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2022-09-10, 07:01 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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- Feb 2009
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Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
Welcome back to the Iron Chef Optimization Challenge E6 Appetizer Edition! This is round forty! That's as many as four tens! I can hardly believe it.
The form of this challenge is to take a particular D&D 3.5 game element (our "secret ingredient," or SI) and turn it into a functional E6 build, which must feature the SI as heavily as possible. (The only hard rule about this is that you must take at least one level—where applicable—in the SI, though judges are encouraged to look favorably on builds that take as many levels as possible in said SI or that otherwise use it as heavily as possible.) Your final build submission should consist of your 6 regular levels and your first 10 epic bonus feats, though providing a snapshot at earlier points through the progression is heartily encouraged. Entries are to be PM'd to the Chair (that would be me!), and they will be posted anonymously; our volunteer judges will then grade each build on a 1-5 point scale in four categories: Originality, Power, Elegance, and Use of the Secret Ingredient. The builds with the highest three scores will be awarded medals, with the Honorable Mention award going to the non-medaling build that the Chair likes best and/or that receives the most votes for HM in this thread. (HM may not always be awarded, particularly if the number of builds is very small.) And then we all have cake!*
*Note: You must provide your own cake.
This is basically like the regular Iron Chef, and let's be brutally honest with ourselves here: this isn't a gargantuan community, and we basically all know what we're talking about at this point. Make the builds, send 'em in, post some scores, and have fun. If you've got questions, lemme know. Still, let's lay out a few rules!
- Cooking Time: Builds must be submitted via PM to the Chair by 4:59 PM GMT - 9 on Monday, Sep 26, 2022 (1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, Sep 27). The reveal shall be on the first evening the Chair has free following the cooking deadline, which is hoped to be that evening or the immediately subsequent one—I'll do my best, anyway. Judging is then encouraged to go as quickly as possible; if multiple judges volunteer, we'll set about a two-week window, but if we only get one judge, we'll try to wrap up as soon as possible after that judge presents scores. (I will admit that the deadline time may not be an exact science, but don't hide from me and we'll probably be cool.)
- Kitchen: Let's break this one down a bit.
Spoiler: Let's talk about sources
- ALLOWED: Almost all D&D 3.5 material published by WotC: Core, Completes, monster books, Races Of books, alternate power source books (Expanded Psionics Handbook, Magic of Incarnum, Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, etc.), Spell Compendium, Book of Exalted Deeds, Book of Vile Darkness, Eberron material, Forgotten Realms material, and other WotC-published 3.5 material. (This list is NOT exhaustive and there are many other legal books that I did not mention by name!)
- ALLOWED: Material from the 3.5 archives of the Wizards of the Coast website (including, but not limited to, the Mind's Eye articles). If you use it, link it.
- ALLOWED: Official errata from WotC. If you're relying on this in a material fashion, it's a good idea to link it and to discuss it.
- NOT ALLOWED: Unofficial errata, including "class fixes" (regardless of the source, including from the original author if not published in a WotC book) or fan-created content.
- ALLOWED: Unupdated WotC-published 3.0 material (e.g., Sword and Fist, Masters of the Wild, etc.) except for 3.0 psionics. No 3.0 psionics allowed. If you are using 3.0 material, use the general-purpose skill updates (Wilderness Lore becomes Survival, Innuendo becomes Bluff, etc.) and the general-purpose rules updates (spells with a casting time of "1 action" become "1 standard action," etc.) when appropriate.
- NOT ALLOWED: 3.0 material for which a direct 3.5 update exists. Use the updated material instead.
- ALLOWED: Dragon Compendium and its errata.
- NOT ALLOWED: Content from Dragon Magazine and/or Dungeon Magazine unless said content appears in an otherwise allowed source.
- ALLOWED: Oriental Adventures, including the 3.5 update to Oriental Adventures from Dragon Magazine #318. This is a specific exception to the "no Dragon" rule!
- NOT ALLOWED: Pathfinder content, regardless of whether it is "D&D 3.5 OGL" or not. If it didn't come from WotC, we don't want it.
- ALLOWED: From Unearthed Arcana: racial paragon classes, alternate class features/variant classes, spelltouched feats, and variant races. (Traits and flaws are technically legal, but traits warrant a -0.5 point penalty in Elegance, and flaws warrant a -1 penalty in Elegance.)
- NOT ALLOWED: Other Unearthed Arcana content, including (but not limited to) bloodlines, LA buyoff, fractional BAB/saves, alternate casting systems, alternate skill systems, item familiars, prestigious character classes, generic classes, gestalt, etc. When you're wondering if UA content is allowed, err on the side of caution and don't mess around with it.
- NOT ALLOWED: Leadership, regardless of source. Game elements functionally equivalent to Leadership (including, but not limited to, Dragon Cohort, Undead Leadership, and Thrallherd) are similarly banned. (Familiars, Improved Familiar, animal companions, Wild Cohort, psicrystals, elemental envoys, and similar game elements are allowed, and they are not considered to be "Leadership." If the difference isn't obvious, feel free to contact the Chair with specific questions.)
- NOT ALLOWED: Third-party content, homebrew, or other non-WotC content.
- NOT ALLOWED: Epic feats from the Epic Level Handbook. Just because you're "epic" in E6 after 6th level doesn't mean that you're that kind of epic.
- NOT ALLOWED: Any race or template with a level adjustment other than +0. (Or any other source of LA other than a race or template, if any such things exist.) However, as a specific exception for round 26, see below.
- NOT ALLOWED: For our judges: penalizing solely based on legal sources used, regardless of whether those sources are plentiful, sparse, common, obscure, or something in between. If the material is legal, then it doesn't matter how many or how few books it came out of.
- ALLOWED: Also for our judges: penalizing for using a source (other than material in Core; don't be vindictive about genuinely obvious stuff) that isn't listed in the build writeup. The chef may choose to present the sources in-line with the text, in a consolidated source list, or somewhere else, but if the source is listed (and is otherwise legal), it counts. If the source is not listed, you may choose to penalize for that.
If you have questions about anything in this section (or hell, in this ruleset), feel free to ask the Chair.
- Character Creation: 32 point buy is assumed. For the purposes of this contest, Level Adjustment greater than +0 is banned. (This may be revised at a later point, but I don't feel that the E6 LA rules are conducive to fun in the context of this contest.) No more than two entries per chef per contest, please; if you submit two builds and somehow are so overcome with inspiration for a third that you can't help yourself, PM me and tell me which two you care about the most.
- Highlighted because of past issues: It is not enough for your build to end with a level adjustment of +0. You must be +0 from start to finish. No using ANY build elements with a level adjustment above +0, even if they then get mitigated or reduced somehow. However, note that a special exception is in place for round 26...
- Speculation: Please do not post any form of speculation before the reveal. Just don't do it, guys. It's not cool. This means NOT posting any of the following or anything substantially similar: what you think is going to be common, significant elements of your planned build or of other potential builds, or anything else that could directly influence someone else's build choices for good or for ill. (It's acceptable to ask for rules clarifications as appropriate, but try to avoid tipping your hand too much.) Speculation is bad because it can discourage people from posting builds and can also "taint the judging pool" when it comes to Originality, so please just try to be aware of how other people might react to your speculation.
- E6: Here's how E6 works for the purposes of this contest. Build your character normally for the first six levels. After you reach level 6, you stop gaining levels and start gaining bonus feats every time you would gain 5,000 XP. Since we aren't actually tracking XP, you'll basically list your first ten epic bonus feats in the order that you take them, and we think of them as being kind of like levels. We will not use the LA-equals-reduced-point-buy rules, instead preferring to just ban races with LA, at least for now. We will not use the "capstone feats"; all feats that you take must be normal legal 3.5 feats, not homebrew E6 ones. You may not use the Epic feats from the Epic Level Handbook, though if for some reason there are non-Epic feats from the ELH that you qualify for, you may take those. (I don't think there are any, but I'm sure someone will prove me wrong.) It is up to the discretion of each judge whether this is a "hard E6" (magic above 3rd level spells is simply beyond mortal reach, items that have a listed CL above 6th are just plain not available, etc.) or a "soft E6" (if you can somehow get the magic on your character, it's yours, regardless of level), though I honestly don't expect it to come up. Don't go crazy with making assumptions about items and we probably won't have to find out.
- Presentation: Please use the table found below in the spoiler. List your epic bonus feats (in clear order) after the table. If you find a clever way of formatting that that isn't annoying and that doesn't break anything, have fun; if it's portable, I may steal it for the next round. When sending your build or any disputes to the Chair, clearly include your build's name in the subject of the PM, and please present your build exactly as you want the Chair to copy and paste it into the thread.
