Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CVI

[nosborm]

Thank you all so much! It seems that I'm (understandably) just still new to this and I'll likely get better with practice. I really appreciate all the tips and guides. I did end up finding the Appraise This guide so thank you for making it! I'm just glad to know I didn't miss some vast and obvious well of knowledge, and that it's really just building up my personal mental library and heuristics. And don't worry, I understand exactly what you mean regarding thinking of the brain as RAM. If only it didn't get reset when I went to sleep!

I also really appreciate the suggestions and interpretations of the cheddar, especially the suggestion to think in terms of Elegance / Power and Originality / Power trade-offs. From what I gather, it seems interpreting rules/DM fiat in my favor is allowed as long as it's sane. I might post a few specific questions after judging is over to just get a general feel for where the line is so I have better intuition for next time.

All that being said, thank you to H_H_F_F for judging and I'm excited to see the final results and the next SI!

[ExLibrisMortis]

I can't claim to be good at finding this stuff, but generally my process is:
1. Come up with an idea. A concept. Something that I want to work around. For instance the high CL of the DoM SLAs.
2. Easy google searches to see what has come before, and what is easily found.
3. RAM. Yea I know that a computer term isn't the best to use when your talking about your own brain, but that is the best way I know to parse it. The harder part for me, was how long it took to read all the books cover to cover. It is impossible to remember it all for me, but after reading it there are definitely times when the brain does what the brain does best, and pulls information you didn't even realize you knew out when something relevant comes up. Such as linking MotUH with DoM's telekinesis. The same general principle applies to web articles, but keeping all the different things straight isn't easy. It is largely more efficient to catalogue (see Thurbane) or to remember where that type of information is generally found. It is a running gag with my friends that I can estimate to whereabouts in a book a feat, class, or spell will appear, and I'm usually within about 3-6 pages.
4. The deep dive. This is the most arduous process for me. It is where I have a basic concept, and a general idea on how to accomplish it. I have several things written down to the side to remember, but this is where things like Skilled Telekinetic usually come up. Something so niche that you would almost think it to be a dragon mag feat, something that you might remember, but have no idea where that kind of feat would be. This is where you look at the content that contains things that you might be able to use. This is where most arcane users are refreshing themselves with Complete Arcane, Complete Mage, and sometimes even Complete Divine. This is where they delve into Secrets of Xen'drik to find that obscure metamagic that they remember another Iron Chef competitor used like 12 challenges ago. They refine the google searches, scan through the relevant catalogues created by several people (see Thurbane). But don't forget that you don't have to be alone in creating your dish! Give out as little information as you can about your build, while asking people on the boards, but also don't forget that there may be people that you happen to play DND with that also look into these things. I can't count how many times I have forgotten a feat like Skilled Telekinetic, or sometimes more obscure ones that one of my friends just kind of casually tosses out like it is nothing.

For me a lot of it I picked it up over time, and then it's a matter of having the vague recollection of classes and feats. Then it's something like "Oh hey this class is about diabolic servitude, will mountebank do anything with it? Let me google."

This sums up my experience as well. (Less so in Iron Chef specifically, since this is my first time entering, but building stuff in general.) Building characters is a learned skill, and like other learned skills, practice and critical review/discussion help a lot. I find that I remember feats I've actually discussed a lot better than feats I've merely read about.

For cheese, I think the main point to keep in mind is that cheese is relative. Once you have an interesting concept, you build to keep that concept front and centre, with cheese appropriate to the concept. Don't add so much cheese that the concept no longer matters. For example, don't overwhelm a disarm-focused DoM build by also adding Shock Trooper "just to hit the DPR benchmark". At the other end of the scale, if your build is employing a (new) bit of TO, adding Shock Trooper "to hit the DPR benchmark" is going to look a little silly, because the "DPR benchmark" for TO is basically infinity anyway. So figure out the power level your "interesting" bit is useful at, build to that power level, and identify your power level in your writeup.

[H_H_F_F]

Update: I tried, guys, but I need to sleep. I won't get it done by the 14:00 GMT delayed-deadline I promised, but I will get it done tomorrow. There shall not be a 60 hour delay.

Apologies for making all of you wait, I should have planned my time better.

[Venger]

Thanks for the update.

[nosborm]

Thanks for trying! I know I really appreciate that someone is stepping up to the plate and judging, especially since this is my first time. I hope you get some rest!

[daremetoidareyo]

Update: I tried, guys, but I need to sleep. I won't get it done by the 14:00 GMT delayed-deadline I promised, but I will get it done tomorrow. There shall not be a 60 hour delay.

Apologies for making all of you wait, I should have planned my time better.

Thanks for the update. Some of these builds have some wild elements in them, so it makes sense that it's time consumptive. And of course, thanks for judging.

[H_H_F_F]

Judgement is here!

First thing first: I apologize again for being late. I underestimated the amount of time some of work I'd have to put into many of these builds. I hope you’ll forgive me.
I also apologize if I had more to say about certain entries than about others. You know how it is.

To business. Considering the nature of the SI, I’ve decided not to punish anyone who leaned into Sleight of hand cheese or reliance on money. However, excessive reliance on specific items may still be punished, and builds that lean into the chassis of DoM without relying on pickpocket or money will get an originality boost. I’d like to add that I enjoyed entries this round more than I thought I would; they were very diverse and creative. Well done.

And now, judgement:

Spoiler: Wynfrith d’Acker

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Originality:
Your fluff, though short, is enjoyable. You use some very obscure sources in interesting ways, which is a + in my book, and Master of the unseen hand is brilliant (more on that later.) I’ll also give you a boost for cards over swords, though again – more on that later. Thematically, you lean well into the spirit of the SI.
But other than that, you’re a human warblade, and I don’t have a lot to say for you other than that. What you have is enough to get you a respectable score though.
score: 3.75 points.

Power:
This is a complicated category for me to judge. Leaving cheese aside for a second, I’d say you’re kind of slightly above middle-of-the-road, power wise. Sure, late game unlimited MotUH is pretty bonkers, but up to very late levels, you’re a decent face/melee with stagnant initiation and some unique mid-power tricks. You’re all right, but no more than that, with good face skills (no intimidate) to help.
Score:… Wait. What’s that smell?

Oh, right.
The cheese.
So, I’m never quite sure how to handle cheese in this category. In general, I feel that if I punish it in elegance, I should definitely reward it here. I’m not punishing (master!) pickpocket cheese, but I think I should still give some credit – though not “unlimited free-action attempts per turn” credit, because then not giving you 1 in elegance would be a criminal act. You do get some credit for it though.
I would say I have to give you massive credit for cards over swords, while giving you massive punishments for it as well. Except, I think your card shtick is unfortunately worse than cheesy.
I believe it’s also illegal, and it doesn’t seem like an easy fix.

After consideration, I’ve decided to not give you credit for it in power. You still got a boost in originality for it, and we’ll discuss it further in elegance as well as UoSI. All in all, you did no more than O.K here, mainly because I think you’re underwhelming in your early-to-mid levels.
Score: 3.6 points.

