Iron Chef Optimization Challenge: E6 Appetizer Edition (Round XXV)

[Zaq]

Welcome back to the Iron Chef Optimization Challenge E6 Appetizer Edition! It's time to dip out of traditional magic and into pacts with darker things.

The form of this challenge is to take a particular D&D 3.5 game element (our "secret ingredient," or SI) and turn it into a functional E6 build, which must feature the SI as heavily as possible. (The only hard rule about this is that you must take at least one level—where applicable—in the SI, though judges are encouraged to look favorably on builds that take as many levels as possible in said SI or that otherwise use it as heavily as possible.) Your final build submission should consist of your 6 regular levels and your first 10 epic bonus feats, though providing a snapshot at earlier points through the progression is heartily encouraged. Entries are to be PM'd to the Chair (that would be me!), and they will be posted anonymously; our volunteer judges will then grade each build on a TEN-point scale in one category (Originality) and on a 1-5 point scale in three categories: Power, Elegance, and Use of the Secret Ingredient. The builds with the highest three scores will be awarded medals, with the Honorable Mention award going to the non-medaling build that the Chair likes best and/or that receives the most votes for HM in this thread. (HM may not always be awarded, particularly if the number of builds is very small.) And then we all have cake!*

*Note: You must provide your own cake.

This is basically like the regular Iron Chef, and let's be brutally honest with ourselves here: this isn't a gargantuan community, and we basically all know what we're talking about at this point. Make the builds, send 'em in, post some scores, and have fun. If you've got questions, lemme know. Still, let's lay out a few rules!

• Cooking Time: Builds must be submitted via PM to the Chair by 4:59 PM GMT - 9 on Monday, August 31, 2020 (1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, September 01). The reveal shall be on the first evening the Chair has free following the cooking deadline, which is hoped to be that evening or the immediately subsequent one—I'll do my best, anyway. Judging is then encouraged to go as quickly as possible; if multiple judges volunteer, we'll set about a two-week window, but if we only get one judge, we'll try to wrap up as soon as possible after that judge presents scores. (I will admit that the deadline time may not be an exact science, but don't hide from me and we'll probably be cool.)
• Kitchen: Let's break this one down a bit.
  
  
  Spoiler: Let's talk about sources

  Show

  
  

  • ALLOWED: Almost all D&D 3.5 material published by WotC: Core, Completes, monster books, Races Of books, alternate power source books (Expanded Psionics Handbook, Magic of Incarnum, Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, etc.), Spell Compendium, Book of Exalted Deeds, Book of Vile Darkness, Eberron material, Forgotten Realms material, and other WotC-published 3.5 material. (This list is NOT exhaustive and there are many other legal books that I did not mention by name!)
  • ALLOWED: Material from the 3.5 archives of the Wizards of the Coast website (including, but not limited to, the Mind's Eye articles). If you use it, link it.
  • ALLOWED: Official errata from WotC. If you're relying on this in a material fashion, it's a good idea to link it and to discuss it.
  • NOT ALLOWED: Unofficial errata, including "class fixes" (regardless of the source, including from the original author if not published in a WotC book) or fan-created content.
  • ALLOWED: Unupdated WotC-published 3.0 material (e.g., Sword and Fist, Masters of the Wild, etc.) except for 3.0 psionics. No 3.0 psionics allowed. If you are using 3.0 material, use the general-purpose skill updates (Wilderness Lore becomes Survival, Innuendo becomes Bluff, etc.) and the general-purpose rules updates (spells with a casting time of "1 action" become "1 standard action," etc.) when appropriate.
  • NOT ALLOWED: 3.0 material for which a direct 3.5 update exists. Use the updated material instead.
  • ALLOWED: Dragon Compendium and its errata.
  • NOT ALLOWED: Content from Dragon Magazine and/or Dungeon Magazine unless said content appears in an otherwise allowed source.
  • ALLOWED: Oriental Adventures, including the 3.5 update to Oriental Adventures from Dragon Magazine #318. This is a specific exception to the "no Dragon" rule!
  • NOT ALLOWED: Pathfinder content, regardless of whether it is "D&D 3.5 OGL" or not. If it didn't come from WotC, we don't want it.
  • ALLOWED: From Unearthed Arcana: racial paragon classes, alternate class features/variant classes, spelltouched feats, and variant races. (Traits and flaws are technically legal, but traits warrant a -0.5 point penalty in Elegance, and flaws warrant a -1 penalty in Elegance.)
  • NOT ALLOWED: Other Unearthed Arcana content, including (but not limited to) bloodlines, LA buyoff, fractional BAB/saves, alternate casting systems, alternate skill systems, item familiars, prestigious character classes, generic classes, gestalt, etc. When you're wondering if UA content is allowed, err on the side of caution and don't mess around with it.
  • NOT ALLOWED: Leadership, regardless of source. Game elements functionally equivalent to Leadership (including, but not limited to, Dragon Cohort, Undead Leadership, and Thrallherd) are similarly banned. (Familiars, Improved Familiar, animal companions, Wild Cohort, psicrystals, elemental envoys, and similar game elements are allowed, and they are not considered to be "Leadership." If the difference isn't obvious, feel free to contact the Chair with specific questions.)
  • NOT ALLOWED: Third-party content, homebrew, or other non-WotC content.
  • NOT ALLOWED: Epic feats from the Epic Level Handbook. Just because you're "epic" in E6 after 6th level doesn't mean that you're that kind of epic.
  • NOT ALLOWED: Any race or template with a level adjustment other than +0. (Or any other source of LA other than a race or template, if any such things exist.)
  • NOT ALLOWED: For our judges: penalizing solely based on legal sources used, regardless of whether those sources are plentiful, sparse, common, obscure, or something in between. If the material is legal, then it doesn't matter how many or how few books it came out of.
  • ALLOWED: Also for our judges: penalizing for using a source (other than material in Core; don't be vindictive about genuinely obvious stuff) that isn't listed in the build writeup. The chef may choose to present the sources in-line with the text, in a consolidated source list, or somewhere else, but if the source is listed (and is otherwise legal), it counts. If the source is not listed, you may choose to penalize for that.

  
  If you have questions about anything in this section (or hell, in this ruleset), feel free to ask the Chair.
  
• Character Creation: 32 point buy is assumed. For the purposes of this contest, Level Adjustment greater than +0 is banned. (This may be revised at a later point, but I don't feel that the E6 LA rules are conducive to fun in the context of this contest.) No more than two entries per chef per contest, please; if you submit two builds and somehow are so overcome with inspiration for a third that you can't help yourself, PM me and tell me which two you care about the most.
• Highlighted because of past issues: It is not enough for your build to end with a level adjustment of +0. You must be +0 from start to finish. No using ANY build elements with a level adjustment above +0, even if they then get mitigated or reduced somehow.
• Speculation: Please do not post any form of speculation before the reveal. Just don't do it, guys. It's not cool. This means NOT posting any of the following or anything substantially similar: what you think is going to be common, significant elements of your planned build or of other potential builds, or anything else that could directly influence someone else's build choices for good or for ill. (It's acceptable to ask for rules clarifications as appropriate, but try to avoid tipping your hand too much.) Speculation is bad because it can discourage people from posting builds and can also "taint the judging pool" when it comes to Originality, so please just try to be aware of how other people might react to your speculation.
• E6: Here's how E6 works for the purposes of this contest. Build your character normally for the first six levels. After you reach level 6, you stop gaining levels and start gaining bonus feats every time you would gain 5,000 XP. Since we aren't actually tracking XP, you'll basically list your first ten epic bonus feats in the order that you take them, and we think of them as being kind of like levels. We will not use the LA-equals-reduced-point-buy rules, instead preferring to just ban races with LA, at least for now. We will not use the "capstone feats"; all feats that you take must be normal legal 3.5 feats, not homebrew E6 ones. You may not use the Epic feats from the Epic Level Handbook, though if for some reason there are non-Epic feats from the ELH that you qualify for, you may take those. (I don't think there are any, but I'm sure someone will prove me wrong.) It is up to the discretion of each judge whether this is a "hard E6" (magic above 3rd level spells is simply beyond mortal reach, items that have a listed CL above 6th are just plain not available, etc.) or a "soft E6" (if you can somehow get the magic on your character, it's yours, regardless of level), though I honestly don't expect it to come up. Don't go crazy with making assumptions about items and we probably won't have to find out.
• Presentation: Please use the table found below in the spoiler. List your epic bonus feats (in clear order) after the table. If you find a clever way of formatting that that isn't annoying and that doesn't break anything, have fun; if it's portable, I may steal it for the next round. When sending your build or any disputes to the Chair, clearly include your build's name in the subject of the PM, and please present your build exactly as you want the Chair to copy and paste it into the thread.
  If you're using a picture, cite the source and follow any relevant citation rules. Because we have had issues with this in the past, when listing your skills, please make it very clear how many ranks you have at each level. There are multiple ways to do this and we do not wish to cramp anyone's individual style by dictating exactly how this must look, but make sure that somewhere in your entry there's an explanation of how many actual skill ranks you have. It's still fine to list total skill bonuses, if that's your style, but don't only list bonuses; make sure that there is a clear listing somewhere of your ranks alone.
  Spoiler