If you're using a picture, cite the source and follow any relevant citation rules. Because we have had issues with this in the past, when listing your skills, please make it very clear how many ranks you have at each level. There are multiple ways to do this and we do not wish to cramp anyone's individual style by dictating exactly how this must look, but make sure that somewhere in your entry there's an explanation of how many actual skill ranks you have. It's still fine to list total skill bonuses, if that's your style, but don't only list bonuses; make sure that there is a clear listing somewhere of your ranks alone. You are allowed, but not required, to use this extremely spiffy tool that mattie_p cooked up (thanks, mattie_p!).SpoilerCode for the table:Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities 2nd New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities 3rd New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities 4th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities 5th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities 6th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities Spoiler[TABLE="class: head alt1 alt2"]
[TR]
[TH][B]Level[/B][/TH]
[TH][B]Class[/B][/TH]
[TH][B]Base Attack Bonus[/B][/TH]
[TH][B]Fort Save[/B][/TH]
[TH][B]Ref Save[/B][/TH]
[TH][B]Will Save[/B][/TH]
[TH][B]Skills[/B][/TH]
[TH][B]Feats[/B][/TH]
[TH][B]Class Features[/B][/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1st[/TD]
[TD]New Class Level[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]Skills[/TD]
[TD]Feats[/TD]
[TD]New Class Abilities[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2nd[/TD]
[TD]New Class Level[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]Skills[/TD]
[TD]Feats[/TD]
[TD]New Class Abilities[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3rd[/TD]
[TD]New Class Level[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]Skills[/TD]
[TD]Feats[/TD]
[TD]New Class Abilities[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4th[/TD]
[TD]New Class Level[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]Skills[/TD]
[TD]Feats[/TD]
[TD]New Class Abilities[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5th[/TD]
[TD]New Class Level[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]Skills[/TD]
[TD]Feats[/TD]
[TD]New Class Abilities[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6th[/TD]
[TD]New Class Level[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]+x[/TD]
[TD]Skills[/TD]
[TD]Feats[/TD]
[TD]New Class Abilities[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE] - Contest houserules: Nearly the same as the main contest's rules here: all creatures are proficient with natural weapons they have or may acquire, bonus feats that are explicitly granted without meeting prereqs are usable even without those prereqs, and feats that affect which skills are class skills for you and/or how you spend your skill points (Able Learner, Martial Study, Truename Training, Apprentice, etc.) apply immediately at the level at which you take them (even though you normally spend skill points before taking a feat). When taking Open Minded as an epic feat, any skill that has ever been a class skill for you (including through your class, your race, your feats, or similar game elements, though please don't muck around with retroactively making something stop being a class skill for some stupid reason) is a class skill when determining how the 5 granted skill points may be spent. All usual rules about HD-related skill caps apply. When taking Open Minded as a non-epic feat, treat it as normal; the class skills of the class you took at the level you gained Open Minded (plus race, feats, etc.) are your class skills for those skill points, similar to if Open Minded's skill points came straight from your class.
- Judging guidelines: The minimum score in a category is 1, and the maximum is 5 (except in high-Originality rounds, wherein the maximum in Originality is 10). Judges are expected to be fair, consistent, and open-minded, and they are expected to make a good-faith effort to engage with any reasonable disputes that arise, especially when RAW is in question. That said, contestants are asked to not dispute more than necessary; let's do everything in good faith and really only dispute when a judge is being inconsistent, being unfair, or is otherwise grossly misinterpreting a build.
Judges may not penalize Originality solely because a build is a tribute or homage to an existing creative work (in or out of D&D canon; note that this is not the same thing as penalizing Originality for using well-known optimization tactics), nor may judges penalize based solely on sources used (whether those sources are plentiful, sparse, common, obscure, or something in between, you should judge the build elements and how they work together rather than what book or what books they came out of, as long as those books are legal for this contest and are cited in the entry).
As with the main contest, we will follow the "One Mistake, One Penalty" guideline, and it is very important that the judges adhere to it. I'm going to directly copy and paste this from the main thread, and hopefully the original author won't mind too much:
SpoilerJudges are only allowed to penalise once for a given mistake. If someone messes up their skills and doesn't qualify for a PrC, ding them as hard as you like. Once. In one category. You don't then get to declare that because they didn't qualify for that PrC, they don't get those levels, and thus don't qualify for anything else. If Ranger is a common ingredient, ding them for Originality. Once. Don't also take off points for Two-Weapon-Fighting being a common ingredient.
Non-exhaustive list of examples:
SkillsAllowed:
- Giving a penalty for miscalculating the number of skill points gained
- Giving a penalty for not having enough ranks to meet a prerequisite
- Increasing the harshness of a skill miscalculation penalty if it affects critical skills including prereqs
Not allowed:
- Giving separate penalties for miscalculating skill points and for non-qualification where the non-qualification is solely caused by the miscalculation
PrereqsAllowed:
- Giving a penalty for not meeting prereqs
- Scaling the penalty depending on how important the item that the build failed to qualify for is
- Giving minimum score in UotSI for not qualifying for the SI
- Not giving credit for (note: not the same as penalising for) tactics using feats or classes other than the SI that were not qualified for (but see below)
Not Allowed:
- "Cascading" failures to qualify - declaring that because a build doesn't qualify for a feat, for example, it also doesn't qualify for anything using that feat as a prereq
- Treating a build as having fewer levels than it does because of FtQ for classes
Other general things that are no longer allowed:
- Penalising because someone has chosen to build a tribute to an existing creative work
- Deciding that a backstory has not met a fluff prerequisite well enough, or because its method of meeting it is "unrealistic". You may penalise if a fluff prereq is not addressed at all, but not for how well it is addressed.
Note that these are protections, not licenses. Deliberately taking a feat that you know you don't qualify for hoping to just suck up the judging penalty for a feat that you couldn't normally take is not okay, and may lead to your build being disqualified. - Dispute guidelines (NEW, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION): Disputing is long, annoying, and emotional. It's also sometimes necessary, but it's often not actually something that makes everyone have more fun. Let's go into a little more detail here.
Spoiler- Do NOT dispute to make an argument that goes fundamentally beyond what's in your write-up. It is the responsibility of the chef to make sure that the write-up is complete and contains their best arguments for what the build does and why it's awesome. If you didn't explain your tactics well or didn't spell out something that a judge misses, just do better next time. Don't drag it out after the fact.
- Do NOT dispute just to be clever or witty or cheeky. Please. We're all adults here and so I assume you know what that means. Don't treat the build as a setup and your oh-so-clever dispute as the punchline. It's not as funny as it is in your head. Trust me. I've been down that road.
- Do NOT dispute just to say "oh yeah, my bad, I missed that" or some equivalent. If you're not directly challenging the judge, save the commentary until after the reveal. I 100% get that the urge to respond to commentary is very strong, but type it out and sit on it for a while if you've gotta.
- Do NOT dispute just to try to wheedle more points out of the judge. Note that this is different from saying that the judge is being truly unfair or is being truly wrong by black-and-white RAW. A dispute is NOT the place to try to scrape together a few last quarter-points. If you didn't put it in your write-up, that's on you. This also means that a dispute is really not the place to have long back-and-forth tit-for-tat arguments. That's a surefire way to get people grumpy. It's a contest on a D&D board, guys, not the results of a federal election.
- Do NOT dispute to tear down another build. That's just plain not cool. If you entered the contest, it's not on you to judge the other builds.
- DO dispute if the judge is being blatantly biased by giving you a substantially different ruling on a build element compared to another chef who used the same build element in nearly the same way. (Note that position in a build may affect if you're using that element in "nearly the same way" or not.) Please reserve this for the truly blatant examples. I mean it. Remember, it's the contestant's responsibility to make their best argument in the original write-up.
- DO dispute if the judge is actively going against the contest rules. Note that there are relatively few ways in which a judge can go against contest rules (we intentionally give very wide discretion to our judges), but examples include truly breaking One Mistake One Penalty, penalizing just because of number of sources of (legal) material, and so on.
- DO dispute if the judge is clearly ignoring unambiguous RAW. Note that this is for unambiguous RAW; if the RAW is shady and you're making an argument that isn't completely clear and that it wouldn't be strange for a GM to frown on, the judge has every right to frown on it as well. (You generally know when you're indulging in shady RAW. Be mature about this.) But if the judge is saying you didn't hit a prereq that you clearly did hit (and included in your write-up!), saying you can't do something that the plain text of the ability says you can do, or anything like that, by all means, call 'em out.
- Do NOT dispute if the judge doesn't agree with your interpretation of ambiguous RAW. Yes, this is a retread of the previous bullet point; this is that important. If you're relying on ambiguous RAW, it's on you to lay out clearly why it should work the way you want it to work. Again, be mature and act in good faith: you really know when you're pushing things like this. If they don't like it, they don't like it. Move on.
Disputing is a privilege, not a right. In the Chair's sole discretion, disputes that do not meet these guidelines and/or that do not seem to be offered in good faith may be suppressed. The Chair reserves the right to choose to post all, some, or none of a dispute if appropriate.
- Other bits and bobs: If there's something major and relevant I haven't mentioned, assume that the way I handle it will probably be the same as the main contest unless stated otherwise or unless doing so would be an obviously absurd result. If you've got questions, I'll give you answers.
