roll and Evasion to augment that. He gets Uncanny Dodge and Imp Uncanny Dodge, so is unflankable except by high level (13+) rogues. His saves are above average (Fort and Ref are both slightly above the standard "Good" and even Will is slightly above "Bad") and he gets Slippery Mind to help with failed will saves. On top of it all, anytime he's in Shadow he gets a 20% miss chance to make up for his relatively low AC. Not the tankiest character around, but durable enough to hold his own and earn his keep on any team.

Spoiler: Performance Snapshots

Show

Levels 1-2: At the lowest levels Blaine is a rogue without sneak attack. On the bright side, he has a solid strength, and his first two levels are full BAB. Blaine is as good at hitting and killing low level stuff as any typical fighter, and acts as a solid scout and trap monkey for good measure. You pull your weight in the party as a secondary combatant with utility. At 2nd level he get two weapon fighting, and utilize some armor spikes for that purpose, giving him a little more offensive punch when someone is standing right next to him for a full attack.

Levels 3-4At level 3 Blaine picks up pact magic and is capable of binding 2nd level vestiges. At this point he has no particular reason to stick with just one so can provide a lot of side utility specialized to the current adventure in addition to his scouting and trap finding shtick. Level 4 gives access to Pact Augmentation, so he can choose at the start of the day if he wants +1 insight bonus to Hit, AC or Saves (or a few other things, but those are the important ones). It's just a +1, but still nice to have, and helps him keep up in combat during the slower levels.

Levels 5-7: At level 5 Blaine meets his new best friend, Andromalius. Since Blaine has sworn off using other vestiges, he's now a little more specialized than he was at earlier levels. However, he is now sneak attacking as part of his general attack routine, and at level 7 you hit BAB+6 and get your extra attack. He isn't the heaviest hitter around, but the damage output is respectable, and Blaine has plenty of out of combat utility to earn his keep.

Levels 8-14: Blaine is now one with the Shadows. Throughout these levels, his basic fighting style is mostly unchanged, but he's picking up a lot of the fun out of combat abilities through here. Hide in Plain Sight, Shadowsight, Spellcasting, and Shadow Walk being the most noteworthy of these. At level 12, he picks up his Gnomish Quickrazors, letting your damage keep up here by adding on a few d6 of iajutsu damage to every attack (how much depends on level/gear).

Levels 15+: At level 15 you're finally at the finish line. Blaine picks up the awesome Shadow Pounce. He is now hopping around getting between 1 and 3 full attacks per round (depending on magic item loadout). General strategy is to set up an enemy to be flatfooted, and teleport around them as many times as possible in one round, getting up to 18 attacks each with 7d6-16d6 bonus damage applied(depending on gear/level). At level 18 he nabs Craven, giving another extra major boost to your sneak attack damage.

At these levels you are also getting your Shadow Jump distance multipliers, so Shadow Jump quickly becomes a resource you don't need to conserve so much, allowing you to make short hops out of combat as needed/desired.

Spoiler: Suggested Items

Show

The stat spread for level 20 given at the start assumes a +3 tome for primary stat, and 3 +6 Enhancement Boosters, which costs 190,500gp; roughly 1/4th of your available money at level 20. So there's lots of room to play with. Noteworthy items that really help out here include:

• +X Item of Iajutsu Focus. Ideally you want +30 by level 20. A +5 to this skill is directly equal to 1d6 damage per attack. This item is up to GM discretion, but immensely helpful (worth +6d6 damage to the character for 90k gp)
• Anklets of Translocation. Less than 2000gp, lets you activate your shadow pounce twice a day as a swift action. Blaine may start carrying around a bunch of these and switching out as needed.
• Boots of Swift Passage. 5000gp, lets you activate shadow pounce as a move action 5/day. Amazing at levels before Shadow Stride comes online (ie most of them), and even after that will find a lot of use. 8000gp lets you have this and the Anklets on the same item if custom items are being used.
• A Scholar/Master Shadow Hand Crown [adapted White Raven Crown from ToB], with Shadow Stride/Blink as the maneuver. This is MUCH more expensive than the Anklets, and you really only want this if you can't carry around multiple anklets and switch them out between encounters. Still move/swift action full attacks are always awesome.
• Gloves of the Balanced Hand. This build is really feat starved, but likes extra attacks. This is a way to get ITWF on the cheap.
• Eternal Wands. Telflammar Shadowlord gives you the ability to cast a small number of arcane spells, which gives you the ability to activate any Eternal Wand in the game, even if the spell isn't on your spell list. This build is severely feat starved, and a couple of Eternal Wands of Heroics helps this immensely, plus gives even more versatility. There are plenty of other low level spells that are similarly very helpful to have available a couple times a day that you may be interested in picking up as well (swift/immediate action spells in a wand chamber are generally very useful).