  Show

  Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
  1st	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
  2nd	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
  3rd	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
  4th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
  5th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
  6th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities

  Code for the table:

  Spoiler

  Show

  [table="class: head alt1 alt2"]
  [tr]
  [th][B]Level[/B][/th]
  [th][B]Class[/B][/th]
  [th][B]Base Attack Bonus[/B][/th]
  [th][B]Fort Save[/B][/th]
  [th][B]Ref Save[/B][/th]
  [th][B]Will Save[/B][/th]
  [th][B]Skills[/B][/th]
  [th][B]Feats[/B][/th]
  [th][B]Class Features[/B][/th]
  [/tr]
  [tr]
  [td]1st[/td]
  [td]New Class Level[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]Skills[/td]
  [td]Feats[/td]
  [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
  [/tr]
  [tr]
  [td]2nd[/td]
  [td]New Class Level[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]Skills[/td]
  [td]Feats[/td]
  [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
  [/tr]
  [tr]
  [td]3rd[/td]
  [td]New Class Level[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]Skills[/td]
  [td]Feats[/td]
  [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
  [/tr]
  [tr]
  [td]4th[/td]
  [td]New Class Level[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]Skills[/td]
  [td]Feats[/td]
  [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
  [/tr]
  [tr]
  [td]5th[/td]
  [td]New Class Level[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]Skills[/td]
  [td]Feats[/td]
  [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
  [/tr]
  [tr]
  [td]6th[/td]
  [td]New Class Level[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]+x[/td]
  [td]Skills[/td]
  [td]Feats[/td]
  [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
  [/tr][/table]
• Contest houserules: Nearly the same as the main contest's rules here: all creatures are proficient with natural weapons they have or may acquire, bonus feats that are explicitly granted without meeting prereqs are usable even without those prereqs, and feats that affect which skills are class skills for you and/or how you spend your skill points (Able Learner, Martial Study, Truename Training, Apprentice, etc.) apply immediately at the level at which you take them (even though you normally spend skill points before taking a feat). When taking Open Minded as an epic feat, any skill that has ever been a class skill for you (including through your class, your race, your feats, or similar game elements, though please don't muck around with retroactively making something stop being a class skill for some stupid reason) is a class skill when determining how the 5 granted skill points may be spent. All usual rules about HD-related skill caps apply. When taking Open Minded as a non-epic feat, treat it as normal; the class skills of the class you took at the level you gained Open Minded (plus race, feats, etc.) are your class skills for those skill points, similar to if Open Minded's skill points came straight from your class.
• Judging guidelines: The minimum score in a category is 1, and the maximum is 5 (except in high-Originality rounds, wherein the maximum in Originality is 10). Judges are expected to be fair, consistent, and open-minded, and they are expected to make a good-faith effort to engage with any reasonable disputes that arise, especially when RAW is in question. That said, contestants are asked to not dispute more than necessary; let's do everything in good faith and really only dispute when a judge is being inconsistent, being unfair, or is otherwise grossly misinterpreting a build.
  Judges may not penalize Originality solely because a build is a tribute or homage to an existing creative work (in or out of D&D canon; note that this is not the same thing as penalizing Originality for using well-known optimization tactics), nor may judges penalize based solely on sources used (whether those sources are plentiful, sparse, common, obscure, or something in between, you should judge the build elements and how they work together rather than what book or what books they came out of, as long as those books are legal for this contest and are cited in the entry).
  As with the main contest, we will follow the "One Mistake, One Penalty" guideline, and it is very important that the judges adhere to it. I'm going to directly copy and paste this from the main thread, and hopefully the original author won't mind too much:
  
  Spoiler

  Show

  Judges are only allowed to penalise once for a given mistake. If someone messes up their skills and doesn't qualify for a PrC, ding them as hard as you like. Once. In one category. You don't then get to declare that because they didn't qualify for that PrC, they don't get those levels, and thus don't qualify for anything else. If Ranger is a common ingredient, ding them for Originality. Once. Don't also take off points for Two-Weapon-Fighting being a common ingredient.
  
  Non-exhaustive list of examples:
  
  Skills

  Allowed:
  

  • Giving a penalty for miscalculating the number of skill points gained
  • Giving a penalty for not having enough ranks to meet a prerequisite
  • Increasing the harshness of a skill miscalculation penalty if it affects critical skills including prereqs

  
  
  Not allowed:
  

  • Giving separate penalties for miscalculating skill points and for non-qualification where the non-qualification is solely caused by the miscalculation

  
  Prereqs

  Allowed:
  

  • Giving a penalty for not meeting prereqs
  • Scaling the penalty depending on how important the item that the build failed to qualify for is
  • Giving minimum score in UotSI for not qualifying for the SI
  • Not giving credit for (note: not the same as penalising for) tactics using feats or classes other than the SI that were not qualified for (but see below)

  
  
  Not Allowed:
  

  • "Cascading" failures to qualify - declaring that because a build doesn't qualify for a feat, for example, it also doesn't qualify for anything using that feat as a prereq
  • Treating a build as having fewer levels than it does because of FtQ for classes

  
  Other general things that are no longer allowed:
  

  • Penalising because someone has chosen to build a tribute to an existing creative work
  • Deciding that a backstory has not met a fluff prerequisite well enough, or because its method of meeting it is "unrealistic". You may penalise if a fluff prereq is not addressed at all, but not for how well it is addressed.

  
  
  Note that these are protections, not licenses. Deliberately taking a feat that you know you don't qualify for hoping to just suck up the judging penalty for a feat that you couldn't normally take is not okay, and may lead to your build being disqualified.
• Dispute guidelines (NEW, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION): Disputing is long, annoying, and emotional. It's also sometimes necessary, but it's often not actually something that makes everyone have more fun. Let's go into a little more detail here.
  
  Spoiler

  Show

  • Do NOT dispute to make an argument that goes fundamentally beyond what's in your write-up. It is the responsibility of the chef to make sure that the write-up is complete and contains their best arguments for what the build does and why it's awesome. If you didn't explain your tactics well or didn't spell out something that a judge misses, just do better next time. Don't drag it out after the fact.
  • Do NOT dispute just to be clever or witty or cheeky. Please. We're all adults here and so I assume you know what that means. Don't treat the build as a setup and your oh-so-clever dispute as the punchline. It's not as funny as it is in your head. Trust me. I've been down that road.
  • Do NOT dispute just to say "oh yeah, my bad, I missed that" or some equivalent. If you're not directly challenging the judge, save the commentary until after the reveal. I 100% get that the urge to respond to commentary is very strong, but type it out and sit on it for a while if you've gotta.
  • Do NOT dispute just to try to wheedle more points out of the judge. Note that this is different from saying that the judge is being truly unfair or is being truly wrong by black-and-white RAW. A dispute is NOT the place to try to scrape together a few last quarter-points. If you didn't put it in your write-up, that's on you. This also means that a dispute is really not the place to have long back-and-forth tit-for-tat arguments. That's a surefire way to get people grumpy. It's a contest on a D&D board, guys, not the results of a federal election.
  • Do NOT dispute to tear down another build. That's just plain not cool. If you entered the contest, it's not on you to judge the other builds.
  • DO dispute if the judge is being blatantly biased by giving you a substantially different ruling on a build element compared to another chef who used the same build element in nearly the same way. (Note that position in a build may affect if you're using that element in "nearly the same way" or not.) Please reserve this for the truly blatant examples. I mean it. Remember, it's the contestant's responsibility to make their best argument in the original write-up.
  • DO dispute if the judge is actively going against the contest rules. Note that there are relatively few ways in which a judge can go against contest rules (we intentionally give very wide discretion to our judges), but examples include truly breaking One Mistake One Penalty, penalizing just because of number of sources of (legal) material, and so on.
  • DO dispute if the judge is clearly ignoring unambiguous RAW. Note that this is for unambiguous RAW; if the RAW is shady and you're making an argument that isn't completely clear and that it wouldn't be strange for a GM to frown on, the judge has every right to frown on it as well. (You generally know when you're indulging in shady RAW. Be mature about this.) But if the judge is saying you didn't hit a prereq that you clearly did hit (and included in your write-up!), saying you can't do something that the plain text of the ability says you can do, or anything like that, by all means, call 'em out.
  • Do NOT dispute if the judge doesn't agree with your interpretation of ambiguous RAW. Yes, this is a retread of the previous bullet point; this is that important. If you're relying on ambiguous RAW, it's on you to lay out clearly why it should work the way you want it to work. Again, be mature and act in good faith: you really know when you're pushing things like this. If they don't like it, they don't like it. Move on.

