Villainous Competition XX​II: I Am The Night!

[Buufreak]

Spoiler: Yup...

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Seriously though, more time hopefully means more entries, and more entries means more ideas for me to steal and throw at my players... I mean, what?

[PrismCat21]

The reveal will be extended by one more day. No further extensions shall take place afterwards.

Just to clarify. Does this mean the new deadline is Monday night, or Tuesday night?

[Inevitability]

Just to clarify. Does this mean the new deadline is Monday night, or Tuesday night?

It's the end of today in Greenwich time, so tuesday night, but due to hopefully sleeping by then I won't be able to properly reveal until tomorrow morning.

[Thurbane]

While we're waiting for the reveal, I'd like to suggest another possible competition theme:
* Not-quite-human: a non-human(oid) creature that poses as a human. Many monsters have the ability to assume a human or humanoid form. Basically, an infiltrator...

[Florian]

While we're waiting for the reveal, I'd like to suggest another possible competition theme:
* Not-quite-human: a non-human(oid) creature that poses as a human. Many monsters have the ability to assume a human or humanoid form. Basically, an infiltrator...

*Laughs*

My ninja build-to-be was based on a Dark Creature Doppelgänger, Shadowcaster and the Mindspy PrC....

[ben-zayb]

While we're waiting for the reveal, I'd like to suggest another possible competition theme:
* Not-quite-human: a non-human(oid) creature that poses as a human. Many monsters have the ability to assume a human or humanoid form. Basically, an infiltrator...

So a Human can pose as another Human, right? See, I didn't see them listed as humanoids.

[remetagross]

But you know, it's actually quite easy to pass for a humanoid in most circumstances. Since most of the world's population (NPCs and PCs alike) does not invest in Knowledge (Local), they can only achieve DC 10 checks ("common knowledge"); since humanoids have at least 1 HD, the DC for identifying what a humanoid is is set to 11. It thus entails that most of the global population does not know what a humanoid actually is.

[Baby Gary]

I also have an idea for the next VC, I can't think of a good name but one about evil (duh) clowns, jokers, minstrels, etc. I am thinking something like the joker, but the good one (a mix between gold and bronze age, NOT SILVER AGE). I don't think that we have had anything like that yet and it would be very cool.

P.S. name could be 'jokes on you' or 'the final laugh' or something along those lines

[danielxcutter]

Huh, now that I think of it we haven't done multi-headed yet either.

[Venger]

While we're waiting for the reveal, I'd like to suggest another possible competition theme:
* Not-quite-human: a non-human(oid) creature that poses as a human. Many monsters have the ability to assume a human or humanoid form. Basically, an infiltrator...

Sounds pretty exciting.

I also have an idea for the next VC, I can't think of a good name but one about evil (duh) clowns, jokers, minstrels, etc. I am thinking something like the joker, but the good one (a mix between gold and bronze age, NOT SILVER AGE). I don't think that we have had anything like that yet and it would be very cool.

P.S. name could be 'jokes on you' or 'the final laugh' or something along those lines

The man who laughs

[Thurbane]

I also have an idea for the next VC, I can't think of a good name but one about evil (duh) clowns, jokers, minstrels, etc. I am thinking something like the joker, but the good one (a mix between gold and bronze age, NOT SILVER AGE). I don't think that we have had anything like that yet and it would be very cool.

P.S. name could be 'jokes on you' or 'the final laugh' or something along those lines

I really like the sound of that for a theme!

[GrayDeath]

Simply didn`t put in the effort past the (late coming) concept this time.
Ninjas just aren`t me it seems.

If someone is interested, the simple concept is in the spoiler

Spoiler: I am the Night!

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Adult Black Dragon, Shadow Dragon Template, Swordsage. Relatively few but high powerr maneuvres, at will hiding in Shadows, Minionmaking breath, Flight, seemed worth it...but then I reallys lost the drive, sigh...

[Inevitability]

That's right, reveals! Please do not post until I'm done with the giant pile of entries.

[Inevitability]

Rising from the ashes taken up to 11!

アルコールの炎
Arukōru no Honō
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.
"There is exchange of all things for fire and of fire for all things, as there is of wares for gold and of gold for wares."
.

Spoiler: Overview & Tables

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Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha	Modifiers
10	16	15	16	10	18	Racial - (+2 Dex, -6 Int), Phrenic - (+2 Int, +2 Wis, +4 Cha), Prodigy (+2 Int), HD - (4HD +1 Int, 8HD +1 Int, 12HD +1 Int, 16HD +1 Dex, 20HD +1 Cha, 24HD +1 Cha, 28HD +1 Con)

Arukōru no Honō is an advanced Phrenic Small fire elemental with 5 levels of Warshaper, 2 levels of Egoist and 3 levels of Psion Uncarnate.

CR is only listed after 8 because before that Arukōru no Honō can't self-replicate, which is a large part of the villain concept.

CR	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Abilities
8	Elemental (21 HD, Phrenic, Prodigy of Intelligence)	+15	+7	+12	+7	Hide 12, Move Silently 12, Bluff 12, Disguise 2, Spot 12	Weapon FinesseB, Improved InitiativeB, Endurance, Enduring Life, Lasting Life, Darkstalker, Martial Study (Clinging Shadow Strike), Martial Stance (Assassin's Stance), Naturalized Denizen, Epic Destiny (Eternal Hero)	Continual resurrection, death denied
9	Egoist	+15	+x	+x	+x	Hide 12, Move Silently 12, Bluff 12, Disguise 2, Spot 12, Balance 5	-	Minor Change Shape
11	Past Life Unique Ability	+15	+x	+x	+x	Hide 12, Move Silently 12, Bluff 12, Disguise 2, Spot 12, Balance 5	-	Wild Shape
12	Warshaper	+15	+x	+x	+x	Hide 12, Move Silently 13, Bluff 12.5, Disguise 2, Spot 12, Balance 5, Assume Quirk (skill trick)	-	Morphic immunities, morphic weapons
13	Warshaper	+16	+x	+x	+x	Hide 12, Move Silently 13, Bluff 13, Disguise 2, Spot 12, Balance 5, Concentration 2, Assume Quirk (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick)	Craven	Morphic body, Quickening
14	Warshaper	+17	+x	+x	+x	Hide 12, Move Silently 14, Bluff 14, Disguise 2, Spot 12, Balance 5, Concentration 3, Assume Quirk (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick)	-	Morphic reach
15	Warshaper	+18	+x	+x	+x	Hide 12, Move Silently 14, Bluff 14, Disguise 2, Spot 12, Balance 5, Concentration 8, Assume Quirk (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick)	-	Morphic healing
16	Warshaper	+18	+x	+x	+x	Hide 12, Move Silently 14, Bluff 15, Disguise 2, Spot 12, Balance 5, Concentration 11, Assume Quirk (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick)	Psionic Body	Multimorph, Eternal renewal
17	Psion Uncarnate	+19	+x	+x	+x	Hide 12, Move Silently 15, Bluff 16, Disguise 2, Spot 12, Balance 5, Concentration 15, Assume Quirk (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick)	-	Incorporeal touch 1d6, uncarnate armor
18	Psion Uncarnate	+20	+x	+x	+x	Hide 12, Move Silently 15, Bluff 16, Disguise 2, Spot 12, Balance 5, Concentration 20, Assume Quirk (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick)	-	Shed body 1/day
19	Psion Uncarnate	+20	+x	+x	+x	Hide 12, Move Silently 16, Bluff 16, Disguise 4, Spot 12, Balance 5, Concentration 21, Assume Quirk (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick)	Staggering Strike	Assume equipment, Nexus of many lives (Arcanist - Limited Wish, Disciple - Word of Chaos, Traitor - Evil Weather)
20	Egoist	+21	+x	+x	+x	Hide 12, Move Silently 17, Bluff 17, Disguise 5, Spot 12, Balance 5, Concentration 21, Assume Quirk (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick)	-	-

CR	PP/day	Powers Known
9	2	Conceal Thoughts, Offensive Presience, Empathy
18	6	Psionic Grease, Entangling Ectoplasm
19	11	Chameleon, Animal Affinity
20	17	Psionic Knock, Psionic Lock

Spoiler: Methods & Motives

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Spoiler: Story

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Arukōru no Honō's main motive is the idea that it needs to replace other intelligent beings by killing them, erasing all evidence of their existence and taking their place. This is partly based on belief that this is his life's purpose but also because of a lot of subconscious enmity towards humans in general due to the time spent in a cage because of a particular human. This is subconscious, though; Arukōru isn't aware that this is influencing its decisions, although it might become aware if someone who know its personal history points this out.

With the use of Arukōru's ability to self-replicate, large numbers of beings can be replaced. Basically, this process involves the replacement taking over all societal functions of the original being without detection. Eventually, whole communities can be taken over in this manner, and Arukōru's ultimate goal is to replace the a large part of the world or even all of it if possible. Then it will reveal all its selves and create a new world peopled with versions of itself. However, the duplicates of Arukōru are liable to have a change in mindset in some form or another, so remember that could create some opportunities for a series of events involving it to take a new turn. Not overly likely, but possible.

This villain is obviously more on the mystical ninja side of things; it is a fire elemental, after all, but even with all Arukōru's PLAs, remember to keep the flashy displays to a minimum. Keep the Ultrablast and such in reserve. Of course, flashiness does have a place as a distraction, so sending off one or two duplicates to create such a diversion is also a valid tactic.

Arukōru no Honō at CR 8
The self-replication trick, coming online at this CR, works thusly: Using the Fission PLA from Phrenic, Arukōru splits itself in two. The duplicate kills the original (just use an Ultrablast or something), which will allow the duplicate to remain permanently. The duplicate can repeat this process as many times as it sees fit as it and all subsequent duplicates are now treated as the original Arukōru. At dawn the next day, all the Arukōrus' continual resurrection ability will activate and every single one will be raised from the dead. This is how Arukōru creates the army of itself.

Arukōru has no disguise abilities at this level, so if any 'replacing' is done, it should be to people who would not be missed anyway and whose duties Arukōru can carry out surrepstitiously (like someone whose job it is to collect faeces during the night). This is not really the level where he has the most potential, though.

Arukōru no Honō at CR 11 - high point
I call this the high point not because Arukōru is the most powerful at this point but because at this point the build has all the essential components. Wild Shape and Minor Change Shape used in concert get Arukōru a total +20 bonus to any Disguise check, so any individual can be outright impersonated. Use Wild Shape just to get a more convenient body shape for Minor Change Shape, obviously, if Arukōru is pretending to be anything other than an animal. Now that Arukōru can turn into anyone, make it a priority to go for heads of organizations who can make things easier for a replacement of the lower echelons, whether on a private or public scale, but Arukōru should keep things realistic, too - don't go for anyone too well-guarded.

Animal forms are also useful as Arukōru can now fly, swim, pounce and climb, among many other abilities. For infiltration, choose small forms or ones with bonuses to Hide and Move Silently. Both if possible. A neat trick with Tiny forms is that if you go for the minimum Tiny size of 1ft, Minor Change Shape, which can modify your physical size by 1ft, allows you to become small enough to fit through anything. Arukōru and duplicates could literally turn into a pile of sand and seep through cracks if they wanted. Of course for combat purposes size will still be Tiny, but for sneaking about the combination is invaluable.

One limitation here is that Wild Shape only has one use a day so any Arukōru who uses it is effectively locked into that form for the next 11 hours. However, since there can be many Arukōrus, this problem is easily circumvented by just having some as fliers, while others can handle the aquatic or climbing forms.

Also, remember that Minor Change Shape can still be used after Wild Shape to get any appearance you want, so Arukōru can still look like normal while having the utility of all the different forms.

Arukōru no Honō at CR 15
Nothing much to say here. Combat has improved, with any combination of natural attacks, reach and fast healing, but then Arukōru is not likely to be spending that much time in combat compared to non-combat interactions. More Sneak Attack, too, from Craven, but same as above.

Arukōru no Honō at CR 20
What really stands out at this level is the Nexus of Many Lives ability. Arukōru's duplicates can all use it (assuming they are duplicates from this CR 19 and above), and any spell under 6th level on the sorcerer/wizard list is available. Or any spell under 5th level. Almost any problem can be fixed by that. Word of Chaos can take out multiple lawful adversaries, but it's probably not a good idea to use it on PCs who might die from it. Evil Weather can create some nice diversions. Psion Uncarnate gets Arukōru the neat ability of going through walls, which can come in handy at times. Also, Staggering Strike on the combat end of things.

Spoiler: Sources

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Player's Handbook
Dungeon Master's Guide
Expanded Psionics Handbook
Complete Warrior
Complete Scoundrel
Complete Adventurer
Champions of Ruin
WotC Web

Spoiler: P.S.

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There was going to be an FAQ section for some things that might be a little obscure, but due to time constraints there now isn't. I'll just address them in disputes if they turn up in judging.

[Inevitability]

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

Spoiler: Breakdown

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Spoiler: SPOT THE NINJA

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Xihu Ayame
LE Akutsukai Shadow-walker Greensnake Naga(Female) of Shadow
(Reptilian Subtype, Speed 30 ft., Poison, Telepathy, Taint Immunity, Alternate Form)
Ninja 3, Cobra Monk 2, Abrupt Jump Conjurer Focused Specialist Illusionist 1, Swordage 1, Telflammar Shadowlord 4, Swordsage +1, Telflammar Shadowlord +2, Totemist 2

Ability Scores

Ability	Starting Scores	Elite	Racial	Change	Scores at CR20
Str	17	15	+2	+1 at 8HD	18
Dex	14	10	+4	+2 at CR6	16
Con	12	8	+4	+1 at 12HD +1 at 16HD -2 at CR6	12
Int	16	14	+2	-	12
Wis	15	13	+2	+1 at 4HD	16
Cha	12	12	+0	-	12

Spoiler: Alternate Image

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Spoiler: Story

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The sound of wind rustling grass and leaves are all that can be heard in the moment. They chased the geisha assassian away from their Lord’s manor, but not before she made him cry out in fear. The woman was mad, she had attacked their Lord during his evening meal, seductively serving him until she struck. She had come close to striking a lethal blow, too close. As was protocol when the lord wanted another woman, she was thoroughly searched, no weapon or substance of any kind was found. Where did she hide that blade? Somehow their Lord had seen it before she struck and lashed out at her, shouting in anger and fear. His only injury being a small scrape on his hand when he struck her in the face, giving his guards and I enough time to respond and protect him.

