Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CXII

[The Viscount]

(redacted per chef request)

[The Viscount]

Does it still count as teamwork if the other people don't know they're working together? (The chef has requested this entry not be judged)

Ladies and Gentle Skarn!

Welcome to the 86th Oewff regional annual spinemeld championships. I’m sure you remember entrant #1 from the posts two above, and entrant #2, who is right up there. Perhaps entrant #4 below us, or #5 below them?

What fantastic contenders!!!! Let’s have a round of applause.

(Psst hey you, judge. I work for the king, and we’ve got a very intriguing request from someone with a killer racial bonus to gather info checks. And rather than make you read an extra four whole build write ups, you can just use the build write ups right here in the competition! Isn’t that cool?!? Ooops the applause is dying down)

But now is the imminent event that you’ve been waiting for. The spinemeld-meld warrior show-down spine match jamboree!!!!

Put those spines together and give us a round of Clackety clacks! Whooooo!

(Psst. Yo judge, feel free to mix and match other contestants into these slots too, like a paper doll!. Feel free to make wierd skarn chimeras and make them battle it out. Compliments of the king. So like if this entrant is not #3, just adjust accordingly, so if Frack is the first entrant, the penultimate entry then becomes a modified #1 and so on.)

Introducing, in this corner, weighing in at 10 tons: the beast with five backs, the 8 spine renderererer, the Ante-Ante-Ante-penultimate Mishtai, The Skarn-ti abomination, The Humanoid Skarntipede, the one, the many........

Frack, Tall-Skarn!

Lawful Evil
Symbiotic entrant 5 + (Symbiotic entrant 4 + (Symbiotic entrant 2 + (Symbiotic entrant 1 + half fiend malebranche-variant half ogre))))


ABILITY SCORES

Strength	30
Dexterity	14
Constitution	28
Intelligence	10
Wisdom	12
Charisma	6

At HD 4 add one to dexterity
AT HD 8 add one to con.

Spoiler: Race stuff

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Being Size HUGE:
From the variant half fiends web article:

"A very small number of fiends are Huge, and their hugeness gets passed to offspring. If the model fiend is Huge size or bigger, and the base creature is size Large or smaller, then increase the base creature's size by one category. The relevant changes to the base creature's statistics can be found on page 291 of the Monster Manual"

We add this to our half ogre who is already size large:
(+8str, -2 dex, +4 con, +3 Natural Armor)

Natural armor +4 from half ogre
Natural armor improves by +1 (this stacks with any natural armor bonus the base creature has). from half fiend
Natural armor +3 for advancing to huge
=+8 NA

Speed:
A half-fiend has bat wings. Unless the base creature has a better fly speed, the creature can fly at the base creature's base land speed (average maneuverability).

Here is the ability score calculation:

Malebranche Abilities
Str 30, Dex 9, Con 25, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 10


STR+20, Dex -2, Con +14, int: -2, Wis: +4

Half of the ability score bonuses for malebranch go to str, so half of the 16 allotted half fiend points become a strength bonus. Both the con bonus and wis bonus add up to about half the remaining bonii. Seeing as how malebranch only have bonuses to three stats, we’ll divy the remainder of our +16 ability points (a remainder of 8) between the remaining two scores. The con score bonus is much larger than the wis score bonus, so an allotment of +6 con, and +2 wisdom preserves the remaining balance.

Str = +8 Dex = +0 Con = +6 Int = +0 Wis = +2 Cha = +0

For the grand total of the following modifiers:

Str = +22 Dex = -4 Con = +12 Int = -2 Wis = +2 Cha = -2

At 32 point buy it looks like this:

FINAL ABILITY SCORES (pointbuy + bonuses)
Strength 8+22=30
Dexterity 18-4=14
Constitution 16+12=28
Intelligence 12-2=10
Wisdom 10+2=12
Charisma 8-2=6

Symbiotic Template:
You gotta see it to believe it. +1 LA and you get to add an entire creature of any amount of HD to another creature to yourself and their feats! and their abilities! and their skill ranks as stacking racial bonuses!

So, yeah, let's qualify as a skarn by merging with one as a size huge creature of the humanoid type via the symbiotic template. The humanoid type is obtained in perpetuity thanks to the human heritage feat. The template doesn't say where, exactly on the body they merge, so lets merge them on our arms right underneath our hands. Then we can go spinemeld warrior without having to be a skarn or changeling. Changelings love impersonating skarn. The skarn are lousey with them.

And because human heritage is still in effect, despite turning from outsider to abomination, we still count as humanoid, so we can enter symbioses with another Skarn, attached of course, on our other wrist. So that way, when we hit with spines from both arms on one arm we get a rend, and if we hit with both our arms swinging another skarn or changeling with two spine attacks on our left arm, we get another set of rends. And if both our symbiotes spines hit, our half fiend half ogre gets a third rend because they hit with spines on two arms. Like this:

spine/spine spine/spine

V. .V

left Arm RightArm

V

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
So, let's rap. If entrant 1 doesn't qualify for spinemeld warrior by virtue of not being skarn or racial emulation changeling, or if their type deviates from humanoid, well...then this build doesn't qualify for spinemeld warrior. And that, my friends, will definitely come at the cost of some elegance. And imagine if when the symbiotic template is applied, that somehow the mental ability scores of the guest are deeper trash than Frack's? That's a gamble. A gamble we'll have to take!

And look, I could give you four sub-characters to voltron this monster together, but you're gonna be not very surprised when it's a Skarn of legend paladin into blackguard 10/spinemeld 10, a racial emulation changeling rogue 3/ skarn monk 2/ urban ranger 2/spinemeld warrior 10, a skarn incarnate 10/spinemeld warrior 10, and a LN skarn druid 5/warshaper 3/spinemeld warrior 10.


And believe me, those sub entries would be a lot of fun to write and read.

OOOOOORRRR

We can acknowledge that this SI is a numbers game. As in, get big numbers on two weapon fighting... using a clever gimmick. Well, this build nabs those gimmicks and stacks them. At ECL 20 our meldshaper level is through the roof, with different 20 level skarn or skarngelings, using those TWF natural attack gimmicks, and potentially up to 4 different rends. All on a Huge Chassis, which grants more damage than any single one of those gimmicks. we will have at minimum 9 levels of spinemeld warrior here, and thats if every symbiosis contender only took a single level of spinemeld warrior, which they probably wouldn't do if they wanted to do well. So we're looking at a maximum potential of 85 spinemeld warrior levels on this guy, with each new symbiote triggering the choose a new twf feat thing, cuz they all have twf.

Remember that you get to choose the best saves between the symbiotic skarn and skarngelings that you're in symbiosis with.

So remember which build packed the strength of 4 different spinemeld warriors when we're adjudicating power here.

Race Sources:
Half fiend variant:
Malebranche: Fiendish Compendium 2 126
Half Ogre: Races of Destiny 97-98
Symbiotic creature: Savage species 131.
Human Heritage Feat: Races of Destiny 152

Level	ECL	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
LA 2	2	Half Ogre	-	-	-	-	-	-	+6 Strength, –2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, –2 Intelligence, –2 Charisma. Natural Armor: +4 Level adjustment +2. Size Large, Type giant.
LA 6	6	Half Fiend (Malebranche)	-	-	-	-	-	-	Size Huge (+8str, -2 dex, +4 con +3NA), Type outsider (+8 str, +6 con, +2 wis), flyspeed = landspeed, NA +1, Resistance to acid, cold, electricity, and fire 10, Damage reduction:5/magic, Darkvision out to 60 feet, Immunity to poison, Spell resistance equal to creature's HD + 10 (maximum 35), smite good 1/day, 2 claws 1d10 and gore 2d6,
1st	7	swashbuckler 1	+1	+2	+0	+0	20 skill ranks: 4 bluff,gather info 2(cc), intimidate 1(cc), survival 2(cc), balance 4, umd 1 (cc)	Human Heritage	weapon finesse
2nd	8	Swashbuckler 2	+2	+3	+0	+0	Bluff 5, tumble 3		grace +1
3rd	9	Swashbuckler 3	+3	+3	+1	+1	Bluff 6, tumble 6	Multiatttack	insightful strike
4th	10	Dead Levels Swashbuckler 4	+4	+4	+1	+1	Bluff 7, tumble 7, gather info 3		seduce to learn secret
LA 7	11	Symbiotic Entrant 1	+3	+3	+1	+1	-	All of the feats of Entrant 1	all of the abilities of entrant 1, all of the skill ranks become a stacking racial bonus to those skill checks. Type: Aberration
5th	12	Shield of blades Swashbuckler	+5	+4	+1	+1	Bluff 8, Tumble 8, gather info 4		shield of blades
6th	13	Spinemeld Warrior 1	+6	+6	+1	+1	Handle animal 1, k. nobility and royalty 1	Two weapon fighting (or better!), improved multi-attack	Twin spine fighting, Two-Weapon Fighting
LA 8	14	Symbiotic Entrant 2	+6	+6	+1	+1	-	All of the feats of Entrant 2	all of the abilities of entrant 2, all of the skill ranks become a stacking racial bonus to those skill checks. Type Aberration
7th	15	Spinemeld Warrior 2	+7	+7	+1	+1	gather information 5		Noble familiarity, spine enhancement, +1 essencia
8th	16	Spinemeld Warrior 3	+8	+7	+2	+2	gather information 6		1 soulmeld, +1 essencia
LA 9	17	Symbiotic Entrant 4	+8	+7	+2	+2	-	All of the feats of Entrant 4	all of the abilities of entrant 4, all of the skill ranks become a stacking racial bonus to those skill checks. Type aberration
9th	18	Spinemeld Warrior 4	+9	+8	+2	+2	gather information 7		+1 essencia
LA 10	19	Symbiotic Entrant 5	+9	+8	+2	+2	-	All of the feats of Entrant 5	all of the abilities of entrant 5, all of the skill ranks become a stacking racial bonus to those skill checks. Type aberration
10th	20	Spinemeld Warrior 5	+10	+8	+2	+2	gather information 8		Spine rend

ECL 5: For these are the days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.

Spoiler

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The changeling artificer paced, thinking this planar binding scroll better work! The skarn expeditions into the half-ogre lands was costly in terms of skarn life and obvious heinous barbarity of what they were doing would leave a mark on all who are involved's souls. If these calculations bear out, the ultimate fighting machine would be theirs to harness!

We’re still brewing this baby up at ecl 5. Why are we brewing this thing up? Because spinemeld warrior is only fixed by getting more spinemeld warrior levels than humanly (reptilian subtype) possible. Like, to be anything approaching a good class, it needs so much more.

So, we planar bind a malebranche to make some half ogre/half fiend babies for us. That’ll set us up for symbiosis with skarn. Considering that humans and devils are endowed with as much genetic complementariness as dragons in their ability to hybridize, it makes a bit of sense that a half fiend taking after its human parent would be great at multi-organismic commensalism.

With the size of huge, entire skarns could operate as your arms. As the symbiotic template requires a two size category difference between guest and host. The only thing better than a spinemeld warrior (besides anything better than a soul knife) is a bunch of spinemeld warriors. And this chassis is able to pack them on. In perpetuity even.

ECL 10: For my part, if a man must needs be a knave, I would have him be a debonair knave

Spoiler

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The thing, we discovered, was much more intelligent than we were planning. It did NOT take after it's half ogre father. And so, we named it Frack, an ancient skarn word for a cursed mishtai. At least we think it's a skarn word, the last time we had a big match, i used my monocle of true seeing, all i saw were various affiliations of changelings pretending to be every single skarn in attendance. Do skarn even exist? Are we in an emperor has no clothes situation? A lot of my friends get paid good money to do this deep cover gig.

Like i was saying, the thing wanted spinemeld warriors, specifically. It was thirsty for them. This thing wouldn't have time to sell second hand spine polish down by the docks because it was so busy playing the field for spinemeld warriors. And despite being an obvious 10 ton abomination, it was kind of charming.

Four swashbuckler class levels. Seduce to learn secret allows Frack to convince spinemeld warriors to join in unholy union with them. The ability bonus goes to dexterity so that frack can qualify for twf feats pre-Reqs with a dex of 15.

Frack gets +1 ref saves, weapon finesse, which sucks when your strength is double your dexterity, full bab, and an ok skill list. With +9 hp per HD at con 28, frack should have over 50 HP.

With two 1d10 claws and a 2d6 +10 damage gore that is doubled on a charge, I think frack can survive, but it’ll be tough. Multi attack is nice little add on that will help later.

After this benchmark, this is no longer an unplayable character.

ECL 15: The devil comes dressed as everything you've ever wished for

Spoiler

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I hadn't seen Frack in a while. They...uhh...had hooked up with an up and comer from the frontier. A real epic spinemeld warrior of renown. And they are beginning to tour on the gladiatorial circuit. Although some interested noble persons told me that unless Frack starts playing a little more nicely, they would start cutting off the access to the dude with all the candles of invocation.

I heard that in an unprecedented turn of events, Frack merged with a second spinemeld warrior as part of the tournament circuit, and they've become a smash hit. I head rumors that one of the spinemelded warriors on Frack is not indeed a changeling. I wonder what this culture was actually like before us changelings invaded and turned the entire race's culture into a fascist demolition derby.

The final level of swashbuckler, our first and second spinemeld warrior on each of our arms and level 1 and 2 of spinemeld warrior.

Every feat of the symbiotic spinemeld warrior is added to Frack’s list as bonus feats. And because frack now has 3 arms, all twf feats become multi-weapon fighting feats. With two spine fighting, frack still counts as having twf, so when we get the first spinemeld warrior level, we will get to choose another twf feat. It’s a gamble, but hopefully multi-weapon rend or improved two weapon fighting gets added to the docket. With these being bonus feats, we don't need to qualify for them, as per the definition of bonus feats in the monster manual.

Fracks type switches from outsider to aberration, but for all effects they count as a humanoid. Thus allowing for future symbiosis.

With entrant #1 now enjoying the benefit of a strength of 30, they also get the bonus from shield of blades which covers up the AC penalty for being huge. All of Fracks mental scores become the same as entrant 1s. Maybe they’ll get to add int to damage with swashbucklers insightful strike. Or maybe the new symbiont has sapphire smite, which stacks with Frack's smite good.

There’s no need to take a feat to qualify for spinemeld warrior as entrant #1 provides all of the prereqs...unless they don’t qualify for spinemeld warrior, or they aren't humanoid, animal, plant, or vermin type, and thus unavailable for symbiosis. in which case, it would be clear that the judge must make their first and potentially only deduction from Frack's elegance. It's a gamble. A gamble that's more fun than working with spinemeld warrior.

Multiattack allows you to fight with your symbiotic spinemeld warriors weapons as a secondary natural attack at only a -2. Adjudicating whether the spines are natural attacks or multi-weapon fightable is a mess. I think each symbiote makes 2 or more spine attacks at -4 each.

With the addition of 20 class levels from the symbiotic entrant, it becomes possible to start buying off LA immediately, should you encounter a scenario where a quarter million xp would be a better investment than more class levels. We have 103 hp, which is a bit low for this level on a bruiser.

With your spinmelded arm, when you take spinemeld warrior class for yourself, a new twf feat is selectable, as you have spines that you can wield with TWF, even if it's overwritten with multi-weapon fighting.

And, you have somewhere between 2 and 12 class levels in spinemeld warrior, so spine investiture makes sense, especially when you pick up a second level 20 skarn or skarngeling on your other arm, adding 1 to 10 more spinemeld warrior levels, which may, arguably, all stack, thus meaning as a swift action, Frack may be able to get up to an 11 essencia bonus to attack and damage rolls with spines.

Further, with noble familiarity, which has no skill support by the class, you can add a racial bonus to the other two entrants to your gather information score to access any gear that you need. Monks belts, fanged rings, necklaces of nat attacks keyed to aptitude or the tentacle enchantment, you name it, you roll gather info, and it’s yours if you have sufficient cash, which you should, because you’re a commensal organism comprised of two level 20 iron chef dishes and an unholy pairing between devils and half giants. If you can’t turn that into profit, you’re seducing the wrong skarn to join your hive mind. so get yourself a +5 item of dexterity or two!

With a skarn or skarngeling on each arm, that's a minimum of four spine attacks, with up to 3 bonus rends (right sub arms/ left sub arms/ each arm) although the jury is out on whether or not having multiple cases of the rend class feature causes additional rends. I reckon we'll find out soon enough. Because entrant #2 has joined the symbiotic creature half-fiend + entrant #1, we now use entrant #2's mental ability scores and treat Frack +1 entrant #1 as its own discrete organism. So it's racial skill modifiers stack. And my lord...look at all of this essencia! I hope entrant 2 has some sweet soulmelds.

ECL 20 Neo-Tokyo is about to explode.

Spoiler

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Well, I think we can qualify this bit of arcane eugenics a complete success! Frack is part of a spinemeld warrior poly-cule of very powerful warriors and they now have four arms covered in spines per arm, and it's a pretty potent meldshaper to boot. They stomp their opponents every year now and force the strongest in their opinion to merge with them.

I do worry a bit how much interest this thing has in non-skarn culture. Frack has been trying to get local surrounding races to create gladiatorial arenas with exhibition matches against the skarn. And he’s picking on some tough races too. He said he wants an ur priest to join them all in marriage. And he’s been asking questions about “initiator level?”

And i have wealthy donors asking me to make a similar creature for their kingdoms.

Complete Success!

Ending with ~150 hp, with two symbiotically attached skarn per arm, somewhere between 9 and 45 levels of spinemeld warrior in aggregate, potentially multiple rends per occurrence of 1 spine per arm hitting, and a ridiculous number of attacks, as well as so many soulborn soulmelds that you can potentially attach to the arms chakra, you are the ultimate meld of skarn spines. And we only stopped because we ran out of ECL. you can seduce skarn into symbiotically attaching to your legs and back. So when you get to level 20, start buying off that LA! Add more spinemeld warrior levels and just keep growing, each real HD adds at a minimum 10 HP.

Sources

Spoiler: sources

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Race Sources:
Half fiend variant:
Malebranche: Fiendish Compendium 2 126
Half Ogre: Races of Destiny 97-98
Symbiotic creature: Savage species 131.
Human Heritage Feat: Races of Destiny 152

Classes
Swashbuckler: Complete warrior 11
Dead levels swashbuckler
Shield of Blades: Players handbook 2 62
Spinemeld warrior: magic of Incarnum 147


Feats
Human Heritage Feat: Races of Destiny 152
Sapphire Smite: Magic of Incarnum 40
Multiattack: Monster Manual 304
Improved Multiattack: Savage Species 36
Multiweapon Fighting: Monster Manual 304
Multiweapon Rend: Epic Level Handbook 63
Two-Weapon Rend: Player's Handbook II 84

[The Viscount]

More like Ken-spines, am I right

Spoiler: Intro

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So, I was looking at what this fine class gives us, and what my mind kept going to were basically two things.

Thing one : that 2nd level feature, it's the perfect "find the thing" feature for finding exactly what you want even if your DM is magic-mart adverse

Thing two: using essentia to give enhacement bonus to your spines. Sure, we're probably all thinking "so what? have a friendly druid cast greater magic fang on you!" , but from an "independence" point of view, this means we free up WBL for doing other stuff, or most likely, to stay in theme with the weapon, to "find" a "Necklace of natural weapons +1 (insert X other qualities here)" and still have a full +5 enhacement if we commit to 10 level of the class.

So I got thinking, in what other way can I make use of this.

Well, in the end, Kensai felt like an obvious followup, it's flavor compatible, and the inbue weapon has these interesting tidbits :

tidbit 1 "His current class level limits the amount of enhancement a kensai can place into his signature weapon", so the inbuing done with Kensai is additive with whatever properties the weapon already have

tidbit 2 "The XP cost presented here assumes that the weapon being imbued does not already have an enhancement bonus. If it does, the cost to imbue it with additional power is reduced. For instance, if a kensai has a +1 longsword and wants to imbue it with the power to be a +3 longsword, he may do so by paying the difference in XP cost between creating a +1 weapon and a +3 weapon" What does that mean for us? Well, to me it means that if we imbue our spines, what essentia we planted on it effectively works as a discount on this imbuing cost! A discount that's independent from any party member or the likes ;) Yay for little synergies!

this originally had shape soulmeld(sphinx claws) at 1st level and open least chakra(hands) at 6th level, for the sweet pounce, but Elves argument convinced me, so I revised accordingly. this caused a reshuffle of the feats order and let me pick higher level manouvers with martial study, and change the manouvers around, it used to be more a mix of Iron heart/Stone dragon, with IHS at level 5 and no WRT at all, but needs must and all that

Spoiler: Alekk Dal, Straight Man

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LG Warblade 5 / Spinemeld Warrior 10 / Kensai 5
Skarn (+2STR, -2 DEX)
Str 26 (15 +2racial +5 level up +4 item), Dex 14 (12 -2 racial +4 item), Con 20 (16 +4 item), Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 10
HP:12 + 4d12+15d10 + 100 (220)
(kensai bonuses (wrathful healing +3 Wounding +2)
(necklace of natural weapon +1 Flaming, Corrosive, Frost, Shock)
Full Attack Routine on a charge : +35/+35/+30/+25/+20 for 2d6 +4d6 elemental +13(5 enhancement +4 cobalt charge +4 1/2str)
saves:Fortitude 12+5 , Reflex 5+2 28, Will 8 28
Skills:Concentration 28, Diplomacy 10, Gather Information 23(+2+10), Jump 25, Knowledge(nobility) 25, Ride 7, Tumble 18

Spoiler: leveling table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Warblade 1	+1	+2	+0	+0	Concentration +4, Diplomacy +4, Jump +4, Knowledge(nobility) 2(+4), Ride 2(+4), Tumble +4	Weapon Focus(Spines)	Weapon Aptitude, Battle Clarity(Reflex saves)
2nd	Warblade 2	+2	+3	+0	+0	Concentration 4+1, Diplomacy 4+1, Jump 4+1, Knowledge(nobility) 2.5(4+1), Ride 2.5(4+1), Tumble 4+1		Uncanny Dodge
3rd	Warblade 3	+3	+3	+1	+1	Concentration 5+1, Diplomacy 5+1, Jump 5+1, Knowledge(nobility) 3(5+1), Ride 3(5+1), Tumble 5+1	Cobalt Charge	Battle Ardor(Critical Confirmation)
4th	Warblade 4	+4	+4	+1	+1	Concentration 6+1, Diplomacy 6+1, Jump 6+1, Knowledge(nobility) 3.5(6+1), Ride 3.5(6+1), Tumble 6+1
5th	Warblade 5	+5	+4	+1	+1	Concentration 7+1, Diplomacy 7+1, Jump 7+1, Knowledge(nobility) 4(7+1), Ride 4(7+1), Tumble 7+1	IronHeart Aura (Bonus)	Bonus feat
6th	Skilled City-Dweller Spinemeld Warrior 1 / Warblade 5	+6/+1	+6	+1	+1	Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information +2 , Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 4+1, Ride 4.5(8+1), Tumble 8	Combat Expertise	Twin spine fighting, Two-Weapon Fighting
7th	Spinemeld Warrior 2 / Warblade 5	+7/+2	+7	+1	+1	Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 2+2, Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 5+1, Ride 5(9+1), Tumble 8		Noble familiarity, spine enhancement
8th	Spinemeld Warrior 3 / Warblade 5	+8/+3	+7	+2	+2	Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 4+3, Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 6+1, Ride 5, Tumble 8
9th	Spinemeld Warrior 4 / Warblade 5	+9/+4	+8	+2	+2	Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 7+3, Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 7+1, Ride 5, Tumble 8	Bonus Essentia
10th	Spinemeld Warrior 5 / Warblade 5	+10/+5	+8	+2	+2	Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 10+3 , Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 8+1, Ride 5, Tumble 8		Spine rend
11th	Spinemeld Warrior 6 / Warblade 5	+11/+6/+1	+9	+3	+3	Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 13+1, Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 9+3, Ride 5, Tumble 8
12th	Spinemeld Warrior 7 / Warblade 5	+12/+7/+2	+9	+3	+3	Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 14+1, Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 12+3, Ride 5, Tumble 8	Stormguard Warrior	Chakra bind (arms)
13th	SKilled City-Dweller Kensai 1 / Spinemeld Warrior 7 / Warblade 5	+12/+7/+2	+9	+3	+5	Concentration 8+6, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 15, Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 12+3, Ride 5, Tumble 8		Signature Weapon
14th	Kensai 2 / Spinemeld Warrior 7 / Warblade 5	+13/+8/+3	+9	+3	+6	Concentration 14+3, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 15, Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 15+2, Ride 5, Tumble 8		Power Surge
15th	Kensai 3 / Spinemeld Warrior 7 / Warblade 5	+14/+9/+4	+10	+4	+6	Concentration 17+1, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 15, Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 17+1,Ride 5, Tumble 8+4	Martial Study(Pouncing Charge)
16th	Kensai 3 / Spinemeld Warrior 8 / Warblade 5	+15/+10/+5	+11	+4	+6	Concentration 18, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 15+4, Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 18, Ride 5, Tumble 12
17th	Kensai 4 / Spinemeld Warrior 8 / Warblade 5	+16/+11/+6/+1	+11	+4	+7	Concentration 18+2, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 18, Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 18+2, Ride 5, Tumble 12+2		Ki projection
18th	Kensai 4 / Spinemeld Warrior 9 / Warblade 5	+17/+12/+7/+2	+11	+5	+8	Concentration 20, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 18+3, Jump 8, Knowledge(nobility) 20+1, Ride 5, Tumble 14	Superior Expertise	Adamantine spines
19th	Kensai 4 / Spinemeld Warrior 10 / Warblade 5	+17/+12/+7/+2	+12	+5	+8	Concentration 20, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 21+1, Jump 8+2, Knowledge(nobility) 21+1, Ride 5, Tumble 14
20th	Kensai 5 / Spinemeld Warrior 10 / Warblade 5	+17/+12/+7/+2	+12	+5	+8	Concentration 20+3, Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 22+1(2), Jump 10, Knowledge(nobility) 22+1, Ride 5, Tumble 14		Withstand

Spoiler: Manouvers, Essentia and other miscellanea

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Note : the essentia pool has a second number within elipses (+/-), this is to indicate "bonus/malus" essentia due to donating some to fill Ring of essentia for higher rank members, and "gained" essentia due to receiving donations in Ring of essentia when the character is the higher rank member :), One ring for the membership in the Spinemeld warrior and one ring for the membership in the Pentifex Order, with the malus/bonus going indicatively "up" one amount every 3 title advancements (so the progress is -1,-1,-1,0,0,0,+1,+1,+1)

Level	Readied Manouvers	New Manouvers and stances learned	Essentia Pool	Soulmelds	Chakra Binds	Titles
1st	3	Punishing stance, Moment of perfect mind, Wolf fang strike, Sudden leap	-	-	-	-
2nd	3	Douse the flames	-	-	-	-
3rd	3	Wall of blades	1	-	-	-
4th	4	Stance of Clarity	1	-	-	-
5th	4	White Raven Tactics	1	-	-	-
6th	4	-	1	-	-	Green spine
7th	4	-	2(-1)	-	-	Red spine
8th	4	-	3(-1)	1	-	Flaw seeker
9th	4	-	6(-1)	1	-	Spine of rain
10th	4	-	6(0)	1	-	Spine of snow
11th	4	-	7(0)	1	-	Spine of mist
12th	4	-	7(0,-1)	2	1	Spine fighter, Dolmen Novice
13th	4	-	8(0,-1)	2	1	Dolmen Initiate
14th	4	-	8(0,-1)	2	1	Dolmen Master
15th	4	Pouncing Strike	8(0,0)	2	1	Monolith Ward
16th	4	-	9(+1,0)	2	1	Perfect of the south wind, Monolith Keeper
17th	4	-	9(+1,0)	2	1	Monolith Founder
18th	4	-	9(+1,+1)	2	1	Pentifex Monolith
19th	4	-	10(+1,+1)	2	1	Perfect of the north wind, High Monolith
20th	4	-	10(+1,+1)	2	1	August perfect of roses, Wellspring Monolith

Spoiler: Build decisions explained, Story,tactics at spotlight levels

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the levels of Spinemeld and Kensai are "weaved" because it makes sense to me that the capstone from Spinemeld is delayed as much as possible, since it's a "prestige" thing and therefore more sensible to be attained at level 19-20 rather than 15. But I didn't want to do a spinemeld 7/kensai 5/spinemeld 10, it felt iffy to me and besides I had class skills to pump up :)
Skilled city dweller trades Handle animal for Gather information for Spinemeld, and Ride for Tumble for both Spinemeld and Kensai.