This round's secret ingredient:
POISON!
Your dish must use and showcase the use of poison. Natural/racial poison is acceptable, as is magical poison, mundane poison, poison crafting, etc. It is generally going to be in your best interest to explain in detail where your poison comes from.
Allez Optimizer!
The Builds:
Coming soon!
Spoiler: Contest History
Round 4: Knight
Round 5: Ninja
Round 6: Racial Paragon Classes
Round 7: Hexblade
Round 8: Shugenja
Round 9: Swashbuckler
Round 10: Crusader
Round 11: Soulknife
Round 12: Factotum
Round 13: Prestige Classes
Round 14: Mountebank
Round 15: Sorcerer
Round 16: Dragon Shaman
Round 17: Lurk
Round 18: Paladin
Round 19: Scout
Round 20: Incarnate
Round 21: Shadowcaster
Round 22: Dragonmarks
Round 23: Fighter
Round 24: Pets
Round 25: Warlock
Round 26: Monsters
Round 27: Ardent (exhibition round)
Round 28: Rogue
Round 29: Signature Spells
Round 30: Any Prior Ingredient
Round 31: Ranger
Round 32: Tanking
Round 33: Psychic Warrior
Round 34: Flight
Round 35: Binder
Round 36: Skill tricks
Round 37: Barbarian
Round 38: Fire
Round 39: Bard
Spoiler: Way Old Stuff (2012 and earlier; Amechra's run as Chair)In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff!
Originally Posted by Doc Roc
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2022-09-10, 07:01 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
Here's a few gentle recommendations that are intended to improve scores and make things easier for the judges. As always, THE RECOMMENDATIONS IN THIS POST ARE NOT RULES. Judges and contestants are free to honor them or ignore them; my intent here is only to help, and NONE of what I'm saying here is required. (That said, did you see the new dispute guidelines? Those ARE rules, so please go read them. And I'm even going to be better about enforcing them this time.)
Recommendations:
- Double-check ALL of your prereqs. Every. Single. One. Feats, PrCs, whatever. You might even go so far as to spell out when you meet each one, but again, that's not a requirement. But one of the single biggest causes of point loss is failure to meet prereqs.
- Tell the judges what's cool about your build! You spent hours or days on this (y'know, probably) and know it inside and out, but the judges are getting a whole bunch of these dishes all at once and don't know the build history of each one. You're significantly more likely to score well if you spell out exactly what makes you awesome than if you try to just let it stand on its own.
- Make it easy to read! Skill tables are awful, though they're an incredibly necessary evil. Full Monster Manual-style statblocks are occasionally useful but are also insanely dense if not formatted well. Judges are very likely to miss something if you aren't careful with how you present your info. Remember that judging takes a lot of time, energy, and focus, so don't rely on the judge being willing/able to decode something in order to see what makes you interesting!
- Be memorable. Remember that we've all seen these ingredients used at least once before. What makes you different?
So poison can come from a lot of places. Maybe you can craft it. Maybe you can magically generate it (how appropriate that we're all Vizziniing the same thing here). Maybe you have it as a trait of your form, or maybe you have a poisonous pet. Maybe you're better than anyone else at spreading it to a whole bunch of people. Maybe you're the best at poisoning one person without being seen, or maybe it doesn't even matter if you're seen or not because your poison is so strong. There's a lot of ways to go, so dig in and explain what it is you're doing! Have fun, team!Last edited by Zaq; 2022-09-10 at 07:05 PM.
In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff! Originally Posted by Doc Roc
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2022-09-10, 07:02 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
By the way, since this is round XL, I was extremely tempted to make "size" or "size increases" the ingredient, but I feel like there's really just not enough variety there to actually be the whole ingredient. I seriously considered it, though.
In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff! Originally Posted by Doc Roc
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2022-09-10, 07:25 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
This looks very interesting. In to cook.
I've got a new fantasy TTRPG about running your own fencing school in a 3 musketeers pastiche setting. Book coming soon.
Check out my NEW sci-fi TTRPG about first contact. Cool alien races, murderous AIs, and more. New expansion featuring rules for ships! New book here NOW!
Iron Chef Medals! Originally Posted by weckar
Amazing Princess Mononoke avatar by Dispozition
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2022-09-10, 09:00 PM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
How very intriguing. Thinking about this one.
Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2022-09-10, 09:21 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
Debating building.
Currently Recruiting WW/Mafia: Logic's Deathloop Mafia and Cazero's Graduates Of Hope's Peak - Danganronpa Mafia
Avatar by AsteriskAmp
My Homebrew Originally Posted by Xumtiil
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2022-09-11, 03:49 AM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
Yeah! I actually have some ideas. )
If you could make anything and everything welcome to the Zinc Saucier XLV: Figaro
My competition's medals.
Spoiler: For purposes of clarity1109 is September, 11 - my birthday.
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2022-09-11, 04:39 AM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
Hmmm. It's a maybe from me. I have some nebulous thoughts, we'll see if they go anywhere interesting which isn't just retreading old ground.
Screaming defiance with the last breath
It would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.
My judgments and medals!
The Iron Chef Optimization spreadsheet!
Song, Sword, and Sorcery: my 5E homebrew half-caster bard (Version 2.0!)
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2022-09-11, 06:54 AM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
Thought of an interesting trick and realized partway through that I'd already used it in a 2015 contest. Still, that contest never got judged and I got quite a different plan in mind for this, so it's probably fine?
Creator of the LA-assignment thread.
Come join the new Junkyard Wars and build with SLAs and a breath weapon!
Interested in judging a build competition on the 3.5 forums but not sure where to begin? Check out the judging handbook!
Extended signature!
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2022-09-12, 10:56 AM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
I won't tell anyone if you won't. Originally Posted by Inevitability
In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff! Originally Posted by Doc Roc
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2022-09-12, 06:47 PM (ISO 8601)Barbarian in the Playground
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- Apr 2013
Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
I already used my best idea for this, and I'm struggling to come up with another one. Unless inspiration strikes, I'll tentatively plan to judge.
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2022-09-13, 01:27 PM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
I already have two stabs. Need just write them.
If you could make anything and everything welcome to the Zinc Saucier XLV: Figaro
My competition's medals.
Spoiler: For purposes of clarity1109 is September, 11 - my birthday.
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2022-09-26, 12:00 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
Anyone still cooking? I have a few entries but I admit I was expecting a couple more. Go ahead and sound off and let me know if an extension would let you get something in (and, if so, how long you need)!
In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff! Originally Posted by Doc Roc
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2022-09-26, 08:12 PM (ISO 8601)Barbarian in the Playground
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- Apr 2013
Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
I have the outline of a build, I'd need a few days to get it ready to submit.
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2022-09-27, 08:55 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
Sure, we can make that work.
In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff! Originally Posted by Doc Roc
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2022-10-03, 09:50 PM (ISO 8601)Troll in the Playground
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- Aug 2014
Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
My stupid entry is in!