No items are required for the build, but most of those listed above will provide an inordinate boost to the build (particularly the Iajutsu item and the alt-action teleport items). Aside from those, just about any items you want for a melee character will be useful. (For example Flight would be useful to have, though less necessary than on a typical melee since you can teleport and could cast Air Walk twice a day if desired). You can probably afford to go with minimal armor/weapon enhancements (get a GMW from a party member, rely on precision damage dice rather than weapon enhancements) and focus most of your money into immunities or miss chances for defense.


Special Note: I'm aware some judges are looking for a minimum 5d6 sneak attack damage. Frankly, getting that much with maximal levels of Shadowdancer is nearly impossible, so I have the minimum +2d6 in my build, with that being offset by Iajutsu and Craven. However there are items that boost Sneak Attack that this character can take advantage of to meet this requirement if needed. I would not normally list these as high priority, but for the purpose of the Junkyard War, you can easily afford all of these plus necessary equipment, with room to spare for covering generic necessities.

• Deadly Precision Weapon Enhancement. Adds +1d6 sneak attack damage to weapon for a +1 enhancement.
• Bracers of the Hunter. Adds +1d6 sneak attack damage
• Rogue's Vest. Adds +1d6 sneak attack damage
• Novice Shadow Hand Maneuver item of Assassin's Stance. Adds +2d6 sneak attack damage

With all of these, the character jumps from +2d6 to +7d6 sneak attack, more than enough to meet the minimums expected. They're all relatively cheap items and well within what he has available by mid levels.

Note: The last one is questionable, but as far as I can tell legal by RAW (Stances being described as a special type of maneuver, not as something totally different), but if it is not considered legal the other items are all standard with no slot overlaps, and enough to get to 5d6 sneak attack easily.

Also if you're using an Item to get Assassin's Stance, you may as well make your Weapon a Discipline weapon to help out with Accuracy (+1 enhancement bonus grants +3 to hit).

Spoiler: UA Variant Possibilities

Show

• Flaws. With flaws allowed the character picks up two feats much earlier in progression, getting us access to EWP Quick Draw at a more reasonable level. This opens up room for two extra feats, which would likely go to Martial Stance(Assassin's Stance) and Shadow Blade for some extra damage at high level. Or to add on Weapon Finesse at low level, and switch out the strength for the more traditional dex, making you much stealthier and more fitting with the traditional shadow dancer archetype, though it costs you some damage.
  
• Flaws v2. Instead of using Flaws to gain more feats, they can be used to drop the two fighter levels. You can replace these with the Sneak Attack Fighter variant, thus qualifying for the Sneak Attack requirement without worrying about your Vestige. This opens up the possibility of changing out to other vestiges as the situation warrants, and makes the build more stable. Other options include replacing the Binder with 3 levels of Swordsage, which gives a few extra useful maneuvers/stances, and fits the theme a bit better. You also trade out some Fort for more Reflex, but gain Wis to AC, giving incentive to boost Wisdom some more, giving higher AC and more rounded defense.
  
• LA Buyoff. Telflammar Shadowlord doesn't require Shadow Jump to enter if you have the Shadow Walker template. This template costs a pitance in gold, and could be obtained at low level easily, letting Telflammar Shadowlord, and thus Shadow Pounce, come online much earlier. I didn't take it because I wanted to fit as much Shadowdancer into the class as possible (despite that 9th level not really doing much. Level8 or 10 is the real cutoff point for Shadowdancer).
  
• Fractional BAB/Saves gains the base build +2 to Will Saves, +1 to Fort Saves, and 1 additional BAB, making for a pretty reasonable boost to core stats and hitting the magic +16 BAB number.
  
• Bloodlines. With access to bloodlines and using the questionable RAW interpretation of being able to load up on several of these at level 1-2, you can get increased max skill ranks and enter both prestige classes at an earlier level. This allows entering early enough to get Shadow Pounce and still cap out Shadowdancer 10, which gives us an amazing 800ft per day of Shadow Jumping. I generally view this as cheesy, but getting either class 1 level earlier would make a huge deal for this build.