Somehow, she was able to slip out of the grasp of three guards holding onto her firmly. She writhed and wriggled and suddenly she was free and running. Her mission a failure, the Lord safely guarded by his men. We pursued the geisha to the gardens, only moments behind her, yet as soon as she entered beneath the shadows of the branches she seemed to disappear completely, no trace anymore. “Yoshi, you four go around the trail and cut her off. We know these grdens better than anyone, only the royal guard are allowed in there, she can’t escape.” Off Yoshi and his three guards went, trying to flank her before she found her way out. She won’t. All trails lead back this direction, there is no way out.

’Rustle, rustle.’ Got her! Only 12 paces ahead, she must have been hiding in the bushes and waiting for us to chase her further into the garden, waiting for her chance to escape. “You have brought dishonor to me by assaulting my Lord. The only way to redeem myself is to present you head and beg His forgiveness for allowing you to get so close. ’SLASH’ My blade cuts clean through the flowers and branches and connects solidly. I have her…

“No!” It’s the body of one of my men! Why was he hiding in the brush? Where is his armor and weapons? What happened to…. a mark, on his neck, swollen and turned green and purple. He must have been bite bit by a snake and poisoned. But then, why is he striped of his belongings...? ”ARRGGHHHH, filthy wench!” Yelling up ahead. “You have no hope of beating us all.”

I come upon her end. The almost assassin geisha is surrounded by royal guards. She has no hope now. Fwip. Fwip With a twitch of her fingers, two guards fall, their hands clenched around their now bloody throats. I’m too far away, the others move in, katana’s and wakashi’s drawn and ready. She darts in and around them, kicking one in the back of the leg ad dropping him to the ground. Another she jabs in the eye with her fingers and I realize a moment later, those fingers are still grasping his eye when she pulls them away. Who is this monster? The remaining guards swarm in slashing down. She dodges deftly, as if the blades were of no concern, and then finishes them off with their own blades. She then slowly turns to face me with a wicked grin curling up on her face.

“If you hurry back, you might be just in time to watch your precious Lord breathe his last.” Her voice is like silk wrapped in velvet. “That little scratch I gave him had quite the surprise with it. The poison will be reaching his heart at any moment.” She trying to distract me, she’s worried, my men must have injured her. I won’t fall for it. “Lies”, I spout vehemently. “You head will adorn my ancestors shrine tonight. My honor redeemed with your blood,” I yell! She acts calm and unconcerned, it’s a ruse.

I move in for the kill. Faster than the beat of a hummingbird’s wings I draw my blade and strike… … ...nothing but air… She’s vanished…! Cold, tender hands brush against the back of my neck. I spin and strike again… nothing. What sort of witchcraft is this… I move in a wide circle, searching for my prey. I will not fall victim to her tricks. My heart is pounding in my ears, there’s a warming pulse on my neck, I can’t concentrate, the shadows in the trees are moving, reaching for me. I’m on the ground with my sword beside me. When did that happen? Why am I laying down? I’m a warrior, why would I release my weapon? I grab my sword and struggle back to me feet, it takes much longer than it should. I feel my neck stiffen when I look around and I realize what happened. She must have struck me with some kind of poison when I attacked, just like the first guard I found in the bush. A beautiful angel emerges from the darkness of the trees. I lift my sword in defense, she won’t fool me...

The angelic being turns back into the treacherous geisha in my mind and she speaks to me. I can’t hear what she says, my head is pounding. From the other side of the path, Yoshi and his three men burst out of the foliage with battle cries that makes their ancestors proud. As they strike down at her she disappears again. I was ready this time and watched carefully. The shadows themselves seemed to snatch her away at the last moment. She reappears beside the men and skewers two of them with the blades of their former clanmates. Yoshi and the last guard fight on. She leaps into the trees and is again swallowed up by the shadows. I shout to Yoshi, “Strike behind you now!” Yoshi is well trained, he obeys my command without question and blindly stabs. She appears just in time to receive his sword straight to her gut, there’s no healing a wound like that, she’s finished. ...to my horror she just chuckles to herself and snaps Yoshi’s neck. The last guard tries to run but the monster takes the sword from her gut and with seemingly impossible reach, buries in the same spot on him. He drops to the ground gasping, not quite dead.

The pounding has diminished. It’s getting difficult to stay awake but I keep my sword raised, ready to fight to my last. I hear the silken voice of an angel again, “My, you are a ssstrong one aren’t you. And ssso brave. Mossst warriors would have sssuccumbed to my poison already. Yet you are able to keep on your feet. I think you will make a grand addition as a ssservant to the Ssshadowlands.” I couldn’t focus on what she said. Before my eyes she was transforming. Her legs were growing longer and longer, melding together. They took the shape of a giant snake. From her chest, the wound Yoshi struck was quickly closing up. Six large bulges, three on either side of her chest were forming, growing, becoming additional arms. Truely… we never had any hope of stopping this monster. She was no lady. She was an Oni creature from legend. A demon from the cursed Shadowlands, and it wanted to take me…
It picked me up along with the still barely breathing guard. The shadows of the garden gathered closer, closer, enveloped us completely. The sensations I knew as ‘Light’ and ‘Warmth’ were no more. Now, there was only darkness… and cold… The darkness… it’s moving… calling to me...

Spoiler: Description

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Ayame is a Greenscale Nage from the Ancient Naga Empire in Rokugan’s distant past. Long before humanity. She is roughly 15 feet long. Her upper body is as a typical Human female, while her lower body is that of a green snake. When coiling up 2/3 of her body, Ayame can move and attack just as well as any typical Humanoid. When coiling up only 1/3 of her body, she can reach much farther than normal, even reaching directly above. As a full-round action Ayame can change her shape. Her lower body transforms into that of a typical Human female with a base speed of 30 ft., including any features that increase her base speed.

Most of the Naga have been asleep for centuries after a brutal war with the creatures from the Shadowlands. Greensnake Naga are the weakest, but most common form of Naga, and the least xenophobic to other races. Ayame is a warrior and diplomat of sorts to the other(lesser) races. She keeps and eye on the Humans and uses them as her playthings when the urge arises. Her inquisitive nature(common among Greenscales) led her to want to learn more about the fighting styles of the humans. She takes their knowledge and puts it to her own, immoral use. Eventually, her thirst knowledge and power becomes to great for the inferior races to placate. She seeks out alternative knowledge and that leads her into the forbidden Shadowlands, and beyond.

She follows the hierarchical order of her society, and believes in the power and majesty of her people. The ‘lesser’ races don’t register in her mind as proper sentient beings. They’re toys, objects, trash to be discarded or destroyed on a whim.

Spoiler: Build Table

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CR	Class	HD	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1	Ninja 1	1	+0	+0	+2	+0	Balance-2, Bluff-4, Craft(Alchemy)-4, Disguise-4, Escape Artist-3, Gather Information-1, Hide-4, Jump-2, Move Silently-4, Sleight of Hand-4, Tumble-4	Darkstalker	Wis to AC, Ki Power, Sudden Stike +1d6, Trapfinding
2	Ninja 2	2	+1	+0	+3	+0	Bluff-5, Craft(Alchemy)-5, Disable Device-1, Disguise-5, Hide-5, Move Silently-5, Open Lock-1, Sleight of Hand-5, Tumble-5	-	Ghost Step (Invisible)
3	Ninja 3	3	+2	+1	+3	+1	Bluff-6, Craft(Alchemy)-6, Disguise-6, Escape Artist-5, Hide-6, Move Silently-6, Sleight of Hand-6, Tumble-6	Blind-fight	Sudden Strike +2d6, Poison Use
4	Cobra Monk 1 (UA p.52)	4	+2	+3	+5	+3	Balance-4, Craft(Alchemy)-7, Hide-7, Jump-3, Move Silently-7, Tumble-7	Dodge	Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Strike, AC Bonus, Bonus Feat, Skill Bonus (Escape Artist+2) Ability Score Increase (Wis)
5	Cobra Monk 2	5	+3	+4	+6	+4	Balance-5, Craft(Alchemy)-8, Hide-8, Jump-5, Move Silently-8, Tumble-8	Mobility	AC Bonus +1(Ninja +Monk), Bonus Feat, Evasion
6	Shadow Walker	-	+3	+4	+6	+4	-	-	SLA’s, Light Blindness, Darkvision 60ft, Hide +4(racial), +2 Dex, -2 Con
7	Conjurer 1 (Focused Specialist Illusionist)	6	+3	+4	+6	+6	Knowledge(Local):Thesk-2(4 points), Spellcraft-1	Daylight Adaption, Spring Attack	Bonus Feat(UA p.59), Spellcasting, Abrupt Jump
8	Swordsage 1	7	+3	+4	+8	+8	Climb-2, Craft(Alchemy)-9, Hide-10, Move Silently-10, Sense Motive-2	-	Quick to Act +1, Weapon Focus(Shadow Hand)
9	Telflammar Shadowlord 1	8	+3	+4	+10	+8	Bluff-8, Disguise-9, Hide-11, Move Silently-11	-	Shadowsight 60ft, Shadow Jump, Spellcasting, Ability Score Increase (Str)
10	Telflammar Shadowlord 2	9	+4	+4	+11	+8	Disguise-10, Hide-12, Move Silently-12, Skill Trick: Assume Quirk, Skill Trick: Second Impression	Mindsight	Shadow Blur
11	Telflammar Shadowlord 3	10	+5	+5	+11	+9	Bluff-10, Disguise-11, Hide-13, Move Silently-13, Tumble-10	-	Shadow Walk
12	Telflammar Shadowlord 4	11	+6/+1	+5	+12	+9	Bluff-11, Concentration-1, Disguise-14, Hide-14, Move Silently-14	-	Shadow Pounce
13	Swordsage 2	12	+7/+2	+5	+13	+10	Craft(Alchemy)-10, Hide-15, Martial Lore-1, Move Silently-15, Tumble-15	Craven	Wis to AC(Light Armor)
15	Akutsukai Template	12	+7/+2	+5	+13	+10	-	Multiweapon Fighting, Multidexterity	See CR section
16	Shadow template	12	+7/+2	+5	+13	+10	+6 Move Silently(racial)	-	Shadow Blend(Su), Resistance(Cold):15, Improved Evasion, Plane Shift(Shadow)(SP): 1/day(CL:15th), +2 all Saving Throws(Luck), Ability Score Increase (Con)
17	Telflammar Shadowlord 5	13	+7/+2	+5	+13	+10		Bluff-13, Disguise-16, Hide-16, Move Silently-16, Tumble-16	Shadow Discorporation
18	Telflammar Shadowlord 6	14	+8/+3	+6	+14	+11	Bluff-16, Disguise-17, Hide-17, Move Silently-17, Tumble-17	-	DeathAttack
19	Totemist 1	15	+8/+3	+8	+14	+13	Bluff-17, Hide-18, Move Silently-18, Tumble-17.5	Bonus Essentia	Wild Empathy, Meld Shaping
20	Totemist 2	16	+9/+4	+9	+14	+14	Disguise-18, Hide-19, Move Silently-19, Tumble-18	-	Totem Chakra Bind (+1 capacity), Mirror Image(Sp): 1/day(CL:5th), Ability Score Increase (Con)

Spoiler: CR

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Spoiler: CR 5

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Ayame has spent enough time among the lesser races to grow curious of their abilities, and begun to learn them for herself. She has perfected the art of living amongst humans in particular and enjoys acting as an infiltrator and assassain. She mainly uses her own poison to coat her weapons and takes much delight in hurling poisoned shuriken from the shadows. She’s learn how to concoct other poisons as well, but her work just doesn’t have the same personal touch unless she uses her own. By changing back into her Naga form, Ayame can uncoil herself out to 15ft feet and can reach great heights and across long distances. She’s your basic ninja/assassian stalking through the shadows and hiding in plain sight.

Spoiler: CR 10

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Ayame has entered the Shadowland that her people have fought against for millenia, and has accepted it as part of her. The Shadows have begun to infuse her body and grant her powers she’s never known, powers she has only felt the faintest touch of during her past work or hiding and stalking in the shadows.
She can now see perfectly in shadow and darkness of any kind. She can transport herself through shadow instantly with but a thought. Her connection with the Shadowland has granted her mystical powers similar to her Naga cousins of higher castes. Ayame is defended by the very shadows around her, and will whisk her away a few feet if she is being attacked. *cough Abrupt Jump *cough
She has sought out other users of shadow and have learned their abilities for herself. Martial and arcane magic that allow her to form shdow and darkness to attack and manipulate her foes. Ayame’s purpose has changed. The Shadows have allowed her to travel nearly anywhere, across lands far away, across the very planes themselves. Her knowledge will continue to grow until she and the Shadowlands are truly one.

Spoiler: CR 15

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Ayame can now Shadow Pounce thanks to Telflammar Shadowlord. Anytime she uses a teleportation ability, she can full attack upon completion of that ability. Shadow Jump, Shandow Hand Maneuvers, Abrupt Jump, Dimension Door, they can all be used to this effect. Thanks to Sudden Strike and Craven, this can be a devastating effect that can happen multiple times per round, and even between turns. Second level spells, and Greater Invisibility in particular, are just icing on the cake.
Thanks to the Lords of the Shadowlands, Ayame was gifted with the Akutsukai (servant of evil)template, becoming an oni-like minion of evil. It requires a Humanoid, which Ayame still is unlike her cousins, the 4 other types of Naga who became Monstrous Humanoid in 3.5. She becomes undead, but interestingly enough, still possesses a Constitution score. (That’ll be very important later.) Her other abilities include:

• Fast Healing 3
• Blend with Darkness: +10 Hide bonus in darkness and shadowy conditions.
• Damage Reduction 30/+3
• Eyes of Hell:Darkvision range out to 120 ft, and is immune to any blinding effect. Negating a major weakness from the Shadow Walker Template.
• Multiple Arms: A total of eight arms and gains the Multiweapon fighting and Multidexterity feats.
• Wings: Fly speed of 4x base land speed. (w/ Shadow Template next CR, that’s 240 ft.)

Flying teleporting 8-armed injury resistant ninjas never looked so scary.

Spoiler: CR 16 (Sweet Spot)

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Everything Ayame was before she still is. Her connection to the Shadowlands is complete thanks to the Shadow Creature template. She now possess

• Resistance to Cold of 15
• +6 racial bonus to Move Silently
• Improved Evasion
• +2 Luck bonus on all saving throws
• Mirror Image 1/day
• Plane Shift 1/day to or from the Plane of Shadow
• Shadow Blend Total concealment in any condition other than full daylight

Ayame can see in any sort of darkness, magical or otherwise. She disappears in any sort of darkness, whether a creature can see in darkness or not. Even if a DM rules that Shadow Blend doesn’t fully work against creatures that can see in darkness, they will still have to beat Ayame’s respectable Hide check to know she’s there.

