Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXI

[Heliomance]

Dammit - I aim for a few hours' extension, then work blows up and the first time I have the time and energy to do the reveal is two days later. Sorry guys! Here we go!

[Heliomance]

But do they burn with the fires of a thousand evils?

The Spirit of All Pointy Things



LN Jermlaine Wilderness Rogue 10/Serene Guardian 10

I’m the spirit of all pointy things.
I’m all that pricks and all that stings.
I’m all that’s spiked and all that’s thorned.
I’m all that’s spined and all that’s horned.
I’m all that’s sharp and all that’s peaked.
I’m all that’s fanged and all that’s beaked.
I’m all that stabs and pierces through.
And tonight I'll come for you.
-Song of the Needle-Spitter

Spoiler: Ability Scores and Languages

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Starting ability scores:
STR: 8
DEX: 18
CON: 12
INT: 16
WIS: 10
CHA: 8

Post-racial adjustments:
STR: 1
DEX: 24
CON: 10
INT: 14
WIS: 16
CHA: 6

All ability score increases go into dexterity.

The Spirit speaks Jermlaine, Common, and Goblin.

Spoiler: Story

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The fey are more numerous than any mortal can ever imagine. From singular flowers and pebbles to the very seasons: all concepts are represented by them.

The Spirit of All Pointy Things used to be a plain, weak spirit, whose power was derived from a handful of hedgehogs, porcupines, and thorny plants. It lacked the power to assume physical form as anything more than a wretched, small humanoid. As a result, it rarely influenced the physical world: at most it'd fling a few poisoned needles at a predator that was eating too many of its proteges.

Yet one day, all changed. The Spirit discovered that slowly, its powers were increasing. Intrigued, it assumed physical form once more, and traveled its forest. All the while, it grew more powerful. Had it once barely been able to hurt other creatures, now its darts would leave them wracked with pain if not killed outright.

At last, the Spirit found the source of its power boom. A tribe of humans had moved into its forest. The Spirit, who had never seen humans before, was intrigued: how could these fangless, clawless, spikeless beings empower him? They weren't part of his domain!

Soon: it discovered the answer: the humans were a part of his domain after al. They used small needles to sew cloth and suture wounds, cooked food on sharpened sticks, and hunted animals with spears and arrows.

The Spirit, its power greater than ever before, came to favor the humans. It'd weaken great beasts and lead them to the human hunters, and command vermin to stay away from their food piles. The humans, pleased with their good luck, settled down near the forest.

For centuries, the Spirit watched the humans, and with them itself, grow more powerful. Its primal, chaotic mindset slowly eroded away, and in its place came a sense of duty and order: just like the humans it observed.

One group of humans in particular interested it. Calling themselves the Luminous Order, they lived by principles of discipline and serenity. The Spirit watched them from the shadows, slowly adding to its own techniques with the Order's teachings.

All this happened long ago, but the Spirit still lingers. It is said that when a threat to the humans arises, it rises from its forested home. Unseen and unheard by those it protects, the Spirit will track down its quarry... and kill it.

Spoiler: Build Table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Wilderness Rogue 1	+0	+0	+2	+0	Craft (Poisonmaking) +4, Escape Artist +4, Hide +4, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (nature) +4, Listen +4, Move Silently +4, Spot +4, Survival +4, Use Magic Device +4	Point-Blank Shot	Poison Use, Sneak Attack +1d6
2nd	Wilderness Rogue 2	+1	+0	+3	+0	Craft (Poisonmaking) +5, Escape Artist +5, Hide +5, Knowledge (nature) +5, Listen +5, Move Silently +5, Search +1, Spot +5, Survival +5, Use Magic Device +5	-	Evasion
3rd	Wilderness Rogue 3	+2	+1	+3	+1	Craft (Poisonmaking) +6, Escape Artist +6, Hide +6, Knowledge (nature) +6, Listen +6, Move Silently +6, Search +2, Spot +6, Survival +6, Use Magic Device +6	Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Fukimi-Bara)	Death's Ruin, Sneak Attack +2d6
4th	Wilderness Rogue 4	+3	+1	+4	+1	Craft (Poisonmaking) +7, Escape Artist +7, Hide +7, Knowledge (nature) +7, Listen +7, Move Silently +7, Search +3, Spot +7, Survival +7, Use Magic Device +7	-	Disruptive Attack
5th	Wilderness Rogue 5	+3	+1	+4	+1	Craft (Poisonmaking) +8, Escape Artist +8, Hide +8, Knowledge (nature) +8, Listen +8, Move Silently +8, Search +4, Spot +8, Survival +8, Use Magic Device +8	-	Sneak Attack +3d6
6th	Wilderness Rogue 6	+4	+2	+5	+2	Craft (Poisonmaking) +9, Escape Artist +9, Hide +9, Knowledge (nature) +9, Listen +9, Move Silently +9, Search +5, Spot +9, Survival +9, Use Magic Device +9	Darkstalker	-
7th	Wilderness Rogue 7	+5	+2	+5	+2	Craft (Poisonmaking) +10, Escape Artist +10, Hide +10, Knowledge (nature) +10, Listen +10, Move Silently +10, Search +6, Spot +10, Survival +10, Use Magic Device +10	-	Sneak Attack +4d6
8th	Wilderness Rogue 8	+6/+1	+2	+6	+2	Craft (Poisonmaking) +11, Escape Artist +11, Hide +11, Knowledge (nature) +11, Listen +11, Move Silently +11, Search +7, Spot +11, Survival +11, Use Magic Device +11	-	Uncanny Dodge
9th	Wilderness Rogue 9	+6/+1	+3	+6	+3	Craft (Poisonmaking) +12, Escape Artist +12, Hide +12, Knowledge (nature) +12, Listen +12, Move Silently +12, Search +8, Spot +12, Survival +12, Use Magic Device +12	Sickening Strike	Sneak Attack +5d6
10th	Wilderness Rogue 10	+7/+2	+3	+7	+3	Craft (Poisonmaking) +13, Escape Artist +13, Hide +13, Knowledge (nature) +13, Listen +13, Move Silently +13, Search +9, Spot +13, Survival +13, Use Magic Device +13	-	Skill Mastery (Concentration, Escape Artist, Hide, Move Silently, Use Magic Device)
11th	Serene Guardian 1	+8/+3	+5	+9	+3	Concentration +2, Hide +14, Move Silently +14	-	Resonance, Painful Release
12th	Serene Guardian 2	+9/+4	+6	+10	+3	Concentration +4, Hide +15, Move Silently +15	Arterial Strike	Damaging Release
13th	Serene Guardian 3	+10/+5	+6	+10	+4	Concentration +6, Hide +16, Move Silently +16	Woodland ArcherB	Bonus Feat (Woodland Archer)
14th	Serene Guardian 4	+11/+6/+1	+7	+11	+4	Concentration +8, Hide +17, Move Silently +17	-	Staggering Release
15th	Serene Guardian 5	+12/+7/+2	+7	+11	+4	Concentration +10, Hide +18, Move Silently +18	Terrifying Strike	Greater Resonance
16th	Serene Guardian 6	+13/+8/+3	+8	+12	+5	Concentration +12, Hide +19, Move Silently +19	-	Traumatic Release
17th	Serene Guardian 7	+14/+9/+4	+8	+12	+5	Concentration +14, Hide +20, Move Silently +20	-	Immunity to Fear
18th	Serene Guardian 8	+15/+10/+5	+9	+13	+5	Concentration +16, Hide +21, Move Silently +21	Savvy Rogue (Skill Mastery)	Confounding Release
19th	Serene Guardian 9	+16/+11/+6/+1	+9	+13	+6	Concentration +18, Hide +22, Move Silently +22	-	Unclouded Mind
20th	Serene Guardian 10	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+14	+6	Concentration +20, Hide +23, Move Silently +23	-	Soul Release

Spoiler: The Serene Guardian Issue

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Serene Guardian is a class that functions best when you hit people several times per turn for a lot of turns. The problem is that those things don't go well together.

By hitting people several times per turn, you should be killing them long before you ever get to use interesting SG abilities. In addition, you'll probably be full attacking, which limits your versatility to 'I hit it' and makes it hard to avoid opponent fire. Even if fifteen of your full attacks aren't enough to kill a foe, fifteen of its full attacks should be killing you.

The alternative, drawing out fights so you can use SG abilities, runs into the issue that it's very hard to avoid being hit while striking foes several times a round. Either you aren't building up Resonance or you're being killed.

However, there is a simple solution to this: stealth. By sneaking, enemy attacks can be avoided completely, which should allow you to slowly create Resonance.

But wait: how does one attack multiple times a round while sneaking? After all: stealth typically requires actions. The answer comes in the form of an obscure OA weapon: the Fukimi-Bari (mouth darts). Their description explicitly says:

You can fire up to three mouth darts per attack (all at the same target).

Combine this with sniping:

Sniping
If you’ve already successfully hidden at least 10 feet from your target, you can make one ranged attack, then immediately hide again. You take a -20 penalty on your Hide check to conceal yourself after the shot.

Basically, one can sneak around, spit three mouth darts, and immediately try to hide again. This allows for the buildup of Resonance while also keeping the user safe.

Spoiler: Build Writeups

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Spoiler: Level 5

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At this level, you're a regular jermlaine rogue... which means your Hide is through the roof. Expect monsters to be flat-out unable to spot you unless you let them. 9d6 points of sneak attack damage per round means you'll be keeping up with normal rogues even if you haven't got Craven.

A tower shield can be used as a source of mobile cover: you don't need your hands, do you? If your DM thinks it's silly, paint it in camouflage colors and ask again.

The build has one weakness at this level, though: non-undead immune to sneak attacks and poison. A regular homunculus will be able to survive the Spirit's attacks for several rounds. In such a situation, I recommend completely avoiding the encounter if possible, or using Disruptive Strike to boost allies' attacks if not.

Spoiler: Level 10

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At 10th-level, the reason we entered rogue becomes clear: skill mastery (though the 5d6 sneak attack doesn't hurt the build either). Now, your Hide and Move Silently checks are immune to the cruelty of the dice, reducing the chances of being detected.

Two other valuable abilities gained in the past 5 levels are Darkstalker (for obvious reasons) and Sickening Strike (because no-save debuffs are always good). Remember, the -2 penalty the latter imposes on skill checks also applies to Listen and Spot!

Spoiler: Level 15

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Now things are getting interesting. By hiding and sniping with mouth darts, the Spirit can stack resonance points. It doesn't matter if the initial wounds get healed: once enough resonance has accumulated a single swift action will kill the enemy outright. If foes try to flee, use Staggering Release to immobilize them for a while, then snipe them from just outside their melee range.

With accumulating resonance more important than dealing damage, I recommend making every sneak attack Arterial, Sickening and Terrifying, which will impose huge penalties on about everything and create extra resonance on your next turn without you having to do anything. Only when faced with an opponent that's got DR should you make 'plain' attacks.

Woodland Archer, gained through SG's bonus feat, is also worth mentioning. It lets you move forty feet after each snipe attempt, which lets you stay mobile and makes AoE's less effective.

Spoiler: Level 20

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The capstone to this build effectively reduces the number of rounds you need to snipe from a few dozen to about fifteen. Also, killing foes by pulling out their souls is much more stylish compared to pricking them a bunch and waiting for them to die of structural collapse.

The other abilities are so-so. Unclouded Mind is great against what AoE-will save abilities your opponents employ, immunity to fear is decent, and Confounding Release allows you to fight foes through their allies.

The build's final feat is Savvy Rogue, which replaces Skill Mastery's 'take 10' with 'take 12'. It's not much, but it sure helps.

Spoiler: For the judges

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How does this build fulfill the contest's requirements? I took the liberty of listing some arguments here:

Originality: Jermlaine. Wilderness rogue. Did you really see those coming for a monk-oriented component? The combat style of hiding and dart-spitting isn't too common either: in fact I've never seen anyone use fukimi-bara.

Power: The build is very good at its speciality (killing stuff with darts) and decent in a number of other situations. It's a good scout, can craft poison or use magical devices, and in a party it'll function as a debuffer. It'll also make those low-level rat quests much easier by being able to talk to the rodents.

Elegance: No dips, no feats, no interrupted class progressions. One could argue having a jermlaine be two steps from his usual alignment is inelegant, but it's no stranger than a TN dwarf, CN gnome, or LG halfling.

Use of Secret Ingredient:The SI's skills are used heavily. Concentration improves the Spirit's moderate Will save, while Hide and Move Silently are essential in getting the build to work.

(Greater) Resonance, Damaging Release, Traumatic Release and Soul Release are all used heavily. Painful Release, Confounding Release and Staggering Release also have their uses.

Unclouded Mind, as has been mentioned before, improves the build's weakest save, the bonus feat adds to its sneaking ability, and Immunity to Fear is useful on any character not already immune.

Spoiler: Equipment

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One would expect the Spirit, as a martial character, to require lots of gear. In practice, this doesn't hold true.

A source of flight is obviously necessary, as is a way to easily detect enemies, but the Spirit doesn't require expensive weapon abilities or protective items. After all: it can kill most things with a pouch of needles already, and protective items are useless if no one ever targets you.

An unconventional but potent item choice would be Shackles of Silence from the BoED. It requires some size-fiddling, but in the end you'd be inaudible by all mortal means. And remember: you don't need your hands to be free to attack.

Finally, it'd be nice for this build to have a permanent Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis, if only for the huge stealth bonuses it grants.

Spoiler: Sources

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Jermlaine - MMII

Wilderness Rogue - UA

Arterial Strike - CW
Darkstalker - LoM
Savvy Rogue - CS
Sickening Strike - DotU
Terrifying Strike - DotU
Woodland Archer - RotW

Fukimi-Bara - OA

[Heliomance]

He wonders as he wanders...

Ben Neru of the Crab clan, the Imperceptible Skulk

Spoiler: backstory

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The enclosed is to be read only by the master of the temple within the hidden valley.

Let me begin by saying how truly sorry I am.

By now, you’re doubtless wondering how Ben came to your dojo in the first place. While the boy undoubtedly has talent, he sometimes gets carried away.

At first, I thought he was just striking students while he had disappeared from the eye’s view. There’s nothing unusual about that after all. It’s one of the hallmarks of the dark moon dojo.

But once Ben reappeared again during sparring, I saw his opponents react as if struck even though he hadn’t laid a hand on them.

I’m aware of some schools that teach motion of the mind, but one master to another, that frightens me. I’m not accusing Ben of anything, mind you, it’s just beyond my ability to tutor him in something I don’t understand.

If I had my own way of things, I would’ve told him things just weren’t working out, wished him well, and sent him on his way. But we all know things don’t work out the way we like when we send out star pupil out into the world. They always come back, burn the place down, and make an example of us. I understand it’s how you came to your current position, as a matter of fact, taking the place of your former master after the Red Fist of the West himself descended upon you. You have both my congratulations and deepest sympathies.