ANYWAY

Alekk Dal (not a Dalek) is a the brash third son of the third brother of the current head of house, as such he has less pressure put on him to "perform to the expectations of high nobility" (no noble class :) ).

Level 1-5:
He likes the martial arts training ( Jump, Tumble, concentration), somewhat excel at etiquette despite his abrasive attitude (diplomacy but flat charisma), but despite his best efforts keeps on falling off horses (crossclass ride) and he finds studying heraldies and lineages "boring as hell" (crossclass nobility)
He's less concerned about defense than offense ( punishing stance, cobalt charge ), he's just too hyperactive! ( tiger claw manouvers)
He gets better at being less of an hothead as he grows up (Wall of blades, stance of clarity), but a penchant for tactics (White raven tactics, not cheesed!) that let's him win a mixed martial arts tournament, which wins him being inducted as a squire in the prestigious order of Spinemeld warrior

At these levels, and until pouncing charge is unlocked, the likely readied manouvers are : Sudden leap, White Raven Tactics, Moment of perfect mind, wall of blades and the stance will be Punishing stance.
level 6-10:
Intensive training in the secret arts of Spinemeld warriors begins, never he would have known that he could infuse his very soul in his own claws spines!

he's also surprised at what doors and new possibilities his status as a Spinemeld warrior open to him. from level 8 he starts to be able to shape soulmelds other than the trusty clawlike superimpositions that accompanied him since forever. He makes use of imbued truthseeker googles for scoring nifty items to help him along his path (16 modifier to gather information at level 8).

Combatwise, he hits that much more often, with better damage! ( TWF, free enhancement bonus, rend)

At level 10, he scores a seemingly normal leather belt (Belt of battle) in a little shop (DC28, combined bonus to Gather information at this level is 24 (13 rank +5 competence + 6 truthseeker, so finding it is an automatic success with a potion of eagle splendor)

He happily does his duty to the order, and donate one point of essentia each day to fill up a ring of essentia for higher rank members

levels 11-15: He starts a more formal vow of service to the house/throne and enters the Pentifex Order. gets schooled in the secret arts of Kensais, learning how to sap his enemies strengths to increase his own ( Imbue spines with wrathful healing ). His control over his soul also improves, which manifests into Being Able to bind a shaped soulmeld to his spines, usually hardening them (Astral Vambraces, DR 2/magic + 2 more per essentia invested, if any) and usually granting him a cheap 20ft. of average flight.

His fightning spirit abounds! (power surge) He can still full attack courtesy of Belt of battle. Stormguard warrior Combat rhythm is solid, giving up the lowest iteratives for straight up more damage of the higher iteratives of next turn

And finally he can full attack on a charge, switching sudden leap for pouncing charge on the readied manouvers

levels 16-20: There's not much to say here, he gets better at shredding. More Essentia to play with, higher skill numbers, numbers went up!

We have the Gather information numbers ( with a kensai bonus on top, even!) To find ourselves a Necklace of the seasons (Necklace of Natural attacks +1 with the properties : corrosive flaming shock frost, defending, 100600 gp, or 64600 if the mandatory +1 can be waived). On top of adding some more bonuses to the Kensai Inbuing.

Can we change the Kensai bonuses by reinbuing? The class doesn't says, but if we do, that other +2 we have will of course be a bane effect, to whatever we need it to be, it only takes 24 hours and some ( or none?) paltry XP to change the bane effect.

If not, I'm thinking wounding, no save CON damage is scary

the assumed tactic is Pouncing charge, full attack and "sacrifice" the worst 2-3 attacks to combat rhythm, then white raven tactics to act again and full attack but with a bonus 10/15 damage to all attacks, with moment of perfect mind and wall of blades to cover our defenses. Plus superior expertise if we really need to pump up the AC. We even have Withstand to substitute concentration for reflex saves (against AoE spells only).

Spoiler: On soulmelds

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Abridged version on how soulmelds work : we know the whole list, each day we chose X of them to shape, kinda like how a wizard prepares spells. Shaped soulmelds are "just there" and provide passive bonus, at the same time we can choose if we want to bind any of these to any of the open chakra we have, this let us benefit of a bigger effect linked ot the soulmeld, at the cost of the soulmeld taking up hte item slot associated with that chakra location.
Putting essentia in a soulmeld/class feature/other is a swift action, the essentia stays infused until it's moved elsewhere with a swift action or the user goes unconscious.

We can have at most Constitution SCORE -10 soulmeld shaped at any one time, not a problem for us given our meager soulmeld amounts

Most days, we'll want to shape a soulmeld that we can bind to our open chakra(arms), the usual candidate for combat would be Bluesteel bracers, which if bound is a +2 initiative to us and allies, and an insight ESSENTIA bonus to weapon damage roll (to us and allies). But it conflicts with the feat we took for qualifying ( insight ESSENTIA bonus to attack AND damage rolls when charging), so most likely we are going for Astral vambraces, because it gives us the option of one alternative movement type "for free", and DR(2 to 10)/magic which is not that great, but not terrible either against opponents that don't bypass it and we don't really need to put essentia in it, since we're kinda tight with it if we put 4 in the feat and 5 in the spines

We have a pool of 10 essentia (plus 2 rings, eventually) to play around, 4 gets locked to the feat if we empower it for the day , that leaves us 6/8 essentia to move around the 2 soulmelds and the spines. During "off time", the soulmelds are likely to be those that are social-related, such as Truthseeker googles and Silvertongue Mask, for gather information and diplomacy bonuses. For days with combat missions, it'll likely be bound Astral vambraces and a Spellward shirt(5-21 spell resistance) So It's effectively between the spines and the Astral vambraces, unless we feel the need to pump up our spell resistance.
Astral Vambraces are a nice choice and a strong endorsement to going spinemeld warrior, because unless you spend a feat on shape soulmeld, the only other way to access them are incarnate 9 or soulborn 14. Soulborn is terrible, and Incarnate has the worst BAB progression, meanwhile Spinemeld has high BAB! if all you care about is straight damage, then you'll probably grab the improved natural attack, but otherwise, it can be used for a free flight/swim speed form an unusual slot, or even free trip attempts if the GM is friendly in how he interprets the Trip(Ex)

Spoiler: Feature recaps by order of acquisition

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Weapon Aptitude: canq ualify for fighter only feats, can change the weapon of weapon-specific feats
Battle Clarity: insight bonus to reflex saves equal to INT modifier when not flat-footed
Cobalt Charge: infuse essentia on the feat for insight bonus to attack and damage when charging
Battle Ardor: INT modifier bonus to confirm critical hits
IronHeat Aura: +2morale bonus to all saves to allies while in a iron heart stance
Twin Spine Fightning: can TWF with Skarn natural weapon
Stormguard warrior: three tactical options; forgo AoO for +4 to attack and damage on next turn; sacrifice attacks for +5 damage on next turn;conditional +2 attack when using combat expertise against multiple enemies
Noble Familiarity: competence bonus to knowledge(nobility), can make gather information check to find a seller of specific item
Spine enhancement: can use essence to give enhancement bonus to the spines
Spine Rend: if you hit with two spine attacks in one round, do bonus 2d6+1.5STR damage
Chakra bind(arms): can bind soulmelds to arms
Signature Weapon: can spend xp to increase weapon enhancement bonus or grant it weapon qualities, up to a limit of CLASS granted extra bonus
Power Surge: at will move action concentration check DC15+5/(uses-1) to gain untyped +8str for CLASS/2 rounds
Ki projection: CLASS/2 bonus to social skills
Superior expertise: uncaps combat expertise form max +5 to max BAB (why I took this and not the complete warrior Improved combat expertise : I like the name more!)
Withstand: can make concentration check instead of reflex save for resisting area damage spells
Wolf Fang Strike: standard action attack with two weapons at -2/-2
Sudden Leap: swift action make jump check and move accordingly
Moment of Perfect Mind: can use concentration check in place of will save
Punishing stance: all attacks deal +1d6 damage but -2 AC
Douse the flame: enemy is denied making Aoo for 1 round
Wall of blades: Can use attack roll in place of AC
Stance of Clarity: +2 insight AC versus single target, -2 AC against others
White Raven Tactics: Swift action change initiative of ally, ally acts again

Spoiler: Sources

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Magic Of Incarnum: Skarn, Spinemeld warrior, some feats
Tome of Battle:Warbalde, some feats
Complete Warrior:Kensai
Savage Species:Necklace of natural weapons
Magic Item Compendium:Belt of battle
Enemies and allies:Wrathful healing weapon property
Faith and Pantheons: Superior Expertise
Mind Eye article : Astral vambraces

[The Viscount]

Are you not entertained?

Mayalaran

Spoiler: Setup

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Worthy
Master Fior sat crosslegged in the sand of the arena. "Tell me again, why do you want to join the forces of Zargon the Returner?" Mayalaran looked up under her hood. She was naked and shaking a little. It was a chilly night. "I want this world to end and be rebuilt better. I want to proof myself to Zargon as worthy of his gifts and seek glory in his name by challenging impossible opponents just as he did and beat them fair and square. I won't cheat nor retreat." Master Fior nodded. Mayalaran stripped herself of her cloak and picked up the jar in front of her. She threw it in the air and slashed through it with her left spine. The jar shattered and acid rained down on her burning her hair and skin. The pain made her scream but the agony made her feel warm inside. She did this to herself. It was her way of proofing herself to the world. She would bask in glory later. Now is the time of endurance. The pain was excruciating but she forced herself to stay conscious. She sat down again and bowed before Master Fior. Nothing happened for at least a minute. Than Master Fior stood up: "If you are alive when the sun rises, you are accepted by Zargon. You may not seek help to bandage or heal those wounds. Zargon's gift may not be washed away so easily." Then he left. Mayalaran collapsed in the sand.
The next morning she woke up to itching skin and thrumming pain. Part of her hair lay beside her. She felt her remaining hair on her scalp. She must have looked hideous. Yet she smiled. "I am worthy", she whispered. "Reborn under your patronage." She rose and glinted at the sun. She probably had been unconscious for almost a day. She dragged herself to the gates of the arena. Usually Master Fior was doing bookwork at this hour. She found him in his office. He looked up and nodded. "Good. Very good. Go lay down now. Give yourself time to rest. When your wounds have healed, we will start training." Mayalaran tried to speak but her throat felt hoarse and dry. "I know what you want to say. Your first fight will be soon enough. If Zargon favors you, you will survive it, but now rest and then learn."

Asking the right questions
Mayalaran joined the Zhentarim because it was what Master Fior told her to do but she soon saw why it was an obvious choice. She had learned so much in her time with the organization but the most crucial part was how and when to ask the right questions. Right now she was trying to convince a halflling named Eloi Toor the Zhentarim wanted dead to surrender. Mayalaran way never sent on missions to negotiate and she never pretended to negotiate. She demanded answers. But to get answers you had to find the right question. Right now the question was, who was of so much value to that little sneaky Eloi that he would sacrifice himself for that someone. To Mayalaran's surprise it wasn't Mrs. Toor but their dog. Right now she had a spine on the neck of Mrs. Toor and Eloi just encouraged her to slit her throat. Yet when Fin, Mayalaran's companion, pointed his crossbow at the dog, suddenly Eloi begged them to spare the dog and he gave himself to them. He didn't even resist when they chained him. With a dismissive wave of her spine Mayalaran released his wife and gave her some words of advice on her way: "Don't mourn for this piece of ****. Find someone worth your love."
On their way back, with gagged and shackled Eloi in toe, Mayalaran asked Fin: "How did you know?" Fin smiled. "I heard he was spending a lot of time with the dog and not so much time with his wife. Took an educated guess." Mayalaran sighed. "Too bad. I heard little Eloi is very good with his knifes." Fin raised an eyebrow. "Sometimes I wonder where your bloodlust stems from. You are such a calm professional yet always itching to fight. Be careful with that. Life is so much easier without fights." Mayalaran didn't respond. She pondered his words and came to a single conclusion: greatness isn't achieved by easy living.


The spine dance
Mayalaran's chance in the arena came later than she hoped but she took the first offer she got. The Zhentarim tried to interfere but Master Fior told them that he would insure Mayalaran which basically meant that he had to pay them a hefty fee if she died. Mayalaran was chosen to fight 2 dire wolves. The fight was named "Many bones for two dogs". Mayalaran chose light armor and no weapons other than her spines. She entered the arena cloaked. The crowd hushed when she dropped the cloak and revealed her disfigured body. Master Fior gave the signal and the crowd immediately cheered when the two dire wolves were released into the arena. The snarled and bared their fangs. Mayalaran's favorite strategy of tripping her opponents was pretty useless against them so she had devised a much simpler plan: hit them harder than they hit you. The plan worked. It was a slugfest and the crowd loved it. Her spines hit the wolves again and again. When the two wolves coordinated their attack and manage to trip her she simply continued to hack at them with her spines. In the end both wolves fell but she took major bite wounds in all four limbs and a particularly nasty one in her right shoulder. It took her quite some effort to rise. Master Fior yelled to the crowd: "You just witnessed a very rare technique. The spine dance. Give it up for Mayalaran, the green spine." Mayalaran bowed and the crowd erupted. Mayalaran basked in their applause, their cheers. This was what she lived for.

A red wizard's gift
Mayalaran stood once again naked in an arena. This time it was before the Zulkir of Transformation Druxus Rhym. She managed to get acknowledgement from him through her many fights. He evaluated her body. "Some graft work done by a fiend, but there is something more to your body. Interesting. I shall grant you your wish. You may join the ritual. I will look forward to your fights." Mayalaran bowed her head. "I am deeply grateful. My sources tell me that you don't have a personal champion. What do I have to do to achieve that status." Druxus expression didn't change. He still wore an all knowing smirk with a glint of disdain in his eyes. "Ambitious... I see. Well let's say, I would have need for someone like that. What can you do that no one else can?" Mayalaran looked up. "Do you have a disposable target and a healer at hand? then I can show you." Druxus seemed to be curios so he called for a slave and a cleric. Both showed up within minutes. Mayalaran stepped up to the slave and slashed his wrist with her spine. It was just a minor scratch but a wound nonetheless. Mayalaran nodded to the cleric "Would you mind healing that?" The cleric looked to Druxus which gestured for the cleric to hurry. The cleric walked over and touched the slave. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again his mouth was open. "What vile power is that. Zulkir Rhym, I cannot heal that wound." Druxus walked over and checked the wound again. "Does it hurt?" he asked the slave. The slave nodded. "Speak!" Druxus ordered. The slave yelped: "Only a little but it hurts." Druxus sent the Cleric and the slave away. "It seems you may have something I am interested in. Before I name you my champion though, you will proof yourself in the arena. I think something spectacular would be a great entrance for you. How about a fight in burning water against some dire sharks?" Mayalaran shook her head: "Doable but very poor visibility for the crowd. How about I beat some trolls without acid or fire?"

Spoiler: Entering the arena

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LE Skarn Fighter 6/Spinemeld Warrior 10/Thayan Gladiator 4


Attributes

	Base	Race	Deformity (5th level)	Class Level Advancement	Final
Strength	15	+2	-	+4 (8th, 12th, 16th, 20th)	21
Dexterity	17	-2	+2	-	17
Constitution	14	-	-2	+1 (4th)	13
Intelligence	13	-		-	13
Wisdom	8	-		-	8
Charisma	8	-		-	8

Table

Level	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Fighter	+1	+2	-	-	Intimidate 4, Gather Information 4, Knowledge (nobility) 2	Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Willing Deformity (B)	Bonus feat
2nd	Fighter	+2	+3	-	-	Intimidate 5, Gather Information 5, Knowledge (nobility) 2.5	Combat Reflexes (B)	Bonus feat
3rd	Fighter	+3	+3	+1	+1	Intimidate 6, Gather Information 6, Knowledge (nobility) 3	Azure Toughness	Skill Focus (Intimidate)
4th	Fighter	+4	+4	+1	+1	Intimidate 7, Gather Information 7, Knowledge (nobility) 3.5	Two Weapon Fighting(B)	Bonus feat
5th	Fighter	+5	+4	+1	+1	Intimidate 8, Gather Information 8, Knowledge (nobility) 4	Deformity (Gaunt) (B)	Extended Intimidation
6th	Spinemeld Warrior	+6	+6	+1	+1	Intimidate 9, Gather Information 8, Knowledge (nobility) 4, Skill trick: Never outnumbered	Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Double Hit (B)	Twin spine fighting, Two-Weapon Fighting
7th	Spinemeld Warrior	+7	+7	+1	+1	Intimidate 10, Gather Information 9, Knowledge (nobility) 5		Noble familiarity, spine enhancement
8th	Spinemeld Warrior	+8	+7	+2	+2	Intimidate 11, Gather Information 10, Knowledge (nobility) 6
9th	Spinemeld Warrior	+9	+8	+2	+2	Intimidate 12, Gather Information 11, Knowledge (nobility) 7	Imperious Command
10th	Spinemeld Warrior	+10	+8	+2	+2	Intimidate 13, Gather Information 11, Knowledge (nobility) 8	Abominable Form (B)	Spine rend
11th	Fighter	+11	+9	+3	+3	Intimidate 14, Gather Information 13, Knowledge (nobility) 8	Two Weapon Rend (B)	Bonus feat
12th	Spinemeld Warrior	+12	+10	+4	+4	Intimidate 15, Gather Information 14, Knowledge (nobility) 9	Robilar's Gambit
13th	Spinemeld Warrior	+13	+10	+4	+4	Intimidate 16, Gather Information 15, Knowledge (nobility) 10		Chakra bind (arms)
14th	Spinemeld Warrior	+14	+11	+4	+4	Intimidate 17, Gather Information 16, Knowledge (nobility) 11
15th	Spinemeld Warrior	+15	+11	+5	+5	Intimidate 18, Gather Information 17, Knowledge (nobility) 12	Weapon Focus (Spines), Insane Defiance (B)	Adamantine spines
16th	Spinemeld Warrior	+16	+12	+5	+5	Intimidate 19, Gather Information 18, Knowledge (nobility) 13
17th	Thayan Gladiator	+17	+14	+5	+5	Intimidate 20, Gather Information 19, Knowledge (nobility) 13		Improved natural attack, study opponent
18th	Thayan Gladiator	+18	+15	+5	+5	Intimidate 21, Gather Information 20, Knowledge (nobility) 13	Knockdown	Improved critical, natural armor +1
19th	Thayan Gladiator	+19	+15	+6	+6	Intimidate 22, Gather Information 21, Knowledge (nobility) 13		Stunning critical, silver strike
20th	Thayan Gladiator	+20	+16	+6	+6	Intimidate 23, Gather Information 22, Knowledge (nobility) 13	Vile Natural Attack (B)	Natural weapon focus

Spoiler: Dealing death

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As Spinemeld warrior pretty much forces two weapon fighting onto you, I wanted to use multiple feats of the feat chain but wanted to stay away from the usual movement shenanigans (sudden leap, dimension hop, etc.) to enable full attacks and instead focus on something a little more unusual. So the first thing I was adding to the build was the robilar's gambit - double hit combo since spine rend compliments this strategy. Two weapon rend is another piece of the two weapon fighting feat chain that adds to this. At this point I realized that this whole fighting style was very flashy and probably entertaining to watch. I stumbled across Thayan Gladiator and it fit right in. Azure Toughness allows me to enter Spinemeld warrior and it counts as Toughness for the Thayan Galiator prerequisite and Weapon Focus (spines) seemed an acceptable feat tax. Especially the possible stunned condition after a critical on a triggered AoO from Robilar's Gambit is a great way to lock down an attacker near you and leave them vulnerable to a full attack. Since I knew that this would only be available late I wanted to add another option to stop attackers from fleeing earlier. This did lead me down the Combat Expertise - Improved Trip - Knockdown line of feats. This way I could use trip attempts with double hit and try to lock down enemies. At this point I was sure that I had to go Fighter to hit all the feats at the right BAB: robilar's gambit at 12, two weapon rend at 11 (fighter level 6 bonus feat), double hit at 6.
Regarding skills I thought that Noble familiarity not only is a great way to secure magic items you want but also is important for a gladiator to stay ahead of competition: gather information will help in locating arenas in general and locating renowned fighters to be challenged. Knowledge (nobility) helps in finding someone who may pay your expenses for stepping up as their champion and also may help to know who not to kill in the arena to avoid reprimand.
Furthermore the flexibility of soulmelds and chakra bind (arms) for Spinemeld Warrior is a great selling point for a gladiator. Without any magic items many different scenarios can be covered:

• A classic jousting tournament or a fight on flying mounts: shape and bind Riding Bracers
• A fight in or above water: shape and bind Sailor's Bracers, shape Cerulean Sandals (and invest Essentia to increase your speed since Sailor's Bracers swim speed refer to base land speed)
• A fight in or around fire: Shape Flame Cincture and invest essentia in it

Since Thayan Gladiator already forced my alignment to be evil I decided to add one more thing: serving an Elder Evil. I remembered that Zargon the Returner was described as an unstoppable force in combat who challenged even gods. I thought a gladiator idealizing this unique trait would be very fitting and of course 5 free Vile feats over 20 levels are very welcome in such a feat intensive build. Deformities help a lot boosting Intimidate as it is a useful action to take while waiting for your enemies to attack you. Only after checking the table in Elder Evils did I realize that Deformity (Gaunt) was a slick way to get my Dexterity up, of course at the cost of Constitution. Deformity (Tall) is not among the feats listed in Elder Evils and therefor by strict RAW is not available. It would be a nice addition if it is allowed by your DM (pick it at 10, Abominable Form becomes the lvl 20 feat and Vile natural attack gets dropped).

Spoiler: Variants

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The build is possible without serving an Elder Evil and without the Vile bonus feats. Point buy attributes would have to be: Str 14, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 8 and the fourth level increase would have to be switched from Con to Dex.

If flaws are allowed, pick up Midnight Dodge and Karmic strike and change Azure toughness to Toughness.