Ideally you can combine all of the above. Combining the LA Buyoff and Bloodlines and Flaws lets you qualify for both prestige classes a level early, so you can hop into Shadowlord at level 7 instead of Shadowdancer at 8. You get Shadow Pounce by level 10, and manage to get all 10 levels of Shadowdancer. You also get the extra SLAs provided by the Shadow Walker template, which are quite nice.

Spoiler: Sources Used

Show

• Core
• Dungeonscape (Trapmaster Ranger ACF)
• Tome of Magic (Binder, Improved Binding)
• Oriental Adventures (Iajutsu Focus)
• Unapproachable East (Telflammar Shadowlord)
• Races of Stone (Gnomish Quickrazor)
• Champions of Ruin (Craven)

The Dungeonscape variant is entirely optional, as noted elsewhere, and can dropped and skill points shifted if desired. If custom +skill items are not available, RoS and OA can both be dropped, and the extra high level feats can get filled in with other options, without much loss. This results in either switching to Weapon Finesse/Shadow Blade and switching to a dex build, or picking up Power Attack and taking advantage of using a big two hander and getting multiple two-handed full attacks a round.

The only really 100% Necessary sources besides Core are Unapproachable East and Tome of Magic, which provide two of the classes being used, and are the source of a lot of the utility that the Shadow Dancer is working with. Other sources all provide benefits used to flesh out the build, but could be replaced with items from other sources without ruining it.

Spoiler: Runners Up. Variants Considered

Show

So obviously we can't squeeze everything we want into a build like this. The backbone of this build is the Shadowdancer+Shadowlord, but that still leaves Race + 7 levels to play with. I considered a handful of alternatives that wound up being discarded, mostly due to not being able to hit prerequisites in a timely manner (if making the base build with UA, one of these may have been the winner)

• Warforged Totemist/Swordsage entry. This build would be dropping the Iajutsu skill and the Quickrazor/Quick Draw feats. In exchange it would pick up Extra Slam, and Bite feats for Warforged, and at early levels use Totemist melds to get more natural attacks. At late level, switch the Totem Chakra bind to Blink Shirt for at will move action teleports, combined with the standard teleports to have 2 full attacks every round basically at will without any item dependency. The Swordsage dip would be used for a Shadow Hand maneuver to qualify for Assassin Stance at level 10, to get into Shadowlord. Trick here is getting enough feats early enough to qualify for everything, and likely would have been the best bet with full UA access as the baseline.
  
• Swashbuckler/Factotum entry. Heavier focus on Dex/Int. Idea was to pump up int more, gaining more spells per day and take advantage of int to damage and factotum goodies. I considered doing this along with Assassin's Stance + Daring Outlaw, in place of Iajutsu to end up with a few extra sneak attack dice along with the int to damage. The real problem here, like above, was not having anywhere near enough feats to qualify for prestige classes on time and also get the sneak attack needed to fit build requirements and Shadowlord entry requirements.
  
• Scout/Fighter Entry. Has the benefit of providing Skirmish (synergizes awesomely with Shadow Pouncing), and having Hide/Move Silently as class skills plus trap finding (allowing for you to replace Ranger). Costs some BAB though, and you want at least 5 levels + improved skirmish, and need to take two weapon fighting yourself if going that route. Even with Scout5/Fighter 2, getting into Shadowdancer on time was questionable, and Telflammar Shadowlord would be delayed until Assassin’s Stance came online, potentially moving Shadowpounce to the very end, making the build less viable at mid levels.
  
• Some form of Monster build. I didn't look too much into this. It would probably have been better for originality score, and may have come together nicely, but honestly I don't like running monsters, and really didn't like the idea of having to lose more Shadowdancer levels to RHD/LA.

[Kazudo]

And that's it! We've got four entries, so we should have a Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honorable Mention! Hey look at that! Interesting.

Competitors, don't give away which one is yours! I'll let everyone know after the judges are done, which should begin....

NOW!

[dysprosium]

Real life is a cruel mistress sometimes.

My entry was going to be NE goblin Swordsage 5/Stonedeath Assassin 5/Shadowdancer 7/Incarnate 3 with Sneak attack coming from assassin's stance, and Stonedeath Assassin, using Indigo Strike to pump up the sneak attack damage.

As promised though, I will judge these and begin posting results soon. (Soon in a cosmic sense that is).