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2021-04-05, 09:34 AM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
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- Apr 2020
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- Jerusalem
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Well, that means I can take a break and get some work done, which is certainly a relief. Thanks for letting me know, Dare.
[edit]Submitted![/edit]Last edited by H_H_F_F; 2021-04-05 at 06:26 PM.
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2021-04-05, 09:35 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
- Join Date
- Dec 2012
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Well it looks like work running late lined up pretty well with the time people needed. Now it is time for the reveal! (Please hold off on posting until the all clear).
Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards
Originally Posted by willpell
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2021-04-05, 09:37 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
- Join Date
- Dec 2012
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Show me your war face!
Originally Posted by M.K.
M.K, The Angriest Magic User
"What do you know ? Fiery temper and arcane power do mix"
CN Fire Elf Swordsage1/Elf Combat Wizard4/Wildrunner2/Rage Mage10/Jade Phoenix Mage3
Spoiler: Overview
Disclaimer : This build assumes that Primal Scream is an effective rage/frenzy ability for Rage Mage qualification
Spoiler: Feat Summary
Race Fire Elf
Level 1 : Aereni Focus : Survival
Level 2 : Two-Weapon Fighting
Level 3 : Endurance
Level 6 : Combat Casting
Level 9 : Shadow Blade
Level 12 : Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
Level 15 : Arcane Strike
Level 18 : Martial Study : Dancing Mongoose
Spoiler: Point Buy
Fire Elf : +2 Dex, +2 Int, -2 Cha, -2 Con
Point Buy level 20 after Racial Adjustments
(Level 4, 8 & 16 to Constitution, 12 & 20 to Dex)
STR 14
DEX 18
CON 16
INT 16
WIS 8
CHA 12
Watchuget
- Flavorwise : My answer to mixing arcane & rage as the SI does, was through fire – fiery power mixed with burning frenzy. Concept matches pretty well with Fire Elf race, the wizard evocation[fire] spells, Desert Wind maneuvers and Jade Phoenix Mage (all The More so that « arcane swordsages » are mentioned in the JPM class description).
- Powerwise : While raging you have full BaB and full CL thanks to the SI. This build aims to make the best of both giving you 5 iteratives, 2 off-hands and one bite. You get 6th level spells with the best spell list in the game. Your elven roots are bringing a lot to the table : Wildrunner prereq, Aereni Focus prereq, Elf Wizard Substitution 1st & 3rd Level.
- Two-Weapon Fighting is interesting because Shadow Blade feat adds Dex to dmg so the more attacks the merrier (and it doesn’t have the 1/2 bonus for off-hand weapons rule that Str does).
- Pouncelike ability. Sudden Leap maneuver is being boosted all through the build by keeping the Jump and Tumble skills maxed out which synergize well with our +10ft from Wildrunner.
As per CustServ (and common sense), the Jump checks aren’t doubled for the Tiger Claw maneuvers even though they Jump from a stand-still. This means (including your 5-foot step) :
- at lvl 1 : min 10ft, max 25ft movement for a swift action (not counting toward your mvt this turn)
- at lvl 20 : min 30ft, max 50ft
If you’re still not satisfied, polymorph can get you a real pounce.
Sweet Spot
Level 9
It opens up 3rd level spells meaning Haste (1 extra attack) and Bite of the Wererat which in turns mean +6 Dex that stack with the +6 granted by Primal Scream (also, bite attack !) and gives us the Weapon Finesse Feat for the duration of the spell meaning Dex to hit and Str + Dex to dmg (Shadow Blade).
Leather armor won’t affect spellcasting anymore and Spell Rage makes M.K’s CL = to his ECL.
Spoiler: Build
Spoiler: Table
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Swordsage 1 +0 +0 +2 +2 Concentration 4, Hide 4, Jump 4, Knowledge (History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 4), Listen 4, Move Silently 4, Survival 4, Tumble 4 Aereni Focus : Survival Quick to Act+1, Discipline Focus : Weapon Focus (Shadow Hand) 2nd Elf Combat Wizard 1 +0 +0 +2 +4 Concentration 5 (+1), Hide 5 (+1), Jump 4, Knowledge (History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5 (+1)), Listen 4, Move Silently 5 (+1), Survival 5 (+1), Tumble 4 Two-Weapon Fighting Combat Wizard ACF, General Wizardry (Elf Wizard 1st substitution lvl), Summon Familiar, Fighter Bonus Feat 3rd Elf Combat Wizard 2 +1 +0 +2 +5 Concentration 6 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 6 (+2), Knowledge (History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5 ), Listen 4, Move Silently 5, Survival 6 (+1), Tumble 6 (+1) Endurance 4th Elf Combat Wizard 3 +1 +1 +3 +5 Concentration 7 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 7 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 1 (+1), History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 1 (+1) ), Listen 4, Move Silently 5, Survival 7 (+1), Tumble 6 - Natural Link (Elf Wizard 3rd substitution lvl) 5th Elf Combat Wizard 4 +2 +1 +3 +6 Concentration 8 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 8 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2 (+1), History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2 (+1) ), Listen 4, Move Silently 5, Survival 8 (+1), Tumble 6 6th Wildrunner 1 +3 +3 +5 +6 Concentration 9 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 9 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 5 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 9 (+1), Tumble 9 (+3) Combat Casting Fast Movement, Trackless Step 7th Wildrunner 2 +4 +4 +6 +6 Concentration 10 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 10 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 8 (+3), Move Silently 5, Survival 10 (+1), Tumble 10 (+1) - Primal Scream, Scent 8th Rage Mage 1 +4 +6 +6 +6 Concentration 11 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 11 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 9 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 11 (+1), Tumble 11 (+1) - Spell Rage 1/d 9th Rage Mage 2 +5 +7 +6 +6 Concentration 12 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 12 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 12 (+1), Tumble 12 (+1) Shadow Blade Overcome Spell Failure 10th Rage Mage 3 +6 +7 +7 +7 Concentration 13 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 13 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 13 (+1), Tumble 13 (+1) - Rage +1/d 11th Rage Mage 4 +7 +8 +7 +7 Concentration 14 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 14 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 14 (+1), Tumble 14 (+1) - - 12th Rage Mage 5 +7 +8 +7 +7 Concentration 15 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 15 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 15 (+1), Tumble 15 (+1) Improved Two-Weapon Fighting Spell Rage 2/d, Angry Spell +2 13th Rage Mage 6 +8 +9 +8 +8 Concentration 16 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 16 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 16 (+1), Tumble 16 (+1) - - 14th Rage Mage 7 +9 +9 +8 +8 Concentration 17 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 17 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 17 (+1), Tumble 17 (+1) - Spell Fury 15th Rage Mage 8 +10 +10 +8 +8 Concentration 18 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 18 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 18 (+1), Tumble 18 (+1) Arcane Strike Rage +1/d 16th Rage Mage 9 +10 +10 +9 +9 Concentration 19 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 19 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 19 (+1), Tumble 19 (+1) - Tireless Rage 17th Rage Mage 10 +11 +11 +9 +9 Concentration 20 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 20 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 20 (+1), Tumble 20 (+1) - Warrior Cry, Spell Rage 3/d, Angry Spell +4 18th Jade Phoenix Mage 1 +12 +13 +9 +9 Concentration 21 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 21 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 21 (+1), Tumble 21 (+1) Martial Study : Dancing Mongoose Arcane Wrath, Rite of Waking 19th Jade Phoenix Mage 2 +13 +14 +9 +9 Concentration 22 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 22 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 22 (+1), Tumble 22 (+1) - Mystic Phoenix Stance 20th Jade Phoenix 3 +14 +14 +10 +10 Concentration 23 (+1), Hide 5, Jump 23 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana 2, History 2, Local 1, Nobility 1, Nature 5, Religion 2), Listen 10 (+1), Move Silently 5, Survival 23 (+1), Tumble 23 (+1) - 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Spoiler: Spells
At Level 20, Bonus from Int (+1 to 1st, 2nd and 3rd) and General Wizardry (+1 to highest)]
Spells per Day/Spells Known
Level 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 1st - - - - - - - 2nd 3 1+1+1 - - - - - 3rd 4 2+1+1 - - - - - 4th 4 2+1 1+1+1 - - - - 5th 4 3+1 2+1+1 - - - - 6th 4 3+1 2+1+1 - - - - 7th 4 3+1 2+1+1 - - - - 8th 4 3+1 2+1+1 - - - - 9th 4 3+1 2+1 1+1+1 - - - 10th 4 3+1 2+1 1+1+1 - - - 11th 4 3+1 3+1 2+1+1 - - - 12th 4 3+1 3+1 2+1+1 - - - 13th 4 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1 - - 14th 4 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1 - - 15th 4 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1 - - 16th 4 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1 - - 17th 4 4+1 4+1 3+1 2 1+1 - 18th 4 4+1 4+1 3+1 2 1+1 - 19th 4 4+1 4+1 3+1 3 2+1 - 20th 4 4+1 4+1 4+1 3 2 1+1
Spoiler: Level Breakdown
Disclaimer : « Age » is a concept for the story-telling having no mechanical change on abilities on this build.
Spoiler: Level 1 – 5
M.K belongs to the Fire Elven City of Azra. While his peers have a habit of looking up to « dusty old tomes magic » as he calls it, he would rather seek enlightenment in Nature. He spent his youth honing his surviving skills and training in the ways of battle. Given his race’s frail build, he naturally opts for a skirmishing art of stealthy and decisive strikes rather than brute force.
But as sure as the leopard cannot change its spots, arcane magic found its way in M.K’s life and his ancestral blood led him to studying it with all it’s heart all the while keeping a martial state-of-mind. M.K’s choice of familiar, his lemming Sunny, anchors him in his environment by boosting his perception skills thanks to putting the emphasis on their Natural Link. M.K kept on trying to find a way to reconcile those two parts of himself.
Spoiler: QuickCrunch
Racial bonuses + Familiar bonuses + Natural Link + Alertness add up to +8 to Spot and Listen skills while the Aereni Focus feat gives us a +3 to Survival ; not too shabby for a wannabe wildling.
Swordsage gives M.K an early edge with powerful maneuvers and compensation from the lack of BaB by Discipline focus.
Spoiler: Level 5 – 10
M.K feels trapped in his progression. The two paths he is trying to merge seem unlikely to ever do so and this fills him with anger. He feels that the city’s social conventions and order are preventing him from breaking through his ordeal and, in order to bypass it, he simply leaves his home to embrace the savageness of the Wild.
Quickly, he picks up many things that his sedentary life was denying him access to, he begins attuning to his newfound environment and develops a new understanding of it. Sunny acts as a guide to unlocking these primal secrets. As M.K faces life and death situations every other day he gets faster, untraceable in the wild and develops an extraordinary sense of smell until he crosses path with his mightiest foe yet : a raging dire wolverine. Being low on arcane power he has to resort to physical prowess and quickly finds himself in over his head. In a heaven-defying scream of unacceptance of his certain death, he copycats (Do puns count toward Elegance ?) his opponent’s frenzied state and gives it a taste of its own medicine. This breakthrough not only made him more powerful but also broke some kind of seal that kept his arcane and wild nature separated : this frenzy was the key to melding his magic and savagery.
M.K’s first step on this newfound path led him to forgo many of his past preoccupations. Through sheer power alone he can defy the boundaries other arcanists are bound to by the law of the world. This domineering demeanor makes up for the lack of study of the arcane arts and even ignores his armor’s encumbrance to a certain extent.
Spoiler: QuickCrunch
Bite of the Wererat fits M.K thematically and gives us the Weapon Finesse feat for the duration of the spell, making sure he hits things with his high Dex and the Two-Weapon Fighting feat until M.K gets his hands on Feycrafted Shadow weapons. The Rage and Ferocity of Sanguine Rage spells give us a preview of what M.K becomes when unleashing his inner rage.
2 levels of full BaB and 3 levels of 3/4 make M.K sturdier in a fight. His Primal Scream gives +2 Str and +6 Dex and a Bite attack which, combined with Shadow Blade, TWF and Bite of the Wererat (another +6 Dex) grants +11 damage per strike. Haste coming online is no joke coupled with his Fast movement and Scent is the bane of those invisible cowards you can start facing at these levels.
More Primal Scream per day, Spell Rage makes our CL = ECL making buffs last longer and blasts hit harder and wearing leather armor without penalty is a nice free +2 AC.
Spoiler: Level 10 – 15
M.K revels in his rage. He is now right where he has always wanted to be, able to tap in his race primal energy to form a violent kind of magic. While raging, his spellcasting ability doesn’t pale compared to the « dusty old tome » magic users of his race, he can even make his spells deadlier thanks to his anger !
He reaches new realms both in his arcane mastery as well as his weapon wielding technique making him deadlier to those trespassing onto his territory.
Spoiler: QuickCrunch
More Frenzy, more Spell Rage, Angry Spell and Spell Fury are all coming up online in these levels making M.K’s caster level comparable to a full caster whilst raging. Access to 4th level wizard spells as a 14th level wizard makes its transmutations and abjurations last longer, his evocation deals more damage and his necromancy deadlier.
Being limited to 4th level spells means that any spell M.K knows can potentially be Quickened ; self-buffing has never been easier.
Arcane Strike can give the decisive edge against a particularly tough foe with high saves and hints at the Arcane Wrath that will come later.
Spoiler: Level 15 – 20
Raging is now a second nature to M.K, he doesn’t even tire, whatsmore, he can channel it in a mighty roar to transform himself in an even more formidable foe !
Having mastered his physical rage, he starts to harness the fire of his soul and race in order to continue advancing his technique. He quickly develops an Arcane Wrath, perfecting his previous Arcane strikes, and reaches a Mystic Stance that furthers his arcane prowess and makes him better at defending himself.
This training goes back to his signature fighting style, unleashing his burning inner rage as literal fire to scorch his foes.