Breakdown by level:
Level 1: Skilled City dweller switches Handle animal for gather information (for both fighter and spinemeld warrior levels). Mayalaran picks up a guisarme and the best armor she can find. She starts as a simple tripper with reach and a fall back spine weapon if she has to drop the guisarme. Demoralizing enemies is also an option. Willing Deformity's +3 untyped bonus makes up for the -1 penalty from Charisma.

Level 2: Combat Reflexes increases Skin's AoO to three (1 base and two from Dex).

Level 3: Azure Toughness is a feat tax we have to pay and it gives us a single essentia point which means +3 HP for now. Working for the Zhentarim gives us a free Skill Focus (Intimidate). The build works fine without it but I think it fits.

Level 4: You probably already found Armor with armor spikes (or can hire someone to craft it for you) so you can two weapon fight with the guisarme and the armor spikes for now.

Level 5: Deformity (gaunt) adjusts Dex and Con to be able to qualify for Improved two weapon fighting and still qualify for Azure Toughness. It also adds a +2 circumstance bonus to Intimidate which out of combat is now more useable thanks to he Zhentarim substitution level.

Level 6: An absolute key level: Spines can now be used for two weapon fighting, double hit and improved two weapon fighting increase our number of attacks on AoO and Full attacks. Never outnumbered boosts the usefulness of the demoralize action.

Level 7: Noble familiarity helps us in finding a fiend to graft some long arms on us (fiend folio) and give us reach with natural weapons. This costs 5k for each arm (WBL should be high enough to allow that expense). Check with your DM if he enforces the -6 penalty on Intimidate before getting them done; RAW it gives a -6 penalty to charisma based checks, RAI it sure as hell shouldn't be less scary and intimidate wasn't mentioned in Fiend Folio only Bluff and Diplomacy. Even with the penalty I would get them. Spine enhancement and one more Essentia point don't change much. The one point obviously goes right into the spines and our second one stays in Azure Toughness.

Level 8: We can finally shape a single soulmeld and the choice will hurt no matter what. I listed some possible shapes in the introduction above for very specific arena fights. The go to soulmeld depends heavy on your magical items but here is my recommendation: Bluesteel Bracers and switch the Essentia point from Azure Toughness to end up with a +2 insight bonus on weapon damage. Getting more damage is vital on two weapon fighting builds and since for reasons beyond my understanding there is no belt of giant strengths +2 which means you need 16k before you can increase your strength. If you feel you need a boost in mobility, shape Cerulean sandals. Out of combat the Truthseeker goggles might help if you really roll poorly when using gather information with Noble familiarity. Finally Fearsome Mask is another bonus for Intimidate if needed.

Level 9: Imperious Command is another arrow in your arsenal. Shaping Fearsome Mask might even be better than shaping Bluesteel Bracers at this point. No matter what you decide on, the Fearsome armor enhancement (Drow of the underdark) should be another priority for you. ! more point of essentia goes straight into thes spines.

Level 10: Abominable Form: another arrow of the fear arsenal. Triggers on sight and is rather short on duration but given the fact that you most likely like to use your first action in every encounter to demoralize, it just adds to the duration your nemeies are shaken. Spine Rend adds much needed damage if you hit wiht both main and offhand. Most satisfying if done with double hit.

Level 11: A short step back into fighter to be able to pick up two weapon rend which has BAB 11 as a prerequisite. Increases rend damage to 3d6 + 3 times Str bonus.

Level 12: Robilar's Gambit is here and it is the absolute cornerstone of this build. Activate it, get hit, retaliate twice, repeat until you are out of AoO (Get Bracers of Opportunity for 8k). Chances are high rend gets triggered some time. Fun times. Also you get to shape another soulmeld and more essentia. Bluesteel Bracers + Fearsome Mask recommended.

Level 13: Chakra Bind (Arms) is pretty underwhelming except for gladiator specific uses (see above).

Level 14: Our first dead level. Just one more essentia to be put into spines.

Level 15: Adamantine spines don't need any explanation. Weapon Focus (spine) is our last feat tax. Insane defiance is great way to increase a save or suck spell from an ally. Just bounce it off you for no cost with strongheart vest shaped. The Fighter level at level 11 (and sixth total) makes it possible to pick up insane defiance at 15 because it requires a Willpower base save bonus of +5 and the sixth level of fighter improves Will by one.

Level 16: Another almost dead level. Worth it to take for the extra Essentia capacity of the spines (now +5). The oncreased bonus for Noble familiarity is also welcome.

Level 17: The first level of Thayan Gladiator improves the damage of the spines by one step which meets the prerequisite of Vile natural attack. Study opponent probably does nothing for us. Spending a standard action at level 18 in combat to buff yourself so little is never worth it.

Level 18: Knockdown is our cherry on top of the cake. Enemy triggers an attack of opportunity, you get to roll two attacks which at this point both always deal 10 damage. Enjoy your free trip attempts. Improved critical also is a nice damage boost. +1 Natural armor is something I take gladly too.

Level 19: Spines are now adamantine, silver and possibly law (if you bound something to your arm chakra ) weapons. Also your enemies now get to roll a Fortitude save or be stunned for every critical you confirm.

Level 20: Another hit with your chosen weapon when full attacking at -5 by the class ability. I'd choose the offhand spine for the class ability and therefor increase the chance for rend to trigger. Also BAB 20 for another attack in the full attack routine. Vile Natural attack is not a great feat but it can help in dealing with enemies that have fast healing/regeneration and it is also very effective against pesky BBEGs who tend to fight you more than once. Although they probably will have the resources to heal the Vile damage at level 20. In the backstory Mayalaran has this ability already when meeting Druxus which does not correlate with the table since thayan gladiator is already entered at level 17. I just had no idea what else to write about.

Spoiler: Necessities

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Thayan Gladiator: Champions of Ruin
Knockdown: Deities and Demigods
All Vile Feats: Elder Evils
Robilar's Gambit: PHB II
Two Weapon Rend: PHB II
Imperious Command: Drow of the Underdark
Double Hit: Miniatures Handbook
Never outnumbered: Complete Scoundrel
Azure Toughness: Magic of Incarnum
Skilled City dweller: Cityscape
Zhentarim Solder Fighter ACF: Champions of Valor Web Enhancement

[The Viscount]

I want a little bit of everything.

Spoiler: Intro

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Ok, this is not the straight man, this is bendy!

What I wanted to showcase here was the spinemeld unique TWf-ing with his natural weapons, by piling more attacks in his routine.
First in my mind was going monk, because there is the Skarn substitution level that give us the ability to flurry with the spines
then there was going down tigerclaw discipline warblade, enough for that "plus two attacks" boost. Just with that we are at 5 attacks at "full BAB" ( TWF+flurry+manouver)
And there I was, with a kernel of a build, but I had no big plan, and no reason really to go Spinemeld warrior so far..

In the making of my first entry, I came across the little exploit of Astral Vambraces possibly granting us feats forever
Here's how it goes : if you bind astral vambraces to your arms, you get the benefit of one option from the menu A of the astral constructs.
Some of these options are "gains the X feat"

Apparently you don't lose the feat when you lose the feature that grants it, so with this bit of cheddar we have, assuming we meet the prerequisites, "free" power attack, cleave, improved bull rush, improved natural attack.

It's unclear to me if we can PA with the spines (why yes : they're natural weapons) (why no: we treat them as light weapons when we TWF) , so I'm not going shocktrooper (also bleh on the overused ingredient)so what else can we do with this?
Well, I got looking into what these would qualify me for, maybe there was something interesting?

Enter the tribal protector: Basically only one feat tax, which it gives us back anyway, AND it gives one extra attack to our routine? sign us up! plus it's kinda on point with the flavor of spinemeld! Being protectors etcetera.

Of course, "tribal" feel made me think totemist would fit right in, so that got added too.

Why does this showcase the SI? Well, if we want to bind those vambraces AND have BAB 16+ by level 20, that's kinda the only choice we have here :), plus that goodie about twin spine fightning and the item radar.

Except with the feat, Astral vambraces are only accessible to Soulborn and Incarnate and PrC (and 10th level skarn monks), Soulborn is terrible, and Incarnate is more or less a "full caster", so not someone interested in melee binds. Spinemeld warrior is a natural fit for this, a monk/spinemeld warrior even more so!

What shall we do with this bunch of extra feats? well, they are all fighter feats, so melee stuff.

Surprisingly, a lot of meleeish feats I considered weren't tagged "fighter", but in the end I managed to fit a coherent whole, theme "whatever it is you'll do, you'll probably be giving me an AoO"

Spoiler: Dipp, the shallow

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LG Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Psychic Warrior 2 / Spinemeld Warrior 8 / Totemist 2 / Tribal Protector 2 / Warblade 2
Skarn (+2STR, -2 DEX)
Str 26 (15 +2 racial +5 level up +4 item), Dex 14 (12 -2 racial +4 item), Con 18 (14 +4 item), Int 14, Wis 18 (14 +4 item), Cha 10
HP: 8+ 5d8 +12d10+ 2d12 + 80 (189)
Dancing mongoose Routine : +29/+29/+29/+29/+29/+29/+24/+19/+14 (17BAB+4 enhacement +4 insight + 8 str +2 charging - 2 TWF -2 flurry -2 wild) for 2d6+16 (4 spines +4 cobalt charge +8 str) and whatever we're putting on the necklace of natural weapons
Saves :Fortitude 28, Reflex 15, Will 9 27
I'm including some item bonuses because Noble familiarity guarantee we'll be able to find exactly what we want.

Spoiler: leveling table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Monk 1	+0	+2	+2	+2	Concentration +4, Gather Information 2(+4), Jump +4, Knowledge(Nobility) 2(+4), Spellcraft 2(+4), Tumble +4	Cobalt Charge, Improved Grapple	AC bonus, flurry of Blows, Spine Strike, Fightning style(Denying Stance)
2nd	Monk 2	+1	+3	+3	+3	Concentration 4+1, Gather Information 2(4), Jump 4+1, Knowledge(Nobility) 2.5(4+1), Spellcraft 2, Survival 1(+2), Tumble 4+1	Combat Reflexes	Evasion
3rd	Skilled city-dweller Fighter 1 / Monk 2	+2	+5	+3	+3	Concentration 5+1, Gather Information 2+2, Jump 5, Knowledge(Nobility) 2.5(5), Spellcraft 2, Survival 1(2), Tumble 5+1	Hold the line, martial Study(Moment of Perfect Mind)(Fighter Bonus)
4th	Fighter 1 / Monk 2 / Skilled City-Dweller Totemist 1	+2	+7	+5	+3	Concentration 6+1, Gather Information 4+1, Jump 5, Knowledge(Nobility) 2.5(5), Spellcraft 2, Survival 1+3, Tumble 6+1		Wild Empathy, Meldshaping
5th	Fighter 1 / Monk 2 / Totemist 2	+3	+8	+6	+3	Concentration 7+1, Gather Information 5+3, Jump 5+1, Knowledge(Nobility) 2.5(5), Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 7+1		Totem Chakra Bind (+1)
6th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Totemist 2	+4	+9	+6	+3	Concentration 8+1, Gather Information 8+1, Jump 6+1, Knowledge(Nobility) 2.5(5), Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 8+1	Open least Chakra(hands), Martial Study (Foehammer) (Fighter Bonus)
7th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Totemist 2 / Warblade 1	+5	+11	+6	+3	Concentration 9+1, Gather Information 9, Jump 7+3, Knowledge(Nobility) 3(5+1), Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 9+1		Battle clarity (Reflex saves), Weapon Aptitude
8th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Skilled City-dweller Spinemeld Warrior 1 / Totemist 2 / Warblade 1	+6/+1	+13	+6	+3	Concentration 10+1, Gather Information 9+2, Jump 10, Knowledge(Nobility) 3+1, Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10		Twin spine fighting, Two-Weapon Fighting
9th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Spinemeld Warrior 2 / Totemist 2 / Warblade 1	+7/+2	+14	+6	+3	Concentration 11, Gather Information 11+1, Jump 10, Knowledge(Nobility) 4+3, Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10	Ironheart Aura	Noble familiarity, Spine enhancement
10th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Spinemeld Warrior 3 / Totemist 2 / Warblade 1	+8/+3	+14	+7	+4	Concentration 11, Gather Information 12+1, Jump 10, Knowledge(Nobility) 7+3, Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10
11th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Spinemeld Warrior 4 / Totemist 2 / Warblade 1	+9/+4	+15	+7	+4	Concentration 11, Gather Information 13+1, Jump 10, Knowledge(Nobility) 10+3, Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10
12th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Spinemeld Warrior 5 / Totemist 2 / Warblade 1	+10/+5	+15	+7	+4	Concentration 11+1, Gather Information 14+1, Jump 10, Knowledge(Nobility) 13+2, Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10	Stormguard warrior	Spine rend
13th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Spinemeld Warrior 6 / Totemist 2 / Warblade 1	+11/+6/+1	+16	+8	+5	Concentration 12+2, Gather Information 15+1, Jump 10, Knowledge(Nobility) 15+1, Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10
14th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Spinemeld Warrior 7 / Totemist 2 / Warblade 1	+12/+7/+2	+16	+8	+5	Concentration 14+2, Gather Information 16+1, Jump 10, Knowledge(Nobility) 16+1, Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10	Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Natural Attack, Improved Bull Rush (Astral Vambraces cheese)	Chakra bind (arms)
15th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Psychic Warrior 1 / Spinemeld Warrior 7 / Totemist 2 / Warblade 1	+12/+7/+2	+18	+8	+5	Concentration 16+2, Gather Information 17, Jump 10+2, Knowledge(Nobility) 17, Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10	Mage Slayer, Great Cleave(Psychic Warrior Bonus)
16th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Psychic Warrior 1 / Spinemeld Warrior 7 / Totemist 2 / Tribal Protector 1 / Warblade 1	+13/+8/+3	+20	+10	+5	Concentration 18+1, Gather Information 17, Jump 12+3, Knowledge(Nobility) 17, Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10	Martial Stance(Thicket of blades) (Tribal Protector Bonus)	Tribal Enemy, Homeland
17th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Psychic Warrior 1 / Spinemeld Warrior 7 / Totemist 2 / Tribal Protector 2 / Warblade 1	+14/+9/+4	+21	+11	+5	Concentration 19+1, Gather Information 17, Jump 15+1, Knowledge(Nobility) 17+1(2), Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10		Wild fightning
18th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Psychic Warrior 1 / Spinemeld Warrior 7 / Totemist 2 / Tribal Protector 2 / Warblade 2	+15/+10/+5	+22	+11	+5	Concentration 20+1, Gather Information 17+1(2), Jump 16+1, Knowledge(Nobility) 18+1(2), Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10	Robilar's Gambit	Uncanny dodge
19th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Psychic Warrior 1 / Spinemeld Warrior 8 / Totemist 2 / Tribal Protector 2 / Warblade 2	+16/+11/+6/+1	+23	+11	+5	Concentration 21, Gather Information 18+1, Jump 17, Knowledge(Nobility) 19+3, Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10		Adamantine spines
20th	Fighter 2 / Monk 2 / Psychic Warrior 2 / Spinemeld Warrior 8 / Totemist 2 / Tribal Protector 2 / Warblade 2	+17/+12/+7/+2	+24	+11	+5	Concentration 21+2, Gather Information 19, Jump 17, Knowledge(Nobility) 22+1(2), Spellcraft 2, Survival 4, Tumble 10	Defensive Sweep(Psychic Warrior bonus feat)

Spoiler: Manouvers, Essentia and other miscellanea

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Level	New Manouvers and stances learned	Essentia Pool	Soulmelds	Chakra Binds	Title
1st		1
2nd		1
3rd	Moment of perfect mind (no recovery)	1
4th		2	2
5th		3	3	1
6th	Foehammer (no recovery)	3	3	1
7th	Rabid wolf strike, Sudden Leap, Wall of Blades, Punishing stance	3	3	1
8th		3	3	1	Green spine
9th		4	3	1	Red spine
10th		5	4	1	Flaw seeker
11th		6	4	1	Spine of rain
12th		6	4	1	Spine of snow
13th		7	4	1	Spine of mist
14th		8	5	2	Spine fighter
15th		8	5	2
16th	Thicket of Blades	8	5	2
17th		8	5	2
18th	Dancing Mongoose	8	5	2
19th		9	5	2	Perfect of the south wind
20th		9	5	2

Spoiler: Build decisions explained and random thoughts

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The whole of it is with the end goal of comboing Robilar gambit+Stormguard warrior + Thicket of blades + mage slayer + Defensive Sweep to make sure we always do "some" manner of AoO, to fuel stormguard warrior.

Even if we had only one AoO, if we don't take it, we're granted the opportunity to use it again, so stacking up modifiers on stormguard warrior should be easy enough.

Then on the next turn, we mongoose down and do 6 attacks at "full BAB" (-6 from flurry+wild+TWF), with whatever modifiers we stacked from stormwarrior.

Those martial studies are there for two reason, firstly to give us concentration as a class skill to all classes, and second, by taking them before the warblade levels, we have them ready for every encounter on top of the warblade manouvers.

We have multiple competing *things* we can do with our swift action, but they are relevant at different levels of plays, generally speaking we alternate mongoose with swift action recover (full attacking, of course), while the other manouvers are early level tools,

Spinemeld makes this possible because the cheese flavor of this build hinges around Astral vambraces, and we access them in a timely manner with the PrC *and* still have a good BAB, plus it gives us that yummy free trip on each successfull attack :3

The readied manouvers are, well, all of them :D later we switch one out for Dancing mongoose, but otherwise, 3 we know and 3 we can ready, so there they are!

Stance is of course Thicket of blades, so if the opponent moves, it's an AoO, if it stay still, it's an AoO, if it attacks us, it's multiple AoO, and if it casts it's an AoO :D we sacrifice them all to the first tactical option of stormguard warrior, giving us +4 to attack and damage for each such AoO we refrain from taking, yum!

I did not list powers known and power points because I'm operating under the assumption/houserule that by way of magic-psionic transparency, the mage slayer "reduce caster level by 4" is also applied to the manifester level, so no powers for us. if you think we'd have the ML to make use of powers, see these differences: exchange 4 ranks of jump for 4 ranks of psicraft, we take practiced manifester at level 20 in place of Defensive Sweep. we have the powers Expansion and Vigor, We have 2 power points at level 15-19 and 13 power points at level 20, assuming a +4 wisdom item

For the Skilled city-dweller ACF, we are exchanging handle animals for gather information and ride for tumble, where applicable.

Spoiler: tactics at spotlight levels plus the smallest story ever

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This is my second entry and I'm partecipating to ALL THE THINGS, I got to go make Godzilla!, I'm a creature of numbers, not stories :( sorry for the sparse blurb!

Something something defend the portal to the plane of positive energy that leads to close the Bastion of souls, we have a duty to protect it yadda yadda yadda (Blurb out)

level 1-5
We are a monk/fighter/totemist doing monkey things, not much to say, punch stuff and hope they die first? We have the brawn to hit consistently, but our AC/hp aren't anythink to write home about, at least the totemist levels give us a wide range of possible skill bonus to take here and there, or survival related melds like natural armor, and if the GM rules that we can flurry of blow then use claw attacks, we all know about doing Girallon arms goodnyness plus we even have Improved grab from monk!

level 6-10
Totemist gives us straight pounce, so we can pour or essentia on the feat/the spines, depending if we have one or two binds we'll also have a bite attack. with the invested essentia between the feat and the spines we should be hitting reliably, our routine should be in the neighbourhood of +13/+13/+13/+8 with the spines for at least 2d6+7 each attack, and possibly a bite tacked on.

Sudden Leap stays surprisingly relevant up until level 17 when we switch it out for Dancing mongoose : in the case of a single enemy, we can swift action sudden leap away from it, therefore allowing us to charge it again! Shape the soulmeld that give a jump bonus (Landshark boots), and we're se tot have 10 feet of jumping distance from the starting modifier alone, our tumble modifier is at a baseline of 14 too, so we auto succeed at moving half speed, Divert some skill ranks to tumble if you feel the want of auto succeeding the full speed too!

level 11-15
The build is taking shape, we got them vambraces, so the cheese is just around the corner! Finally we got stormguard warrior, so we're about ready to take advantage of both Channel the storm and Combat rhythm. By now we should have a monk belt, so between that, essentia invested on the feat and spines, and improved natural attack our charging routine should look in the thereabouts of : +22/+22/+22/+17/+12 for 3d6+12, that's not counting the possible expansion from the psychic warrior level, because as stated I'm reading mage slayer as lowering the manifester level, too.

level 16-20
and so we conclude our tale, we switch sudden leap for dancing mongoose, fill out some more essentia for bigger numbers, and poke at things.

We got some tribal enemies, let's say that duskling other tribe from the valley over yonder that wants access to the bastion of souls, and we're fightning in our homeland, which is.. this valley with the portal to the bastion of souls :)

Spoiler: On soulmelds

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Abridged version on how soulmelds work : we know the whole list, each day we chose X of them to shape. Shaped soulmelds are "just there" and provide passive bonus, at the same time we can choose if we want to bind any of these to any of the open chakra we have, this let us benefit of a bigger effect linked ot the soulmeld, at the cost of the soulmeld taking up the item slot associated with that chakra location.

We can have at most Constitution SCORE -10 soulmeld shaped at any one time, so 4 soulmeld if we don't have any constitutionb oosting item, otherwise our full complement, 2 from the soulborn list courtesy of Spinemeld warrior, and 3 from the totemist list.

Pretty much always shaped in those days when combat is expected are, from Spinemeld warrior : Astral Vambraces(arms/bracers) and either Spellward shirt(heart/shirt) or Thunderstep boots(feet), It depends on how the boots are ruled : if their damage is applied "once per charge" or "once for each successfull attack while charging"

from the totemist list : sphinx claws(hands) , Wormtail belt(waist), one of those throat soulmeld that gives a bite attack when bound

We have either 2 or 3 binds, depending on the reading of Open chakra feat. If it's two, the shaped and binded soulmelds will be sphinx claws and Astral vambraces. This gives us pounce with all natural attacks and the trip(ex) special quality, that let us attempt a free trip on each successfull melee attack, without provoking AoO. if instead we have 3 binds, the other will usually be one of those binds that grants us a bite attack, and doesn't need to be shaped to hands/arms. Not Ankheg breastplate unfurtonately, because it's clause precludes us from making use of the monk unarmored defense

Our pool of essentia, 9 will generally be split with 4 points into the talent, which gives us an insight bonus to attack and damage when we charge, and probably 4 points in the spines, unless we have cause and the spare swift action to put those points in the various soulmelds, but the only real candidates are either the wormtail belt for extra natural armor or the spellward shirt for heftier spell resistance.

in days we don't expect trouble, we can shape soulmelds with an eye for skills, between the soulborn and the totemist lists we have the gamut of basically almost all skills, of course the one we care the most about is gather information, so the Truthseeker Googles are the first choice.

Spoiler: Feature recaps by order of acquisition

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Weapon Aptitude: can qualify for fighter only feats, can change the weapon of weapon-specific feats
Spine Strike: for all monk related purposes, treat the spines as unarmed attacks
Fightning style: locks monk bonus feats to Improved grapple and combat reflexes, get +2 to tumble
Cobalt Charge: infuse essentia on the feat for insight bonus to attack and damage when charging
Hold the line: can Aoo against enemies when they enter a square you threaten
Martial study: add key skill to all class skills and the manouver is always ready to be used 1/encounter
Open least chakra(hands): can bind soulmelds to hands
pounce: can full attack on a charge
Totem Chakra bind +1: can bind soulmelds to totem, essentia limit for totem bind is 1 higher
Battle Clarity: insight bonus to reflex saves equal to INT modifier when not flat-footed
Twin Spine Fightning: can TWF with Skarn natural weapon
IronHeat Aura: +2morale bonus to all saves to allies while in a iron heart stance
Noble Familiarity: competence bonus to knowledge(nobility), can make gather information check to find a seller of specific item
Spine enhancement: can use essence to give enhancement bonus to the spines
Spine Rend: if you hit with two spine attacks in one round, do bonus 2d6+1.5STR damage
Stormguard warrior: three tactical options; forgo AoO for +4 to attack and damage on next turn; sacrifice attacks for +5 damage on next turn;conditional +2 attack when using combat expertise against multiple enemies
Chakra bind(arms): can bind soulmelds to arms
Improved natural attack: damage die of natural attack improves by 1 step
Mage slayer: casters can't cast defensively while you threaten them
Great cleave: as cleave but without the 1/round limit
Martial stance: add elipsed stance to stances known
Tribal Enemy: +3 to bluff, sense, damage rolls against the tribal enemy
Homeland: + 2 to hide, survival, move silently while in the homeland
Wild fightning: can add an extra attack to the full attack routine at highest BAB, all attacks are at -2
Robilar's Gambit: special stance enemy attacks at +4 to hti and +4 damage, each attack against you provokes an AoO
Adamantine spines: spines overcome adamantine DR
Defensive Sweep: An opponent that begins his action adjacent to you and does not move provokes an AoO form you at their action end
Moment of Perfect Mind: immediate action can use concentration check in place of will save
Foehammer: standard action attack deals +2d6 damage and ignores target DR
Punishing stance: all attacks deal +1d6 damage but -2 AC
Rabid wolf strike: standard action attack at +4 for extra 2d6 damage, -4AC for 1 round
Sudden Leap: swift action do a jump check to move
Wall of blades: Immediate action can use attack roll in place of AC
Thicket of blades: stance, while in this stance, any type of movement provokes an AoO form you, even 5ft. steps
Dancing Mongoose: swift action, next time you attack you can do up to two extra attacks at full BAB

Spoiler: Sources

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Magic Of Incarnum: SI and everything else Incarnum related
Tome of Battle:Warblade, some feats, all manouvers and stances
Unearthed Arcana: Monk ACF fightning style
Savage Species:Necklace of natural weapons
Sword and fist: Tribal protector
Cityscape: Skilled City-Dweller ACF
Mind Eye article : Astral vambraces
3.0 to 3.5 skill conversion (Wilderness lore -> survival)

[The Viscount]

His attack has no defense.