I imagine a volley of poisoned shuriken bursting out of the shadows to decimate any lone individual or even a group of creatures. If they are also in an area not in direct sunlight, She’ll have no trouble teleporting in and out all over the place, full attacking every chance she gets.

Spoiler: CR 20

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Telflammar Shadowlord is complete giving Ayame access to thematically appropriate 3rd level spells, Death Attack, and the chance to break up into bits of shadow on a killing blow, forming the next sunset. (Reflex save DC:5+ damage dealt; with DR:30/+3 it’ll be difficult to even get that killing blow)
Two levels of Totemist give Ayame access to fun and helpful soulmelds. The most important one is Blink Shirt when bound to her Totem Chakra. With 4 Essentia bound, she can teleport up to 50 feet as a move action, and then full attack at the end.
Other useful Soulmelds would be Worg Pelt and Kruthik Claws for bonuses on Hide and Move Silently, Lamia Belt for Bluff, Hide, and more natural attacks for Shadow Pounce, and Bloodtalons or Rage Claws to continue fighting while in negative hit points.(Remember, She still has a Con score even though she’s Undead)

Spoiler: Quick Afterthoughts

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Ayame uses primarily a Katana, Short Swords, and Shuriken. She has no problem making use of other weapons when need be, but that’s what she prefers.
Her Wizard spells focus on deception while her Shadowlord spells focus on combat bonuses.
Her maneuvers should be used to attack unexpectedly and to weaken her opponent.

Spoiler: Spell/Maneuver suggestions

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Wizard Core 0- Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Prestidigitation.
1st – Conj: Grease(for Sudden Strike), Mage Armor, Unseen Servant
Div: Comprehend Languages, Detect Secret Doors
Illus: Disguise Self(+10 Disguise), Silent Image, Ventriloquism

Swordsage Maneuvers
1st – DM:Sapphire Nightmare Blade, SS:Counter Charge, SH:Clinging Shadow Strike, TC:Sudden Leap – Stance:SH:Child of Shadow
2nd – DM:Emerald Razor, SS: Clever Positioning, SH:Cloak of Deception, SH:Drain Vitality, SH:Shadow Jaunt
3rd – SH:Shadow Garrote, SH:Strength Draining Strike – Stance:SH:Assassian’s Stance

Spoiler: Spells/Maneuvers/Meldshaping

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Wizard Spells per Day

Level	Conjuration	Illusion	Unrestricted
0	1	3	2
1st	1	3	0(Bonus Spells)

Telflammar Shadowlord Spells per Day

Level	1st	2nd	3rd
1st	0	-	-
2nd	1	-	-
3rd	1	0	-
4th	2	1	-
5th	2	1	0
6th	2	2	1

Swordsage Maneuvers

Level	Maneuvers Known	Maneuvers Readied	Stances Known
1st	6	4	1
2nd	7	4	2(Bonus Spells)

Meldshaping

Level	Soulmelds	Essentia	Chakra
1st	2	1	0
2nd	3	2	1

Spoiler: Sources

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Player’s Handbook 3.5: Monk, Wizard, Feats
Player’s Handbook 2: Focused Specialist Wizard
Complete Adventurer: Ninja
Complete Scoundrel: Skill Tricks
Lords of Madness: Shadow Template, Darkstalker and Mindsight feats
Magic of Incarnum: Totemist, Bonus Essentia
Oriental Adventures: Greensnake Naga, Akutsukai Template
Unearthed Arcana: Cobra Monk, Wizard Bonus Feats
Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords: Swordsage
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting: Daylight Adaption feat
Champions of Ruin: Craven feat
Unapproachable East: Telflammar Shadowlord, Shadow Walker Template

[Inevitability]

For when regular weretigers just aren't cutting it anymore.

The Auspicious Black Tiger
Of the Moon Tiger Ninja Clan
Sometimes Called Akuza

Reputed to be the mightiest of the Ninja Clans, the Moon Tiger Ninja Clan guards a deep secret - They are servitors of the Rakshasa. Their lycanthropic power is said to have been a gift of the gods, but in truth the founder of the clan, the first Black Tiger, swore his oath to the Rakshasa for the power to rule over his enemies. They gave him the supremely powerful form and he bit and turned dozens of rivals into weaker weretigers. All weretigers born to the Moon Tiger Ninja clan inherit the hearts of their dark masters. Today, the Black Tiger is a position to the most powerful ninja within the clan, though not necessarily the leader.

Akuza is the Black Tiger of the Moon Tiger Ninja Clan by dint of an auspicious birth -Born during a lunar eclipse, sired by a Rakshasa. His mother gave him up to the clan's most fiercely held monastery. There, he grew into a strong and disciplined young warrior, proving himself as skilled as any of his fellow acolytes in the arts of stealth and deceit. In time, the Rakshasa saw fit to send him on his first mission and the fanatical youth did not disappoint. He grows ever bolder and ever fiercer in his skill, braving hails of arrows with not but an open hand. Afflicted with a common lycanthropic dislike of crowds and cities, Akuza seldom leaves the sleek, black hybrid form that is his birthright, climbing mountains and swimming deep seas. He has no equal within the clan and few enough outside of it. He is devoted to the Rakshasa as few can be, a legendary figure of absolute fanaticism, but his loyalty to the clan is more feeble. If there is any essential mission from assassination to theft, it is given to Akuza.

Spoiler

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Akuza (everything can be found on the SRD)
Half-Fiend Human Lycanthrope
Legendary Weretiger 26/Monk 2/Assassin9
CR Breakdown: Human 0 CR + Lycanthrope (Legendary Tiger) 6 CR + Half-Fiend Over 11 HD 3 CR +Monk of the Invisible Eye 2 + Assassin 9

BASE HUMAN STATS: STR 10, DEX 13, CON 12, INT 14, WIS 15, CHA 8
Post Template Human Form Stats: STR 14, DEX 17, CON 14, INT 18, WIS 17, CHA 10
Lycanthrope increases stats by level to: ST 10, DEX 20 (+3), CON 14, INT 18, WIS 19 (+2), CHA 10
Lycanthrope increases stats through transforming by: STR +22, DEX +8, CON +14.
Three other level based stat increases: +2 CON, +1 WIS.

CR	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
10	Monk of the Invisible Eye	+19	+17	+17	+9	Climb 16; Hide 29; Jump 16, Listen 29; Move Silently 29; Spot 29; Swim 29. Balance 14, Bluff 14, Disguise 14, Intimidate 14, Knowledge (Religion) 14	Athletics, Alertness, Combat Reflexes (Invisible Eye), Deflect Arrows (Human Bonus), Endurance, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Combat (Monk), Infinite Deflection (Level), Iron Will, Power Attack, Run, Toughness (x2), Track	Pounce, Improved Grab, Rake, Curse of Lycanthropy, Alternate For, Low-Light Vision, Dakr Vision (60 ft.), Legendary Weretiger Skill Bonus to Hide/Move Silently, Monk AC Bonus, Flurry of Blows, Invisible Eye Listen Bonus, Unarmed Damage Bonus, Half Fiend Spell Like Abilities (all), Smite Good 1/day +20, SR 35, DR 10/Magic and Silver, Immunity to poison, Resistances (Cold,Acid,Electricity Fire) 10, Claws Magic weapons
11	Monk	+20	+18	+18	+10	Tumble 9	Lightning Reflexes	Evasion
12	Assassin 1	+20	+18	+20	+10	Use Magic Device 8, Tumble 10		Sneak Attack 1d6, death attack, poison use, spells
13	Assassin 2	+21	+18	+21	+10	Use Magic Device 16, Tumble 11	Exceptional Deflection	+1 Save Versus Poison, Uncanny Dodge
14	Assassin 3	+22	+19	+21	+11	Use Magic Device 24, Tumble 12		Sneak Attack +2d6
15	Assassin 4	+23	+19	+22	+11	Disguise 20; Bluff 17		Save against Poison +2
16	Assassin 5	+23	+19	+22	+11	Bluff 26	Reflect Arrows	Sneak attack +3d6, Improved Uncanny Dodge
17	Assassin 6	+24	+20	+23	+12	Disguise 29		+3 save versus poison
18	Assassin 7	+25	+20	+23	+12	Hide 35; Move Silently 34		Sneak Attack +4d6
19	Assassin 8	+26	+20	+24	+12	Hide 39; Move Silently 39	Flyby Attack	+4 Save against poison, Hide in Plain Sight
20	Assassin 9	+26	+21	+24	+13	Disguise 36		Sneak Attack +5d6

Spoiler: Spells

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Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
12th	1/2	-	-	-
13th	2/3	-	-	-
14th	3/3	1/2	-	-
15th	4/4	2/3	-	-
16th	4/4	3/3	1/2	-
17th	4/4	4/4	2/3	-
18th	4/4	4/4	3/3	1/2
19th	4/4	4/4	4/4	2/3
20th	4/4	4/4	4/4	3/3

Spells Known (order of acquisition)
1st: Disguise Self, Obscuring Mist, True Strike (3), Ghost Sound (4)
2nd: Alter Self, Invisibility, Pass Without Trace (3), Undetectable Alignment (4)
3rd: Magic Circle Against Good, Nondetection, Misdirection, Deeper Darkness
4th: Greater Invisibility, Dimension Door, Freedom of Movement

Spoiler: CR Breakdown

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At any level, the Black Tiger uses either his claws in melee and shurikens or composite shortbows as his ranged weapons.
CR 10:
I'm going to be straight with you - This CR is too low.

At this CR in Hybrid form, Akuza has +32 to melee attack with four claws (hybrid form GAINS claws/bite attacks on top of his half-fiend claws, obviously not risking spreading his lycanthropy with a bite), AC 34 (-1 size, +9 DEX, +4 WIS, +12 Natural Armor) before using Unholy aura to give +4 deflection, hide checks with a 41, Infinite Deflection that makes him immune to missile attacks, SR 35 which only the most dedicated of casters has a chance to pierce, 27d8 HD, his lowest save (will) is +15 on top of SR 35, he can fly, resistance to every kind of element, and of course Blasphemy at CL 27 once per day. If your super-TO group is ready to slap him down, go for it - I will say though that I'm confident he could kill a Planetar, given time. Worst come to worst, darkness nuke and hide until the opposition goes away.

Here's how I recommend introducing Akuza, who is hiding in a lord's antechamber with a 44 on his hide check.

Spoiler

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As gossip: I don't know how I didn't see him before, but there he was a jet black tiger-man with feral, bat-like wings swoops down from the ceiling. His cat eyes were laughing as he descended upon the lord, even as a dozen crossbow bolts sailed towards him. He caught them in his hands, one after another, and dropped them to the ground down around the lord. The lord's eyes fill with fear before a hail of claws tears him to pieces. A court magician slung spell after spell, but it only marked him out as next. I fled with the others, to my everlasting shame. Spirits, barkeep, another drink, please.

If you wish them to be there, this is pretty much what happens: Surprise round, initiated by Akuza, and then beat on the poor lord. The four claws deal 1d6+26 each with a +19 Attack bonus. Any ordinary noble is now properly dead, with a minimum damage of 108. Catches every bolt with infinite deflection. Spell resistance marks out the court magician. Of course, if he had felt at risk, he could have just dropped a Blasphemy at any time and killed any non-evil creatures anywhere near him. He has Run and is willing to use it!

At any point if you feel he's failing, have him coat his claws in deadly poisons (he himself being immune.).

CR 13:
Exceptional deflection and evasion (reflex save +31, before items or unholy aura) have edged towards rendering Akuza totally immune to all ranged attacks. Blasphemy still instant kills anyone who isn't evil and closes with you. Darkness remains to help him hide. He's still near guaranteed to hit. His SR is (nearly) impossible to break. He can be caught by I think this is the sweet spot, but honestly I'm pretty sure that he far exceeds his CR at the majority of levels.

The primary threat is a forcecage. Obviously, if you're using him at CR 13, this is that kind of game though. Give him a Cape of the Montebank/Boots of Teleportation and call it a day, adding a Rod of Cancelation at later levels (to escape a forcecage to escape a dimensional lock). Alternatively, a Distance Composite Shortbow sized appropriately (Composite 13 adds 900 to the cost) will probably enable all sorts of fun. Akuza in hybrid form is too tall for a windowless cell. Within the SRD, only Mage's Faithful Hound (which almost certainly won't hit) and Acid Fog (which does a maximum of 2 damage per round) deal damage.

CR 15: Everyone can and should be grateful for uncanny dodge, which is keeping Akuza near the top of his power range. At this level, Blasphemy can kill solars. No save, SR functionally trivia.

CR 16
Reflect arrows punishes the poor mages who try to hit the mighty Akuza, which is good, because his SR is starting to be possible to overwhelm. His saves remain high, but may be in the realm of manageable against decent opponents.

CR 20
Hide in Plain Sight makes you effectively invisible, forever. Your hide bonus is somewhere north of +56. Dimension door (assassin spell) lets him bail, blasphemy still instant kills everything. Dimension door + Blasphemy is a handy trick, recommended for killing pesky casters. Akuza instantly hides whenever someone chases him and leaps out for a new sneak attack round. He attacks for 1d6+13+5d6, whenever he uses a claw attack in such a situation, before power attack. If he wins initiative (likely but not certain), he'll take the chance to do a full attack, adding precision and power attack.

At this CR, Akuza is (probably) far stronger than any of his Rakshasas. This does not make him a rebel, however. He might just be an obedient lackey. Alternatively, Akuza might be the instrument of some holy power's wrath, stalking a lonely mountain when on shore leave. Players might receive an oracle that he will slay the Emperor or they might need to bypass him to speak with a spirit or god on the top of a mountain.

They also might encounter him during a coup, slaughtering imperial officials at the head of the Moon Ninja clan. Unholy Aura lets him effect 37 of his clans warriors for 37 rounds, if you can cluster them tightly enough. He is perfectly willing to do so as well.