  
  
  Disputing is a privilege, not a right. In the Chair's sole discretion, disputes that do not meet these guidelines and/or that do not seem to be offered in good faith may be suppressed. The Chair reserves the right to choose to post all, some, or none of a dispute if appropriate.
  
  
• Other bits and bobs: If there's something major and relevant I haven't mentioned, assume that the way I handle it will probably be the same as the main contest unless stated otherwise or unless doing so would be an obviously absurd result. If you've got questions, I'll give you answers.

This round's secret ingredient:
The WARLOCK, from Complete Arcane!
Allez Optimizer!


REMINDER: THIS IS A HIGH-ORIGINALITY ROUND.

The Builds:

Build	Race	Alignment	Final Stub	Miniman Score	Author	Position
Iris the Eye Captain	Unicorn Clan Azurin	Unknown	Warlock 6	19.5	daremetoidareyo	First
Filau Euit	Lesser Drow	Chaotic evil	Warlock 5/Demonbinder 1	17.5	Quentinas	Second
Para Gnostic	Lesser Aasimar	Lawful Evil	Warlock 3/Paragnostic apostle 3	17	Quentinas	Third
Malloch	Human	Any chaotic	Ninja 3/Warlock 2/hellbreaker 1	15.25	james	Fourth
Tarragon Mapleflash	Human	Chaotic Good	Warlock 2/CCleric 3/Eldritch disciple 1	14.25	jdizzlean	Fifth
O'ren Ishi	Sparrow Hengeyokai	Any Chaotic	Warlock 6	14	jdizzlean	Sixth

Spoiler: Contest History

Show

Round 4: Knight
Round 5: Ninja
Round 6: Racial Paragon Classes
Round 7: Hexblade
Round 8: Shugenja
Round 9: Swashbuckler
Round 10: Crusader
Round 11: Soulknife
Round 12: Factotum
Round 13: Prestige Classes
Round 14: Mountebank
Round 15: Sorcerer
Round 16: Dragon Shaman
Round 17: Lurk
Round 18: Paladin
Round 19: Scout
Round 20: Incarnate
Round 21: Shadowcaster
Round 22: Dragonmarks
Round 23: Fighter
Round 24: Pets

Spoiler: Way Old Stuff (2012 and earlier; Amechra's run as Chair)

Show

Round 1: Divine Mind
Round 2: Monk
Round 3: Marshal

[Zaq]

Here's a few gentle recommendations that are intended to improve scores and make things easier for the judges. As always, THE RECOMMENDATIONS IN THIS POST ARE NOT RULES. Judges and contestants are free to honor them or ignore them; my intent here is only to help, and NONE of what I'm saying here is required. (That said, did you see the new dispute guidelines? Those ARE rules, so please go read them. And I'm even going to be better about enforcing them this time.)

Recommendations:

• Double-check ALL of your prereqs. Every. Single. One. Feats, PrCs, whatever. You might even go so far as to spell out when you meet each one, but again, that's not a requirement. But one of the single biggest causes of point loss is failure to meet prereqs.
• Tell the judges what's cool about your build! You spent hours or days on this (y'know, probably) and know it inside and out, but the judges are getting a whole bunch of these dishes all at once and don't know the build history of each one. You're significantly more likely to score well if you spell out exactly what makes you awesome than if you try to just let it stand on its own.
• Make it easy to read! Skill tables are awful, though they're an incredibly necessary evil. Full Monster Manual-style statblocks are occasionally useful but are also insanely dense if not formatted well. Judges are very likely to miss something if you aren't careful with how you present your info. Remember that judging takes a lot of time, energy, and focus, so don't rely on the judge being willing/able to decode something in order to see what makes you interesting!
• Be memorable. Remember that we're all using the same ingredient here. What makes you different?

So the first thing to remember is that this is a high-originality round. As is always the case in a high-Originality round, you'll still get more points from the other three categories combined, but you really can't afford to ignore Originality. Since warlocks are easy to build, this seemed like a good chance to let you show off some of your stranger plans you've been dreaming of! Of course, you've only got so many invocations, so maybe it'll come down not only to which ones you have but also what you do with them. Spell that out and make it clear!

This should be a fun time. Remember that Complete Arcane has lots of rules about exactly how invocations work and exactly how they'll interact with other game elements; ask for help if you need to, but there's no shortage of good rules text already available!

[MinimanMidget]

I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'm definitely going to do something.

[Zaq]

How goes it, team?

[daremetoidareyo]

I haz stub.

[MinimanMidget]

How goes it, team?

I'm currently failing to come up with anything that I would consider sufficiently original, so I'm thinking that when I said "I'm definitely going to do something", the something might have to be judging.

[Falontani]

I have a bunch of free time this week, I can look into doing something if you need another entry, but I hadn't started to look yet.

[Zaq]

I have a bunch of free time this week, I can look into doing something if you need another entry, but I hadn't started to look yet.

We definitely need more!

[Quentinas]

Even if i'm outside home i have two ideas for this, one will surely be done , the other maybe not depends if i found something enough original

[PrismCat21]

I'll be dealing with another hurricane, so nothing at all from me. :)

[DeTess]

I've finally ome up with an idea that I like the fluff of, let's see fi i can finish it over the weekend.

[jdizzlean]

I have one done, working on number 2

[Quentinas]

Okay my number 2 is blocked so i submit only a build for this contest

[daremetoidareyo]

Take THAT judges!

Mwa ha ha

[Zaq]

Only a few hours left. Anyone still working? I’d like at least one or two more.

[Quentinas]

If you give me half a day i can try to let work my second build

[ATHATH]

Never mind, the build stub I submitted/suggested doesn't work, as you can't get the +3 Base Fort save you need to qualify in time.

[ATHATH]

Wait, hold on, I might have found a way- I'll try to submit a build later tonight.

EDIT:
"I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter"

[Falontani]

I thought the deadline for this one was after vc, so I've been working on vc; sorry

[jdizzlean]

I forgot to submit when I got home this morning, I'll send to you when I get off work on 12 hours.

sorry

submitted, and i echo this sentiment :)

Take THAT judges!

Mwa ha ha

[daremetoidareyo]

Any word on the new end date?

[Zaq]

I'll post the dishes after work, so in approximately 8 hours! If you've got a last-minute entry, now's the time.

Thanks for being patient with me, everyone!

[Zaq]

Definitely no question about what kind of pacts this one's making.

CE Lesser drow warlock Demonbinder Filau Euit

Note in the background I will talk about the necropolitan template but will not be used as the experience and the loss of one level is something I don’t know how would be ruled in this contest.

Spoiler: Background

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Once upon a time, long long ago, in a far away cavern of the Underdark there was a drow name Filau Euit the Dark master of the Abyss in the language of the drow. He received some powers from Lolth, with his soul as a property of the Queen of the Spiders. His power were that of a warlock, a being able to do various thing at will without a limit like a wizard or a sorcerer, and he worked knowing that his soul at the death would be of Lolth. As the afterdeath wasn’t a problem for him, as was already determined he made a pact with some demons, so that he would be stronger while using them. He became a demonbinder, a being who could bind the demon to his soul. But this act had a price the more he used these demonbinds, the more these demons would have of his soul. So now that warlock had his soul sold two times, and he craved for power even more . For this after some years of adventure where he became stronger , and more evil, he made a pact with Demogorgon, so that at the death of this warlock he would have his soul . In exchange the warlock could summon a demon each day , and he used that demon for his evil act. Then that warlock had a idea. If there were so many being that wanted his soul what would happen if he became something without a soul , like a necropolitan. I don’t know what happened to that warlock but he could be everywhere without a soul with his demonbinds, or he could be tortured in the Abyss , where he sold his soul at least two times. What do you think, where will be that warlock?