Chainsaw, the Imperfect

"I never claimed to be perfect, my mistakes are all written in ink. My flaws helped to make me special, they pushed me and kept me strong."

Spoiler: Introduction, lore

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I have always known I was destined to do great things. That's what my parents always told me. When I am older, I would take the throne of this country. That is what I was born for, and nobody could ever change that. Even more than the other members of my family, I was born close to perfection, close to absolute strength. Because that's what it was all about. In a skarn family, even more so in skarn nobility, the weak dies, and the strong thrives. And I was the strongest. I was to become a "perfect" in no time, and some members of the court believed I even had the potential to become an August Perfect of Roses someday. Emphasis on 'had'.

I just had to keep my mouth shut. But, during a meeting with the old king, a pig who had seemingly stayed on his throne for years and gotten so fat that it was hard to believe he once vainquished his predecessor in combat, I couldn't resist. He had forbidden me from becoming a spinemeld warrior because I was too young for the order, even though I was already better at using my two spines than most Green Spines and even some Red Spines.

"Why should I abide by your rules, you who neglect your body and stray from perfection instead of seeking it?"

20 words. Not even a Sending. And yet, how they could change a life. The king stood up. Something he never did, except to sit at the dinner table. Blindingly fast, he moved towards me, spines forward. Before I even knew it, my left arm was gone.
"Because, young man, I am still the king. For your arrogance, the name that was given to you by your family shall never be used again. You shall henceforth be known as 'the Imperfect'. May you remember this every time your lost arm hurts. Dismissed."

Being down an arm is the ultimate demise for someone who prides in twin-spine fighting. My life was over. It being a royal decree meant that there was no way I could have it Regenerated. I was stuck, exiled by my family, dishonored. But my pride would not disappear. I would seek refuge in the monasteries close to the capital. There, I would create a new martial art, effective even with one arm, and nobody would be able to deny me that I belong in the spinemeld warrior corp!

Spoiler: Build

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This build is based on a number of really questionable readings, a lot of them definitely not RAI. Chainsaw is kind of a dysfunction thread all by himself. If you remove Elegance points for that, so be it, but just so you know that it was kind of the point of it.

Spoiler: General characteristics

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LN Skarn

Invisible Eye style, Decisive Strike Monk 2, Skilled City-Dweller Fighter 2, Warblade 2, Spinemeld Warrior 2, Swordsage 1, Spinemeld Warrior 7, warblade 3, Kensai 5

32-point buy :
Str 18 (16), Dex 8 (0), Con 14 (6), Int 13 (5), Wis 8 (0), Cha 13 (5)
Ability scores with Racial modifier (32 points, lv 1) :
Str 20, Dex 6, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 13

Ability boosts :
lv 4 : Cha ; lv 8 : Str ; lv 12 : Str ; lv 16 : Str ; lv 20 : Str

Ability scores at level 20 :
Str 24, Dex 6, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 14

Spoiler: Table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Skarn Monk 1	+0	+2	+2	+2	Climb 2, Concentration 4, Diplomacy 4, Gather Information 1*, Jump 4, Listen 4	Improved Unarmed Spine strike (monk 1), Combat Reflexes (monk 1), Combat Expertise	Spine Strike, Decisive Strike, +2 Ref
2nd	Monk 2	+1	+3	+3	+3	Climb 3, Concentration 5, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 1*, Jump 5, Listen 5	Lightning Reflexes (Monk 2)	Evasion
3rd	Fighter 1	+2	+5	+3	+3	Climb 3, Concentration 5, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 4, Jump 5, Listen 5	Power Attack (Fighter 1), Cobalt Power	-
4th	Fighter 2	+3	+6	+3	+3	Climb 3, Concentration 5, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 7, Jump 5, Listen 5	Weapon Focus (Spines)	-
5th	Warblade 1	+4	+8	+3	+3	Climb 3, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 6, Jump 8, Listen 5	-	Battle clarity (Reflex saves), weapon aptitude, Maneuvers
6th	Warblade 2	+5	+9	+3	+3	Climb 5, Concentration 9, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 6, Jump 9, Listen 5	Riposte	Uncanny dodge
7th	Spinemeld Warrior 1	+6	+11	+3	+3	Climb 5, Concentration 9, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 6, Jump 9, Listen 5, Ride 3	Two-Weapon Fighting (Spinemeld Warrior 1)	Twin Spine Fighting
8th	Spinemeld Warrior 2	+7	+12	+3	+3	Climb 5, Concentration 9, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 6, Jump 10, Listen 5, Ride 5	-	Noble familiarity, spine enhancement
9th	Swordsage 1	+7	+12	+5	+5	Climb 5, Concentration 12, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 6, Jump 12, Listen 5, Ride 5	Weapon Focus (Desert Wind : Light Mace), Extreme Leap skill trick (Complete scoundrel), Lightning Mace	Maneuvers, Quick to Act +1
10th	Spinemeld 3	+8	+12	+6	+6	Climb 5, Concentration 12, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 7*, Jump 13, Listen 5, Ride 5	-	1 soulmeld (most of the time, Draconic tail, especially after lv 12)
11th	Spinemeld 4	+9	+13	+6	+6	Climb 5, Concentration 13, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 8*, Jump 13, Listen 5, Ride 5	-	- (Sadness)
12th	Spinemeld Warrior 5	+10	+13	+6	+6	Climb 5, Concentration 14, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 8*, Jump 13, Listen 5, Ride 5	Prehensile Tail	Spine Rend!
13th	Spinemeld Warrior 6	+11	+14	+7	+7	Climb 5, Concentration 14, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 9*, Jump 14, Listen 5, Ride 5	-	- (Sadness n°2)
14th	Spinemeld Warrior 7	+12	+14	+7	+7	Climb 5, Concentration 14, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 10*, Jump 14, Listen 5, Ride 5	-	2 Soulmeld (most of the time, Mauling Gauntlet bound to Arms), Chakra Bind
15th	Warblade 3	+13	+14	+8	+8	Climb 5, Concentration 16, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 11*, Jump 15, Listen 5, Ride 5	Sense Weakness	Battle ardor
16th	Kensai 1	+13	+14	+8	+10	Climb 5, Concentration 17, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 11, Jump 19, Listen 5, Ride 5	-	Signature Weapon
17th	Kensai 2	+14	+14	+8	+11	Climb 5, Concentration 20, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 11, Jump 20, Listen 6, Ride 5	-	Power surge
18th	Kensai 3	+15	+15	+9	+11	Climb 5, Concentration 21, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 12*, Jump 21, Listen 7, Ride 5	Extended Reach	-
19th	Kensai 4	+16	+15	+9	+12	Climb 5, Concentration 22, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 13*, Jump 22, Listen 8, Ride 5	-	Ki Projection
20th	Kensai 5	+16	+15	+9	+12	Climb 5, Concentration 23, Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 14*, Jump 23, Listen 9, Ride 5	-	Withstand

Spoiler: Build description per level

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Spoiler: Level 1-5

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At low level, the Imperfect is still pretty crippled by his lack of a left arm. He is preparing his body for his unique martial art, by learning to manipulate his strike however he wants (combat expertise, power attack, Cobalt power, Decisive strike). However, the use of decisive strike from the skarn monk, and maneuvers like Steel Wind and Mountain Hammer can alleviate his lack of damage a bit. Already at this point, Action Before Thought will help the Imperfect make his Reflex saves, despite both a poor dexterity bonus and a poor class-based reflex bonus. He also starts to gather informations about the court, to prepare his return.

Dysfunction : since his spines are treated as unarmed strike for « all purposes related to monk class feature », that includes the « the monk can use any part of their body to make an unarmed strike ». Theoretically, the Imperfect could make spine attack with his leg, however little sense that makes, allowing him to use a one-handed weapon in his hand. Plus, that also includes « there is no notion of off-hand weapon for a monk », which means both attacks will be made without a malus. Plus, Decisive Strike, contrarily to Flurry of Blows, doesn’t mention it can’t be used with an armor, which means the Imperfect can fight in heavy armor and still get double damage with a full-round action.

Maneuvers : (3, initiator level 3, max maneuver level 2) : Action Before Thought, Steel Wind, Mountain Hammer,
Stance (1) : Blood in the water

Spoiler: Level 6-10

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The Imperfect has finally mastered his very own martial art, and has been accepted as a spinemeld warrior. He is now a Flaw Seeker, an ironic yet fitting title for him. His art is a weird yet functional one, using mental, seemingly nonsensical triggers, like having a light mace in his hands allows him to move faster and grind his opponent with his spines. These multiples attacks with only one arm have granted him the nickname of « Chainsaw », as once his spine come sinto contact with you, it seems like a chainsaw is cutting you a dozen times in a row. Coming back into the court’s grace also allows him to find items, even from underground sellers.
At the same time, Chainsaw improves his martial art capabilities, allowing him to approach his enemies more easily (Sudden Leap, Extreme Leap, Leaping Dragon Stance, Shadow Jaunt, Cloak of Deception), or to hit them from afar or several times (Flashing Sun, Burning Brand), one way or the other, while protecting himself with Moment of Perfect Mind.

Dysfunctions : This is the point of the build where dysfunctions really start to pop up. First, twin-spine fighting allows Chainsaw to TWF with his spines, but two-weapon fighting is based on the notion of firsthand/offhand weapon. However, the skarn monk removes the notion of firsthand/offhand weapon when it comes to the skarn spines. Which means Chainsaw can TWF with only one arm, making both his firsthand attacks and offhand attack with it, completely offsetting his handicap. The lightning mace feat does require Two-Weapon Fighting, but only mentions « wielding a mace in each hand ». You don’t have to attack with the mace to be wielding it, which means Chainsaw can have a light mace in his hand, and TWF with only his spine, and still get more attacks every time he gets a critical threat. This also allows him to enhance the mace with special properties that don’t require the wielder to attack with the weapon, like Crazed, which gives him a rage-like ability, Blindsighted, or Blurring.
Finally, Noble Familiarity is worded in a way that allows Chainsaw to find even items that would never appear in a normal shop. Notably, an item of metamagic-reduced persisted wraithstrike 1/day with a caster level of 3 (you might even be able to reduce the caster level to 2 if the crafter is an artificer/ur-priest, but I’m not sure if it is even possible). Low caster level means the cost of the item is super low (360*3*(2+6)=8640 gp, way below your WPL at this point), but also that it is pretty easy to find with your decent Gather Information modifier. That allows you to use Combat Expertise and Power Attack to their fullest, and to make yet one more attack per round whenever somebody attacks you, with Riposte. You could even add a persisted critical strike item (2520 gp). Finally, you can use a Necklace of Natural Weapons to give Soulbound to your spine. Since both Soulbound and Spine Enhancement only check how many essentia are invested in « the weapon », and Soulbound states that it « increases it’s enhancement bonus », not that it gives one, that means the two abilities stack and for each one essentia invested in your spine, it gets a +2 enhancement bonus to hit and damage rolls.

Maneuvers : (1 more from warblade 2, initiator level 4, 6 more from swordsage 1, initiator level 6) : Warblade : Action Before Thought, Steel Wind, Mountain Hammer, Sudden Leap
Swordsage : Burning Brand, Flashing Sun, Soaring Raptor Strike, Moment of Perfect Mind, Shadow Jaunt, Cloak of Deception, Stone Vise
Stances (1 more from Swordsage) : Blood in the water, Leaping Dragon Stance

Spoiler: Level 11-15

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Chainsaw is still Imperfect. Never will he be able to gain the last three levels of Spinemeld Warrior. Yet, with a Soulbound spine, he still has as much power as an August Perfect, while only being a Spine Fighter (which is a really lame title, by the way, but that’s off-topic). Moreover, he has learned to rip the flesh of his opponents apart with each strike, instead of just cutting them, meaning almost nobody can stand up to him in melee combat. That is even more accentuated by his newfound ability to shape soulmelds. Notably, he has learned to use the Draconic Tail soulmeld as some sort of substitute hand, making him able to wield a shield in it. Most people don’t use this because they depend on dexterity for TWF, but Chainsaw doesn’t have this problem, and can wield a heavy wood shield (the only reason he doesn’t use a tower shield is because he uses Jump a lot to move around, a darkwood shield doesn’t even have a check penalty). It can also be enhanced, of course.
Chainsaw also gains the ability to meld the Mauling Gauntlets, doubling the number of bonus attacks from Lightning Mace, giving a good chance to make at least one more attack per round.
That is the level where damage reduction become usual, and Chainsaw the Imperfect has the Sense Weakness feat, that allows him to bypass most of it with his Weapon Focused natural weapons, that is to say, his spine, with which he makes most of his attacks. Finally, Chainsaw also completes his martial training, learning how to use all of his attacks with Pouncing Charge.
At this level, it is even possible to find an item of persistent metamagic-reduced Righteous Might 1/day (17820 gp), which would allow for a huge increase in damage, since your attack scales as 2.5*Str.

Dysfunction : Spine Rend doesn’t mention hitting with both spines. Only with « the spine on each arm ». Chainsaw has only one arm. He can rend with each attack. Even more than that, he can rend with AoO if he can hit with one. That means the base damage of his spine becomes 3d6+2.5*Str overnight, which will help a lot to keep up at higher levels. Prehensile Tail is also a good way to circumvent the « each arm, each hand » restrictions. The tai lis definitely not an arm, nor does it have a hand, but it can be used as one, allowing to increase Chainsaw AC and versatility even more.

Maneuvers : (1 more from warblade 3, initiator level 9) : Warblade : Action Before Thought, Steel Wind, Mountain Hammer, Sudden Leap, Pouncing Charge
Swordsage : Burning Brand, Flashing Sun, Soaring Raptor Strike, Moment of Perfect Mind, Shadow Jaunt, Cloak of Deception, Stone Vise
Stances : Blood in the water, Leaping Dragon Stance

Spoiler: Level 16-20

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Chainsaw has understood his lesson. Never again would he show cockiness without being sure to be able to back it up. He entered in the king’s court, as one of his closest guards, a Kensai. This allowed him to increase his spine potential to unseen levels. If he doesn’t need something specific, he will create a Ravenous, Strength Sapping spine.

High concentration means Chainsaw will be able to increase his strength several times per day, each one having a great impact, since each strike from Chainsaw the Imperfect uses a very high strength bonus to damage. Chainsaw also has extended reach, meaning people will not approach him without getting hit at least once.

Dysfunction : Extended reach checks if you have a modelable weapon, like Chainsaw’s Draconic Tail, but then applies the extended reach seemingly to all of one’s attacks.

Spoiler: Sources

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Arms and Equipment Guides : Crazed
Book of Vile Darkness : Strength Sapping
Champions of ruin : Ravenous
Cityscape web enhancement : Skilled City Dweller ACF
Complete Scoundrel : Extreme Leap skill trick
Complete Warrior variant : Kensai, Lightning Mace
Draconomicon : Sense Weakness
Dragon Compendium : Riposte
Magic of Incarnum : Cobalt Power, Spinemeld Warrior, Draconic Tail, Soulbound Weapon, Mauling Gauntlets,
Oriental Adventures : Blurring
PHB : Combat Expertise, Power Attack, Combat Reflexes, Lightning Reflexes, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus, Righteous Might
PHB II : Decisive strike Monk ACF
Savage Species : Prehensile Tail, Extended Reach
Spell Compendium : Wraithstrike, Critical strike,
Tome of Battle : Warblade, Swordsage, all maneuvers and stances.
Underdark : Blindsighted
Unearthed Arcana : Invisible Eye fighting style Monk ACF

[The Viscount]

Every Thon has its august perfect of roses

Vorlance Thon

My name is Vorlance Trakkisin Alekk Thon, conjure by it at your own risk. My parents named me after four legendary Spinemeld Warriors of the Skarn. At an early age my father paid the Monks of the Passive way to raise and train me in their ways of bodily perfection. That was the last time I saw my father and the first day I got in trouble at the monastery.

The Monks of the Passive Way taught me how to use my spines and how to use my opponents aggression to protect myself. Unfortunately, I was never a great student of the Passive Way. Do not get me wrong, I can perform each of the techniques they taught me. However,their philosophy never found purchase in my heart. Instead, I have learned to gather from people not what they want but instead I give them what they need. Fortunately, the monks’ techniques have served me well in that regard because I have learned what people frequently need is to be knocked on their ass sometimes. In fact, a once friend swore to me, that I will “die doing the right thing.”

My personal philosophy has caused me no end of grief and my inability to take the wants of others above the needs of many others will no doubt continue to cause me grief well into the afterlife.

Spoiler: Attributes

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Race: Skarn
32 Point Buy
Str: 16+2; Dex: 10-2; Con: 14; Int: 12; Wis: 14; Cha: 12

Progression: All bumps go to Strength.

Spoiler: Build Progression

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Spoiler: Table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Skarn Monk (Passive Way) 1	+0	+2	+2	+2	Balance 4 Ranks, Gather Information 4 Ranks, Intimidate 4 Ranks, Sense Motive 4 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 4 Ranks	City Slicker, Combat Expertise	Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Strike (1d6), AC Bonus
2nd	Monk(Passive Way) 2	+1	+3	+3	+3	Balance 5 Ranks, Gather Information 5 Ranks, Intimidate 5 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks	Improved Trip	Invisible Fist
3rd	Monk 3	+2	+3	+3	+3	Gather Information 6 Ranks, Intimidate 6 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 1.5 Ranks	Knockdown	Still Mind
4th	Monk 4 (Holy Strike)	+3	+4	+4	+4	Gather Information 7 Ranks, Intimidate 7 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 3 Ranks	-	Holy Strike, Slow Fall 20ft, Unarmed Strike (1d8)
5th	Totemist 1	+3	+6	+6	+4	Gather Information 8 Ranks, Intimidate 8 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 3.5 Ranks	-	Wild Empathy, Meldshaping
6th	Totemist 2	+4	+7	+7	+4	Gather Information 9 Ranks, Intimidate 9 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 4 Ranks	Open Least Chakra(Hands)	Totem Chakra Bind (+1 Capacity)
7th	Totemist 3	+5	+7	+7	+5	Gather Information 10 Ranks, Intimidate 10 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 5 Ranks	-	Totem's Protection
8th	Spinemeld Warrior 1	+6/+1	+9	+7	+5	Gather Information 11 Ranks, Intimidate 11 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 1 Rank	-	Twin Spine Fighting, Two-Weapon Fighting.
9th	Spinemeld Warrior 2	+7/+2	+10	+7	+5	Gather Information 12 Ranks, Intimidate 12 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 2 Ranks	Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (Mauling Gauntlets)	Noble Familiarty, Spine Enhancement
10th	Spinemeld Warrior 3	+8/+3	+10	+8	+6	Gather Information 13 Ranks, Intimidate 13 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 3 Ranks	-	-
11th	Spinemeld Warrior 4	+9/+4	+11	+8	+6	Gather Information 14 Ranks, Intimidate 14 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 4 Ranks	-	-
12th	Spinemeld Warrior 5	+10/+5	+11	+8	+6	Gather Information 15 Ranks, Intimidate 15 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 5 Ranks	Split Chakra(Hands)	Spine Rend
13th	Spinemeld Warrior 6	+11/+6/+1	+12	+9	+7	Gather Information 16 Ranks, Intimidate 16 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 5 Ranks, Diplomacy 1 Rank	-	-
14th	Spinemeld Warrior 7	+12/+7/+2	+12	+9	+7	Gather Information 17 Ranks, Intimidate 17 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 5 Ranks, Diplomacy 2 Ranks	-	Chakra Bind (Arms)
15th	Spinemeld Warrior 8	+13/+8/+3	+13	+9	+7	Gather Information 18 Ranks, Intimidate 18 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 5 Ranks, Diplomacy 3 Ranks	Bonus Essentia	-
16th	Spinemeld Warrior 9	+14/+9/+4	+13	+10	+8	Gather Information 19 Ranks, Intimidate 19 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 5 Ranks, Diplomacy 4 Ranks	-	Adamantine Spines
17th	Spinemeld Warrior 10	+15/+10/+5	+14	+10	+8	Gather Information 20 Ranks, Intimidate 20 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 5 Ranks, Diplomacy 5 Ranks	-	-
18th	Legacy Champion 1	+15/+10/+5	+14	+10	+10	Gather Information 21 Ranks, Intimidate 21 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 7 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 5 Ranks, Diplomacy 5 Ranks	Double Chakra(Hands)	Reduced Ritual Cost(Lesser), Bond of Lore
19th	Legacy Champion 2	+16/+11/+6/+1	+14	+10	+11	Gather Information 22 Ranks, Intimidate 22 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 9 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 5 Ranks, Diplomacy 5 Ranks	-	Replace Legacy Ability(Least) [Scroll Use->Enlarge Person 1/day]
20th	Legacy Champion 3	+17/+12/+7/+2	+15	+11	+11	Gather Information 23 Ranks, Intimidate 23 Ranks, Knowledge(History) 11 Ranks, Sense Motive 5 Ranks, Balance 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Local) 5 Ranks, Knowledge(Nobility and Royalty) 5 Ranks, Diplomacy 5 Ranks	-	Extra Legacy Ability Use(Least)[Scrollcasting]

Spoiler: Meldshaping

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Level	Totemist Melds	Totemist Binds	Soulborn Melds	Soulborn Binds	Essentia
1st	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	-	-	-	-	-
4th	-	-	-	-	-
5th	2	0	-	-	1
6th	3	1	-	-	2
7th	3	1	-	-	2
8th	3	1	0	0	2
9th	3	1	0	0	3
10th	3	1	1	0	4
11th	3	1	1	0	5
12th	3	1	1	0	5
13th	3	1	1	0	6
14th	3	1	2	0	7
15th	3	1	2	1	10
16th	3	1	2	1	10
17th	3	1	2	1	11
18th	3	1	2	1	11
19th	3	1	2	1	11
20th	3	1	2	1	11

Spoiler: Build Snapshots

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Spoiler: Level 7 - Monk 4/Totemist 3

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My insides were on fire and it wasn’t my fault.

At this point in my life I was considered an adult at the monastery. I was free to pursue my own goals and objectives, stay and eat at the monastery, and was still required to caretake the monastery and train with the masters. Right then I was unable to care about what the monastery wanted of me when I knew on the otherside of this frozen pass a town needed the crates of medicine on the sled behind me. I took another sip of the brandy I stole and focused my mind on the fire blooming inside me, I fed into that feeling my pain, my cold, and my essence. My heart was of fire and blazed at my abdomen.

I didn’t see the ice troll before it tried to grab me. I suddenly realized why no one else was willing to attempt this trek. When the ice troll quickly released me and his hands came away burned as if the flames in my core were a living violent thing, I saw for the first time the small translucent totem I had been imagining fully visible before me. Not willing to let the troll recover I quickly struck out and saw the burns left by my fists on his flesh. I let him retreat and continued with my sled to the town.

When I returned to the monastery they did not want to hear about the delivery of the medicine, the ice troll along the route, or even the lives saved in the small town, they were only concerned with my missed training and the stolen brandy. This was the last straw before they sent me to boot camp as a punishment.

Here we are in the early days for Vorlance. The big highlight here is the Skarn Monk racial substituion level. It lets us use Arm Spines as an unarmed strike for all purposes. While that includes for damage, that has some really nice synergy that we'll highlight later. Once or twice a combat we can turn invisible as an immediate action which is great either defensively or offensively (probably more defensive at this level), and anytime we are fighting evil creatures deal 1d6 extra damage (making it much more likely to land that Knockdown).

With Open Chakra(Hands) we have either 2 soulbinds at this level. Our first bind is Sphinx Claws, giving us +1-3 to strength checks and pounce. Vorlance's second bind goes to Totem Chakra and can be flexed based on need, but by default will usually be Heart of Fire, for some 0-2d4 Fire Damage per attack. Last shaped soulmeld can go to whatever utility is needed for the day.

For right now though he has a 1d8 Spine attack, with trip and Knockdown. When it triggers the trip attempt is at a solid +11.

Out of combat, being able to go Invisible every few rounds can be great in stealth despite otherwise poor stealth skills. The flexibility in soulmelds gives 1-2 melds to invest in whatever skill is needed for the day. Without melds, his skills are focused on what he does best, gathering information and intimidating people, with a smattering of other knowledges and such mixed in.