Elegance:
Let’s get this out of the way first: Cards over Swords.
To start with, this is cheese. Diplomancy cheese, with extra steps. Evil steps. SWIFT ACTION DIPLOMANCY steps. I don’t think I’ve ever met a DM or a group that would be willing to let this fly, and the rest of the build definitely isn’t TO, so I can’t judge it by TO standards.
Worse, as I’ve said, I believe it’s illegal. The feat clearly states a “1st level character” prerequisite. You’re not a first level character when you take this feat, and unfortunately for you, your build is too well designed to make this an easy fix. Swap out DoD or Appraise magic, and you can’t qualify. Lose able learner, and your entire build changes drastically. I guess you’d probably give up able learner, but that’s not just a small feat-order fix, that’s a different build to the one that was submitted. Cards over swords is a massive blow for your score in this category.
Which is a shame, because other than that, the only complaint I have are you being MAD as a hatter. I loved the elegance of the build, otherwise. Everything harmonizes, 5-10-5, finishing two prcs, clever use of a feat to qualify for the SI, listing your sources, qualifying neatly for everything (aside from you know what), having a strong feat at 18 and an impressive capstone… I loved it, and I hate that I can’t give you a 4.5 here.
Score: 2.55 points.

Use of the SI:
Good news here. You use high BAB classes and get excellent BAB reliant ranged abilities, which synergizes very well with the class’s D6 HD and average BAB. Your use of steal is brilliant, powerful and creative, and while you lean into it quite heavily, you get use out of other aspects of the SI as well. You attempted to use cheat as extensively as you do steal, and you get credit for that here. You lean into take object, which is cute, and you maintain and extensively use 2/3 of the class’s prerequisite skills and their appropriate class features.
As far as I can tell, you don’t do anything interesting with your summons and diverting abilities. You claim to be able to divert attacks back at your enemies, but I don’t see how.
score: 4.2 points.

Total score: 14.1 points. It’s a very clever build with a glaring issue at its center. Still, it’s one of my personal favourites this round.

Spoiler: Danielle, the Hand in the Glove

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Originality:
Totemist was a surprise, though I’m disappointed in how little it reflects in your fluff. Human paragon is clever. Silverbrow human solely to get feather fall is… new. I’m not sure if it’s necessary, but it’s pretty damn awesome. I expected more chameleons to be honest, but that was just because those tend to pop up a lot with unfocused SI’s. Human Paragon is damn clever.
You have some excellent storytelling in there, innovative and compelling. The character’s choices and motivations make sense and harmonize well with the idea of the class. I don’t think a play counts as an object, but as this is not a crux of the build mechanically I don’t mind. However, again, Danielle doesn’t read as a totemist even a bit. It’s basically never addressed, and that’s a shame.
You’re a human, like most of the field, and I didn’t see any mechanical innovations others than the ones mentioned, but that’s enough to get you a pretty good score here. Well done.
score: 4.25 points.

Power:
Danielle is extremely good at what she does. Unfortunately, what she does sucks. It is the chassis of the class, but it’s still a terrible gig. Your redeeming quality is your focus on versatility, which I like a lot, but you still seem like you’d be very underwhelming in combat, and you’re really not enough of a skill monkey or of anything else to justify that.
Obligatory “Master pickpocket bonus” here.
Score: 2.1 points.

Elegance:
Your level layout is kind of a mess. It’s completely justifiable, but it’s not pretty. I’ll also take this opportunity to comment on the poawaeci (prevalence of abbreviations, which aren’t even capitalized, in your table.) It didn’t affect your score, but it was kind of a headache to read through. Maybe try to tone that down next time.
You seem to have had a goof with your skills, I believe. You take Spellcraft 4 twice, the first of them illegally. This is not a big issue, as it only results in you screwing yourself out of 4 skill points at level one, but it’s careless. In the same vein, you should have one more skill point at level 20, because of your increased Int modifier.
You qualify for everything though (I think – I’m still confounded by your feather fall trick), and you list your sources clearly. I don’t think the build is very “pretty”, but it’s not ugly either.
Score: 3.25 points.

Use of the SI:
You keep two of the three prerequisite skills maxed out, and use them appropriately. You have an imp to redirect attacks and spells to, if need arises. You put a lot of thought into interesting things to do with the suggested summons. Your versatile skill set compliments the erratic nature of the SI – but nothing actually synergizes directly too much. Which is weird, because it feels like it does.
You’re definitely more a disciple of Mammon than anything else. Your other capabilities feel like nice little bonuses to enhance the core, which is the SI. That’s nice, and you get credit for it – but I don’t really see you doing anything super interesting with what the SI had to offer.
Score: 2.4 points

Total score: 12 points. I liked this build more than the score may imply.

Spoiler: Bhedana Bharu

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Originality:
OA Samurai is certainly creative. My original notes said that the Samurai has been updated (updated to utter ****, but updated nonetheless) so it’s not a legal choice. However, the Dragon Compendium explicitly makes it legal to play, and since that’s allowed, you do you I guess. Kshatriya is very nice and extremely obscure. You’re also almost completely mundane aside from the SI.
You’re another human, and you’re one of the two rangers – which admittedly, I thought we might see more of.
I’d say thematically, you’re kind of a mess. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that you don’t seem deformed in your story or in your provided picture. You also don’t really evoke any “Dedicated to elder evil” feelings. It’s kind of like you’ve got a very concise idea of who this person is, and were forced into tacking on deformities and the hulks for purely mechanical reasons, not giving it any space in your idea of the character. On the other hand, your idea of the character feels a lot like a disciple of Mammon, which offsets my complaints in this area.
You’re also incredibly cool, you use SoH for non-cheese purposes, and you use CRESCENT MOON. Yes. Love it.
(You know we’ll talk about it in power, though.)
score: 3.6 points.

Power:
The bad news here is that Bhedana pours a lot of resources into disarming. I like it a lot, but you and I both know that it’s extremely suboptimal. She’s a TWFer with Iaijutsu focus as her only source of extra damage. Iajutsu focus is definitely a decent way to get extra damage, and you do what you can to make it work with sudden draw, but with a 14-17 dex score and no improved Initiative, no hide, no move silently, and no utilities, you’re going to be very hard pressed to go first often enough to make it really work.
Swordsage levels, coming late in the build, give you a lot of good options, but they don’t really harmonize with what you’re already doing. They’re nice alternatives, and they give you good flexibility, but you’re never a real powerhouse. It’s still an incredibly cool way to fight, and I like it, but you’re never going to be a powerhouse.
Score: 2.6 points.