Spoiler: QuickCrunch
Finishing strong
Arcane Wrath gives +4 to hit and Xd10 additional damage if we’re burning through spells, Mystic Phoenix Stance gives +1 CL for a total of 21 during his Spell Rage.
M.K gets access to 6th level spells which include Disintegrate with that sweet +4 Angry Spell, Contingency « When I start raging » sounds adequat and Greater Dispel Magic with a 21 CL is nothing to sneeze at.
Improved Two-Weapon Fighting and the Warrior Cry ability make M.K a full BaB char giving him a total of 8 attacks (5 iterative, 2 TWF, 1 Bite) adding Dex and Str to damage. Is nice!
Finally, 3 levels of JPM give M.K 2 new maneuvers (and one more readied) (cf Spells and Maneuvers) and Martial Study : Dancing Mongoose (since IL is 12th) to get more attacks with your daggers at full BaB.
Spoiler: Spells and Maneuvers
Cool spells that are castable while Spell Raging :
1st : Blades of Blood, Nerveskitter, Blades of Fire, Burning Hands, Burning Rage
2nd : Wraithstrike, Alter Self, Heroics, Bladeweave, Boiling Blood, Combust, Flame Dagger
3rd : Bite of the Wererat , Rage, Ferocity of Sanguine Rage, Haste, Steeldance
4th : Bite of the Werewolf, Polymorph, Enervation, Fire Orb, Incendiary Surge
5th : Bite of the Wereboar, Channeled Lifetheft, Teleport, Greater Fireburst, Heart of Fire
6th : Bite of the Weretiger, Contingency, AntiMagic Field, Disintegrate
Maneuvers :
Level 1
Stance : Child of Shadow
Maneuvers : Moment of Perfect Mind, Sudden Leap, Shadow Blade Technique, Wolf Fang Strike, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Distracting Ember
Level 18 – 20 :
Jade Phoenix Mage : Zephyr Dance, Leaping Flame
Spoiler: Items
Feycraft Weapons (DMG 2) : Because getting Weapon Finesse would cost a feat (outside of Bite of the Wererat) and we like feat slots. Shadow Discipline weapons include daggers, saïs, shortswords, siaghams. This fits thematically with M.K’s flavor since Wildrunner is the path leading elves to their fey heritage.
Headband of Intellect : more spells, higher DC – physical stat improving items become redundant with Warrior’s Cry or Bite of the X spells enhancement bonuses.
Mantle of Rage (MIC) : rage like a barbarian (+4 Str and Con morale bonuses, better than the Rage spell)
Otyugh Hole (CS) : Magical location that can grant Extend Rage, which we like, especially if it applies to the Spell Rage ability.
Spoiler: Combos
* Feycraft weapons : Dex to atk
* Shadow Blade : Dex to dmg
* Primal Scream : unnamed +2 Str, +6 Dex
* Rage : morale +2 Str and Dex
* Haste : 1 more atk at full BaB
* Ferocity of Sanguine Rage : +1/2CL to dmg (Reminder : Spell Rage makes CL = ECL)
* Warrior’s Cry : Enhancement +4 Str, Dex, Con and Nat Armor, +5 Fort and BaB = ECL
* Dancing Mongoose : +2 extra attacks at full BaB
The full-on combo gives 22 Str, 30 Dex and 20 Con and full BaB which translates to 8 attacks at +36/+36(TWF n°1)/+36(Dancing Mongoose n°1)/+36(Dancing Mongoose n°2)/+36 (Haste)/+31/+31(TWF n°2)/+31(Bite)/+25/+20/+15 to hit and +25 to damage for main hand attacks and +12 to off-hand and bite.
* Steeldance + Ferocity of Sanguine Rage spells would add 2 attacks from those flying daggers (if they’re Feycrafted you can use CL+Dex to hit) and deal 1d4 + Int which you may or may not have boosted +10 boost to dmg from FSR
* The Polymorph line : Alter-Self can allow for better mobility (burrow, swim, fly, cimb) as well as Natural Armor or get racial bonus skills to hide, jump and move silently for instance.
Polymorph into Dire Tiger or Lion is a nice boon to your pouncing and grabbing.
Spoiler: Discussion & Sources
- The elephant in the room is the Primal Scream class feature qualifying for « Rage or Frenzy ability » for Rage Mage. WIldrunner gets Fast Movement (like the Barbarian’s), uses the wordsanda state of feral frenzywhich make me believe it’s similar enough that it should qualify.lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + your Con modifier
But more importantly, I like elves and they are always the runts of the litter when it comes down to being Big Bad Mad so i’m also doing it for the elves out there that want to just lose it.
- UA materials : I’ll stomach the eventual penalties but here are my trains of thoughts :
Combat Wizard just makes more sense to me since a raging character is more likely to have martial skills than doodling on papers.
Fire Elf makes sense thematically as well as mechanically. Other options include wood and savage elves that are stupid (-2 Int) or gray elves that are weak (-2 Str). Mechanically, a gish build is MAD so i’m getting all the help I can from the race.
- Arcane Wrath : +4 to hit, + Xd10 to dmg, by RAW to « a single attack » can mean full attack right ? I feel it’d be OP but if it works it’s the cherry on top.
I like that Arcane Strikes leads to Arcane Wrath but if one spell can’t fuel both then Arcane Strike is redundant and could be replaced by say Extra Rage.
- If feat starved, replacing a level of Jade Phoenix Mage by the 5th level of Combat Wizard ACF grants a Fighter feat. Since our Improved Two-Weapon fighting qualifies as such, it frees a feat slot which can be anything.
Sources :
Player’s Handbook – Feats and spells
Races of the Wild – Wildrunner, Elf Wizard Substitution Levels
Dungeon’s Master Guide II – Feycraft Weapons
Complete Warrior – Rage Mage
Magic Item Compendium – Mantle of Rage
Tome of Battle : Book of the Nine Swords – Swordsage, Jade Phoenix Mage, Maneuvers & Stances, Shadow Blade
Unearthed Arcana - Combat Wizard ACF, Fire Elf race
Frostburn – Lemming Familiar
Player’s Guide to Faerûn – Aereni Focus feat
Last edited by The Viscount; 2021-04-07 at 10:48 PM.
Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2021-04-05, 09:40 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
- Join Date
- Dec 2012
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Despite all my rage I am still badger, mystic, and sage.
Originally Posted by Tummo
Tummo, Sage of the Shalm
N Middle-Aged Badger Hengeyokai Wizard 6/Blood Magus 4/Rage Mage 10
Spoiler: Serenity and WrathA human youth with frantic, haunted eyes stands at the entrance to a humble warren in the side of a hill, hectoring the old yokai who sits at the entrance with a cup of tea gazing back placidly.
“Tell me!” The child screams. “I need to find the sage! The legends say to seek them here. That they hold the secret to turning fury into power. I have the anger but need power to avenge my village. Please!”
The elder raises an eyebrow as they take a sip. “Very well. Travel through the forests and the plains. Over the hills and under them. Give blood at the stone circles of the Old Faith and take it back from nature’s bounty. Walk these paths by light of day and beneath the moon, in Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring again, just as the Shalm traverses death and rebirth, bloom and rot.”
“What does that even mean?!” The child demands furiously. “Why can’t you just tell me where they are?” But with no other obvious course, they set off on their journey as much in accordance with the instruction as they can manage.
The path stretches out before them twisting and turning for miles and years, until it ultimately leads back to where the village that the child had fled and devoted themselves to avenging. The child is now an adult, tall and strong. They bear the sword across their back comfortably and the once frantic look in their eyes is now hard, though the wrath remains. They walk past the husks of the buildings they once called home, now overtaken with vegetation growing out of the decay and ash. They walk on back to the warren, to find the old yokai sitting in the shape of a badger, though still with their cup of tea.
“You were the sage all along.”
The badger’s head inclines. “And you’ve mastered your rage, at least to some degree. Now you have the power that you sought, or at least enough of it to pursue your purpose in earnest. Shall we be on our way, then?”
“We?”
The yokai winks and a drop of blood drips from the corner of their eye into the soft loam, out of which rise the corpses of various animals and other beasts that turn and begin to shamble down the hill. The badger laps up the last of their tea and unhurriedly walks after them.
Spoiler: Body and MindAbility Scores:
32 Point-Buy: 8 Str, 11 Dex, 15 Con, 18 Int, 13 Wis, 8 Cha
Adjustments for Middle-Aged Badger Hengeyokai: 7 Str, 10 Dex, 14 Con, 19 Int, 12 Wis, 9 Cha
4th Level Stat Increase: 7 Str, 10 Dex, 14 Con, 20 Int, 12 Wis, 9 Cha
8th Level Stat Increase and Old age modifiers from alternate Bestow Curse: 5 Str, 8 Dex, 12 Con, 22 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Cha
12th Level Stat Increase: 5 Str, 8 Dex, 12 Con, 23 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Cha
16th Level Stat Increase: 5 Str, 8 Dex, 12 Con, 24 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Cha
20th Level Stat Increase: 5 Str, 8 Dex, 12 Con, 25 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Cha
Build Table
Spells/DayLevel Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Wizard 1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Concentration 4, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 4, Craft (Alchemy) 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1 Toughness, Improved InitiativeB Domain Wizard (Abjuration Domain), Wizard of Sun and Moon, Martial Wizard 2nd Wizard 2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Concentration 5, Spellcraft 5, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 5, Craft (Alchemy) 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Nature) 2, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1 - - 3rd Wizard 3 +1 +1 +1 +3 Concentration 6, Spellcraft 6, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 6, Craft (Alchemy) 6, Knowledge (Arcana) 3, Knowledge (Nature) 3, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1 Great Fortitude 4th Wizard 4 +2 +1 +1 +4 Concentration 7, Spellcraft 7, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 7, Craft (Alchemy) 7, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 3, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1 - - 5th Blood Magus 1 +2 +3 +1 +3 Concentration 8, Spellcraft 8, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 7, Craft (Alchemy) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 3, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Heal 4 - Blood Component, Durable Casting, Stanch 6th Blood Magus 2 +3 +4 +1 +3 Concentration 9, Spellcraft 9, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 7, Craft (Alchemy) 9, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 3, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Heal 5, Bluff 3 Combat Casting Scarification 7th Blood Magus 3 +3 +4 +2 +4 Concentration 10, Spellcraft 10, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 7, Craft (Alchemy) 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 3, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Heal 5, Bluff 5, Healing Hands - Death Knell 8th Blood Magus 4 +4 +5 +2 +4 Concentration 11, Spellcraft 11, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 7, Craft (Alchemy) 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 3, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Healing Hands - Blood Draught 9th Rage Mage 1 +4 +7 +2 +4 Concentration 12, Spellcraft 12, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 11, Craft (Alchemy) 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 3, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Healing Hand, Collector of Stories Surrogate Spellcasting Spell Rage 1/day 10th Rage Mage 2 +5 +8 +2 +4 Concentration 13, Spellcraft 13, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 13, Craft (Alchemy) 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 3, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 2cc, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Healing Hand, Collector of Stories, False Theurgy - Overcome Spell Failure 11th Rage Mage 3 +6 +8 +3 +5 Concentration 14, Spellcraft 14, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 14, Craft (Alchemy) 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 4cc, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 3.5cc, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Healing Hand, Collector of Stories, False Theurgy - Rage +1 use/day 12th Rage Mage 4 +7 +9 +3 +5 Concentration 15, Spellcraft 15, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 15, Craft (Alchemy) 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5cc, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5cc, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Healing Hands, Collector of Stories, False Theurgy Arcane Disciple (Balance) - 13th Rage Mage 5 +7 +9 +3 +5 Concentration 16, Spellcraft 16, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 16, Craft (Alchemy) 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Appraise 2cc, Survival 1, Healing Hands, Collector of Stories, False Theurgy - Spell Rage 2/day, Angry Spell 14th Rage Mage 6 +8 +10 +4 +6 Concentration 17, Spellcraft 17, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 17, Craft (Alchemy) 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Appraise 4cc, Survival 2, Healing Hands, Collector of Stories, False Theurgy - - 15th Rage Mage 7 +9 +10 +4 +6 Concentration 18, Spellcraft 18, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 18, Craft (Alchemy) 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Appraise 5cc, Survival 3, Healing Hands, Collector of Stories, False Theurgy, Magical Appraisal Raging Luck Spell Fury 16th Rage Mage 8 +10 +11 +4 +6 Concentration 19, Spellcraft 19, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 19, Craft (Alchemy) 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Appraise 5, Survival 9, Healing Hands, Collector of Stories, False Theurgy, Magical Appraisal - Rage +1 use/day 17th Rage Mage 9 +10 +11 +5 +7 Concentration 20, Spellcraft 20, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 20, Craft (Alchemy) 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Appraise 5, Survival 15, Healing Hands, Collector of Stories, False Theurgy, Magical Appraisal - Tireless Rage 18th Rage Mage 10 +11 +12 +5 +7 Concentration 21, Spellcraft 21, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 21, Craft (Alchemy) 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Appraise 5, Survival 21, Healing Hands, Collector of Stories, False Theurgy, Magical Appraisal Action Surge Warrior Cry, Spell Rage 3/day 19th Wizard 5 +11 +12 +5 +8 Concentration 22, Spellcraft 22, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 22, Craft (Alchemy) 17, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Appraise 5, Survival 21, Healing Hands, Collector of Stories, False Theurgy, Magical Appraisal Martial Study (Shadow Stride)B - 20th Wizard 6 +12 +13 +6 +9 Concentration 23, Spellcraft 23, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Profession (Miner) 23, Craft (Alchemy) 23, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 3, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Heal 5, Bluff 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Appraise 5, Survival 21, Healing Hands, Collector of Stories, False Theurgy, Conceal Spellcasting, Magical Appraisal - -
*Does not count bonus spells for a high Int score.Level 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 1st 3+1 1+1 - - - - - - - 2nd 4+1 2+1 - - - - - - - 3rd 4+1 2+1 1+1 - - - - - - 4th 4+1 3+1 2+1 - - - - - - 5th 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1 - - - - - 6th 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1 - - - - - 7th 4+1 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1 - - - - 8th 4+1 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1 - - - - 10th 4+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1 - - - 12th 4+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1 - - - 14th 4+1 4+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1 - - 16th 4+1 4+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1 - - 18th 4+1 4+1 4+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1 - 19th 4+1 4+1 4+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 3+1 2+1 - 20th 4+1 4+1 4+1 4+1 4+1 4+1 3+1 2+1 1+1
Spoiler: Life and DeathLevel 5SpoilerSpells from typical choices for banned schools are going to be important later on, so generalist, and hence Domain Wizard is going to be the way to go for Tummo. Domain Wizard’s bonus slot is more restrictive than that of a typical specialist, but Wizard of Sun and Moon improves versatility by allowing a spell slot at each spell level to be prepared with two different spells, one that can be cast out of it above ground during the day, and the other underground or at night. In fact, the language of Domain Wizard and Wizard of Sun and Moon seems to allow for one side of the Domain slot to be prepared as something other than the domain spell, which is helpful. Moreover, Badger Hengeyokai (which was made LA+0 in the Dragon 318 update) grants a burrow speed in hybrid or animal form (the former being the more relevant for the time being absent the ability to cast in animal form), so Tummo can move, or even take a 5-ft step into or out of the ground in suitable environments to use the side of a Sun and Moon slot that’s more useful in a given situation. Domain Wizard also increases the caster level of spells on the Domain by 1, meaning that Tummo has an arcane caster level of 5 at 4th level, and can enter Blood Magus so long as the fluff req about dying and being returned to life is met somehow.