Spoiler: Stats

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Stat	[Point buy	After racial
Strength 9	1	9
Dexterity 14	6	16
Constitution 14	6	12
Intelligence 14	6	14
Wisdom 8	0	8
Charisma 17	13	17

4th level point to charisma

Spoiler: Build

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Warlock	+0	+0	+0	+2	Use magic device 4, Knowledge the planes 4, Bluff 4, Concentration 4	Daylight adaptation	Eldritch blast 1d6, invocation (least)
2nd	Warlock	+1	+0	+0	+3	Use magic device 5, Knowledge the planes 5, Bluff 5, Concentration 5		Detect magic
3rd	Warlock	+2	+1	+1	+3	Use magic device 6, Knowledge the planes 6, Bluff 5, Concentration 6, Sense motive 1	Weapon finesse	Damage reduction 1/cold iron, eldritch blast 2d6
4th	Warlock	+3	+1	+1	+4	Use magic device 6, Knowledge the planes 7, Bluff 5, Concentration 7, Sense motive 3		Deceive item
5th	Warlock	+3	+1	+1	+4	Use magic device 6, Knowledge the planes 8, Bluff 5, Concentration 7, Sense motive 4, Speak language 1 (abyssal)		Eldritch blast 3d6
6th	Demonbinder	+3	+3	+1	+6	Use magic device 6, Knowledge the planes 8, Bluff 5, Concentration 8, Sense motive 5, Speak language 1 (abyssal), Spellcraft 2	Wandstrike	Damnation points, demonbind

Cross class skill for this level

Spoiler: Epic feats

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1° Steady concentration
2° Force of personality
3° Maximize spell like ability
4° Craft Wand
5° Evil brand
6° Thrall to demon
7° Abyss bound soul (demogorgon)
8° Demonic skin
9° Keeper of forbidden lore
10° Cloak of the obyrith

Spoiler: Invocations, and damnation point

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1° invocation Dark one’s own luck
2° invocation Baleful utternace
3° invocation Hideous blow
Damnation points = 4 (charisma )+1 (class level) so I can bind up to a vrock

Spoiler: Tactics

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Spoiler: Level 1

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We start as a warlock and the invocation we take is a defensive one as our saves are not good, in our main save we have a bad stat as this character is nearly mad so his wisdom is not high, but our charisma is good so we can use this to boost one of our saves (at low levels probably fortitude or reflexes but depends on the enemies) . We have a feat that blocks our blindness with the sun so if we will have to fight above is not a problem. Our main weapon is eldritch blast , and for now we stay away using this blast to hit the enemies. As skill we are not bad if we have a social situation, and concentration can be used to cast our eldritch blast

Spoiler: Level 2,3

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At the second level we gain detect magic at will that is useful but for now we don’t have spellcraft so is not so much useful but we gained even a new invocation baleful utterance If we use detect magic to find which items are not magic we can use baleful utterance to destroy it so giving problem to our enemy in many case. At level 3 we gain another d6 of eldritch blast and weapon finesse so now if we need we can fight in melee using the racial proficiency with rapier. Baleful utterance can be useful against some golems that could be a problem with our eldritch blast

Spoiler: Level 4,5

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The last two level of warlock for this build and a level where we gain a very useful ability for a warlock , deceive item. From the level 4 we will not put any other ranks in use magic device , as for the wands (that are the ones that we need more see later) we already reach the 20 needed to use them , as we have 6 ranks+4 charisma(thanks to the point of level 4) and we can take 10 so is 20 , so now we can use wands. But a wand is better than our eldritch blast? Maybe depend on the wand as now we have gained another d6 of eldritch blast and we can combine it with hideous blow and our rapier to do 4d6 on total for now or 3d6 at touch

Spoiler: Level 6

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Now this is the level that combine each thing of previous element as we enter in a prestige class. But what is interesting in this prestige class ,that we miss the lesser invocation of the warlock? Well basically now we have various option for each combat, many more than any invocation could give us as our damnation point are a good resource and are based on our charisma. These demonbind give each one temporary hit points, and the best for us are
Succubus. It doesn’t use many damnation points so the last two we have can be used to buff our skills, even if is only a round is still good especially on bluff.
Babau Is one of the few demonbind that we can use without losing anything on our eldritch blast , and we even gain sneak attack so if needed we could do a little ambush with the spells in our wand and eldritch blast. The bonus damage on eldritch blast is another dice basically, 5 is higher than the average of a d6 at least
Vrock This one is good if we have access to a charisma boosting item as is similar to babau but higher
Yochol and Bebilith are good for the hitpoints but their bonus is not easy depends on the situation
The use of the wand is combined with hideous blow ,in the form of Wandstrike, that permits us to attack with a wand dealing damage and if we want to activate it, and as eldricht blast is not a bonus damage (as it is a separate mechanics than the one listed) we can do even more damage. So as we are melee the temporary hitpoints of the demonbinder are useful
We boost even our detect magic with some ranks in spellcraft but is nothing so high and baleful utterance is still useful as a combo, other than being the invocation necessary to enter in the demonbinder

Spoiler: Epic 1 , 2

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With these feats we cover the weak spot (for now ) of this character as our combo need a good concentration check to work (16) and we doesn’t need a dice to ruin our tactics so the first feat is steady concentration so we will not have any problem with the check. Force of personality is a different matter , is good as a mechanical effect and I think that to bind to demons, be ready to sell his soul to other demons one should be charismatic so this will help us

Spoiler: Epic 3,4

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These feat are good with our tactics, craft wand to create our weapons using our allies spell , or our spell like abilities that are similar to a spell so Detect magic and Shatter as wands. Maximize spell like abilities is useful to do more damage with our eldritch blast especially if we are quite sure to hit and maybe we even give bonus from our demonbinds

Spoiler: Epic 5, 6,7

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Our soul is already damned between Lolth and the demonbinds we use so why not take some vile feats that strengthen our bond with demons? Evil brand is useful so we can do our social abilities in a better way with evil , while thrall to demon is not so good as we don’t need so much a +1 to something, except saves maybe Is more a tax feat than anything else as the next feat permit us to sell again our soul (as we already did not) and it give a good bonus , in our case the possibility to summon a tanar’ri to our side for one hour. Remember when we took craft wand? Now we can use the ability of this tanar’ri to boost our wands as spell , in this case we can summon a dretch to put his spell like abilities in wand. We can even use this feat to summon a rutterkin to take time while we do the demonbind, so in each round there will be at least one to attack .

Spoiler: Epic 8,9,10

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After we took abyss bound soul we are near the Abyss so for that I took some abyss heritor feats that can be useful the first is demonic skin as more AC is good , so a bonus can be taken. The second is keeper of forbidden lore, the main bonus is the spellcraft bonus as we can use it with our detect magic to recognise more easily the spells and even the knowledge (the planes) is good because we have invested some more in that skill. The third is a boost to our DR or better another type that is stronger as that feat give us DR 3 not 1 like the warlock

Spoiler: Numbers on this build

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Hit points without demonbinding 6+4d6+1d4+6= around 29 so maximum 54 with demonbinding a vrock
Bluff maximum +4(charisma)+5(ranks) +5 (demonbinding succubus)=14
Diplomacy +4 (charisma)+0 (ranks)+5(demonbinding succubus)+4 (synergy)+2 (evil brand with evils)=15
Saves
fortitude 8 (3 base +1 constitution+4 dark one own luck)
reflex 4 (1 base+3 dexterity)
will (with force of personality and race effect) 12( 6 base+ 4 charisma +2 race)

Spoiler: Sources

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From player handbook
Weapon finesse, Craft wand
From Player guide to faerun
Lesser drow, daylight adaptation
From drow of the underdark
Demonbinder
From Complete Arcane
Warlock, wandstrike , maximize spell like ability
From races of stone
Steady concentration
From Complete Adventurer
Force of personality
From Fiendish codex 1
Evil brand, thrall to demon, abyss bound soul, demonic skin , keeper of forbidden lore ,cloak of the obyrith

[Zaq]

Well, there's definitely a lot of crawling. Though in my case it's mostly my skin.