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2022-10-03, 10:03 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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- Feb 2009
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Modayn Mo'problums
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Originally Posted by Modayn Mo'problums
Modayn Mo'problums
Neutral Warforged Druid 5/Landforged Walker 1
Spoiler: ABILITIES
Ability Score Total Str 8 8 Dex 8 8 Con 14+2 16 Int 10 10 Wis 18-2 16 Cha 15-2 13
At level 4, add 1 to charisma
Spoiler: Tables
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st deadly hunter (UA p.58), favored environment (forest) (UA 65) spontaneous affliction (exemplars of evil p.21), elemental companion: fire(complete mage p.33) Druid 0 2 0 2 16: {+4} K. nature: 4; {+4} Survival: 4; {+1} Speak language (ignan): 1; {+2 CC} k. planes: 1; {+4 CC} k. geography: 2; {+1} Concentration: 1; Hidden Talent (XPH p. 67): Call weaponry XPH p.82), Track Bonus to Armor Class when unarmored (as monk, including Wisdom bonus to AC), fast movement (as monk), favored enemy (as ranger): Favored environment: Forest, swift tracker (as ranger), Track feat (as ranger), elemental companion, spells.2nd Druid 1 3 0 3 4: {+1} K. nature: 5; {+1} Survival: 5; Speak language (ignan): 1; k. planes: 1; k. geography: 2; {+2} Concentration: 3; 3rd Druid 2 3 1 3 4: {+1} K. nature: 6; {+1} Survival: 6; Speak language (ignan): 1; k. planes: 1; k. geography: 2; {+2} Concentration: 5; Skill focus (knowledge: nature) 4th Druid 3 4 1 4 4: {+1} K. nature: 7; {+1} Survival: 7; Speak language (ignan): 1; k. planes: 1; k. geography: 2; Concentration: 5; {+2} Profession (herbologist): 2; resist nature's lure 5th Druid 3 4 1 4 4: {+1} K. nature: 8; {+1} Survival: 8; Speak language (ignan): 1; k. planes: 1; k. geography: 2; {+2} Concentration: 7; Profession (herbologist): 2; 6th Landforged Walker (Secrets of Xen'drik p. 123) 3 6 1 4 4: {+1} K. nature: 9; {+1} Survival: 9; Speak language (ignan): 1; k. planes: 1; {+2} k. geography: 4; Concentration: 7; Profession (herbologist): 2; eldeen plantgrafter (Magic of Eberron p.47) Body of nature (Hide +4, divine focus)
Epic Feats necropolis born (complete arcane p.81) spellbinder dragon compendium p.147 snowcasting (Frostburn p.50) Flash Frost Spell (Player's Handbook II, p. 91) Extra slot (Complete Arcane, p. 79) Stable Footing ( Races of Eberron, p. 112) Zen Archery ( Complete Warrior, p. 106) Psionic Talent ( Expanded Psionics Handbook, p. 50) Extra slot Extra slot
Spells
1st: entangle, Breath of the Jungle (Spell Compendium, p. 39) , Protection from Winged Flyers (Shining South) , Spore field (Complete Scoundrel) fengut (web) 2: Decomposition (Spell Compendium, p. 61), Rockburst (Shining South), Whip of Thorns (Champions of Ruin), wood shape 3: Affliction (Book of Exalted Deeds), Forest Eyes (Complete Champion), Infestation of Maggots (Spell Compendium, p. 123), poison, plantgrowth, Giants wrath (Spell Compendium, p. 105)
Spoiler: What We're up to
Green = Entangle spell based poison/status combos
Red = Mordayn vapor tea hijinx
Entangle (Player's Handbook v.3.5, p. 227)
Transmutation
Level: Druid 1,
Components: V, S, DF,
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Area: Plants in a 40-ft.-radius spread
Duration: 1 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: Reflex partial; see text
Spell Resistance: No
Grasses, weeds, bushes, and even trees wrap, twist, and entwine about creatures in the area or those that enter the area, holding them fast and causing them to become entangled. The creature can break free and move half its normal speed by using a full-round action to make a DC 20 Strength check or a DC 20 Escape Artist check. A creature that succeeds on a Reflex save is not entangled but can still move at only half speed through the area. Each round on your turn, the plants once again attempt to entangle all creatures that have avoided or escaped entanglement. Note: The DM may alter the effects of the spell somewhat, based on the nature of the entangling plants.
Landforged Walker: Body of Nature (Su): As a 1st-level landforged walker, you choose a terrain type to which you are forever bound. The available terrain types are aquatic, desert, forest, hills, marsh, mountains, plains, and underground. You cannot change your selection once it is made. Upon taking your first level in this prestige class, you sprout a second skin composed of tiny plants native to your chosen terrain. For instance, a desert landforged walker might appear covered with tiny cacti, while an underground landforged walker might grow a skin of moss and fungi. This living skin is a mystical representation of your bond with the earth, and it requires neither water nor sunlight. Damaged or harvested areas regenerate almost instantly. This living skin also provides you with a variety of benefits based on your class level. At 1st level, you gain a +4 circumstance bonus on Hide checks in your chosen terrain. In addition, your body serves as a divine focus for your spells—you need no other item.
Mordayn Vapor (“Dreammist”) (BOVD p.42): Made of roughly ground leaves of a rare herb found in deep forests, mordayn is so potent that it is taken by steeping a small amount in hot water, and then inhaling the vapors of the resultant tea. Raw mordayn powder and mordayn-tainted water are deadly poison; taking the powder directly or drinking the water produces an immediate overdose. Dreammist is renowned for the beautiful visions it induces and the deadly peril of its sinister embrace.
Initial Effect: Exotic visions of incredible beauty enthrall the user for the next d20+10 minutes. During this time the user has a 50% chance to lose any action he attempts, as described in the bestow curse spell.
Secondary Effect: 1d4 points of Constitution damage and 1d4 points of Wisdom damage.
Side Effects: The visions of a dreammist user are incredibly beautiful and poignant. His normal life seems drab and futile in comparison, and he aches to experience the transcendent beauty of his drug-induced dreams again.
When the dose wears off, the user must succeed at a Will save (DC 17) orfall under a compulsion to do whatever is necessary to repeat the dreammist dose (treat this as a compulsion similar to that of a suggestion spell). This compulsion lasts for 1d4 hours before fading.
Overdose: If two doses are taken within the space of an hour, or if raw mordayn powder or mordayn tea are ingested, the drug is a deadly poison (ingested DC 17, 1d10 Con/1d10 Con). Mordayn vapor addicts often throw out the tea as soon as they inhale and make sure that only one dose is available at a time in order to make sure they cannot overdose on the deadly drug.
Percolator (A&EG p.24): Considered the most important part of a mess kit, a percolator boils water to make coffee and other, more exotic hot drinks. If used in desperation as a weapon, the contents of a full boiling percolator deal 1d3 points of heat damage (max range 5 feet).
Call Weaponry: Percolator: You call a weapon “from thin air” into your waiting hand (actually, it is a real weapon hailing from another location in space and time). You don’t have to see or know of a weapon to call it—in fact, you can’t call a specific weapon; you just specify the kind. If you call a projectile weapon, it comes with 3d6 nonmagical bolts, arrows, or sling bullets, as appropriate. The weapon is made of ordinary materials as appropriate for its kind. If you relinquish your grip on the weapon you called for 2 or more consecutive rounds, it automatically returns to wherever it originated.
Ammunition: Projectile weapons use ammunition.
Pot, iron 5 sp 10 lb.
Elemental Companion: Class: Druid. Level: 1st. Special Requirement: Knowledge (the planes) 1 rank, Speak Language (Auran, Terran, Ignan, or Aquan).
Benefit: You gain the companionship of a Small elemental (fire). You must speak the language of your chosen elemental companion (Ignan). Your elemental companion has the normal statistics of an elemental of its kind. At 4th level, your elemental grows into a Medium elemental of the same kind. Its statistics change appropriately.
ADD ONS:
Fatigue Spores A growth of spore-producing fungus is grafted to your skin. When you wish, you can cause a cloud of spores to spread from your body, causing those nearby to become fatigued. Graft Location: Skin. Description: Your skin, especially that of your torso, neck, and thighs, is covered in a dark green, flaky fungus.You can activate your fatigue spores once per minute as a swift action. Effect: When you activate the graft, toxic spores spread from your body in a dark green cloud. You can activate your fatigue spores once per minute as a swift action. Effect: When you activate the graft, toxic spores spread from your body in a dark green cloud. All living creatures adjacent to you must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 your HD + your Con modifier) or become fatigued. A target that successfully saves against your spores cannot be affected again for 24 hours. The effects of one individual’s fatigue spores are not cumulative (so that a creature that fails to save against your spores twice does not become exhausted). However, a creature that fails a save against your spores, then fails a save against the spores of another creature does become exhausted. Immunity or resistance to poison applies against the effect of the fatigue spores. Construction: Requires Eldeen Plantgrafter, touch of fatigue spell, 6,000 gp, 480 XP, 12 days.
Reath (ECS p.92) parasitic vine that grows on Eldeen reach trees, whose leaces when used as a component for a plant targetting spell has a 45% chance of increasing the DC by 2
Sleepweed: This plant appears similar to milkweed, and its pods contain sleep-inducing spores. If Pods can be thrown as a ranged touch attack (increment 5 ft), and a struck target must make a DC 12 Will save or fall asleep for 1 minute. Magic of Faerun p. 181
Metamagic add ons
SHACKLED This template can be added to any spell with a duration other than instantaneous or permanent. In addition to its normal effects, a shackled spell causes each target to move at one-half its normal speed (rounded down to the next 5-foot increment) forthe entire duration of the spell. If applied to a spell that itself reduces speed (such as slow), the effects are cumulative. Any reduction in speed also affects jumping distance, as normal. Cost: Somatic component (a grasping hand gesture) that cannot be modified, a material focus (a set of silver shackles worth at least 100 gp), and material component (a golden key worth at least 25 gp). This template cannot affect 9th-level spells. Prerequisite: Spellbinder feat
See what im getting at here?
The entangle spell allows terrain based customization of its effects based on available plant life in the target area. Landforged walker is a walking herb garden. So what if those herbs happen to be the mordayn plant. Which, when its leaves are brewed in a tea, becomes an inhalant. So we just summon a boiling percolator shimmering with astral glimmer to our hand as a weapon and get 3d6 more doses of hot water. for 5 Sp, we buy an iron pot to catch that water. Then, our fire elemental companion can go splash the entangled enemies, or rather, their square, as thats an easier AC to hit, and we really want to hit those mordayn plants so that the square an entangled enemy is in becomes a hallucinogenic death spiral. We can also splash with our 5ft range percolator. Eldeen plant grafter allows fatigue spores to be part of your skin...and so your entangles now have an exhaustion quality to them. But you need touch of fatigue as a 0 level spell, so we take necropolis born to get it as an SLA. If enemies still manage to get close, spontaneous affliction is a way to sicken them, giving another -2 to saves. Protection from winged flyers helps manage your situation.