Feat-wise, Tummo is mostly just paying feat taxes, but there are characters for whom Toughness is less welcome than a 1st level Wizard, and as the Scribe Scroll and Blood Magus’ Scarification ability are redundant, the Martial Wizard ACF trades out the former for a feat off the Fighter Bonus Feat list. Improved Initiative is the classic choice there, to help get off a potentially encounter-winning spell earlier in low-level combat, when Wizards are at their squishiest and most vulnerable, but will also continue to pay dividends with tactics employed later on.
Both Blood Magus and eventually Rage Mage have limited skill lists, especially with a Wizard’s high Int, so skills in these low levels go toward setting Tummo up to qualify for feats later on and set up skill tricks as something to productively put skill points toward in those levels, as well as emphasizing skills that can be progressed in those levels. For Blood Magus levels, Craft (Alchemy) is the clear winner among Craft skills for a caster and for Rage Mage levels Miner stands out as one of the few Professions for which additional rules were printed. It also jives with the burrowing, and since its rules concern clearing out 5-ft cubes of earth, it might work to do something funny in conjunction with Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) – for which Tummo can at least make trained checks with their high Int – especially in early levels.
Level 10SpoilerAlternate Form grants (Ex) Special Attacks, so Badger Hengeyokai have Rage in animal form, and with one more feat tax and a few more levels to meet the BAB req, Tummo is ready to enter Rage Mage without having lost a single level of casting progression. With the alternate Bestow Curse option from BoVD increasing their age another category, they fully obviate Hengeyokai’s racial Wis penalty and qualify for Surrogate Spellcasting so that they can cast in Badger form. Primarily sticking in Badger form also largely removes the problem of the physical ability score penalties for old age, as they’ll have the stats of a badger instead, for all purposes except Con to HP, which can be made up for with temporary HP from raging, and the usual suite of defenses that a mid-level Wizard will generally prefer to taking hits from level-appropriate enemies anyhow.
Badger rage differs from that of a Barbarian, in that it is triggered by taking damage, which Tummo achieves by way of the point of damage from using Blood Magus’ Blood Component ability. If they don’t want to wait until the second round of combat to start raging and can’t cast spells beforehand, they can cast Nerveskitter with a Blood Component when rolling initiative, bolstering an already respectable modifier and ensuring that their rage will begin at the start of their first turn in one fell swoop. Badger Rage lasts until Tummo or their opponent is dead, and with a Rage Tummo damaging themselves, they should be free to designate whichever ‘opponent’ they please, from the most consequential enemy as insurance that a Spell Rage will last as long as it needs to, to one of their own Animated undead or summons, either to potentially stretch a Spell Rage through multiple encounters or conversely to ensure that a Rage can be voluntarily ended by destroying the minion. How the extra Rages/day from the SI interact with the Rage ability requires some DM adjudication. Most likely, the extra Rages are just added to the already limitless pile of potential daily Badger Rages, but it could be ruled that they add standard Barbarian Rages (which would be helpful as a situational option to trigger as a free action on the fly without needing to take damage in advance).
Blood Magus’ Durable Casting is also liable to come in handy, as Rage Mage’s language regarding the Concentration skill doesn’t actually allow for casting defensively, so when caught in a sticky situation that can’t be somehow escaped from, the only thing to do is cast through the pain.
CL-boosting also starts to really pay off for things besides duration. With the benefit of their 1/day Death Knell alongside Blood Component and the increase to CL for spells on the Abjuration Domain, Tummo can hit the cap on Dispel Magic’s CL check as early as level 7 without items, offering an advantage against enemy casters and spell effects, and other scaling spells will benefit from Blood Magus’ abilities on top of the baseline of caster level=character level set by Spell Rage for the schools to which it applies (which will include most of the spells for which CL ends up being important) as well.
Level 15SpoilerAs a TN worshipper of Obad-Hai, Tummo can get access to spells from the Balance Domain via Arcane Disciple. Among these is Calm Emotions, which offers another mechanism for ending a Rage (if for example a designated enemy is able to escape). Arcane Disciple only grants one casting per day, but extra uses can be stored up as what are effectively Scrolls and Potions via Blood Magus’ Scarification and Blood Draught abilities.
Rage Mage grants Angry Spell to improve save DCs alongside Tummo’s high Int while Raging, an extra Spell Rage per day, and perhaps most interestingly, Spell Fury, which grants a free Quicken on a spell of 4th level or lower in each Rage. With Tummo’s ability to leave and re-enter a state of Rage mid combat – by, for example, blowing up a Raven Zombie that was designated as a Rage’s opponent with an area spell (even just having it fly into an Acid Fog or something) and casting another Blood Component spell to trigger another Rage – they can get just about as many free Quickens as they can spare swift actions. Each Rage also now comes with a free Action Point, courtesy of the Raging Luck feat.
Tummo is now up to 6th level spells, and enjoying full CL in a Spell Rage for relevant schools, with additional potential +1s from Blood Component, Death Knell, and in the case of Abjuration Domain spells (Greater Dispel Magic being the most noteworthy), Domain Wizard.
Level 20SpoilerAction Surge comes online, giving the ability to spend 2 Action Points for an extra standard action. In addition to the free Action Point in each Rage from Raging Luck, Tummo can easily be pulling in an action point each round with Unfettered Heroism. With their aforementioned ability to end one Rage and start another, this can be a standard action every round in conjunction with a free low-level Quicken (so long as their swift action hasn’t gone to something else) for impressive action economy.
Arcane Disciple provides access to Word of Balance (provided Owl’s Wisdom, an item, or something has increased Tummo’s Wis to the requisite 17). Word spells are always nice with a high CL, and being an Evocation, it works with Spell Rage, along with Blood Component, Death Knell, and any boosts from items, (such as Terran Brandy, which they can craft themselves with no chance of failure between Craft (Alchemy) ranks, high Int, and the Magecraft spell).
Finishing out Rage Mage grants an always welcome third Spell Rage per day, Tireless Rage, and the Warrior Cry capstone. Tireless Rage, like the additional Rage uses, may or may not be noteworthy depending on DM adjudication, as badger Rage, unlike that of a Barbarian, doesn’t say anything about the badger becoming fatigued at the end. But if it is ruled that they do, the ability to avoid that becomes absolutely critical to Tummo’s tactics. Fatigue itself is not the worst thing in the world for a caster, but multiple instances of fatigue stacking to cause exhaustion is catastrophic for anyone, so in order to freely bounce in and out of Rage rather than staying in the second until the encounter’s end, the ability may prove necessary. Tummo will pretty much only be gishing when using Warrior Cry, but CL-boosting, strong action economy, and access to the full spell list of a generalist Wizard offer all the tools needed to use the ability effectively when the situation warrants it.
As the 5th level of Blood Magus loses casting, Tummo finishes off by returning to Wizard. Hitting Martial Wizard 5 at this high level opens up Martial Study (Shadow Jaunt), giving a move action teleport once in each encounter, which is nice to have on a caster whose move actions are more likely to be free to dedicate to movement. Last but not least, they finish off hitting 8th level spells.
Spoiler: Day and NightBook of Vile Darkness: Alternate Bestow Curse to increase age category, Terran Brandy
Complete Arcane: Blood Magus
Complete Divine: Arcane Disciple, Obad-Hai
Complete Scoundrel: Skill Tricks
Complete Warrior: Rage Mage
Dungeonscape: Wizard of Sun and Moon
Eberron Campaign Setting: Magecraft, Raging Luck
Oriental Adventures/Dragon Magazine 318 Update: Badger Hengeyokai
Races of Eberron: Unfettered Heroism
Races of the Dragon: Profession (Miner) rules
Savage Species: Surrogate Spellcasting
Spell Compendium: Balance Domain, Nerveskitter, Word of Balance
Tome of Battle: Martial Study, Shadow Stride
Underdark: Obad-Hai granting Balance Domain
Everything else is SRDKolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2021-04-05, 09:43 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
- Join Date
- Dec 2012
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
I just think they're neat!
Originally Posted by Raging Spider Sorcerer
Last edited by The Viscount; 2021-04-06 at 10:30 PM.
Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2021-04-05, 09:44 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
- Join Date
- Dec 2012
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
If you're gonna get into spiders, you might as well get all the way into spiders.
Originally Posted by Raging Spider Druid
One Background: Three Stories
I had one build idea that evolved into three different build ideas that share some similarities. They share the same background but went different paths in their live. As such the background only covers the childhood/teenager life and the class choices are presented in the lvl 1-5 snapshots.
As a child of a Changling merchant there is no place that one could call home. Even the generally more avoided parts of the world like the underdark (e.g. drow, gnome and kobold settlements) or orcish settlements have been part of the journeys in the childhood. This caused a growing interest in special blood related abilities (Racial Emulation). An addictions many Changelings share. It's interesting how the other races express their rage and emotions when it comes to battle. Or how some races can excel in certain aspects of combat and magic. Finally all builds did picked up a liking on spiders from the drow. As such, all of em express this interest in different ways. With these interests a life as merchant seems to boring. Thus our main protagonist leaves his parents safety to approach the wild life of an adventurer.
Spoiler: Stats & TableStr: 14
Dex: 10
Con: 14
Int: 10
Wis: 18 (@20: 23) (+ possible wishes and items)
Cha: 8
* The build had to rely on a flaw to fit all required feats into the early levels. Otherwise the build couldn't be finished within the 20 lvls.
Recommended flaw "Shaky": -2 to ranged attack rolls.
Level Class BAB Fort Ref Will Skills Feats Features 1st Half-Orc Druid
Druidic Avenger
Root Walker+0 +2 +0 +2 Concentration: 4
Handle Animal: 4
Spot: 4
Survival: 4Racial Emulation
*Skill Focus (Handle Animal)*d10 HP
Fast Movement
Rage 1/day
Nature Sense
Vermin Empathy
Draconic Rite of Passage: Enlarge Person 1/day (sla)2nd Druidic Avenger
Root Walker+1 +3 +0 +3 Concentration: 5
Handle Animal: 5
Spot: 5
Survival: 5- Earth/Stone (?) stride 3rd Druidic Avenger +2 +3 +1 +3 Concentration: 6
Handle Animal: 6
Spot: 6
Survival: 6Combat Casting Trackless Step 4th Half-Orc Druid
Druidic Avenger+3 +4 +1 +4 Concentration: 7
Handle Animal: 7
Spot: 7
Survival: 7- d10 HP
Bully Animals5th Druidic Avenger +3 +5 +1 +5 Concentration: 8
Handle Animal: 8
Spot: 8
Survival: 8- Wild Shape 1/day 6th Beastmaster +4 +7 +3 +5 Handle Animal: 9
Ride: 1
Spot: 9
Survival: 9Southern Magician Animal Companion
Wild Empathy7th Rage Mage +4 +9 +3 +5 Concentration: 9
Survival: 10- Spell Rage 1/day 8th Rage Mage +5 +10 +3 +5 Concentration: 10
Handle Animal: 9.5- Overcome Spell Failure 9th Warshaper +5 +12 +3 +5 Concentration: 11
Handle Animal: 10Natural Spell Morphic Weapons
Morphic Immunities10th Warshaper +6 +13 +3 +5 Concentration: 12
Handle Animal: 10.5- Morphic Body 11th Rage Mage +7 +13 +4 +6 Concentration: 13
Handle Animal: 11- Rage 2/day 12th Rage Mage +8 +14 +4 +6 Concentration: 14
Handle Animal: 11.5Multiattack - 13th Rage Mage +8 +15 +4 +6 Concentration: 15
Handle Animal: 12- Spell Rage 2/day 14th Rage Mage +9 +15 +5 +7 Concentration: 16
Handle Animal: 12.5- - 15th Half-Elf Paragon +9 +15 +7 +7 Concentration: 17 (+2 P.)