Spoiler: Level 10 - Monk 4/Totemist 3/Spinemeld Warrior 3

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That was the day I learned that blood does not stain a Spinemeld Warriors’ spines. Having seen the blood hit the ground from the execution of the court-martial immediately before mine did not exactly fill me with hope as I was brought, still bound, into the circle of judgement.
The counsel of 6 stood above me as I was driven to my knees and compelled the truth out of me. So I told them exactly what happened:

“My commanding officer was screaming at us to charge the dragon at the end of the street. I know the difference between what needs to happen and what he wants to happen. His attitude was getting us nowhere. It was at this point my spines light up and I punch him in the face knocking him down. Sometimes the thing someone needs the most is to be knocked on their ass. While he slept I told me plan to the rest of my compatriots. They did not argue as they know the difference between a glorious charge into certain death and the kind of planning ahead that leaves you alive at the end.

So running along the rooftops, invisible, I leap at the dragon and put all of my focus into this one punch…and the four that follow. On the third strike I finally knock the dragon to the ground. My team pounces on him with their spheres and we are able to take the street.”

Upon hearing my testimony compelled under truth they confer almost silently and nod to the executioner behind me. Knowing my fate is sealed I close my eyes and hear the “thunk’ of the executioner’s spines and am glad he is good at what he does because I don’t even feel them. Strangely, I do feel a body hit the floor beside me and see my old commanding officer eyes wide dead beside me.

The leader of the council took the rank insignia from his corpse and presented it to me.

Here we have entered the secret ingredient, and this really is our sweet spot. Remember earlier I mentioned some future synergy? With the ability to shape a Spinemeld Warrior Soulmeld, Vorlance can now shape and bind the oft overlooked Mauling Gauntlets meld. This gives a +2 morale bonus to strength checks, with an additional +2 for each essence invested. When bound that bonus adds to damage with unarmed strikes, which his spines count as. With an essentia cap of 3 in Mauling Gauntlets (2 for other melds), that gives him a flat +8 bonus to damage and trip attempts, and given he just got Two Weapon Fighting from Spinemeld Warrior, he's got even more attacks to use to take advantage of those bonuses. At this point a +18 trip check is not unusual.

On that note, we also hit Spinemeld Warrior 2 during this time. Meaning Vorlance now has the ability to gather information to buy almost any Magic Item. At this level Vorlance has a +19 Gather Information when searching for items, and can shape Truthseeker Goggles during downtime for bonuses to Gather Information, getting up to a +25, enough to easily secure most low-mid level items, and have a solid chance even at rare high level items. Items of note he is interested in locating/acquiring, and should somewhere between level 9 and level 18: Gloves of the Balanced Hand (improved TWF), Incarnum Focus for Hands/Arms, Fanged Ring, Monk's Belt, and the Legacy Weapon Lorestealer. Of these, none are build essential besides Lorestealer (or at the very least some other legacy item)

Spoiler: Level 16 - Monk 4/Totemist 3/Spinemeld Warrior 9

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We've got a check-in here after obtaining Spinemeld Warrior's pentultimate ability, Adamantine Spines. At this point Vorlance has an essentia cap of 3 and should have been able to track down an Incarum Focus, so have an Essence Capacity of 4 for most things, including for his Spines. Meaning his spines can act as +4 weapons dealing somewhere between 1d8 and 3d6 base damage (depending on items found at this point, though anything with a CL pre-epic should be easily found with a 1 by this level), bypassing as though Good and Adamantine. Also picked up an Arm Chakra Bind, which in almost all circumstances should be going to Bluesteel Bracers. Because group initiative buffs are wonderful.

At this point his Gather Information to locate items without any other items purchased to aid in that is +19(ranks)+9(Spinemeld Warrior)+1(Cha)+2(synergy)+10(Truthseeker Goggles) = +41. So on a roll of a natural 1 he can find someone willing to sell an item up to CL27. Not bad!

Damage per hit can be up around 3d6+20 before any other Magic Items besides what was listed above (including basic +str items, or amulet of natural attacks with special weapon enhancements), and Trip Checks of +6(str)+10(mauling gauntlet) +4(improved Trip) = 20. Which is pretty solid for anything within his size category. Ideally he'll find some items to increase size or effective size to be able to trip larger things, but he is also fully capable of just going on without tripping if need be.

Last thing of note at this level is that last check-in I mentioned Vorlance wants to use his ability to play magic-mart to grab Lorekeeper. By this level Vorlance should acquire it and go through the Rituals to utilize it. He easily meets the prerequisites (no spellcasting, BAB+3), and the ritauls include throwing yourself into harms way to protect a loved one (completely in character), and to deliberately Mishap a scroll (which the ritual gives you the ability to do).

In doing so, he picks up the Least Legacy(Lorestealer) and Lesser Legacy(Lorestealer) feats as bonus feats. These are not listed on the table because they could be done at any time. Lorestealer does come with some penalties (at this level -2 to hit, -10 HP, -2 to a save), but in exchange he gets the ability to stab a scroll of up to 6th level to activate it twice a day, and a spell storing returning axe (in case you want to store the spell from that scroll and use it later either on yourself or an enemy). This gives Vorlance a little extra utility both in and out of combat, as he can purchase basically any scroll he wants thanks to his Gather Information check and Noble Familiarity. Is it necessary? Not really, is it a great utility to have, yes. Alternatively can substitute for any other Legacy Weapon Vorlance can qualify for and complete the Least Ritual for.

Spoiler: Monk 4/Totemist 3/Spinemeld Warrior 10/Legacy Champion 3

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I obtained the most elite title amongst the Spinemeld Warriors, “August perfect of roses.” Joining the Spinemeld was my greatest achievement up until that point. I felt like my years of dedication and perfection was still not enough. I need to push further. Digging into the history of the axe I obtained from the nobility, “Lorestealer,” that let me cleave scrolls into casting themselves I realized there is somewhere further I can go. Since obtaining it I met the rituals. I defended my friends, compatriots, and fellow soldiers by divine in front of blows for them; I specifically caused problems with a scroll just to further empower the axe, and it hurt. I am ready to take the order of the Spinmeld Warrior further than anyone has ever taken it before. I will perfect my rank above all others and with my axe I shall make its legacy my own.

And here is the real reason we wanted a Legacy Weapon. What better way to exemplify the Spinemeld Warriors than having 12 levels of Spinemeld Warrior? Because that's what Legacy Champion provides. Normally Legacy Champion in Iron Chef wouldn’t be kosher, but our unique class ability to pick up whatever item we want makes it work. What Vorlance gets out of this is two things: 1) An extra +2 Gather Information because you get to add class level to that 2) The ability to increase the Spinemeld Cap to half his level which is now 6... meaning he gets to bypass DR/Epic early. And that I feel makes it worth taking not 10, but 12 levels of our Secret Ingredient. Sadly there's no set incarnum progression to continue here (I could make an argument for patterns resulting in one extra shaped meld and 2 extra essentia, but I am assuming you do not get that in the progression table below)

Another big pickup was Dual Chakra. It requiring Meldshaper Level 9 instead of Character Level 9 meant not being able to grab it until level 18, but hey at least here at the end we can pick back up the Pounce option we had at the beginning and use it with Mauling Gauntlets, the two combining together to great effect.

At this level, Essentia cap for non-Spinemelds is up to 5, and an extra 1 higher for Mauling Gauntlets. His damage is 3d6+26 (3d6+23 offhand) per hit, with 7 attacks per round, 8 if hasted or grabs a speed weapon, if any of those successfully trips (which he attempts at a roughly +30 at this point). Basically Vorlance is still doing what he's always been best at, he's just now much better than the best at it... and that is knocking people on their ass.

Legacy Champion's other abilities are not terrible, but not overly important either. Replace Legacy Ability(Least) lets him swap out Scroll Use (whose UMD check bonus he will never use and instead rely on Scrollcasting) with Enlarge Person 1/day (it is late, but it does play into his strengths giving extra damage, allowing him to trip bigger creature, and getting a +5 to trip checks). Extra Legacy Ability use Axe Casting gets us 3 scroll casts of up to 6th level spells each day for that little extra bit of utility.

Spoiler: Source List

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Passive Way Monk (UA/SRD)
Holy Strike Monk ACF (Complete Champion)
Invisible Fist Monk ACF (Exemplars of Evil)
Knockdown Feat (Sword and Fist)
Legacy Champion/Lorekeeper (Weapons of Legacy)
Gloves of the Balanced Hand (Magic Item Compendium)
Fanged Ring (Dragon Magic)
Monk’s Belt (DMG)
Everything else not listed (Magic of Incarnum)

[The Viscount]

Eh sure that looks fine

The lazy chef's spinemeld warrior

Picture: OK I don’t have a good picture here but imagine a really tough looking skarn with like a faraway look on his face, kind of thoughtful but also determined, and maybe he has a scar on one side of his face and is wearing a cool outfit

"Likely better than anything else that gets submitted" -A wise person, probably

"I mean it's pretty hard to screw up, you could take toughess for every feat and still make it work" -ibid.

Skarn, Warblade 10/Spinemeld Warrior 10
1 Warblade1- Azure Toughness
2 Warblade2-
3 Warblade3- Toughness
4 Warblade4-
5 Warblade5- Ironheart Aura
6 Spinemeld Warrior1- Toughness, Two-Weapon Fighting
7 Spinemeld Warrior2-
8 Warblade6-
9 Spinemeld Warrior3- Stormguard Warrior
10 Spinemeld Warrior4-
11 Warblade7-
12 Spinemeld Warrior5- Toughness
13 Spinemeld Warrior6-
14 Warblade8-
15 Spinemeld Warrior 7- Toughness
16 Spinemeld Warrior8-
17 Warblade9- Improved Initiative
18 Spinemeld Warrior9- Toughness
19 Spinemeld Warrior10-
20 Warblade10-

Maneuvers:
1- Wolf fang strike, sudden leap, moment of perfect mind, leading the attack or something idk
2- Wall of blades, claw at the moon
3- Iron heart surge
4- Death from above
5- Dancing mongoose, pouncing charge
6- Nothin’, because pouncing charge is better than any of the 6ths you qualify for
7- Swooping dragon strike
8- Raging mongoose

Stances:
1- Punishing stance, hunter’s sense, wolf pack tactics

Stats:
Put a bunch in strength

Skills:
Make it so he can like jump around a bunch and maybe intimidate for when he speaks in a real gravelly voice

Backstory:
OK this is a really cool backstory where a skarn had something really sad happen, maybe his parents died? And then he dedicated his life to learning how to fight with his spines so that he could - wait no that’s batman. OK make it his girlfriend who died? Hm, no, don’t want to fridge someone just for character development. Maybe an uncle who died. That one’s pretty original. Anyhow he gets really good at fighting and talks in a cool voice and one day he finds out who killed his uncle and then beats them up using this really cool move he learned from an old man in a cave somewhere (oh wait maybe the old man was his mentor and the old man died!!!)

oh and make him an orphan

Level by level:
Level 5- Walk around with a boatload of HP and kill stuff with your maneuvers
Level 10- Walk around with a boatload of HP and kill stuff with your maneuvers, also you can TWF (who needs dex) and charge up Stormguard Warrior and buy cool stuff
Level 15- Walk around with a boatload of HP and kill stuff with your maneuvers, also you can TWF (who needs dex) and charge up Stormguard Warrior and buy cool stuff, also also your spines are +3 and you can use like bluesteel bracers and stuff
Level 20- RAGING MONGOOSE ATTACK!!!!!!! (backstory notes maybe this is the cool move he learned from the old man??)

Sources: the book with all the swords and the weird book with a bunch of blue stuff

EDIT: so apparently I need a build table damn, sorry about that

Spoiler: build table

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[The Viscount]

Yep I'm totally a Skarn I like spines.

The Black Cat
The Imposter

White Dragonspawn Changeling Armored Mage Skilled City Dweller Fighter 1/Soul Eater 7/Warshaper 4/Skilled City Dweller Spinemeld Warrior 7

"Did you see Morgelle the other day? He was acting a bit suspicious. Very intense. More and more of us are going missing, I'm getting concerned there might be an assassin among us. But you? I can trust you." - Spinemeld Warrior Stergan Drott's last words.

PART ONE: THE BLACK CAT
Lawful Evil White Dragonspawn Changeling Armored Mage Skilled City Dweller Fighter 1/Were-Dire Puma 8/Soul Eater 3

Spoiler

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People think monsters are born. That badness comes from an inherent evil that lurks within monstrous hearts. That when you defeat an evil, it goes away forever. Not so. Sometimes, evil comes back stronger, and it comes for you.

Nobody knows who The Black Cat was originally. Perhaps they were a city guard who fell to corruption. Perhaps they were a thief who stole more than they could pay back. If you asked them a thousand times, they would give a thousand answers. But one thing is certain: Whatever they became was not something they were born with.

We know that they had many masters before that gave them their dark gifts. Bitten by a were-cat, and warped into a draconic slave. They revelled in their power, delighting in tearing their marks to pieces disguised as their loved ones, feeding on their souls and gaining strength from it. People feared The Black Cat as it prowled the night, performing dark deeds for its masters. It was from this that it gained a sense of identity - the only identity it would ever take as it's own. No matter what mask it wore, underneath it was always The Black Cat.

This was naturally when adventurers would step in, and defeat The Black Cat. A group of Skarn, to be exact - lured by it's claws and teeth and the promise of honour and glory, these brave folk would protect the people The Black Cat preyed upon so freely. Spinemeld Warriors each one, some Soulcasters, some warriors, all equipped with arm spines and bravery.

"Why kill me?" it told them. "My masters will only raise me from the dead and I will kill again. I will keep killing until there is nobody left to kill. There is nothing you can do to stop me, my power is complete."

"But, monster, did you not see the shape of the moon? How full and bright it is tonight?"

"Hah! The moon, pitiful mortals, is my domain. It grants me strength. Tonight the moon will bear witness to... wait..."

"That's right, monster. You picked the one time when we can rid you of your curse. Break Enchantment!"

And with that, the fur fell away from the body of the monster previously known as The Black Cat. Scrabbling, desperate, it tried to grab the heroes, but all its power was gone. It couldn't muster the strength to drain their souls, it couldn't become a cat and run away. Shifting, screaming, the pitiful humanoid that remained had been utterly defanged with a single spell. But still, the adventurers refused to kill it.

"There is no honour in killing a defenseless creature. You will live, and you will spend your every day regretting the path you chose."

It tried to find the lycanthrope that turned it to get its abilities back. But it was no good, the curse could not take hold. No curse could, apart from the curse of having it's only identity ripped from it. It vowed revenge on the adventurers, on their race, on their very faces. Killing them was not enough, no, what they had done to it was far worse than mere death. It would become them, and steal from them their identities and ruin them.

Spoiler: Point Buy and Stat Mods

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White Dragonspawn Changeling Fighter 1/Were-Dire Puma 8/Soul Eater 3
Str 18
Dex 8 (+2 white dragonspawn)
Con 14 (+2 white dragonspawn)
Int 10
Wis 8
Cha 15

Spoiler: Build Breakdown

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	White Dragonspawn	--	--	--	--	--	--	breath weapon, death throes, spellcasting
2nd	Fighter	+1	+2	+0	+0	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks	Racial EmulationRoD, Weapon Focus (Claw)	Armored Mage
3rd	Lycanthrope 1	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
4th	Lycanthrope 2	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
5th	Dire Puma 1	+1	+4	+2	+0	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 2 ranks	Alertness	improved grab, pounce, rake
6th	Dire Puma 2	+2	+5	+3	+0	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 4 ranks	--	--
7th	Dire Puma 3	+3	+5	+3	+1	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 2 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 4 ranks	Track	--
8th	Dire Puma 4	+4	+6	+4	+1	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 4 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 4 ranks	--	--
9th	Dire Puma 5	+4	+6	+4	+1	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 5 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 5 ranks	--	--
10th	Dire Puma 6	+5	+7	+5	+2	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 6 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 6 ranks	Weapon Focus (bite)	--
11th	Soul Eater 1	+6	+9	+7	+4	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 7 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 7 ranks	--	energy drain 1
12th	Soul Eater 2	+7	+10	+8	+5	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 9 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 9 ranks	Bonus EssentiaMoI	soul strength
13th	Soul Eater 3	+8	+10	+8	+5	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 11 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 11 ranks	--	soul blast

Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	5 (4)	4 (2)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Spells Known:

Level	Spells
0	Prestidigitation Ghost Sound Mage Hand Arcane Mark
1st	Disguise Self Blood WindRoTD

PART TWO: ...
Lawful Evil White Dragonspawn Changeling Armored Mage Skilled City Dweller Fighter 1/Soul Eater 3/Warshaper 2

Spoiler

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During this time in the build, the creature is almost entirely defenseless. It has its breath weapon, claws, and the 1st level magic spells that are afforded to it by Dragonspawn, but it is hardly a match for anything level appropriate. Having been cured of lycanthropy, the creature has lost it's ability to drain souls - its main form of attack. This part of the build will be incredibly tough, and rely on the character avoiding combat at all costs. Thankfully, it only needs to gain two levels of Warshaper in order to unlock its abilities, at which point it has BAB +5, its Bonus Essentia feat back (and thus an Essentia Pool of 1), and most importantly, the ability to grow arm spines. This is incredibly important for the build: with Racial Emulation, the creature can pass as a skarn for all purposes, including prerequisites. With arm spines, it can use the abilities of Spinemeld Warrior.... without actually being a skarn.

PART THREE: THE IMPOSTER
White Dragonspawn Changeling Armored Mage Skilled City Dweller Fighter 1/Soul Eater 3/Warshaper 2/Skilled City Dweller Spinemeld Warrior 2/Soul Eater +4/Spinemeld Warrior +5/Warshaper +2

Spoiler

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Morgelle crept down the hallways of the great halls of the mishtai, his footsteps echoing in the dark, bleak halls. It had been so busy recently, and now it was quiet and haunting. So many friends went missing. others turned up long dead when he could have sworn they were alive just a few moments ago. He had only just finished his tasks, he had to taken on so much more now that his friends had gone. He saw a shadow flickering in the torchlight. Alekk! It must be Alekk! He called out, and Alekk stepped from the darkness.

"Oh, Alekk! I was so worried, I thought something awful had happened to you."

"Don't worry, Morgelle. Nothing happened to me."

"What were you doing over there? You know there's a curfew on."

Morgelle strained their neck to look around the corner Alekk had appeared from. There was... a boot? And blood. A lot of blood. Morgelle stepped back, aghast. It was Alekk, lying in a pool of his own blood, torn to shreds. Then the Alekk in front of him....

Was no longer him. It was striding towards him, arm spines flicked out and flailing impossibly, the false Alekk's mouth opening too wide revealing rows upon rows of teeth, a tongue that lashed towards him. He heard a voice, a voice that he only heard once before, and would never hear again..

"I TOOK HIM. JUST LIKE I WILL TAKE YOU."

And darkness overtook Morgelle. The last, fleeting thought was of a black cat, looking at him from the darkness, licking its lips.

Spoiler: Feats and Such

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Feats:
1) Racial Emulation^RoD
B) Weapon Focus (Claw)
3) Bonus Essentia^Moi
6) Alertness
9) Open Least Chakra (Hands)^MoI
12) Shape Soulmeld (Sphynx Claws)^MoI
15) Improved Energy Drain^LM
18) Spell Drain^LM

Rituals taken:
Draconic Rite of Passage (Nerveskitter 1/day)* ^{RoTD Web Enhancement}
Ritual of Dark Flames^{LoD pg. 11}

*Using Racial Emulation, The Imposter can transform into a kobold and count as a kobold for the purpose of the draconic rite of passage. Since the rite of passage only has a prerequisite for having done it, not for keeping the resulting spell like ability, The Imposter has a spell like ability that has a caster level equal to their HD. This is important for qualifying for Spell Drain much later on, which requires a caster level of 5th. I feel bad about doing it, but I ran out of feats for Practiced Spellcaster, and stealing another race's rite of passage seems like something they'd do.

Spoiler: Build Breakdown

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	White Dragonspawn	--	--	--	--	--	--	breath weapon, death throes, spellcasting
2nd	Fighter	+1	+2	+0	+0	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks	Racial EmulationRoD, Weapon Focus (Claw)	Armored Mage
3rd	Soul Eater 1	+2	+4	+2	+2	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 4 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks	--	energy drain 1
4th	Soul Eater 2	+3	+5	+3	+3	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 4 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 4 ranks	Bonus Essentia	soul strength
5th	Soul Eater 3	+4	+5	+3	+3	Climb 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 5 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 5 ranks	--	soul blast
6th	Warshaper 1	+4	+7	+3	+3	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 2 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 5 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 5 ranks	--	morphic immunities, morphic weapons
7th	Warshaper 2	+5	+8	+4	+4	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 4 ranks, Hide 5 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 5 ranks	Alertness	morphic body
8th	Spinemeld Warrior 1	+6	+10	+4	+4	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 6 ranks, Hide 5 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 5 ranks	Two Weapon Fighting (B)	twin spine fighting
9th	Spinemeld Warrior 2	+7	+11	+4	+4	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 8 ranks, Hide 5 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 5 ranks	--	noble familiarity, spine enhancement
10th	Soul Eater 4	+8	+12	+5	+5	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 8 ranks, Hide 7 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 7 ranks	Open Least Chakra (Hands)	soul enhancement
11th	Soul Eater 5	+9	+12	+5	+5	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 8 ranks, Hide 9 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 9 ranks	--	soul enhancement
12th	Soul Eater 6	+10	+13	+6	+6	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 8 ranks, Hide 11 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 11 ranks	--	soul radiance
13th	Soul Eater 7	+11	+13	+6	+6	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 8 ranks, Hide 13 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 13 ranks	Shape Soulmeld (Sphynx Claws)	energy drain 2
14th	Spinemeld Warrior 3	+12	+13	+7	+7	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 10 ranks, Hide 13 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 13 ranks	--	--
15th	Spinemeld Warrior 4	+13	+14	+7	+7	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 12 ranks, Hide 13 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 13 ranks	--	--
16th	Spinemeld Warrior 5	+14	+14	+7	+7	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 14 ranks, Hide 13 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 13 ranks	Improved Energy Drain	spine rend
17th	Spinemeld Warrior 6	+15	+15	+8	+8	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 16 ranks, Hide 13 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 13 ranks	--	--
18th	Spinemeld Warrior 7	+16	+15	+8	+8	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 4 ranks, Gather Information 18 ranks, Hide 13 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 13 ranks	--	chakra bind (arms)
19th	Warshaper 3	+17	+15	+8	+8	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 6 ranks, Gather Information 18 ranks, Hide 13 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 13 ranks	Spell Drain	morphic reach
20th	Warshaper 4	+18	+16	+8	+8	Climb 4 ranks, Disguise 8 ranks, Gather Information 18 ranks, Hide 13 ranks, Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks, Move Silently 13 ranks	--	morphic healing

Spoiler: Using The Build

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The Imposter attacks mostly using its energy drain ability, which is greatly enhanced by its arm spines. The arm spines, thanks to Twin Spine Fighting, get iteratives +1 attacks, which is 5 attacks at level 18. This isn't including morphic weapons' other natural weapons, which would be cumbersome and obvious in normal situations. So not having to use 5 move actions to grow additional weapons is sometimes advantageous, and it makes a necklace of natural attacks a lot cheaper if you didn't have to enchant 5 different natural weapons. The Imposter is always in Skarn form, so having this invisible weapon is very important to them. Sphynx Claws is used by level 12 to give Pounce back to The Imposter, something they lost after being cured of lycanthropy. A full attack from them would be incredibly dangerous. If they find themselves having to attack at range, they can fly and also use blood wind to attack with all their natural weapons from a safe place. Using that spell, they deal damage as if they had attacked from melee range, which I assume includes the energy drain damage. They also can use the ritual of dark flames to deal HDd6 damage at will, using Strongheart Vest to soak the damage up. One point of essentia for immunity to the wisdom damage is a good deal. Other cool natural weapons The Imposter could use to deal negative levels include the Dire Toad^MMII's tongue, and perhaps the Coral Golem^SW's coral stars. Is it still touching them if you've hucked a part of your body you've torn off yourself? Who knows, that might be gilding the lily a little.

The Imposter can use Noble Familiarity to find access to magical items such as the aforementioned necklace, wands of Blood Wind^SpC, and items such as The Shirt of Wraith Stalking^MIC to become invisible to undead. Since undead are immune to most of their tricks (energy drain and negative energy blast), it's best to avoid them altogether. The Imposter is an assassin, not an exterminator. A Hat of Disguise augments their disguising abilities,

Spine Enhancement is a useful way of getting cheap bonuses on the spines, so that the necklace of natural attacks can be given more special abilities.

Chakra bind (arms) can be used to bind the mauling gauntlets - effectively giving him improved critical for his arm spines. I don't think that you wield other natural weapons, but you definitely wield your spines thanks to Twin Spine Fighting.

I chose to drop the last three levels of Spinemeld Warrior as damage is not really important to The Imposter - it doesn't matter if he does less damage if he can drain the life out of his foes, and nothing really has DR/Adamantine worth worrying about.

Later on, Soul Radiance and Spell Drain become much more important - shapechanging into powerful monsters and using Minor Shape Change to appear as a skarn again gives The Imposter an edge, and Spell Drain allows them to cast spells they've stolen. Theft, if you haven't guessed, is a very important part of the character.