Expanding our entangle are the spellbinder feat, snowcasting, and flash frost spell. These make your entangle an entire lockdown movement pretty dramatically.
Our entangle may be additionally modified by the other forest plants listed above, reath and sleepweed. Reath may enlarge your entangle if they don't mean that the spell must literally target plants.
Late game, the sleepweed pods and the giant's wrath spell combine with the zen archery to make you this central node of hallucinations that sicken and exhaust those around you.
Druid has access to a ton of poison, but i thought that it might be prudent to point out the spell poison and affliction are on its level 3 list as potential choices.
Extra slot grants more entangles. Psionic Talent is there for two extra summon hot waters per day.
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2022-10-03, 10:04 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Naa'it Sabes
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Originally Posted by Naa'it Sabes
Naa'it Sabes, the Acidic Arachnid
TN (ex-familiar) Hairy Spider Druid 5 / Planar Shepherd 1
Spoiler: Ability scoresBase array: 8/14/14/16/16/8 (32 point buy)
Racial modifiers: -10 strength, +4 dexterity, -4 intelligence, -8 charisma
After modifiers: 1/18/14/12/16/1
ASI at level 4 is put in wisdom.
Note that per the rules for playing monsters, if a large racial penalty would reduce a stat below 1, it's set to 1 instead. Thus, strength is 1 instead of -2, and charisma is 1 instead of 0.
Spoiler: BackstorySpoiler: SpiderlingThe centipedes appeared mere inches away, appearing on the far side of a fallen tree he'd turned into improvised cover. At once, they surged forward, skittering over, under, through the log, hundreds of hundreds of legs skittering over scabbed forest ground. He screamed, instinctively stepped back, and tripped over a gnarled root, the words of his unfinished spell replaced with a desperate scream. The centipedes were on him in an instant, biting, cutting, their shiny carapaces forming a scintillating tide of doom. His death had but one witness.
That does not refer to his adventuring companions. Silic, their half-orc guide, had died first, struck dead by a bolt of lightning. Noromieur, faithful priest of the Silver Flame, was bleeding out on the dark dirt. And Pol, that coward, had turned and ran at the first sign of trouble. He'd never make it back to civilization: presumably one of the Gloaming's many terrors got a good meal out of him. Not even Kuven's killer witnessed his fate: the fur-clad druid was triumphantly parading, staff raised high, her entourage of shifter and human supplicants roaring in support. The centipedes merely fed, uncaring of their meal's life or death. No, the sole witness to Kuven's death was me.
I'd felt it the instant it happened, noted the loss of a connection that'd been there for as long as I could remember. Scratch that: loss isn't the word, it's... severance? Separation? Close, but these imply symmetry. Kuven did not lose me as I lost him: Kuven was gone.
Actually, bear with me here, you've ever seen two kids play at running a House Sivis Message Station? Y'know, both of them have a little paper cup, and they connect them with a wire and pull it taut, and if you talk into one you can kind of hear out of the other? I'd expressed curiosity after seeing it once, and Kuven had gone through the trouble of setting a model up, so I could figure out how it worked for myself. That's what it was like.
I was still me, with all my awareness, all my memories, all my thoughts. And at the same time, I'd seen a wire fall slack, burned clean through the middle, and I knew that whatever was once on the far end now did not exist anymore.
At times I'd wondered what would happen if he died, whether I'd die along with him, disappear, lose anything that set me apart from a regular spider. I remember being afraid of those options, at the time.
Turns out I live.
Yay.
Spoiler: WebspinnerThey noticed me shortly afterwards, sitting atop Kuven's corpse. I'd planned to defend it somehow, to bite reaching hands, die defending my friend's body. I failed. I failed to do it, to go down fighting. A pair of hairy hands scooped me up, many eyes stared curiously at me, and without further comment I was carried off.
To them, I was a reward. They'd done their duty to nature, and nature had sent them a sign: a small spider, watching them with too-knowing eyes, clearly no ordinary beast when inspected with magic. More than once, I changed hands, my previous holder killed by some beast or fellow druid. I was a trophy of sorts, something for a pack leader to display during negotiations, proof the world's end was coming, proof it was not.
I'm sure the parallels are obvious to you, but it didn't feel like being with Kuven. The druids never understood me, never realized that I could think. Everything I did was meaningful, was important, but it was never me they thought was doing it, always some larger force, some incoherent concept of 'nature' or 'fate'. At best, they saw me as an omen to be interpreted.
The last druid to carry me was a shifter. Two heads taller than most, fought with a greatsword that he'd supposedly taken from a Droaam ogre: he made the damn thing almost look small. He'd bullied a druid into handing me over, then punched her skull in anyway. Got himself this little cage on a string, and would carry me around into battle. I was a good luck charm, of sorts.
That's when Kuven reappeared.
He looked like he had on the morning of the day he died: messy hair, green eyes, a face that stubbornly refused to turn its abundant stubble into a beard. He
Surprise, hope. I emoted. I sent it down the link, at first, then cautiously switched away. Kuven showed no sign of confusion as I did so.
"I'm surprised too, Naa'it." he spoke. I pictured him sitting down, realized there was nothing for him to sit down on, realized I couldn't actually see him anywhere. And yet he felt present, like someone in the same room who you happen to not be looking at.
Confusion, affection
"You've been staring at the link too much, Naa'it. That link's dead, you're not going to get any response. What really matters is the things that came come through it."
Contemplation, curiosity
"You can't have a familiar for years and years without some little bits of yourself ending up on the wrong side, it seems. The moment I died, part of me woke up here, had always been here, unknowingly. Without the connection to my own body, I was deliberated, but not gone. I looked for more bits and pieces that had come through, found some, substituted others. It took time, rebuilding an ego from scratch, but here I am."
Joy, relief, love
"But that said... what's happened? You've gone from fiercely defending my corpse to being a shoulder pet for some apocalypse cult? Where's the fight in you? Don't tell me you've never had a chance to escape."
Shame, sadness, resignation
"It's all good. What matters is that we're together again. Now, I've been looking around in here a bit and I'm very positively surprised by some of those tricks you've picked up... would you mind having the honors?"
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The next day, Kamos Trunkbreaker was found dead. The corpse was only identifiable by its size: gouts of acid had ravaged it to the bone, melting skin and muscle alike. Several signs pointed to the use of druidic magic, prompting some to state Kamos had fought back, while others considered it clear another druid had assassinated the shifter. Compounding the mystery, his guard had seen nor heard a thing, and claimed the hut's door had remained closed all night. For days, the pack quarreled over the case, until at last they split, the two groups to remain bitter enemies for ever more.
No one ever pointed out that the little cage around his neck, now splintered and strewn about the hut, showed no signs of acid damage, and its occupant was nowhere to be found.
Spoiler: Jumping SpiderKuven never talked much about death. He was not a grim man, nor a spiritual one. Death was something that happened to others, for him. I never talked with him about it, never learned his thoughts on death.
But I knew about Dolurrh. I knew that, after death, there was suffering, bleakness, a slow decay of the soul. Most books simply talked about the dead 'fading', about the afterlife as a temporary thing, perhaps even a precursor to better places. But the more I learned, the more I understood it was all euphemisms. The dead would diminish, lose memories, lose traits, but they would persist. Some part of them would remain, forever, in the joyless dark, unaware of the life it once had. It concerned me.
Kuven, the Kuven who had returned to me, did not like me dwelling on those matters. He relished in our adventures, always ready to share some obscure bit of arcane lore, some advice on applying my magic. The balance between us was different, but it was comforting.
I called him Kuven, for a long time. I stopped eventually; I remember exactly when.
We'd just dealt with a hostage situation in Fairhaven. The job itself was unremarkable: some Brelish nationalists had seized a House Syvis station, demanded the surrender of the 'Gnomish conspiracy' that'd supposedly infiltrated 'every level of government'. I'd snuck in, crawled among the captives, and summoned a few beasts to attack. A few guys tried to get to the hostages and got their face melted for it. Afterwards, when talking things through, I mentioned to Kuven how I kept comparing the familiar link to such stations, and mentioned that time he built me a scale model.
He didn't remember.
Not forgot and recalled: couldn't remember. He didn't deny the action, thought it sounded like him, but genuinely, honestly, could not recall it happening.
Things got quiet, after that. But got me thinking. Even if this Kuven was what he said, even if he was part of the living Kuven's soul, then what? What happened to the other parts? The answer was obvious, and I didn't like it.
I started studying the planes more, after that.
Spoiler: LatrodectusThe portal loomed ahead, a gray void interrupted only by occasional swirls of mist. A low moan seemed to emanate from it: the aggregate screams and groans of millions, washed out by distance, time, and despair. Though I knew it was on the same level, it almost seemed to pull. With every step I took, forward seemed a little more like downward, like I was slowly descending a sloped pit, each step potentially the point where gravity would win out, where I'd lose my grip, stumble forward, fall forever.
"You're insane."
I ignored the voice.