Handle Animal: 13.5 (+2 P.)Vermin Trainer
Spider CompanionBonus Feat
Divided Ancestry
Elven Vision16th Rage Mage +10 +16 +7 +7 Concentration: 18
Handle Animal: 14- Spell Fury 17th Warshaper +11 +16 +8 +8 Concentration: 19
Handle Animal: 14.5- Morphic Reach 18th Rage Mage +12 +17 +8 +8 Concentration: 20
Handle Animal: 15Draconic Reservoir Rage 3/day
Enlarge Person 3/day19th Rage Mage +12 +17 +9 +9 Concentration: 21
Handle Animal: 15.5- Tireless Rage 20th Rage Mage +13 +18 +9 +9 Concentration: 22
Handle Animal: 16- Spell Rage 3/day
Warcry
Spells per Day
(bonus spells not included)
Level 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Notable Spells (lvls; source) 1st 3 1 - - - - Entangle (1st; SRD)
Good Berries (1st; SRD)
Shillelagh (1st; SRD)2nd 4 2 - - - - - 3rd 4 2 1 - - - Acorn of Far Travel (2nd; web article)
Bite of the Wererat (2nd; Spell Compendium)
Kelpstrand (2nd; Spell Compendium)
Snakes Swiftness, Mass (2nd; Spell Compendium)4th 5 3 2 - - - - 5th 5 3 2 1 - - Entangling Staff (3rd; Spell Compendium)
Magic Fang, Greater (3rd; SRD)
Primal Instinct (3rd; Dragon Magic)
Venomfire (3rd; Serpent Kingdom)6th 5 3 2 1 - - - 7th 5 3 2 1 - - - 8th 5 3 3 2 - - - 9th 5 3 3 2 - - - 10th 5 3 3 2 - - - 11th 5 3 3 2 - - - 12th 6 4 3 2 1 - Enhance Wild Shape (4th; Spell Compendium)
Friendly Fire (4th; Exemplars of Evil)
Giant Vermin (4th; SRD)
Last Breath (4th; Spell Compendium)13th 6 4 3 2 1 - - 14th 6 4 3 3 2 - - 15th 6 4 3 3 2 - - 16th 6 4 3 3 2 - - 17th 6 4 3 3 2 - - 18th 6 4 4 3 2 1 Bite of the Weretiger (5th; Spell Compendium)
Druid's Groove (5th; Masters of the Wild)
Heal (5th; Spell Compendium)19th 6 4 4 3 2 1 - 20th 6 4 4 3 3 2 -
Spoiler: LVL 1-5The character was influenced by some half-orc druids on her journey with her parents. She stayed a while with them to pick up their way of life, before she finally seeks out to find her true purpose in life.
With the Half Orc Druid substitution we start with some more HP and later the ability to Bully Animals. While the Wild empathy ability caps at 5 druid lvls we can push the STR modifier very high in this build to compensate for that.
Druidic Avenger gives us Rage 1/day and Fast Movement. Since she does every day the Darconic Rite of the Passage, she can use Enlarge Person 1/day. Either combine these two effects for a big main encounter or use em on different encounters.
Root Walker gives us access to Vermin Empathy which will become more important on the later levels. It further changes Woodland Stride to work on stone/earthen derbies and the like instead of woodland.
Shillelagh and Bite of the Wererat are the most recommended spells for the early level. Entangling Staff ad to our arsenal of combat buffs that can either be stacked with other buffs or be used alone for medicore encounters.
Venomfire will last the duration of an entire Wild Shape for the Fleshraker form we get at lvl 5.
Spoiler: LVL 6-10With a Beastmaster dip, we get an animal companion (back, that we traded away with Druidic Avenger). This is also needed to hit the BAB requirement for Rage Mage.
Southern Magician is another build specific requirement to qualify as arcane spellcaster for Rage Mage as Druid.
With Natural Spell we can now make use of Spell Rage within the Wild Shape form.
Morphic Weapons enhance the combat power greatly. Be it in Fleshraker form with Venomfire or in her original form (due to Changelings shape changing ability), having access to 10 tentacles or 12 hydra bite attacks all day long is very strong. Morphic Body increases our STR & CON by 4. Together with Rage we can now increase the Fleshrakers Poison DC (CON based) by up to +4 (Fortitude 14 + 4 = DC 18).
Spoiler: LVL 11-15Multiattack helps to hit better with our secondary attack with out bad BAB.
Unless no one else can resurrect dead teammates (Last Breath) most of the time Friendly Fire will be the most usefull spell here. Giant Vermin could be interesting depending on the kind of adventure (inside / outside) and fits the spider addiction of this build. Enhance Wild Shape is another situational spell if you should intent to abuse any EX abilities of wild shape forms.
At 15 with the Half-Elf Paragon dip, we get access to Vermin Trainer and Spider Companion. The former lets you use Handle Animal on vermins, the latter lets you attract Monstrous Spiders as Animal Companion. With these two feats, the base is set to conquer the world with an army of Huge Monstrous Spiders. In downtimes you can release your Animal Companion and than retain it with Handle Animal. A new Monstrous Spider as Animal Companion can be gained after 24h. Rinse and repeat (sure, the training needs time. But if there are any downtimes, this combo will shine).
With multiple spiders, you can now try to (re-)web multiple enemies per turn. Even if their escape and burst DCs ain't that high, having multiple spider ready to reapply it constantly is still a very strong battlefield control.
Spoiler: LVL 16-20
Spell Fury can quicken a spell of up to 4th lvl. This will come in handy for spells like Friendly Fire (full round duration version) or other important combat spells. Mass Snakes Swiftness is another good option for this. Doing this in the first (or second round if allies need to position themselves) round will make fights a lot easier due to the combined allies damage burst (don't forget the lil spider army if you had time to prepare one). It can also be used for any of the other short term combat buffs.
Morphic Reach increases our reach by 5ft. Combined with Enlarge Person we can have up to 15ft reach (even as Fleshraker if Enlarge Person is cast before using the Wild Shape ability).
Draconic Reservoir lets us use Enlarge Person now 3/day.
Heal and Bite of the Weretiger are pretty much clear when and why to use/prepare em.
Druid Grove can be abused with Acorn of Far Travel. The former lets you store spells in trees and treat em like scrolls. Acorn of Far Travel on the other hand offers:
The main effect is to count as standing under the oak tree where you did got the acorn from. This should allow to see and hear as if you where standing there and thus allow to use the Spell you stored into the oak tree (via Druid Grove). Both spells have a duration of days/casterlevel. As long as there are oak trees on your journey, this combo can be abused for extra prepared spells of up to 1/3 casterlevel (and should therefore be used with a spell rage). If the character has the opportunity to use this combo, she can abuse it for situational spells or extra uses of commonly used spells.As long as you carry the acorn (and as long as the acorn is not stored in an extradimensional space like a bag of holding), you are considered to be standing under that oak tree's canopy (and thus within an area of forested terrain).
Tireless Rage and Warcry are finisher abilties to complete the build. Nothing game breaking, but adds to some combos (e.g. the CON bonus adds to the DC of the Fleshrakers Poison ability and Rage duration; or the STR boost for Bully Animal).
Spoiler: Recommended Items
Since sole interesting items for the build are for enhancing Natural Weapons and Wild Shape.
An Amulet of Might Fists (with a Wilding Clasp) enhances all our Natural Attacks (source: SRD). Since the build can have easily up 3 different types (Claw, bite + tentacle/hydra bite) and even switch to other Natural Attack forms this is the best option here, even if more expensive compared to more common choices here.
Best combined with a Wild Shape Amulet (Magic of Faerun) which increases our effective level for Wild Shape by 4 levels ( = 9h duration, 3/day, large forms). This gives us enough duration to cover the entire day in Wild Shape if desired.
A Mantle of the Beast is final item in line to speed up Wild Shape into a Swift Action for better action economy.
Due to Southern Magician we can use Eternal Wands. As such, a wand of Rage can be handy as backup if we should run out of Rage.
Spoiler: Sources
Changeling: Races of Eberron
Druidic Avenger: SRD
Half-Orc Druid: Races of Destiny
Additional Favored Class: Unearted Arcana
Barbarian "Spiritual Totem: Lion": Complete Champion
Warshaper: Complete Warrior
Draconic Rite of Passage: Races of the Dragon
Draconic Reservoir: web enhancement
Greater Draconic Rite of Passge: web enhancement
Root Walker: SRD
Half-Elf Paragon: SRD
Southern Magician: Races of Faerun
Vermin Trainer: Drow of the Underdark
Spider Companion: Drow of the Underdark
Disclaimer: No animals have been bullied while writing this build
Last edited by The Viscount; 2021-04-06 at 10:28 PM.
Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2021-04-05, 09:48 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
- Join Date
- Dec 2012
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Hell itself trembles before the fury of the righteous man.
Originally Posted by Erskine
Erskine the Redeemed
CG Hellbred Barbarian 7/Suel Arcanamach 3/Rage Mage 10
A righteous fury...
He came back for her.
It was her face that flashed before his eyes as he descended into the darkness of death, her face that burned hotter than the flames of Hell, her face that he held onto when all else was torn from him, flayed away by mocking devils.
By the end he didn’t remember his name. He didn’t remember how he had died. He didn’t remember the crimes that had allowed the devils to lay claim to his soul. He didn’t know whether he had been there for a day or a week or an eternity. There was only the pain, the torment, and her. He remembered her. He would always remember her. She had loved him, briefly, loved him despite his now forgotten crimes, loved him in that fleeting moment of life that seemed so brief, so long ago. Was she even still alive? Would she recognize him? Was she safe? He needed to know. He needed to know.
And so, the Scourging. It had been written into the Pact Primeval and so was sacrosanct, but few ever claimed it, and fewer still survived it. And without her face, shining as a beacon, he would have become lost as Heaven and Hell warred and rent and twisted his body into a cruel mockery of humanity. But her face guided him through it. And when the full terms of the Scourging were revealed to him, the impossible task he would need to complete to redeem himself, to avoid being dragged back to Baator and made to suffer even worse torments for his arrogance, he simply nodded, for she was worth it.
She was always worth it.
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Barbarian 1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Concentration 2 ranks (cc), intimidate 4 ranks, jump 4 ranks, tumble 2 ranks, spellcraft 2 ranks (cc), literacy (2 ranks) Righteous Wrath, Devil’s Favorbonus Climb speed, illiteracy, rage 1/day 2nd Barbarian 2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Climb 1 rank, concentration 2.5 ranks (+0.5, cc), intimidate 5 ranks (+1), spellcraft 2.5 ranks (+0.5, cc), tumble 3 ranks (+1) +2 bonus on intimidate checks 3rd Barbarian 3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Climb 2 ranks (+1), concentration 3 ranks (+0.5, cc), intimidate 6 ranks (+1), spellcraft 3 ranks (+0.5, cc), tumble 4 ranks (+1) Iron Will, Power Attackbonus Power Attack 4th Barbarian 4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Climb 4 ranks (+2), concentration 3.5 ranks (+0.5, cc), intimidate 7 ranks (+1), spellcraft 3.5 ranks (+0.5, cc) Devil’s Staminabonus Rage 2/day 5th Barbarian 5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Climb 6 ranks (+2), concentration 4 ranks (+0.5, cc), intimidate 8 ranks (+1), spellcraft 4 ranks (+0.5, cc) Improved climb speed 6th Barbarian 6 +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 Climb 9 ranks (+3), spellcraft 4.5 ranks (+0.5, cc), speak language (Ancient Suloise) 0.5 ranks (cc) Combat Casting 7th Barbarian 7 +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 Climb 10 ranks (+1), spellcraft 5 ranks (+0.5, cc), Corner Perch skill trick, speak language (Ancient Suloise) 1 rank (+0.5, cc) Streetfighter 8th Suel Arcanamach 1 +7/+2 +5 +4 +4 Bluff 2 ranks, intimidate 9 ranks (+1, cc), spellcraft 6 ranks (+1) Ignore spell failure chance 5%, tenacious spells 9th Suel Arcanamach 2 +8/+3 +5 +5 +5 Bluff 4 ranks (+2), intimidate 10 ranks (+1, cc), spellcraft 7 ranks (+1) Martial Study (cloak of deception) Dispelling strike 1/day 10th Suel Arcanamach 3 +9/+4 +6 +5 +5 Bluff 5 ranks (+1), intimidate 11 ranks (+1, cc), spellcraft 9 ranks (+2) Extended spellstrength 11th Rage Mage 1 +9/+4 +8 +5 +5 Intimidate 12.5 ranks (+1.5, cc) Spell rage 1/day 12th Rage Mage 2 +10/+5 +9 +5 +5 Intimidate 14 ranks (+1.5, cc) Resounding Blow Overcome spell failure 13th Rage Mage 3 +11/+6/+1 +9 +6 +6 Intimidate 15.5 ranks (+1.5, cc) Rage +1 use/day 14th Rage Mage 4 +12/+7/+2 +10 +6 +6 Intimidate 17 ranks (+1.5, cc) Devil’s Aurabonus 15th Rage Mage 5 +12/+7/+2 +10 +6 +6 Intimidate 18 ranks (+1, cc), spellcraft 10 ranks (+1) Quell the Profane Spell rage 2/day 16th Rage Mage 6 +13/+8/+3 +11 +7 +7 Intimidate 19 ranks (+1, cc), spellcraft 11 ranks (+1) 17th Rage Mage 7 +14/+9/+4 +11 +7 +7 Intimidate 20 ranks (+1, cc), spellcraft 12 ranks (+1) Spell fury 18th Rage Mage 8 +15/+10/+5 +12 +7 +7 Intimidate 21 ranks (+1, cc), spellcraft 13 ranks (+1) Versatile Spellcaster Rage +1 use/day 19th Rage Mage 9 +15/+10/+5 +12 +8 +8 Intimidate 22 ranks (+1, cc), spellcraft 14 ranks (+1) Tireless rage 20th Rage Mage 10 +16/+11/+6/+1 +13 +8 +8 Intimidate 23 ranks (+1, cc), spellcraft 15 ranks (+1) Warrior cry, spell rage 3/day
Spoiler: Additional Build Details
Spoiler: Alternative class features
Ape totem barbarian, streetfighter barbarian, skilled city dweller
Spoiler: Stats
32 point buy:
Before racial mods: Str 16/Dex 10/Con 12/Int 14/Wis 8/Cha 16
After racial mods: Str 16/Dex 10/Con 14/Int 12/Wis 8/Cha 16
Raise Charisma at every available opportunity.