Elegance
So, I’ve got a few big issues here, but I’d like to say that this build is smart. Things flow well, they make sense, and you’ve got a few very clever workarounds. Using discipline focus to take care of two prerequisite feats at the same time is clever, combining hurling throw and crescent moon is clever, it’s all very clever. Besides the early ranger-samurai-ranger, which is common when using very skilled classes, your table is pretty to look at. You qualify* for everything, and you had your sources listed, with an abundance of information about recommended play. This is all great.
Thing is, I really don’t like the way you qualify* for stuff.
Devotion to an Elder Evil is a “get 5 feats pay nothing” deal, in the context of a competition like this one. You use it to get some cute capabilities, and to get a prerq for free. It’s cheesy, and I think there’s a good reason most of the field avoided this option. It does mesh well with anything in BoVD, though I’ve talked about thematic conflicts in this particular case.
Qualifying for feats through a weapon enhancement also leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I won’t reprimand you anywhere near as severely as I usually would for this – you’re doing it through a class feature, using money and not exp (see reliance on money at the top of this post). If this by itself gave you a useful feat or ability which helps the build, I would applaud it. When using it to qualify, it’s still bad, in my opinion, and it’s still a hit – though not as major as it would’ve otherwise been.
Finally, the worst offender for me is the class background thing. You knew this was wrong, friend. You knew it. This is a variant rule, giving free stuff. In its own description, it clearly advises DMs not to let some player use it while others don’t, because that would be unfair. The same logic applies here. It’s unfair to the rest of the field, and in my view, it’s worse than a flaw.
Other than that, you’ve got to be a MAD woman for missing a skill point at level 2. You could have had 5 points in open lock this whole time! Imagine the glory! This is obviously an extremely major issue.
All in all, a very pretty build with a few very ugly asterisks.
Score: 2.65 points.

Use of the SI:
I see two main positives here. One is a strong focus on disarming, which works well with take object. The other is an assured way to get value for money without a magic mart, which I like a lot in conjunction with enhance value.
You also keep 2/3 prerequisite skills maxed out, and use SoH in ways which gave you points in originality. You’re a melee build, taking advantage of average BAB.
And… that’s it. You don’t do anything interesting with most of DoM’s class features.
Score: 2.75 points.

Total score: 11.6 points. I had my issues with your submission, but I think she’s definitely the coolest person on the field.

Spoiler: Dukat d’Cannith

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Originality:
You put a lot of thought into what I’d call “soft fluff” – not story, more lore. House d’Cannith and Mammon, the connection to Pandorym – I like it. I’ll also always be a sucker for English poetry.
Mechanically, your build harmonizes fantastically. I wouldn’t have thought of artificier, but it makes a lot of sense from the “Corruption through wealth” angle. So does binder, and so does wand adept. It’s also mechanically creative, using your resources in clever ways (more on that in UotSI).
Another human with able learner is not an enormous surprise, though.
Score: 4 points.

Power: Interesting category for sure. At its heart, this is a fundamentally weak build – wands just aren’t heavy hitters. However, due to some very clever manoeuvring, you manage to get yourself to a semi-decent power level. Even if no wand will be hugely effective at level 20, not having any line of effect to the wand’s wielder is a big annoyance, and a significantly increased DC means some enemies might actually fail their saving throw, even at high levels. You’re also starting off pretty strong. There’s a theme of people using clever tricks to elevate sub-optimal strategies this round, and I like it. You’re also a very good face, with all 3 skills maxed out and very good Cha.
Mentioning your master’s will trick, it’s not as reliable as you allude it to be. It succeeds on an odd roll and fails on an even roll, which means you can’t save yourself from a nat 20, and you add 1d6*level, not 1. A 1st level wand will give you a 70% charge of success instead of 50%, and higher levels will be significantly less useful. A 30% chance to lose 20 HP is still a pretty big deal to someone with ~95 HP at level 20, so I’d say it’s still very high-risk-high-reward, and a very suboptimal use of siphon charge. This rant shouldn’t have been this long, probably, and doesn’t really affect your score a lot, I just thought it was interesting. If someone found a way to always get odds here that would be extremely powerful.
Score: 2.9 points.

Elegance:
Devotion to an Elder Evil is a “get 5 feats pay nothing” deal, in the context of a competition like this one. I appreciated the mindful selection of the appropriate elder evil, and it does fit BoVD classes in general, but it’s still cheesy and still a problem.
The classes flow quite well and make sense with each other, but I’m not too huge on the jumpy table and the second level binder dip. You’re also very item dependent, but you’re not dependent on any specific items, and you can make your own. Given that you have 9 levels of item-centric classes, and 10 of the other levels are the SI, we can certainly let that fly.
On the other hand, you’ve got a clever build that harmonizes very well mechanically. You qualify for everything, you’ve got sources and snapshots, the whole shebang. I like the way your feat progression flows.
Aside from everything else, you gave yourself a free extra skill point at level 20, and I can’t find a good reason. What is it with this round and skill points?
Score: 2.9 points.

Use of the SI:
Obviously, you use steal phenomenally, and devote a significant amount of effort to make that use efficient. You also indirectly use cheat to your favour, you have better uses for diverting than most, you’re a fully-fledged face so you get mileage out of lie, and you get a tiny bit of extra use from nondetection. You maintain 2/3 relevant skills (I was hoping one of y’all would find a reason to put 23 in open lock.)
Paying attention to most abilities and getting massive use out of one is pretty good.
score: 4.25 points.

Total score: 14.05 points. I liked your meticulous attention to detail, in all aspects of the build.

Spoiler: Wolfgang Xor Von Taalstreet

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Originality:
Half orc! Spiritual connection! Dragon shaman! Half! Orc! On an Int build! This guy is already a welcomed breath of fresh air, and it doesn’t stop there. I doubt Menacing Brute has ever been in play before in any iron chef competition, and I only know about Xorvintaal because I read about it while looking for god-blooded recently. I could go on, but honestly, I don’t see a reason to. I wasn’t a fan of a Frostblood becoming a red dragon shaman, but at this point, I couldn’t care less. Your Eco-Anarchist slumlord blew my mind.
Score: 5 points.

Power:
This is a rough one for you. 100 mile radius mindsight is ridiculous, yes. Completely insane. But other than that, you’re not really… good. You don’t do much, except for summoning and looking for traps. I get why it’s the way it is, and I like it, but I believe you knew this wasn’t your category – unless you were expecting a 5 for your endless ocean of cohorts.
You’re not getting that.
You can do a lot of cool tricks relying on DoM, and we’ll talk about that in the synopsis information category for sure, but I’m sorry to say it just doesn’t seem like enough to be actually useful. It’s not nothing, you don’t get minimum here (mainly due to your insane mindsight trick), but it’s not much. You’re very good with traps, but that doesn’t count for much when you can’t move silently or hide and your spot and listen are trash. You’ve got 14 BAB. I feel like I’m being mean, but I’m just trying to make it clear that I looked at the build and understood it, I’m not slacking off here. I just don’t think this is very good. I’m sorry.
Score: 1.8 points.