Reducing CR: So, obviously, you might want to mitigate The Black Tiger's power level at various points. Of course, the simplest way would just be to slap an adjustment , but there's no straight progression here - If you made CR 20 into CR 26, he'd be thoroughly outclassed by a Gold Great Wyrm. At CR 20, he's pretty on level with other CR twenty monsters. You can start removing things in a sensible way, though, and here's a list:

Spoiler: Removables

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1) Taking away flight won't be the worst thing after level thirteen, because he accounts for that in other ways.
2) Lower the caster level of his spell-like abilities to CR.
3) Infinite Deflection can be subbed for Exceptional Deflection and never put in, making him a pain but not an unkillable pain of wrath. Power Attack makes a good insert here.
4) Removing Epic feats altogether. I recommend Power Attack, Cleave, and Great Cleave and replacing Deflect Arrows with Improved Sunder. This will make him a larger pain to melee than to ranged. Alternatively, replacing the epic feats with Point Blank Shot, Rapid, and Manyshot.
5) Reducing SR to 15 + CR will make him difficult but not impossible to effect. Reducing SR to 10 + CR will make his SR only occasionally relevant.
6) Force racial HD to still count as animal, which will give you a smaller pool of skills to work with. I feel like this kills flavor more than it should, though.

Spoiler: Ninja: A Theme

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Akuza is an elite member of a secret clan of mystical ninja warriors nursing a dark secret, he can climb, swim, jump, lie, and fight to the death with his bare hands. He literally has the soul of a devil tiger. He possesses fierce combat prowess, mystical disciplines, and also extreme stealth skills. Here is a man ready to be the dark hand of an elderly ninja sifu, a clever assassin in service to hell, or even an instrument of divine wrath.

His own clan likely have a great deal of skill in stealth and gracefulness. Their lycanthropy is relatively public knowledge, their Rakshasas allegiance is an absolute secret. They're heritable Lawful Evil. They can be used as enemies even very early on (CR 4 Ninja 1/Weretiger 6 makes a strong criminal for low level characters to defeat.)

Spoiler: How This All Works

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Wait, explain to me how all this works!

Happily! The base chassis of this is a Human Monk (Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Improved Unarmed Strike, Able Learner)

Then you add inherited Lycanthropy (Legendary Tiger), giving +26 HD. A lycanthrope whose base animal has an HD of 21 or higher gains CR +6. Per the werebear entry, it is clear that a character receives a first level feat for their animal hit dice, as in all the feats for the base animal. However, it is also clear that you are permitted to determine your own feats in Lycanthropes as Characters section. I have interpreted this as meaning that if the two HD sources add up to a new feat level, that feat is the player's choice. The alternative proposition (that I could choose every feat) is too much, even for this build. (If you are playing against Tippy, this is recommended for you. Otherwise... Stop.) The feat I chose was Infinite Deflection, because our natural legendary were tiger's ECL is epic.

Next, I added the Half-Fiend template to our corporeal living humanoid. The Lycanthropes as characters section make clear that the animal HD are racial, so they receive the blessing of being transformed into Outsider HD for skill purposes (sadly not saves). Foes of Tippy should take note: With an LA of +7, you could start picking up Epic Feats at HD 15. In such a situation, I recommend building up your ranged and cleave capabilities. For instance: Cleave (3rd), Great Cleave (6th), Point Blank Shot, Far Shot, Infinite Deflection (15), Distant Shot (18), Exceptional Deflection (21), Reflect Arrows (24), and finally Fast Healing. Then at CR 13 Pierce Damage Reduction.) and that you could argue that RAW you should get a second set of first level skills because of how the skill change is worded as Half-Fiends gain (8 + INT bonus) x (HD x 3).

The rest is character levels, which I'm sure you understand. There are lots of great assassin spells. Use appropriately.

Isn't this all a bit cheesy?

No. This is Big Time Cheesy. Readers take note - This is a T.O. build, an optimal ninja by CR. It is not meant to be fought on level without being nerfed until at least level 16. It is super OP. At level 13, it is effectively immune to magic, with an average HP of 495, high saved, and polysavant skilled. This is a dish of cheese served on cheese crackers. The point is to exploit the rules.

[Inevitability]

Lots of animal motifs here.

The Clan of the Poisonous Arrow Frog

Spoiler: backstory

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“Hello, sir. This is a fine mill you have here. Wonderful view of the town square. I know you’re a busy man so I won’t take up more than a few moments of your valuable time. Thanks for opening the door, most people don’t.

I don’t categorize my life in terms of boyhood and manhood. There’s no great war or famine or disaster I use as a signpost to mark the passage of time. Not my betrothal to my beloved nor the birth of my first son. When I think of time, I simply categorize it in two stages:

Before and After.

It’s hard to describe why exactly I left my old life behind and joined the clan of the poisonous arrow frog. After all, it’s no secret I’d never had the stomach nor the arm for combat Before. But After, none of that really seemed to matter much anymore.

Don’t think we’re one of these cults of personality. It’s not one individual we follow, you see, but ourselves. The spirit of our community can, well—I suppose “possess” is a word some people use, but it’s not one I particularly favor—I prefer inspire; it can inspire us to do great things. Things that strike awe into the hearts of man, woman and child alike. Elves like yourself too, of course. I’ve even seen an orc display the spirit of our clan.

As a matter of fact, I think it may be about to happen now. Would you indulge me a moment, sir? It’s just right in the square. A few of my brothers are gathered there for a demonstration. Could you just turn your head? You wouldn’t even need to leave your lovely home. You’re in for a real treat. Would you look at that?”

“By the spirits of the heavens and hells, did you see how high that man just jumped?”

“Welcome to After, sir.”

Spoiler: class breakdown

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NE neraph factotum 1/incarnate 4/ factotum 3/ ninja spy 7/exemplar 5/ninja spy 8

Spoiler: abilities

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str 10
dex 16
con 14
int 16 (increases here)
wis 12
cha 8

Spoiler: table

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CR	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1	Factotum 1	+0	+0	+2	+0	bluff 4, diplo 4, disguise 4, forgery 1, hide 4, listen 4, ms 4, spot 4, tumble 3, umd 4	skill focus (jump)	Inspiration, cunning insight, cunning knowledge, trapfinding
2	Incarnate 1	+0	+2	+2	+2	tumble 2 (4), disguise 2 (5), jump 1 (4.5)		Aura, detect opposition
3	Incarnate 2	+1	+3	+2	+3	tumble 2 (5), disguise 2 (6), jump 1 (5)	weapon finesse	Chakra bind (crown)
4	Incarnate 3	+1	+3	+3	+3	tumble 2 (6), disguise 2 (7), jump 1 (5.5)		Expanded soulmeld capacity +1, incarnum radiance 1/day
5	Incarnate 4	+2	+4	+3	+4	tumble 2 (7), jump 3 (7)		Chakra binds (feet, hands)
6	Factotum 2	+3	+4	+4	+4	bluff 3 (7), hide 3 (7), umd 3	midnight dodge	Arcane dilettante (1 spell)
7	Factotum 3	+4	+5	+4	+5	bluff 3 (10), hide 3 (10), tumble 3 (10)		Brains over brawn, cunning defense
8	Ninja Spy 1	+4	+7	+6	+7	balance 5, bluff 1 (11), disguise 4 (11)		Exotic weapon, ki breath, poison use
9	Ninja Spy 2	+5	+8	+7	+8	bluff 1 (12), disguise 1 (12), hide 2 (12), ms 7 (11)	darkstalker	Slow fall (20 ft.), improved evasion, sneak attack +1d6
10	Ninja Spy 3	+6/+1	+8	+7	+8	bluff 1 (13), disguise 1 (13), hide 1 (13), ms 2 (13), tumble 3 (13), extreme leap		Exotic weapon, acrobatics (+10), leap of the clouds
11	Ninja Spy 4	+7/+2	+9	+8	+9	bluff 1 (14), diplo 4 (8), disguise 1 (14), hide 1 (14), ms 1 (14), spot 1 (5), tumble 1 (14)		Slow fall (30 ft.), hide in plain sight
12	Ninja Spy 5	+7/+2	+9	+8	+9	diplo 7 (15), spot 1 (6), nimble stand	open chakra (shoulder)	Water walk, sneak attack +2d6
13	Ninja Spy 6	+8/+3	+10	+9	+10	disguise 2 (16), assume quirk, listen 3, spot 3 (9)		Exotic weapon, slow fall (50 ft.)
14	Ninja Spy 7	+9/+4	+10	+9	+10	bluff 3 (17), disguise 1 (17), second impression, listen 4 (7)		Thousand faces, acrobatics (+20)
15	Exemplar 1	+9/+4	+10	+9	+12	umd 12 (15)	staggering strike	Skill artistry (jump), skill mastery (listen, jump, disguise, hide, bluff)
16	Exemplar 2	+10/+5	+10	+9	+13	disguise 3 (19), jump 6 (13), umd 4 (19)		Lend talent (one-half penalty), skill mastery (move silently)
17	Exemplar 3	+11/+6/+1	+11	+10	+13	disguise 1 (20), jump 7 (20), listen 4 (11), umd 1 (20)		Bonus feat (improved initiative), skill mastery (tumble)
18	Exemplar 4	+12/+7/+2	+11	+10	+14	disguise 1 (21), hide 1 (15), listen 10 (21), jump 1 (21)	maiming strike	Skill artistry (disguise), sustaining presence, skill mastery (umd)
19	Exemplar 5	+12/+7/+2	+11	+10	+14	disguise 1 (22), hide 7 (22), jump 1 (22), listen 1 (22), spot 3 (12)		Persuasive performance, skill mastery (spot)
20	Ninja Spy 8	+13/+8/+3	+12	+11	+15	disguise 1 (23), hide 1 (23), jump 1 (23), listen 1 (23), ms 7 (21)		Poison immunity, sneak attack +3d6

Spoiler: sources

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planar handbook: neraph
dungeonscape: factotum
srd: skill focus, weapon finesse
magic of incarnum: midnight dodge, open chakra (shoulder), incarnate
exemplars of evil: maiming strike
complete adventurer: exemplar, staggering strike

Spoiler: playtips

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Spoiler: lvl 5

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Bounce around the battlefield, stay mobile, and enjoy your weapon finesse. You can rely on dex and incarnate’s versatility to help you out. Soulmelds stay useful throughout your whole career, especially evil incarnate’s necrocarnum melds , but at low levels especially, throwing another body at an enemy with necrocarnum circlet’s zombies is a big deal. You’ve got a good deal of flexibility and can already do many character staples on your own such as fly so take advantage of it.

Spoiler: lvl 10

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You were a good frog and paid your taxes on time, so now you’re in the most straightforwardly ninja-themed portion of your build. Ninja spy is one of my favorite classes and offers a variety of useful, flavorful abilities along with offering you significant tankiness via a monk chassis. You gain a bunch of exotic weapons, making your weapon finesse really count by picking up stuff like the spiked chain. Now your acrobatics are up, you can get around the battlefield even easier than before, and neraph pulls its weight with a further +5 racial to jump checks. Your melds boost a variety of skills, including the ones boosted by ninja spy’s acrobatics, getting your numbers even higher.

Spoiler: lvl 15

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More ninja spy, more goodies. As long as you’ve got some shadow in 10 feet, your HiPS doesn’t lie and you can skulk around in broad daylight if you like. You have alter self at will, so make use of standard outsider options such as tiefling and aasimar for everyday adventuring forms and goodies like the abyssal maw for combat. Look however you want for as long as you want and no one will be able to tell the difference. You’re also in exemplar and can now make ninja spy’s terrifying bonuses to athletic skills work even harder for you in the coming levels. Your shoulder chakra is open, making your melds more versatile, and you can save the cerulean sandals for someone else since ninja spy has you covered in that regard too. Thanks, ninja spy.

Spoiler: lvl 20

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Stagger enemies with your sneak attacks, which due to hips and your disguise skills, magical powers, and skilltricks to stay hidden til it’s too late, you ought to be able to do plenty. Neraph also lets you deny enemies dex to AC when charging or using thrown weapons in certain circumstances, so throw that on the pile as well. Damage charisma on a charge with maiming strike and disappear into the shadows. And when you do more or less anything now (jumping, disguising, etc) you will convert pretty much anyone who sees you to your banner thanks to exemplar’s characteristic persuasive performance ability thanks to your +20 from ninja spy, +5 from neraph, skills, artistry, skill focus, synergy, melds, et al. Once you’ve got that, hop back into ninja spy for poison immunity and some more precision damage and call it a day.

[Inevitability]

Afraid of the dark?

Ickelos, That Which Snuffs Out the Lamps

Spoiler: Image

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Photo Credits
- Busan Dark Alleyway | by samuel006
-The Guy | Disturbed

Spoiler: Build

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Hivenest Dark Gruesome Lurker (Advanced to 6HD)/ Warblade 1 / Ghost-Faced Killer 3 / Avenging Executioner 5 / Ghost-Faced Killer 7

Spoiler: Intro

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"In the park a few blocks south of here, there is a Shrine to Chamul. It is an unusual design, six thick archways lead into a small canopied space, with the shrine in the center. You must visit during the day, and be sure to bring an offering, I hear a small bottle of fine whiskey is preferred. If you kneel before the shrine, pour out the drink on the stone floor, and are a bit lucky, a chill will run up your spine without any apparent source.

This is a good sign.

Now you may whisper a name into the reliquary. If you are a certain kind of person, you will her a whisper in your ear, again without any apparent source. The voice will whisper a number. If you return the next night with that many bars of silver, within 4 days the individual you named will begin acting strangely. First they will begin to seem tired and distracted during the day, then they will begin to jump at shadows, next they will begin to whisper about nightmares come to life, and finally someone will find them dead, or nearly so babbling about shadow monsters.

Do let me know if you ever try it, I've never been rich enough to find out."

Spoiler: Stats

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Stats
Racial - STR +6, DEX +2, CON --, INT +0, WIS +2, CHA +6
STR - 15 + 6 = 21
DEX - 12 + 2 = 14
CON - 8 + -- = --
INT - 14 + 0 = 14
WIS - 10 + 2 = 12
CHA - 13 + 6 = 19

Second increase at Level 8 goes to CHA, all others to STR.