It might gladden you to know that you won’t have to worry about him anymore.

Just as I was preparing to talk with Ben about the way he was surpassing me as a student, he attacked here too. They fought for hours, and then Ben struck the soul straight from his body. We were all relieved, of course, but Ben was horrified. He told me he didn’t know his own strength and would understand if I wanted him to wander the land in search of a new tutor.

You can’t blame me for seizing the opportunity. I advise you to do the same as soon as you can. You’re not the first, and I assure you you won’t be the last. Ben has the tattoos of more dojos than I’ve ever seen on one man’s back. If that eases your conscience when you send him on your way, so be it. If you want to keep him around, I wish you the best.

Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Spoiler: stub

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LN strongheart halfling monk 9/psychic warrior 1/serene guardian 10

Spoiler: abilities

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str 8
dex 18
con 14
int 12
wis 14
cha 8

after abilities
str 6
dex 20 (increases here)
con 14
int 12
wis 14
cha 8

Spoiler: table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Monk 1	+0	+2	+2	+2	balance 4, hide 4, jump 4, ms 4, tumble 4	evasive reflexes, shape soulmeld (astral vambraces)	bonus feat (underfoot combat), flurry of blows, unarmed strike
2nd	Monk 2	+1	+3	+3	+3	balance 1 (5), hide 1 (5), jump 1 (5), ms 1 (5), tumble 1 (5)		bonus feat (combat reflexes), invisible fist (invisible)
3rd	Monk 3	+2	+3	+3	+3	hide 1 (6), ms 1 (6), spot 2, tumble 1 (6)	weapon finesse	darkvision 60ft
4th	Monk 4	+3	+4	+4	+4	hide 1 (7), ms 1 (7), spot 2 (4), tumble 1 (7)		ki strike (magic), slow fall 20ft
5th	Monk 5	+3	+4	+4	+4	hide 1 (8), ms 1 (8), spot 2 (6), tumble 1 (8)		fire resist 5
6th	Monk 6	+4	+5	+5	+5	hide 1 (9), ms 1 (9), spot 2 (8), tumble 1 (9)	martial study (cloak of deception)	bonus feat (improved trip), slow fall 30ft
7th	Monk 7	+5	+5	+5	+5	hide 1 (10), ms 1 (10), spot 2 (10), tumble 1 (10)		shadow blend
8th	Monk 8	+6/+1	+6	+6	+6	hide 1 (11), jump 1 (6), ms 1 (11), spot 1 (11), tumble 1 (11)		slow fall 40ft
9th	Monk 9	+6/+1	+6	+6	+6	hide 1 (11), jump 1 (7), ms 1 (11), spot 1 (11), tumble 1 (11)	confound the big folk	invisible fist (blink)
10th	Psychic Warrior 1	+6/+1	+8	+6	+6	autohypnosis 3		bonus feat (spectral skirmisher), new power known (compression)
11th	Serene Guardian 1	+7/+2	+10	+8	+6	hide 3 (14)		Resonance, painful release
12th	Serene Guardian 2	+8/+3	+11	+9	+6	tumble 3 (14)	martial stance (child of shadow)	Damaging release
13th	Serene Guardian 3	+9/+4	+11	+9	+7	hide 2 (16), tumble 1 (15)		bonus feat (shadow blade)
14th	Serene Guardian 4	+10/+5	+12	+10	+7	hide 1 (17), tumble 2 (17)		Staggering release
15th	Serene Guardian 5	+11/+6/+1	+12	+10	+7	hide 1 (18), jump 1 (8), tumble 1 (18)	gloom razor	Greater resonance
16th	Serene Guardian 6	+12/+7/+2	+13	+11	+8	hide 1 (19), jump 1 (9), tumble 1 (19)		Traumatic release
17th	Serene Guardian 7	+13/+8/+3	+13	+11	+8	hide 1 (20), jump 1 (10), tumble 1 (20)		Immune to fear
18th	Serene Guardian 8	+14/+9/+5	+14	+12	+8	hide 1 (21), jump 1 (11), tumble 1 (21)	open chakra (hand)	Confounding release
19th	Serene Guardian 9	+15/+10/+5	+14	+12	+9	hide 1 (22), jump 1 (12), tumble 1 (22)		Unclouded mind
20th	Serene Guardian 10	+16/+11/+6/+1	+15	+13	+9	hide 1 (23), jump 1 (13), tumble 1 (23)		Soul release

Spoiler: playtips

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Spoiler: 5

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you function like a standard monk here, albeit with a few extra tricks. hin disciple is up and running, allowing you to run circles around those foolish tall people with underfoot combat. you gain soft cover when you’re in the square of someone 2+ sizes bigger. niche now, but it’ll be part of your regular combat strategy later. and as a monk bonus feat, we don’t need to meet the req for it, so can take it even though it breaks the skillcap. neat, huh?

that’s not all. dark moon disciple gives you darkvision, much more applicable than still mind, and your evasion’s been gone and pawned for invisible fist! as an immediate, you can turn invisible for an entire round (so greater invisible essentially) with all the resultant benefits. instantly say no to any attack whenever you want! there’s a cooldown of 3 rounds, but you can do this as often as you like aside from that. can your wizard friend do that?

you’re punching through dr with your karate chops, and you’ve got energy resist to the most common type, helping those burning hands not sting as much. you’ve got dr of your own too thanks to the handy dandy astral vambraces, helping improve monk’s trademark survivability

Spoiler: 10

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you’re up to your old tricks, but they pack a much stronger punch. cloak of deception’s up now, which makes you greater invisible for 1 round as a swift. sound familiar? it should, it’s just like your wonderful invisible fist. this means you can alternate rounds should you need to be invisible for more than one round successively in a given encounter. it also lays groundwork for later.

shadow blend is online, giving you total concealment in anything less than full daylight. take advantage of this in combination with underfoot combatant and its big (or small, as the case may be) brother, confound the big folk when you’re in tall peoples’ squares.

a tactical feat, it gives you a ton of options, boosting your crit rolls, and helping out your tripping ability. move into a foe’s square, trip him (using your immense dex) and he can’t add his size bonus, plus he can’t trip you back, and if you’ve got improved trip (which you do) you get a free attack once you trip him.

all these things work in tandem to give you a zillion sources of attacks when it comes time to build resonance for serene guardian. plus flurry, so you got that too. the penalty’s negated by being invisible all the time, and your bonuses from all your sneaky feats.

psychic warrior opens up dorjes and gives compression, to make you smaller, boost your numbers, and make you better at everything

invisible fist’s second boost comes up now. when normal monks are limping along with improved evasion, you can use your invisible fist now to activate blink for a number of rounds equal to your wis mod with a 3 round cooldown.

spectral skirmisher’s up and running. when an enemy takes a poke at you while you’re invisible and misses (so all the time,) then you gain an aoo.

this aoo can then be used either to do stuff to them via combat reflexes as usual.

or

you can use it to fuel evasive reflexes and take a 5 foot step immediately.

oh like, say, into the enemy’s square? it’s certainly the last place he’d look, and it’ll make him provoke more aoos from you using your other tricks, so keep the cycle of violence going.

get in people’s grills, take aoos and names, and kick shins. it’s all gravy from here.

Spoiler: 15

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you’re building on everything you’ve been laying foundation for. all your sources of extra attacks now help you build all the resonance you could ever want and more. child of shadow gives you more skulky bonuses to help you stay hidden and rack up bonuses against bad guys. shadow blade helps boost your damage when you’re in melee.

gloom razor is pulling its weight, giving you yet another way to stay invisible, render bad guys flat-footed, and use your prodigious tumble to move around behind enemy lines

Spoiler: 20

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you’re rounding out serene guardian, and between all these sources, you can gather resonance and use it against enemies essentially at will.

your hand chakra is open now, letting you pick up any ability from astral construct menu a via your astral vambraces. there are plenty of goodies there, like flight, letting you become essentially impossible for your foolish tall enemies to pin down

Spoiler: sources

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srd: monk, weapon finesse, combat reflexes
exemplars of evil: invisible fist
champions of valor: hin disciple, dark moon disciple
planar handbook: planar monk
magic of incarnum: shape soulmeld, open chakra
tome of battle: martial study, martial stance, gloom razor, shadow blade, evasive reflexes
races of the wild: confound the big folk, underfoot combat
player’s handbook 2: spectral skirmisher

[Heliomance]

Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!

Guru Lahima, Flame of Righteousness

LN Azurin Dragon Shaman 1/Incarnate 6/Crusader 3/Serene Guardian 10

Stats

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Str 13
Dex 10
Con 17 (Increases Here)
Int 10
Wis 16
Cha 8

Build

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Dragon Shaman 1	+0	+2	+0	+2	Heal 4, Intimidate 4	Shape Soulmeld (Winter Mask), Soulsight	Draconic Aura +1 (Energy Shield, Senses, Vigor), Gold Totem Dragon
2nd	Incarnate 1	+0	+4	+0	+4	Concentration 2		Aura, Detect Chaos
3rd	Incarnate 2	+1	+5	+0	+5	Concentration 4	Necrocarnum Acolyte	Chakra Bind (Crown)
4th	Incarnate 3	+1	+5	+1	+5	Concentration 6		Expanded Soulmeld Capacity +1, Incarnum Radiance 1/day
5th	Incarnate 4	+2	+6	+1	+6	Concentration 8		Chakra Binds (Feet, Hands)
6th	Incarnate 5	+2	+6	+1	+6	Balance 1, Concentration 9	Martial Study (Wall of Blades)	Rapid Meldshaping 1/day
7th	Incarnate 6	+3	+7	+2	+7	Balance 2, Concentration 10
8th	Crusader 1	+4	+9	+2	+7	Balance 5, Concentration 11		Furious Counterstrike, Steely Resolve 5
9th	Crusader 2	+5	+10	+2	+7	Concentration 12, Intimidate 3	Martial Study (Burning Brand)	Indomitable Soul
10th	Crusader 3	+6/+1	+10	+3	+8	Concentration 13, Intimidate 6		Zealous Surge
11th	Serene Guardian 1	+7/+2	+12	+5	+8	Concentration 14, Tumble 1		Resonance, Painful Release
12th	Serene Guardian 2	+8/+3	+13	+6	+8	Concentration 15, Tumble 2	Stone Power	Damaging Release
13th	Serene Guardian 3	+9/+4	+13	+8	+9	Concentration 16, Tumble 3	(B)Martial Stance (Holocaust Cloak)	Bonus Feat
14th	Serene Guardian 4	+10/+5	+14	+9	+9	Concentration 17, Tumble 4		Staggering Release
15th	Serene Guardian 5	+11/+6/+1	+14	+9	+9	Concentration 18, Tumble 5	Open Lesser Chakra (Brow)	Greater Resonance
16th	Serene Guardian 6	+12/+7/+2	+15	+10	+10	Concentration 19, Tumble 6		Traumatic Release
17th	Serene Guardian 7	+13/+8/+3	+15	+10	+10	Concentration 20, Tumble 7		Immune to Fear
18th	Serene Guardian 8	+14/+9/+4	+16	+11	+10	Concentration 21, Tumble 8	Double Chakra (Shoulders)	Confounding Release
19th	Serene Guardian 9	+15/+10/+5	+16	+11	+11	Concentration 22, Tumble 9		Unclouded Mind
20th	Serene Guardian 10	+16/+11/+6/+1	+17	+12	+11	Concentration 23, Tumble 10		Soul Release

Maneuvers

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1st: Crusader’s Strike, Douse the Flames, Leading the Attack, Stone Bones, Vanguard Strike
2nd: Burning Brand (via study), Wall of Blades (via study)
3rd: Revitalizing Strike
Stances: Martial Spirit, Thicket of Blades, Holocaust Cloak (via stance)

Backstory

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Sir Brok the Mighty had done little to earn his title. He was a brute born with more strength in his arm than brains in his head, but he still put that brawn to enough use to get himself into a mercenary company. From enough time in the wars, he was able to learn that the only loyalty that matters is to coin. He and his lieutenants earned a pretty penny turning on the duke that hired them. When the invading force installed themselves in the duchy, he earned a title partially as a reward and partially to tie him to the land. Since earning it he rapidly began abusing it, and was often found having a free drink or five at the tavern nearest his house.

As fortune would have it, this is where he was when Guru Lahima strolled into town. He was clothed in simple robes, a plain walking stick in his hand. His stature was unremarkable, but his eyes gleamed bright. A few heads turned when the man entered, Brok’s was not among them. He only noticed the man when he approached the bar.

“Do you have any hot water here, good sir?”
“Only noontime in the summer, old timer. We have cool rainwater if you want.”
“That will do, thank you kindly.”
He accepted the ceramic cup quietly and reached into a pouch at his waist for a pinch of leaves that he added to the cup. He wrapped his hands around the cup and the air surrounding him shimmered briefly as he hunched himself over the water as if sheltering it from a storm until it began steaming in his hands. He set it on the counter to steep, at which point Brok turned his head to take in the sight of the newcomer.

“I thought they said they didn’t have any hot water.”
“The ale has not dulled your memory of the past.”
“Are you having a laugh at my expense, old man?”
“I was only attempting to make my own joy. I did not think I took any of yours.” He smiled warmly as Brok puzzled at his turn of phrase, leaning over to glance at the cup.
“You made the water boil yourself!”
“You have solved the riddle. I have concentrated my own breath of life outward to give energy to the water.”
“What’s those green bits in there?”
“I have added some herbs for flavor, and to ease the ache in my joints from the walk here.”
“It looks like you’re making some sort of witch’s brew. You learn anything for reducing the headache from too much ale?”
“It would take more herbs than I have with me to clear a head such as yours.”
“That’s enough, old man! I’ve had enough of your insults. I am a knight and will not take this insult on my character! Stand and fight me, if you do not lack the strength!”

Guru Lahima quickly stood to face his opponent, and the mild shimmering around him gave way to a full blistering heat, and his face became shrouded beneath a snarling mask of a wolf.
“Do not underestimate me, you drunkard. The only reason I do not reduce you to ashes with my own blazing power is because I am bound to never use my strength in aggression. Know that if you reach to strike me, your own anger shall be your undoing.”
“What kind of stupid code doesn’t protect you?! Enough talk! Fight or die!”

Brok rushed forward and swung with the full force of his arm swinging his tankard at the old man’s head. Guru Lahima bent over under the force of the blow, but did not fall. As he straightened up, gouts of flame lashed out at Brok’s face. The knight stubbornly slapped the embers out of his face and swung again at the man before him. Guru Lahima withstood several such blows, each time the fire striking back at Brok, until finally the mountain of a man wavered on his feet, unsteadied by the weight of an almost palpable tension seemingly emanating from Guru Lahima’s clenched fist. The old man opened his hand and the knight rocked backwards before falling to the ground dead.

