Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIII

[Venger]

The worst thing about Berserk (and the reason why I probably won't ever actually inflict it on you) is the way it only has about three levels of class features. IIRC, it genuinely doesn't give you anything new after level 3, just more uses of the things you have already.

Truly you are merciful. Yeah, that's all you get. I love the insult to injury that your stupid movement boost doesn't work in your beast shape. Because that would be too much.

[WhamBamSam]

I'd be perfectly happy to never see Berserk as a SI, but I do now have a few ideas filed away in the ol' emergency bunker next to to the other extra terrible stuff.

[The Viscount]

My love for berserker's hilariously stupid features just barely edges out logic stating how awful it is.

Any of these other PrCs would make for great ingredients, Kinslayer especially because it's trying to do all sorts of stuff, even if none of it is any good.

[Troacctid]

There's all those Thrall of [Demon Lord] and Disciple of [Archdevil] prestige classes too. Have we done Thrall of Juiblex, or Thrall of Graz'zt, or Disciple of Mephistopheles yet?

[The Viscount]

We haven't done any of them except for Demogorgon. Mephistopheles would be quite difficult, and echoes strongly of pyrokineticist. I personally think Thrall of Juiblex would be too good for an SI.

Thrall of Graz'zt makes me very excited. Do you think that apostrophe is supposed to be voiced of represent anything? Or is he just a dragonrider?

[Venger]

We haven't done any of them except for Demogorgon. Mephistopheles would be quite difficult, and echoes strongly of pyrokineticist. I personally think Thrall of Juiblex would be too good for an SI.

Thrall of Graz'zt makes me very excited. Do you think that apostrophe is supposed to be voiced of represent anything? Or is he just a dragonrider?

We actually also did thrall of ORCUS! but yeah, we haven't touched any of the others. I've always just pronounced it as though it weren't there, like apostrophes in american english, rather than as a glottal stop.

[Karl Aegis]

Complete Warrior still has stuff like Ravager in it. Berserk seems to have the ability to indefinitely turn into a gargantuan whale for some reason. I may be in this round depending on if I feel like typing up my backstory or not.

[Troacctid]

I actually really like Thrall of Zuggtmoy but I guess it's probably off the table.

[Thurbane]

In terms of full BAB, I'm somewhat partial to Dragon Lord as an ingredient: It's like Dragon Shaman (or Marshal), but watered down and without a breath weapon. On the plus side, it's very easy to qualify for, so you should get a wide range of entries.

[WhamBamSam]

There's all those Thrall of [Demon Lord] and Disciple of [Archdevil] prestige classes too. Have we done Thrall of Juiblex, or Thrall of Graz'zt, or Disciple of Mephistopheles yet?

I really like Thrall of Juiblex, but it's probably too good for IC. Thrall of Graz'zt and Disciple of Mephistopheles could be cool. There's also Disciple of Mammon, Thrall of Eltab from Champions of Ruin, which I had previously been a bit down on as a SI, but on reflection think has enough differentiating it from the Thralls we've already done, and on a similar note I've been lobbying for Demonologist for a while now as well.

In terms of full BAB, I'm somewhat partial to Dragon Lord as an ingredient: It's like Dragon Shaman (or Marshal), but watered down and without a breath weapon. On the plus side, it's very easy to qualify for, so you should get a wide range of entries.

Oof, that's a bad one, especially since the Leadership ban cuts away one of its few class features.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Disciple of Thrym and Vassal of Bahamut are brute types with their own divine casting.

Qualifying for that on time is a genuine feat. Seriously, kill a CR 10 dragon, solo, by level 7. WTF?

[Thurbane]

Qualifying for that on time is a genuine feat. Seriously, kill a CR 10 dragon, solo, by level 7. WTF?

How many Arrows of Dragon Slaying can you afford at ECL 7? It's got to roll a 1 on it's save sooner or later. Probably not until after it's reduced you to confetti though.

[Kelb_Panthera]

How many Arrows of Dragon Slaying can you afford at ECL 7? It's got to roll a 1 on it's save sooner or later. Probably not until after it's reduced you to confetti though.

Been looking at that puzzle with paladin entry in mind for a -long- time now. I'm all ears for anyone who's got an idea that's not pure cheese.

... Making a thread.

[Venger]

How many Arrows of Dragon Slaying can you afford at ECL 7? It's got to roll a 1 on it's save sooner or later. Probably not until after it's reduced you to confetti though.

Well, that locks you into being an archer, which vassal of bahamut supports about as poorly as everything else.

I won't speculate too much more in case that's what's inflicted on us next.

[KrimsonNekros]

And squeaking in under the wire.

[PunBlake]

First forum post. I'm a long-time, no-account lurker.
My heart was stolen by the SI. I have been quietly cooking something up since the contest started, and have decided the dish is good enough to enter.
Don't worry about me meeting the entry deadline; I'm in formatting and final write-up phase, and I have a weekend to spend as much time as I want making things look pretty.
@Heliomance, I have a couple FAQ-like questions that will not have any build impact but would (likely) reveal which entry is mine to the judge, so I will PM them to you in the next 24 hours.

[daremetoidareyo]

First forum post. I'm a long-time, no-account lurker.
My heart was stolen by the SI. I have been quietly cooking something up since the contest started, and have decided the dish is good enough to enter.
Don't worry about me meeting the entry deadline; I'm in formatting and final write-up phase, and I have a weekend to spend as much time as I want making things look pretty.
@Heliomance, I have a couple FAQ-like questions that will not have any build impact but would (likely) reveal which entry is mine to the judge, so I will PM them to you in the next 24 hours.

Awesome! Welcome!