Spoiler: Explaining the Cheesy Tricks

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• Skilled City Dweller is vitally important to using Noble Familiarity, and thankfully Spinemeld Warrior has Handle Animal on it's skill list. Note that the ACF states "any class with these skills" can take the ACF, which does not preclude prestige classes.
• Being cured of lycanthropy is an important part of the character, as it sparks the rest of their career and sets their trajectory. This does mean that they are left with three dead levels of Soul Eater, but they keep the BAB. By levelling up a different class in the meantime, I'm able to self qualify for Soul Eater, saving precious levels I would have otherwise had to fill with useless base classes. I asked The Viscount, and they stated that self qualification was legal.
• Yes, I know, morphic weapons can give you NI natural weapons to use with Soul Eater, but no DM will ever let you do this. For this build I assume that you can grow a few extra natural weapons for that The Thing flavor, and focus on how cool it is arm spines give you iteratives.
• I am using the reading that every touch a Soul Eater does deals energy drain, and for that I am truly sorry.

Spoiler: Sources

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Races of Destiny (Changeling, Racial Emulation)
Magic of Incarnum (Spinemeld Warrior, Bonus Essentia, Open Least Shakra, Shape Soulmeld)
Libris Mortis (Improved Energy Drain, Spell Drain)
Races of the Dragon Web Enhancement (Draconic Rite of Passage)
Complete Mage (Armored Mage ACF)
Cityscape (Skilled City Dweller)
Lords of Darkness (Ritual of the Dark Flames)
Dragonlance Campaign Setting (White Dragonspawn)
Spell Compendium (Blood Wind)
Races of the Dragon (Nerveskitter)
Sandstorm (Dire Puma)
Races of Eberron (Racial Emulation)

[The Viscount]

Yo dawg I heard you like incarnum

Kim Pogona
LN Changeling Warblade 3/Thug Fighter 2/Warshaper 2/Spinemeld Warrior 3/Ironsoul Forgemaster 10

Spoiler: Iron and Bone

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“Do you know how they used to make steel in olden times?” The old dwarf asked gruffly.

Pogona shook his head.

“Bones,” she grunted through her soot-blackened beard. “You cook up iron with bone, and you get steel. Some say that there’s something in the bone that changes the iron. Some say that it gives a little spark of soul to the metal that toughens it.”

“Which is it?” Pogona asked.

“Could be either. Could be both.” She laughed. “Either way though, there’s iron in all our blood and we’ve all got bones, and a soul of our very own. So everybody’s definitely got the ingredients to make a sword before they ever step up to the forge. Just got to make them work for you, but you’ve a knack for that.”

She pinched his cheek affectionately. It stretched out from his face a bit more than one would expect. He blushed as his body drew it back sharply, hardening it to the reptilian scaliness of one of his skarn friends. The old smith tousled his hair affectionately. “Don’t worry about it, lad. You’ll understand one day.”

Spoiler: Man of Steel

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Ability Scores
16 Str, 16 Dex, 14 Con, 12 Int, 8 Wis, 10 Cha
Increase Dex at 4th, 8th, and 12th, Str at 16th and 20th
Alternately, as Noble Familiarity makes items more reliably available, consider increasing Dex only at 12th and buying +2 Gloves of Dexterity.

Build Table

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Warblade 1	+1	+2	+0	+0	Tumble 4, Jump 4, Balance 4, Gather Information 2, Knowledge (Local) 2, Craft (Armorsmithing) 4	Able Learner	Battle Clarity (Reflex Saves), Weapon Aptitude
2nd	Thug Fighter	+2	+4	+0	+0	Tumble 5, Jump 5, Balance 5, Gather Information 3, Knowledge (Local) 2, Craft (Armorsmithing) 5	-	-
3rd	Thug Fighter 2	+3	+5	+0	+0	Tumble 6, Jump 6, Balance 5, Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Local) 3, Craft (Armorsmithing) 6	Racial Emulation, Urban TrackingB	Draconic Rite of Passage (Magic Weapon* 1/day)
4th	Warblade 2	+4	+6	+0	+0	Tumble 7, Jump 7, Balance 5, Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Local) 5, Craft (Armorsmithing) 7	-	Uncanny Dodge
5th	Warshaper 1	+4	+8	+0	+0	Tumble 8, Jump 8, Balance 5, Gather Information 5, Knowledge (Local) 6, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8	-	Morphic Immunities, Morphic Weapons
6th	Warshaper 2	+5	+9	+0	+0	Tumble 8, Jump 9, Balance 5, Gather Information 5, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8	Touchstone (Bastion of Souls)	Morphic Body
7th	Spinemeld Warrior 1	+6	+11	+0	+0	Tumble 8, Jump 10, Balance 5, Gather Information 7, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8	Two-Weapon FightingB	Twin-Spine Fighting
8th	Spinemeld Warrior 2	+7	+12	+0	+0	Tumble 8, Jump 11, Balance 5, Gather Information 9, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8	-	Noble Familiarity, Spine Enhancement
9th	Spinemeld Warrior 3	+8	+12	+1	+1	Tumble 8, Jump 12, Balance 5, Gather Information 9, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2	Improved Two-Weapon Fighting	-
10th	Ironsoul Forgemaster 1	+8	+14	+1	+3	Tumble 8, Jump 13, Balance 5, Gather Information 11, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2	-	Shield Bond
11th	Ironsoul Forgemaster 2	+9	+15	+1	+4	Tumble 8, Jump 14, Balance 5, Gather Information 13, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2	Craft Magic Arms & Armor	Secrets of the Forge
12th	Ironsoul Forgemaster 3	+10	+16	+2	+4	Tumble 8, Jump 15, Balance 5, Gather Information 15, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2	Bonus Essentia	Forge Lore
13th	Ironsoul Forgemaster 4	+11	+16	+2	+5	Tumble 9, Jump 16, Balance 5, Gather Information 16, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2	-	Armor Bond
14th	Ironsoul Forgemaster 5	+11	+16	+2	+5	Tumble 10, Jump 17, Balance 5, Gather Information 17, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2	-	Armor Bond
15th	Ironsoul Forgemaster 6	+12	+17	+3	+6	Tumble 11, Jump 18, Balance 5, Gather Information 18, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2	Greater Two-Weapon Fighting	Chakra Bind (Waist)
16th	Ironsoul Forgemaster 7	+13	+17	+3	+6	Tumble 12, Jump 19, Balance 5, Gather Information 19, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2	-	-
17th	Ironsoul Forgemaster 8	+14	+18	+3	+7	Tumble 12, Jump 20, Balance 5, Gather Information 20, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1	-	Chakra Bind (Shoulders)
18th	Ironsoul Forgemaster 9	+14	+18	+4	+7	Tumble 13, Jump 21, Balance 5, Gather Information 21, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1	Martial Study (Dancing Mongoose)	Weapon Bond
19th	Ironsoul Forgemaster 10	+15	+19	+4	+8	Tumble 14, Jump 22, Balance 5, Gather Information 22, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1	-	Chakra Bind (Heart)
20th	Warblade 3	+16	+19	+5	+9	Tumble 17, Jump 23, Balance 5, Gather Information 23, Knowledge (Local) 8, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1	-	Battle Ardor (Critical Confirmation)

*If Noble Familiarity can be used for spellcasting services to help with crafting and Magic Weapon is not necessary to craft a Soulbound Weapon, then take something more useful, like Benign Transposition.

Maneuvers

Level	Maneuvers Known	Maneuvers Readied	Stances Known
1st	Wolf Fang Strike, Sudden Leap, Steel Wind	3	Hunter’s Sense
4th	Wolf Fang Strike, Sudden Leap, Steel Wind, Claw at the Moon	3	Hunter’s Sense
18th	Wolf Fang Strike, Sudden Leap, Steel Wind, Claw at the Moon, Dancing Mongoose	3	Hunter’s Sense
20th	Wolf Fang Strike, Sudden Leap, Steel Wind, Dancing Mongoose, Pouncing Charge	3	Hunter’s Sense

Meldshaping

Level	Soulmelds	Essentia	Chakra Binds
6th	0	1	0
8th	0	2	0
9th	0	3	0
10th	1	3	0
11th	1	4	0
12th	1	6	0
13th	1	7	0
14th	2	8	1
15th	2	9	1
17th	2	10	1

Spoiler: The Ultimate Weapon

Show

Level 6

Spoiler

Show

Needing full BAB to enter Warshaper on time means no Changeling Rogue, but Thug Fighter and Warblade are at least 4+Int instead of 2. Warblade provides some tactical movement with Sudden Leap and a few ways to make multiple attacks as a standard action. Warshaper is always fun, and makes Racial Emulation Changeling entry into the SI viable by giving Pogona spines that he otherwise wouldn’t have. As there isn’t really an Incarnum feat that does more for you than just giving the requisite point of essentia to enter the SI, the lower-order ability of the Bastion of Souls Planar Touchstone site gets the job done there. Per Sandstorm, Planar Touchstone sites are also Touchstone sites, so Knowledge (Local) covers qualification (as well as granting a synergy bonus to Gather Info), and the higher-order ability will be very useful later on.

Level 11

Spoiler

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Only three levels of the SI. The class features run out at level 2, but you need the ability to shape soulmelds to enter Ironsoul Forgemaster, and that doesn’t come online until the 3rd level of Spinemeld Warrior. Ironsoul Forgemaster does maintain the important parts of the SI, however, as it progresses meldshaping, provides more chakra binds, and even offers a workaround to the essentia cap on Spine Enhancement that would otherwise be stunted by leaving early. Namely, it (along with the ability to cast Magic Weapon acquired from emulating a kobold long enough to undergo the Draconic Rite of Passage, which also gives you a CL equal to character level to stack with your Forgemaster level for crafting with Secrets of the Forge), to add the Soulbound weapon enhancement (or once you can afford it, the greater version) to your Necklace of Natural Weapons (the necklace itself requires Craft Wondrous Item to create for some reason, but Noble Familiarity ensures that you’ll be able to find one). With the Soulbound enhancement on your spines, you can invest essentia into your spines up to the cap set by the enhancement, rather than that of Spinemeld Warrior, but they are still invested in the spines, so the Spine Enhancement bonus still applies, and indeed double dips with the enhancement. Enjoy swinging away with a much higher enhancement bonus on both spines than a normal TWFer could ever afford and between Noble Familiarity and Secrets of the Forge crafting, you’re free to add other fancy enhancements that apply to both as well.

Level 15

Spoiler

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Progressing Spinemeld Warrior’s meldshaping progression with Ironsoul Forgemaster means having more chakras open than you get binds, but Bastion of Souls higher-order ability (which Noble Familiarity should be able to finagle you some reliable portal or Plane Shift access to reliably recharge) has you covered, as it gives you an extra bind, allowing you to bind to the Arms chakra as soon as it’s open, and both the Arms and Waist when the bind from progression and Waist chakra come online at level 15. Greater Two-Weapon Fighting is now online, and with a +8 enhancement bonus from a fully invested Greater Soulbound weapon double dipping with Spine Enhancement, and a high Str score (20 before items thanks to Morphic Body, and items are reliably available with Noble Familiarity), later iteratives and off-hand attacks hit a bit more often and harder than they otherwise might.

Level 20

Spoiler

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Finishing out Ironsoul Forgemaster means Weapon Bond is now online, granting another perk for investing essentia into your spines (which are, after all, a weapon you made yourself), namely that every hit (with either main or offhand of a 16 BAB Greater Two-Weapon Fighting routine where both weapons have a +8 enhancement bonus) comes with a rider of a DC 14+Con Fort save against daze. You also have a wider variety of chakras open, so pick whatever two are suitable for a given day. Martial Study and a dip back into Warblade nab a few higher level manuevers, namely Dancing Mongoose for extra attacks as a swift and Pouncing Charge which makes the ability to full attack every round more reliable than it was with Sudden Leap alone.

Spoiler: The Forge

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Complete Warrior: Warshaper
Magic of Incarnum: Open Lesser Chakra, Ironsoul Forgemaster, Spinemeld Warrior, Soulmelds, Bastion of Souls
Races of Destiny: Able Learner
Races of Eberron: Changeling, Racial Emulation
Races of the Dragon: Draconic Rite of Passage
Sandstorm: Touchstone
Tome of Battle: Martial Study, Warblade, Maneuvers
Everything else is SRD.

[The Viscount]

One spine, two spine, red spine, er... green spine.

Trakkisin Rus
LE Skarn Ranger 10/Monk 2/Spinemeld Warrior 8

Spoiler: Green Spine-Red Spine

Show

“Face each other! Bow!”

Trakkisin bowed to the other Green Spine that stood across from him. He’d rushed into the class from the look of it. He’d probably been a regular grunt in the army a few weeks ago, and was now in front of a crowd of hundreds with a fancy title. Shame what had to happen to him, really.

“Ready,” the referee called out as the two assumed their stances. “Begin!”

The other skarn rushed forward, quick on his feet, swinging a spined arm down to catch Trakkisin’s shoulders. Trakkisin grimaced, but rolled with the blow, twisting into a heavy blow with his own spines, before vanishing into thin air and stepping to the side. He had never been the stealthiest, even among Skarn, but the roar of the crowd and inexperience were disorienting his fellow Green Spine, who moved a way that he shouldn’t have and opened himself up to another two slashes across his back. There was a feeble attempt at a blow in response, but Trakkisin caught the other skarn’s spines with his own, opening his adversary up to a knee to the gut that drove the wind out of them. Ripping into his opponent’s flesh once more with his spines, he brought the battle to an end as quickly as he could.

Standing over his fallen adversary, Trakkisin raised both arms, that the crowd could see the blood dripping from his spines.

“Red Spine!” The crowd chanted, delightedly. “Red Spine! Red Spine!”

Spoiler: Rain-Snow-Mist

Show

Ability Scores
32 Point-Buy: 16 Str, 14 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Int, 14 Wis, 10 Cha
After Racial Modifiers: 18 Str, 12 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Int, 14 Wis, 10 Cha
Increase Str at all opportunities.

Build Table

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Ranger 1	+1	+2	+2	+0	Ride 4, Knowledge (The Planes) 4, Gather Information 4, Swim 4, Spot 4, Listen 2, Knowledge (Arcana) 1cc	Improved Unarmed Strike, Urban TrackingB	Urban Tracker, Favored Enemy (Arcanists), UA Planar Ranger, Skilled City-Dweller (Handle Animal for Gather Information)
2nd	Monk 1	+2	+4	+4	+2	Ride 4, Knowledge (The Planes) 4, Gather Information 4, Swim 5, Spot 4, Listen 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 1, Quick Swimmer	Stunning FistB	Decisive Strike, Skarn Monk
3rd	Monk 2	+2	+5	+5	+3	Ride 4, Knowledge (The Planes) 4, Gather Information 4, Swim 5, Spot 4, Listen 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	Ascetic Hunter, Combat ReflexesB	Invisible Fist
4th	Ranger 2	+3	+6	+6	+3	Ride 6, Knowledge (The Planes) 4, Gather Information 6, Swim 5, Spot 5, Listen 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	Two-Weapon FightingB	Combat Style
5th	Ranger 3	+4	+6	+6	+4	Ride 8, Knowledge (The Planes) 4, Gather Information 8, Swim 5, Spot 6, Listen 6, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	EnduranceB	-
6th	Ranger 4	+5	+7	+7	+4	Ride 9, Knowledge (The Planes) 5, Gather Information 9, Swim 5, Spot 8, Listen 7, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	Sapphire Fist	-
7th	Ranger 5	+6	+7	+7	+4	Ride 10, Knowledge (The Planes) 6, Gather Information 10, Swim 5, Spot 9, Listen 9, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	-	Favored Enemy (Humanoid (Reptilian))
8th	Ranger 6	+7	+8	+8	+5	Ride 11, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 11, Swim 5, Spot 10, Listen 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	Improved Two-Weapon FightingB	Improved Combat Style
9th	Spinemeld Warrior 1	+8	+10	+8	+5	Ride 12, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 12, Swim 5, Spot 10, Listen 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	Planar Touchstone (Oxyrhynchus), Double HitB	Twin Spine Fighting, Skilled City-Dweller (Trade Handle Animal for Gather Information)
10th	Spinemeld Warrior 2	+9	+11	+8	+5	Ride 13, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 13, Swim 5, Spot 10, Listen 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	-	Noble Familiarity, Spine Enhancement
11th	Spinemeld Warrior 3	+10	+11	+9	+6	Ride 14, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 14, Swim 5, Spot 10, Listen 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	-	-
12th	Spinemeld Warrior 4	+11	+12	+9	+6	Ride 15, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 15, Swim 5, Spot 10, Listen 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	Snap Kick	-
13th	Spinemeld Warrior 5	+12	+12	+9	+6		-	Spine Rend
14th	Spinemeld Warrior 6	+13	+13	+10	+7	Ride 17, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 17, Swim 5, Spot 10, Listen 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	-	-
15th	Spinemeld Warrior 7	+14	+13	+10	+7	Ride 18, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 18, Swim 5, Spot 10, Listen 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Quick Swimmer	Robilar’s Gambit	Chakra Bind (Arms)
16th	Spinemeld Warrior 8	+15	+14	+10	+7	Ride 18, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 19, Swim 5, Spot 10, Listen 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1, Quick Swimmer	-	-
17th	Ranger 7	+16	+14	+10	+7	Ride 18, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 20, Swim 5, Spot 13, Listen 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1, Quick Swimmer, Clarity of Vision	-	Crowd-Walker
18th	Ranger 8	+17	+15	+11	+7	Ride 18, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 21, Swim 5, Spot 18, Listen 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1, Quick Swimmer, Clarity of Vision	Superior Unarmed Strike	Portal Intuition
19th	Ranger 9	+18	+15	+11	+8	Ride 18, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 22, Swim 5, Spot 18, Listen 16, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1, Quick Swimmer, Clarity of Vision	-	Evasion
20th	Ranger 10	+19	+16	+12	+8	Ride 18, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Gather Information 23, Swim 5, Spot 19, Listen 19, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Balance 5, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1, Quick Swimmer, Clarity of Vision	-	Favored Enemy (Humanoid (Human))

Ranger Spells/Day

Level	1st	2nd
6th	0	-
8th	1	-
18th	1	0
20th	1	1

*Does not include bonus spells from a high Wis score.

Meldshaping

Level	Soulmelds	Essencia	Chakra Binds
6th	0	1	0
10th	0	2	0
11th	1	3	0
12th	1	4	0
14th	1	5	0
15th	2	6	1
16th	2	7	1

Spoiler: Spine Fighter

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Level 5

Spoiler

Show

Skarn Monk means losing Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat, and needing to spend a regular feat on it in order to qualify for Ascetic Hunter, but it’ll pay off, as the two together give the spines the damage dice of a Monk of our combined Monk/Ranger level. Skarn Monk also allows us to Decisive Strike with the spines, dealing double damage on the attack as well as any attacks of opportunity that might be incurred during the round (for the moment being, carry around a longspear to get a few extra double-damage hits in).

Level 10

Spoiler

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Sapphire Fist, along with Decisive Strike, makes Stunning Fist more of a threat, and Ranger covers both Two-Weapon Fighting and Improved Two-Weapon Fighting without our needing to meet the Dex prerequisites, while progressing spine damage. This sets up our entry into the SI. Double Hit is one of only a few feats that require Two-Weapon Fighting but not a high Dex score, and it pairs well with Decisive Strike, allowing us to hit an enemy that provokes with both spines, with the damage doubled on both. An enemy who we attack twice, most likely in this way, can also be rendered flat-footed by Invisible Fist as an immediate action, allowing for an additional attack from Planar Touchstone (Oxyrhynchus)’s lower-order ability.

In addition to providing Knowledge (Planes) to qualify for Planar Touchstone, UA Planar Ranger furnishes us with a Fiendish Horse that’s smart enough to understand directions in common. Fast mounting/dismounting will become trivial shortly (first with Riding Bracers and then just with ranks), but for the time being nothing stops us from Decisive Striking from the saddle, even if we don’t want to risk sinking a move action getting out. For when we are out of the saddle, Noble Familiarity should be able to set us up with a Sparring Dummy of the Master, allowing for 10-ft steps.

Level 15

Spoiler

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Snap-Kick doesn’t work to grant an extra spine attack with Skarn Monk, sadly, but an unarmed strike on top of the one attack from Decisive Strike is enough to meet the two attack threshold for Oxyrhynchus without needing an enemy to provoke attacks of opportunity. Enemies likely will be provoking them, however, as Robilar’s Gambit is now online, meaning we can attack with both spines against any enemy that attacks us. Any enemy hit with both spines, whether from the Oxyrhynchus shuffle, Double Hit, or some combination thereof, now also takes damage from Spine Rend.

The Arms chakra is now open. Our favorite meld to bind to it is the Astral Vambraces, which grants any of the options from Astral Construct Menu A. Improved Natural Attack is a good default option with our Monkish damage dice, but also noteworthy is the swim speed. With the ability to make 10-ft steps and the Quick Swimmer skill trick, we can potentially move 20 ft as a free action when on aquatic adventures. For some of these levels, Riding Bracers will be a default meld to trivialize the checks to leapfrog our horse for free movement, but as of 15 we hit DC 20 on a 1, and can devote our second soulmeld slot to something else.

Level 20

Spoiler

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We duck out of Spinemeld Warrior a few levels early, but only miss out on Adamantine Spines and the last point of essentia cap for Spine Meld. This frees up two more levels for Ranger, which alongside Superior Unarmed Strike and a Monk’s Belt acquired through Noble Familiarity, gets our spine damage to that of a 20th level Monk. It also nabs a third favored enemy, which is handy for Stunning Fist attacks.

Spoiler: South Wind

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Arms & Equipment Guide: Sparring Dummy of the Master
Complete Adventurer: Ascetic Hunter
Complete Mage: Arcane Hunter
Complete Scoundrel: Skill Tricks
Exemplars of Evil: Invisible Fist
Magic of Incarnum: Sapphire Fist, Skarn Monk, Spinemeld Warrior
Mind’s Eye: Astral Vambraces
Miniatures Handbook: Double Hit
Planar Handbook: Planar Touchstone, Portal Intuition, Oxyrhynchus
Player’s Handbook II: Decisive Strike
Tome of Battle: Snap Kick, Superior Unarmed Strike
Everything else is SRD.

[The Viscount]

Slish-slash, using skarn spines is trash.

SLISH-SHLASH


Spines: They are a trap.
Use a sword like a grown up.
Spines are really dumb

Samurai 2/ samurai 3/ paragnostic initiate 1/ spinemeld warrior 8/fighter 2/ incandescent champion 4

Lawful Good Dragonborn Skarn (heart aspect)

ABILITIES
str 16,
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 15
AT 4, 8, 12 add +1 dex
At 16 add +1 cha
At 20 add +1 dex

BACKGROUND:
There once was a samurai meldshaper who wandered the land restoring honor and truth to the peoples of the province. Skarn are a lame race, so they dragonborned away from the super eugenics-y culture trading the one thing that incarnum tried to saddle the skarn with: the Rules disobedient spines, and just used spinemeld warrior for meld shapes, chakra binds, a free feat and full bab. Reptilian dragonmen samurais are way cooler than skarn anythings.

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1	OA samurai 1 (OA p.20)	1	2	0	2	16: Knowledge (arcana) 2 ranks , Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks , Knowledge (nature) 2 ranks, ride 2, iaijutsu focus 2	Exotic weapon proficiency: gold (Magic of Faerun p.179) alchemy (Magic of Eberron p.137) kneeblade (ComSco p.110)	Ancestral daisho
2	CW samurai 1 (CW p.8)	2	4	0	2	2: concentration 2	Exotic weapon proficiency (katana)	daisho proficiency
3	CW samurai 2	3	5	0	2	2: concentration 4	TWF, cobalt critical (MoI p.35)	two swords as one
4	OA samurai 2	4	6	0	3	4: knowledge (nature) 3, gather information 1	Weapon focus (katana)	bonus feat
5	Paragnostic initiate (ComChamp p.96)	5	8	2	3	6: knowledge nature 4, knowledge (religion) 7		Assist casting (penetration), tactical combat (deady strike)
6	Spine Meld Warrior 1(MoI p.147)	6	10	2	3	2: gather information 2	Open least chakra: hands (MoI p.39), two weapon rend (PHB2 p.85)	Twin spine fighting, Two-Weapon Fighting
7	SpineMeld Warrior 2	7	11	2	3	2: gather information 3		Noble familiarity, spine enhancement, 1 essentia
8	SpineMeld Warrior 3	8	11	3	4	2: gather information 4		1 meld, 2 essentia
9	SpineMeld Warrior 4	9	12	3	4	2: gather information 5	Power critical: katana (ComWar p.103)	3 essentia
10	SpineMeld Warrior 5	10	12	3	4	2: iaijutsu 3		spine rend
11	spineMeld Warrior 6	11	13	4	5	2: iaijutsu 4		4 essentia
12	spineMeld Warrior 7	12	13	4	5	2: iaijutsu 5	power attack	chakra bind arms, 2 melds, 5 essentia
13	fighter	13	15	4	5	2: gather information 5	weapon focus shortsword,	bonus feat, heavy armor pro,
14	fighter	14	16	4	5	2: iaijutsu 6	power critical shortsword	bonus feat
15	Incandescent champion 1 (MoI p.115)	14	16	4	7	2: marital lore 1	open least chakra (crown)	incandescent strike, +1 essentia
16	Incandescent champion 2	15	16	4	8	2: gather information 6		Fast healing (self) +2 essentia
17	Incandescent champion 3	16	17	5	8	2: martial lore 2		unbearable countenance +3 essentia
18	Incandescent champion 4	17	17	5	9	2: iaijutsu 7	improved two weapon fighting	Incarnum overload 1/day
19	spinemeld warrior 8	18	18	5	9	2: iaijutsu 8		6 essentia
20	CW samurai 3	19	19	5	10	4: iaijutsu 12		kiai smite

SOULMELDS SHAPED AND BOUND:
Mauling gauntlets bound to arms: improved critical on melee weapons
Necrocarnum weapon bound to hands: +1 profane to attack/damage/confirm per essentia
Crystal helm bound to crown: force descriptor on items

LEVEL 5
Full bab, a free ancestral daisho, and all the feats you need to use it well. A kneeblade is treated as a shortsword, but you use your knee to wield it, so that frees your hands for a two handed katana. An alchemy blade is affecting by any effect that affects a shortsword if you have the exotic weapon pro for it. If your spending feats on exotic weapon pro for a shortsword anyway, might as well make it out of a heavy material and get a larger damage die. Because it's an alchemy blade, you can load it with alchemical frost or fire. Paragnostic initiate grants a few skill points and gives you a black +2 on confirming crit rolls. Cobalt critical gives you another +1.