Guru Lahima reached to lean on the bar as he raised his hand gently to the welts growing on his head. He looks up at the patrons who had witnessed all this take place.
“You all saw that. He struck both first and last. I took no action in retaliation, and he attacked knowing the consequences. It was only his fury that drove him to his death. A shame it had to be this way.” He reached for the tea and drank deeply as he looked at the body on the ground. He took a deep breath of the last of its steam and set it down before centering himself as a deep black crown formed on his head. The corners and edges of it dug into his bruising temples as he spoke in a voice resonant with purpose.
“Sir Brok the Mighty, your wickedness has led you to an unmemorable death. Your soul is tainted but not beyond redemption. I call you to rise once more so that you may perform the good you never did in life, and then know release. I shall shoulder the burden of guiding you for the part I have played in your death.”

The sizzling corpse of Brok awkwardly rose to stand with cracks and pops of unnatural life, silently waiting as its master collected his staff, bowed slightly to the patrons, and set out of the tavern to wander the land once more.

Level 5

Spoiler

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We’re going to be practicing a particular stripe of nonviolence, so we have to use some particular classes and feats to get there. We start with Azurin for the feat and essentia. Dragon Shaman provides us with the first element, the energy shield. I’ve chosen fire for thematic unity, but anything works. Whenever an enemy strikes you, they take fire damage. Vigor is to help recover help from the fights, and sense’s is just a good utility aura. Shape Soulmeld for the Winter Mask gives us something to do with our actions that isn’t forcefully attacking our foe. Touch someone and fatigue them. You can invest essentia to deal nonlethal cold damage as well, in keeping with the code, but if you don’t want just invest no essentia. Soulsight’s a neat ability to detect thinks around you, but also gives you a point of essentia.

Incarnate immediately provides us with our other portion we need to get the trick up and running: the Mantle of Flame. If someone hits you, they take fire damage, 1d6 per essentia you sink into it, at this point 2d6. If someone hits you, they’re then taking damage from you, twice in a single round. That’s enough to activate resonance when you get it, and that’s the conceit of the build. Shape the Fellmist Robe to give miss chance to everything but adjacent attackers. They’ll move closer to avoid it, which means they trigger your retaliatory auras. If you kill someone with it and think they could undo the bad of their past actions, raise them as a necrocarnum zombie with the Necrocarnum Circlet. The Vitality Belt is something you should have shaped most of the time to give you extra hitpoints, which you can gain and lose when you move essentia around to game Vigor aura’s half health healing. The Necrocarnum Vestments (unlocked with Necroncarnum Acolyte) also give temp hp for this purpose, so shape both if you really want to prep for battle. Consider the Astral Vambraces for the DR, especially at low levels. Your enemies just have to hit you to trigger your response, they don’t have to damage you. Activate your incarnum radiance when you want, it boosts attack rolls so works on your touch attack.

Level 10

Spoiler

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Now we have more levels of incarnate, rapid meldshaping can 1/day switch to give us something we need, highly useful. We also have 2 binds now, so in addition to/instead of Necrocarnum Circlet, the Lucky Dice are great for boosting everybody’s actions, and the Impulse Boots for Uncanny Dodge and Evasion.

For feats we have Wall of Blades to deflect attacks you don’t want/won’t trigger your auras of retribution, and Burning Brand to extend your reach. It seems it still works when used on the touch attack for Winter Mask, the no damage it deals now becomes no fire damage. It’s unclear whether nonlethal cold becomes nonlethal fire or lethal fire; if B don’t combine the two.

Now to Crusader. Zealous surge is a free reroll, and furious counterstrike plus steely resolve combine to turn damage into bonus on attack and damage rolls. That’s a general wording so applies to Mantle of Flame (and damaging resonance when we get to it). Attack bonus applies to your touch attacks. For maneuvers I’ve selected ones that can provide use in healing, support, or protection without damaging others. Martial Spirit is likely your default stance for now. Tome of Battle does support making touch attacks with winter mask to trigger strikes, you don’t have to hit with weapons dealing damage.

Level 15 (Sweet Spot)

Spoiler

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Now it’s time for the SI! First let’s do feats. Open Brow Chakra opens up things like see invisibility and a big chunky Soulspark Familiar. Stone Power is critical for survivability, as it activates when you take damage, and then again when your delayed damage from Steely Resolve kicks in the following turn. You can probably afford to take full penalty most of the time since you’re making touch attacks with pretty good attack bonus. And finally, Martial Stance is nabbed at level 13 from the SI’s free fighter bonus feat. The effect is, you guessed it, fire damage when somebody strikes you. That means if someone hits you once, they get damaged 3 times in that turn. That’s the ticket for gaining 2 points of resonance, without you having to lift a finger. This should be your default aura when combat starts.

Now SI Proper. You’re generating resonance primarily by getting attacked and damaging them with Mantle of Flame, Energy Shield Aura, and Holocaust Cloak. If you need to switch stances, you can juice your winter mask with essentia and add that in as the third source of damage, nonlethal as it is. Getting hit so much is precisely why you’ve invested so much in survivability and self-healing. Your fat chunk of hp from vitality belt and necrocarnum vestments, healing from devoted spirit maneuvers (and even Vigor Aura if necessary), temp HP from stone power, and DR from astral vambraces or Stone Bones all add up. If you need to disengage or take a breather, slap your foe with a strong enough staggering release and their speed will be reduced to 0, most of the time 3 will do it. Painful release is a very useful debuff for the rest of the party to target their saves as always, and it also helps you fatigue enemies more easily, which reduces their attack and AC indirectly. Trigger damageing release really whenever you feel like it, it’s free damage.

Level 20

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Now we’re just mopping up and getting stronger. Traumatic release makes releasing resonance even more damaging, which is great. Confounding release is highly useful for getting some relief from getting attacked, even for a short burst of 2 rounds, since they have only a 20% chance of going after you if you are not the closest creature. Immunity to fear helps you fight dragons and liches much more efficiently. Unclouded Mind is a very nice safety net. We’ve maxed Concentration, so you are nearly bound to guarantee with that and your high will save. For the capstone, if you focus on generating a big pool of resonance, you can generate enough to kill someone if you don’t try it on a big brute with a ton of HD. A DC of 23 is a decent one, so might as well give it a shot.

Our final feat is double chakra to throw the therapeutic mantle onto our shoulders, boosting the healing from maneuvers by spell level +2e, I’m assuming maneuver level equals spell level here, with full investment that’s spell level +10. Our full investment at this point is 5 essentia in a meld, so we can cause 6d6 fire damage with Mantle of Flame, generate a 50% miss chance with Fellmist robe, have DR 12/magic via Astral Vambraces, and between Vitality Belt and Necrocarnum Vestments generate 45 extra hitpoints.

Sources

Spoiler

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Incarnate, Double Chakra, Open Lesser Chakra, Necrocarnum Acolyte, Soulsight, Shape Soulmeld: Magic of Incarnum
Dragon Shaman: Players Handbook II
Crusader, Martial Study, Martial Stance, Stone Power: Tome of Battle

[Heliomance]

What is truth?

Bobo McShootiepants
Lawful Good Human Soulknife 1/Fighter 1/Soulknife +1/Fighter +1/Soulknife +1/Soulbow 2/Kensai 3/Serene Guardian 10

"Also, I can kill you with my brain."
--River Tam--

Spoiler: Stats

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Str 08
Con 08
Dex 13
Int 14
Wis 17
Cha 15

All level increases to Wis.
VOP increases:
7th: Wis +2
11: Wis +2; Int +2
15th: Wis +2; Int +2; Dex +2
19th: Wis +2; Int+2; Dex +2; Con +2

Stat	Start	4th	7th	8th	11th	12th	15th	16th	19th	20th
STR	08	08	08	08	08	08	08	08	08	08
CON	08	08	08	08	08	08	08	08	10	10
DEX	13	13	13	13	13	13	15	15	17	17
INT	14	14	14	14	16	16	18	18	20	20
WIS	17	18	20	21	23	24	26	27	29	30
CHA	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15

Spoiler: Build Table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Soulknife 1	+0	+0	+2	+2	4 Autohypnosis 1 Concentration 2 Diplomacy 4 Hide 4 Knowledge: psionics 4 Listen 4 Move Silently 4 Spot	1st: Sacred Vow; H: Vow of Poverty; BEF: Nymph's Kiss; B: Weapon Focus (Mind Blade); B: Hidden Talent (Mindlink)	Mind Blade
2nd	Fighter 1	+1	+2	+2	+2	4 Autohypnosis 2 Concentration 2 Diplomacy 4 Hide 4 Knowledge: psionics 4 Listen 4 Move Silently 5 Ride 4 Spot	B: Combat Expertise; BEF: Intuitive Attack	--
3rd	Soulknife 2	+2	+2	+3	+3	6 Autohypnosis 2 Concentration 2 Diplomacy 6 Hide 4 Knowledge: psionics 5 Listen 6 Move Silently 5 Ride 5 Spot	3rd: Quick Reconnoiter	Throw Mind Blade
4th	Fighter 2	+3	+3	+3	+3	6 Autohypnosis 6 Concentration 3 Diplomacy 6 Hide 4 Knowledge: psionics 5 Listen 6 Move Silently 5 Ride 5 Spot	B: Point Blank Shot; BEF: Sanctify Martial Strike (Mind Blade)	--
5th	Soulknife 3	+4	+4	+3	+3	8 Autohypnosis 6 Concentration 4 Diplomacy 6 Hide 4 Knowledge: psionics 8 Listen 6 Move Silently 5 Ride 6 Spot	B: Precise Shot	--
6th	Soulbow 1	+4	+4	+5	+5	9 Autohypnosis 6 Concentration 4 Diplomacy 9 Hide 4 Knowledge: psionics 9 Listen 7 Move Silently 5 Ride 8 Spot	6th: Skill Focus: Listen; B: Zen Archery; BEF: Nimbus of Light	Mind Arrow
7th	Soulbow 2	+5	+4	+6	+6	10 Autohypnosis 7 Concentration 5 Diplomacy 9 Hide 5 Knowledge: psionics 10 Listen 7 Move Silently 5 Ride 10 Spot	--	Mind Arrow Enhancement (+1 ability)
8th	Kensai 1	+5	+4	+6	+8	10 Autohypnosis 11 Concentration 9 Diplomacy 9 Hide 5 Knowledge: psionics 10 Listen 7 Move Silently 5 Ride 10 Spot	BEF: Holy Radiance	Signature Weapon
9th	Kensai 2	+6/1	+4	+6	+9	10 Autohypnosis 3 Balance 12 Concentration 11 Diplomacy 9 Hide 1 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 10 Listen 7 Move Silently 5 Ride 10 Spot	9th: Keen-Eared Scout	Power Surge
10th	Kensai 3	+7/2	+5	+7	+9	10 Autohypnosis 5 Balance 13 Concentration 13 Diplomacy 9 Hide 2 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 1 Knowledge: the planes 10 Listen 7 Move Silently 5 Ride 10 Spot	BEF: Gift of Discernment	--
11th	Serene Guardian 1	+8/3	+7	+9	+9	10 Autohypnosis 5 Balance 14 Concentration 13 Diplomacy 9 Hide 2 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 1 Knowledge: the planes 13 Listen 7 Move Silently 5 Ride 13 Spot	--	Resonance; Painful Release
12th	Serene Guardian 2	+9/4	+8	+10	+9	10 Autohypnosis 5 Balance 14 Concentration 13 Diplomacy 10 Hide 1 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 1 Knowledge: religion 3 Knowledge: the planes 15 Listen 7 Move Silently 5 Ride 14 Spot	12th: Knowledge Devotion; BEF: Gift of Faith	Damagaing Release
13th	Serene Guardian 3	+10/5	+8	+10	+10	10 Autohypnosis 5 Balance 14 Concentration 13 Diplomacy 11 Hide 1 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 1 Knowledge: religion 7 Knowledge: the planes 16 Listen 7 Move Silently 5 Ride 15 Spot	B: Rapid Shot	--
14th	Serene Guardian 4	+11/6/1	+9	+11	+10	10 Autohypnosis 5 Balance 14 Concentration 13 Diplomacy 14 Hide 1 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 1 Knowledge: religion 8 Knowledge: the planes 17 Listen 7 Move Silently 5 Ride 17 Spot	BEF: Vow of Abstinence	Staggering Release
15th	Serene Guardian 5	+12/7/2	+9	+11	+10	10 Autohypnosis 5 Balance 14 Concentration 13 Diplomacy 18[/b] Hide 1 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 1 Knowledge: religion 8 Knowledge: the planes 18 Listen 7 Move Silently 5 Ride 18 Spot 2 Skill Trick: Spot the Weak Point	15th: Planar Touchstone	Greater Resonance
16th	Serene Guardian 6	+13/8/3	+10	+12	+11	10 Autohypnosis 5 Balance 14 Concentration 13 Diplomacy 19 Hide 1 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 1 Knowledge: religion 8 Knowledge: the planes 19 Listen 10 Move Silently 5 Ride 19 Spot 2 Skill Trick: Listen to This 2 Skill Trick: Spot the Weak Point	BEF: Vow of Purity	Traumatic Release
17th	Serene Guardian 7	+14/9/4	+10	+12	+11	10 Autohypnosis 5 Balance 14 Concentration 13 Diplomacy 20 Hide 1 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 1 Knowledge: religion 8 Knowledge: the planes 20 Listen 15 Move Silently 5 Ride 20 Spot 2 Skill Trick: Listen to This 2 Skill Trick: Spot the Weak Point	--	Immune To Fear
18th	Serene Guardian 8	+15/10/5	+11	+13	+11	10 Autohypnosis 5 Balance 14 Concentration 13 Diplomacy 21 Hide 1 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 1 Knowledge: religion 8 Knowledge: the planes 21 Listen 20 Move Silently 5 Ride 21 Spot 2 Skill Trick: Listen to This 2 Skill Trick: Spot the Weak Point	18th: Sense Weakness; BEF: Vow of Obedience	--
19th	Serene Guardian 9	+16/11/6/1	+11	+13	+11	10 Autohypnosis 5 Balance 22 Concentration 13 Diplomacy 22 Hide 1 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 1 Knowledge: religion 8 Knowledge: the planes 22 Listen 18 Move Silently 5 Ride 22 Spot 2 Skill Trick: Listen to This 2 Skill Trick: Spot the Weak Point	--	Unclouded Mind
20th	Serene Guardian 10	+17/12/7/2	+12	+14	+11	10 Autohypnosis 5 Balance 23 Concentration 13 Diplomacy 23 Hide 1 Knowledge: local 1 Knowledge: nobility and royalty 5 Knowledge: psionics 1 Knowledge: religion 8 Knowledge: the planes 23 Listen 23 Move Silently 5 Ride 23 Spot 2 Skill Trick: Listen to This 2 Skill Trick: Spot the Weak Point	BEF: Vow of Chastity	Soul Release

Spoiler: Levels 1-5

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There's a lot of set-up going on here. Such is the life of a Soulbow-wanna be, really. Many of the skills and feats taken in these levels are pre-reqs for other things later on, but have their uses.
The Intuitive Attack feat makes melee possible with the other Mind Blade feats. But once Throw Mind Blade comes online, a ranged approach to combat may very well be preferred.