Elegance:
I’ll get this out of the way first: I’m not happy with what you were trying to do with wild cohort. It’s cheap, it’s not creative, and it’s ugly. If I may quote: “We're producing a meal, not a seven-course banquet for a hundred diners.” Wild cohort is explicitly allowed. Wild cohort recursion is cheap, and goes hard against the spirit of the competition. I know you had a “if it doesn’t fly” section, but throughout the explanation you keep treating it as an essential part of the build, devoting a lot of text to explain what your endless chain of camels is doing at any particular second. A landlord wolf is fun-dumb. This is just dumb.
On top of that, I don’t follow your math. I don’t know why your secondary cohorts are all the same level. Let’s look at your level 18 (ECL 20). You have a wolf (2 HD) increased to 13 HD because of the feat. Her name is W1. She has another wolf (W2) with 9 HD. W2 has a wolf (W3) with 7 HD, who has a wolf (W4) with 5 HD. W4 has a wolf (W5) with 3 HD, who has a wolf with 3 HD, and so on. You’d need an animal with 4 base HD for the recursion to stabilize at 9 HD, and you don’t have that option – the most you have is 3 HD, and that recursion would stabilize at 6. If I’m right about that, you’ll never get endless landlords.
Your presentation is a little messy – You repeat yourself a few times. I believe you could have used some more editing. On the other hand, that messiness is the result of an abundance of information, which I appreciate.
Your levels are kind of going everywhere, though that’s generally justifiable. I also don’t like your LA popping up only at the end of the table, I think it should be represented at the point in the build in which it’s taken.
However, you do list all your sources in a very clear and comfortable way, you do qualify for everything – and some of what you qualify for, you qualify for with style.
I also have to give you an extra good-boy-treat for specifying how many ranks you deserve and expend each level. If you wanted to go all out you would specify the increase and not just the total, but it still makes it much easier to follow your skill progression.
Which is why it was pretty clear that you somehow screwed yourself out of 4 skill points at level 1.
At this point I’m starting to go a little bit crazy. I get the feeling I’m being stupid, missing something obvious. Am I going to get pummelled with a ton of disputes politely calling me an idiot for failing to grasp how skill purchasing works in 3.5? I don’t know, but I have to trust myself. And myself is telling me you have 18 ranks in class skills and 7 ranks in cross class skills, totalling in 32 and not in 36. You strike again at level 12, losing one skill point, and at level 18, losing 1 skill point again. This deep dive also helped me notice that you straight up lied about using skilled city dweller to swap Knowledge (nature) for Knowledge (local). You bought local cross class and nature as a class skill.
I can’t keep talking about this. There isn’t anything horrible, it’s just a lot of issues, overturning what you had for being smart and efficient.
Score: 2.75 points.

Under Obligation Synopsis Information:
I like that you put thought into every single thing the class offers, and tried to improve on it. If the normal approach is “What can I build that gets a lot of use out of the class” your approach is more “What can I do to support this class feature?”
I think that’s a very nice way to approach the task, even if the less holistic approach cost you dearly in the power category. Not all of your improvements are very impressive. By the time resourceful search comes online, it’s a waste of time. By the time enhance value can use it, it’s practically nothing. We’re talking strictly mechanics here; fluff-wise, I think it’s awesome, and you got yours in originality for that. Forge ring is another example of not really doing that much with an ability, and you do nothing with take object.
However, divert + distracting ember is much better, as is enhance value + landlord. Finding a cannon mechanically appropriate setting to do your nonsense in with Xorvintaal Is excellent, especially in conjunction with cheat.
But one combination reigns supreme. One is a truly innovative and powerful. Maximizing Cheat is some bonkers genius move, if you can find interesting things to do with cheat – which you have. I’m not buying the “this fight is technically part of Xorvintaal, which is a game of chance, free crit please” argument, but honestly, you don’t need it. Getting a Nat 20 on rolls which have to do with your main business up to 10 times per day is insane.
Overall, very good effort.
score: 4.5 points.

Total score: 14.05 points. Wild ride of a build. Lots of bad, but lots of good, too.

Spoiler: Peribsen, Renegade Satay Salesman

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originality:
First thing first, you’re funny. Enjoyable and unique fluff, and I’ll always dig characters being presented as not particularly capable. I also like your creative feat choices and combat style.
Unfortunately, like most of the field, you’re playing a catfolk with seven levels of monk. I get that this is the expected and easiest entry, but it’s still boring. I wish we’d see at least one really crazy entry, like a human with the able learner feat or something like that.
Score: 4.75 points.

Power:
You’re a monk 7 melee without power attack or bonus damage dice, no AoO abuse, No skill monkey capabilities… nothing. You’re a melee with 12 BAB at ECL 20. Your ability allocation is wrong, and so I’d say is your skill allocation and some of your feats. By all accounts, you should be totally, completely useless. Why are you not useless?
Mantis leap gets things done. Charge as a move action. Combined with catfolk pounce, and your decent STR, it’s extremely powerful. You need to catch your enemies flat-footed for your pounce to work, and you do that the best you can. You could use invisible fist, and I assume you would, but that would mess with your swift action summons through Eilservs School. You can also feint, or later use a strike, but that would mean just one pounce. Don’t get me wrong – these are good options, but improved initiative or a higher Dex score would do wonders for you. On top of that, even with leaping dragon stance, you can’t get as far as I’d like you to with your jump modifier. It should have been higher, to give you the option in more scenarios. You have sudden leap, but, again – that wastes the swift action you’d need to activate Eilservs School.
I also don’t know why you wouldn’t TWF whenever you get to pounce – you can barely afford the -2, that’s true, but you need to get some hits in, and the mantis bonus damage doesn’t care whether you’re THFing or not. Despite all of this, you’ve somehow gotten yourself to be actually useful. If you can double pounce you’re doing decent damage through your mantis leap, and you can activate staffs as a swift action quite often. You’re also not that much of a late bloomer – you’re double pouncing at ECL 10, and you add your staff shenanigans by ECL 16.
You’re not super powerful by any means, but you can get stuff done.
Edit: score adjusted due to dispute. Lack of investment in jump explained, and jumpless Mantis Leap shown to be more viable under a legitimate interpretation. +0.2
Score: 3.05 points.

Elegance:
Oh boy.
Well, you’re missing two ranks in spellcraft for Eilservs School, but that’s an easy fix – and aside from that, you qualify for everything. Your sources are clearly listed, your table isn’t too messy, your snapshots are clear, and you have the right amount of skill points – which apparently, is an achievement in this round. I’m not a fan of your skill allocation, I think you’re way too reliant on jump and UMD to pump tumble that hard, but that’s a very minor issue. You get a slight bonus for getting Passive Way’s bonus ability. You were doing well.

But…

You know what, I’m just going to copy-paste from my notes:

M’aiq, big no no’s:
1. Bonked by the multiclassing penalties police: BONK!
2. Bonked by the flaw police: DOUBLE BONK!
3. I am kind of uncool with you just getting a feat through Faustian pact, so I’ll follow through on your direction and treat it like it takes the place of a flaw. TRIPLE BONK! YOU’RE OUT!