Spoiler: Build

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CR	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1	Racial HD 1	+0	+0	+0	+0	Hide +4, Move Silently +4, Bluff +4, Listen +2, Intimidate +1 (Cross Class)	Improved Initiative	Fear Eater, Shadow Jump, Distort Body, Construct Traits, +8 racial bonus on Bluff and Hide checks, DR 5/Magic, Dark Vision 60ft.
2	Racial HD 2	+1	+0	+0	+0	Hide +5, Move Silently +5, Bluff +4, Listen +2, Intimidate +2 (Cross Class)
3	Racial HD 3	+2	+1	+1	+1	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Bluff +4, Listen +2, Intimidate +3 (Cross Class)	Darkstalker	Psi-Like Abilities (ML = Racial HD): At will -- control light, create sound, primal fear (DC 15(Cha); 3 creatures)
3	Racial HD 4	+3	+1	+1	+1	Hide +7, Move Silently +7, Bluff +4, Listen +2, Intimidate +3 (Cross Class), Concentration +1 (Cross Class)		Strength +1
3	Racial HD 5	+3	+1	+1	+1	Hide +8, Move Silently +8, Bluff +4, Listen +2, Intimidate +4 (Cross Class), Concentration +1 (Cross Class)
3	Racial HD 6	+4	+2	+2	+2	Hide +9, Move Silently +9, Bluff +4, Listen +2, Intimidate +4 (Cross Class), Concentration +2 (Cross Class)	Power Attack
4	Dark Template	+4	+2	+2	+2	N/A		+10ft Movement, Hide in Plain Sight, Resist Cold 10, Superior Low Light Vision, +8 Hide, +6 Move Silently
5	Warblade 1	+5	+4	+2	+2	Hide +9, Move Silently +9, Bluff +4, Listen +2, Intimidate +8, Concentration +4		Maneuvers Known 3, Maneuvers per day 3, Stances known 1, Battle Clarity (reflex saves), Weapon Aptitude
6	Ghost-Faced Killer 1	+6	+6	+2	+2	Hide +11, Move Silently +11, Bluff +3, Listen +1, Intimidate +8, Concentration +6		Charisma +1, Ghost Step 1/day
7	Ghost-Faced Killer 2	+7	+7	+2	+2	Hide +12, Move Silently +12, Bluff +3, Listen +1, Intimidate +9, Concentration +9	Frightful Presence	Sudden Strike +1d6
8	Ghost-Faced Killer 3	+8	+7	+3	+3	Hide +13, Move Silently +13, Bluff +3, Listen +1, Intimidate +8, Concentration +13		Frightful Attack 1/day
9	Avenging Executioner 1	+8	+7	+5	+5	Hide +14, Move Silently +14, Bluff +3, Listen +1, Intimidate +8, Concentration +14, Jump +3		Bloody Blade, Sudden Strike +2d6
10	Avenging Executioner 2	+9	+7	+6	+6	Hide +15, Move Silently +15, Bluff +3, Listen +1, Intimidate +8, Concentration +15, Jump +8	Leap Attack	Strength +1, Rapid Intimidation
11	Avenging Executioner 3	+10	+8	+6	+6	Hide +16, Move Silently +16, Bluff +3, Listen +1, Intimidate +14, Concentration +16, Jump +8		Sudden Strike +3d6
12	Avenging Executioner 4	+11	+8	+7	+7	Hide +17, Move Silently +17, Bluff +3, Listen +1, Intimidate +17, Concentration +17, Jump +8, Spot +1		Dread Blade
12	Hivenest Creature(Bloodfiend Locusts)	+11	+8	+7	+7	Hide +17, Move Silently +17, Bluff +3, Listen +1, Intimidate +17, Concentration +17, Jump +8, Spot +1		Hivenest Attack - 3d6 damage and 1 negative Level, Distraction - DC 19, Hive Death
13	Avenging Executioner 5	+11	+8	+7	+7	Hide +18, Move Silently +18, Bluff +3, Listen +1, Intimidate +18, Concentration +18, Jump +8, Spot +3	Improved Bull Rush	Bloody Murder, Sudden Strike +4d6
14	Ghost-Faced Killer 4	+12	+9	+7	+7	Hide +19, Move Silently +19, Bluff +3, Listen +1, Intimidate +19, Concentration +19, Jump +8, Spot +5		Strength +1, Ghost Step 2/day
15[t/td] [td]Ghost Faced Killer 5	+13	+9	+7	+7	Hide +20, Move Silently +20, Bluff +4, Listen +1, Intimidate +20, Concentration +20, Jump +8, Spot +6		Sudden Strike +5d6
16	Ghost-Faced Killer 6	+14	+10	+7	+7	Hide +21, Move Silently +21, Bluff +4, Listen +1, Intimidate +21, Concentration +21, Jump +8, Spot +8	Shock Trooper	Frightful Attack 2/day, Ghost Step(ethereal)
17	Ghost Faced Killer 7	+15	+10	+7	+7	Hide +22, Move Silently +22, Bluff +4, Listen +1, Intimidate +22, Concentration +22, Jump +8, Spot +10		Ghost Sight, Ghost Step 3/day
18	Ghost-Faced Killer 8	+16	+11	+7	+7	Hide +23, Move Silently +23, Bluff +4, Listen +1, Intimidate +23, Concentration +23, Jump +8, Spot +12		Strength +1, Sudden Strike +6d6
19	Ghost-Faced Killer 9	+17	+11	+8	+8	Hide +24, Move Silently +24, Bluff +4, Listen +1, Intimidate +24, Concentration +24, Jump +8, Spot +14	Martial stance - Assassin's Stance	Frightful Attack 3/day
20	Ghost-Faced Killer 10	+18	+12	+8	+8	Hide +25, Move Silently +25, Bluff +4, Listen +1, Intimidate +25, Concentration +25, Jump +8, Spot +16		Frightful Cleave, Ghost Step 4/day

Spoiler: Maneuver's Known

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Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Steel Wind, Steely Strike
Stances Known -
Punishing Stance

Spoiler: CR 4 - Scared of the Dark

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At this level Ickelos has recently relocated to the city, there are starting to be rumors of strange shadowy beasts roaming the city at night, and people are bolting their doors and shutting their businesses after nightfall. Perhaps the PCs arrive in town after dark and are trying to get some service.

Its tactics are pretty simple, hide, use primal fear to make the PCs shaken and ambush them, grabbing one to use its fear eater ability. Make good use of at will create sound, especially to try and separate the PCs. At this level Ickleos's bluff check is pretty high, so you should be able to impersonate things. If things go poorly it can potentially hide and/or retreat using shadow jump.

Spoiler: CR 8 - Scared to Death

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Now it has established it's presence and MO solidly, and it is open for business. This is when the PCs would encounter the introductory paragraph if they were looking, alternately someone could take out a contract on one of the PCs.

Not Ickelos has it's Frightful Attack ability, which it will lead off the encounter with, using power attack on someone with low armor class to gain as high a DC on the secondary effect as possible. As it is higher HD than the PCs, whoever is targeted can get frightened to death. From there he will grab and attempt to feast on other members of the party, potentially also re-hiding or using sapphire nightmare blade to gain sudden strike damage. Don't forget about frightful presence and primal fear (which is a swift action), as other fear effects that the PCs must save against. Especially with this rule from the DMG...

Fear effects are cumulative. A shaken character who is made shaken again becomes frightened, and a shaken character who is made frightened becomes panicked instead. A frightened character who is made shaken or frightened becomes panicked instead.

Spoiler: CR 13 - The Tyrant's Enforcer - Sweet Spot

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Sometime aorund this level, the ruler of the city finds out about Ickelos, and reasonably decides a fear monster would be great to have on his payroll, so he uses Ickelos as an enforcer.
Alternatively, you could have someone new conquer the city, either in the face of PC resistance, or while they were out adventuring. Either way, this new ruler also decides Ickelos would be a good addition to his team.

Now Ickelos has Dreadblade, which gives him sudden strike damage against shaken+ enemies, which is great. Bloody blade is another fear effect that triggers when he gets sudden strike damage, and another save that the PCs have to make, he can also intimidate as a move action, if he's got one to spare, and when you kill anyone, enemies must save yet again or be frightened from the bloody murder ability. You also have leap attack to increase the damage of your attacks and increase the DC of your frightening strike even more. He is also now a hivenest monster, home to a swarm of bloodfiend locusts. This makes does 3d6 extra damage and a negative level to anyone he has hit with an attack at the end of his turn, so try to spread your attacks out each round, large size will make this easier. Hit and run attacks are his forte, using shadow jump and ghost step, harrying the PCs while they have negative levels, though sustained combat gives him a change to stack up multiple fear effects, and focus on anyone not running away. Try to also remain in the thick of things, affecting as many people as possible with the distraction ability from your swarm, especially spellcasters.

Spoiler: CR 20 - Why not me?

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At this point, he has decided that he would do a better job of running the city than the tyrant, his current employer, and gets rid of him. He can use create sound to make it seem as though the tyrant is still in charge or rule openly as you prefer.

His tricks haven't changed much since CR 13, mostly they've just all gotten better. He now has +8d6 sudden strike damage, Frightful attack 3/day and shocktrooper to make his power attacks more potent. He now has ghost step 4/day as well including the ability to become ethereal. Frightful cleave means that killing someone with frightful strike, either someone who failed their save or died from damage, allows him to make a free frightful strike on someone he can reach.

Spoiler: Hivenest Creature

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As a hivenest creature, Ickelos plays home to a swarm of Bloodfiend Locusts which has the following effects:
Hivenest Attack - Any creature hit by an attack also takes 3d6 damage plus one negative level.
Distraction - Any creature beginning its turn next to Ickelos must make a DC 19 Fort save or be nauseated for one round and casting a spell requires a DC 20 + spell level Concentration check.
Hive Death - If Ickelos is slain, you must now fight the Swarm.
Hivenest creatures are CR'd as though you encountered both the construct and the swarm, which has the odd effect of bumping up the CR only for the levels when the CRs are similar. As Ickelos gains class levels however the swarm becomes less relevant. As an option, you can advance the swarm's HD to keep up, increasing the DCs of it's saves.
This requires DM fiat as this swarm does not advance regularly.

Spoiler: Optional Changes

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If you prefer, you could use Hoard scarabs as the swarm, which would use the following rules.
Hivenest Attack - Any creature hit by an attack also takes 2d6 damage plus make a DC 14 reflex save or the scarabs will burrow beneath their flesh, dealing 2d4 points of CON damage per turn.
Distraction - Any creature beginning its turn next to Ickelos must make a DC 14 Fort save or be nauseated for one round and casting a spell requires a DC 20 + spell level Concentration check.
Hive Death - If Ickelos is slain, you must now fight the Swarm.
Other - Ickelos gains the tremorsense(20ft) of the hoard scarabs. Ickelos gains racial +4 to Listen checks

Spoiler: Sources

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Frightful Presence - Draconomicon
Gruesome Lurker - Mind's Eye (online http://archive.wizards.com/default.a...070711a&page=2 )
Dark Template - Tome of Magic
Hivenest Template - Dungeonscape
Warblade, Maneuvers, Stances, Martial Stance - Tome of Battle
Ghost-Faced Killer, Leap Attack - Complete Adventurer
Avenging Executioner - Complete Scoundrel
Darkstalker - Lords of Madness
Shock Trooper - Complete Warrior
Locust Swarm, Bloodfiend - Fiend Folio
Others - SRD

[Inevitability]

For when you want your players to be terrified of empty rooms for the rest of their lives.

Soratōkā


"As I was going up the stair
I met a man who wasn't there!
He wasn't there again today,
Oh how I wish he'd go away!

When I came home last night at three,
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall,
I couldn't see him there at all!"

The ritual and the hunt - that was everything. Sometimes the pathetic mortals knew the significance of the four items he left for them, sometimes they did not. It didn't matter, in either case their doom was sealed. The ones who fled in terror - those he toyed with. Made them know pain and fear before ending them. To those who fought back, he would offer a quick and honorable dispatch. And so it was for many years.

Until that day. The hunt began as normal - the prey had picked up the four totems, and Soratōkā was closing in for the kill, when it happened. The holy man looked at him. Right at him. That alone was disconcerting enough, but then came the attack. The wretched mortal unleashed spells at him, spells that hurt and wounded. That day, for the first time, Soratōkā felt fear. The same fear he so relished in his prey. He had to flee the hunt, something that deeply hurt his pride.

He would never let that happen to him again. He honed his skills, his stealth, and his ability to strike the mortals where it would inflict the most damage and pain. He took up the ritual again, slowly rebuilding his confidence as he killed each victim. Some of these mortals, one in particular, impressed him with their own skills of stealth. This mortal managed to escape Soratōkā, so he tracked him down, and found that he was part of a mysterious order. He studied this order from the shadows, until one day, he revealed himself to their leader. A dozen masked men drew their weapons, but the leader held up his hand to stay their attacks. Soratōkā spoke to the mortal, the first time he had deigned to do so without taunting or cruelty, and asked to join their order. The leader considered for a moment, and then, with a sly grin, accepted Soratōkā into their secret society.

From that point, he carried out missions and slew targets as directed by the order. He took satisfaction in his work, knowing he was far more capable than the mortals who also practiced his craft. He could slip unseen into the most heavily defended stronghold, slay any target, and then out again with ease. After doing this for a long time, Soratōkā grew restless. He felt that his talents far surpassed all of his peers, even his leader. That evening, the mortal saw the four objects laid out in his quarters, and knew what it meant. He put up a good struggle, but was no match for Soratōkā. Bound by ancient oaths, the rest of the order turned on him in vengeance for their leader. Soratōkā slew a score or more before leaving, and wandered the land in search of a worthy challenge.

In his wanderings, his interest was piqued by another group of mortals that were professional killers. These men did so for coin, and wielded both spells and weapons in their craft. Soratōkā took a different approach with them: without preamble he sought out their leader and killed him quickly and messily. The rest of this group were too scared to fight back, and not being bound by honor like the others, readily accepted Soratōkā as their master...