Spoiler: Skills
Final Skill Layout
Intimidate 23 ranks
Spellcraft 15 ranks
Climb 10 ranks
Bluff 5 ranks
Jump 4 ranks
Tumble 4 ranks
Concentration 4 ranks
Literacy (requires 2 ranks, taken at 1st level)
Speak Language (Ancient Suloise)
Corner Perch skill trick
Spoiler: Spells
Spells Known:
1st (4/day) - Protection from evil, nerveskitter, enlarge person, grease
2nd (3/day) - Whirling blade, alter self, wraithstrike
3rd (3/day) - Keen edge, dispel magic, anticipate teleportation
4th (2/day) - Greater mirror image, greater invisibility
5th (0/day)- Greater blink
Spoiler: Gear Suggestions
You will want to focus on a two-handed slashing weapon with the highest crit chance possible. Typically, this will be the falchion, but a greatsword works in a pinch as well. Medium or light armor with as minimal an arcane spell failure chance as possible is also ideal; you reduce any ASF by 5%, so you have some flexibility here. A mithril chain shirt with thistledown padding works fine, or if you’re willing to spend some gold on the twilight armor enhancement, that broadens your options considerably.
In general just focus on increasing your Charisma as much as possible, and do anything you can to expand your castings per day. Wands always help here, as do rings of wizardry. The more times you can cast whirling blade, the happier you will be.
Spoiler: Build snapshots
Levels 1 - 5
Barbarian 5
You’re a charismatic barbarian from hell. Barbarian is one of the better classes for the early portions of the game, able to power through most encounters thanks to its oodles of hit points and strong attacks. You’ve got Power Attack and a big sword, so go to town. You’re also decently mobile thanks to a climb speed from your ape totem, plus excellent intimidate checks (boosted both by hellbred and by your totem) and Devil’s Favor to boost a roll as needed. Meanwhile, Righteous Wrath not only lets you maintain a clear mind while raging, it also means the first time you hit an evil enemy during a rage they’re forced to save or become shaken. On the defensive end, in addition to your giant stack of hit points, you can also pick up fast healing 2 once per day via Devil’s Stamina.
Levels 6 - 10
Barbarian 7/Suel Arcanamach 3
Your old life before you were cast into the depths of hell have taught you how to fight dirty, reflected in your streetfighter ACF. This increases the threat range on your weapons on a charge or when your opponent is flat-footed - and unlike other similar effects, this explicitly DOES stack with Improved Critical or the keen enhancement. With a keen falchion, that means you’re critting on a 13 or better. You have a few ways to make your opponents flat-footed: nerveskitter helps you act before your foes in combat, grease can force flat-footed status on anyone without sufficient ranks in balance and cloak of deception allows you to turn invisible as a swift action once per combat. Later, you will have other spells that help trigger this even more frequently.
Speaking of spells, pay special attention to whirling blade. After all, what’s the point of attacking one foe when you can attack everyone in a line? Whirling blade is especially interesting because the attacks are still considered melee attacks, meaning that effects that only trigger on a melee attack still work here, and you can even combine it with damage boosts such as Power Attack or benefit from wraithstrike. Use your climb speed to scale a wall, perch in a corner and fling away. Unfortunately, you can’t use this while raging just yet...
Levels 11 - 15 (Sweet Spot)
Barbarian 7/Suel Arcanamach 3/Rage Mage 5
...but soon you can! Rage mage comes online, allowing you to fling your weapon to your heart’s content even while in the midst of a full-throated rage. And to add on to this, you pick up several new and interesting feats: Resounding Blow, Quell the Profane and Devil’s Aura.
Put it all together, and your whirling blade becomes quite the instrument of death. Now you can throw it in a 60’ line while raging. Any evil enemy struck by it must save for Righteous Wrath or become shaken until you withdraw. On a critical hit (which is happening 40% of the time) they must also save against Resounding Blow or be forced to cower. Ordinarily this would only last a round, but when stacking fear effects, the greatest level of fear lasts for the duration of the effect, meaning now they are cowering until you withdraw. Oh, and they’ll need to save AGAIN against Quell the Profane or take 1d4+1 points of Strength damage. And just to add insult to injury, anyone within 10’ of you needs to save yet again thanks to your Devil’s Aura.
Levels 16 - 20
Barbarian 7/Suel Arcanamach 3/Rage Mage 10
The last five levels of rage mage further emphasize all your abilities. In particular, spell fury gives you a free Quicken every rage. That lets you make two whirling blade attacks in a single round if you have the swift action free, giving you twice as many chances to crit. Your spells improve considerably as well, providing you plenty of defensive and offensive utility. Don’t forget that greater blink doesn’t just provide you with a bevy of defensive buffs - it ALSO lets you count as invisible when you attack, rendering your foes flat-footed. Finally, warrior cry helps make up for your lost BAB - you are already epic ready with +16 BAB, and you don’t care much about iteratives, but the extra 4 points of BAB represent 4 more points you can sink into Power Attack. Finally, Versatile Spellcaster helps you fire off your whirling blades all fight long.
Spoiler: Fleeting memories
Erskine remembered little of his former life, little beyond her, that angelic face that he knew he loved, knew he must find. And yet flashes of it came to him, now and then. Streets and alleys felt strangely familiar. Certain faces brought the anger rising like bile in his throat, and though he could not recall the reason, he knew he had hated them once.
He could feel it too as he fought - his muscles, rewritten into this strange and hellish form, somehow still retained the memory of a brawler, a thug, a bully. He let his old life take over, then, let it burn hot and hard as he exploded with a righteous anger that sent lesser men scurrying.
And yet he knew that he must find her. And to do that, he must find himself. He knew he would need to temper that strange rage that burbled and boiled deep within his gut, always threatening to be released. He knew he would need to unlock those memories that were locked away except for those moments of fury. If he could just keep his mind from growing red, from shutting off in those battles, if he could focus, perhaps he could find her…
He was not a learned man, in his last life or in this one. But for her he became one. He studied. He visited every great library in the land. He learned from the Libram of Ineffable Damnation, the Book of Keeping and the Codex of Betrayal. He spent weeks with the Grimoire Arcanamacha, learning a dead language in hopes that it might hold the secrets to his lost memories, and months tracking down incomplete and poorly translated copies of the Scrolls of Uncertain Provenance and the Tome of the Stilled Tongue and the Black Scrolls of Ahm.
And yet none of these ancient tomes could help him. And so, he buried himself in his most impossible of tasks: of redeeming himself, of living a life so great, so exalted, so perfect that he would stand redeemed. Only then would his new form fall away. Only then would the doors to his memory
Spoiler: Chef’s notes
I wanted to do something interesting with Rage Mage, something that made casting spells during a rage an integral part of the character concept rather than just a random add-on. I toyed with several different ideas, but the one I settled on was whirling blade combined with special effects that trigger on melee attacks during a rage. This was something that couldn’t be easily duplicated by a standard barbarian with a buffing buddy or by a standard gish.
Righteous Wrath provided a fun rage-only effect, giving a long-duration shaken effect on any evil foes you strike in melee while raging. To make it even deadlier, I combined it with Resounding Blow, which would escalate that fear effect to cowering on a critical hit. Starting barbarian meant I could go for streetfighter, an ACF I rarely see (likely because it requires 7 levels in barbarian) that represents one of the only ways to increase your crit range that stacks with keen or Improved Critical in all of 3.5.
All in all, you end up with quite a few ways to attack foes. You can go the traditional high-damage route, using wraithstrike and Power Attack to cut down foes without sacrificing accuracy, or you can debuff and destroy enemies, forcing them to save three times on an attack (and each failed save making the subsequent saves even harder), making them cower for the entire encounter and dropping their Strength. You can easily switch between standard melee attacks or attacking in a 60’ line, and all your melee tactics still apply when you do the latter.
Spoiler: Sources
SOURCES:
- Ape totem barbarian ACF: Unearthed Arcana/SRD
- Streetfighter barbarian ACF, skilled city dweller ACF: Cityscape
- Suel arcanamach: Complete Arcane
- Corner Perch skill trick: Complete Scoundrel
- Righteous Wrath, Resounding Blow, Quell the Profane: Book of Exalted Deeds
- Hellbred race, Devil’s Favor, Devil’s Stamina, Devil’s Aura: Fiendish Codex II
- Martial Study, cloak of deception: Player’s Guide to Faerun
- Versatile Spellcaster: Races of the Dragon
All relevant spells can be found in the Spell Compendium.
Rules Compendium page 92 clarifies that if an opponent cannot see you, that creature is flat-footed with respect to you.
Last edited by The Viscount; 2021-04-05 at 09:50 PM.
Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2021-04-05, 09:50 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
I'm a sucker for some Tam Lin.
Originally Posted by The Hunted
Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2021-04-05, 09:52 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
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- Dec 2012
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
The rage of man is nothing against the rage of beasts.
Originally Posted by Hunter Snowborn
Hunter Snowborn: Master of the Inner Rage
Spoiler: stub
N razorclaw shifter duskblade 5/weretouched master 5/rage mage 10
Spoiler: backstory
Horatio milled around in line before the enormous tent adorned with brightly dyed patterns that reminded him of the paints worn by Seren warriors. He’d count himself lucky if he got to hear one of them speak. Talk about a people in touch with their inner rage.
He wiped his brow. The owlbear trapper’s hat was entirely too warm for the weather out here in the desert, but he hadn’t wanted to look like an amateur in front of the other ragers. The elf whose head he’d been staring at the back of for the last half hour had armor seemingly made of naught but skulls: skull pauldrons, skull greaves, skull helmet. Even his gauntlets had each knuckle protected by tiny rat skulls. He had to be careful when he moved. A few brownish pinpricks on his cheeks and neck revealed the times he hadn’t been cautious enough when suddenly turning his head, and the split ends on his silky locks were easily explained when Horatio saw how much hair was caught in the teeth of the goat skull on his left shoulder. It looked like a comb.
“Bet that hurt, eh?” he said good-naturedly and resisted the impulse to tap the fellow on the shoulder. Truthfully, he couldn’t find a single place one might put a hand without getting stuck by something or another.
The elf turned his entire trunk slightly to avoid pricking himself on an antler.
“Yeah, it smarted, but it didn’t make me proper mad, you know?” he said.
“Really? I’d’ve thought that’d do the trick after the third or fourth time.”
“I mean it annoyed me and all, but it didn’t get me mad. Smith said I can’t return this neither.”
Looking at the state of the skulls, Horatio couldn’t exactly argue with that, but wanted to appear sympathetic. With his luck, they’d be broken up into groups and have to do a trust fall or something. It wouldn’t do to get on this fellow’s bad side.
“That’s too bad. Hardly seems fair. Too much of your blood and hair on them?” he asked.
The line moved forward a pace or two and they both advanced without a thought.
“Huh? Oh, no, he told me that really just adds character. It’s like seasoning a grill, that’s a value add, matter of fact. Can’t return it cuz it’s custom. The ratio of all these skulls is fit to my body specifically, y’know?”
Horatio thought of how long it must’ve taken to find enough to ensure he was decent in battle and nodded.
It wasn’t too long before they were at the front of the line. A shifter with the head of an ibex checked their names against a list. The elf looked distinctly uncomfortable, but didn’t want to shift his weight too much as some scabs around his hyena poleyns evidenced.
“He’s ready for you now, just take a seat wherever you want,” the shifter said.
“I’m, uh, I’m sorry. It’s not— I mean, it’s just a normal antelope on my shoulder, you know. I’m not Silver Flame or anything,” the elf stammered.
If the shifter was bothered, he didn’t show it, though Horatio was useless at reading facial expressions on herbivores.
“Please keep the line moving, sir.”
“Right, sorry,” the elf said and hustled in.
Horatio handed in his registration and had his name checked off. The shifter neatly folded his form in quarters and ate it.
“Rice paper,” he said.
“Oh, of course.” Horatio went inside before he could embarrass himself further.
He sat next to the elf in skulls on some low pillows that were surprisingly comfortable given the circumstances.
“That was excruciating,” Horatio said in a way he hoped sounded sympathetic.
“Imagine how it felt to be the one saying those things. It was like I was looking at my own body and just couldn’t do anything about it.”
“But did it make you mad?” Horatio asked.
The elf shook his head sadly. “Mortified still isn’t mad.”
The curtain onstage before them opened up and a proud shifter stepped forward. Though Horatio knew it was rude to ask directly, he squinted to get a better look at what exactly the speaker was. Some kind of tundra animal perhaps? His fur looked too thick for the veldt.
“Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you very much for coming. Before I get started, is anyone in this tent here to become immortal, regress to an earlier stage of life, or become older to unlock the wisdom that comes with age?” He spoke in a deep, clear voice that instantly silenced all idle chatter in the tent and carried through the space without magical amplification. Horatio was immediately both envious and worried he’d been waiting in line for the wrong seminar.
A few hands, claws, and other extremities around the tent shot up from some scholarly looking types and a few dragons either in a traveling hominid shape or who were merely small enough to fit in the tent.
“You are in the wrong tent. You want ‘mastering your age,” not ‘mastering your rage.’ I know it’s confusing and I have spoken to the organizers about changing the name of one of these for next year. Please go into the green rectangle in the back and one of my aides will teleport you. Sorry for the inconvenience.” He pointed to an area outlined in chalk and the attendees sheepishly gathered their things and stepped in, only to disappear and be replaced with a group of people who looked more like they belonged here a moment later.
“Great. Now, you’re here because you can’t get a handle on your rage. Maybe you can’t work yourself up into a lather even when you’ve got a legitimate grievance. That can certainly lead to some problems. Avoiding conflict just leads to further hardship down the line, and not always the kind you can stick with a sharp piece of metal, am I right?”
A few members of the audience gamely laughed.