LEVEL 10
Necrocarnum weapon is in play, and you have 4 essentia to split between that and cobalt critical.

HIGH POINT 12-14:
6 essentia splite between cobalt critical and necrocarnum weapon, mauling guantlets bound to arms double the crit range for the heavy alchemy kneeblade wakizashi and the two handed wielded masterwork bastard sword to 17-20. That's a 20% per attack of which you have 4 or 5 chances to get a threat of a critical hit per round. If you need to confirm that critical hit, you have a +3 insight (cobalt critical), +3 profane (necroweapon), +2 (paragnostic initiate deadly strike) +4 power critical for an additional +12 to confirm the critical hit. Ancestral Daisho should allow for some weapon customization: An illthidwrought tentacle katana should work nicely on this build, which comes online around level 13. Noble familiarity can be used to locate and purchase other neat weapon enchantments on your kneebladeizashi. If you coup de gras someone or get a crit, you get 3 bonus essentia, which might be sweet to use for some other class features. An aptitude soulbound eager heavy katana with some sort of burst effect should work as a back up blade. And you can swing these katanas with two hands for better power attack returns on damage.


LEVEL 18:
We made it here? Well now we can attack 6 times per round, our weapons deal force damage, and if we confirm a critical our illithidwrought tentacle katana family heirloom gets to rip out a brain (fort save 21) but statistically you should be making them save against this once per round.

[The Viscount]

I am... the law!

Irtrar Kalmanar Qath

LE > LN Unseelie Fey Skarn Ranger 6/Spinemeld Warrior 10/Incarnate 4

At this point in the day, as the sun was beginning to set, most people were starting to wind down for the day, coming home from work, preparing for their last meal, closing up shops, stalls and storefronts, and the crowded streets of Tal Daggard began to disperse as people walked up and down the ramps to their homes. But on the third-highest plateau, there was one person that was still fully working. Glowing with various shades of blue, he was swinging blow after blow at a training dummy that appeared to be made of a material that was a mixture of stone and wood that had several large gashes in it caused by his arm spines, which also were glowing. The shades sometimes altered in intensity, but he continued his attack until the training dummy had been torn to shreds. He laid the pieces on the ground, and as they started to reform there was a knock at his door. Who could be disturbing him at this hour?
He opened the door to see Duke Andien standing there, alongside two of his bodyguards, one of whom had knocked. “You can wait outside. I trust Irtrar Kalmanar enough.”
The fact that even with his bodyguards, he could probably kill Duke Andien if he wanted to. “Come on in, Duke Andien, I’m in the middle of training right now, but this is obviously something important if you came in person.”
“The Grand Tournament of Power is coming up in three days, Irtrar Kalmanar, are you sure you’re ready for it?”
“Of course, Duke Andien, I’ve been doing this for years, and I’m the strongest out of the regulars, and from what I’ve heard, there’s not going to be anyone too strong coming in as guests.”
“Heh, where’d you hear that from?”
“An old family friend, Lady Deladier, has some inroads with the planning staff, although I suspect you already know that. The Lord Mayor gives you a lot of power, you know.”
That seemed to be amusing for some reason. “We need to defend our city, you know. And I’ve defended your family and other fey from persecution for centuries, and the Lord Mayor’s city is the best place for this.”
“Definitely, so what did you want to talk about?”
“Arcanist promised me a custom ring, I decided to give you a shot at it first.”
“The price?”
“Crown Prince Sherzhad of Andaria runs a fighting ring in Hayyder palace, if you can get first place in the ranked tournament, I can get you the custom ring.” Sensing his hesitance, the Duke added. “And the best part is, the Crown Prince has skin in the game as well. Andarian’s top warrior, Kanon Hassin, is participating. You heard the rumors as well as I did.”
Indeed he had. And Kanon definitely was a powerful warrior. This wouldn’t be easy, but if it was to protect Tal Daggard, he could do it.
“I’m in.”
“I knew you would. It’s time to show that pompous prince what an Irtrar really means.”
“Let’s not go that far, Duke Andien, wars are good for nobody.”

Spoiler: Explanation

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The spinemeld warrior seems to be focused on the spines, so I decided to go all in. A couple of ranger levels to pick up normal and improved two-weapon fighting, as well as picking up weapon finesse to take advantage of a high Dex score. To get around the iron vulnerability of the fey, Kalmanar uses bronze weapons and bronze studded leather armor (And it looks better, in his opinion), until he can use mithril and his natural attack. Something interesting about the Incarnate is that you have access to all the soulmelds at 1st level (Although you can’t power them up as effectively because of essentia maximums and chakra binds), so taking a few levels of Incarnate at any point is effective.

Spoiler: Strategy

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Spoiler: Level 1-5

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At level 5, Kalmanar started taking levels in Incarnate, granting him two soulmelds and some essentia. Against fey, he will invest essentia into Azure Enmity. One point of essentia in the Midnight Dodge feat makes it act like a normal dodge feat. An Incarnate Weapon wielded in one hand and a bronze shortsword in the other is his preferred method of engagement at this level.
Also he has an eagle animal companion. It exists, but doesn’t do much.

Spoiler: Level 6-10

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Three levels in Spinemeld Warrior allow Kalmanar to have another soulmeld, using Cerulean Sandals to enhance his movement speed.
Instead of the Incarnate Weapon soulmeld, he uses Adamant Pauldrons, relying on his spines solely.
Improved Two-weapon fighting and Improved two-weapon defense allow for four attacks a turn and a small increase to AC, aided in damage by Spine Enhancement.
The second favored enemy (Humanoid, reptilian) is the one that gets the additional +2 bonus, meaning he gets a +4 bonus against fellow Skarn.

Spoiler: Level 11-15

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Kalamar’s increased training allows him to attack three times each with both spines, increasing the odds of a Spine Rend, and binding the Bluesteel Bracers into his arm chakra allows him to enhance his allies if he has them. Using Adamant Pauldrons and Cerulean Sandals make him a fast-moving powerhouse.
Midnight dodge defends against a single target and Crystal Helm helps with protection.

Spoiler: Level 16-20

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In his final incarnation, Kalamar Qath binds Impulse Boots to his feet to gain uncanny dodge and Evasion abilities, and the Crystal Helm, making him more potent. and has the additional soulmelds of Keeneye lenses and Adamant Pauldrons for his incarnate soulmelds and Bluesteel Bracers and Lucky Dice for his Spinemeld Warrior soulmelds. He distributes essentia into Midnight Dodge and Azure Enmity when fighting in combat events, both private and public. Despite how much of his time is devoted to fighting in the competitions, Kalmanar is still a powerful fighter out in the wild. Seven attacks per turn for a full attack, each with devastating power behind them, make for a fearsome fighter. The Law aspect of Incarnum Radiance increases this further.

Spoiler: How it All Works

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Reflex Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Urban Ranger 1	+1	+2	+2	+0	Hide +4, Move Silently +2, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +2, Diplomacy +2, Spot +4, listen +4, Gather Information +5, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)	Urban Tracking(b), Azure Enmity	Favored Enemy (Fey), Urban Tracking, Wild Empathy, Champion of the Wild ACF
2nd	Urban Ranger 2	+2	+3	+3	+0	Hide +5, Move Silently +2, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +2, Diplomacy +2, Spot +5, listen +5, Gather Information +5, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)	Two Weapon Fighting (b)	Combat Style
3rd	Urban Ranger 3	+3	+3	+3	+1	Hide +5, Move Silently +2, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +3, Diplomacy +3, Spot +6, listen +6, Gather Information +5, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)	Endurance(b), Midnight Dodge	Endurance
4th	Urban Ranger 4	+4	+4	+4	+1	Hide +5, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +3, Diplomacy +3, Spot +7, listen +7, Gather Information +5, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)	Weapon Finesse (b)	Animal Companion
5th	Incarnate 1 (Law)	+4	+4	+6	+3	Hide +5, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +4, Diplomacy +3, Spot +7, listen +7, Gather Information +5, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)		Aura, detect opposition
6th	Urban Ranger 5	+5	+4	+6	+3	Hide +5, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +4, Diplomacy +4, Spot +8, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)	Improved Natural Attack	2nd Favored Enemy (Humanoid, Reptilian)
7th	Urban Ranger 6	+6	+5	+7	+4	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +5, Diplomacy +5, Spot +9, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)	Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (b)	Improved Combat Style
8th	Spinemeld Warrior 1	+7	+7	+7	+4	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +6, Diplomacy +6, Spot +9, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)	Two-Weapon Defense (b)	Twin spine fighting, Two-Weapon Fighting
9th	Spinemeld Warrior 2	+8	+8	+7	+4	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +7, Diplomacy +7, Spot +9, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)	Improved Two-Weapon Defense (b)	Noble Familiarity, Spine enhancement
10th	Spinemeld Warrior 3	+9	+8	+8	+5	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +8, Diplomacy +8, Spot +9, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)
11th	Spinemeld Warrior 4	+10	+9	+8	+5	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +9, Diplomacy +9, Spot +9, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)
12th	Spinemeld Warrior 5	+11	+9	+8	+5	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +10, Diplomacy +10, Spot +9, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)	Greater Two-weapon Fighting	Spine Rend
13th	Spinemeld Warrior 6	+12	+10	+9	+6	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +11, Diplomacy +11, Spot +9, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)
14th	Spinemeld Warrior 7	+13	+10	+9	+6	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +12, Diplomacy +12, Spot +9, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)		Chakra Bind(Arms)
15th	Spinemeld Warrior 8	+14	+11	+9	+6	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +13, Diplomacy +13, Spot +9, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)	Greater Two-Weapon Defense
16th	Spinemeld Warrior 9	+15	+11	+10	+7	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +14, Diplomacy +14, Spot +9, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)		Adamantine Spikes
17th	Spinemeld Warrior 10	+16	+12	+10	+7	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +15, Diplomacy +15, Spot +9, listen +8, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)
18th	Incarnate 2 (Law)	+17	+13	+10	+8	Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +15, Diplomacy +16, Spot +9, listen +9, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)	Cobalt Charge	Chakra bind (crown)
19th	Incarnate 3 (Law)	+17	+13	+11	+8	Hide +7, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +16, Diplomacy +16, Spot +9, listen +9, Gather Information +7, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)		Expanded Soulmeld Capacity +1, Incarnum Radiance
20th	Incarnate 4 (Law)	+18	+14	+11	+9	Hide +7, Move Silently +6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) +16, Diplomacy +17, Spot +9, listen +9, Gather Information +8, Climb +2(RB), Intimidate +6(RB)		Chakra bind (Feet, hands)

Abilities	Initial	Skarn	Unseelie Fey	Level 4	Level 8	Level 12	Level 16	Level 20
Str	14	16(+2)	14(-2)	14	14	14	14	14
Dex	18	16(-2)	18(+2)	19(+1)	19	20(+1)	20	20
Con	15	15	13(-2)	13	14(+1)	14	15(+1)	16(+1)
Int	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Wis	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Cha	8	8	10(+2)	10	10	10	10	10

Level	Class	Soulmelds (Incarnate)	Soulmelds (Spinemeld)	Essentia	Chakra Binds
1st	Urban Ranger 1			1
2nd	Urban Ranger 2			1
3rd	Urban Ranger 3			2
4th	Urban Ranger 4			2
5th	Incarnate 1 (law)	2		3
6th	Urban Ranger 5			3
7th	Urban Ranger 6			3
8th	Spinemeld Warrior 1		0	3
9th	Spinemeld Warrior 2		0	4
10th	Spinemeld Warrior 3		1	5
11th	Spinemeld Warrior 4		1	6
12th	Spinemeld Warrior 5		1	6
13th	Spinemeld Warrior 6		1	7
14th	Spinemeld Warrior 7		2	8	1
15th	Spinemeld Warrior 8		2	9	1
16th	Spinemeld Warrior 9		2	9	1
17th	Spinemeld Warrior 10		2	10	1
18th	Incarnate 2 (law)	3		12	2
19th	Incarnate 3 (law)	3		13	2
20th	Incarnate 4 (Law)	4		14	2

Spoiler: Sources

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Player’s Handbook- Ranger, Two-weapon fighting, weapon finesse, combat reflexes, Improved two-weapon fighting, greater two-weapon fighting, two-weapon defense.
Complete Warrior- Improved Two-weapon defense, Greater Two-weapon defense
Complete Champion- Ranger Alternate ability
Magic of Incarnum- Incarnate, Spinemeld Warrior, Azure Enmity, Midnight Dodge, Cobalt Charge, Chakras, Soulmelds
Dragon Compendium- Unseelie Fey
Arms and Equipment Guide- Bronze shortswords/armor
Monster Manual- Improved Natural Weapon.
Unearthed Arcana- Urban Ranger

[The Viscount]

Rip and tear!

Presenting: B.C!

Bellordaine Cho, Supreme judge of the church of the church of Wee Jas and august perfect of roses, sat at his throne delivering judgement. Every face looked at him with adoration and respect, even the face of those he had condemned, for they knew his word was law, and that law was justice. Every citizen of the city had to admit to the superiority of the Skarn when they gazed upon Bellordaine Cho. He was –

"Sir? There's a letter for you. Delivered by a raven - a mage's familiar, unless my senses deceive me."

Bellordaine blinked, his servant's words turning his thoughts back to the present moment. Which was good – he had business to attend to, and he would never achieve perfection of form by amusing himself with idle thought. His sharp, analytical mind turned back to the matters at hand. He was no more than a flaw seeker for now, and it was made clear to him that if he was to rise in the ranks, he had to get to the bottom of the attacks made on the border patrols. Who were the attackers, and why did they attack?

"Thank you, Adonasi. It's probably just Esh Idrivan Sol asking for another favor. Put it on the table, I'll get to it soon enough." The servant bowed, and did as he was commanded.

Bellordaine already knew who the attackers were, of course. There were too many witness accounts, recounting the incidents. The attackers were clearly Swamp Skarn – damned forever, a blight on the race's honor! – and they were obviously the worshippers of some dark god. The accounts told of their leader, a huge nightmare of spines and claws, who managed to slaughter fighters and mages alike. He Wasn't wearing the furs of the swamp dwellers, but the fine attire of the city's nobility – probably one of the many filthy immigrants who made a mockery out of the Skarn claim to superiority. Bellordaine's task was clear – figure out a way to make justice, while diverting the fire away from the Skarn community. There must be a solution. He just needed to think.

He chased himself in circles for an hour before deciding he was in need of a distraction. He carefully opened Idrivan's envelope with his spine, unfolding the letter – only to find an unfamiliar handwriting, made of crude, bulky letters:

Dear sir

I found some informaition I believe you will find intriging. My reserch shows that your great-great-great-great grandfather, Inomallous Cho, desided in his will to make his second son his heir "if-and-only-if" his "Eldest" rimained childless. This was hidden from Eldest. I traced the lin-ee-edge of Eldest, and found his desendents, the legitimet rulers of your house. Unless you want every1 to know this, you work for me now. If you refuse, I will ruin you and then maybe kill your entyre family. We'll see.

With rispect –
Bong Chadley, servant of Tiamat, spine fighter of the spinemeld warriors.

Spoiler: essentia(ls)

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Bong Chadley, LE male feral skarn. Ranger 4 (arcane hunter, champion of the wild, spiritual connection, urban companion), warblade 1, soul eater 1, spinemeld warrior 7, witchborn binder 6.

Ability scores:
32 PB: Str 18, Dex 8, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 8.
Post racial, template: Str 24, Dex 4, Con 20, Int 4, Wis 10, Cha 8.
All level enhancements go to Str.

Spoiler: Table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
LA 1	Feral template	-	-	-	-	-	-	Monstrous humanoid, claws, darkvision, fast healing, +6 NA, +10 ft movement, Improved grab.
1st	Ranger 1	+1	+2	+2	+0	knowledge (arcana) 1 (cc), knowledge (religion) 1 (cc), search 4, Survival 2, use rope 2.	Track (b), shape soulmeld (girallon arms)	favored enemy: arcanists, spiritual connection,
2nd	Ranger 2	+2	+3	+3	+0	knowledge (arcana) 2 (cc), knowledge (religion) 1.5 (cc), search 4, Survival 2, use rope 2.	TWF (b)	-
3rd	Ranger 3	+3	+3	+3	+1	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 2 (cc), search 4, sense motive 1 (cc) Survival 2, use rope 2.	Endurance (b), weapon focus (spine)	-
4th	Ranger 4	+4	+4	+4	+1	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 3.5 (cc), search 4, sense motive 1, Survival 2, use rope 2.	Blind fight (b)	Familiar (raven), Pounce (Feral)
5th	Warblade 1	+5	+6	+4	+1	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4 (cc), search 4, sense motive 1, Survival 2, use rope 2.	-	weapon aptitude, maneuvers (see below)
6th	Soul eater 1	+6	+8	+6	+3	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 0.5 (cc), search 4, sense motive 2, Survival 2, use rope 2.	Bonus essentia	Emergy drain 1
7th	Spinemeld warrior 1	+7	+10	+6	+3	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 1.5, search 4, sense motive 1, Survival 2, use rope 2.	Reaping talons (b)	two spine fighting, bonus feat, meldshaping
8th	Spinemeld warrior 2	+8	+11	+6	+3	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 2.5, search 4, sense motive 1, Survival 2, use rope 2.	-	Noble familiarity, spine enhancement, Rake (feral)
9th	Spinemeld warrior 3	+9	+11	+7	+4	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 3.5, search 4, sense motive 1, Survival 2, use rope 2.	steadfast determination	-
10th	Spinemeld warrior 4	+10	+12	+7	+4	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 4.5, search 4, sense motive 1, Survival 2, use rope 2.	-	-
11th	Spinemeld warrior 5	+11	+12	+7	+4	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 5.5, search 4, sense motive 1, Survival 2, use rope 2.	-	Spine rend
12th	Spinemeld warrior 6	+12	+13	+8	+5	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 5.5, search 4, sense motive 1.5, Survival 2, use rope 2.	Two weapon rend	Rend (feral)
13th	Spinemeld warrior 7	+13	+13	+8	+5	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 5.5, search 4, sense motive 2, Survival 2, use rope 2.	-	Chakra bind (arms)
14th	Witchborn binder 1	+13	+13	+8	+7	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 5.5, search 4, sense motive 2, spellcraft 1, Survival 2, use rope 2.	-	detect magic, meldshield, royal purse (1/level)
15th	Witchborn binder 2	+14	+13	+8	+8	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 5.5, search 4, sense motive 2, spellcraft 2, Survival 2, use rope 2.	mage slayer	dispelling orb, +1 essentia
16th	Witchborn binder 3	+15	+14	+9	+8	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 6, search 4, sense motive 2, spellcraft 2, Survival 2, use rope 2.	-	-
17th	Witchborn binder 4	+16	+14	+9	+9	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 6.5, search 4, sense motive 2, spellcraft 2, Survival 2, use rope 2.	-	Mage shackles
18th	Witchborn binder 5	+16	+14	+9	+9	knowledge (arcana) 2, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 7, search 4, sense motive 2, spellcraft 2, Survival 2, use rope 2.	Pierce magical concealment	-
19th	Witchborn binder 6	+17	+15	+10	+10	knowledge (arcana) 3, knowledge (religion) 4, Knowledge (nobility) 9, search 4, sense motive 2, spellcraft 2, Survival 2, use rope 2.	-	Word of abrogation, +1 essentia

Maneuvers: Rabid wolf strike, sudden leap, wall of blades.
Stance: Leading the charge.

Spoiler: Snapshots

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Level 5:
Throughout the early levels, Bong gets carried mainly by his huge Str & Con, and the benefits of the feral template – though that will come into play much more in the next level. He doesn’t have the Wis to cast or the Cha for wild empathy, which is why he takes the CoTW (which will be necessary for a certain PRC entry) and spiritual connection ACFs. His high natural armor and the wall of blades counter help him stay safe despite his atrocious dexterity. He hates arcanists with a passion – a hatred which will come further into play later into the build.

Level 10:
Deep into the SI now, as a spine of rain. Bong qualifies for soul eater by being a monstrous humanoid, and getting alertness from his raven urban companion, Bing. Energy drain is extremely useful to him – not only does he have 4 natural weapons (two claws, two spines), he can attack with all of them while getting iteratives with his right-hand spine. Lots of opportunities for energy drain, making him incredibly dangerous as early as level 7. Reaping talons comes along at that point as well – it has many options which require hitting with both claws, but the benefits apply to attacks made with the spines as well. It's a great use for his bonus feat. Steadfast determination covers his most dangerous shortcoming, allowing him to make will saves much more reliably.

Level 15: Done with the SI after gaining its most prominent feature, the opening of the arm chakra. He shapes soulmelds as an 8^th level spinemeld warrior, and will have complete shaping by level 18. The only things truly lost by swapping to witchborn binder at this point (which he qualifies for using track from ranger and the already mentioned awareness from Bing) will be making the spines +5 instead of +2 at the cost of valuable essentia, and adamantine spines – which, I mean, come on. He has detect magic at will and meldshied, which is an excellent use of essentia when fighting his favored enemies, which mage slayer leans into as well. Two weapon rend can be taken by twfing rangers even without the required Dex, and along with spine rend, the rend from feral, and the rend he can get from girallon arms, Bong is a rending machine – leaning into the SI's strength (and his own Str ) to make two rend attacks whenever he hits with both claws or with both spines.

Level 19:
Full meldshaping is Bong's. He has 1 more essentia than a soulborn 10/ spinemeld warrior 10 (not that that's a good build) and he has a few great utility options. While word of abrogation is perhaps flashier, and makes for a nice pinnacle to the build, mage shackles are the true reward, and they allow him to utilize his grappling and combat prowess for good. He has many advantages against mages, and is a terrifying enemy for most melees. Bong has achieved his own version of perfection of form – one that sheds away the unnecessary complications of the mind, and supports the actual advantages of the SI.

Spoiler: sources:

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Book of Vile Darkness: Soul eater.
Complete champion: Champion of the wild, spiritual connection.
Complete arcane: Mage slayer, pierce magical concealment.
Complete mage: arcane hunter.
Cityscape web enhancement: urban companion.
Magic of Incarnum: Skarn, soulmelds, shape soulmeld, bonus essentia, witchborn binder, spinemeld warrior.
PHBII: Two weapon rend, Steadfast determination.

[The Viscount]

Let's talk about what's really important.