-~~~~~-

LE Male Void Walker Outsider 6/Rogue 3/Ninja Spy 8/Assassin 3/Swordsage 1

HD: 7d8+14d6+105

Spoiler: Build Tables

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Abilities Scores:

Level	Final	Array	Racial	8th	12th	16th	20th
Str	20	12	+8	-	-	-	-
Dex	30	15	+12	-	+1	+1	+1
Con	20	13	+6	+1	-	-	-
Int	20	14	+6	-	-	-	-
Wis	16	10	+6	-	-	-	-
Cha	16	8	+8	-	-	-	-

Build Table 1:

CR	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Skill Points	Feats	Class Features
5	Outsider 1	+1	+2	+2	+2	52	Exotic Weapon Proficiency (katana)B, Weapon Finesse	Darkvision 60 ft., immunity to energy drain, outsider traits, spell-like abilities, void subtype
5	Outsider 2	+2	+3	+3	+3	13	-	-
5	Outsider 3	+3	+3	+3	+3	13	Two Weapon Fighting	-
5	Outsider 4	+4	+4	+4	+4	13	-	-
5	Outsider 5	+5	+4	+4	+4	13	-	-
5	Outsider 6	+6	+5	+5	+5	13	Expeditious Dodge	-
6	Rogue 1	+6	+5	+7	+5	13	-	Sneak attack +1d6, trapfinding
7	Rogue 2	+7	+5	+8	+5	13	-	Evasion
8	Rogue 3	+8	+6	+8	+6	13	Craven	Sneak attack +2d6, trap sense +1
9	Ninja Spy 1	+8	+8	+10	+8	11	Exotic Weapon Proficiency (kusari-gama)B	Exotic weapon, ki breath, poison use
10	Ninja Spy 2	+9	+9	+11	+9	11	-	Slow fall (20 ft.), improved evasion, sneak attack +3d6
11	Ninja Spy 3	+10	+9	+11	+9	11	Exotic Weapon Proficiency (fukimi-bari)B, Improved Two Weapon Fighting	Exotic weapon, acrobatics (+10), leap of the clouds
12	Ninja Spy 4	+11	+10	+12	+10	11	-	Slow fall (30 ft.), hide in plain sight
14	Ninja Spy 5	+11	+10	+12	+10	11	-	Water walk, sneak attack +4d6
15	Ninja Spy 6	+12	+11	+13	+11	11	Darkstalker, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (spiked chain)B	Exotic weapon, slow fall (50 ft.)
16	Ninja Spy 7	+13	+11	+13	+11	11	-	Thousand faces, acrobatics +20
17	Ninja Spy 8	+14	+12	+14	+12	11	-	Poison immunity, sneak attack +5d6
18	Assassin 1	+14	+12	+16	+12	9	Combat Reflexes	Sneak attack +6d6, death attack, poison use, spells
19	Assassin 2	+15	+12	+17	+12	9	-	+1 save against poison, uncanny dodge
19	Assassin 3	+16	+13	+17	+13	9	-	Sneak attack +7d6
20	Swordsage 1	+16	+13	+19	+15	11	Epic Skill Focus (hide)	Quick to act +1, discipline focus (shadow hand) (weapon focus)

Build Table 2:

CR	Class	Skill Ranks	Skill Tricks	Initiator Level	Maneuvers	Stances	Spells Known	Spells/day 1st	Spells/day 2nd
5	Outsider 1	Balance 4, Climb 2, Concentration 2, Disguise 2, Escape Artist 2, Hide 4, Jump 4, Listen 4, Move Silently 4, Sleight of Hand 2, Spot 4, Tumble 4, UMD 2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	Outsider 2	Balance 5, Bluff 2, Climb 2, Concentration 2, Disguise 2.5, Escape Artist 2.5, Hide 5, Jump 5, Listen 5, Move Silently 5, Sleight of Hand 2, Spot 5, Tumble 5, UMD 2	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
5	Outsider 3	Balance 6, Bluff 2, Climb 2, Concentration 3, Disguise 2.5, Escape Artist 2.5, Hide 6, Jump 6, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Sleight of Hand 2, Spot 6, Tumble 6, UMD 3	Nimble Charge	1	-	-	-	-	-
5	Outsider 4	Balance 7, Bluff 3, Climb 2, Concentration 3, Disguise 3, Escape Artist 3, Hide 7, Jump 7, Listen 7, Move Silently 7, Sleight of Hand 3, Spot 7, Tumble 7, UMD 3	-	2	-	-	-	-	-
5	Outsider 5	Balance 8, Bluff 3, Climb 3, Concentration 4, Disguise 3, Escape Artist 3, Hide 8, Jump 8, Listen 8, Move Silently 8, Sleight of Hand 3, Spot 8, Tumble 8, UMD 4	-	2	-	-	-	-	-
5	Outsider 6	Balance 9, Bluff 3, Climb 4, Concentration 4, Disguise 3, Escape Artist 4, Hide 9, Jump 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 9, Tumble 9, UMD 4	-	3	-	-	-	-	-
6	Rogue 1	Balance 9, Bluff 3, Climb 4, Concentration 4, Disguise 3, Escape Artist 8, Hide 10, Jump 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 10, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 9, Tumble 10, UMD 8	Escape Attack	3	-	-	-	-	-
7	Rogue 2	Balance 9, Bluff 7, Climb 4, Concentration 4, Disguise 6, Escape Artist 8, Hide 11, Jump 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 11, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 9, Tumble 11, UMD 11	-	4	-	-	-	-	-
8	Rogue 3	Balance 9, Bluff 10, Climb 4, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 12, Jump 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 12, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 12, Tumble 12, UMD 12	Acrobatic Backstab	4	-	-	-	-	-
9	Ninja Spy 1	Balance 11, Bluff 10, Climb 6, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 13, Jump 10, Listen 9, Move Silently 12, Sleight of Hand 7, Spot 12, Tumble 13, UMD 12	Spot the Weak Point	5	-	-	-	-	-
10	Ninja Spy 2	Balance 12, Bluff 10, Climb 6, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 14, Jump 12, Listen 9, Move Silently 14, Sleight of Hand 12, Spot 12, Tumble 14, UMD 12	Mosquito's Bite	5	-	-	-	-	-
11	Ninja Spy 3	Balance 13, Bluff 10, Climb 8, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 15, Jump 14, Listen 12, Move Silently 15, Sleight of Hand 12, Spot 12, Tumble 15, UMD 12	Back On Your Feet	6	-	-	-	-	-
12	Ninja Spy 4	Balance 14, Bluff 10, Climb 12, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 16, Jump 14, Listen 15, Move Silently 16, Sleight of Hand 12, Spot 12, Tumble 16, UMD 12	Walk the Walls	6	-	-	-	-	-
13	Ninja Spy 5	Balance 17, Bluff 10, Climb 13, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 17, Jump 17, Listen 15, Move Silently 17, Sleight of Hand 12, Spot 13, Tumble 17, UMD 12	-	7	-	-	-	-	-
14	Ninja Spy 6	Balance 18, Bluff 10, Climb 14, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 18, Jump 18, Listen 17, Move Silently 18, Sleight of Hand 12, Spot 16, Tumble 18, UMD 12	-	7	-	-	-	-	-
15	Ninja Spy 7	Balance 19, Bluff 10, Climb 15, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 19, Jump 19, Listen 19, Move Silently 19, Sleight of Hand 12, Spot 19, Tumble 19, UMD 12	-	8	-	-	-	-	-
16	Ninja Spy 8	Balance 20, Bluff 10, Climb 20, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 20, Jump 20, Listen 20, Move Silently 20, Sleight of Hand 12, Spot 19, Tumble 20, UMD 12	-	8	-	-	-	-	-
17	Assassin 1	Balance 21, Bluff 10, Climb 21, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 21, Jump 21, Listen 20, Move Silently 21, Sleight of Hand 12, Spot 19, Tumble 21, UMD 15	-	9	-	-	Critical Strike, Sniper's Shot	2	-
18	Assassin 2	Balance 22, Bluff 10, Climb 22, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 22, Jump 22, Listen 20, Move Silently 22, Sleight of Hand 12, Spot 20, Tumble 22, UMD 17	-	9	-	-	Shock and Awe	3	-
19	Assassin 3	Balance 23, Bluff 10, Climb 23, Concentration 4, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 23, Jump 23, Listen 21, Move Silently 23, Sleight of Hand 12, Spot 21, Tumble 23, UMD 18	-	10	-	-	Blade of Pain and Fear	4	1
20	Swordsage 1	Balance 24, Bluff 10, Climb 24, Concentration 9, Disguise 7, Escape Artist 8, Hide 24, Jump 24, Listen 21, Move Silently 24, Sleight of Hand 12, Spot 21, Tumble 24, UMD 18	-	11	Dancing Mongoose, Distracting Ember, Death From Above, Pouncing Charge, Rabid Wolf Strike, Shadow Noose	Assassin's Stance	-	4	1

Spoiler: Write-up

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Highlights, Tips & Tactics:

CR 1-5
Here, Soratōkā is a relatively standard Void Walker. At will Teleport Without Error makes him very hard to escape from, or to trap. Due to the Void subtype, he is basically imperceptible without True Seeing (which is unlikely to be in play at this level) until he attacks, and can resume the ability as a free action. Nimble Charge adds some attack versatility depending on terrain. The Pain SLA is a fairly effective debuff. He employs hit and run tactics, making him a very effective assailant.

Spoiler: Void Subtype

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Void Subtype: Void creatures are made of the same empty space that comprises the Void. Normal creatures (that is, creatures without the void subtype) cannot see them unless the void creature makes its presence known, either by an act of will (a free action) or by attacking. A void creature has total concealment (50% miss chance) unless it reveals itself. See invisibility and invisibility purge don't reveal void creatures, but true seeing does. Blindsight and blindsense don't reveal void creatures. Members of the void disciple class can see void creatures. Once it reveals itself, a void creature remains visible until it uses a free action to conceal itself again.

CR 6-10
This is where he can first truly be considered a Ninja. Sneak Attack with Craven really boosts damage output. Improved Evasion with an impressive Reflex save make him almost immune to most AoE attacks. He can dual-wield kusari gama (with reach), and take advantage of his massive Dex bonus with Weapon Finesse. He will likely be employing poisons in his attacks. If he is grappled, Escape Attack allows him a free Sneak Attack if he breaks free, and he can safely get up from prone with Back on Your Feet. Acrobatic Backstab opens up more options for a Sneak Attack, and Mosquito’s Bite adds to misdirection and stealth (it also fits in with his theme of toying with prey). Spot the Weak Point is handy for opponents with high AC.

CR 11-15
Soratōkā’s damage potential is getting quite high, with Improved Two Weapon Fighting, increased Sneak Attack dice (augmented by Craven). More importantly, he now has Hide In Plain Sight and Darkstalker: this means even under True Seeing, he is still extremely hard to detect. Acrobatics pumps up his Balance, Climb, Jump and Tumble checks to massive levels, and he can always chose to take 10. Walk the Walls (and Climb in general) isn’t strictly necessary with Teleport Without Error, but fits the Ninja ideal very well. The sweet spot of CR 12 falls in here (see below).

CR 16-20
Thousand Faces adds versatility, allowing him to assume the form of small to large Outsiders of 5HD or less at will, meaning he can easily grab flying forms (e.g. Air Mephit), forms with high natural AC (e.g. Dwarf Ancestor) or those with bonus feats or natural attacks. There is some redundancy with Assassin abilities, but it further boosts Sneak Attack. Death Attack comes online fairly late, but adds a nice rider effect to his initial attack, and everyone rolls a 1 on a save sooner or later. The Assassin spells are, again, coming into play quite late, but add some nice little boosts, especially Sniper’s Shot (with a longbow Soratōkā can be a very effective sniper). Opponents will likely have very high Initiative modifiers at this level, so Shock and Awe can also be useful for getting the drop on them.
In terms of being a Ninja, Soratōkā ticks virtually all of the boxes: unrivaled stealth, (dis)appearing in the blink of an eye, running across water, amazing standing jumps, running up walls, striking to deadly effect from the shadows, and some truly impressive skill checks in the traditional Ninja skills (before equipment modifiers: Balance +56, Climb +49, Hide +44, Jump +51, and Tumble +56); he can hit some of the epic uses of these skills, especially if he UMDs a Wand of Guidance of the Avatar. Maneuvers add versatility and attack options. Shadow Noose can be used to deliver a ranged touch attack, that comes with a save vs. stun, Sneak Attack damage, and can carry a Death Attack. Distracting Ember provides a flanking opportunity, while Death From Above gives bonus damage and allows a flat-footed attack (i.e. Sneak Attack). Dancing Mongoose gives extra attacks, and Pouncing Charge allows a full attack on a charge (combines well with Nimble Charge). Assassin’s Stance pushes Soratōkā’s final Sneak Attack tally to 9d6+21 on each hit, and while he is dual wielding that will be at six attacks per round (eight with Dancing Mongoose).

Spoiler: CR 12

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Medium Outsider (Evil, Extraplanar, Void)
Hit Dice: 6d8+7d6+65 (117hp)
Initiative: +9
Speed: 30 ft.
Armor Class: 20 (+10 Dex), touch 20, flat-footed 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +11/+16
Attack: melee +20 kusari-gama 1d6+5; or ranged +20 longbow 1d8
Full Attack: melee +18/+13/+8 kusari-gama 1d6+5, +18/+15 kusari-gama 1d6+2; or ranged +20/+15/+10 longbow 1d8
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft. (10 ft. with kusari-gama)
Special Attacks: Poison use, spell-like abilities, sneak attack (+3d6+13)
Special Qualities: Acrobatics, darkvision 60 ft., evasion, hide in plain sight, immunity to energy drain, improved evasion, ki breath, leap of the clouds, outsider traits, slow fall 30 ft., trap sense, trapfinding, void subtype
Saves: Fort +15, Ref +21, Will +13 (+11 vs. fear effects)
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 28, Con 20, Int 20, Wis 16, Cha 16
Skills: Balance +36, Bluff +13, Climb +27, Concentration +9, Disguise +10 (+12 when acting in character), Escape Artist +17, Hide +26, Jump +31, Listen +18, Move Silently +26, Sleight of Hand +23, Spot +15, Tumble +37, UMD +15
Skill Tricks: Acrobatic Backstab, Back On Your Feet, Escape Attack, Mosquito's Bite, Nimble Charge, Spot The Weak Point, Walk The Walls
Feats: Craven, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (fukimi-bari)^B, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (katana)^B, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (kusari-gama)^B, Expeditious Dodge, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Two Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 12
Treasure: Standard (9,800gp)
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Advancement: By character Class
Level Adjustment: +6

Options:
Swap out Combat Reflexes and Epic Skill Focus for Greater Two Weapon Fighting and Perfect Two-Weapon Fighting: at CR 20, Soratōkā is making eight attacks per round (ten with Dancing Mongoose).
Since Soratōkā is usually a lone wolf, Trap Sense was not swapped for Penetrating Strike, but if the DM wants to use him in a group encounter, it's a solid option. At CR 20, this can be used in combo with Distracting Ember.
In the description of Void Walkers it says “They generally have several levels in a character class, favoring those with spellcasting ability.” Another build would be Outsider 6/Spellthief 1/Sorcerer 2/Unseen Seer 4/Arcane Trickster 8. Most of the feat choices would be the same, but swapping out some for Penumbra Bloodline, Practiced Spellcaster and Master Spellthief (with the option for Martial Study and Martial Stance to get Assassin's Stance). This gives 14th level Sorcerer casting and a still impressive ability to Sneak Attack.
There was consideration of a Ninja of the Crescent Moon build – it was fairly feat intensive, but the Fast Sneak and Always Sneaky abilities are very desirable. However, the errata changed the class to medium BAB and only one good save, so in the end, Ninja Spy was chosen instead.