The Quick Reconnoiter feat with solid Listen and Spot abilities weigh in for the scouting roll and offer good use for Hide and Move Silently as well.

Spoiler: Levels 6-10

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Soulbow comes online right with Zen Archery. (It's almost as though it was planned that way!) Mind arrows can be enhanced with a +1 ability. I'd suggest Seeking as the normal day-to-day option, but different adventures may find more use out of different abilities. Once Keen-Eared Scout comes along at 9th, ask a friendly spellcaster to hit the battlefield with Obscuring Mist or Fog Cloud or Magical Darkness or....

Three levels of Kensai is enough to add the Splitting ability to your mind arrows.

Spoiler: Levels 11-20

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And we're into Serene Guardian. The major abilities here run off of Resonance. At 11th level, we've got 2 attacks (from BAB) per round for four arrows (Splitting). Another attack comes along at 13th (Rapid Shot) and a fourth at 14th (higher BAB).

At 15th level, the Planar Touchstone feat offers Oxyrhynchus (Planar Handbook p. 172). Go read that base ability. Now read it again. Now say "pretty-please" when you ask that friendly spellcaster for the Obscuring Mist or Fog Cloud or.... Also, keep in mind your Hide skill and use surprise rounds to your advantage.
This is also the level where Greater Resonance comes along. With 4 attacks (3 from BAB plus one from Rapid Shot) each launching two arrows (Splitting) as seperate damage sources, there will be plenty of opportunity to create resonance. Add to that a possible four more attacks (from Planar Touchstone), and you could end up with a whole squad of foes buzzing with resonance.
Yet another attack (high BAB) comes along at level 19.

By 20th level, 5 attacks per round are Splitting into 10 (which might get Planar Touchstoned into 20). An attack bonus of 2 (worst of the BAB line) minus 2 (Rapid Shot) plus 5 (Vow of Poverty enhancement) plus 10 (Zen Archery) plus 1 (Weapon Focus) plus a possible 1 (Point Blank Shot) plus 0-5 (Knowledge Devotion insight) = 16 plus 0-6 and 1d20. That can hit a lot of ACs (especially if the foe is flat-footed)
Trueseeing means most things can't stay hidden from you. Keen-eared Scout with full ranks in Listen (and a Skill Focus) with a high WIS lets you find the rest, even in an anti-magic field. Seeking mind arrows manage to still hit what you can't see (which function in an anti-magic field, no-less.)

Spoiler: Resource List

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• Expanded Psionic Handbook -- Soulknife class (see also: Mind's Eye); Autohypnosis skill; Knowledge: psionics skill; Hidden Talent feat (p.67)
• Book of Exalted Deeds -- Sacred Vow feat; Vow of Poverty feat; Nymph's Kiss feat; Intuitive Attack feat; Sanctify Martial Strike feat; Nimbus of Light feat; Holy Radiance feat; Gift of Discernment feat; Gift of Faith feat; Vow of ___ feats;
• Complete Adventurer -- Quick Reconnoiter feat
• Complete Warrior -- Zen Archery feat; Kensai class
• Complete Psionic -- Soulbow class
• Player's Handbook 2 -- Keen-Eared Scout feat
• Complete Champion -- Knowledge Devotion feat
• Complete Scoundrel -- Skill Tricks
• Planar Handbook -- Planar Touchstone
• Draconomicon -- Sense Weakness feat

[Heliomance]

Look into my eyes...

Opsablepsia

Dragonborn of Bahamut [RotD] (Heart aspect) (previously Silverbrow Human [DrM])
LG
Dragonfire Adept [DrM] 1 / Binder [ToM] 8 / Serene Guardian [SGoSG] 10 / Swordsage [ToB] 1
Multiclass penalties: No [Favored Class: Any and Fighter]

Feats with asterisks will change upon undergoing the Rite of Rebirth; see below.

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Dragonfire Adept 1 [DrM]	+0	+2	+0	+2	Intimidate 4, K: Planes 4, Concentration 4, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft 4, UMD 4	Entangling Exhalation [RotD], Human bonus: Least Dragonmark (Mark of Passage)* [ECS] (post-rebirth: Dragon Wings [RotD]), DFA bonus: Dragontouched* [DrM] (lost upon rebirth)	Breath Weapon, Invocation: Endure Exposure
2nd	Binder 1 [ToM]	+0	+4	+0	+4	Intimidate 5, K: Planes 5, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5		Soul binding (1 vestige), 1st level vestiges
3rd	Binder 2	+1	+5	+0	+5	Intimidate 6, Sense Motive 6, Concentration 5, Spellcraft 6	Breath of Syberis* [DMk] (post-rebirth: Improved Dragon Wings [RotD])	Pact augmentation (1 ability), Suppress sign
4th	Binder 3	+2	+5	+1	+5	Intimidate 7, Sense Motive 7, Concentration 6, Spellcraft 7		2nd level vestiges
5th	Binder 4	+3	+6	+1	+6	Intimidate 8, Sense Motive 8, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 8	Binder bonus: Improved Binding [ToM]	3rd level vestiges
6th	Binder 5	+3	+6	+1	+6	Intimidate 9, Sense Motive 9, Concentration 8, Spellcraft 9	Elemental Grafter [MoE]	Pact augmentation (2 abilities), 4th level vestiges
7th	Binder 6	+4	+7	+2	+7	Intimidate 10, Sense Motive 10, Concentration 9, Spellcraft 10		Soul guardian (immune to fear)
8th	Binder 7	+5	+7	+2	+7	Intimidate 11, Sense Motive 11, Concentration 10, Spellcraft 11
9th	Binder 8	+6	+8	+2	+8	Intimidate 12, Sense Motive 12, Concentration 11, Spellcraft 12	Irresistible Gaze [SS]	Soul binding (2 vestiges), 5th level vestiges
10th	Serene Guardian 1 [SGoSG]	+7	+10	+4	+8	Intimidate 13, Sense Motive 13, Concentration 13		Resonance, painful release
11th	Serene Guardian 2	+8	+11	+5	+8	Intimidate 14, Concentration 14, Tumble 2		Damaging release
12th	Serene Guardian 3	+9	+11	+5	+9	Intimidate 15, Concentration 15, Tumble 4	Martial Study (Vanguard Strike) [ToB], Serene Guardian bonus: Martial Stance (Iron Guard's Glare) [ToB]
13th	Serene Guardian 4	+10	+12	+6	+9	Intimidate 16, Concentration 16, Tumble 6		Staggering release
14th	Serene Guardian 5	+11	+12	+6	+9	Intimidate 17, Concentration 17, Tumble 8		Greater resonance
15th	Serene Guardian 6	+12	+13	+7	+10	Intimidate 18, Concentration 18, Tumble 10	Martial Study (Entangling Blade) [ToB]	Traumatic release
16th	Serene Guardian 7	+13	+13	+7	+10	Intimidate 19, Concentration 19, Tumble 12		Immune to fear
17th	Serene Guardian 8	+14	+14	+8	+10	Intimidate 20, Concentration 20, Tumble 14		Confounding release
18th	Serene Guardian 9	+15	+14	+8	+11	Intimidate 21, Concentration 21, Tumble 16	Piercing Gaze [SS]	Unclouded mind
19th	Serene Guardian 10	+16	+15	+9	+11	Intimidate 22, Concentration 22, Tumble 18		Soul release
20th	Swordsage 1 [ToB]	+16	+15	+11	+13	Intimidate 23, Concentration 23, Tumble 23, Craft: Basketweaving 1		Discipline focus (Diamond Mind), Quick to act +1, Maneuvers (Moment of Perfect Mind, Action Before Thought, Mind Over Body, Insightful Strike, Ruby Nightmare Blade, Disrupting Blow, Stance of Clarity)

STR: 12 (4 pts)
DEX: 12 (10 after transformation) (4 pts)
CON: 14 (16 after transformation) (6 pts)
INT: 14 (6 pts)
WIS: 10 (2 pts)
CHA: 16 (10 pts)

Level-up points go into CHA.

Change at 6 HD: Opsablepsia becomes a Dragonborn of Bahamut at 6 HD. Per the sidebar on pg. 20 of Races of the Dragon, she must lose her dragonmark, as well as any feats for which her dragonmark was a prereq, replacing them with other feats. (In this case, we lose Least Dragonmark and Breath of Siberys.) Per the sidebar on pg. 10 of the same book, she may turn a feat into a 1st-level-only feat, in this case Dragon Wings. From the same sidebar, bonus feats granted by one's race are also lost upon transformation, but when that bonus feat is not a specific feat (as is the case here), "any feat may be lost," so Opsablepsia loses the Dragontouched feat granted by her level in Dragonfire Adept. In short, when she becomes a Dragonborn at 6 HD, Opsablepsia sacrifices Dragontouched, she turns Least Dragonmark into Dragon Wings, and she turns Breath of Siberys into Improved Dragon Wings. (She qualifies for Improved Dragon Wings at 6 HD when the transformation happens, and there is no rule saying that she had to qualify for it when she took the feat that she is forced to replace.)

Backstory: Once a scion of House Orien, the woman who would eventually take the name of Opsablepsia knew early on that she had an energy inside of her, and that energy was just waiting for the right conduit to release itself. Her adventures through the Valley of Obelisks (in and around the Slaughtergarde laboratory, eventually destroying the Shattered Gate itself) gave her lots of chances to experiment with different ways of channeling power through herself—from nurturing a spark of dragonfire in her heart (which eventually blossomed into taking the form of one pledged to the service of the Platinum Dragon), to experimenting with the vestiges of those banished from this reality, to replacing her own eyes with those of a fire elemental after an incident involving some wererats, and so on. She climbed the ranks of the Luminous Order until she realized that the energy inside her could be allowed to burst forth through her eyes, and she also realized that that same energy could sync up with the energy inside other folks in a way that she could control. The rest, of course, is history.

Strategy: Opsablepsia starts out as a basic Dragonfire Adept—Entangling Exhalation is a great strategy from level 1 on, and truthfully, it stays her bread and butter for a long time. Endure Exposure is used to make the breath weapon ally-friendly. Breath of Siberys isn't something we keep forever, but it does make our breath weapon stay marginally more relevant damage-wise for a little while longer. Binder is never a bad choice early in the game (Aym is great defensively because most low-level things don't want to hit someone who's on fire, Malphas's scouting ability is legendary, Focalor is useful right out of the box as soon as he is available, and so on), and of course, a Binder's strength is their versatility, so we can adapt to the order of the day.

We do want to use the Duel of Wills [ToB pg. 27] rules whenever possible, since if the target accepts the challenge and loses, we get a +1 bonus to damage rolls against it. Every +1 adds up.

Things start to shift a bit around 6th or 7th level, when we take Elemental Grafter (the caster level prereq for which is handled by virtue of the supernatural abilities of Binder) and gain the ability to implant the Scorching Gaze graft [MoE pg. 133]. If we can't find a friendly spellcaster willing to help us with the Scorching Ray prereq, we can bind Karsus and just use a wand of Scorching Ray for the same purpose. But the upshot is that this gives us a gaze attack that deals fire damage. We also undergo the Rite of Rebirth around this level, transforming from a Silverbrow Human into a Dragonborn of Bahamut. (The reason that we're a Silverbrow instead of a regular Human is twofold. First, this prevents us from needing to recalculate skill points, and second, since Silverbrow Humans have the Dragonblood subtype from the get-go, Dragontouched is not needed to serve as a prereq for Entangling Exhalation, so there's absolutely no ambiguity about whether or not it can be the feat that we sacrifice in the transformation.) This gives us a nice scaling breath weapon to use—again, it's not going to be a damage powerhouse, but it's noticeably better than the one we get from a single level of DFA (even if it is on a recharge timer). We still have the DFA one, and even though it's going to do a negligible amount of damage, it's still going to entangle just as well. We're forced to lose our dragonmark (and, with it, Breath of Syberis), but we get Dragon Wings/Improved Dragon Wings in return, which can certainly make aiming breath weapons easier.

After we take our eighth level of Binder, we gain access to several breakpoints all at once. We hit BAB +6 (qualifying for Serene Guardian), we gain the ability to bind two vestiges at once, and (thanks to Improved Binding) we gain the ability to access 5th level vestiges, the relevant ones of which are Balam and Geryon. Balam gives a gaze attack that deals cold damage, and Geryon gives a gaze attack that deals acid damage. From here on out, our vestiges are pretty consistent—unless there's something weird going on, we want Balam and Geryon in action together. (Those two vestiges have a few other abilities as well, like Balam's instant reroll of a d20 and Geryon's all-around vision—which nicely cancels out the penalty we take from Scorching Gaze—but the gaze attacks are the important pieces.) After that, we dive into Serene Guardian headfirst.

Gaze attacks, of course, do automatic damage with no action required on the part of the user. (Yes, there's a saving throw allowed, but still, no action required, and Irresistible Gaze helps with the saving throw, considering that it uses the word "all.") We have three separate gaze attacks, so we can conceivably do three pings of damage to each foe anywhere near us every single round, and that's before we spend any actions at all. We can also trigger pings of damage by means of our breath weapons—the initial hit is a ping, and the residual damage from entangling is also a ping, so it's pretty easy for us to set up resonance in lots of enemies at once. It should also be mentioned that our Binder levels give us two Pact Augmentations, which we choose to use for a net +2 insight bonus on (all!) damage rolls, including gaze attacks, residual entangle damage, and so on. +2 might not sound like a lot on its own, but when you consider how many separate sources of damage we're adding it to, it's definitely not nothing. (It also means that even our timid little 1d6 from the DFA breath weapon is likely to do at least one point of damage, even with half damage for Entangling Exhalation and half damage from a successful saving throw—it's not that hard to roll 2 or better on a d6.) Our goal, as always, is less striker and more controller, to put it in 4e parlance. Entangle honestly still messes folks up even through mid-high levels, but when we add in penalties from Painful Release or speed penalties from Staggering Release, we can be a real thorn in the side of our foes. (Staggering Release's speed penalties combine with the speed penalties from entangled in very nasty ways, and Entangling Blade is icing on that particular cake once per encounter.) Damaging Release isn't going to be a showstopper, but even it benefits from our bonuses to general damage rolls.

At level 12, we pick up Iron Guard's Glare, which, in addition to being thematically appropriate (our eyes have power, and we dare you to look at them), gives us another way to harass enemies. If they try to avert their eyes to avoid the gaze attacks, they'll have a hard time hitting Opsablepsia or her friends. We're proficient with the longspear, so we can threaten a decent area if necessary, and a spiked gauntlet at least lets us fill out the threatened zone, even if the gauntlet itself isn't very dangerous. There's no reason that Opsablepsia's Weapon of the Celestial Host can't be a longspear, after all. While actually attacking with a weapon isn't going to be a primary strategy outside of the handful of piecemeal maneuvers we pick up, we do have tolerable BAB.