Iris the Eye CaptainUnicorn Clan Azurin Warlock 6
STR 10, dex 15, con 16, int 14, wiz 10, cha 12.
Add +1 to dex at level 4

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Warlock	+0	+0	+0	+2	concentration 4, ride 4, umd 4, craft (tiny leather working) 1, craft (tiny armorsmithing) 1, k. local 1	Spellfire Wielder (Magic of Faerun p.23), Hidden Talent (XPH p.67) (syncronicity (comp psi p.103)	Eldritch blast 1d6, invocation (least), Devil's Sight Invocation
2nd	Warlock	+1	+0	+0	+3	concentration 5, ride 5, umd 5, craft leather 2		Detect magic, Darkness Invocation
3rd	Warlock	+2	+1	+1	+3	concentration 6, ride 6, umd 6, craft (tiny weaponsmithing) 1	Shape Soulmeld (MoI p.40) Rage Claws	Damage reduction 1/cold iron, eldritch blast 2d6,
4th	Warlock	+3	+1	+1	+4	concentration 7, ride 7, umd 7, craft leather 3		Deceive item, 3
5th	Warlock	+3	+2	+2	+4	concentration 8, ride 8, umd 8, craft leather 4		Eldritch blast 3d6, All Seeing Eyes Invocation (complete mage)
6th	Warlock	+4	+2	+2	+5	concentration 9, ride 9, umd 9, craft leather 5	Shape Soulmeld (Moi p.40): Threefold mask of Chimera)	New invocation (least or lesser), Crawling Eye Invocation (complete mage)

Epic Feats
1. Shape soulmeld (MoI p.40): soulspark familiar
2. Open Least Chakra (MoI p.39): crown
3. Psycarnum Infusion (MoI p.40)
4. Overchannel (XPH p.49)
5. Linked power (comp Psi p.62)
6. Mortalbane (Bovd p.49)
7. Azure talent (MoI p.34)
8. Thick Skinned (savage species p.40)
9. Bonus essentia (MoI p.35)
10. Martial study (ToB): Action before thought (ToB p.69)

Pupils, Behold: What you see is what you get.

Captain eye is a keen theoretical build predicated entirely on the crawling eye invocation.

Spellfire wielder allows the warlock to eldritch blast themself to store spell levels, if they have a standard action to absorb it. This is possible once the captain has linked synchronicities psionic powers from overchanneling, which gives manifester level 2, just enough to pay the cost of the metalwork feat. More apparent though is the ability of the crawling eye to manifest synchronicity in order to absorb eldritch blasts.

The leather working craft is to be used to make exotic saddles for crawling eyes to ride soulsparks as mounts.

Wh-eye was that last sentence plural?

Because of the following:

At 6th level, captain eye gains the crawling eye invocation. Because "For all other purposes, its statistics are equal to yours." That means your crawling eye is a meldshaper capable of manifesting rage claws, the threefold mask of the chimera, and at the first epic feat, a soulspark. The eye doesn't die at 0 hp, it can go as low as -9hp due to rage claws. And although captain eye can't eldritch blast through the eye, there is no prohibition for the eye to manifest crawling eyes itself, and if one doesn't agree there, the invocation itself allows captain eye to use crawling eye on his crawling eye. If only there were an ability to give your crawling eye more eyeballs…

Threefold mask of the chimera grants additional eyes. Especially when bound to the crown chakra. So your crawling eye can shape a threefold mask, cast crawling eye, tearing out a masks' eye, at a cost of 2 hp, which it survives due to rage claws. This can repeat ad infin-eye-tum.

It's a sight for sore eyes.

Then, due to the movement restrictions, using the ride skill granted by the captain from his upbringing as a human subtype azurin of the unicorn clan, the crawling eye need not use move actions to move, the soulspark can do it. If you paint a black dot on the soulspark, it looks like an eye too.

The eye can manifest overchanneled linked synchronicities and absorb (your all day free eldritch blasts) or shoot spellfire or use healing spellfire.

You can load up a crawling eye with blasts and retract it into your face to get absorbed spellfire levels. And your crawling eyes have crawling eyes of their own. Each with 2 hp going all the way down to -9, the ability to heal using spellfire, and a spellfire blast that can deal up to 14d6 damage. Each has DR1/cold eye-ron eventually growing to DR3/cold iron. Martial study: action before thought allows the eyes to make a concentration check in place of a reflex save which will help potentially, against eye-rea effects.

The first 6 levels are stock warlock shenanigans, darkness + devils sight to target baddies with eldritch blasts minus their dex unless they can see in magical darkness. Plus the occasional utility of synchronicity and the always helpful spellfire wielder feat.

Spoiler

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One of your eyes leaves your head and sprouts spidery legs. You can see through the eye no matter where it goes, so you can use it to scout or spy. The eye can’t crawl of its own volition, but you can direct it to move or climb up to 20 feet as a move action. Its Climb modifier is equal to your warlock level +8. You can direct a crawling eye in your space to climb back into your eye socket as a move action.
When you use this invocation, your current and full normal hit point totals are reduced by 2 for as long as the eye is detached. The eye is considered a Fine creature with AC 20 and 2 hit points. Its Hide and Move Silently modifiers are equal to your warlock level.
For all other purposes, its statistics are equal to yours. You can’t cast most invocations or spells through the eye, but any spells or invocations that affect your sense of sight—such as devil’s sight, all-seeing eyes, or detect magic— function through the eye as though it was still attached.
If your crawling eye is destroyed, you are dazzled for 1d4 hours, during which time the eye regrows. (If you normally have only one eye, you are blinded instead). At the end of this period, you regain the 2 lost hit points, and the dazzled condition ends.
Only one of your eyes can be used for crawling eye at any time; if your crawling eye is destroyed, you can’t use this invocation again until your eye regrows.

A spellfire wielder can ready an action to absorb spells targeted at her as if she were a rod of absorption. She gets one level of spellfire energy for every spell level absorbed and can store a number of spellfire energy levels equal to her Constitution score.

As a standard action, she may expend these spellfire energy levels as a ranged touch attack (maximum range 400 feet), dealing 1d6 points of spellfire damage per level expended (Reflex half DC 20). Spellfire damage is half fire damage and half raw magical power, just like the damage of a flame strike spell is half fire and half divine energy. Creatures with immunity, resistance, or protection against fire apply these effects to half the damage.

A spellfire wielder can also heal a target by touch, restoring 2 hit points per spellfire energy level expended for this purpose.

Unlike most supernatural abilities, spellfire is affected by spells and magic items that affect spell-like abilities, such as a rod of absorption or a rod of negation (if pointed at the manifestation rather than the wielder). It can be thwarted or counterspelled by dispel magic, and theoretically a spellfire wielder could counterspell another's spellfire. However, spellfire is a supernatural ability and does not provoke an attack of opportunity when used, nor is it subject to spell resistance.

[Zaq]

• FACT: Warlocks are mammals.
• FACT: Warlocks fight ALL the time.
• FACT: The purpose of the warlock is to flip out and kill people.

Malloch
Human Ninja 3/Warlock 2/Hellbreaker 1

Malloch is a heartless assassin sometimes employed by lesser devils to murder their rivals. He wields an envenomed blade of shadow and can conjure a stygian darkness that no other creature can see through.

Spoiler: Ability Scores

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Ability	Final Score	Base Score	Point Buy Cost
Strength	8	8	0
Dexterity	18	17	13
Constitution	10	10	2
Intelligence	14	14	6
Wisdom	16	16	10
Charisma	9	9	1

At level 4, Wisdom is raised by 1.

Spoiler: Build

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skill Ranks Added	Skill Ranks Total	Feats	Class Features
1st	Ninja	+0	+0	+2	+0	Bluff 4, Craft (poisonmaking) 4, Escape Artist 4, Hide 4, Move Silently 4, Search 4, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft (cc) 2	Bluff 4, Craft (poisonmaking) 4, Escape Artist 4, Hide 4, Move Silently 4, Search 4, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft 2	Combat Expertise, Improved Feint	AC bonus, ki power, sudden strike +1d6, trapfinding
2nd	Warlock	+0	+0	+2	+2	Knowledge (arcana) 4, Spellcraft 1	Bluff 4, Craft (poisonmaking) 4, Escape Artist 4, Hide 4, Knowledge (arcana) 4, Move Silently 4, Search 4, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft 3	-	Eldritch Blast 1d6, invocation (least)
3rd	Warlock	+1	+0	+2	+3	Knowledge (the planes) 4, Spellcraft 1	Bluff 4, Craft (poisonmaking) 4, Escape Artist 4, Hide 4, Knowledge (arcana) 4, Knowledge (the planes) 4, Move Silently 4, Search 4, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft 4	Undo Resistance	Detect magic
4th	Ninja	+2	+0	+3	+3	Bluff 2, Craft (poisonmaking) 2, Escape Artist 1, Hide 1, Move Silently 1, Sense Motive 2	Bluff 6, Craft (poisonmaking) 6, Escape Artist 5, Hide 5, Knowledge (arcana) 4, Knowledge (the planes) 4, Move Silently 5, Search 4, Sense Motive 6, Spellcraft 4	-	Ghost step (invisible)
5th	Ninja	+3	+1	+3	+4	Bluff 2, Craft (poisonmaking) 2, Escape Artist 1, Hide 1, Move Silently 1, Sense Motive 2	Bluff 8, Craft (poisonmaking) 8, Escape Artist 6, Hide 6, Knowledge (arcana) 4, Knowledge (the planes) 4, Move Silently 6, Search 4, Sense Motive 8, Spellcraft 4	-	Sudden strike +2d6, poison use
6th	Hellbreaker	+3	+1	+5	+6	Escape Artist 3, Hide 3, Move Silently 3	Bluff 8, Craft (poisonmaking) 8, Escape Artist 9, Hide 9, Knowledge (arcana) 4, Knowledge (the planes) 4, Move Silently 9, Search 4, Sense Motive 8, Spellcraft 4	Darkstalker	Mantle of darkness, telepathic static