Yeah. Flaws, as per the rules of the competition, are 1 elegance point per flaw. That’s a huge gap to cover, and you’re not covering it with what you have – not with multiclassing penalties hanging over your head. I get the feeling that you either forgot or didn’t know about that rule – suffering this punishment for stuff like magical artisan and a tripping bonus seems absurd. You could have given those up and lose about 0.1-0.15 points overall in power, and 0.1 here in elegance. That’s an awful trade for you, but that’s life sometimes. You’ll get ‘em next time, buddy.
Score: 1.25 points.

Use of the SI:
On the one hand, starting at level 16, your build gets a lot of juice from your summons. As a professional liar, you also enjoy lie.
But you don’t care about thief and steal. You don’t care about take object, and you do nothing to emphasize anything else. This is DoM as “summon monster with average BAB, the prc.” in BoVd’s near you now.
You do make a hilarious joke with cheat, but that’s less UoSI and more just you, the creator of the build, being a cool and funny person.
Edit: Score adjusted due to dispute. More investment in take object than originally met my eye. Also, +0.05 points for unmentioned trick.
Score: 1.9 points.

Total score: 10.95 points.Adjusted. I’m sorry, little one. You were one of my favourites.

Spoiler: Morgan Stanley

Show

She did the math! She did the monster math!

Originality:
Okay, let’s talk. I’m hijacking this category. This is rant time.
(Don’t worry I’m getting to the point)
When I skimmed over the class, one thing jumped out to me. One thing which I was amazed could ever be allowed.
The page said “Enhance value”, in simple print, black ink on white paper.
But what I saw was

COMPOUND INTEREST SPEEDRUN BONANZA!!!

This is insane. Turning D&D from a TTRPG to a clicker game. Free money.
I was prepared for everyone to say “Also, at this point I have infinite money, but let’s put that aside…” and my first thing I wrote down in my notes, as soon as I finished reading the class, was:

Buy and sell art. But what about the limits of the economy?

And then, 5 minutes later:

They need to go to חותם (Look up the English name later.) Unlimited, and much quicker.

I was waiting for it. Anyone who told me they had infinite money would have gotten “Aha! Well, you need to go to Sigil, so no infinite money for you. Gotcha!”
But no one claimed they had infinite money. People were talking about selling their stolen goods, or their adventuring spoils, or other more creative stories. No one seemed to do the math. Assuming this isn’t just a case of mass Vizziny, I’d like to recommend everyone on this competition go to a personal finance course.
This leaves only you, and you’re doing what I believed to be the most obvious and least original thing to do with this class – trading goods for infinite money. However, there are a few things working in your favour:
One, no one else is actually doing it. All (but one) of them can, but none of them are.
Two, you did go to Sigil.
Three, you leaned into it. You didn’t just proclaim infinite money, you decided to make it efficient. In particular, I’m looking at Necropolitan, which makes perfect sense and didn’t cross my mind, and at CDO’s – I was thinking art as the obvious “mundane trade good with no value floor or ceiling”, but CDO’s make much more sense, and are way better fluff.
Speaking of, I Loved the libertarian fluff, loved the tongue in cheek, and loved the attention to detail. Surprisingly, your classes also harmonize with each other thematically, though I’m unsure of how much of that is on purpose. I will say that slapping theurge on two fast-advancement spellcasting classes to get high level spells without investing too many levels is not at all original, and humans haven’t been too incredibly rare this round.
Score: 3.25 points.

Power:
This is a complicated issue. My tendency was to neutralise money, unless someone had an innovative way to use it. Everyone can have infinite money, so what’s the point, right?
But can doesn’t equal does. Everyone talks about their Enhance Ability, and no one mentioned infinite money but you.
After consideration, I’ve decided not to give you an automatic 5 here on the one hand, and not to ignore it on the other. Instead, you’re going to just get a big boost, as if you’ve got 9th level spells while everyone else is stuck at 4th.
Lucky for you, you’ve also got lots of options and strength at early levels, and 8th+7th level spells at the end. You didn’t need that to get max score, but it’s nice to have a safety margin.
Score: 5 points.

Elegance:
Despite how much it surprisingly makes sense, I still get the feeling of “Well, let’s forget everything else and just go for raw power” from your later levels. Why not keep the theme? Maximize appraise, go Exemplar, take skill focus, stuff like that? I know that would complicate the math, but still. It’s a strong shift in the middle of the build, resulting from you feeling the build was done at 11. But, the build would have been done at 11 without necropolitan, as well. You did the math, you know how fast this compounds. Your choice to go necro was a choice to lean into it, to make the numbers crazier. You could have kept doing that, and left the initial calculation as is (well, as would be, with higher appraise) and just tell us how much faster it could have been done at level 20 in the snapshots.
But that’s the least of my issues here.
Your skill table is totally botched. At level 2, you give yourself 2 skill points, free of charge, as well as somehow having 6 ranks in appraise when you should max out at 5. Also, you missed intimidate in DoM’s class skills, buying it cross class for no reason. You miss a point at level 20 to close out the build.
You don’t qualify for ordered chaos. It requires a base will save of +4, and you only have +3. That would mean you’d either have to go CE->LE, on which I’ll call alignment shenanigans, or remain CE, on which I’ll call extreme alignment shenanigans – and that assumes ordered chaos would’ve allowed you to take battle dancer as a lawful character, which I don’t think it would. “Spells and effects”, says the text, and a class IMO is neither.
The only parts of this build that say “elegant” to me are Axiomatic bloodline through duskblade before taking demonbinder, which is cute, and the early entry method, which causes some alignment problems.
You also committed the cardinal sin of NOT LISTING YOUR SOURCES.
All in all, bad category for you.
Score: 1.55 points

Use of the SI:
Interesting category. You didn’t finish the class, for obvious reasons – you don’t need anything except for enhance value. The issue with that, of course, is that you don’t really use anything except for enhance value. This reminds me of last round’s Primo Valentiono Starchild, who was only in primeval for a new TO build based on regression.
Unlike Valentino, you do take 7 levels of the class, and you get some use out of it aside from your main trick. However, your “Main trick”, at its heart, really comes down to reading comprehension and remembering Sigil exists. There are strong forces pushing both ways here.
Score: 3.1 points.

Total score: 12.9 points. This was hands down my favourite entry – I’m a sucker for clever fluff and presentation. I’m sorry I couldn’t have given it a better score.

Spoiler: Terrance the Menace

Show

Originality:
This build is weird as hell, which works wonders for you in this category. You’re not a human, which is great. You also didn’t take able learner, even though you could have (and frankly – probably should have).
You’re also a jester.
Rogue is obviously less of a surprise, and you didn’t have room in your build for more big surprises, but those are enough to get you a good score here.
You’re styling hard, and that’s worth something as well, and I’d say your base classes harmonize incredibly well, thematically – though that doesn’t dully carry over to the SI.
Score: 4.3

Power:
I’ll be straight forward: You can’t do much. I mean you’ve got a few interesting tricks up your sleeve, and jester + combat panache is a cool move, but at the end of the day, what do you do? Grappling block is cool, but by the time it comes along you’d have to be suicidal to go to the frontline, with the damage you can do. Your jester abilities are helpful, but not that much and they stagnate fast. You’ve got a lot of skill tricks which would put you in prime position to be a spy or a face – if only you had the necessary skill ranks, which you just don’t.
You do get the obligatory pickpocket boost though, with master pickpocket cheese on your side.
Score: 1.65 points.

