Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXIX

[Sian]

Looking forward to getting moving again

This probably only applies when I'm judging, but dipping usually doesn't bother me. That and with LA and Racial HD sucking up so many levels, there was barely any room left for anything except dips.

Oh I personally agree, but I'm all to aware that there is a number of (semi-)regular judges that hate dipping with a vengeance, so i try to steer clear of it.

[WhamBamSam]

Woo! Congratulations to Macabaret, and The Viscount and thanks for judging Darrin. Good thing we were all trying to out-weird each other. I don't think Tocke would have gone over very well in an ordinary round.

I can't believe I missed needing to be two size categories larger for Swallow Whole. Enlarge Person probably doesn't actually help, as Alternate Form probably counts as a magical size increase with which it doesn't stack. Ah well.

[Darrin]

Congratulations to Darrin, Macabaret, and The Viscount! Who's ready for an actually good ingredient for number 80?

I respectfully decline all accolades on account of WhamBamSam actually earning first place. I think this is your second gold?

Congratulations to all the contestants, and again, thank you for being so patient with the long, long, long wait.

I can't believe I missed needing to be two size categories larger for Swallow Whole. Enlarge Person probably doesn't actually help, as Alternate Form probably counts as a magical size increase with which it doesn't stack. Ah well.

The default entry in the MM is "one size smaller" unless the text mentions otherwise, and for some reason the cryptoclidus mentions otherwise.

I was kinda hoping for a more definitive "Swallow Whole" build that could take nearly any size, but I don't think we've seen something like that yet. Maybe the next ingredient... lots of different forms out there with Swallow Whole.

[Deadline]

*sigh* hello 4th place, my old friend. We've been paired together so long that in some states, they'd consider us married.

Congrats to all contestants. And thanks to Darrin for judging. I'm really glad you like Gorblurp and his Swallow Whole schtick (including the Hoard Gullet). He initially started life as a Cave Tyrannosaurus, but while it would have meant more power and the ability to swallow even larger foes, that would have left me even less of the SI to work with.

[Heliomance]

I respectfully decline all accolades on account of WhamBamSam actually earning first place. I think this is your second gold?

Yes, that's what I said. Not sure what you're talking about.

>_>

<_<

>_>

[WhamBamSam]

I respectfully decline all accolades on account of WhamBamSam actually earning first place. I think this is your second gold?

Third, actually. I tied you for gold two rounds ago in Great Rift Skyguard for my second.

The default entry in the MM is "one size smaller" unless the text mentions otherwise, and for some reason the cryptoclidus mentions otherwise.

I was kinda hoping for a more definitive "Swallow Whole" build that could take nearly any size, but I don't think we've seen something like that yet. Maybe the next ingredient... lots of different forms out there with Swallow Whole.

If I'd noticed that, I probably would have dropped Quicken SLA and jammed Gape of the Serpent in instead. It would have given me the ability to swallow medium creatures as part of being able to swallow creatures up to my own size, and wouldn't even have required extra time, as only creatures of equal size are called out as being more time-consuming by the feat, rather than "creatures that would ordinarily be too large to swallow" or somesuch.

My personal favorite Swallow Whole creature is a 24 HD Magical Beast, which is hard to assume without going for a full-bore caster build. Swallow Whole is an inordinately difficult thing to optimize from the player's side of the screen.

[MisterKaws]

Hmm... Sixth place, not so bad for my first time.

Still, I'm surprised that Amechra didn't enter. She sounded so eager to compete in this round.

And I got at least one of my guesses right. Nobody else would be so willing to dive into a sea of cheese, myself excluded(kinda? At least I didn't go for the Tauric LA bypass trick).

[The Viscount]

Congrats everyone!

I had lots of fun this round, and I'm very glad I decided to go oddball instead of power, since this was a great round of everyone getting strange.

Couple notes for Darrin, if he cares about after the fact notes that I didn't think were big enough to warrant a dispute: I'm not sure what the mentions of a +3 from intuitive attack are referring to, did you perhaps mean the +5 bonus from weapon finesse in hybrid/animal form?
I avoided Shadow Blade for the simple reason that I felt it would divert attention from the class focus, and it would put my other forms at a disadvantage. Shadow Blade is annoyingly limited to Shadow Hand weapons, I couldn't justify natural weapons counting as unarmed strikes, and I wanted there to be free shifting between all the forms without the big loss when switching to animal form.