Recommended Gear:
Bracers of Armor and other non-armor AC boosters (or possibly Gnome Twist Cloth, so as not to impede Dex bonus), ability boosters (all ability scores matter to Soratōkā, so a Belt of Magnificence would work), Wand Chambers in weapons, Wands (once UMD is high enough) of Golem Strike, Grave Strike & Vine Strike, Wands of ranged attack effects, a variety of poisons, items to grant SR, Ring of Free Movement. A way to get Mind Blank may seem useful, but could void the Craven feat.

Use in Campaign:
Soratōkā would make a good recurring antagonist, either by selecting one of the party as the target of his ritual, or as an assassin to thwart from slaying an important NPC.
A word of caution: he can be very hard to detect, even once True Seeing is available to the party. A DM may consider toning down his stealth abilities if the party doesn't have the means to deal with them (especially so if the party isn't strong in casting - he has the means to thwart most mundane methods).
Soratōkā may eventually become a guild master of the ninjas or assassins, which could open up additional opportunities for interaction with the party.
Perhaps the vengeful Ninja clan may seek the party's assistance in eradicating the menace of Soratōkā once and for all.

Sources:
Champions of Ruin: Craven
Complete Scoundrel: Acrobatic Backstab, Back On Your Feet, Escape Attack, Mosquito's Bite, Spot The Weak Point, Walk The Walls
Epic Level Handbook: Epic Skill Focus
Lords of Madness: Darkstalker
Online: Void Walker
Oriental Adventures: Ninja Spy, fukimi-bari, katana, kusari-gama (katana and kusari-gama can also be found in the DMG)
Races of the Wild: Expeditious Dodge
Spell Compendium: Blade of Pain and Fear, Critical Strike, Nimble Charge, Shock and Awe, Sniper's Shot
Tome of Battle: Maneuvers, stances, Swordsage
William Hughes Mearns: Antigonish (poem)

[Inevitability]

Watch out! That chair's a ninja!

Mizu-no-yoki
LE Dark Nimblewright Monk 2/Ninja of the Crescent Moon 10

Spoiler: Ability Scores

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Attribute	Base	Racial	Level	Total
Strength	13	8	-	21
Dexterity	15	14	3	32
Constitution	8	-	-	-
Intelligence	14	0	-	14
Wisdom	12	6	-	18
Charisma	10	8	-	18

Spoiler: Build Table

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CR	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills | Skill Tricks	Feats	Class Features
8	Dark Nimblewright	+7	+3	+3	+3	Balance 2 (1), Jump 13 (13), Hide 12 (6), Move Silently 12 (6), Tumble 13 (13)	Combat ExpertiseB, Combat ReflexesB, Darkstalker, Improved Trip, Quick Draw, Weapon Finesse	Augmented Critical, Hide In Plain Sight, Spell-like Abilities (Alter Self, Cat's Grace, Entropic Shield, Feather Fall, Haste at will, CL = HD), SR 27, Tripping Thrust
9	Monk 1	+7	+5	+5	+5	Jump 1 (14), Hide 2 (8), Move Silently 2 (8), Tumble 1 (14)	Improved Unarmed StrikeB, Stunning FistB	AC Bonus, Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Strike
10	Monk 2	+8	+6	+6	+6	Jump 1 (15), Hide 2 (10), Move Silently 2 (10), Tumble 1 (2)	Deflect ArrowsB, Improved Critical (Rapier-hands)	Evasion
11	Ninja of the Crescent Moon 1	+9	+8	+8	+8	Jump 1 (16), Hide 2 (12), Move Silently 2 (12), Tumble 1 (16)	-	Sneak Attack +1d6
12	Ninja of the Crescent Moon 2	+10	+9	+9	+9	Jump 1 (17), Hide 2 (14), Move Silently 2 (14), Tumble 1 (17)	-	Improved Evasion, Kuji-kiri
13	Ninja of the Crescent Moon 3	+11	+9	+9	+9	Jump 1 (18), Hide 2 (16), Move Silently 2 (16), Tumble 1 (18)	Telling Blow	Poison Use, Sneak Attack +2d6
14	Ninja of the Crescent Moon 4	+12	+10	+10	+10	Jump 1 (19), Hide 2 (18), Move Silently 2 (18), Tumble 1 (19)	-	AC Bonus +1, Fast Climb, Silencing Attack
15	Ninja of the Crescent Moon 5	+13	+10	+10	+10	Jump 1 (20), Hide 2 (20), Move Silently 2 (20), Tumble 1 (20)	-	Fast Sneak, Sneak Attack +3d6
16	Ninja of the Crescent Moon 6	+14	+11	+11	+11	Balance 2 (3), Jump 1 (21), Hide 1 (21), Move Silently 1 (21), Tumble 1 (21)	Martial Study (Shadow Stride)	Invisibility, Opportunist
17	Ninja of the Crescent Moon 7	+15	+11	+11	+11	Balance 2 (5), Jump 1 (22), Hide 1 (22), Move Silently 1 (22), Tumble 1 (22)	-	Gaseous Form, Sneak Attack +4d6
18	Ninja of the Crescent Moon 8	+16	+12	+12	+12	Jump 1 (23), Hide 1 (23), Move Silently 1 (23), Tumble 1 (23) Extreme Leap	-	Improved Kuji-kiri
19	Ninja of the Crescent Moon 9	+17*	+12	+12	+12	Jump 1 (24), Hide 1 (24), Move Silently 1 (24), Tumble 1 (24) Back On Your Feet	Martial Stance (Assassin's Stance)	AC Bonus +2, Blindsight 60 ft., Sneak Attack +5d6
20	Ninja of the Crescent Moon 10	+17*	+13*	+13*	+13*	Jump 1 (25), Hide 1 (25), Move Silently 1 (25), Tumble 1 (25) Acrobatic Backstab	-	Always Sneaky, Ethereal Jaunt

*At this point Mizu-no-yoki is over level 20, so these are effective values, including the Epic Attack Bonus and Epic Save Bonus

Spoiler: Level Showcases

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Before I go too in depth on the specifics of the showcases, you'll note that I have two separate but equal showcase levels here, and am missing the potential CR 10 showcase. While Mizu-no-yoki is perfectly competent at CR 10, the ninja theme doesn't come in to play until later, quite literally with the fact that it only enters Ninja of the Crescent Moon at 11th level. While you can most certainly run Mizu-no-yoki as a villain at CR 10, it will not have the powers or abilities required of it to fully represent the ninja archetype it is built to exemplify.

The reason I have two separate but equal showcases is that these breakpoints perfectly work out to divide the 'not obviously magical' from the 'blatantly magical'. At exactly CR 16, Mizu-no-yoki begins gaining a number of supernatural abilities that, while all tying into the ninja theme very well, might not exactly fit for every campaign. Thus, a showcase at CR 15 is provided so that there is a less magical option. Though the SLAs are unavoidable, they can very easily be fluffed as part of Mizu-no-yoki's creation/natural abilities.

Spoiler: Showcase 1: CR 15

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I'll start this off by going over the basic capabilities of Mizu-no-yoki, to provide a baseline for its effectiveness as a ninja. It has every golden standard for stealth, including Hide in Plain Sight, Darkstalker, and incredibly high Hide and Move Silently checks. Monk levels provide the necessary feats and abilities to qualify for Ninja of the Crescent Moon, and the Dark Template gives aforementioned Hide in Plain Sight, an increase in speed, and some other minor benefits. But this is all fairly standard stuff. Next I'll go into what makes Mizu-no-yoki truly unique.

First of all, the base creature choice of Nimblewright provides a number of unique benefits. Its spell-like abilities include Alter Self, Cat's Grace, and Haste at will, as well as some other less important spells. Continuous Cat's Grace and Haste drastically increase Mizu-no-yoki's combat capability, as well as numerous other benefits including boosting it's move speed to a staggering 80' without equipment. Alter Self loses some of its disguising utility that it possessed in 3.0, but in exchange gives a much better disguise: that of any object sizes Small through Large, via Animated Objects. This also provides Mizu-no-yoki with fly and climb speeds, should it be necessary. And yes, I thoroughly checked, it was not changed from Alter Self to Disguise Self with the 3.5 update, and neither is there a global rule to change instances of Alter Self to Disguise Self anywhere in the update document. The Nimblewright has a very unique natural weapon known as its Rapier-hands. These are 2d6 natural weapons with a 15-20 crit range (12-20 with the unupdated MM2), and with that massive threat range (which can be further boosted by Improved Critical to 8-20), can trigger the Nimblewright's Tripping Thrust ability with ease. This ability causes enemies hit by Mizu-no-yoki's critical hits to make a Strength check (DC 1/2 HD + Str) or fall over as if tripped. Notably, this last bit might allow Mizu-no-yoki to make a follow-up attack through Improved Trip, though I will not be going with that interpretation personally. And this is all on top of good Spell Resistance and Construct Immunities.

The Ninja of the Crescent Moon Prestige Class also provides a number of hard to find and useful abilities. The Sneak Attack it grants, while not anything particularly special in and of itself, combos incredibly well with the unreasonable threat range of its Rapier-hands, and the Telling Blow feat. Effectively, if Mizu-no-yoki hits, you are getting critted and sneak attacked. There is also the largely unique Silencing Attack of the Ninja of the Crescent Moon. While unfortunately having a separate 'must be flatfooted' clause, meaning it doesn't apply to EVERY sneak attack, it's not like Mizu-no-yoki is lacking ways to catch people flatfooted. Combined with the Fast Sneak ability, and incredibly high Hide and Move Silently checks, it hits pretty much every stealth benchmark possible without gratuitous magic.

Spoiler: Showcase 2: CR 20

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Here, we run into the abjectly magical side of things. I'm assuming you've already read the above showcase, so I feel no need to reiterate, but everything above applies equally at this level as well. Starting immediately at 16th level, Mizu-no-yoki picks up a couple of supernatural abilities. First of all, the 6th level ability of Ninja of the Crescent Moon lets it use Invisibility on itself a number of times per day equal to its class level. As it hits 18 HD at level 16, it also picks up Martial Study to grab the Shadow Stride maneuver, letting it teleport through the shadows with time to spare to stab a hapless fool. Additionally, though it's more likely to work alone than not, Opportunist is a great ability for a reason. Through the next few levels it picks up the ability to take on a Gaseous Form, and improves its Kuji-kiri ability into being useful again. Moreover, it hits the ever so important 16 BAB benchmark pre-epic, meaning it gets a full attack sequence of unarmed strikes with which to tack on more and more sneak attack. The next big efficiency boost comes at level 19, where it picks up 3 more dice of sneak attack, as well as Blindsight 60'. Its final level wraps it all up with the ability to take 10 on Hide and Move Silently, as well as the ability to hop into the Ethereal for short periods of time.

All in all, we have an incredibly stealthy pitch-black being that hits incredibly hard, can silence people, can teleport, can turn invisible, can discorporate into gas, mesmerize people with magical hand tricks, can phase through walls, and can transform into nearly any inanimate object for infiltration purposes. Sounds like a ninja to me.

Spoiler: Sources

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Complete Scoundrel - Skill Tricks
Lords of Madness - Darkstalker
Monster Manual 2 - Nimblewright
Player's Handbook 2 - Telling Blow
Sword and Fist - Ninja of the Crescent Moon
Tome of Battle - Martial Study, Martial Stance
Tome of Magic - Dark Creature Template

[Inevitability]

I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation.

Ga zi de érzi

Lawful Evil Dark (+1 CR) Tauric (+1 CR) Doppelganger (CR -) Gravbeast [advanced to 9 HD] (CR 7) Cloistered Cleric of Bane 1 Chameleon 10.

Attributes	Base	Racial Modifier	Increases by class level	Total
Strength	14	+10		24
Dexterity	8	+6		14
Constitution	10	+8		18
Intelligence	15	+2	+2	17
Wisdom	12	+4		16
Charisma	13	+2		15

Racial skill modifiers:
Gravbeast: +8 on Climb and Jump and +4 on Balance, Hide, Move Silently, Survival
Doppelganger: +4 Bluff and Disguise(+14 for Change Shape)
Dark Template (untyped bonus): +8 Hide and +6 Move Silently

Spoiler: Build Table

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CR	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features and Racial Abilities
9	Dark Tauric 13 HD Monstrous Humanoid	+13	+4	+8	+8	Balance 1, Bluff 16, Concentration 1, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 16, Gather information 1, Hide 8, Jump 1, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 1, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 1, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 8, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 1	1 HD: Able Learner 3 HD: Darkstalker 6 HD: Multiattack 9 HD: Power Attack 12 HD: Mask of Gentility	Change Shape, immunity to sleep and charm effects, Detect thoughts (CL 18); Hide in Plain Sight, Resistance to cold 10, Superior low-light vision; Knockdown, powerful pounce, reverse gravity, Damage reduction 3/ --, darkvision 60 ft., gravatic stability, gravatic turbulence, low-light vision, personal gravity, scent
10	Cloistered Cleric of Bane	+13	+6	+8	+10	Balance 2, Bluff 17, Concentration 2, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 17, Gather information 1, Hide 9, Jump 1, Knowledge (arcana) 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 1, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 9, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 2	Bonus: Law, Destruction and Knowledge devotion	Rebuke Undead
11	Chameleon	+13	+6	+8	+10	Balance 3, Bluff 18, Concentration 3, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 18, Gather information 1, Hide 10, Jump 1, Knowledge (arcana) 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 1, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 10, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 3	15 HD: Improved Natural Attack (Claw)	Aptitude focus 1/day (+2)
12	Chameleon	+14	+6	+8	+10	Balance 4, Bluff 19, Concentration 4, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 19, Gather information 1, Hide 11, Jump 1, Knowledge (arcana) 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 1, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 11, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 4		Bonus feat
13	Chameleon	+15	+7	+9	+11	Balance 5, Bluff 20, Concentration 5, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 20, Gather information 1, Hide 12, Jump 1, Knowledge (arcana) 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 1, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 12, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 6		Mimic class feature 1/day
14	Chameleon	+16	+7	+9	+11	Balance 5, Bluff 21, Concentration 6, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 21, Gather information 1, Hide 13, Jump 2, Knowledge (arcana) 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 1, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 13, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 8	18 HD: Improved Multiattack	Ability boon +2
15	Chameleon	+16	+7	+9	+11	Balance 5, Bluff 22, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 22, Gather information 1, Hide 14, Jump 3, Knowledge (arcana) 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 1, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 14, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 10		Aptitude focus 2/day (+4)
16	Chameleon	+17	+8	+10	+12	Balance 5, Bluff 23, Concentration 8, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 23, Gather information 1, Hide 15, Jump 4, Knowledge (arcana) 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 1, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 15, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 12		Mimic class feature 2/day
17	Chameleon	+18	+8	+10	+12	Balance 5, Bluff 24, Concentration 9, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 24, Gather information 1, Hide 16, Jump 5, Knowledge (arcana) 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 1, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 16, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 14	21 HD: Epic destiny (Blade of Ragnarok)	Ability boon +4, double aptitude, Unbreakable Body, Weapon of Ruin
18	Chameleon	+19	+8	+10	+12	Balance 5, Bluff 25, Concentration 10, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 25, Gather information 1, Hide 17, Jump 5, Knowledge (arcana) 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 2, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 17, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 16		Rapid refocus
19	Chameleon	+19	+9	+11	+13	Balance 5, Bluff 26, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 26, Gather information 1, Hide 18, Jump 5, Knowledge (arcana) 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 2, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 18, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 18		Mimic class feature 3/day
20	Chameleon	+20	+9	+11	+13	Balance 5, Bluff 27, Concentration 15, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 27, Gather information 1, Hide 19, Jump 5, Knowledge (arcana) 2, Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (geography) 1, Knowledge (history) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 2, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Move Silently 19, Ride 1, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Survival 1, Use Magic Device 18	24 HD: Epic destiny (Blade of Ragnarok)	Ability boon +6, aptitude focus 3/day (+4), Slayer's Fury

Spoiler: Why I need the Tauric Creature template and why I stay away from the cheese it offers.