Basically, what makes Opsablepsia interesting in comparison to other Serene Guardians is the fact that gaze attacks affect lots of enemies without expending any actions, so we can therefore build up resonance in lots of enemies at once, regardless of who we're focusing the bulk of our attention on. Sure, the class itself caps how much resonance each foe can be given per turn, but even if we release it in one foe per round, the fact that we're passively building it up in many foes at once means that we aren't starting completely over every time we release it. Consider a fight with 3 enemies. If we release 1 round worth resonance in enemy A, then B and C are still accumulating resonance from our passive damage pings. We then release it in B (2 rounds worth), while C is still accumulating more resonance and A is gaining resonance after spending it all last round. When we release it in C (3 rounds word), A and B will still have more resonance (2 rounds worth for A and 1 round worth for B, which will have incremented again by the time we can release next turn). We usually don't have to spend time building up from zero midway through the battle. We want to focus on the control effects (penalties, speed reduction, Confusion), though we're not going to be shy about using the damage effects or the save-or-die, when appropriate. (Unfortunately, the immunity to fear granted by Serene Guardian is redundant with the immunity to fear we get from Binder 6, but if it's useful from the SI, it's more useful when we pick it up early, right?)

Optional material and adapations: We have Elemental Grafter, so we can slap on other elemental grafts, if desired. If you can crowbar in some skill points somewhere, Knowledge Devotion is another bonus to arbitrary damage rolls, and while the Draconic Knowledge invocation will help, it will be difficult to get the bonus (which doesn't stack with the pact augmentation bonus) to be higher than the bonus we get from pact augmentation. Useful items include magical armor (ideally a mithril breastplate), bonuses to CHA/CON, bonuses to saves, and so on.

Source list: Player's Handbook (PHB), Races of the Dragon (RotD), Dragon Magic (DrM), Dragonmarked (DMk), Eberron Campaign Setting (ECS), Tome of Magic (ToM), Tome of Battle (ToB), Magic of Eberron (MoE), Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde (SgoSG)

[Heliomance]

I'm getting the distinct impression of a human pinball

Verelka Thunderfoot



Race: Dragonborn Human
Build Stub: Psion 1/Monk 2/Totemist 1/Monk +5/Totemist +1/Serene Guardian 10
Multiclass Penalty: No
Languages: Common, Draconic, Celestial
Alignment: LG
Ability Scores:

Ability	Score	Racial	Points	4th	8th	12th	16th	20th
Strength	14		6
Dexterity	12		4	10 (Dragonborn)
Constitution	14		6	16 (Dragonborn)
Intelligence	14		6
Wisdom	16		10	17	18	19	20	21
Charisma	8		0

Spoiler: Backstory

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Gashkarr pulled his lips back, showing his teeth. "You can't win, my little meatnuggets. Your cleric is dead, that fleabag wizard is out of spells, and that sorry excuse for a paladin is coughing up blood. And you... little monksie poppet. I'm going to enjoy eating you most of all."

Verelka stood between Gashkarr and the rest of the party, falling into a fighting stance as easily as breathing. "End this madness, Gashkarr. The gate is unstable. If you try to open it, it will rip the the armory apart and bring it down on top of all of us."

Gashkarr held up the amulet around his neck, the eye symbol glowing an angry red. "Too late, poppet... the gate's already open! Slaughtergarde shall rise again!"

A blast of hot air and smoke belched out of the stone archway, and a horrible stench filled the room. An ear-splitting keening followed, and suddenly cut off. Glowing redish shapes danced around the black smoke, and then a massive coal-black shape lurched out of the gate, thick claw-tipped arms swinging wildly.

Rolen, sitting behind Verelka, gasped and tried to crawl away. "Hezrou!" he coughed, flecks of blood dotting his blonde beard. "Too strong! Verelka, Mardan, get out of here!"

Gashkarr cackled, then motioned to the four dretches on the other side of the room. "Finish them off!" he ordered. Before he could finish the command, though, the monk had flashed across the room, fists and feet snapping in a blur too fast to see, then dashing like lightning back to the hezrou to deliver a flurry of kicks. Gashkarr roared in frustration and, hefting his falchion over his head, charged the monk in a blind rage.

She met his charge with a low sweep, four slashing claws, and then a tremendous roundhouse kick that knocked him momentarily senseless. Before he could swing his falchion back around to slash at her, she had dashed back to the hezrou, raked it with her claws, and then popped back out of the hezrou's reach. The toadlike demon screamed and lunged at her, but stopped suddenly short of his goal.

Rolen, still on the ground crawling away from the hezrou, turned back to Verelka. "It can't come through all the way... the gate's not fully open yet! Verelka... get the amulet! You can still close the gate!" And then Verelka was coming at him from the right, from the left, and then suddenly above him. He slashed wildly with his falchion, but she managed to slip under or over or just outside his blade. Claws and elbows and feet hammered into him from every direction. White-hot pain exploded across his face as a claw landed just under his eye, and he suddenly found himself on one knee, stunned from the blow. The amulet... where... tugging at his neck? He reached up and closed his fist around the amulet just as the monk reached in for it, and she managed to grab the cord around his neck.

She pulled, but Gashkarr regained his feat and tightened his grip. He snarled, "Little waifish meatnugget, wants to take my things. Think you're stronger than me?"

Verelka looked him in the eye and shrugged her shoulders. "You're already dead."

It started in Gashkarr's joints, white-hot waves of pain that ripped through his body like a lightning bolt, more agony than he had ever felt, and then a black emptiness engulfed him. From very, very far away, he felt the amulet slipping out of his hand and over his head, and then there was nothing left to feel.

Spoiler: Build Progression

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Psion 1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Concentration 4, Jump 4, Know:Arcana 4, Profession:Sailor 4, Tumble 4	Sailor's Balance, Linked Power, Hidden Talent (Human)	Bonus Feat, Discipline: Nomad (Psychoportation), Skilled City-Dweller ACF (Ride->Tumble)
2nd	Monk 1	+0	+2	+2	+4	Balance 4(+4), Concentration 5(+1), Jump 5(+1), Know:Arcana 4, Profession:Sailor 4, Tumble 5(+1)	Improved Grapple	Bonus Feat, Flurry of Blows, AC Bonus, Unarmed Strike
3rd	Monk 2	+1	+3	+3	+5	Balance 5(+1), Concentration 6(+1), Diplomacy 2(+2), Jump 6(+1), Know:Arcana 4, Profession:Sailor 4, Sense Motive 1(+1), Tumble 6(+1)	Metapower, Combat Reflexes	Bonus Feat, Evasion
4th	Totemist 1	+1	+5	+5	+5	Balance 5, Concentration 7(+1), Diplomacy 2, Jump 6, Know:Arcana 2(+1)(-3db), Profession:Sailor 4(-4db), Sense Motive 1, Spot 4(+4), Tumble 7(+1)	Improved Grapple -> Dragon Tail, Sailor's Balance -> Psionic Meditation (Dragonborn)	Wild Empathy, Skilled City-Dweller ACF (Ride->Tumble)
5th	Monk 3	+2	+5	+5	+5	Balance 5, Concentration 8(+1), Diplomacy 3(+1), Jump 8(+2), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 2(+1), Spot 4, Tumble 8(+1)		Still Mind, Standing Long Jump ACF (Dungeonscape)
6th	Monk 4	+3	+6	+6	+6	Balance 5, Concentration 9(+1), Diplomacy 4(+2), Jump 9(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 3(+1), Spot 4, Tumble 9(+1)	Open Least Chakra: Hands	Ki Strike (magic), Wall Walker ACF (Dungeonscape)
7th	Monk 5	+3	+6	+6	+6	Balance 5, Concentration 10(+1), Diplomacy 5(+1), Jump 10(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 5(+2), Spot 4, Tumble 10(+1)		Purity of Body
8th	Monk 6	+4	+7	+7	+7	Balance 5, Concentration 11(+1), Diplomacy 7(+2), Jump 11(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 6(+1), Spot 4, Tumble 11(+1)	Improved Trip	Standing High Jump ACF
9th	Monk 7	+5	+7	+7	+7	Balance 5, Concentration 12(+1), Diplomacy 8(+1), Jump 12(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 8(+2), Spot 4, Tumble 12(+1)	Mantis Leap	Wholeness of Body
10th	Totemist 2	+6	+8	+8	+7	Balance 5, Concentration 13(+1), Diplomacy 8, Jump 12, Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 8, Spot 8(+4), Tumble 13(+1)		Totem Chakra Bind
11th	Serene Guardian 1	+7	+10	+10	+7	Balance 5, Concentration 14(+1), Diplomacy 8, Jump 14(+2), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 8, Spot 8, Tumble 14(+1)		Resonance, Painful Release
12th	Serene Guardian 2	+8	+11	+11	+7	Balance 5, Concentration 15(+1), Diplomacy 9(+1), Jump 15(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 8, Spot 8, Tumble 15(+1)	Multiattack	Damaging Release
13th	Serene Guardian 3	+9	+11	+11	+8	Balance 5, Concentration 16(+1), Diplomacy 9, Jump 16(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 9(+1), Spot 8, Tumble 16(+1)		Monk Advancement
14th	Serene Guardian 4	+10	+12	+12	+8	Balance 5, Concentration 17(+1), Diplomacy 10(+1), Jump 17(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 9, Spot 8, Tumble 17(+1)		Staggering Release
15th	Serene Guardian 5	+11	+12	+12	+8	Balance 5, Concentration 18(+1), Diplomacy 10, Jump 18(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 10(+1), Spot 8, Tumble 18(+1)	Shape Soulmeld: Thunderstep Boots	Greater Resonance
16th	Serene Guardian 6	+12	+13	+13	+9	Balance 5, Concentration 19(+1), Diplomacy 11(+1), Jump 19(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 10, Spot 8, Tumble 19(+1)		Traumatic Release
17th	Serene Guardian 7	+13	+13	+13	+9	Balance 5, Concentration 20(+1), Diplomacy 11, Jump 20(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 11(+1), Spot 8, Tumble 20(+1)		Immune to Fear
18th	Serene Guardian 8	+14	+14	+14	+9	Balance 5, Concentration 21(+1), Diplomacy 12(+1), Jump 21(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 11, Spot 8, Tumble 21(+1)	Open Least Chakra: Feet	Confounding Release
19th	Serene Guardian 9	+15	+14	+14	+10	Balance 5, Concentration 22(+1), Diplomacy 12, Jump 22(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 12(+1), Spot 8, Tumble 22(+1)		Unclouded Mind
20th	Serene Guardian 10	+16	+15	+15	+10	Balance 5, Concentration 23(+1), Diplomacy 12, Jump 23(+1), Know:Arcana 2, Sense Motive 12, Spot 9(+1), Tumble 23(+1)		Soul Release

Spoiler: Powers

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Psion (Seer) Powers

Level	Power Points	Powers Known	Powers
1st	4	4	Energy Ray, Inertial Armor, Synchronicity, Dimension Hop (Hidden Talent)

Spoiler: Levels 1-4

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Verelka get things started with a level of Psion, as this sets the table for a few things she'll need later. For backstory purposes, she was orphaned as a young girl, the only survivor of a shipwreck that washed up near a fishing village. She spent some time as a wharf rat and fishmonger, hence the Sailor's Balance feat, but the emergence of her Hidden Talent brought her to the attention of the Zerthian monks in a nearby Tashalatora monastery. She showed an early aptitude for manifesting and began training as a psion, but the emphasis on intense study and mental exercises did not fit well with her restlessness and youthful exuberance. She found herself drawn to the more physical aspects of training, and began focusing her studies on the martial rather than mental arts.

At low levels, Verelka plays as a "support monk" with a handful of minor psionic tricks (you can add your own joke about "partially-charged dorjes" here if you prefer. Her "signature trick" is using Linked Power with dimension hop and synchronicity, which gives her a readied action on her next turn. Once she gets Metapower, triggering this combo costs 0 PP, so she can dimension hop for free by expending her psionic focus.

At 4th level, Verelka's restlessness and enthusiasm for exploring more distant tribal areas brings her into contact with Totemist meldshapers, and she discovers that these soulmelds that they shape greatly enhance her martial arts training. In these early levels, she uses mostly Wormtail Belt to increase her Natural Armor bonus, Krenshar Mask to help with her Jump checks, and Rageclaws to stay in the fight a little longer. This particular tribe of Totemists revere dragons as their tribal ancestors, and they also introduce her to the Ritual of Rebirth to become a Dragonborn of Bahamut. This has several benefits for her. First, instead of losing her human bonus feat, she loses the Shield Proficiency feat supplied by Totemist. She also loses her bonus skill points from being human, so she takes those off of Profession: Sailor and shaves a few more off of Knowledge: Arcana. She no longer qualifies for the Sailor's Balance feat, so we replace that with Psionic Meditation. This allows her to regain her psionic focus as a move action, and she can now use dimension hop every round for 0 PP if she needs to, using synchronicity to regain her focus on her next turn. This allows her to full attack or use Flurry of Blows every round, so long as she has an opponent within 10'. Dragonborn also allows her to swap one of her existing feats for a dragonblooded feat, so she trades Improved Grapple for Dragon Tail (she can dimension hop out of grapple if need be). This addes a tail attack to her full attack routine. As she is now dragonblooded, she has access to the dragonblooded Totemist soulmelds (Dragon Magic) and can gain two claw attacks by shaping Claws of the Wyrm. By taking the Wings aspect, she now gets a +10 racial bonus on all her Jump checks, and can look forward to getting a fly speed a few levels later.

Spoiler: Levels 5-10

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Verelka returns to her monastic training, now enhanced with Totemist meldshaping. At 5th level, she takes the Standing Jump ACF (Dungeonscape), allowing her to make long jumps without a running start. At 6th level, Open Least Chakra opens up her Hands chakra, which she binds to her Sphinx Claws soulmeld. This gives her Pounce with natural weapons, so she can now charge every round and either get a full attack with her unarmed strikes and natural weapons, or use Flurry of Blows. (Note: the Flurry rules aren't entirely clear if you can add additional non-monk weapon attacks after you've made your Flurry attacks, or if all weapons you use in a Flurry must be monk weapons. Check with your DM if you are allowed to use non-monk weapon attacks on the same turn you Flurry.) After her full attack/Flurry, she can also dimension hop out of melee range for 0 PP every round. Her HD is now high enough for a 30' Fly speed, and we trade the useless Slow Fall ability (she can glide down with her dragon wings if need be) for the slightly-less-useless Wall Walker ACF (Dungeonscape). At 8th level, she gets the Standing High Jump ACF (Dungeonscape), at which point her Jump check bonus is +25 (11 ranks, +10 racial, +4 from Krenshar Mask), allowing her to high-jump at least 6' or long jump up to 25' even if she rolls a '1'.