My only idea requires and exploitation of [redacted] so much so that it becomes like a DM Fiat issue.

Depending on the number of entries, I'm down to judge. I'll try to be real Darrin about it. That guy can give you last place but still makes you feel good about what you liked about your build. Keep in mind, that's an aspiration, not a promise.

[Efrate]

Got it in, thank goodness. That took forever. Novice dish of weirdness coming your way!

[Venger]

best of luck to you

[KrimsonNekros]

Got it in, thank goodness. That took forever. Novice dish of weirdness coming your way!

those always bring something awesome to the table, even if they don't score well. best of luck.

[Zaq]

First forum post. I'm a long-time, no-account lurker.
My heart was stolen by the SI. I have been quietly cooking something up since the contest started, and have decided the dish is good enough to enter.
Don't worry about me meeting the entry deadline; I'm in formatting and final write-up phase, and I have a weekend to spend as much time as I want making things look pretty.
@Heliomance, I have a couple FAQ-like questions that will not have any build impact but would (likely) reveal which entry is mine to the judge, so I will PM them to you in the next 24 hours.

Got it in, thank goodness. That took forever. Novice dish of weirdness coming your way!

Awesome! Welcome!

My only idea requires and exploitation of [redacted] so much so that it becomes like a DM Fiat issue.

Depending on the number of entries, I'm down to judge. I'll try to be real Darrin about it. That guy can give you last place but still makes you feel good about what you liked about your build. Keep in mind, that's an aspiration, not a promise.

Are dare said, welcome to any newcomers who put in the effort to join our crazy little club here! The best advice I can give you (aside from, you know, my way-the-hell-too-long judging guidelines I posted a ways back) is to just get in there and try things out. Learn by doing.

I have a probably-well-deserved reputation for being kind of a mean judge. Please believe me when I say that nothing in my judgments is intended to be personal or to be hurtful, and I do my very best to be fair and even-handed across the board—in other words, if I judge harshly, it's not because I'm judging you harshly so much as because I'm judging everyone harshly. I mean this with 100% sincerity: you are awesome just for entering. It's a lot of work!

That said, dare's comment about trying to judge like Darrin is, I have to say, inspirational. We'll see just how well I can succeed on such a thing, but maybe I should try to focus on positive things rather than on little nitpicks here and there. I mean, it sounds like we've got an awful lot of builds coming in, so drastically departing from what I'm used to might be a risky proposition, but we'll see!

[Hiro Quester]

That is a fun but frustrating ingredient to think about how a build generating on it would work, mechanically, and just how to augment it with enough special sauces and spices to be very infuriating to the dragons it could torment or thwart.

I wish I could make time to turn my slightly weird idea for a build into a fully-fleshed-out entry.

The fact that it doesn't get much new class abilities after 4th level, but just improvements on existing ones, makes it a somewhat frustrating ingredient, too. My idea wouldn't use all 10 levels, anyway, so would lose points for elegance, anyway.

I'm going to be lurking here to see what the final builds for this end up being.

[PunBlake]

snip

I'm more worried about the character limit or a possible Vizzini than harsh judging, though even with that, a similar dish would likely be... presented differently.
Thanks for the welcomes. Formatting instead of sleeping.

[Efrate]

Yeah my entry had to be split into 2 messages, character limit is a pain.

As for severe judging, throw what you want at me, I can roll with any punches. It's all in good fun. I'm mostly worried about formatting, I think I have all the html right. I just hope i didnt forget anything.

[PrismCat21]

~snip~

I suggest deleting the first part of your post immediately, as it will identify you once the builds are revealed.

[daremetoidareyo]

I suggest deleting the first part of your post immediately, as it will identify you once the builds are revealed.

Not if the character limit of posts (50k) isn't superseded. Messages can only be 25k.

[Zaq]

Yeah, I routinely have to send my builds to Helio in multiple chunks, but they almost always still get posted as one post.

For a build with spells, even just the basic build tables take up a pretty large portion of the character limit. (The blank level table and blank 20-level spell table are almost 6,000 characters together. It's rare to use the full 20-level spell table most of the time, but that's also before actually putting in skills or feats or levels or whatever.) Of course, my builds also tend to be pretty obnoxiously verbose on top of that, but the point is, Helio knows what she's doing and knows to stitch multiple PMs into one post when possible and appropriate.

[jdizzlean]

The worst thing about Berserk (and the reason why I probably won't ever actually inflict it on you) is the way it only has about three levels of class features. IIRC, it genuinely doesn't give you anything new after level 3, just more uses of the things you have already.

The fact that it doesn't get much new class abilities after 4th level, but just improvements on existing ones, makes it a somewhat frustrating ingredient, too.

so 3/10 is the threshold for not going to do it, but 4/10 is acceptable? lol

almost done w/ my only entry. It's probably the most iron-cheffy one i've ever done, but i'm in no delusions that it'll medal given the pool of competitors here, we'll see.

[jdizzlean]

Yeah my entry had to be split into 2 messages, character limit is a pain.

*snip*.

I always review my build a few times on the board before sending it in. Just reply to any topic, paste all your code in and hit preview. Once it all looks good, copy the text field, overwrite your text file or whatever you're using and then send that in to the chair. Prevents any weird formatting errors from popping up after the fact.

[Zaq]

I always review my build a few times on the board before sending it in. Just reply to any topic, paste all your code in and hit preview. Once it all looks good, copy the text field, overwrite your text file or whatever you're using and then send that in to the chair. Prevents any weird formatting errors from popping up after the fact.

This, but to keep from accidentally posting my build in a random topic somewhere, I do this in a PM to myself.