Epic feats:

1. Devil's Favor
2. Devil's Sight
3. At Home in the Deep
4. Instinctive Darkness
5. Weapon Finesse
6. Poison Spell
7. Poison Expert (Injury)
8. Poison Master (Injury)
9. Practiced Spellcaster
10. Obtain Familiar

Invocations:

1. Darkness
2. Eldritch Glaive

Alignment: Chaotic evil

Notable stats:

• Eldritch Glaive: reach, +7 melee touch (3 BAB, +4 Dex from Weapon Finesse), 3d6 damage (1d6 Eldritch Blast, 2d6 Sudden Strike)
• 17 AC (+4 Dex, +3 Wis from Ninja)
• +1 Fort
• +9 Reflex (+5 base, +4 Dex)
• +11 Will (+6 base, +3 Wis, +2 from Ki Power if any ki points remain)
• +13 Hide and Move Silently (9 ranks, +4 Dex)
• +10 Bluff (8 ranks, -1 Cha, +3 Snake familiar)
• 5 ki points

Spoiler: Tactics

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As a swift action (Instinctive Darkness), Malloch can cast a darkness that he can see through (Devil's Sight, At Home in the Deep) but that other creatures cannot, even creatures that can see through magical darkness (Mantle of Darkness), creatures with blindsight (Darkstalker), and nearby creatures with telepathy or divinations (Telepathic Static). This allows him to always remain hidden and benefit from Sudden Strike. If his darkness somehow fails him, he uses Ghost Step to turn invisible. As a last resort, he will feint to gain the benefits of Sudden Strike.

Malloch often adds poison to his Eldritch Glaive attacks (Poison Spell). His snake familiar (Obtain Familiar) offers ready materials to craft tiny viper poison, which deals initial and secondary 1d6+1 Con damage (Poison Master), with a Fort save of 11 (Poison Expert).

Against invisible creatures, he can gain blindsight temporarily twice a day (Devil's Sight).

Spoiler: Sources

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Complete Adventurer: Ninja
Complete Arcane: Warlock, Obtain Familiar, Practiced Spellcaster
Complete Scoundrel: Poison Expert, Poison Master
Draconomicon: Eldritch Glaive
Drow of the Underdark: At Home in the Deep, Instinctive Darkness, Poison Spell
Fiendish Codex II: Devil's Favor, Devil's Sight, Hellbreaker
Lords of Madness: Darkstalker

[Zaq]

Phenomenal cosmic power! Itty-bitty birdie.

O’ren Ishi, The Huntress

Spoiler: stub, etc

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Chaotic Anything Sparrow Hengeyokai Warlock 6 (OA and Dragon 318) Humanoid (Shapechanger)
-2 WIS, +2 DEX (hybrid)
Human Form: Medium, speed 30
Hybrid Form: Medium, Speed 20/fly 20, lowlight, speak w/ birds
Animal Form: Fine size (+8 to AC and to hit), lowlight, speak w/ other birds, Speed 1/Fly 50, AC 24 (+8 size, +6 Dex) STR 3, DEX 23, CON 10

Point Buy:
Str 10 Dex 10 Con 10 Int 16 Wis 15 Cha 15
Racial Humanoid / Hybrid
Str 10 Dex 10/12 Con 10 Int 16 Wis 13 Cha 15
+1 Cha at lvl 4

Least: Entropic Warding, 20% miss chance for ranged
See the Unseen: see invis and Darkvision

Least Blast Shape: Eldritch Spear: EB range is 250ft

Eldritch Essence Lesser Invocation: Baneful Blast (CM 123) choose a favored enemy from the ranger list, add +2d6 to EB damage, chain this w/ Favored Enemy Arcanist

Spoiler: build

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Warlock	+0	+0	+0	+2	Conc 4, UMD 4, cc-Hide 2, cc-Move Silent 2, cc-Spot 2	Surrogate Spellcasting	EB 1d6, Least Invocation (Eldritch Spear)
2nd	Warlock 2	+1	+0	+0	+3	Conc 5, UMD 5, cc-hide/move/spot 2.5	-	Detect Magic, Least Invocation (Entropic Warding)
3rd	Warlock 3	+2	+1	+1	+3	Conc 6, UMD 6, cc-hide/move/spot 3	Flyby Attack	DR 1/cold iron, EB 2d6
4th	Warlock 4	+3	+1	+1	+4	Conc 7, UMD 7, cc-hide/move/spot 3.5	-	Least Invocation (See the Unseen)
5th	Warlock 5	+3	+1	+1	+4	Conc 8, UMD 8, Know Arc 1 cc-hide/spot 4	-	EB 3d6
6th	Warlock 6	+4	+2	+2	+5	Conc 9, UMD 9, Know Arc 3, cc-move 4	Born Flyer	Lesser Invocation (Baneful Blast), Arcane Hunter ACF

Epic Feats:
Mortalbane x10, totals 50 uses/day of +2d6 damage to every EB

Spoiler: ACF Chain

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Baneful Blast gives you bonus damage to a selected Favored Enemy from the ranger list, thus giving you the ranger class ability minus the other useless bonuses. Selecting then the Arcane Hunter ACF to instead gain arcanists (anyone capable of casting arcane spells, or invocations) then allows you to add +2d6 damage to eldritch blast to any arcanist.
Eldritch/Baneful Blast
At 6th level and beyond in sparrow form, your to hit is +4 (BAB) +8 (size), +6 (DEX) = +18 vs a touch AC of usually 10. (It’s +14 at level 1.) Doing 3d6 base damage, +2d6 bane, +2d6 mortalbane. Even ignoring Precise shot, you still have a +14 to hit on your ranged touch, meaning auto success barring a roll of a 1 the entire build.

Spoiler: etc, etc

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A lesser chasuble of fell power (comp arc 148) is attainable in e6, which would add another 1d6 to your EB’s, for a total of 8d6 vs the right target. Gloves of Eldritch Admixture (MiC) may or may not be available in e6, but it’s also only up to 3x day, which is not awesome.

Optional Feats that require some arguing were you to take them:
Plunging Shot is an option for extra damage, as you’ll always be a speck in the air, and therefor always attacking from at least the requisite 30’ away, but the feat references a projectile weapon, and so would require your DM getting on board w/ EB being classified that way, which isn’t RAW, so isn’t included here.

Extra Invocation would grant another least invocation. The only thing worth it on this build might be summon swarm, which you could then argue would benefit from mortalbane, however it’s a close range invocation, which negates your greatest strength of being so far away, plus its duration is concentration, meaning it eats up all your standard actions, so meh.

Nemesis (BoED) is another good option for the warlock, which you can chain into Arcane hunter, however the text says “+1d6 to weapon attacks”. EB is a weaponlike SLA, but not a weapon attack itself, so this too would require some more DM hand waving, but would then bump you up to 9d6 on your EB vs evil arcanists. If allowed, dumping one Mortalbane just makes sense.

It’s hard to be original in a warlock round for e6, although I’m sure some others may do just that. Taking a Ranger ACF is about as original as I could think considering we all have the same invocations to pick from. Hengeyokai gives you flight, which otherwise would almost have to be your 1 lesser invocation.