9th level is where spending all that time as a monk finally pays off. Verelka picks up Mantis Leap, which allows her to turn any "normal Jump check" into a charge attack. From Sword & Fist (bold added for emphasis):

Designate an opponent who is within the maximum distance you can reach with a successful Jump check. Make a normal Jump check; if your check is successful, you can make a normal charge attack against the opponent you designated as part of the same action. If your charge attack is successful, you inflict normal damage, plus your Strength modifier multiplied by 2.

The rules do not define what exactly a "normal Jump check" should be. If we define a "normal" Jump check to just what is listed in the PHB, then there are four different kinds of "normal" jumps: long jump, high jump, hop up, and jumping down. The first kind is easy enough: whenever Verelka uses a move action that includes a horizontal jump as part of her movement, she can turn that action into a charge, and Sphinx Claws gives her a full attack at the end of it. The second kind of jump also works by RAW: if she's standing adjacent to an opponent, he's within the maximum distance she can reach with a Jump check, but all she has to do is make a high-jump in the same square as a move action, and she can execute a charge + full attack. Hop up could also work as something similar to a long jump, if she happens to find an opponent standing on higher ground in a position where hopping up would put her adjacent to him. The last option, "jumping down", is where Verelka's free dimension hop starts to pay off in spades. As a swift action, she can "hop" to a square 10' above her opponent, and use a "normal Jump check" to reduce the falling distance by 10'. She lands next to her opponent with a charge + full attack. She can now execute three full attacks every round: two move actions, and one swift action.

Just before she heads into Serene Guardian, Verelka takes one more level of Totemist to unlock her Totem chakra and bind her Girallon Arms soulmeld there. This gives her four additional claw attacks to add to her full attack routine. At 10th level, her full attack routine has 7 attacks: 2 unarmed strikes, 4 claws, and 1 tail attack. If she gets off all three full attacks, that's 21 attacks per round. If your DM allows secondary natural attacks to be added to Flurry of Blows, she gets 8 attacks per full attack. Oh, what could she possibly do with all those attacks?

Spoiler: Levels 11-15

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Welcome to the Luminous Order, Verelka! Here's a Quarterstaff of the Celestial Host (the only non-exotic two-handed monk weapon), which you can... um... use as a walking stick, maybe. More likely, she has one or both ends capped with adamantine, cold iron, or some other special material that can bypass possible Damage Reductions better than her fists. She can grip the quarterstaff two-handed for x1.5 Str bonus, and can use it in a Flurry of Blows instead of her unarmed strikes if she needs to. She can also hollow out both ends for wand chambers (Dungeonscape) retooled to fit dorjes instead (not strictly RAW but an easy DM handwave). Even if she never attacks with it, she can still carry it around for the +1 AC bonus if nothing else.

Wait, where were we? Something about attacks? Oh yes! Three full attacks, 7 attacks each, could rack up quite a few Resonance points. Ok, well, maybe up to three per round if two of the three opponents are relatively close to each other. Her first Resonance effect is Painful Release... which is kinda underwhelming, but hey, at least it works without a saving throw. Damaging Release looks more promising, but only does 1d6 damage per Resonance point. Verelka's dimension hop pays off here as well, as she can use synchronicity to ready an additional swift action before her next turn. As per the PHB p. 160, "You can ready a standard action, a move action, or a free action." (emphases added). According to the XPH, "You can take a swift action any time you would normally be allowed to take a free action." And since taking a readied action counts as acting on your turn, it doesn't count as an immediate action or use up your swift action on your next turn. Verelka will have to use a move action to regain her psionic focus, but she will still have a move action left to move/jump/charge/pounce. Depending on how many opponents are nearby, she may have to juggle between making full attacks and releasing resonance points, but so long as she still has at least one move action left, she can use Mantis Leap to turn it into a charge + pounce. If she's lucky enough to get two opponents dumb enough to stand next to each other, she can divide her full attack between two opponents and still release resonance points on both of them every other round. At 12th level, she adds Multiattack, so her secondary attacks are hitting much more often.

At level 13, Verelka can add half her Serene Guardian levels to her monk levels for determining her full attack bonus, AC bonus, and her unarmed damage. Other than increasing her unarmed damage to 1d10, this doesn't help her immediately, but will have some benefits later. At level 14, she no longer has an attack penalty on Flurry of Blows. She also gets Staggering Release, which... for some reason doesn't stagger anybody, but she can use it to lockdown opponents who are adjacent each other, preventing them from moving away, and thus ensuring that she can full attack + release resonance twice on subsequent rounds. At 15th level, Verelka gets another unarmed attack (8 for a full attack) and can tag an opponent for 2 resonance points when she lands three or more attacks, which makes her Damaging Release and Staggering Release more potent. She also adds Shape Soulmeld: Thunderstep Boots, adding 1d4 to 3d4 sonic damage to each of her attacks on a charge.

Spoiler: Levels 16-20

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Sweet Spot: At 16th level, Verelka can dish out 24 attacks per round, and rack up to 6 resonance points on three opponents. On subsequent rounds, she can full attack every round (8 attacks) and release resonance points on two opponents every other round. With Traumatic Release, this is 4d6 damage (14 average) every round for one opponent, and possibly another 4d6 on a second opponent every other round. If she waits to release until she's racked up several rounds of resonance points, she can easily trigger bigger chunks of resonance damage in the 12d6 range (42 average). Also at 16th, she has enough Monk + Serene Guardian levels to increase her AC bonus.

At 17th level, Verelka is immune to fear, and at 18th level she gains Confounding Release. Since this confusion effect doesn't allow a save, it's particularly potent against enemy spellcasters or creatures with powerful special attacks. If she can't get enough resonance points on them to do decent damage, she can at least get in quickly to disrupt their action economy. With a little luck, she can "lock down" an opponent with two rounds of confusion, allowing her to quickly rack up more resonance points for a more satisfying "finishing move". She also adds another Open Least Chakra to bind Thunderstep Boots to her Feet chakra, which adds a Fort save vs Stun for 1 round (DC is 13 to 15, depending on invested essentia). The text doesn't specify if this save is made after every attack or after every charge. However, even if the save vs. stun is only once per round, with three separate charges and up to 24 attacks she can hit multiple opponents for multiple saves. At this high level, the save DC all that much to worry, but it's a nice chaser effect to throw on top of a resonance release, and even CR 20's roll a '1' eventually.

Something else to consider at 18th level... ask your DM if Serene Guardian levels count towards qualifying for the Monk's "Greater Flurry" ability. I thought it might, because it could be considered as part of calculating your attack bonus for Flurry of Blows, but a strict RAW reading would more likely conclude that Greater Flurry is a separate ability, and the Monk Advancement text in Serene Guardian doesn't mention it. Still, you might get a handwave from a sympathetic DM here. If so, then you've got yet another unarmed strike to add to your Flurry of Blows.

At 19th level, Unclouded Mind allows Verelka to use her Concentration skill to shore up her Will save, which is her weakest save. Even better, rolling a '1' doesn't auto-fail.

20th level unlocks Soul Release, a death attack with actually a pretty high Fort save DC: 20 + Wis modifier (should be 25ish without magic items for Verelka). She has to rack up at least one resonance point per 2 HD, but against low-level fodder and mid-range mini-bosses this shouldn't be more than a couple rounds of work. Against bigger bosses, four rounds of full attacks at 2 points each gets her up to 16 HD. There may be some debate over whether the more reliable damage from Traumatic Release is more effective than the Fort save vs. death, but at least it's nice to have options. In addition to this "capstone", you've got another iterative attack to add to your full attack routine, and half your Serene Guardian levels count towards an increase in unarmed damage (2d6!) and you finally get a +10' speed bonus.

Spoiler: Variations

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I spent a lot of time debating whether adding the Thunderstep Boots was worth it, or whether I should have focused on adding more attacks: Snap Kick, Planar Touchstone: Oxyrhynchus (paired with the Invisible Fist ACF), or finishing out with Improved Multiattack. If your DM allows flaws, then by all means move Multiattack or Shape Soulmeld down to 1st level, and add these feats at the later levels.

Your DM may not allow the "jumping down" option to be considered a "normal Jump check" for the purposes of Mantis Leap. There are a few work-arounds for this. First, try changing your Psion discipline to Egoist and then load up on hustle dorjes, using the swift-action movement to make another long jump. Second, try switching to the Cobra Strike Monk 2 (Unearthed Arcana) to pick up Dodge and Mobility, then add the Roofwalker and Roof-Jumper feats from Cityscape (with flaws or by dropping the feats for Thunderstep Boots). Roof-Jumper's "Death From Above" option will let you turn a 20' fall into a charge... which means you'll be short 10' on your dimension hop, so may need to swap in a Wilder dip and/or stick Practiced Manifester + Midnight Augmentation in there somewhere as well. Third, Battlejump (Unapproachable East) does something similar, and doesn't require so many prereq feats, but it's not entirely clear from the text how exactly the feat is supposed to work. Forth, a Warblade dip or a couple Martial Study feats can get you the Sudden Leap maneuver, allowing swift-action movement with a Jump check. However, Sudden Leap might not count as a "normal Jump check", and you probably won't be able to use it every round due to refresh mechanics.

I also spent a lot of time fiddling around with what was the best dip to get the dimension hop/synchronicity combo working. One level of Psion left just enough room for Totemist 2, which got me another four claw attacks. You may prefer to do something similar with Mantled Psychic Warrior 2, Mantled Wilder 2, or some other dip.

Spoiler: Sources

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Cityscape: Skilled City-Dweller
Complete Psionic: Linked Power, Metapower, dimension hop, synchronicity
Dragon Magic: Claws of the Wyrm
Expanded Psionics Handbook: Psion, Psionic Meditation
Magic of Incarnum: Totemist, Shape Soulmeld, Open Least Chakra
Monster Manual: Multiattack
Races of the Dragon: Dragonborn of Bahamut, Dragon Tail
Stormwrack: Sailor's Balance
Sword & Fist: Mantis Leap

[Heliomance]

404: Witty banter not found

Zirella Stormfire



Race: Human
Build Stub: Divine Bard 2/Cloistered Cleric 1/Divine Bard +2/Wu Jen 1/Lyric Thaumaturge 3/Fighter 1/Serene Guardian 10
Multiclass Penalty: No
Languages: Common, Celestial
Alignment: NG
Ability Scores:

Ability	Score	Racial	Points	4th	8th	12th	16th	20th
Strength	10		2
Dexterity	15		8	16		17
Constitution	12		4
Intelligence	12		4
Wisdom	12		10		13
Charisma	16		10				17	18

Spoiler: Build Progression

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Divine Bard 1	+0	+0	+2	+2	Balance 4, Bluff 4, Concentration 2, Know:Arcana 4, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Perform 4, Spellcraft 4, Tumble 4, UMD 4	Melodic Casting, Extra Music (Human)	Bardic Music, Bardic Knowledge, Countersong, Fascinate, Inspire Courage +1
2nd	Divine Bard 2	+1	+0	+3	+3	Balance 5(+1), Bluff 5(+1), Concentration 2, Know:Arcana 5(+1), Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1(+1), Perform 5(+1), Spellcraft 5(+1), Tumble 5(+1), UMD 5(+1)
3rd	Cloistered Cleric 1	+1	+2	+3	+5	Balance 5, Bluff 5, Concentration 3(+1), Know:Arcana 6(+1), Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 2(+2), Know:Religion 1(+1), Perform 6(+2cc), Spellcraft 6(+1), Tumble 5, UMD 5	Energy Substitution (electricity), Extend Spell, Extra Turning, Knowledge Devotion (Planes)	Turn Undead, Lore, Planning Domain, Undeath Domain
4th	Divine Bard 3	+2	+3	+3	+5	Balance 5, Bluff 6(+1), Concentration 5(+2), Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 2, Know:Religion 1, Perform 7(+1), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 7(+2), UMD 7(+2)		Inspire Competence
5th	Divine Bard 4	+3	+3	+4	+6	Balance 5, Bluff 8(+2), Concentration 8(+3), Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 2, Know:Religion 1, Perform 8(+1), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 8(+1), UMD 8(+1)
6th	Wu Jen 1	+3	+3	+4	+8	Balance 5, Bluff 8, Concentration 9(+1), Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 3(+1), Know:Religion 1, Perform 9(+2cc), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 8, UMD 8	Born of Three Thunders, Sanctum Spell	Watchful Spirit, Bonus Feat
7th	Lyric Thaumaturge 1	+3	+3	+6	+10	Balance 5, Bluff 10(+2), Concentration 10(+1), Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 3, Know:Religion 1, Perform 10(+1), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 8, UMD 10(+2)		Bardic Music, Bonus Spell
8th	Lyric Thaumaturge 2	+4	+3	+7	+11	Balance 5, Bluff 11(+1), Concentration 11(+1), Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 5(+2), Know:Religion 1, Perform 11(+1), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 8, UMD 11(+1)		Captivating Melody
9th	Lyric Thaumaturge 3	+5	+4	+7	+11	Balance 5, Bluff 12(+1), Concentration 12(+1), Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6(+1), Know:Religion 1, Perform 12(+1), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 9(+1), UMD 12(+1)	Persistent Spell	Spell Secret
10th	Fighter 1	+6	+6	+7	+11	Balance 5, Bluff 12, Concentration 12, Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6, Know:Religion 1, Perform 12, Spellcraft 6, Tumble 13(+4), UMD 12	Two-Weapon Fighting	Hit-and-Run ACF (Drow of the Underdark), Skilled City-Dweller ACF (Ride->Tumble)
11th	Serene Guardian 1	+7	+8	+9	+11	Balance 5, Bluff 12, Concentrate 13(+1), Intimidate 2(+2), Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6, Know:Religion 1, Perform 12, Spellcraft 6, Tumble 14(+1), UMD 12		Resonance, Painful Release
12th	Serene Guardian 2	+8	+9	+10	+11	Balance 5, Bluff 12, Concentrate 14(+1), Intimidate 4(+2), Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6, Know:Religion 1, Perform 12, Spellcraft 6, Tumble 15(+1), UMD 12	Divine Metamagic	Damaging Release
13th	Serene Guardian 3	+9	+9	+10	+12	Balance 5, Bluff 12, Concentrate 15(+1), Intimidate 6(+2), Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6, Know:Religion 1, Perform 12, Spellcraft 6, Tumble 16(+1), UMD 12	Improved Two-Weapon Fighting	Bonus Feat
14th	Serene Guardian 4	+10	+10	+11	+12	Balance 5, Bluff 12, Concentrate 16(+1), Intimidate 8(+2), Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6, Know:Religion 1, Perform 12, Spellcraft 6, Tumble 17(+1), UMD 12		Staggering Release
15th	Serene Guardian 5	+11	+10	+11	+12	Balance 5, Bluff 12, Concentrate 18(+2), Intimidate 8, Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6, Know:Religion 1, Perform 13(+2cc), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 17, UMD 14	Quick Recovery	Greater Resonance
16th	Serene Guardian 6	+12	+11	+12	+13	Balance 5, Bluff 12, Concentrate 19(+1), Intimidate 8, Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6, Know:Religion 1, Perform 14(+2cc), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 18(+1), UMD 12		Traumatic Release
17th	Serene Guardian 7	+13	+11	+12	+13	Balance 5, Bluff 12, Concentrate 20(+1), Intimidate 8, Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6, Know:Religion 1, Perform 15(+2cc), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 19(+1), UMD 12		Immune to Fear
18th	Serene Guardian 8	+14	+12	+13	+13	Balance 5, Bluff 12, Concentrate 21(+1), Intimidate 8, Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6, Know:Religion 1, Perform 16(+2cc), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 20(+1), UMD 12	Doomspeak	Confounding Release
19th	Serene Guardian 9	+15	+14	+14	+10	Balance 5, Bluff 12, Concentrate 22(+1), Intimidate 8, Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6, Know:Religion 4, Perform 17(+2cc), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 21(+1), UMD 12		Unclouded Mind
20th	Serene Guardian 10	+16	+15	+15	+10	Balance 5, Bluff 12, Concentrate 23(+1), Intimidate 8, Know:Arcana 6, Know:Dungeon 1, Know:Local 1, Know:Nature 1, Know:Planes 6, Know:Religion 1, Perform 18(+2cc), Spellcraft 6, Tumble 22(+2), UMD 12		Soul Release