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I am fully aware that I didn't use the Tauric creature template to its fullest abuse potential. Just to show that I know what would be possible: Spell Weaver (MMII) advanced to 30 HD (casts as a 30th level Sorcerer) with all templates you'd like on top applied for free since the Tauric Creature template only cares about the base creature and adds +1 CR to that creature. I don't think any sane DM would use such a CR nightmare in a regular game. What do I need the Tauric template for then? Ninjas - at least to me - are iconic if they have three distinct skill sets: assuming identities, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye and scaling walls. Assuming identities is easy regarding the Change Shape ability of a Doppelganger, disappearing from sight is easy enough as well (hide in plain sight and high hide skill acquired by the Dark template) and scaling walls was what I tortured myself with for a long time until I remembered Gravbeast: it has a Supernatural Ability named Personal Gravity that gives it the ability to autosucceed any climb check, take no damage from falls and cast levitate at will. Now that was what I was looking for and the cherry on the cake: Change Shape cancels Ex Abilities but not Su Abilities, which means in every shape assumed the Gravbeast powers, which are all Su Abilities, can be used. I also chose to apply the dark creature template to the whole monster and not the Doppelganger and cheese out the CR increase. If you want to do that to power up the build add a Warblade level as a final dip. On the other hand if you feel that Doppelganger is way to powerful to be a part of a Tauric creature scrap the Gravbeast HD increase, the Dark Template and the Cleric Dip.

Spoiler: Creation and Fluff

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Every tyrant needs his special agents that carry out tasks in secret. Ninjas are perfect for these tasks. As presented in the table Ga zi de érzi is from Faerun. Created by Bane in an attempt to undermine kingdoms by killing and replacing the ruler, Ga zi de érzi is meant to be used as a false king, emperor or lesser noble to rule a land and slowly but surely change the realm into one of tyranny. Bane created Ga zi de érzi and tried to make sure, he believes in Bane's ideals which is why he scholared him in the religious traditions of his church (cloistered cleric level). Ga zi de érzi calls Bane his "father". Ga zi de érzi came to the material plane and test his abilities assuming identities and learn the various ways of changing until he became change itself (chameleon levels).
Ga zi de érzi can easily be ported to other settings: in Rokugan replace Bane with an Evil being fitting to the setting and make Ga zi de érzi hail from the Shadowlands. He then can assume the role of any high level Samurai you want him to be. Same goes for Ebberon.

Spoiler: Sweet spots

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CR 9 is the first sweet spot. Ga zi de érzi can be used earlier by reducing Gravbeast HD by 3 but CR 8 is his lowest possible CR without losing Hide in Plain Sight. Still already at that level all three iconic skills are online: Change shape into any medium or small humanoid and an already great Disguise check (+22 for normal disguises and +32 for change shape disguises), gravbeasts personal gravity to climb whatever you want (climb speed 40 ft., climb +15 for checks but always autosucceed, jump +16, balance +7, levitate at will, no falling damage) and a great stealth checks (+22 hide, +20 move silently, Darkstalker and Hide in plain sight). Mask of gentility hides your alignment in any form. Combat mostly will happen in your true form and your powerful pounce ability together with knockdown and 6 claw attacks at +18 and 2d6+6+power attack + your attacks with a weapon you wield (I recommend a thrown ranged weapon like javelins and a spear in melee) should be enough damage to hurt parties. Especially since you should almost always be able to launch a surprise attack.
The next sweet spot is CR 11. Aptitude focus gives Ga zi de érzi more casting potential. Almost always will you start with either the divine or arcane focus. For Ga zi de érzi I recommend starting with the arcane focus and prepare Trapsmith spells (level 1 haste, level 1 dispel magic, level 1 gaseous form, level 2 dimension door) and Bard spells which open up otherwise purely divine spells. Basic cleric spells for precombat buffing are also an option as are the devotion feats with Knowledge devotion the usual forerunner.
CR 17 is the last sweet spot. Double aptitude means divine and arcane focus which brings you close to being a full fledged theurge. Both sides of the focus are ripe with abusable spell levels. I especially like Summon Giant as a 4th level spell on the divine side. To further push Ga zi de érzi and to make him worth the CR I chose an epic destiny feat line complementing his combat prowess. DR 8/- (3+5 from unbreakable body) is nothing to sneeze at and the ability to overcome any damage reduction with all attacks (natural and weapons) is truly epic. In his true form Ga zi de érzi should be able to keep up in the rocket tag game thanks to his double damage six claw attack pounce or his normal weapon damage routine (with 4 attacks at CR 20) followed by 4 claw attacks in a full round but his lack of 9th level spells may still bite him. There are ways to get a Chameleon to higher than 6th level spells and you can incorporate it into the build by redoing the feats but I don't think the iconic Ninja things are too relevant anymore at CR 17 and above.
If you don't want to use Epic feats you can alternatively revert to Combat Expertise and Improved Unarmed Strike to better use your floating feat of Chameleon (i.e. pick up Improved Grapple and crush your opponents as a small grappler because of Gravbeasts Gravatic Stability (counts as huge for grapple, bull rush, etc.). Your usual use of the floating feat would be Extra spell qualified via Detect Thoughts SLA (CL 18) to fill your arcane spellbook. The Ability Boon almost always goes into Intelligence but if you want Ga zi de érzi to focus more on divine save or suck spells change it to Wisdom. Strength my be another option if you need more damage output.
I chose to spread the skills out instead of investing everything in a few skills except for bluff and disguise which are the core skills for assuming a role. The knowledge skills and dips and dabs in other skills are there to represent the multitude of Ga zi de érzi's roles he assumed. A weakness of the build are saves but considering divine foucs grants +2/+4 in Fort and Wil and Arcane +2/+4 in Wil the weakness is diminished.

Spoiler: Possible uses as a BBEG

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Ga zi de érzi always uses Change shape to disguise himself as a Humanoid of the appropriate size and then uses purely nonmagical disguise to assume an identity. This way his nonmagical disguise works as a shield against True Seeing (does not see through mundane disguises).
The False Priest (recommended CR 11): Ga zi de érzi kills a wandering priest of any neutral god and assumes his role (+24 for mundane disguise). He emulates the divine spells by either his own divine casting or by his arcane focus (bard among others offers a lot of divine spells to arcane casters). Slowly over months Ga zi de érzi tries to first establish the church in a local village and then manipulate the followers of the church to follow more of Bane's ideals. When his attempt is fruitful and he feels the population is ready, he calls in another priest of Bane (any humanoid rogue/cloistered cleric build or simply straight cleric with 7+ levels), then commits murder in his disguise as a priest and the other priest of Bane catches him and removes his disguise showing the population that they were fooled. Of course Ga zi de érzi makes sure there is noone with True Sight among the population. He then flees the scene using Dimension Door (level 2 Trapsmith) or Gaseous Form (level 1 Trapsmith). The other priest than offers to help the community grow and blesses the people in the name of Bane. If this plot succeeds, Bane has a new church. If the PCs are present, they can uncover the plot, stopping the mummer's farce. Ga zi de érzi in his true form and and his allied priest should make up for a memorable encounter.
The King is dead, long live Bane (any CR, best at CR 9, CR 11 or CR 17): Ga zi de érzi first learns about a kingdom as much as possible by entering towns and reading thoughts. He needs information about loyalty and power of individuals. Then he kills the local ruler in the assumed form of a rival of the king (again double disguised) and chaos ensues in the kingdom. In the turmoil and civil war erupting Ga zi de érzi then makes sure that no power in the Kingdom gains enough power until he and other Doppelgangers have assumed the roles of enough nobles and priests to take over power. After the suffering under the chaos of the war the strict law of Bane is praised for stabilizing the country.
The PCs are hired to uncover the plot by a noble who managed to escape. The noble claims that he witnessed dark shadowy creatures entering mansions and palaces killing his friends inside. He strongly believes that these shadows now rule the country.
Head of the Ninja school (recommended CR 12 or higher): Ga zi de érzi is a formidable ninja. If you want him to use Ninja weapons, use his floating feat for Exotic Weapon Proficiency. He is likely to found a Ninja school and teach apprentices the way of the ninja while ensuring to tie them to Bane. He asks for perfect loyalty and in return can gift his apprentices with magic items (Floating feat for the craft feat qualified via Detect Thoughts SLA CL 18) or grant the Guidance of the Avatar, Shield Other or Protection from Evil via Imbue with Spell Ability. Ga ji de érzi then secretly uses his apprentices to weaken other churches or bolster the church of Bane in the region.
PCs might come by the apprentices and track them down to find the school where they face off with Ga zi de érzi and his disciples (any humanoid swordsages, swift hunter, rogues or ninjas with three or more levels to make them a relevant distraction).

Spoiler: Sources

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Gravbeast online: http://archive.wizards.com/default.a...d/mm/20040627a
Doppelganger: Monster Manual 1
Tauric Template: Savage Species
Dark Template: Tome of Magic
Cloistered Cleric Variant: Unearthed Arcana
Law, Destruction and Knowledge Devotion: Complete Champion
Chameleon, Able Learner: Races of Destiny
Darkstalker: Lords of Madness
Mask of Gentility: Exemplars of Evil
Epic Destiny: http://web.archive.org/web/201009160.../drfe/20080428

[Inevitability]

And that's it! Post at will, people.

[Telonius]

Okay, nine eight competitors! I would say it looks like a good group, but I think their Hide check beats my Spot. I'll get down to judging as soon as possible.

[Jormengand]

Unfortunately, I didn't get time to finish my entries due to my circumstances, but two of the things I was considering inflicting on you were:

The NPZR (Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot)
Zombie Warforged Undead 20/Ninja 3/Rogue 3/Scarlet Corsair 3/Ninja Spy 5

And some kind of ninja/ninja spy/ninja of the crescent moon multiclass.

I didn't have any real serious ideas, though I was thinking of doing something assassin-related as far as a serious build went. Didn't get any further than that in the thought process.

[SoraWolf7]

I'm sad I didn't get to enter due to my own schedule, but my entries would have been either a Tibbit Unseen Seer/Spellwarp Sniper who ran a tavern/brothel/mercenary base, or a Fox Hengeyokai Unseen Seer who acted as an oracle.

I also had a neat idea about using twins under the same Ninja alias, but they would have had differing builds and that would have just changed the game for all future entries in the Villainous Competition.

[Buufreak]

Alright just double checking before starting the judging, I am to assume that there was a build that was so large it didn't fit in a single post, and not that someone submitted the exact same build twice, right?

[zlefin]

some nice and interesting builds there.


what I was going to make was a simple medium/low power earth elemental assassin/spy.
straight earth elemental HD for a long while, but with better feat and stat choices. in particular using martial study to pick up a few shadow hand maneuvers to get hide as a class skill, as well as a few choice utility effects (one of the teleports, the one turn greater invis for the ambush, and not sure what else)
alot of his plan was quite simple: stay in the earth, and use his high spot/listen and decent hide check to monitor enemies and look for openings or them being alone, while remaining undetected by his targets.
never ambush a party; only pick off individuals. he has no problem waiting for days, or even years for an opening.
at higher levels his preferred first move in an ambush is to try to destroy/sunder any source of freedom of movement then grapple.


there're a lot of weirdnesses in the elemental statblocks which made it hard to figure out. like hte higher level earth elementals all stay at 8 dex, despite that they should be getting dex penalties for size increase; and they all mysteriously gain int and some other stats to a degree not commensurate with the stat increases from gaining HD, so they gain various bonus stats that aren't accounted for and in amounts that are unclear.
this made it really hard to figure out how to start as a small elemental and figure what increases are supposed to come with gaining the HD. and iirc the largest one had skills point totals indicative of starting with 10 int (since iirc they don't use retroactive skill points in 3.5);

[Venger]

Alright just double checking before starting the judging, I am to assume that there was a build that was so large it didn't fit in a single post, and not that someone submitted the exact same build twice, right?

yes, soratoka was in 2 parts. a post more than 50,000 characters has to be split up into multiple parts.

[Technetium43]

I'm kinda glad I didn't go with my initial build, since one of the other builds used a somewhat similar idea. It was basically an old aged Factotum/Marshal/Monk/Ninja Spy/Exemplar build, focused on teaching his 'students' the methods and skills needed to be proper ninjas. He would hire the PCs to deliver a package, and have them constantly attacked by his 'students' as a final test for them. However, it didn't truly feel like, well, a 'villain' at all, just an interesting NPC, so I ended up going a different direction. Still wish I could've gotten more done, but eh, I'll take actually finally getting back in the game.

[Inevitability]

yes, soratoka was in 2 parts. a post more than 50,000 characters has to be split up into multiple parts.

...I just realized it was only over the PM limit, not the post limit, though. I could have just joined the PMs together.

Ah well.