Elegance:
Let’s start out with the good stuff: your presentation is extremely detailed without being overbearing. You list your sources properly, and you qualify for everything. Your classes do support each other mechanically – not exceptionally well, but they do so nonetheless. I like that you found a way to do something useful with your battle dancer and jester bonus feats.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned battle dancer level means you suffer from multiclassing penalties from level 5 onward. This is part of a trend of careless class and skills progression – you take class levels very erratically, and you end up wasting a lot of skill points by taking ranks cross class, when you could have easily rearranged to be in better shape. Speaking of skill points, you missed the chairman’s ruling that bluff is on the class skills list, replacing the 3.0 skill innuendo. You unfortunately wasted a lot of skill points you didn’t have to.
Score: 2.9 points.

Use of the SI:
You’re using steal and thief, but only in the intended and expected way. You’ve got a cohort to divert attacks to, and your focus on disarm makes take object valuable – and with grappling block, disarm is slightly less suboptimal for you than it usually is. You intend to be a face, which would get use out of lie, but the ranks just aren’t there. Nondetection is good for your style, but you don’t get anything extra from it.
I like that you’re leaning into the class fairly well, but I’m not seeing anything really good here.
Score: 2.4 points.

Total score: 11.25 points. This seemed like a build by someone with a very good handle on splatbooks or google-fu, and with a well-developed sense of style, but little or no experience in optimisation or high level play. You need to start paying more attention to questions like “Is this a good use of my character’s time and resources? Does this synergize?” And “Does this achieve what it sets out to achieve?” I think style and creativity are the most important parts of optimisation, so there’s definitely potential here. I’m sorry if I appear condescending or something, I just wanted to cheer you on to continue developing your mechanical skill.

Spoiler: Killer Mike

Show

originality:
You’re not human, good for you. You also brought savant to the table, and you have a very original central idea, which is very unexpected as far as DoM goes. On the other hand, your classes really have no thematic cohesion, and you don’t feel like a DoM. Also, I tend to reward good fluff in this category, but I’ll almost never penalize bad fluff. Not badly written fluff, nor short fluff, nor obscure fluff, nor irrelevant fluff. However, having no fluff at all besides a dry shorthand description, in my opinion, deserves some penalty. Fluff is part of the competition, and part of a complete submission.
Score: 3.4 points

Power:
You start out kind of slow because of your savant levels, but you do end up with 8ths (Demonbinder 8ths though, so very limited,) and your main trick is decently powerful. It’s important to note that without being able to support undead, the mileage you can get out of unlimited inflicts decreases significantly – inflict is not a great option most of the time. Still, it’s a useful thing to do in melee for you, especially once Mastery of day and night comes along at level 20. It’s neat, but it’s not crazy. On top of demonbinder 8ths and being able to get away with low BAB due to never full attacking, I’d say it’s got you in a good spot. You have no skill ranks to speak of, and essentially no versatility, and that’s an issue.
Score: 3.95 points.

Elegance:
Good stuff: some very clever qualifying, class structure makes a lot of sense even if messy.
Bad stuff:
It’s not mechanically very cohesive. Your snapshots are extremely limited, and offer almost no insight as to how the character should be played. You’ve got conflicting setting sources with Eberron/Faerun. You don’t list your sources. You’re careless about feat progression – maximize spell and mastery of day and night are the engines behind your main trick, and you push them extremely far into the build – did you really need PA more than free maximization? Was poison spell really such a high priority? That carelessness carries over to the skill column, where you’re lacking 2 skill points at level 1. “The savant counts all skills as class skills.” Of course, you also completely stop giving a damn by the time DoM comes around – your table is incomplete. This is the continuation of a theme – no fluff, no snapshots, no table. I was really considering disqualifying this entry, as it is far from being complete. I decided I would judge it, but that doesn’t mean all of that stuff went under the radar. Honestly, if you can’t or don’t want to complete your entry, consider just not submitting it.
Score: 0 points.

Use of the SI:
You only take 5 levels of the SI, which is not good, but there’s a very clear reason you’re doing that. What you needed was an at-will SLA and a summon monster, and as soon as you had both you were out. As a melee character, you put the SI’s BAB to good use. The way you utilise steal is creative, cool, and OK power wise, and it double functions to give you fourth level spells to qualify for Nar Demonbinder, making you the only one to use solely the SI’s capabilities to qualify for another PRC.
This situation is quite similar to the one discussed at Morgan Stanley’s UoSI section, except you take less levels on the one hand, but use more and have a more creative use on the other – which I consider to be more important for this category.
Score: 3.75 points.
Total score: 11.1 points. I think this could have been a really awesome submission, if you were to complete it.

I’d like to state that I didn’t compare final scores until I was completely done with everything. There was no score manipulation. I was very surprised to see how close it turned out to be at the top.

Spoiler: Bonus content

Show

I have preliminary notes written out about each character, helping me remember what I liked and disliked at first glance and who’s who. They’re usually very light-hearted, more so than my actual judgment. I thought I’d share the pet names everyone had in those notes:

Wynfrith d'Acker is: Winnie the Pooh!

Dannielle the Hand in the Glove is: Bloody Dannie!

Bhedana Bharu is: Bibi!

Dukat d’Cannith is: Harry Potter!

Wolfgang Xor Von Taalstreet is: Amadeus!

Peribsen, the Renegade Satay Salesman is: M’aiq!

Morgan Stanley is: Ms. Monopoly!

Terrance ‘The Menace’ is: Terry the Clown! (I’m sorry Terrance)

Killer Mike is: Mickey Mouse!

Have a nice day!

[Piggy Knowles]

Thanks for judging! No disputes here, and I enjoyed reading everything.

[daremetoidareyo]

Thanks for judging. No disputes here

[Venger]

No disputes from me either. Thanks for judging. Your writeups were detailed and easy to follow. Now that we have judgings in, here's a table:

Name of Dish	Stub	Score	Chef
Wynfrith d'Acker	NE Female Human Warblade 5/Disciple of Mammon 10/Master of the Unseen hand 5	14.1
Danielle, the Hand in the Glove	LE silverbrow human human paragon 1/totemist 2/human paragon 3/chameleon 2/ disciple of mammon 10/ chameleon 5	12
Bhedana Bharu	LE Vriscika Human Ranger 2/OA Samurai (Kshatriya) 2/Disciple of Mammon 10/Fighter 2/Swordsage 4	11.6
Dukat d'Cannith	Human, LE Artificer 6/Binder 1/Disciple of Mammon 10/Cannith Wand Adept 3	14.05
Wolfgang Xor Von Taalstreet	LE Frostblood Half-orc Ranger 3/Red Dragon Shaman 3/Menacing Brute 2/Disciple of Mammon 10	14.05
Perisben, Renegade Satay Salesman	LE Catfolk passive way monk 7/disciple of Mammon 5/swordsage 1/marshal 1/Disciple of Mammon +5	10.95
Morgan Stanley	LE Necropolitan Human Duskblade 2 / Swashbuckler 1 / Battledancer 1 / Disciple of Mammon 7 / Ur-Priest 4 / Nar Demonbinder 1 / Mystic Theurge 4	12.9
Terrance the Menace	CE Changeling Rogue 2/Battle Dancer 1/Jester 7/Disciple of Mammon 10	11.25
Killer Mike	NE Strongheart Halfling Savant 1 / Duskblade 4 / Nosomatic Chirurgeon 1 / Disciple of Mammon 5 / Nar Demonbinder 4 / Nosomatic Chirurgeon 4 / Savant 1	11.1

[daremetoidareyo]

If you're taking honorable mentions, I really liked bhedana bharu.