Vornicaal Rex, Kavval of Hextor
LE Unseelie Fey Scarn (Reptilian)
Cloistered Cleric 3 / Totemist 1 / Ordained Champion 1 / Sapphire Hierarch 6 / Soul Eater 1 / Spinemeld Warrior 8

Spoiler: Ability Scores

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Rex

Ability	Point Buy	Race	Template	Total Starting Score
STR	14	2	-2	14
DEX	14	-2	+2	14
CON	15	0	-2	13
INT	8	0	0	8
WIS	15	0	0	15
CHA	12	0	+2	14

Spoiler: Build

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Rex

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Cloistered Cleric 1	+0	+2	+0	+2	Climb 0+2 (Race), Concentration 4, Intimidate 0+2+4 (Race/Template), Knowledge Arcana 4, Nobility 4, Religion 4, The Planes 4	Natural Weapons (Spines), Fly Speed (AVG 60ft), Autumn Harvest, Iron Vulnerability, Low-light Vision, Incarnum Spellshaping	Law Domain, War Domain, Knowledge Devotion
2nd	Totemist 1	+0	+4	+2	+2	Climb 0+2, Concentration 5, Intimidate 0+2+4, Knowledge Arcana 5, Nobility 4, Religion 4, The Planes 4, Spellcraft 1	-	Wild Empathy
3rd	Cloistered Cleric 2	+1	+5	+2	+3	Climb 0+2, Concentration 6, Intimidate 0+2+4, Knowledge Arcana 5, Nobility 6, Religion 6, The Planes 4, Spellcraft 1	Shape Soulmeld (Soulspark Familiar)	Alertness (from above)
4th	Cloistered Cleric 3	+1	+5	+3	+3	Climb 0+2, Concentration 6, Intimidate 0+2+4, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 5, Spellcraft 1	STR+1	DR 5/Cold Iron (Unseelie Fey)
5th	Ordained Champion 1	+2	+7	+3	+5	Climb 0+2, Concentration 6, Intimidate 0+2+4, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 6, Spellcraft 1	-	Domination Domain, Domination and Law powers traded for Two-Weapon Fighting and Weapon Focus (Spine), Continued Advancement (Rebuke), Modified Spontaneous Casting
6th	Saphire Hierarch 1	+2	+7	+3	+7	Climb 0+2, Concentration 6, Intimidate 0+2+4, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	Extend Spell	Consultation 3/level, Smite Chaos 1/day, Totemist 2/Cleric 4
7th	Saphire Hierarch 2	+3	+7	+3	+8	Climb 0+2, Concentration 7, Intimidate 0+2+4, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	-	Favored of the Eidolon, Totemist 3/Cleric 5
8th	Saphire Hierarch 3	+3	+8	+4	+8	Climb 0+2, Concentration 8, Intimidate 0+2+4, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	STR+1	DR 10/Cold Iron, Damage Reduction 1/Adamantine, Totemist 4/Cleric 6
9th	Saphire Hierarch 4	+4	+8	+4	+9	Climb 0+2, Concentration 9, Intimidate 0+2+4, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	Divine Metamagic	Smite Chaos 2/day, Totemist 5/Cleric 7
10th	Saphire Hierarch 5	+4	+8	+4	+9	Climb 0+2, Concentration 10, Intimidate 0+2+4, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	-	Sapphire Body (25% fortification), Totemist 6/Cleric 8
11th	Saphire Hierarch 6	+5	+9	+5	+10	Climb 0+2, Concentration 11, Intimidate 0+2+4, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	-	Damage Reduction 2/Adamantine, Totemist 7/Cleric 9
12th	Soul Eater 1	+6	+11	+7	+12	Climb 0+2, Concentration 14, Intimidate 0+2+4, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	Persistent Spell, STR+1	DR 15/Cold Iron, Energy Drain 1
13th	Spinemeld Warrior 1	+7	+13	+7	+12	Climb 0+2, Concentration 14, Intimidate 0+2+4, Gather Information 1, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	-	Skilled City-Dweller (Handle Animal -> Gather Information), Twin Spine Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
14th	Spinemeld Warrior 2	+8	+14	+7	+12	Climb 0+2, Concentration 14, Intimidate 0+2+4, Gather Information 2, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	-	Noble Familiarity, Spine Enhancement 1
15th	Spinemeld Warrior 3	+9	+14	+8	+13	Climb 0+2, Concentration 14, Intimidate 0+2+4, Gather Information 3, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	Open Least Chakra (Hands)	-
16th	Spinemeld Warrior 4	+10	+15	+8	+13	Climb 0+2, Concentration 14, Intimidate 0+2+4, Gather Information 4, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	STR+1	Spine Enhancement 2
17th	Spinemeld Warrior 5	+11	+15	+8	+13	Climb 0+2, Concentration 14, Intimidate 0+2+4, Gather Information 5, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	-	Spine Rend
18th	Spinemeld Warrior 6	+12	+16	+9	+14	Climb 0+2, Concentration 14, Intimidate 0+2+4, Gather Information 6, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	Greater Two-Weapon Fighting	Spine Enhancement 3
19th	Spinemeld Warrior 7	+13	+16	+9	+14	Climb 0+2, Concentration 14, Intimidate 0+2+4, Gather Information 7, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	-	Chakra Bind (Arms)
20th	Spinemeld Warrior 8	+14	+17	+9	+14	Climb 0+2, Concentration 14, Intimidate 0+2+4, Gather Information 8, Knowledge Arcana 7, Nobility 7, Religion 7, The Planes 7, Spellcraft 1	WIS+1	Spine Enhancement 4

Spoiler: Effective Character Level 5

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I have a lot of thoughts on Skarn fashion and other culturally adjacent industries that need to be unloaded. Skarn spines, flexible though they may be, are incompatible with many garments that most humanoids take for granted. It should be noted that the artists for Magic of Incarnum clearly understood these difficulties and chose to ignore them. The only Skarn whose back spines are clearly visible is shirtless and yet the spines of armored Skarn are visible, clearly protruding through their garb but with no explanation as to how. Furthermore, with their prominent calf and forearm spines on display, all of the illustrated warriors spurn any sort of long sleeve or pant leg.

Esh Rokirice Dol pulled her hair back and away from her eyes as a gust of wind blew up from behind her. Shielding herself from the sun with one hand, she looked up to the sky to check on the positioning of her servant now aloft and drifting in lazy circles on the breeze. A twinge of jealousy shot through her but she firmly stomped it out. Vornicaal had been the absolute best servant she could ever have asked for and was her most prized possession. His ability to support her in combat was unmatched but he was also the last gift to her from a doting father who had shown her so much love despite the fact that Rokirice was not a legitimate heir. -But I’m going to change all that- she thought to herself as they continued the drill, “I am not some little lordling, soon all will know who the true Dol is!” -Plus he’s kind of cute- she thought and she smirked to herself as she marveled again at the magnificent black wings that bore him through the air.

In any case, Rex begins as a lowly LE cleric of Hector with a nod to the influence of Incarnum on Skarn culture which all seems to fit perfectly with what's written in MoI. Ordained Champion also seems pretty in line with the whole pursuit of perfection thing and a further commitment to the lawful structure of Skarn society. At ELC 5 build wise, Rex has 2nd level divine spells and decent soul melding and taking just one level of OC does wonders for qualifying for later choices and also some more cool spells like dominate person. Being an Unseelie Fey gets him that nice fly speed and DR 5/CI for staying alive against low CR threats and a dispelling touch is versatile on its own.

Spoiler: Effective Character Level 11

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And you know, especially as reptiles, you would think that Skarns would have a higher appreciation for layering up. I think that the main reason that they don’t is because messing with the spines is uncomfortable. Sure the spines can fold down but if it was as easy as that then the guy in full plate wouldn’t have bothered to commission whatever special nonsense was required to allow his spines to protrude.

Esh Rokirice Dol tried to wipe clear her vision but her tears would not relent. Her troop lay around her, slain to the last by the anathemic necrocarnates whose corpses too now decorated the shady grove in which she sat. Rokirice delicately hugged Vornicaal’s head to her chest and an icy fear began to seep through her as his breathing began to slow. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. Rex had only just returned from his last quest for the Saphire Eidolon and reunited with her. She had been ecstatic when regaling him with her own exploits and the strides she had made up the ranks of the nobility. The disturbance at the edge of her realm was supposed to be an opportunity to show each other all that they had become… one rouge necrocarnate in the wilds. Instead they had found a whole cabal from the Union of Darkened Souls, and Rex had died saving her life. She would not accept this and in her suffering she offered prayer to all the powers she knew. One answered.

Vornicaal’s eyes snapped open. No longer did he lay in the arms of his lord, the arms of the woman he loved. Now he stood in a shallow pool of blood that extended as far as he could see. In front of him sat a god, Rex’s own six armed deity of destruction. He stood in the presence of the Herald of Hell.
“How proud you were, to turn your back and take up that impotent rock as your new idol. Thought you had finally found your purity of form had you? Well my little servant, let me teach you some humility.”

ELC 11 has meldshaping as totemist 7 and divine casting as cleric 9 which is why we're talking about 11 instead of stopping at ELC 10. Incarnum Spellshaping lets Rex force his hand chakras open so that he can bind Sphinx’s claws for pounce, has TWF, has access to divine power, and he still has that handy spontaneous casting from OC so every spell can be flame strike. Coupled with his potent essentia pool and DR from both Sapphire Hierarch and Unseelie Fey, Rex could wade into battle alongside pretty much any other cleric and functions almost exactly like the book description for hierarchs but with a little more melee flavor. Extend spell and DMM are online so the direction is clear. Consulting the Sapphire Eidolon and access to the Order’s vault should fill every magic item requirement he could have.

Spoiler: Effective Character Level 15

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So if clothes are enough to make Skarn uncomfortable, what about furniture? Do chairs have cutouts for spines? Must couches be extra fluffy for spines? Or do all of these pieces of furniture need to be extra sturdy so as not to be damaged by wayward protrusions? If a Skarn rests an arm on your newly buffed solid oak table is it an insult to you or would asking them to remove it be insensitive. Do elderly Skarn have an equivalent to your grandma’s plastic coverings for everything?

Rex looked down in disgust at the battered boy struggling to stand himself up. This so-called ‘August perfect of Roses’ was a young man, a champion in his own right, but little more than a child in the eyes of Vornicaal Rex. Vornicaal and Rokirice had initially thought him lucky that Rex had joined the order of spinemeld warriors shortly after one of the bi-anual tournaments. This was Rex’s first and he was already a Flaw Seeker, he had risen through the ranks far more quickly than his fellow initiates. But the explanation for that was obvious to Rex. He was at least twice as experienced as most of the other junior warriors and his prey was that much more challenging. This young man before him would not sate Rex’s thirst; only the soul of a necrocarnate could provide satisfaction. So Rex smiled at the thought of how his love may reward his victory and he engulfed his opponent in holy fire.

We stopped at ELC 11 last time because the movement from 11 to 12 marks a definitive change in Rex’s direction and source of his power. ELC 15 sees Rex with 3 levels of the SI for additional poignancy. Rex is now a Soul Eater doling out negative levels with every hit of his Improved TWF spines or the myriad of melds that grant natural attacks. All the old combat enhancing abilities are there but lets tack on a tentacle whip symbiote or two that can deliver Rex's negative levels over a 15ft reach and also fits with the spine ascetic; courtesy of the consultation mentioned previously. Persistent DMM is online and an instance of extra turning for more fuel there. While Rex was previously a tough caster who wasn’t helpless in melee that has flipped around. Rex is now a melee powerhouse who still has access to 5ths.

Spoiler: Effective Character Level 20

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After some deliberation I have come to the conclusion that all Skarn are either side sleepers or belly sleepers for obvious reasons. But what about sheets? Do Skarn sleep on beds even? Maybe Skarn just sleep in some nice clean sand that they heat up before bed time. Are Skarn cold blooded? Do Skarn hatch?

As Vornicaal leaned back and sleep teased at the corners of his eyes, he felt happy. His wife dozed on his shoulder, his daughter snored loudly in his lap, and Rex realized that he had finally obtained the perfection he had sought. This purity of soul had eluded him for so long that he had almost resigned himself to believe that it was a curse placed on him by Hextor all those years ago. Purity of mind had come to Rex first as a cleric and then as a hierarch. His mind was a bastion that no foe could assail. Then had come purity of body; Rex’s glorious spines glowed with power and his very touch drained beings of their essence. But Rex had chased purity of spirit through the consumption of a thousand necrocarnum souls. He realized now, the true lesson that his god had been trying to teach him all those years ago. Humility. Rex was not the perfect warrior for himself, he was the perfect servant to his family.

Leaning into the theme with greater two-weapon fighting, chakra binding to arms, and spine enhancement up to 4 finish out the build with an investment into gather information to make use of Rex's noble #RelationshipGoals. That last perk is a nice transition away from having to consult the eidolon for such knowledge. That lets Rex find items that take away the sting of losing out on adamantine spines and frankly he already had enough essentia to pour into his spines as well as fuel the melee centric totemist soul melds.

Spoiler: Sources

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Dragon Compendium: Unseelie Fey
PHB: Cleric
Unearthed Arcana: Cloistered Cleric
Magic of Incarnum: Skarn, Totemist, Saphire Hierarch, Spinemeld Warrior
Complete Champion: Ordained Champion
Book of Vile Darkness: Soul Eater

[The Viscount]

That should be the builds. Judges, over to you.

[Beni-Kujaku]

Finally, they're here!
Tough job for the judges. 16? By Heironeous!

Only three changelings warshapers? (Plus whatever Frac-Tall is) I would have expected more.

Anyway, I love so many of these, thank you to all entrants

Also, the lazy chef's warrior is probably better than everything else that gets submitted.

[Venger]

What an incredible turnout. I can't wait to look at these.

[H_H_F_F]

So many great entries, and a surprising amount of non-changeling skarn! Well done, all!

[daremetoidareyo]

This....THIS ingredient inspired 16 builds?

[Piggy Knowles]

I'd been working on a few different versions of an artificer build. I figured that one (small) advantage to the PrC was that the spines are technically just a single weapon, but you get to use them as two weapons, letting you essentially get double value out of weapon enhancements. So, I figured an infusion-focused artificer was an interesting way to go.

I played with a bunch of versions. Multiclassing penalties were kind of the bane of my existence, since artificer wants a decent investment (ideally you want to at least hit 4th-level infusions, which requires 8 effective levels) and isn't a favored class, meaning it's almost impossible to dip any other class. Still, I had a couple of versions that were cute: a robotic skarn renegade mastermaker with nauseating spikes and a holy spiked bear. I was actually pretty happy with the renegade mastermaker version, and got pretty far into the write-up, but suddenly about halfway through the build table I got really bored with the whole thing and decided not to submit. Anyhow, here's the basic build:

Spoiler: Mr Roboto

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Skarn Artificer 3/Monk 3/Renegade Mastermaker 7/Spinemeld Warrior 7
1 Artificer1- Scribe Scroll, ((any incarnum feat))
2 Artificer2- Brew Potion
3 Monk1- Power Attack, Cleave
4 Monk2- Improved Bull Rush
5 Monk3-
6 Artificer3- Craft Wondrous Item, Craft Magic Arms and Armor
7 Renegade Mastermaker1-
8 Renegade Mastermaker2-
9 Spinemeld Warrior1- Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (morningstar)
10 Spinemeld Warrior2-
11 Renegade Mastermaker3-
12 Renegade Mastermaker4- Three Mountains
13 Renegade Mastermaker5-
14 Renegade Mastermaker6-
15 Spinemeld Warrior3- Open Least Chakra (hands)
16 Renegade Mastermaker7-
17 Spinemeld Warrior4-
18 Spinemeld Warrior5- Superior Unarmed Strike
19 Spinemeld Warrior6-
20 Spinemeld Warrior7-

And here are the notes I wrote up for the build snapshots:

Levels 1 - 5
Artificer 2/Monk 3

In the early levels you’re a strange sort of brute: a monk who plays more like a fighter than a ninja, with artificer largely serving to augment your existing abilities. With Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Bull Rush and a high Strength, you’ll do best switching between a two-handed weapon and your arm spines. With even a little bit of prep time, your artificer infusions go a long way toward boosting your damage here. Personal weapon augmentation is fantastic and can carry you through the low levels almost by itself, lasting 10 minutes/level and providing you with any +1 boost on your weapon. The gold standard here, if you have some inkling of what you’ll be up against, is bane, but it’s far from the only option. Magebane and earthbound are similarly decent damage boosters. The elemental power options are great, giving you access to a large elemental in the flavor of your choice with just a minute’s prep time - not bad at all for these levels. Smoking is of course incredible. Basically, flip through the MIC and look at all those kinda cool enhancements that feel a bit too situational to spend gold on, and realize that they’re absolutely perfect here.

On top of all that you have utility to spare, between your artificer infusions, invisible fist and above-average skills for a brute. Lesser armor enhancement is incredibly flexible and can provide some great defensive option or general utility - think blurring, death ward, heraldic crest of courage, etc. Pending potion makes your Brew Potion feat actually decent, as it lets you pre-buff with potions and then activate them as a swift action as needed, and skill enhancement has tons of use out of combat.

Chef’s note: The progression may look a little bit funny (monk 3 isn’t ideal, and in a perfect world you’d rather take artificer up to 3 right away for 2nd-level infusions and better crafting before taking monk), but your hands are tied a bit by multiclassing penalties, as neither artificer nor monk is a favored class for the skarn. Similarly, monk’s multiclassing restrictions mean you can’t return to monk once you leave it. For that reason, you’re forced into going artificer 2 -> monk 3 -> artificer +1 here. If you are playing in a campaign without multiclassing penalties, I highly recommend you go artificer 4/monk 2 instead, as the 4th level of artificer is far better than the 3rd level of monk.

Levels 6 - 10
Artificer 3/Monk 3/Renegade Mastermaker 2/Spinemeld Warrior 2

You don’t quite have the BAB to take spinemeld warrior yet, but two levels of renegade mastermaker fix that right up. Right away they give you the option of creating a battlefist. In addition to just looking really cool, if you have monk levels, a battlefist increases your damage as though you’ve gone up a size. Combined with the skarn monk ACF, which says that your spines are treated as a monk’s unarmed strike and increase in damage accordingly.

Now here’s where spinemeld warrior comes in. You can TWF with your spines - big whoop, right? After all, you could TWF with weapons any old time. Bypassing the Dex requirement is definitely nice for you, but where it becomes especially good is the fact that even though you’re TWFing with your spines as though they were two weapons, they’re only actually considered one single natural weapon. This means that your infusions and enhancements essentially have double impact. It also means that your damage increases from monk and your battlefist apply to “both” weapons. And since you can combine both TWF and flurry against lower AC enemies, any such changes become multiplicative.

Your infusions also continue to increase. The big winner here is armor enhancement. How about some vanishing armor for the party sneak? Or exalted for permanent protection from evil? Or mirror image? You also get to be more party friendly with lesser weapon augmentation, and can do a bit of crafting on the side with unseen crafter.

As for your noble familiarity, this may seem like an odd ability on an artificer, but remember that your actual crafting is a bit limited, making it ideal for picking up items such as wands. Eventually it will become downright required for finding things such as docents as well, as those explicitly can never be crafted.

Levels 11 - 15
Artificer 3/Monk 3/Renegade Mastermaker 6/Spinemeld Warrior 3

Some interesting things going on here. Another level of spinemeld warrior opens up soulborn melds. Soulborn may not be as flexible as incarnate or totemist, but it has some neat choices. At the top of the list for you are the mauling gauntlets. By binding these to your hands chakra, you get a sizable damage boost (2+2/essentia) on your spine attacks, in addition to improving Strength checks such as bull rushes or trips. It also gives you the benefits of Improved Unarmed Strike, which the skarn monk actually lacks, and which will come in handy down the road.

As for your other feats, since you already have Power Attack, Cleave and Improved Bull Rush, it’s just a quick step over to the Three Mountains style. This feat is absolutely devastating, allowing you to nauseate foes if you hit them twice in a round with a greatclub, morningstar or mace. Of course, you don’t HAVE a greatclub, morningstar or mace… but screw all that, you’re an artificer! The aptitude enhancement is just a 1st-level infusion away. Slap aptitude on your arm spines, and now you’re dishing out some heavy debuffs on top of your damage.

And with 3rd- and 4th-level infusions you get a ton of great options. 3rd-level infusions are nice… but let’s be real, the one you really care about is armor enhancement. Now that you’re using the greater version, you’re slapping +5 equivalent enhancements on armor. How about proof against enchantments/transmutation to completely negate an entire school of magic, or freedom for continuous freedom of movement, or etherealness for, um, etherealness? The options are nearly limitless. 4th-level infusions, on the other hand, are downright incredible across the board. Take concurrent infusions to imitate three 1st-level infusions at once without the costs, or item alteration to stack up ridiculously high bonuses by changing the bonus type, or minor creation to create buckets of poison, or weapon augmentation for some incredible offensive options (up to a +3 or 70,000gp enhancement).

Levels 16 - 20
Artificer 3/Monk 3/Renegade Mastermaker 7/Spinemeld Warrior 7

While the 7th level of renegade mastermaker doesn’t progress infusions, you’ve already hit 4ths (aka the most important infusion level), and you don’t really get anything interesting from progressing spinemeld warrior beyond 7, so go ahead and take it. This allows you to attach warforged components (there are some neat ones), artifact components and docents. Docents in particular are fun - they are basically little AI cores that provide some really nice abilities for relatively low cost. Unfortunately, docents can’t be crafted… but hey, you’ve got noble familiarity for a reason, right?

And with spinemeld warrior continuing to progress, you pick up several more nice little goodies. The rend attack is a great damage boost, given how many attacks you can toss out in a round, but by far the best thing here is the soulmeld progression. These add quite a lot of utility to your day to day activities. Once you get the arms bind, they can also provide a very nice damage boost as well via the astral vambraces. With the arm bind you can effectively increase the size of your spine attacks even further. Add on Superior Unarmed Strike (I mentioned that nabbing IUS via mauling gauntlets would come in handy, right?) and a monk’s belt, and your spines are doing 4d6 base damage. Now let’s add in the enhancement bonuses - you get two separate sources of these between your battlefist and your ACF, and with item alteration you can make them stack - and your boosts from mauling gauntlets, and suddenly these attacks are doing some real damage. Which is nice, because with +16 BAB, flurry and TWF, you can make 6 attacks a round, or 7 with haste (don’t forget that haste is one of the powers a docent can provide). And of course any time you hit someone twice with your spines they have to make a DC 20+Str save or be nauseated as well.

The bear version didn't get as far in the write-up, mostly because I couldn't think of a great reason for it having more than two levels in spinemeld warrior, but I must admit the concept of a holy bear covered in spines and TWFing was pretty funny to me:

Spoiler: Da Bear

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Artificer 6/Sentinel of Bharrai 3/Warshaper 1/Spinemeld Warrior 10
1 Artificer1- Scribe Scroll, Sacred Vow
2 Artificer2- Brew Potion
3 Artificer3- Craft Wondrous Item, Knowledge Devotion
4 Artificer4- (bonus feat)
5 Artificer5- Craft Magic Arms and Armor
6 Artificer6- Craft Wand, Vow of Obediance
7 Sentinel of Bharrai1-
8 Sentinel of Bharrai2-
9 Sentinel of Bharrai3- ((incarnum feat))
10 Warshaper1-
11 Spinemeld Warrior1- Two-Weapon Fighting
12 Spinemeld Warrior2- Surrogate Spellcasting
13 Spinemeld Warrior3-
14 Spinemeld Warrior4-
15 Spinemeld Warrior5- xxx
16 Spinemeld Warrior6-
17 Spinemeld Warrior7-
18 Spinemeld Warrior8- xxx
19 Spinemeld Warrior9-
20 Spinemeld Warrior10-

Turn into a bear, morphic up some spines, enhance them with infusions and TWF them. Rawr.

Super fun round. No regrets in not getting my builds in, as there is a lot of competition this round and a surprisingly high number of entries considering how lackluster this ingredient is. Good luck to all!

[Khatoblepas]

I love that almost nobody submitted a vanilla skarn, and everyone got weird with it. This round was a blast to build for, especially since Spinemeld Warrior offered so little.

Frac-Tall is amazing in concept, using Human Heritage to skirt the prerequisites of symbiotic is just *chefs kiss*, nothing better. It's so elegant in its inelegance.

[ciopo]

I love that almost nobody submitted a vanilla skarn, and everyone got weird with it. This round was a blast to build for, especially since Spinemeld Warrior offered so little.

Frac-Tall is amazing in concept, using Human Heritage to skirt the prerequisites of symbiotic is just *chefs kiss*, nothing better. It's so elegant in its inelegance.

What's a Vanilla skarn?

This....THIS ingredient inspired 16 builds?

It's not that bad... I've certainly felt *worse* about other PrCs

[Seerow]

Not a single Paladin in the mix, I am now officially stumped as to which build T.G. Oskar submitted.


But man a lot of fun entries out here for this round. Not envious of the judges with this many builds to dig through. Good luck to everyone!

[Elves]

And I expected the ingredient would drive people away. Man, you know, I thought I was signing up for an easy gig here.

[Beni-Kujaku]

And I expected the ingredient would drive people away. Man, you know, I thought I was signing up for an easy gig here.

This ingredient was exactly what people here like: limiting, but with a few oddities that make it interesting. There were a lot fewer submissions in something much broader, like Legacy Champion. (also, I'm not sure what is the most appropriate in english: a lot fewer, a lot less, many less, many fewer?)

[daremetoidareyo]

This ingredient was exactly what people here like: limiting, but with a few oddities that make it interesting. There were a lot fewer submissions in something much broader, like Legacy Champion.

Legacy champ had a subsystem mini game that bled off chef confidence tho

[Beni-Kujaku]

What's a Vanilla skarn?

I believe he meant "Skarn with no template", or "Skarn with no type-changing template"

[H_H_F_F]

This....THIS ingredient inspired 16 builds?

A few possible causes:

1. It's a full BaB martial class. 3/4 BaB makes meeting +16 very hard, and half casters are much more stressful power wise. You can mess around more when building something like this, and know that you'll probably still be in the same league, power wise, as everyone else. There's less system mastery involved. Less stress.

2. It's trash, but it's focused trash. It's easy to understand what the class is about, and the fact that there aren't many class features helps not to get lost.

3. Incarnum is fun, but it usually doesn't really mesh with SIs. Independent meldshaping means you get all the gun of incarnum, but aren't restricted.

[mattie_p]

No one made a table yet? I'll make it then.