Spoiler: Spells

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Bard Spells per Day

Level	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4th	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5th	3	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6th	3	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7th	3	5	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8th	3	5	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9th	3	5	4	1	-	-	-	-	-	-

Bard Spells Known
0lvl: detect magic, mage hand, prestidigitation, read magic, stick (SC), summon instrument
1st: inspirational boost (SC), sound burst, swift invisibility (SC), unseen servant, magic missle (Spell Secret)
2nd: alter self, glitterdust, ice darts (Frostburn), sonic weapon (SC), flame dagger (SC, Spell Secret)
3rd: haste, glibness


Cleric Spells per Day

Level	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
3rd	3	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Typical Cleric Spells Prepared
0lvl: create water, guidance, mending
1st: blade of blood (PHBII), ice slick (Frostburn), death watch{D}


Wu Jen Spells per Day

Level	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
6th	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Typical Wu Jen Spells Prepared
0lvl: ghost sound, prestidigitation, ray of frost
1st: elemental burst, fiery eyes

Spoiler: Levels 1-5

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Zirella plays her first five levels as mostly a support bard. Melodic Casting and Extra Music helps qualify her for Lyric Thaumaturge later. At 3rd, she dips into Cloistered Cleric to pick up Extend Spell and Extra Turning, paving the way for Divine Metamagic later. There aren't any deities with both Planning and Undeath, so make up a deity (the God of Abusing Divine Metamagic, for example) or have her worship an ideal. Worshipping a pantheon might also work, although the Planning and Undeath domains are so obscure that they don't appear together in any published pantheons. Energy Substitution doesn't do all that much until ice darts (Frostburn) comes online at 5th level.

Spoiler: Levels 6-10

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A dip into Wu Jen gets Zirella a few more energy spells and brings Born of Three Thunders online. Sanctum Spell allows her to bump up her 1st-level Wu Jen Spells to 2nd level, which qualifies her to enter Lyric Thaumaturge. Lyric Thaumaturge helps advance our bard casting (even though it's divine), and also adds a couple of Sorcerer/Wizard spells to our spell list: magic missile (for a little blasty-damage) and flame dagger (not all that impressive right now, but just wait a bit). She picks up Persistent Spell at 9th level, but unfortunately most of her feats are dead weight at the moment. Mid-range levels are going to be a bit of a slog. Presumably, she spends a good chunk of her time using Bardic Knowledge/Lore to help the Luminous Order track down artifacts from the Battle of Slaughtergarde, tallying up some affiliation points. One more dip into Hit-and-Run Fighter (using ice slick and swift invisibility to render foes flat-footed) gets her +1 BAB and TWF, and she's ready for Serene Guardian.

Spoiler: Levels 11-15

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Zirella joines the Luminous Order and takes a quarterstaff as her Weapon of the Celestial Host. She can hollow out both ends for Wand Chambers (Dungeonscape) and add a couple of wands, such as instant of power (Forge of War) or blade of blood (PHBII). She could also use UMD on a wand of blades of fire, hopefully Energy Substituted to [electricity] (same spell level, so should be the same cost). However, the quarterstaff isn't really the weapon she wants to focus on, because next level...

DIVINE METAMAGIC is finally here! And we've got enough Turn Undeads (10-ish without items) to persist two spells. So let's do that: Zirella starts her day by casting Energy Substituted flame daggers (AKA electricity daggers), adds Born of Three Thunders, and Persists them so they last all day. She's dazed after each spell is cast, but hey, that wears off in a round, and she's got a pair of all-day electricity daggers. When she TWFs with these, all her attacks are touch attacks and every time they hit, the target has to make a Fort save vs. stunned for 1 round and a Ref save vs. knocked prone. If her target is stunned, she gets Dex damage on the next round from Hit-and-Run Fighter. If she's not within melee range, she can blast away with multiple projectiles by casting magic missile or ice darts to rack up Resonance points. Resonance works for both melee and ranged attacks, and there's no range limit so Zirella can get up close with her melee touch attacks or *ping* away at range, then use Damaging Release when she's built up enough resonance points.

13th level gets Zirella another offhand attack with Improved TWF. Staggering Release at 14th level gives her a lockdown option on top of stun/prone. At 15th level, she picks up Quick Recovery to counter the "daze" effect from Born of Three Thunders. If she casts a sonic/electricity spell, Quick Recovery allows her to make a Will save as a move action, and she's got a pretty decent Will save. The DC is a bit difficult to parse, though: "DC 10 + 1/2 HD or caster level of originator of effect + relevant ability modifier, or Cha modifier if there is not an obvious ability linked to the effect" (Lords of Madness p. 181). It's not clear if the "1/2" applies only to HD or to caster level as well, and there's no indication of whether the higher or lower value is preferred. Since Zirella was the caster, there's an argument she can choose the lower value if she wants, so the save DC for any of her Born of Three Thunders spells should be 10 + 3 (1/2 CL) + 3 (Cha bonus) = 16ish, which she passes on a 3+ roll without magic items/buffs (90%). Even assuming the worst calculation, 10 + 7 (1/2 HD or 7 CL) + 3 = 20ish, which she passes on a 7+ roll without magic items/buffs (70%). On her next turn, she still has a standard action available, and can cast a spell (such as magic missile) before going back to TWFing with her electricity daggers.

Spoiler: Levels 16-20

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Sweet Spot: At 16th level, Zirella is at her best in melee: she has five touch attacks with her electricity daggers, every attack forces a Fort save vs. stun and a Ref save vs. knocked prone, and Traumatic Release lets her knock off another 4d6 damage as a swift action.

At 17th level, Zirella can throw down a confusion effect on top of that. At 18th level, she picks up Doomspeak and can put some of those Bardic Musics to use. At 19th level, she gets Unclouded Mind and can throw around Born of Three Thunders with impunity: Quick Recovery gives her a Will save against daze, and if she fails Unclouded Mind lets her make a Concentration check instead, and at this level she can't fail that check. Zirella can continue to blast away with projectile spells so long as she has spell slots/wands/etc. At 20th level, Zirella gets Soul Release as a capstone and all those Bardic Musics really pay off with Doomspeak: after she racks up enough resonance points for Soul Release, she can use Doomspeak as a standard action to force a target to make a DC 34 Will save. If the will save fails, the target is cursed with a -10 penalty on all attacks, saves, and skill checks for one round. After the Doomspeak succeeds, Zirella can activate Soul Release to kill her target outright with what is now a DC 31 Fort save. And she has enough Bardic Music uses to do that 11 times a day.

Spoiler: Variations

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I had quite a bit of trouble trying to fit all those metamagic feats into this build. There's quite a few I had to leave out, but if your DM allows flaws, you may be able to add some of them back in. Another Extra Turning would have been nice to get another persisted spell. Once you get into Lyric Thaumaturge, Extra Music is kind of a waste... ask your DM if you can retrain it to something else. And while I'm not normally a big fan of Snowflake Wardance (Frostburn), it would be insanely good on this build.

I also fiddled around a bit with Metamagic Song (Races of Stone) and Talfirian Song (Races of Faerun), but couldn't get them to work. It would have been great to be able to use Bardic Music to reduce metamagic costs, but Metamagic Song won't allow you to add a metamagic effect above the spell level you can cast. However, if you can get Heighten Spell in there somewhere with Metamagic Song, you can combine Heighten + Divine Metamagic to increase the effective spell level you can cast up to 9th or whatever, and then you can use Metamagic Song to convert all those Bardic Musics into persisted spells.

Of course, probably the biggest problem with this build is the lack of decent spells to persist. No greater invisbility, no magic vestment, no divine powah!, etc. Obviously, it would be very easy to lop off all those Serene Guardian levels and throw on Sublime Chord/Abjurant Champion/Church Inquisitor. But I really liked the idea of racking on resonance points with all those Born of Three Thunders touch attacks, and I wanted to see what that might look like on a Serene Guardian. Even if the build didn't turn out all that effective, I hope I included some ideas in here that you can use somewhere else.

Spoiler: Sources

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Cityscape: Skilled City-Dweller ACF
Champions of Ruin: Doomspeak
Complete Adventurer: Extra Music
Complete Arcane: Wu Jen, Energy Substitution, Born of Three Thunders, Sanctum Spell, Persistent Spell
Complete Champion: Knowledge Devotion
Complete Divine: Divine Metamagic
Complete Mage: Melodic Casting, Lyric Thaumaturge
Drow of the Underdark: Hit-and-Run Fighter ACF
Lords of Madness: Quick Recovery
Unearthed Arcana: Cloistered Cleric

[Heliomance]

404: Witty banter not found

The Blessed Third
LG Human Ranger 2/Monk 2/Warblade 6/Serene Guardian 10

Spoiler

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The third incarnation of the saintly monk Tenzin, who teaches of the holy significance of the number 3. Signifying the points of life and death and life again over which the wheel of dharma rolls he sought even to deliver his blows in threes in battle. For upon the third strike his sublime truth would reverberate through his foe and they would be left stricken in body and mind by the revelation.

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Ability Scores

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Point Buy: 17 Str, 14 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Int, 13 Wis, 8 Cha
4th level: 17 Str, 15 Dex, 14 Con, 9 Int, 14 Wis, 8 Cha
8th level: 17 Str, 16 Dex, 14 Con, 9 Int, 14 Wis, 8 Cha
12th level: 17 Str, 17 Dex, 14 Con, 9 Int, 14 Wis, 8 Cha
16th level: 18 Str, 17 Dex, 14 Con, 9 Int, 14 Wis, 8 Cha
20th level: 19 Str, 17 Dex, 14 Con, 9 Int, 14 Wis, 8 Cha

Build Table

Spoiler

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Planar Ranger 1	+1	+2	+2	+0	Knowledge (The Planes) 4, Concentration 4, Jump 4, Tumble 4, Balance 4, Spot 4	TrackB, Dodge, Combat ReflexesH	Wild Empathy (better on celestial/fiendish animals), Rival Organization +2, Skilled City-Dweller (Trade Ride for Tumble)
2nd	Passive Way Decisive Strike Monk 1	+1	+4	+4	+2	Knowledge (The Planes) 4, Concentration 5, Jump 5, Tumble 5, Balance 5, Spot 4	Improved Unarmed StrikeB, Combat ExpertiseB	Unarmed Strike, Decisive Strike, AC Bonus
3rd	Invisible Fist Passive Way Monk 2	+2	+5	+5	+3	Knowledge (The Planes) 4, Concentration 6, Jump 6, Tumble 6, Balance 5, Spot 5	Improved TripB, Knock-Down	Invisible Fist
4th	Ranger 2	+3	+6	+6	+3	Knowledge (The Planes) 7, Concentration 7, Jump 7, Tumble 7, Balance 5, Spot 5	Two-Weapon FightingB	Combat Style
5th	Warblade 1	+4	+8	+6	+3	Knowledge (The Planes) 7.5cc, Concentration 8, Jump 8, Tumble 8, Balance 5, Spot 5	-	Battle Clarity (Reflex Saves), Weapon Aptitude
6th	Warblade 2	+5	+9	+6	+3	Knowledge (The Planes) 8cc, Concentration 9, Jump 9, Tumble 9, Balance 5, Spot 5	Karmic Strike	Uncanny Dodge
7th	Warblade 3	+6	+9	+7	+4	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 10, Jump 9, Tumble 10, Balance 5, Spot 6cc	-	Battle Ardor (Critical Confirmation)
8th	Serene Guardian 1	+7	+11	+9	+4	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 11, Jump 10, Tumble 10, Balance 5, Spot 6	-	Resonance, Painful Release
9th	Serene Guardian 2	+8	+12	+10	+4	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 12, Jump 11, Tumble 10, Balance 5, Spot 6	Snap Kick	Damaging Release
10th	Serene Guardian 3	+9	+12	+10	+5	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 13, Jump 12, Tumble 10, Balance 5, Spot 6	-	Monk Advancement
11th	Serene Guardian 4	+10	+13	+11	+5	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 14, Jump 13, Tumble 10, Balance 5, Spot 6	-	Staggering Release
12th	Serene Guardian 5	+11	+13	+11	+5	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 15, Jump 13, Tumble 10, Balance 5, Spot 7	Planar Touchstone: Oxyrhynicus (Unarmed Strike)	Greater Resonance
13th	Serene Guardian 6	+12	+14	+12	+6	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 16, Jump 13, Tumble 10, Balance 5, Spot 8	-	Traumatic Release
14th	Serene Guardian 7	+13	+14	+12	+6	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 17, Jump 13, Tumble 10, Balance 5, Spot 9	-	Immune to Fear
15th	Serene Guardian 8	+14	+15	+13	+6	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 18, Jump 13, Tumble 10, Balance 5, Spot 10	Improved Two-Weapon Fighting	Confounding Resonance
16th	Serene Guardian 9	+15	+15	+13	+7	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 19, Jump 13, Tumble 10, Balance 5, Spot 11	-	Unclouded Mind
17th	Serene Guardian 10	+16	+16	+14	+7	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 20, Jump 13, Tumble 10, Balance 5, Spot 12	-	Soul Release
18th	Warblade 4	+17	+17	+15	+7	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 21, Jump 14, Tumble 12, Balance 5, Spot 12	Double Hit	-
19th	Warblade 5	+18	+17	+15	+7	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 22, Jump 15, Tumble 14, Balance 5, Spot 12	Improved InitiativeB	-
20th	Warblade 6	+19	+18	+16	+8	Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Concentration 23, Jump 16, Tumble 16, Balance 5, Spot 12	-	Improved Uncanny Dodge

B denotes a bonus feat.
H denotes the extra feat for being human.