[Venger]

Added that in, and I'll second that nomination.

[H_H_F_F]

So, I've been lying in bed trying to fall asleep (It's 2 AM here) but I couldn't because I was too bothered by so many people seeming to have skill point errors - seems improbable, more likely that I missed something because I was in a rush.

I believe I may have ignored bonus skill points granted by the apprentice feat, at least in some of the builds. I'll check tomorrow when I have some time, and correct if needed. If that is the case, and you were planning to send a dispute regarding only this point, there's no need to. You can rest assured - I'll get to it.

[daremetoidareyo]

So, I've been lying in bed trying to fall asleep (It's 2 AM here) but I couldn't because I was too bothered by so many people seeming to have skill point errors - seems improbable, more likely that I missed something because I was in a rush.

I believe I may have ignored bonus skill points granted by the apprentice feat, at least in some of the builds. I'll check tomorrow when I have some time, and correct if needed. If that is the case, and you were planning to send a dispute regarding only this point, there's no need to. You can rest assured - I'll get to it.

I mean in at least my case, I had to redo skill points in the table after noticing a mistake, so that's probably the source of that error. It's likely a similar story for others.

[Thurbane]

The skill tables, from the point of view of both a competitor (creating/formatting), and as a sometime judge (reading/checking), can be a major headache, for sure.

I try to be extra careful with mine, but errors still slip in on occasion.

[nosborm]

Well, now I feel embarrassed. First off, thanks (again) so much for judging! I also have no disputes here, I think most of my confusion and nits regarding cheese were addressed in the judging so I have a good handle on how that is viewed now. All that being said, I just wanted to apologize. I feel bad that my submission was so spartan but I ran out of time as I originally thought I had an extra day. I really did care about my character and wanted to complete my entry, next time I'll plan ahead and explain myself more. This was my first submission, I'm sure it shows, and I figured it was better to submit something rather than nothing, otherwise I'd never participate, but I apologize again if I wasted your time. I really appreciate the feedback, I learned a lot and I'll be sure to address everything in the next round in the hopes that I don't waste your time again.

[WhamBamSam]

I mean in at least my case, I had to redo skill points in the table after noticing a mistake, so that's probably the source of that error. It's likely a similar story for others.

Yeah. It's a skillful ingredient, which means you're more likely to have cause to rejigger points more often and hence have more chances to make a small error somewhere along the line.

[Venger]

Well, now I feel embarrassed. First off, thanks (again) so much for judging! I also have no disputes here, I think most of my confusion and nits regarding cheese were addressed in the judging so I have a good handle on how that is viewed now. All that being said, I just wanted to apologize. I feel bad that my submission was so spartan but I ran out of time as I originally thought I had an extra day. I really did care about my character and wanted to complete my entry, next time I'll plan ahead and explain myself more. This was my first submission, I'm sure it shows, and I figured it was better to submit something rather than nothing, otherwise I'd never participate, but I apologize again if I wasted your time. I really appreciate the feedback, I learned a lot and I'll be sure to address everything in the next round in the hopes that I don't waste your time again.

We learn through experience. I'm sure you'll do great next time. You've got a great attitude. Always nice to welcome a new chef.

[Aplatypus]

I'd also like to offer my thanks and apology. I didn't think that my build would get anywhere near as far as it did and I let myself get lazy as the deadline approached. I submitted without final edits and I'm sorry. Thank you so much for judging all of these!

[The Viscount]

Thank you for judging, H_H_F_F.

I have one dispute for you.

First of all, thank you very much for the judging, and the kind words you have for my build.

Only one contention, on the legality of taking the Cards Over Swords feat at 9th level.

Note the differences in wording between this:

Prerequisite: 1st level character, Diplomacy 4 ranks

...and these:

Special: This feat may only be taken at 1st level.

Prerequisites: Non-good alignment, Fiendish Heritage, character level 9th.

Able Learner is very clear that you may only take the feat at 1st level. Fiendish Heritage, however, isn't restricted to be taken only at 9th level. It can be taken any time thereafter. That is my reading of the Cards Over Swords reqs as well. This was discussed quite a bit in the thread on optimising the feat, and the general consensus was the feat didn't have the same restriction as, say, Able Learner does. To be honest, it's a weirdly worded req, to be sure, but I don't believe taking it after first level is illegal.

I'll give everyone a few days for any more disputes and response period. I might not have time for reveal until Friday or Saturday.

[H_H_F_F]

Response to Wynfrith's dispute:

I can see where you (and the three on the thread you linked) are coming from, but I disagree. I believe we can all agree that RAI is on my side - having a "1HD" prerequisite is practically meaningless, and 1st level only feats are common enough to assume intent. However, and much more importantly in this context, I also believe RAW is on my side. To me, "1st level character" reads very differently from "Character level 1st" (or 9th).

Character level 6th, or 9th, or 1st, is something you have, like 8 skill ranks or a feat. "I have 9 character levels - my first to my ninth."

A 1st, 6th, or 9th level character is something you are, like an elf or an epic level character. "I am a fifth level character."

This was the obvious reading for me, with intention completely aside. It may be considered pedantry, or my brain not processing English correctly, but this is the way it reads to me. This is a point I probably would have caved on if RAI was obviously on your side. I would say that I'm probably just being a lawyering ****, and let you off with a warning. But, since I believe RAI is clearly on my side, I'm not changing my ruling here. Scoring remains.

Just to clarify: I'm judging based on RAW here, not RAI. All I'm saying is that RAI would have caused me to be more lax if it was clearly on your side, but it isn't so it doesn't so I ain't.

Edit: just in case it makes my post clearer: I think "Character level 9th" is an equivelant phrase to "[has a] 9th character level" not to "[is a] 9th level character".

[daremetoidareyo]

What's on the docket for next rounds' special ingredient? Something shiney? Something blade-y? Something Heironious-y?

[Thurbane]

Maybe something caster-y after the last two rounds. You know how much we looove our 5/10 casting classes!

[ExLibrisMortis]

Is there a Mind's Eye PrC that hasn't been used yet? I'd be in for some psionic silliness.