Spoiler: SOURCES

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Book of Vile Darkness: Mortalbane
Complete Arcane: Warlock, Invocations
Complete Mage: Baneful Blast, Arcane Hunter
Monster Manual: Flyby Attack
Oriental Adventures/Dragon #318: Sparrow Hengeyokai
Races of the Wild: Born Flyer
Savage Species: Surrogate Spellcasting

[Zaq]

Koopa + wings = Parakoopa. Goomba + wings = Paragoomba. Can this one fly? Good! I won't have to scold it for false advertising…

LE Lesser Aasimar Para Gnostic
Races from races of destiny with lesser planetouched from player guide to faerun

Spoiler: Background

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He was an aasimar, it should be been good, but the offer of power can easily change even the heart of one who would be good and this was the case of Para Gnostic, the new name of the Aasimar corrupted by the devils, with the offer of more power, other than the one of a warlock. How he could gain more power? Easily gaining more knowledge, the devils let him learn about the Paragnostic Assembly and how he could easily become a Paragnostic Apostle and so he did that, gaining the knowledge as a Paragnostic Apostle while powering himself with their abilities and library. His search of power could continue as long as he had knowledge, and the help of the devils ,even if his soul will go in the Nine hells of Baator at his end

Spoiler: Stats

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Stat	[Point buy	After racial
Strength 8	0	8
Dexterity 14	6	14
Constitution 12	4	12
Intelligence 16	10	16
Wisdom 12	4	14
Charisma 15	8	17

4th level point to charisma

Spoiler: Build

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Warlock	+0	+0	+0	+2	Knowledge arcana 4 Knowledge the planes 4, Knowledge religion 4, Spellcraft 4, Concentration 4	Point blank shot (srd)	Eldritch blast 1d6, invocation (least)
2nd	Warlock	+1	+0	+0	+3	Knowledge arcana 5 Knowledge the planes 5, Knowledge religion 5, Spellcraft 5, Concentration 5		Detect magic
3rd	Warlock	+2	+1	+1	+3	Knowledge arcana 6 Knowledge the planes 5, Knowledge religion 5, Spellcraft 6, Concentration 6, Trick Collector of stories (complete scoundrel)	Precise shot (srd)	Damage reduction 1/cold iron, eldritch blast 2d6
4th	Paragnostic Apostle	+2	+1	+1	+5	Knowledge arcana 7 Knowledge the planes 6 Knowledge religion 5, Spellcraft 7, Concentration 6,Knowledge nature 2, Knowledge dungeoneering 2		Holy texts, knowledge is power, lore
5th	Paragnostic Apostle (complete chanpion)	+3	+1	+1	+6	Knowledge arcana 8 Knowledge the planes 7 Knowledge religion 5, Spellcraft 8, Concentration 7,Knowledge nature 4, Knowledge dungeoneering 4		Knowledge is power
6th	Paragnostic Apostle	+3	+2	+2	+6	Knowledge arcana 9 Knowledge the planes 9, Knowledge religion 5, Spellcraft 9 Concentration 7,Knowledge nature 5, Knowledge dungeoneering 5	Knowledge devotion (complete champion)	Knowledge is power

Our eldritch blast is 3d6 and we gain 4 invocation as the paragnostic apostle advance the warlock , as descripted in the Complete arcane

Spoiler: Epic feats

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1° Weapon focus (ranged spell) (complete arcane)
2° ranged spell specialization (complete arcane)
3° Ability focus (eldritch blast) (monster manual)
4° Extra invocation (complete arcane)
5° Spell penetration (player handbook)
6° Greater spell penetration (player handbook)
7° Evil brand (exemplar of evil)
8° Hellsworn (Hell’s fury) (exemplars of evil)
9° Mortalbane (book of vile darkness)
10° Empower spell like ability (monster manual)

Spoiler: Invocations, and knowledge is power

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1° invocation Sickening blast (complete arcane)
2° invocation Otherwordly whisper (complete mage)
3° invocation Dark one own’s luck (complete arcane)
4° Inovcation Fell flight(complete arcane)
5° Extra invocation Frightful blast (complete arcane)
Level 4 Knowledge is power= Backhanded attack
Level 5 Knowledge is power= Accurate retort
Level 6 Knowledge is power= Penetrating insight

Spoiler: Tactics

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Spoiler: Level 1

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We start as a warlock and the invocation we take is a debuffing one as we can’t do so much damage, we are lawful evil and our objective is to gain the knowledge of the paragnostic assemble for our patron or for our evil matter. But to do so we must become stronger and we will collaborate with other adventurers debuffing the enemy if needed , with point blank shot being enough useful for now

Spoiler: Level 3

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Some time passed we became able to see the magic (and we use spellcraft as a bonus) , to reduce some of the damage thanks to our new DR , a stronger eldritch blast and the invocation which will be so much useful , otherwordly whisper that boost our main knowledge so we can enter in the paragnostic assembly (even from the first level but now we start doing a prestige class). Precise shot will permit us to doesn’t do friendly fire not the best way to collaborate in an association no?

Spoiler: Level 6

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As first thing we could enter in the paragnostic apostle thanks to our race, because the lesser aasimar have daylight ,so is a level 3 spell like abilities. The paragnostic apostle ask for 3° level spell or the equivalent in spell like abilities so we can enter even if with the warlock we couldn’t because we don’t have for now lesser invocation. But being in the paragnostic assembly as a paragnostic apostle was worth as we gained various abilities that boost our eldritch blast other than have achieved a good rank in the paragnostic assembly so we can use their libraries to research in various skill is not bad. We gained new knowledge skill , and we put 5 rank to boost our points with the paragnostic assembly . The knowledge is power skills are useful as each one boost our eldritch blast one as a DC , one as roll, and one to penetrate the spell resistance that would be a problem with our warlock. We didn’t lost any invocation or eldritch blast as the paragnostic apostle boost our class level at each level. We even gained lore so we could be something similar to a bard. Maybe the best thing of this level is our ability to fly, combined with knowledge devotion (and collector of stories) is a good offensive, and for our defense we took dark one own’s luck that will boost our fortitude saving throw that is not so much high

Spoiler: Epic 1 , 2

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We already took something that boost our ray , as feats and as an ability now we boost it again with these two feats that are not bad on the strike and on the damage we will need to be near but the same for point blank shot so is not a problem.

Spoiler: Epic 3, 4

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We had already a debuffing essence so now we boost it with ability focus as the text in the complete arcane seems to suggest that ability focus on eldritch blast help with the essence so is good. Backhanded attack is another boost here so we have a +3 to our sickening blast. But why we should only do with sickening? We can use frightful to give another debuff is free with the attack at the end so why not? This is why we take the extra invocation feat.

Spoiler: Epic 5, 6

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As we become stronger the enemy of the spellcaster is more present, and we are in E6 so we don’t have a big boost to our caster level, so after we took the penetrating insight we take the two feats that can help us spell penetration and greater spell penetration for a total of +11 to pass the spell resistance.

Spoiler: Epic 7,8,9, 10

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Each one of these feat as one objective boost the damage of our eldritch blast as the hellsworn feat is a free action and is a third of our eldritch blast as damage so is not bad. We use weapon focus we already took , and our ranks in knowledge so is a good combination for us. Evil brand is taken as a prerequisite, is a bit of a problem but only evils creature recognize us luckily. Mortalbane is quite easy and is a good boost for when we can do that. The last is empower spell like ability that we can do easily on our eldritch blast because is a 1° level equivalent but not when we use our essence. In one case we do damage in the other we debuff but we can mix mortalbane and hellsworn hell’s fury even with the essence

Spoiler: Numbers on this build

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Hit points 6+2d6+3d4+12=around 32 but we fly
Knowledge checks (without collector of stories and without any search) Arcana and the planes = 9 ranks +6 (otherwordly whisper)+ 3 intelligence=18
Knowledge religion 5 ranks +6 otherwordly whisper +3 intelligence= 14
Other knowledge =8 (5 rank +3 intelligence)
Paragnostic assembly points and rank= 3 (half level)+ 5 (5 skills with at least 9 rank) +1 (has levels in a class with at least three skill for example warlock) + 1 (is devout to knowledge thanks to knowledge devotion)+1 (has at least one level in a paragnostic prestige class) So we are a sage of wordly matter with 11 points
Saves
Will 6+2 (wisdom)=8
Reflex 2+2 dexterity =4
Fortitude 2+1 constitution+4 dark one own luck=7
To hit (when we are in 30 foot) 3 +2 (dexterity)+1 (weapon focus)+ 1 (point blank shot)+1 (accurate retort remember the natural armor bonus of a creature without natural is 0 so one could rule is a bonus)+1 (the minimum for knowledge devotion)=9 at touch
Damage maximum
3d6(eldritch blast)+1 (point blank shot)+2 (ranged spell specialization)+1d6( hellsworn)+half 3d6 (empower spell like ability)+ 2d6 (mortalbane)+1 (minimum knowledge devotion)=around 30
DC for our essence
10+2 (essence level)+4 (charisma)+2 (ability focus)+1 (backhanded attack) =19
Spell penetration =3 (warlock level) +3 (paragnostic apostle)+1 (penetrating insight)+4 (spell penetration and greater spell penetration)=+11

[Zaq]

I like tarragon and I like maple, but putting them together? Yeah, pretty sure only a fey would do that.