"You're insane, you've actually lost your mind. You're going to kill yourself, kill us, for the most pointless, stupid reasons that anyone has ever had."
I continued to inch forward, struggling to shake the sense I was sliding down a slope. It was disorienting, but not as disorienting as it should have been. Maybe it was the link, that long-gone connection cut halfway between here and Dolurrh, that made this feel so familiar. I hoped, allowed myself to hope, that it'd reattach once I stepped through, find Kuven for me. And once I did... there were stories of brave heroes, who ventured into the underworld and returned, lost loved ones in tow. Those stories had to be based in fact, right?
"You don't need to do this, Naa'it. Just walk back, please just walk back."
From up close, the portal wasn't as intimidating. I'd studied the hazards of the plane beyond: the impeded magic, the crushing gravity, the will-sapping mists. I'd found countermeasures, anchors, based in druidic tradition but put towards different ends. They'd keep me safe, let my magic resist the ambient rules, even share that resistance with others. In the end, finding this portal had been the truly hard part.
"Oh great Nine. I can't change your mind, can I?"
Determination, resignation, sadness.
"Naa'it. Whatever happens now, whether you die, whether you find h- him, whether you fix that link, I'll be gone. I'm not a full soul, I, I've known that ever since I pieced myself together. I don't know what I am. But I feel, and I fear, and I don't want to die."
I knew. I did think of him as a person, for what it was worth. And yet, with the link intact once more, he'd be drowned out by the real Kuven, perhaps absorbed, perhaps snuffed out entirely. Kuven wouldn't even know: to him, there'd be a rush of scattered impressions, vague memories of my time alone, and then just the reassuring sense of a connection restored. The one who'd been with me for all those years, that fragment of fragments: he'd die.
But at least, for him, death merely meant oblivion.
Spoiler: Build TableLevel Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Druid 1 +0 +2 +0 +2 Concentration 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Knowledge (The Planes) 2, Speak Language (Common) 2, Spellcraft 2, Survival 2 Surrogate Spellcasting Animal Companion, Nature Sense, Wild Empathy 2nd Druid 2 +1 +3 +0 +3 Concentration 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Spellcraft 5 - Woodland Stride 3rd Druid 3 +2 +3 +1 +3 Concentration 6, Knowledge (Nature) 6, Knowledge (The Planes) 3, Move Silently 1 Nightbringer Initiate Trackless Step 4th Druid 4 +3 +4 +1 +4 Concentration 7, Knowledge (Nature) 7, Move Silently 4 - Resist Nature's Lure 5th Druid 5 +3 +4 +1 +4 Concentration 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Knowledge (The Planes) 4, Move Silently 5 - Wild Shape (1/day) 6th Planar Shepherd 1 +3 +6 +1 +6 Concentration 9, Knowledge (Arcana) 5 Spit Venom Planar Attunement (Dolurrh), Wild Shape (2/day)
Epic feats in order:
1: Shape Soulmeld (Shedu Crown)
2: Open Least Chakra
3: Deadly Spittle
4: Iron Will
5: Reserves of Strength
6: Energy Substitution (Electric)
7: Acidic Splatter
8: Darkstalker
9: Fast Wild Shape
10: Extra Wild Shape
Spoiler: SpellsDefault druid progression from levels 1 to 6, with one bonus spell of level 1, 2, and 3. Typical spells prepared at the end of the build look something like:
0th - Cure Minor Wounds, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Magic, Read Magic
1st - Entangle, Entangle, Rot of Ages, Speak With Animals,
2nd - Barkskin, Cure Moderate Wounds, Lesser Restoration, Mass Snake's Swiftness
3rd - Venomfire, Electric Energy Substituted Venomfire, Venomfire
During downtime Deeper Darkness is often cast.
Spoiler: ProgressionECL 1-2: We start off as a pretty typical druid, aside from the whole being a spider thing. Surrogate Spellcasting should ensure we can cast at all (no judgement on whether it works as a weaker Natural Spell also, the build doesn't rely on it). Your animal companion lets you contribute even after running out of spells, I recommend getting a swindlespitter to emphasize the poison theme from the get-go. In addition to having Wild Empathy and solid skills, Naa'it makes for a good scout with high Hide and Spot as well as okay MS (if you encounter traps, summon a badger at them).
ECL 3-4: We acquire 2nd-level druid spells and take Nightbringer Initiate, meaning we can start putting skill points in the stealth skills that go so well with our chassis. It's probably best to swap our your animal companion for a fleshraker around this point, though if your DM bans those (as they perhaps should) then there's a few options to consider, listed in more depth later on. Nightbringer Initiate will also give us Darkness and later on Deeper Darkness: the second becomes essentially a free concealment buff once we're at the point where we no longer need to make attack rolls, as it lasts days/level.
ECL 5-6: Wild Shape massively expands our options, letting us beat face as a crocodile, run foes down as a leopard, fly, climb, swim, or, if we change into a baboon, open doors without assistance.
More importantly, we get Spit Venom, letting us expel our bite's poison as a ranged touch attack. Dealing a few points of dexterity damage at range isn't too impressive... until you add Venomfire, which grants 6d6 acid damage on top of the poison. It lasts for hours/level, meaning that you'll usually have it for most of the day, and your animal companion can benefit from it as well. Note that unlike most druids, you do 'naturally produce poison' and are actually a valid target for Venomfire: I'm personally unconvinced that a human druid shaped into a fleshraker would count.
And why not combine Venomfire with Wild Shape? Turn into a medium viper and get some free constitution damage with your acid, or against squishy foes just turn into a Fleshraker for raw damage. In aquatic environments, a sea snake is a solid choice, and if you need flight the sailsnake (MM4) is about as good as it gets.
We take this level in Planar Shepherd instead of druid. PS still advances all our important abilities, gives us small bonuses to Will and Fortitude, and has the class skills to let us qualify for Energy Substitution later. Planar Attunement is mostly a flavor thing in E6, but the idea of descending bodily into the underworld, immune to its perils, is quite compelling, so ask your DM to throw a permanent portal into the campaign somewhere (E6 needs a resurrection option anyway: this is one of the cooler ways to do it and have death still be meaningful).
Note that at this point, our saves are +8/+5/+9 and our AC is 22, with touch and flat-footed AC not far behind. This actually makes us quite an issue to deal with: but ignoring a constant source of acid damage isn't an option either.
Epic: We finally fix speech issues with Shape Soulmeld and Open Least Chakra, giving us the means to communicate telepathically with our allies. Shedu Crown's secondary benefit is actually quite useful: remember that a medium-sized creature can push us over thirty feet with a good Bull Rush roll. Deadly Spittle turns our ranged touch attacks into cones, potentially hitting clusters of enemies for high damage.
Reserves of Strength is essentially a free Empower for our Venomfires, giving us free bonus dice when we cast it at the start of the adventuring day. It's also fine to just throw onto random out-of-combat spells. Make those heals a bit stronger, give the party rogue a week-long Deeper Darkness, whatever.
The main flaw of the strategy is, of course, acid-immune foes. Energy Substitution lets us make Venomfire deal electric damage instead. Nearly no monster is immune to acid and electricity both: a few resist the pair, but on a no-save no-attack roll no SR attack, 10d6-10 is still a lot of damage.
Acidic Splatter improves the caster level of our (unsubstituted) Venomfires by another point, boosting it to 10d6. It also gives our poisonless wild shape forms an okayish ranged option, lets us melt down doors and other obstacles, and gives us something to do in the rare situation where Venomfire gets dispelled (y'know, besides summoning bears).
Darkstalker let us fulfill our secondary stealth goals even better, while Fast+Extra Wild Shape makes all sort of tricks a reliable part of our combat routine. Want a bit of extra oomph while spamming poison cones? Turn into a sea serpent without missing a beat and start angling for those constitution drops. Completely caught by surprise and in need of setup? Cast venomfire, then turn into a fleshraker. Enemy about to flee? Turn into a crocodile and chomp down: that guy's going nowhere.
A brief note about animal companions: your best companion options go Fleshraker >>>> Medium Viper (if you can give it Spit Venom + Deadly Spittle with its HD feats) > Sailsnake > Swindlespitter, in my opinion, though if the first is not on the table then the latter three all have their advantages as Venomfire recipients. The sailsnake can fly (and presumably, carry you) and has a slightly bigger cone to spit its venom in, the swindlespitter has a powerful debuff (but one that fails against poison- or blindness-immune foes) and the medium viper has the worst stats but the most consistent damage, though it requires feats to achieve that potential.
Spoiler: DiscussionI wanted to build around Spit Venom -> Deadly Spittle, but this required me to have a poisonous bite. I didn't want to qualify with temporary class abilities, which seemed questionable from a rules perspective, but no ECL 1 races actually seemed to offer a poisonous bite.
Except one does: the Hairy Spider from MoF. Errata gave it a +0 LA, making it a viable player race, and it has very weak venom delivered via bite. The issue, then, is that Hairy Spiders are Vermin and have no Intelligence score, and the easiest way to get around that requirement (Master of Flies' Awaken ability) isn't on the table in E6.