[The Viscount]

Might do something caster-y. Still mulling over using the ingredient that has a vision and fails to execute I mentioned last round.
As for psionics, I love a good psionic dish and have at least one on the pile, but I'm a little wary after the low turnout for the last psionic SI.
I couldn't do Shining Blade to you anytime soon. We've suffered more than enough this year without adding that insult to injury.

One more dispute

Unfortunately, like most of the field, you’re playing a catfolk with seven levels of monk. I get that this is the expected and easiest entry, but it’s still boring.

I'm a little confused by this. There's no other catfolk or monk amongst the entries. I don't think catfolk monks are very common in general, either. Monk is not mentioned as one of the classes likely to enter Disciple of Mammon. Monks do not, in fact, have the class skills required for Disciple of Mammon. How is this entry easy or expected?

Granted, it doesn't seem to have hurt my score much (if at all), so maybe it's sarcasm. In which case, no dispute here.


On Power (and a little UotSI)
I think there are one or two things that were missed because they weren't explicitly mentioned in the writeup, in particular regarding Mantis Leap and combat maneuvers.

(1) Mantis Leap does, in fact, let you move (in whatever way you see fit, including jumping) before the final charging jump, since jumping is part of a move action. You move some distance, designate an opponent you can reach with a Jump check, Jump, then charge (though without the movement usually associated with a charge, I would think), all as part of that single move action.

Due to the way Mantis Leap is phrased, you can even use it as part of a Withdraw action. This is a tactic associated with Mammon specifically--see the Mark of Minauros feat in FCII. Unfortunately, you have to be a devil to qualify for the Mark feats, or it'd make a great capstone for Peribsen.

(2) Take Object is used by Peribsen. It is supported by Master of War, which adds Peribsen's Charisma modifier to Disarm checks, and by the fact that he wields a two-handed weapon, resulting in a minimum of +12 to Disarm rolls. I didn't mention Disarming specifically, as it's not Peribsen's "core" trick and doesn't work on many opponents, but it is part of the greater concept of "fighting dirty", which was mentioned as something Peribsen is good at (or at least likely to try).

Just for fun: Assuming standard ability boosters (+6 enhancement STR/CHA, +4 inherent STR) and a decent staff (e.g. +5 tiger claw), with no further attack bonuses, Peribsen has a better-than-even chance of disarming a solar angel. It's only +45 vs. +43, which isn't brilliant, but it's a friggin' solar angel--Large and +22 base attack! Take Object is doing great work here!

(3) I forgot to add this to the writeup, and am now duly kicking myself. Peribsen can craft a staff of telekinesis, using steal to meet the prerequisite. Such a staff lets him perform combat maneuvers at a distance, such as Disarming or Tripping (enhanced by Master of War and Improved Trip or Take Object) before making a Mantis Leap. I don't expect any points for this, but just in case someone is browsing these builds in 2120: steal is definitely a thing Peribsen uses. He insists, however (by way of a strongly-worded letter from his attorney), that he is a legitimate and very successful businessman, not a thief.


On all other points, I agree and thank you for your detailed feedback. First place for judging this round!

[H_H_F_F]

Response to Peribsen's dispute:

Oh man. I should know better than using sarcasm on the internet, but I really though this one would carry. Guess I should have colored it blue. Yes, your submission was extremely unique, especially in a field that was so human oriented, hence your very good originality score - second only to Wolfgang, I believe.

As for the rest: I wouldn't allow that interpretation of Manits Leap at my table, as it completely invalidates the need to be able to jump - anyone can jump 5 ft, so under that frame, "within your movement" is the only limit. However, I do accept that it's a legitimate reading, RAW wise - though I think so is bunny hopping around an enemy for 24 pounces a turn, and you were very smart in not trying to let that fly. But since that was the interpretation you worked under, I get why you didn't pump jump as much as I believed you should have, and I'll adjust the score somewhat.

As for take object: you're right that I saw Art of War mostly in the context tripping, not disarming. You'll notice that those I've noted for leaning into take object still put more effort into it than you in that regard, especially considering disarm is way more viable (IMO) at ECL 10-11 than 16. Still, it's a fair point.

Staff of telekinesis, unfortunately, comes to the point I made with Morgan Stanley: can does not equal does. You should've mentioned it. You'll get a tiny boost nevertheless, as it is a tactic your build is especially suited for, but I can't act as if you've mentioned it - that's a can of worms I'm not willing to open.

Score will be adjusted momentarily.

And thank you for giving me gold on judging! I feel almost as proud as I did when I got a medal on the Atavist contest, when I submitted 2 of the 4 entries

[Venger]

Updated the chart.

[The Viscount]

The time has come. The reveal is here!

Name of Dish	Stub	Score	Chef
Wynfrith d'Acker	NE Female Human Warblade 5/Disciple of Mammon 10/Master of the Unseen hand 5	14.1	Thurbane
Danielle, the Hand in the Glove	LE silverbrow human human paragon 1/totemist 2/human paragon 3/chameleon 2/ disciple of mammon 10/ chameleon 5	12	Venger
Bhedana Bharu	LE Vriscika Human Ranger 2/OA Samurai (Kshatriya) 2/Disciple of Mammon 10/Fighter 2/Swordsage 4	11.6	WhamBamSam
Dukat d'Cannith	Human, LE Artificer 6/Binder 1/Disciple of Mammon 10/Cannith Wand Adept 3	14.05	Piggy Knowles
Wolfgang Xor Von Taalstreet	LE Frostblood Half-orc Ranger 3/Red Dragon Shaman 3/Menacing Brute 2/Disciple of Mammon 10	14.05	daremetoidareyou
Perisben, Renegade Satay Salesman	LE Catfolk passive way monk 7/disciple of Mammon 5/swordsage 1/marshal 1/Disciple of Mammon +5	10.95	ExLibrisMortis
Morgan Stanley	LE Necropolitan Human Duskblade 2 / Swashbuckler 1 / Battledancer 1 / Disciple of Mammon 7 / Ur-Priest 4 / Nar Demonbinder 1 / Mystic Theurge 4	12.9	Aplatypus
Terrance the Menace	CE Changeling Rogue 2/Battle Dancer 1/Jester 7/Disciple of Mammon 10	11.25	Falontani
Killer Mike	NE Strongheart Halfling Savant 1 / Duskblade 4 / Nosomatic Chirurgeon 1 / Disciple of Mammon 5 / Nar Demonbinder 4 / Nosomatic Chirurgeon 4 / Savant 1	11.1	nosborm

Congratulations to our chefs for an excellent round! Special thanks to H_H_F_F for judging and responding to disputes in such a timely manner.

Next round up shortly.

[Venger]

Congratulations to the medalists. This was a fun round.

[Thurbane]

Wow, my first ever win in IC! Fairly unexpected with my offbeat entry, I must say.

Congrats to everyone who entered, was a tough round.

Thank you again to H_H_F_F for the judging, and as always, the chair for the hard work in running the show.