Maneuvers

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Level	Initiator Level	Maneuvers Readied	Maneuvers Known	Stances Known
5	3	3	Wolf Fang Strike, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Sudden Leap	Punishing Stance
6	4	3	Wolf Fang Strike, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Sudden Leap, Steel Wind	Punishing Stance
7	5	3	Wolf Fang Strike, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Sudden Leap, Steel Wind, Iron Heart Surge	Punishing Stance
18	11	4	Wolf Fang Strike, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Sudden Leap, Steel Wind, Iron Heart Surge, Pouncing Charge	Punishing Stance, Leaping Dragon Stance
19	12	4	Wolf Fang Strike, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Sudden Leap, Iron Heart Surge, Pouncing Charge, Rapid Counter, Disrupting Blow	Punishing Stance, Leaping Dragon Stance

Spoiler

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Level 7

Spoiler

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Planar Ranger (the UA variant rather than the Planar Handbook ACF) gets us Two-Weapon Fighting and Knowledge (The Planes) as a class skill, which will be important later. Passive Way Monk also nabs us some useful feats and gets us out of the Int requirement for Combat Expertise and Improved Trip. Once we have Improved Trip, we can pick up Knock-Down. Hitting the 10 damage threshold to trigger Knock-Down is a little bit difficult in the early going, so you’ll probably want to wield a two-handed weapon of some sort for the time being (a reach weapon would combo nicely with Combat Reflexes and your unarmed strikes threatening adjacent squares, or a Quarterstaff could be used for Decisive Strikes). Warblade ticks that damage up by an extra d6 with Punishing Stance and picks up a few maneuvers which will be useful later.

Level 12

Spoiler

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We’ve entered the SI, and can now generate two points of resonance in an opponent by hitting them thrice in a round. Here are some ways that we can do that.

• Hit with main hand and off-hand (one of which will be an Unarmed Strike) with Wolf Fang Strike, then Snap Kick for a third strike.
• Hit with a single attack (including a Decisive Strike or strike maneuver), get an extra attack from Knock-Down+Improved Trip, then get another from Snap Kick.
• Render the enemy that you’re attacking flat-footed by way of winning initiative, Invisible Fist (though that costs you your swift action, so you can’t use your resonance abilities), or Sapphire Nightmare Blade, get an extra attack from Snap Kick, then, as you’ve caught an enemy flat-footed and made multiple attacks in the round, get a third attack from Planar Touchstone (Oxyrhynicus).

We can also do some things with the resonance once we accumulate it, so those are fun.

Level 20

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No save confusion is cool, especially as both running away from the ‘caster’ or attacking the caster/nearest creature provoke AoOs thanks to Karmic Strike. Better yet, we pick up Double Hit which helps us to build resonance with those AoOs and can tick up to a third hit for a second point by way of Knock-Down, Snap Kick, or if you can stomach losing the swift action you’d need to actually make use of the resonance in the following round, Rapid Counter. We’ve also got some more high level maneuvers and our weak save replaced by a Concentration check. Fights aren’t going to last the 10 + rounds necessary to charge up the necessary resonance for a Soul Release, but since Resonance never seems to go away until you release it, you might be able to deliver some non-lethal hits to prisoners as an insurance policy or something.

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Complete Warrior: Karmic Strike
Cityscape Web Enhancement: Skilled City-Dweller
Exemplars of Evil: Invisible Fist
Miniatures Handbook: Double Hit
Planar Handbook: Planar Touchstone
Player’s Handbook II: Decisive Strike
Tome of Battle: Maneuvers, Snap Kick, Warblade
Everything else should be in the SRD. Note that I'm using the UA Planar Ranger rather than the distinct ACF in the Planar Handbook.

[Heliomance]

And that is everything! On your marks, get set, JUDGE!

[Inevitability]

So I took a look at stuff, and it seems we've got a sneaky fey employing Death of a Thousand Cuts, a disappearing monk, a burning necromancer initiator meldshaper dragon shaman, a guy shooting three arrows per second with his mind, a three-gazes-per-round dragon person, a four-attacks-per-second dragon person, a lightning daggermage, and Rule of Three personified.

This is a good round.

[Venger]

What a wide spread. Only two dishes took prcs other than the SI. I'm not sure if this is unprecedented exactly, but it sure is noteworthy.

Serene guardian is so good, you don't need other prcs.

[Bucky]

My build concept had pretty much nothing to do with anything that actually showed up. Then again, I only had half a build without the expertise to complement it.

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The main method of building resonance would have been pounce + rapid reload + rapid shot with a sand blaster, locking down one enemy while racking up resonance and debuffs on anyone near them.

Unfortunately, with Barbarian off limits due to alignment, I couldn't find a way to enter the SI at 7 while picking up Pounce. My backup option of PsyWar looked promising, but that meant I needed to put together a power list and at that point I felt it wasn't worth the effort to enter.

[Venger]

My build concept had pretty much nothing to do with anything that actually showed up. Then again, I only had half a build without the expertise to complement it.

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The main method of building resonance would have been pounce + rapid reload + rapid shot with a sand blaster, locking down one enemy while racking up resonance and debuffs on anyone near them.

Unfortunately, with Barbarian off limits due to alignment, I couldn't find a way to enter the SI at 7 while picking up Pounce. My backup option of PsyWar looked promising, but that meant I needed to put together a power list and at that point I felt it wasn't worth the effort to enter.

Interesting idea. A 1 level master of masks dip, assuming you could've wrangled its annoying prereqs somehow, would save a feat on EWP.

Barbarian actually only loses rage if he changes alignment. He keeps everything else, so if you could live with that, you retain pounce.

[remetagross]

Death of a Thousand Cuts

I opened the link, saw "tvtropes" appear in the address bar, thought "oh no I want to have a good night's reset today!", succeeded on the Will DC 35 Compulsion effect, and closed the tab before it fully loaded.

[Inevitability]

I opened the link, saw "tvtropes" appear in the address bar, thought "oh no I want to have a good night's reset today!", succeeded on the Will DC 35 Compulsion effect, and closed the tab before it fully loaded.

I regret nothing!

[Sian]

I tried fiddling with a Totemist with Manticore Belt, but never felt it working.

[Troacctid]

So many great builds and all I can think is how dare you make Guru Lahima a firebender.

[Darrin]

I tried fiddling with a Totemist with Manticore Belt, but never felt it working.

That occurred to me as well... one of my early ideas was Factotum 8/Totemist 2/SG 10 loaded up with Font of Inspiration, but I got discouraged when I couldn't nail down if the spikes were considered a thrown weapon attack. And now I can't recall exactly why I wanted them to be thrown (Strongheart Halfling, maybe?). That and even though it can throw out a bunch of attacks, you're still limited to one swift action per turn to release the resonance points, and I wasn't sure if that could be fixed.

[WhamBamSam]

What a wide spread. Only two dishes took prcs other than the SI. I'm not sure if this is unprecedented exactly, but it sure is noteworthy.

Serene guardian is so good, you don't need other prcs.

The 6 BAB prereq might have something to do with that. Many of the builds are entering late as is and that makes it potentially a little awkward to find room for PrC levels.

Both of the unsubmitted ideas that I had (which I'll post after the final reveal as both overlap with my submitted build in places) used other PrCs, but both were unable to complete the SI as a result. One makes it to Serene Guardian 8, the other to Serene Guardian 9.

[Bucky]

That and even though it can throw out a bunch of attacks, you're still limited to one swift action per turn to release the resonance points, and I wasn't sure if that could be fixed.

The solution I found to this was simply to stack up more resonance while waiting for the next swift action to come up; you only release it on one enemy per turn, but the effect scales based on how long it's been since you last released it on that enemy.

[Venger]

The 6 BAB prereq might have something to do with that. Many of the builds are entering late as is and that makes it potentially a little awkward to find room for PrC levels.

Both of the unsubmitted ideas that I had (which I'll post after the final reveal as both overlap with my submitted build in places) used other PrCs, but both were unable to complete the SI as a result. One makes it to Serene Guardian 8, the other to Serene Guardian 9.

Yeah, that's probably it. I really hate it when they do that. At least this si gives full BA in return.

[daremetoidareyo]

I promised to judge, but it didn't stop me from developing this stub:
Synad

Level	Class	Feats	Skills	Class Features	Powers	BAB		PP
1	SoulBound Weapon Psychic warrior 1 (http://archive.wizards.com/default.a.../psm/20070214a)	exotic weapon proficiency:Fusiri Gama Deadly Spittle ( Serpent Kingdoms, p. 145) Weapon focus: Fusiri Gama	12: Concentration 4, knowledge (psionics) 4, Autohypnosis 4, Profession (sewing) 4	Manifesting: 1st level power: Call Weaponry Bonus feat, Weapon Focus	call weapon	0	str 8, dex 17, con 12, int 13, wis 16 cha 8	3+0
2	SoulBound Weapon Psychic warrior 2		3: Concentration 5, Autohypnosis 5, knowledge (psionics) 5	Manifesting, 1st level power: Extend range (CP), soulbound weapon	extend range	1		4
3	psywarrior 3	Synad Multitask, Enhanced (Complete Psionic, p. 58)	3: Concentration 6, Autohypnosis 6, Knowledge (psionics) 6	Manifesting: 1st level power: Call Item (http://archive.wizards.com/default.a.../psm/20040827e)	call item	2		6
4	Hit and run fighter	Point blank shot	3: psicraft 1.5	Hit and Run Tactics (DotU), Bonus Feat		3		6
5	psywarrior 4		3: Concentration 8, knowledge (psionics) 7	Manifesting: 2nd level power: Dissolving Weapon	dissolving weapon	4		8
6	psywarrior 5	Dead eye (dragon compendium), psionic meditation	3: Concentration 9, knowledge (psionics) 8, Psicraft 2	Manifesting 2nd level power: Hustle, Bonus Feat	Hustle	4	weapon of the celestial host (spear spikard) + luminary tabbard	10
7	psywarrior 6		3: Concentration 10, psicraft 3	Manifesting: 2nd level power: Power Weapon (CP)	Prowess	5	Horizon Goggles (far shot feat)	14
8	psywarrior 7		3: Concentration 11, Psicraft 4	Manifesting: 3rd Level Power: Telekinetic Boomerang (CP)	telekinetic boomerang	6	Intelligent item: bluburill, 20kgp grants combat reflexes and expertise. AEG p.139	18
9	Serene Guardian 1	Practiced Manifester (CP p.57)	3: Concentration 12, Autohypnosis 7	Resonance, Painful release		7	cognizance crystal 25 k	18
10	Serene Guardian 2		3: Concentration 13, autohypnosis 8	Damaging release		8	weapon of the celestial host (spear spikard) + luminary tabbard	18
11	Serene Guardian 3	Clever Opportunist ( Drow of the Underdark, p. 47)	3: Concentration 14, autohypnosis 9	Bonus Feat		9	periapt of wisdom, gloves of dexterity, (4k, 16k) 36,000 each	18
12	Serene Guardian 4	Wounding attack (Expanded Psionics Handbook, p. 52)	3: Concentration 15, autohypnosis 10	Staggering Release		10		18
13	Serene Guardian 5		3: Concentration 16, autohypnosis 11	Greater Resonance		11		18
14	Serene Guardian 6		3: Concentration 17, autohypnosis 12	traumatic release		12		18
15	Serene Guardian 7	Sense Weakness ( Draconomicon, p. 106)	3: Concentration 18, autohypnosis 13	Immune to Fear		13		18
16	Serene Guardian 8		3: Concentration 19, autohypnosis 14	Confounding Release		14		18
17	Serene Guardian 9		3: Concentration 20, autohypnosis 15	Unclouded release		15		18
18	Serene Guardian 10	Psicrystal affinity (XPH)	3: Concentration 21, autohypnosis 16	Soul Release		16		18
19	metamind (XPH)		5: concentration 22, autohypnosis 20	Free manifesting 1st, 3/day		16		18
20	metamind (XPH)		5: concentration 23, autohypnosis 23, craft (needlework) 1	Manifesting: 3rd level power: Empathic Feedback (CP)	empathic transfer	17		22

Fusiri gama lets you spit 3 per attack. deadly spittle lets you turn a spit attack into a 15' cone. call weapon + telekinetic boomerang allows you to bane your weapon. Synad lets you make the pain. dead eye, wounding attack, and hit and run acf boost damage while sense weakness drops DR

[KrimsonNekros]

I had two ideas going into this one. First was a Monk/Paladin going blackguard, but i couldn't get it to mesh together quite right. Other idea was a Shadowbane inquistor, but do to moving i wasn't able to get that one finished.

[Venger]

I had two ideas going into this one. First was a Monk/Paladin going blackguard, but i couldn't get it to mesh together quite right. Other idea was a Shadowbane inquistor, but do to moving i wasn't able to get that one finished.

Huh. A blackguard does keep all his goodies if he stops being evil. Once more, the evil aligned class is always the way to go.

[Thurbane]

I started tinkering with a Monk (Kung Fu Genius) 2/ Fighter 2/Warblade 6/Serene Guardian 10 - trying to replicate Jack B Quick with some extra attacks from Snap Kick and Whirling Steel Flurry, but I just wasn't happy with the result...

[Darkcouch]

I didn't have time to write up my idea, but I was going to go with a sling wielding Illumian (Naenhoon) Battle Sorc 6/Incantatrix 4/ Serene Guardian 10 using persisted Could of knifes (eventually with Acrane Thesis, extend, fell drain, and wounding) in conjunction with my familiar to get 2 free action attacks (and a wound) per round. He ended up with very few spells known due to the Battle Sorc and Domain Access ACFs, but the plan was to use the illumian ghetto DMM for persist which let me use my daily uses of Incantatrix's Metamagic Effect to Sculpt Kelgore's grave mist onto anyone that I used Staggering Release on. Does that even work? Can you move the spell area after the fact with Metamagic effect?

[One Step Two]

I like what I see in these builds, but between work, home and other commitments I couldn't get mine though in time. I was going to build the following: Anthropomorphic Bat Savage Progression Ghost 3/Dungeon-crasher Fighter 2/Master of the Unseen Hand 5/Serene Guardian 10. Using the Master of the Unseen hand to trip people then bull rush them against the ground using telekinetic full attacks.
For the story I was tossing up between an undead defender of the Serene guardians who guards a sacred tomb, or call him Tragic Slapstick the Ghost.

[remetagross]

Fusiri gama lets you spit 3 per attack.

That two Playgrounders have thought about using this extremely obscure weapon simply amazes me !

[Bucky]

That two Playgrounders have thought about using this extremely obscure weapon simply amazes me !

I considered it as well.