Fortunately, hairy spiders can be familiars! And per Tome and Blood (never updated):
Thus, an ex-familiar hairy spider of a low-level master has +1 natural armor, 6 intelligence, and possibly improved evasion (but I'm willing to pretend that's not there, this is about making a playable race actually playable rather than powergaming). I could say Naa'it's master was level 6 and get an extra point of natural armor out of the deal, but again that's not what this is about. Originally Posted by TaB, page 12
In conclusion, we're now looking at a magical beast with an intelligence score and LA +0: straightforwardly a playable race allowed by this competition. It's even '+0 LA from start to finish', because the playability issue that we're fixing has nothing to do with LA.
So where to take this? Druid or cleric seemed like obvious classes, because Venomfire is busted, but only druids can get Move Silently as a class skill easily (with nightbringer initiate), and the CoW + spider connection made solid sense.
I then tried to work Energy Substitution in there somewhere, but the skill prerequisites were an issue. Fortunately, I noticed we were meeting nearly all the requirements for Planar Shepherd already. A few cross-class ranks in Knowledge (the planes) were a small price to pay for easy Energy Substitution and a very situational but flavorful bonus (not to mention that I always like getting to include a PrC in an E6 build).
Spoiler: VariantsIf you can convince your DM that the Eberron equivalent of the Fangshields druid is part of, or on friendly terms with the Nightbringers (a questionable assumption that I didn't dare make), then the fangshield substitution levels are nearly costless and give you spontaneous healing and humanoid hands in wild shape.
Spoiler: Sources (non-core)
Race:
Hairy Spider - MoF + update booklet (autodownload)
Class:
Planar Shepherd - FoE
Feats:
Surrogate Spellcasting - SS
Spit Venom, Deadly Spittle - SK
Nightbringer Initiate - FoE
Shape Soulmeld, Open Least Chakra - MoI
Reserves of Strength - DCS
Energy Substitution, Acidic Splatter - CArc
Darkstalker - LoM
Extra Wild Shape, Fast Wild Shape - CD
Animals:
Fleshraker, Swindlespitter - MM3
Sailsnake - MM4
Spells:
Venomfire - SK
Rot of Ages - DM
Mass Snake's Swiftness - SComp
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2022-10-03, 10:04 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
- Gender
Najka Valukar
0123456789
Originally Posted by Najka Valukar
-
2022-10-03, 10:06 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
- Gender
Nyx, pt. 1 of 2
If you know, you know.
Chair's note: Continued next post! Originally Posted by Nyx
Nyx: the Woman in Black
Spoiler: Anatomy of a Murder
Against her own nature, Nyx got to the Sterngate lightning rail station early. It wasn’t every day she had her assassin’s license exam.
Of course, the train was late.
At five past, Nyx went to the ticket window.
“Any idea when the 7 o’clock should be here?” She leaned the spot where her elbows had once been on the counter.
“Afraid it’ll be a few more minutes, miss. Anything else I can help you with?” the clerk asked.
Not exactly what she wanted to hear, but no point complaining.
“Pack of Talenta tar-frees, I guess,” Nyx said. She tossed over a few coins and took the cigarettes in her claws.
“Need something to light ‘em? Wands’re two for one.”
“Uh uh.” Nyx turned around and saw no more empty benches. She settled on one by the platform occupied by a woman in a pair of wind pants that mirrored the colors of the sky as the sun set.
“This seat taken?” Nyx asked with a smile, showing off her teeth, sharp triangles three rows deep like a shark’s.
“Not if you’re asking,” the woman said. She tipped her straw boater so Nyx could see her face, her nose and cheeks dotted with freckles as if she’d been sprayed by a nicked artery.
“Mind if I smoke?” Nyx drew out a cigarette with the tip of her claw.
“Fine by me if I can bum one.” Nyx handed it over and the woman placed it in her mouth.
Nyx’s free hand hung down by her ankle, its natural resting place. She unsnapped a holster on her boot and withdrew a wand. With a fluid motion, her sinuous arm wound its way around the anti-vagrancy armrest between her and the woman. Nyx touched the glowing tip of the wand to her cigarette.
“Lean in, it’ll save me a charge.” Nyx made a notch in the wand’s wood with her thumb and set a cigarette between her lips. The woman leaned in and touched hers to Nyx’s. The metal on the bench shifted beneath her weight, even though she’d only lightly rested her arm on it.
Nyx breathed out a puff of smoke flavored with the sun dappled fields from hundreds of miles away. She cleared her throat.
“Sorry, thing must have a screw loose,” Nyx said.
The woman smirked. “Can you keep a secret?”
She’d be a poor assassin otherwise, but couldn’t exactly lead with that.
“Sure.”
The woman pulled a hex wrench from a hidden compartment in her sharkskin cuff and then replaced it.
“I hate these damn things. It’s not like people sleep at the train station because they’ve got a lot of options. I was going to take it with me on my way onto the train, but of course today’s the day it’s late.”
“I’ve got one of those magic bags in my pocket. I could just take it for you if you don’t need the scrap metal,” Nyx offered.
“Oh, no, haha, it’s not like that. I mean, I’d appreciate that, thanks.”
Nyx unbuttoned her poacher’s coat with a quick motion from where her wrist once was and flopped it over the armrest, uncoiled the rest of her arm, and dropped the lump of metal soundlessly into the magic bag sewn into the lining of one of its lower pockets. She slid a few inches closer to mask the thing’s absence.
“It’s fine; I know you’re not poor. Not that there’d be anything wrong if you were,” Nyx said.
“Oh, how’s that?” the woman tapped the ash off her cigarette, barely missing her just broken-in sky deck shoes.
“You’ve got a sky sailing vest on. The carabiner for a lifeline’s still clipped to the back, so I figure you just got off your ship. Sunwyrm Deluxe?”
The woman laughed. “Oh, duh. Overland Weekender, actually. I wish I could afford a Sunwyrm.”
“Traveling for work?” Nyx asked.
“You’re right there. How’d you sniff that one out? You’re not reading my mind, are you? I hate that.”
Nyx was, of course, reading her mind, but knew enough to lie about it. “Perish the thought. You seem impatient for the train to arrive, but not excited, so I figure it’s somewhere you have to go rather than somewhere you want to go. Plus this is a commuter.” Nyx showed her own ticket, the telltale orange denoting it’d been bought in bulk by the office.
“You too, huh? How long til you get your weekends back?”
The train pulled in.
“They tell me this is the last time.” Nyx stood up and tossed her cigarette onto the ground. She ground it out under the toe of her boot and kicked it over to a clockwork sweeping up debris.
“Where’ve I heard that before? Hope you’re going somewhere better next week. I’ll take you on my ship if it ever gets outta the shop.”
“Fingers crossed.” Nyx showed the conductor her ticket and stepped onto one of the first class cars.
“I’m here for the private event with Morgrave,” Nyx said.
“Right through there, miss,” the conductor said.
“Thanks.” Nyx held the door open for her suitcase that skittered through on a thousand tiny legs.
The other members of her cohort were already here, because of course they were. Luciano and the Shriver of Minds lounged on a plush couch in the car’s conversation pit, draped all over each other. Dacsell stood by the window and examined the position of the setting sun in the sky against an almanac. Shafts of golden light reflected off the rivets in their jaw. Iris slouched against the glass and hummed by their side. Click and Ina were talking at the bar where a member of the train’s staff absently polished the portion of the immaculate marble countertop not occupied by Ina’s enormous snake. Roz levitated around the car in a loose figure 8 while a knife drew itself across a whetstone by her side.
One of the tens of thousands of bees that made up Iris’s body flitted over from the swarm and alighted behind Nyx’s ear.
“Hey, girl,” Iris said through the bee.
“Hey, yourself.”
“Want to get a drink?” Iris asked.
“Not supposed to when we’re on a mission, even a fake one,” Nyx said.
“Like I don’t know that.”
“Is the professor here yet?”
“What do you think?”
“Then yes.” Nyx pulled up a stool at the bar and shrugged off her hood, letting her dark hair spill over her shoulders and dislodge the bee.
“H’lo, miss. One Zilargo zinger and I guess a very thin saucer of heather liqueur for my friend,” Nyx said.
The bartender grabbed a handful of bottles that were approximate to the right ones for a Zilargo Zinger, but since it looked like she was pouring heavy, Nyx didn’t feel like complaining.
The bartender crushed a petal of dream lily against an ice cube and served it in a Prince of Khorvaire glass with a lime wheel garnish. Not even close.
“Ain’t got heather. Will she like a drop of blackcurrant cordial?” the bartender asked. The bees crawling around the bar nodded and crowded around the saucer she set out and began to sup at the dark purple syrup.
“I can’t believe we have to wait all the way til Korranberg for this crap. Are we supposed to stay up the whole time? I know that’s protocol while on a mission, but I feel like I’d do better well rested,” Nyx complained and took a sip of her drink, too sweet and too strong. She tipped anyway. The bartender adjusted her eyepatch and nodded in thanks.