Tarragon Mapleflash

Spoiler: bits and bobs

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CG Human Warlock 2/CCleric 3/ Eldritch Disciple 1
Point Buy:
S 10 D 10 C 12 I 10 W 18 C 14
+1 to CON at 4th

HP: 5d6+1d8+6

Spell Domain SpC 280: Mystra. GP +2 on conc/spellcraft
1-Mage Armor
2-Silence

-Div Magician: only gain 1 domain (req know arc 1), add 1 wiz spell of abj,div,nec each time you gain new cleric spells to your list

Recommended Sor/Wiz Spells from Divine Magician, by level:
1. Negative Energy Ray (T&B) 3d6 ray, True Strike (gained at epic 8th), Critical Strike (epic 10th)
2. Bonefiddle (SpC) 3d6 sonic and -20 move silent/round, up to 6 rounds.


-Spon Dom: can’t convert spells to cure spells. Lose any prepared spell to cast any domain spell of same or lower level

Spoiler: a beginning

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Tarragon Mapleflash always knew there was something different about herself. Even from a young age she just “saw things” differently. Her mother nurtured this outlook, and it was no wonder at all when she would spend countless hours alone in the woods, where for some reason she just felt much more at ease.

In her wanderings, she came upon a temple of sorts that paid homage to Mystra, the mother of all magic. And here as well, met the Keeper, a young Petal named Teal. Teal recognized in Tarragon that something special as well, and took her under her petals as it were, mentoring her in both her nature, and her ‘other’ nature.

In time, Tarragon Mapleflash became a champion for Mystra, and her underlying heritage came out. It was not a bar to her destiny, but another step to glory.

Spoiler: table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Cloistered Cleric	+0	+2	+0	+2	Conc 4, Know Arc/Nat/Rel/Planes 4, Know Dung/Geo/Hist/Local 1, Spellcraft 4	Extra Turning, (B) Med Armor Proficiency, (B) Knowledge Devotion	Turn Undead, Lore, Spells, Divine Magician ACF, Spontaneous Domain (Spell) Acf
2nd	Cloistered Cleric 2	+1	+3	+0	+3	Conc 5, Know Arc/Nat/Rel/Planes 5, Collector of Stories	-	-
3rd	Cloistered Cleric 3	+1	+3	+1	+3	Conc 6, Heal 1, Know Arc/Nat/Rel/Planes 6, Spellcraft 6	Zen Archery	-
4th	Warlock	+1	+3	+1	+5	Conc 7, Know Rel 7, Spellcraft 6	-	Eldritch Blast 1d6, Least Invocation (Otherworldly Whispers)
5th	Warlock 2	+2	+3	+1	+6	Conc 8, Know Rel 8, Spellcraft 7	-	Detect Magic/will, Least Invocation (Eldritch Glaive)
6th	Eldritch Disciple	+2	+5	+1	+8	Conc 9, Know Rel 9, Spellcraft 8	Battle Caster	Gift of Patron (Healing Blast), Turn Undead, +1 Warlock Invocation advancement (EB/EG 2d6)

Epic Feats:
1- Practiced Spellcaster (Warlock CL=6): EB/EG is now 3d6
2- Practiced Spellcaster (Cleric CL=6)
3- Fey Heritage: +3 WILL vs enchantments
4- Fey Power: +1 CL and save DC’s for enchantment spells and warlock invocations
5- Fey Presence: SLA’s charm monster/deep slumber/disguise self 1/day
6- Fey Skin: DR 4/cold iron
7- Shape Soulmeld (Lucky Dice): +1 to attack/dmg, skill checks, or saves. Possibly all 3
8- Extra Spell: paired w/ divine magician to get another 1st lvl wiz/sorc spell
9- Extra Slot: bonus 1st lvl slot
10- Extra Spell: another 1st wiz spell

Cleric Spells, including high WIS bonus:
1: 0-3, 1-2+1
2: 0-4, 1-3+1
3: 0-4, 1-3+1, 2-2+1
epic 9th: 0-4, 1-4+1, 2-2+1

Add the following spells to the cloistered cleric's class spell list: 0—message; 1st—erase, identify, unseen servant; 2nd—fox's cunning;

Sample Spell List:
0th’s: Create Water, Cure Minor, Read Magic, Resistance
1st: Divine Favor, Ice Slick, Protection from Evil, Wieldskill
2nd: Divine Insight, Guidance of the Avatar, Resist Energy, Shatter

Spoiler: gameplay and stuff

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On Level 1:
Per the PHB, pages 58 and 59, you level in the following manner: choose class, adjust BAB, base saves, ability scores, hit points, skill points, feats, spells, class features. So all knowledge skills are class skills from the knowledge domain until we get to the very end of this list to trade it away for devotion. This lets us get at least 1 rank in all the knowledge skills to later apply knowledge devotion to for EB/EG.
Warlocks get crappy BAB, everyone knows this. Eldritch Glaive takes this weakness and turns it into a strength by making your melee attacks into touch attacks with reach. Even taking a single level of warlock in e6 would cut out the possibility of iterative attacks, so high BAB doesn’t matter in this competition. The Fey Heritage line eventually mimics the DR of the warlock, but increases it to DR 4/cold iron over the 1 you’d get from going straight warlock. Practiced Spellcaster bumps your EB/EG damage up to full, and Divine Magician and Extra Spell combine to get you some extra options on your spell list which further help out your EG.

Fey Presence gives you 3 more SLA’s usable once a day, of those Charm Monster is a 3rd level spell, and Deep Slumber, also a 3rd, targets up to 10hd of creatures, which should be anything you’re facing in e6. Charm Monster is a Bard 3rd, but a sorc/wiz 4th. Bards don’t get 3rds till 7th level, so this is already breaking out of e6 in spirit.
Knowledge devotion (see below) is going to be pretty consistently bumping up your to hit and damage against everything you fight, and since both EB and EG are touch attacks, you won’t have any issues hitting.
Healing Blast gives you 9 3d6 ranged or touch heals a day. Nothing says you can’t target yourself either, so fire away at whoever needs it.

Battle Caster gets you into medium armor, so mithral full plate to your hearts content.

The Richard Baker FAQ:

Q: would practiced spellcaster allow Blast damage progression?
A: I think it should, but I doubt the language of the feat and eldritch blast description specifically allows it. ( if eldritch blast were written in such a way that it dealt damage based on the warlock’s caster level, it would be fine. But the damage is based on the warlock’s class level. While those twto things are almost always going to be the same, you have to take a pretty liberal interpretation to let Practiced Spellcaster work on eldritch blast.

Turn attempts: 3+cha (5) + extra turning (9)

Knowledge Devotion: Lore (+3), Otherworldly (+6), Collector (+5) Divine Insight (5+CL insight bonus, so 11 at epic 2nd) --OR- Guidance of the Avatar (+20 competence bonus) or both if you really need it, and/OR Wieldskill for another (+10). This isn’t even counting skill ranks. So you could expend a pile of resources, but grant yourself +35 or more, to your knowledge devotion roll to get you +5 to hit, and +5 damage for the entire encounter, and Knowledge Devotion can be applied to your EB/EG.

Lucky Dice bumps this up another +1 to hit, and +1 to damage for +6/+6 total.

Spoiler: Sources

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Complete Arcane: Battle Caster 75, Warlock 5, Extra Spell 79, Extra Slot 79
Complete Champion: Knowledge Devotion 60
Complete Divine: Practiced Spellcaster 82
Complete Mage: Divine Magician 33, Eldritch Disciple 53, Fey Heritage 43, Fey Power 43, Fey Presence 43, Fey Skin 43, Otherworldly Whispers 124
Complete Scoundrel: Collector of Stories 85
Complete Warrior: Zen Archery 106
Dragon Magic: Eldritch Glaive 82
Magic of Incarnum: Shape Soulmeld 40, Lucky Dice 77
PHB: Cleric, spells
PHB II: Spontaneous Domain Casting 37
Spell Compendium: Bonefiddle 37, Critical Strike 56
SRD: Cloistered Cleric https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/c...terClasses.htm
Tome and Blood: Negative Energy Ray 93

https://web.archive.org/web/20110825..._by_Rich_Baker

[Zaq]

Six warlocks for your judging pleasure! Reminder: Originality is on a ten-point scale this round.

Thanks for putting up with my delays!

[MinimanMidget]

Judging has commenced! Fair warning, this round might take me a while. I only have two eyes.