“If you’re here on a court order because you’re having the opposite problem and are thinking ‘Shoot, this guy can’t help me! I’m here because I can’t stop getting angry!’ then don’t worry, we’re going to go over some strategies that will help you too.”
Some of the attendees who looked like they actually belonged to a proper barbarian tribe, whose armor was piecemeal, having been cobbled together from a dozen kills versus a gleaming new suit that had been purchased from a smith made noises of pleasant surprise.
“There we go, we’re making progress already. You guys, please stick around after we’re done and I’ll sign your form to show to the judge to prove you came here. This question’s for all of you, regardless of why you’re here: if you’re going out into the world seeking your fortune,” the speaker’s head turned and his eye met Horatio’s. He swallowed.
“Or if you’ve got enough treasure to last you the rest of your life or unlife and are trying to make adjustments to get back into civilian life.” A karrnathi zombie toward the front nodded in appreciation.
“I want to change your perception of what rage truly is. What makes you angry? Go ahead shout it out:”
The spotlights roved around and alighted on a member of the crowd, brave enough to speak first.
“Paying taxes to the Paragnostic Assembly!” she shouted.
“People cutting in line!” shouted another.
“Hotheads from the Silver Flame!” shouted a third.
Some parts of the crowd laughed while others gasped. After a moment, the audience was uncomfortably silent. All eyes were on the speaker to gauge his reaction.
He laughed and pointed to the shifter who’d said it: a girl a crocodile head.
“Oh, I hear that! You know what, miss, that’s a perfect example. I know that gets my dander up too.” He pantomimed with his claws and teeth and the majestic fur of his mane rose while he flattened his ears. The crowd laughed a bit more easily.
“But it’s hardly universal, right? You, sir, you’re wearing the symbol of the Silver Flame,” he said and pointed out a man with a tiny goatee who was trying to make his body as small as possible. He was pinned under every spotlight and hisses leaked out of the crowd, reptile shifter, weresnake, and warm-blooded mammal alike.
“I’m just here for continuing education,” he squeaked. “It’s a work thing. I don’t want any trouble.”
The speaker put his hands out flat and slowly lowered them, quieting the crowd down a bit as though taming a beast. “Now, now, everyone. While things would certainly go differently if I saw him alone on the lightning rail, while he’s here, he’s just here to learn. His money’s as gold as anyone else’s. Do you suppose hotheads from the silver flame make him angry, miss?” he addressed the crocodile girl.
“‘pose not,” she seethed.
“Right, exactly. The point I’m driving at is there is no one thing that makes everyone angry.” He beckoned the spotlights back onto himself with a gesture of his claw.
“Let’s have a round of applause for everyone who spoke for being good sports,” he said and calmed the audience by getting them to clap.
“The only thing that’s in control of your rage is you. That’s true whether you can’t get angry or whether you can’t stop.” Before he said another word, a training dummy teleported onto the stage. He entered his bestial form and his teeth and claws grew to terrifying proportions. With a roar that rattled Horatio’s teeth, and the teeth of every skull on the fellow next to him, he swatted the dummy’s head off with his enormous paw and sent it flying into the crowd. The crocodile girl caught it in her jaws and her friends clapped her on the back as she wrestled it into her purse.
The speaker shrugged off this shape and stood on two legs once more before them.
“Now, did that dummy do anything to me? Of course not. But that’s not the important part. I needed to accomplish a task, and the best tool in my toolbox to do that was my rage. I chose to feel angry because it would help me get what I wanted. The same way you can do that, you can hold it back when it’s not going to help you, like when a member of house Deneith is giving you a parking ticket. He might be giving you a hard time, but if what you want is to get out of there in one piece, tearing him into two pieces isn’t gonna do that, right?”
The audience murmured.
“All right, here’s the bad news, the part you were all worried about. We’re gonna break into groups of two and do a little role play, all right? Turn to the person next to you and we’ll get started.”
Horatio stood up and offered his hand to the elf. Even if he got a few rat bites from the gauntlet on his hand, he could be satisfied knowing he would choose not to get mad about it.
Spoiler: abilities
raw stats:
str 14
dex 14
con 14
int 16 (increases here)
wis 12
cha 8
after racial mods and ability boosts:
str 14
dex 16
con 14
int 19
wis 12
cha 6
Spoiler: tableLevel Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st duskblade 1 +1 +2 +0 +2 k (nature) 4, sense motive 4, survival 4, tumble 4 apprentice (woodsman) arcane attunement, armored mage (light) 2nd duskblade 2 +2 +3 +0 +3 k (nature) 1 (5), sense motive 1 (5), survival 1 (5), tumble 1 (5) combat casting (bonus) 3rd duskblade 3 +3 +3 +1 +3 jump 2, survival 1 (6), tumble 1 (6) improved natural attack (claws), (shifter feats: 1) New Class Abilities 4th duskblade 4 +4 +4 +1 +4 jump 2 (4), survival 1 (7), tumble 1 (7) armored mage (medium) 5th duskblade 5 +5 +4 +1 +4 jump 2 (6), survival 1 (8), tumble 1 (8) quick cast 1/day 6th weretouched master 1 +5 +6 +3 +4 balance 4 great rend (shifter feats: 2) weretouched 1 7th weretouched master 2 +6/+1 +7 +4 +4 balance 1 (5), intimidate 3 extra shifter trait (longtooth) (bonus), (shifter feats: 3) wild empathy 8th weretouched master 3 +7/+2 +7 +4 +5 intimidate 5 (8) weretouched 2 9th weretouched master 4 +8/+3 +8 +5 +5 intimidate 3 (12), never outnumbered shifter multiattack, shifter savagery (bonus), (shifter feats: 5) frightful shifting 10th weretouched master 5 +8/+3 +8 +5 +5 jump 5 (11) alternate form 11th rage mage 1 +8/+3 +10 +5 +5 concentration 3, extreme leap spell rage 1/day 12th rage mage 2 +9/+4 +11 +5 +5 concentration 3 (6), nimble stand razorclaw elite (shifter feats: 6) overcome spell failure 13th rage mage 3 +10/+5 +11 +6 +6 concentration 3 (9), twisted charge rage +1 use/day 14th rage mage 4 +11/+6/+1 +12 +7 +7 concentration 5 (14) 15th rage mage 5 +11/+6/+1 +12 +7 +7 concentration 4 (18), survival 1 (9) longtooth elite (shifter feats: 7) spell rage 2/day 16th rage mage 6 +12/+7/+2 +13 +8 +8 concentration 1 (19), survival 5 (14) 17th rage mage 7 +13/+8/+3 +13 +8 +8 concentration 1 (20), survival 5 (19) spell fury 18th rage mage 8 +14/+9/+4 +14 +8 +8 concentration 1 (21), profession (orator) 1, survival 2 (21), swift concentration great bite (shifter feats: 8) rage +1 use/day 19th rage mage 9 +14/+9/+4 +14 +9 +9 concentration 1 (22), profession (orator) 4 (5), survival 1 (22) tireless rage 20th rage mage 10 +15/+10/+5 +15 +9 +9 concentration 1 (23), profession (orator) 4 (9), survival 1 (23) warrior cry, spell rage 3/day
Spoiler: spell chart
Spells per Day
Level 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 1st 3 2 - - - - - - - - 2nd 4 3 - - - - - - - - 3rd 5 4 - - - - - - - - 4th 6 5 - - - - - - - - 5th 6 5 2 - - - - - - - 6th 6 5 2 - - - - - - - 7th 6 5 2 - - - - - - - 8th 6 5 2 - - - - - - - 9th 6 5 2 - - - - - - - 10th 6 5 2 - - - - - - - 11th 6 5 2 - - - - - - - 12th 6 6 3 - - - - - - - 13th 6 6 3 - - - - - - - 14th 6 6 5 - - - - - - - 15th 6 6 5 - - - - - - - 16th 6 7 6 - - - - - - - 17th 6 7 6 - - - - - - - 18th 6 7 6 2 - - - - - - 19th 6 7 6 2 - - - - - - 20th 6 8 7 3 - - - - - -
Spoiler: playtips
Spoiler: 5You begin play as a fairly standard duskblade. Contrary to conventional wisdom, you do not invest heavily in the power attack line or arcane strike because you are specializing in your shifter natural weapons. For the time being, you have access to razorclaw which grants claws. Apprentice woodsman grants access to survival to enter weretouched master. Duskblade also helpfully grants combat casting as a bonus feat to help enter rage mage. For the time being, plink enemies with shocking grasp and whatnot and beat them up with your cool natural weapons, helpfully juiced by improved natural attack, which is a shifter feat, improving duration of your shifting and later your uses per day.
Spoiler: 10You have entered and completed weretouched master. It provides many interesting abilities, the most salient of which is the eponymous weretouched. You pick the wolverine, which improves the bite you gain from longtooth (via extra shifter trait granted as a bonus feat weretouched master) by one damage die. It also grants bottomless frenzy that doesn’t leave you winded afterwards, allowing qualification for rage mage. Your stats are greatly augmented during combat when you have your alternate form, frenzy, shifting, shifter savagery (which boosts your damage dice 2 steps for your natural attacks in addition to doubling your threat range,) let you inflict enormous amounts of damage per round and scare everyone nearby with your frightful shifting ability. Since frenzy activates automatically, you also don’t need to worry about rationing its uses.
Spoiler: 15You’re in the secret ingredient and it’s paying off already. Since you should essentially always be raging in a combat scenario, you can activate spell rage whenever you like. Rage mage also helpfully grants rage for scenarios where you haven’t yet been damaged but want to start building up your buffstack. Since it’s a separate ability from weretouched master’s frenzy, it will apply on top of it when you can activate them both, and it also works to activate shifter savagery. By now, you should be able to shift as often as you need to. You have the elite versions of both of your shifter traits active now, allowing you to attack with both razorclaws at the end of a charge, activating your frightful shifting, and deal con damage with your longtooth bite. Since rage mage provides a spartan skill list, you invest in skill tricks with a bent toward mobility so you can extract maximum benefit during combat when you are raging and/or frenzying.
Spoiler: 20You are finished with rage mage and can quicken spells and loose a barbaric yawp with your capstone warrior cry ability, further augmenting your prodigious melee abilities. Enjoy superior mobility and unparalleled ability to shift, rage, and do everything in between. Due to the number of shifter feats you have, you should have more than adequate uses of shifting and it should last for longer than the combat each time.
Spoiler: sources
srd: improved natural attack, combat casting
phb2: duskblade
dmg2: apprentice (woodsman)
races of eberron: extra shifter trait, shifter savagery, razorclaw elite, longtooth elite,
eberron campaign setting: shifter, shifter multiattack, weretouched master, great bite, great rend
skilled city dweller
complete scoundrel: skill tricks
Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2021-04-05, 09:56 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Wrote this one in a ... frenzy? (I'll see myself out)
Originally Posted by The Ultimate Ragus
The Ultimate Ragus
Look, I’m up against the deadline here, so you’re getting a stream of consciousness sort of entry, as it’s possibly the fastest way to get all of the parts of a build together in time, even with the extension.
I did a lot of noodling with ragemage: from master spellthief to magic mantle ardent to raging luck for 5 or 6 standard actions per round, but...they all seemed so hollow. Like I got somewhere, but it didn’t have the “kiss your fingers like a caricature of an italian chef and say mwah” element.
So I returned to looking at the features of the ragemage class abilities, and I think I saw something. Something only a ragemage can do. And it has the appearance of a limitation...So it’s unlikely that this class “feature” will be exploited by other entrants.
A rage mage can’t make charisma or intelligence checks in a spell rage. Something that they only share with other classes that rage...except a rage mage can cast spells while not being able to make these checks, which is something no other rager can do. Originally Posted by ”CW p.72”
So...all we have to do is find intelligence or charisma checks that this character simply can’t take, and therefor cannot succeed at, and find a way to make other people make those same checks and get punished for succeeding.
Sidebar:Sidebar: Originally Posted by ”PHB p.304 glossary entry for ally”
So, there’s only one skill that by RAW, punishes you for a great success. Drumroll please! Originally Posted by ”PHB p.304-309 glossary entry for friendly”
Knowledge (History)
So that’s the challenge, precipitate situations where people wonder if they know about the killing frost of Ghulurak, and use that opportunity to zap them with DC 25 will saves, while you remain blissfully immune. And with the ability to cast spells while raging, you just might be able to do it. Originally Posted by ”DMG2 p.115”
We’ll see, because as of this part of my composition, I haven’t chosen all of my skill ranks or my final two feats yet.
So, backstorywise, I’m picturing in my mind someone who is driven to figure out this ghulurak thing, cuz maybe it’s his father or something, and they interrogate the people around them, cast spells to put more knowledge and abilities into them, and this poor Ultimate Ragus, watches as the click of recognition glazes over the eyes of those he’s interrogating as they run off to carve statues to icy armageddon. Like a psychosis that prevents you from getting to your goal whenever you get close to your goal. I doubt that I will be able to write that up adequately, but that’s the backstory, because at this point, I’m definitely choosing a dragonblood humanoid with a bonus feat who also happens to be an afflicted were wolverine, so that we don’t need levels in more than two base classes. So, we’re gonna opt for that bonus feat and choose silverbrow human.
Ability scores
Alright, I’m going to go fill in all of the skills that aren’t knowledge (History), feat or ultimate magus pre-reqs now. And then we will be that much closer to a fully composed entry. Lemme quick do a first draft of point buy stats: Right away, we have to choose 18 in cha or go 17 in cha for the three extra ability score points. Also, how do you parse this?
That’s weirder than you remember, right? Originally Posted by ”MM1 p.178”
So for a wolverine, that’s +2 str, +2 dex and +4 con
Every 4 levels, add 1 to charisma, except level 8, where you need to add +1 to constitution in order to qualify for shape soulmeld.
That’s gonna be an ugly stat array when we get cured of lycanthropy. Whew. Screw it, we can fix that with wealth, and this point buy guarantees 6th level spells and the maximum charisma. Because, despite spellcasting being on the table, it’s difficult to cobble together +40 or more to someone else’s knowledge history check, especially without being an unseelie feytouched half-fey half-dragon marshal or a truenamer.
And the fey stuff really takes away from the entirely complete backstory that I’ve already laid out with articulate language up in the So, backstorywise section above. That fantastic bit of character development, illustrated by dynamic prose and an ability to cultivate an atmosphere that really catches the frustration of a man who really wants to know something but simply CANNOT, is really a thematic hook, ya know? Maybe he knew once, but then got smacked by amnesia. Maybe Some Psion or something prevented him from causing Ghurulagnarok. It doesn’t matter, that is some quality stuff, and the lack of effort to compose it doesn’t in any way hamper how rich a character arc that is to mine.
Remember when I said that thing about doing the skill ranks, I’m going to do them now, as I have finally chosen a final stat array. Alright 36 points at first level, get some face skills in there in case it’s ruled that you need to get your “allies” to be friendly via diplomacy, although, a narrow reading of the glossary heading for ally would lead one to believe that helpful people are not allies. But most DMs are normal and want things to work, so it’s likely that if you're gonna try to make a ragemage that kills by proccing knowledge history checks to send your opponents into some weird icesculpting cult to a dead god, you might want to keep some face skills up and work on getting plot relevant bad guys to be your friend, and pull this trick out here and there. While you’re working up to it though, you’ll need umd, and decipher script makes sense with the whole history thing here. We’re gonna be having perform dance as our bardic music stuff, because that opens up the possibility of choosing snowflake wardance later, if we can accomplish the goal of getting bad guys near +50 on K. history checks.
Eww, ok, I got to the part where you cure lycanthropy and now I have to go back and change those skill ranks.
Wolverine is a sweet lycanthropic form. It gives access to rage, as a prereq for rage mage. I gives 3 animal hit dice, which you can fill with spellcraft at cross class ranks and boom, early ultimate magus entry.
Speaking of prereqs for prestige classes. 2nd level casting is provided by the precocious apprentice feat. And because the wording on bardic sage is that you learn a div spell of every spell level that you can cast, you technically know 2nd level spells so you avoid the pedantic DM worries in that case.
You can get two 2nd level spells at first level, so long as one is divination school.In addition to the normal number of spells known, a bardic sage knows one divination spell of each spell level he is capable of casting.
Prepared casting is provided by the arcane preparation feat, and bang: Ultimate Magus will double advance bard. Bard has a few wonderful spells that are absolutely vital for what we are trying to do here, including combined talents, Master's touch (PHB2 version), natures beauty, good hope, foxs cunning, eagle's splendor, Nixies grace, and snowsong. By my calculations, these spells, paired with a familiar using expert aid another rules along with your soulspark should be able to get someone elses k. history check somewhere above 42 or 43. We'll check the tally by level later.
Remember that random sidebar about what constitutes an ally. Getting a favorable reading on that is also vital to your success here. You need to be able to include those that you want to interrogate about Ghulurak as allies. And allies are people who are friendly towards you. And it’s difficult to get people to count as friendly towards you if they are hostile to you. So the question that we really have to ask is, can someone be both hostile towards you and due to your approach, they’ll accept your minor aura and draconic auras that boost their intelligence? Between diplomacy and throwing a few charm spells into the list, that’s about all we can do other than straight up asking if your auras can apply to whoever you want.
Spells per DayLevel Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1 Bardic sage 1 0 0 0 2 bluff 4, decipher script 4, diplomacy 4, disguise 4, k. arcana 4, k. history 4, perform (dance) 4, spellcraft 4, umd 4 Arcane Preparation (Complete Arcane p. 73), precocious apprentice, Spellcasting, Bardic Knowledge, Bardic Music 2 werewolverine 1HD 0 2 2 2 k. history 5, spellcraft 5, climb 1 Rage (Ex), burrow 10, claws, Track 3 werewolverine 2HD 1 3 3 2 k. history 6, spellcraft 6, spot 1 combat casting (3rd) 4 werewolverine 3HD 2 3 3 3 k. history 7, spellcraft 7, listen 1 5 rage mage 1 2 5 3 3 k. history 8, spellcraft 8, diplomacy 5 Spellrage 1/day 6 rage mage 2 (bard 2) 3 6 3 3 k. history 9, diplomacy 6, survival 1 poison spell Overcome spell failure 7 Rage mage 3 4 6 4 4 k. history 10, diplomacy 7, survival 2 Rage +1 use per day 8 Rage mage 4 (bard 3) 5 7 4 4 k. history 11, diplomacy 8, survival 3 9 Ultimate Magus 1 (Bard4) 5 7 4 6 k. history 12, spellcraft 12 Skill focus diplomacy arcane spellpower +1 10 Ultimate magus 2 (bard5/6) 6 7 4 7 k. history 13, umd 8 Expanded spell knowledge (1st level or lower) 11 Marshal 6 9 4 9 k. history 14, handle animal 3, perform (dance) 7 Obtain familiar Minor Aura, bonus feat -3
cure lycanthropy 4 6 1 8 remove 3 ranks from k. history and spellcraft, and 1 rank from climb, spot, and listen lose skill focus diplo
9 ultimate magus 3 (bard 7/8) 4 7 2 8 k. history 12, UMD 12, shape soulmeld (soulspark circlet) Augmented Casting 10 Ultimate Magus 4 (bard 9) 5 7 2 9 k. history 13, diplomacy 10 Arcane spell power +2, expanded spell knowledge (2nd level or lower) 11 Ultimate Magus 5(Bard (10/11) 5 7 2 9 k. history 14, diplomacy 12 chain spell Bonus metamagic feat 12 Ultimate magus 6(Bard 12/13) 6 8 3 10 k. history 15, diplomacy 14 Draconic aura Expanded spell knowledge (3rd level or lower) 13 Ultimate magus 7 (bard 14) 6 8 3 10 k. history 16, UMD 16 Arcane spell power +3 14 Rage Mage 5 (Bard 15) 6 8 3 10 k. history 17, Diplomacy 15, Survival 4 Spell rage 2/day 15 Ultimate Magus 8 (Bard 16/17) 7 8 3 11 k. history 18, UMD 18, Diplomacy 16 snowflake wardance (frostburn) Expanded spell knowledge (4th level or lower) 16 Rage mage 6(bard 18) 8 9 4 12 k. history 19, Diplomacy 17, survival 5 17 Rage mage 7 9 9 4 12 k. history 20, diplomacy 18, Survival 6 Spell fury 18 Rage Mage 8 (bard 19) 10 10 4 12 k. history 21, diplomacy 19, Survival 7 extra rage Rage +1 use/day 19 Rage Mage 9 11 11 5 13 k. history 22, diplomacy 20, survival 8 Tireless rage 20 Rage Mage 10 (bard 20) 12 12 5 13 k. history 23, diplomacy 21, survival 9 Warrior cry, spell rage 3/day
SpoilerLevel 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 1st 2 - - - - - - 2nd 2 - - - - - - 3rd 2 - - - - - - 4th 2 - - - - - - 5th 2 - - - - - - 6th 3 0 - - - - - 7th 3 0 - - - - - 8th 3 1 - - - - - 9th 3 2 0 - - - - 10th 3 3 2 - - - - 11th 3 3 2 - - - - 9th 3 3 3 1 - - - 10th 3 3 3 2 - - - 11th 3 3 3 3 1 - - 12th 3 3 3 3 2 0 - 13th 4 3 3 3 3 1 - 14th 4 3 3 3 3 1 - 15th 4 4 4 3 3 2 0 16th 4 4 4 4 3 3 1 17th 4 4 4 4 3 3 1 18th 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 19th 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 20th 4 4 4 4 4 4 3
Spells Known
SpoilerLevel 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 1st 4 - - - - - - 2nd 4 - - - - - - 3rd 4 - - - - - - 4th 4 - - - - - - 5th 4 - - - - - - 6th 5 2 - - - - - 7th 5 2 - - - - - 8th 6 3 - - - - - 9th 6 3 2 - - - - 10th 6 4 3 - - - - 11th 6 4 3 - - - - 9th 6 4 4 3 - - - 10th 6 4 4 3 - - - 11th 6 4 4 4 3 - - 12th 6 4 4 4 4 2 - 13th 6 4 4 4 4 3 - 14th 6 4 4 4 4 3 - 15th 6 5 4 4 4 4 2 16th 6 5 5 4 4 4 3 17th 6 5 5 4 4 4 3 18th 6 5 5 5 4 4 3 19th 6 5 5 5 4 4 3 20th 6 5 5 5 5 4 4
Spells
0: Detect Magic, Dancing lights, summon instrument, minor disguise (SC), read magic, prestidigitation, ghost sound
1: Combined Talent (complete mage), Extract drug (BOVD p.94), silent image, ray of hope (BOED), improvisation (SC), Summon monster 1
2: Master's touch (PHB2), alter self, eagle's splendor, fox's cunning, sonorous hum (SC), Bonefiddle (Champions of Ruin), Whirling blade (SC)
3: Arcane Sight (added to spell list from bardic sage), good hope (BOED), charm monster, glibness, major image, wounding whispers (SC)
4: Legend Lore, inner beauty (FC1), Sirine's grace (SC), spelltheft (Complete scoundrel), Summmon monster 4, celerity (PHB2)
5: Contact other plane (added to spell list from bardic sage), Dancing blade (PHB2), greater heroism, greater blink, friend to foe (PHB2)
6: True seeing (added to spell list from bardic sage), snowsong(frostburn), nixie's grace(SC), mass fox's cunning, mass charm monster
Level thing we do bonus ranks bonus to int bonus to caster's cha bonus to skill check familiar's skill aiding another soulspark aiding another total 1 combined talent, master's touch 1 4 insight 5 2 combined talent, master's touch 1 4 insight 5 3 combined talent, master's touch 1 4 insight 5 4 combined talent, master's touch 1 4 insight 5 5 combined talent, master's touch 1 4 insight 5 6 combined talent, master's touch, extract drug (mushroom vapor) 2 2 alchemical 2 alchemical 4 insight 7 7 combined talent, master's touch, extract drug (mushroom vapor) 2 2 alchemical 2 alchemical 4 insight 7 8 combined talent, master's touch, extract drug (mushroom vapor) 3 2 alchemical 2 alchemical 4 insight 8 9 combined talent, master's touch, extract drug (mushroom vapor), eagle's splendor 4 2 alchemical 2 alchemical, 4 enh 4 insight 9 10 combined talent, master's touch, extract drug (mushroom vapor), fox's cunning, eagle's splendor 6 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 4 enh 4 insight 13 11 Minor aura, Familiar aiding 6 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 4 enh 4 insight, 8 circumstance, 3 aid another 12+8 24 9 goodhope, lesser soulspark 8 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 4 enh, 4 insight, 8 circumstance, 3 familiar aid another, 2 soulspark aid another, 2 morale 12+8 7+8 31 10 goodhope, lesser soulspark 9 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 4 enh, 4 insight, 8 circumstance, 3 familiar aid another, 2 morale 13+10 7+8 32 11 inner beauty 10 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 4 enh, 4 sacred 4 insight, 10 circumstance, 3 familiar aid another, 2 soulspark aid another, 2 morale 14+10 7+10 34 12 draconic aura (insight) 10 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 4 enh, 4 sacred 4 insight, 10 circumstance, 3 familiar aid another, 3 soulspark aid another, 2 morale, 2 aura, 15+10+2 7+10+2 37 13 greater heroism 10 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 4 enh, 4 sacred 4 insight, 10 circumstance, 3 familiar aid another, 3 soulspark aid another, 4 morale, 2 aura, 16+10+2 7+10+2 39 14 aura +1 10 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 4 enh, 4 sacred 4 insight, 10 circumstance, 3 familiar aid another, 3 soulspark aid another, 4 morale, 3 aura, 17+10+3 7+10+3 40 15 nixies grace 10 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 8 enh, 4 sacred 4 insight, 12 circumstance, 3 familiar aid another, 3 soulspark aid another, 4 morale, 3 aura, 18+12+3 7+12+3 42 16 snowsong 10 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 8 enh, 4 sacred, 4 morale 4 insight, 15 circumstance, 4 familiar aid another, 3 soulspark aid another, 4 morale, 3 aura, 19+15+3 7+15+3 46 17 10 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 8 enh, 4 sacred, 4 morale 4 insight, 15 circumstance, 4 familiar aid another, 3 soulspark aid another, 4 morale, 3 aura, 20+15+3 7+15+3 46 19 10 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 8 enh, 4 sacred, 4 morale 4 insight, 15 circumstance, 4 familiar aid another, 3 soulspark aid another, 4 morale, 3 aura, 21+15+3 7+15+3 46 19 10 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 8 enh, 4 sacred, 4 morale 4 insight, 15 circumstance, 4 familiar aid another, 3 soulspark aid another, 4 morale, 3 aura, 22+15+3 7+15+3 46 20 aura increase 10 2 alchemical, 4 enh 2 alchemical, 8 enh, 4 sacred, 4 morale 4 insight, 15 circumstance, 4 familiar aid another, 3 soulspark aid another, 4 morale, 4 aura, 23+15+3 7+15+3 47
The ultimate Ragus needs two more feats and then i think we can email it in. hmmm. How about snowflake wardance and i don’t know, extra rage.
So im gonna type nonstop for 5 more whole minutes then send this in.
once you lose rage from were-wolverine, you self qualify for the ragemage class due to having spellrage be a rage, which means that your rage +1 class feature applies to your rages.
poison spell paired with BOVD's mushroom vapor, available from the extract drug spell, can be used via champion of ruin's rulings that drugs are indeed poisons, and thus when you cast a spell on the person who you want to get the ghurulak curse, you get them a little high while you're doing it.
the hardest levels are the 6th-11th area, but the spellcasting soon compensates. even if youre not doing the schtick, you're doing something helpful with the rest of your spells.
Your familiar and soulspark are there to use your or their ranks in k. history to aid the person who you spend turns buffing, and due to the expert aid another rules in rule compendium, that number increases as your aura increases.
Theres a number of spells that turn your foes into allies through subterfuge or enchantment.
Schmelegance RagusKolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2021-04-05, 09:57 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Special Bonus Entry, don't judge this one.
Originally Posted by Raging Spider Warlock
Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2021-04-05, 10:00 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
And that's our entries for this round! Judges, do your thing!
Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2021-04-05, 10:30 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Yeah, my stub was pretty boring, working around the PrC instead of using it: Barbarian 1/Duskblade 4/Knight of the Weave 3/RM 10/Knight of the Weave +2 or similar.
Congrats to all the entrants.Last edited by Thurbane; 2021-04-05 at 10:33 PM.
My winning competition entries: Kinvig Arrumskor | The Great Pumpkinhead | Wynfrith d'Acker
Torn-City - Massively multiplayer online browser based crime RPG
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2021-04-06, 03:02 AM (ISO 8601)Dwarf in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
May the best dish win.
Since all offical entries are now in I wanted to show two builds for which I had only the interrest to build, instead of writing whole stories.
SpoilerThe Sublime Savage Skald
Savage Bard 4/Barbarian 1/Rage Mage 4/Savage Bard +1 (5)/Sublime Chord 2/Rage Mage +6 (10)/Abjurant Champion 2
[Savage Bard 5, Barbarian 1, Rage Mage 10, Sublime Chord 2, Abjurant Champion 2]
14 BAB (15 with Fractional BAB), CL 14, 7/10 Sublime Chord Spellcasting (8th level spell access)
Or...!
Savage Bard 4/Barbarian 1/Rage Mage 6/Sublime Chord 1/Rage Mage +4 (10)/Abjurant Champion 4
[Savage Bard 4, Barbarian 1, Rage Mage 10, Sublime Chord 1, Abjurant Champion 4]
15 BAB (16 with Fractional BAB), CL 14, 7/10 Sublime Chord Spellcasting (8th level spell access)
SpoilerThe Rage Rapping Arcane Knight (Requires Able Learner and Mentor feats)
Battledancer 1/Barbarian 2/Paladin of Freedom 2/Knight of the Weave 3/Rage Mage 4/Warrior Skald 1/Sublime Chord 1/Rage Mage +6 (10)
[Barbarian 2, Battledancer 1, Paladin of Freedom 2, Knight of the Weave 3, Rage Mage 10, Warrior Skald 1, Sublime Chord 1]
BAB 15 (16 with Fractional BAB), CL 9 (17 with 2x Practiced Spellcaster), 5/10 Knight of the Weave Spellcasting and 4/10 Sublime Chord Spellcasting (6th level spell access)Last edited by ThanatosZero; 2021-04-07 at 01:56 AM.
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2021-04-06, 03:03 AM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Why do I even try...
More seriously, very cool entries! Congrats to anyone who entered!
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2021-04-06, 03:08 AM (ISO 8601)Barbarian in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
So many things that I thought about doing and gave up on were done beautifully here.
Thanks for broadening my horizons !
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2021-04-06, 04:42 AM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
I really like the blood magus/hengeyokai combo. That's good thinking!
Also, the ultimate ragus is hilarious. "By the way, I know we're supposed to be fighting to the death right now, but have you heard of our lord and savior Ghulurak" "Ooh, now that you say it, thanks for reminding me, I have to go destroy the universe! So yeah, be killing you next time, 'kay?"
Not sure if it could be called optimized, but that is one of the best character ideas I've seen in a long time.Resurrecting the Negative LA thread, comments and discussion are very welcome!
Do you want to build monstrous characters with reasonable LA? Join the Monster Mash! Currently, round XII: One-Punch Monster!!! Come judge single-strike entries!
Nice find! Have a cookie!
Searchable spreadsheet of 3.5 monsters by abilities, now with all online monsters
Originally Posted by H_H_F_F
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2021-04-06, 08:00 AM (ISO 8601)Dwarf in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
I couldn't quite pull it together, but I had built a dish around hellfire warlock and snow caster. Unfortunately I couldn't quite make it work
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2021-04-06, 08:47 AM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
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- Jerusalem
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
I'll talk about my main options at more detail after the reveal, but I will mention I thought about trying to make a half-drow kinslayer work, before realizing that dedicating to an Elder Evil doesn't give access to vile feats outside the Elder Evils list.
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2021-04-06, 09:07 AM (ISO 8601)Barbarian in the Playground
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- Feb 2007
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
I tried to put together a Mountain Rager Duskblade who channeled spells to multiple targets with Mighty Swing, but I kept running out of levels to do it in a fun way, and an Undead Barbarian who channeled the Necrotic Cyst spells, but I couldn't do that one without Taint.
All of these builds are really fun, I love the Ultimate Ragus' audacity. Being cured of lycanthropy to get more levels and self qualify, that's genius.
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2021-04-06, 09:08 AM (ISO 8601)Barbarian in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Sadly I couldn't come up with something I liked enough to submit.
I worked on several things but I wanted to make kinslayer work so badly and it just didn't pan out at all. I started furiously working around this stub:
Lesser Drow Ranger 3/xxxxx/Kinslayer 1/Nar Demonbinder 1/Rage Mage 10.
For that to work I would have needed so many feats: Endurance, Diehard, Unspeakable Vow, Vow of Vengeance, Iron Will, Spell Focus (Conjuration) (2 flaws and otyugh hole for Iron Will is not something I want to do in this contest). Getting Earth Sense, Heighten Spell and Earth Spell to jump from 2nd level spells to 4th level spells and enter Nar Demonbinder to do a divine to arcane casting switch without southern magician was also an issue and than I had to find a way to add a single summon monster spell to my spell list (summoning domain was a possible solution). With all thoe unsolved issues piling up, I threw in the towel at some point but maybe I continue trying to figure this mess out.
Since my other ideas are similar to entries or use the same tricks, I don't want to discuss them until judgment is done. As always I have learned a lot from the other entries and how they worked with issues I had.
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2021-04-06, 09:42 AM (ISO 8601)Troll in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
I don't think that's the case. Seems like the table is supposed to just be the list of Vile feats, but ends up being non-exhaustive due to bad editing or incomplete knowledge or whatever. You sometimes see references to "a bonus feat from the list of Fighter Bonus Feats in the Player's Handbook" or something in the same way. Originally Posted by H_H_F_F
Iron Chef Medals
SpoilerSir Driscoll Conia - Silver - IC L
Nick Snarespan - Gold - IC LIII
Lucy "Legs" Silvertail - Bronze - IC LXVIII
Bolfarg of Knoss - Gold - IC LXXVII
Ivarr Deathborn - Bronze - IC LXXVII
Ahmtel - Silver - IC LXXVIII
Tocke of Nessus - Gold - IC LXXIX
The Blessed Third - Silver - IC LXXXI
Galahad Galapagos - Gold - IC LXXXIV
Sai-don, Knight of the Tide - Bronze - IC LXXXIV
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2021-04-06, 10:30 AM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Maybe, but that seemed to be the RAW to me and that's the common interpretation I've seen when looking through the forums, so it seemed cheap to go ahead anyway and hope for mercy. Originally Posted by WhamBamSam
I agree a reasonable DM would probably let that fly, if they're allowing EE bonus feats to begin with.
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2021-04-06, 11:19 AM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
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- Dec 2013
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Cool entries. I was looking to build a bard-barian, just because Rage Mage seems ideal for that combination. But I could not find anything particularly original to do with that. If Battle Howler of Grummsh was legal (and not Dragon Mag) it would be a fine base for a Bard-Barian Rage Mage. Oh well.
Edit: ThantosZero's "Sublime Savage Skald" seems very similar to what I had in mind. But that would probably be way cooler.
My main focus was this:
Tenser's Transformation (from RM 10) also makes your BAB equal character level.When she casts a spell of the abjuration, conjuration, evocation, necromancy, or transmutation school while in a rage, the rage mage uses her character level as her caster level
So even though you have limited spell casting progressions and BAB, you can have 20 CL and 20 BAB while in a spellrage. That seemed worth investing in.
So my idea was to focus on spells for which a high caster level grants power, even if you don't have terribly high level spells. Longer duration and more powerful, harder to dispel, buffs, long-duration summoning, more blasty blast spells, etc.
The other trick I noticed was that Spellrage does not only apply to the spells from the arcane casting class. So one could have an arcane and a divine casting class, and cast spells from either list while raging.
EDIT: also Druid’s natural spell enables all spells to be cast in wildshape, not just Druid spells.
So, Druidic Avenger, which normally can't concentrate or cast spells while raging. Rage Mage would solve that limitation.
You could start with a level of sorcerer from the White Dragonspawn template (also +2 con and dex, +7 NA, and a fly speed). That also gives a cool backstory.
Druidic Avenger 6 with White Dragonspawn template would qualify for Rage Mage, and would also fit with the Dragonspawn beginning (you are out for revenge). But a level of Sorcerer might be less inelegant than a template. Take Dragon Wildshape, perhaps (but that requires 19 Wis).
I considered trying Southern Magician to qualify for Rage Mage, but Rage Mage still would not progress druid casting (only an actual arcane casting class), so I thought it's better to have an actual arcane class (sorcerer) that could be progressed by RM.
So Druid 6 (with Sorcerer 1 casting), progressing to Sorcerer 6 by Rage Mage. Finishing off with a few levels of Arcane Heirophant to continue progressing druid and sorcerer casting, wildshape.
But the Druidic Avenger loses the animal companion, so the Arcane Heirophant's Companion Familiar ability would be wasted. and the main point of Druid would be to get Large animal wild shapes (tiger, for pounce) and dragon wildshapes. But that requires the extra wildshape from Arcane Heirophane early, delaying the SI.
Wildshape is also the solution to being somewhat MAD, and needing high Con, str, wis and cha. So access to high-con and high str wild shapes, and Bite of the WereTiger spell, all require delaying the SI until 11th level.
It all became a cool idea that was hard to execute, and my job got busy and I ran out of steam for developing this.Last edited by Hiro Quester; 2021-04-06 at 12:24 PM.
Originally Posted by danielxcutter
Spoiler: Avatar & Iron Chef AwardsAwesome Dragonfire Bard Avatar by Oneris. A detailed version is here.
Iron Chef awards:
IC C Swiftblade: Honorable Mention for Pahika Kanikani, the Wardancer
IC CII Blade Dancer: Silver for Hu Tiaowu, the Jungle Guardian
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2021-04-06, 11:36 AM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
- Gender
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Eight (and a half) builds, eh? I've got my work cut out for me, it seems. Can't wait until I have a chance to dive into judging in earnest!
In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff! Originally Posted by Doc Roc
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2021-04-06, 03:20 PM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
- Join Date
- Dec 2013
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
The ability to have CL=Character level (eventually CL20) while only having access to lower-level(ish) spells seems really potent. Originally Posted by Me, earlier
So: longer durations of all CL dependent duration spells, more difficult to dispel buffs, and bigger effect buffs (whose strength depends on CL; e.g. Barkskin, GMW, etc.), and more blasty evocations (disintegrate like a 20th level caster, while only having 6th level spells!), more effective Greater Dispel Magic, etc.
I'm curious. I really did not get time to think this through. What particular spells would it be especially beneficial to learn with this ability?
Do any of the builds above make special use of this? I don't see many. (It's very possible I didn't notice in my cursory read so far, though.) Originally Posted by danielxcutter
Spoiler: Avatar & Iron Chef AwardsAwesome Dragonfire Bard Avatar by Oneris. A detailed version is here.
Iron Chef awards:
IC C Swiftblade: Honorable Mention for Pahika Kanikani, the Wardancer
IC CII Blade Dancer: Silver for Hu Tiaowu, the Jungle Guardian
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2021-04-06, 07:58 PM (ISO 8601)Troll in the Playground
- Join Date
- Aug 2014
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
Other ideas that I had to get rage that didn’t make the cut.
The gut worm symbiont.
White dragon lineage gives a rage similar to that of a barbarian.
The telepath power ‘mental rage’ puts you in a mental rage
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2021-04-06, 09:32 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
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Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
One build done. I know there's a couple nights this week when I'm going to be very busy, but I'll try to not take forever. (We'll see if my resolve holds in, like, the face of the new Monster Hunter and stuff.)
Last edited by Zaq; 2021-04-06 at 09:33 PM.
In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff! Originally Posted by Doc Roc
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2021-04-06, 10:17 PM (ISO 8601)Troll in the Playground
- Join Date
- Mar 2016
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
I think that while most builds don't point it out, that some of theirs spells have nice casterlevel scaling (e.g. h/clvl duration or variables depending on clvl). I mean, if everybody would mention that with every spell the build has access to, some of the builds would need pages of references. People tent to spotlight the most important stuff and assume that the reader will figure out the remaining stuff (or at least hopes it^^). Originally Posted by Hiro Quester
I don't want to go more into detail due to competition fairness but I have spotted a few builds that have some nice combos around the maximized caster lvl of spell rage. Take your time for reviewing the build again maybe ;)Extended Signature with Links to all my build showcases in the forum
My latest build showcases:
Gaive'Ur, the last Eldritch Knight of Bane (✝)
PACMAN, the Southern Beholder Mage (accelerated spell progression + double 9s)
Optimus Urbana Hierophantus - a Mobile Suit Gundam / Mech / Transformers build
Orko, He-man & Battlecat (a Dragonfire Mount's Ubermount and its Ubermount)
Giant Dwarf, the Rock Superstar (a War Chanter build)
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2021-04-07, 06:48 AM (ISO 8601)Dwarf in the Playground
- Join Date
- Jun 2019
- Location
- Germany
- Gender
Re: Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CX
I updated the build. Originally Posted by Hiro Quester
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