“If I slept, I’m sure I’d sympathize with you,” Iris said. The bees flitted away from the saucer back to Iris’s main body by the window to be replaced with new ones without dropping the conversational thread.
“I hope your target is a guy made of a bunch of crows,” Nyx joked.
Things continued in this vein for a while. Nyx looked at the kinds of prep the others were doing, even though they didn’t know their mission. Click leafed through one of those Kole Naerrin’s travel guides to Korranberg. Roz remotely tidied up the bottles on the bar when they were slightly askew.
“Professor’s here,” Iris said. What Nyx wouldn’t give for those compound eyes.
Nyx pushed her empty glass toward the bartender. “If he asks, I never touched the stuff.”
“No one ever does,” the bartender said and started washing the glass.
“Sorry for the late start, everyone. Gather round and we can get started. Miss, we’re all set for now,” the professor said to the bartender, who left. Everyone made their ways to the conversation pit where the professor shuffled through his note cards.
“I’ll be invigilating, so time to go through the rules.” With a gesture of the professor’s hand, sealed envelopes appeared in each student’s hands or equivalents.
Some rules held true for all exams. The professor went through these first, so Nyx only half listened.
Since it was possible for a target to end the exam without being assassinated, they weren’t the subjects of actual contracts. Their “targets” were hired through an agency and would be rezed after the defense was complete. It was understood they may endure some pain during their assassinations, especially since they were encouraged to put up a fight. That said, the students were forbidden from torturing their targets. Once incapacitated, they were to be killed quickly, the assassin’s mark left behind, and the scene fled.
Depending on the method used to kill, some damage to the target’s corpse might be unavoidable, especially for students who preferred to go tooth and claw, like Nyx. That said, the target was to remain as whole as possible and no trophies were to be claimed. Furthermore, the target’s corpse was not to be wholly destroyed, unrecognizably transformed, or removed from the scene. Essentially, the mock killing was mimicking one where the assassin was dispatched to send a message, so the point was for someone to find the target in one piece with the responsible party’s mark upon it. Additionally, while destroying a target’s mouth or casting speak with dead to give oneself a head start against an investigator was often advisable in real fieldwork, it would make the invigilator’s job much more annoying during the exam, so was strongly discouraged.
The professor got on to the rules specific to this exam.
“First things first, your exam is not taking place in Korranberg,” the professor said.
“The Six are laughing at me,” Click muttered and tossed his guidebook aside.
“One of the stops along the way?” Dacsell asked. “The next one is Zolanberg, or would be if this weren’t an express.”
“No, your exam will take place entirely on the train,” the professor answered to a chorus of groans.
“These budget cuts are getting ridiculous. How’m I supposed to show off my street savoir faire in this tin can?” Click complained.
“My mobility is extremely hard to showcase under these circumstances,” Iris said as her body vibrated.
The professor held up his hand. “I know it’s not ideal, but if anything, this will help prepare you for real fieldwork. Targets aren’t all attending fancy parties aboard luxury sky cruisers, you know. You’re just as likely to have to dispatch a sewer worker as you are a captain of industry.”
“Next, he’ll be telling us we have to share rooms,” Roz said with a pointed look at Nyx.
“As long as I’m not with you,” Nyx said.
The professor shuffled through his note cards and looked embarrassed.
“You, ah, will be two to a room.” He handed out their keys. Of course, Roz was with Nyx.
“Come on!” Roz said.
“This will give you an opportunity to showcase your skills in leaving a confined space to eliminate a target while under observation,” the professor said.
“Will we often be in close quarters with another assassin in our own bedrooms?” Roz asked. It wouldn’t be the first time she and Nyx shared a bedroom. That was the problem.
“It could happen. You might also take this as an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to use bribery, persuasion, teamwork, stealth, or other methods to deal with your cabinmate. Now if there are no more questions…” the professor said and turned to his next card.
With a petty smirk, Roz telekinetically raised Nyx’s hand, her five foot long arm brushing the bottom of the car’s chandelier.
“Yes?” the professor asked, clearly irritated.
She couldn’t just say it was nothing. “Are we allowed to kill each other?” she asked, not breaking eye contact with Roz.
“While there isn’t a rule against it, it is discouraged. In the field, murders aside from your target prior to their elimination tend to put everyone on higher alert. I would say to consider it a last resort,” the professor said.
He checked his pocket watch and cleared his throat.
“No one is allowed to eliminate their target until midnight. The seal on your dossiers will open at eight o’clock. This will give you time to prepare. If you are unsuccessful in eliminating your target, you may discuss the strategies you engaged in beforehand during your defense for partial credit. At six o’clock tomorrow morning, I will examine your targets and we will meet here to discuss your respective approaches. For now, I am off. Don’t attempt to contact me. If you manage it somehow, I will not answer any questions. Good luck.” With that, he disappeared.
The seal on Nyx’s dossier disappeared. Roz released the telekinetic grip on her other hand. It dropped into Nyx’s lap like a coil of rope with a soft plap.
“I’m gonna beat you so bad,” Nyx said and sliced open her envelope with her thumb.
“Your kill is going to be the example of what not to do in the next edition of the textbook,” Roz said as her envelope delicately opened itself up. She glanced at her target’s information before telekinetically collapsing the whole file into a super compressed ball no longer visible to Nyx’s eye.
Nyx kept her expression neutral as she examined her dossier and saw an unfortunately familiar dusting of blood red freckles. So much for getting on that Weekender. The rest of the file had little that would be helpful in assassinating the woman she now knew was called Jenta d’Cannith. She worked in a garage that had recently gone co-op, had an interest in sky sailing, and was known to engage in recreational racing on the weekends. Nyx ran her claws through the papers until she was satisfied none of her classmates would be able to read them and tossed them in the wastebasket.
“May the best woman win,” Nyx said and left with her luggage before hearing Roz’s retort.
She got to her room and it was fine. Four hours wasn’t much time. The dossier was predictably useless, since the point was for students to rely on their own reconnaissance skills. She tried to think what advantage she had over the others.
She’d seen Jenta’s ticket. While she didn’t have a reason to look at the cabin number at the time, the shape let her know she was in first class, narrowing her search. As she considered her best approach, she opened her luggage and left a few things behind, both because she didn’t think they’d be of much help, like the crampons and ice ax, and because she knew leaving some equipment behind would distract Roz when she inevitably went through her things to try to jam up her path to Jenta after she’d taken care of her own target. Or, knowing Roz, before.
Nyx changed into something slinky and nonthreatening: a black off the shoulder dress glistening with sequins and a deep slit up to the knee in case she had to do any fighting or Six forbid, monkey around on the roof of the train like in Naerrin’s awful newspaper serials. This was a look more expected of a first-class lightning rail passenger.
She grabbed a wand for a quick cosmetic glamer and made her hair and face appear made up for anyone who wasn’t looking too closely, taming her hair into a filigreed braid and coloring her mouth with ruby lipstick to complement the ripe pomegranate hue her cheeks had been taking on ever since she’d discovered her demonic heritage. She couldn’t decide whether things would be easier or harder if Jenta recognized her like this. Either way, she didn’t have time to worry about it and went to look for her in the dining car.
Nyx let herself be seated and ate her dinner while surveying the dining room. She didn’t recognize anyone until the third course. Luciano and the Shriver of Minds hadn’t bothered to change out of their faux military camouflage and off-black mesh jumpsuit respectively. The pair began double fisting drinks almost immediately. Had they already taken care of their targets and were here to celebrate? Doubtful.
With anyone else, Nyx might contemplate how to hinder their progress toward their targets. With these two, she felt like she might be better off letting them cancel each other out. The angle was wrong to read their lips, but by body language, they looked as comfortable as ever with each other, possibly discussing a collab.
The doors from the car adjacent flicked open and Jenta entered. She craned her neck, looking for an available seat. Of course she did.
Nyx hid behind her menu and leered over its edge, hoping Jenta wouldn’t notice the featureless blackness of her eyes from across the room. Jenta asked if she could join the boys and they beckoned for her to take the seat between them on the banquette. The bartender with the eyepatch from earlier flitted over to take her order and conjured a muddy looking predator’s cry on the rocks, handing it over without taking payment. Jenta must’ve charged it to her room. That was something.
When the bartender left the table and Jenta’s head was turned away, Nyx left her table and followed. The bartender’s prosthetic leg, an ornate thing carved from soarwood, kept her gait remarkably even, but nonetheless slowed her down.
A ways down the hall, Nyx cleared her throat. The bartender turned around.
“Don’t wanna be rude, miss, but I’ve got other passengers to deal with. Stay put and I’m sure someone else’ll come by,” she said.
She had a point. If Nyx were a normal first-class passenger, she would just wait rather than chase down possibly the worst bartender in Zilargo.
Nyx uncoiled her arm and casually rested her hand on the crown molding over the doorway.
“This is a little embarrassing, but you know that woman you just served?”
“The one with the noisy pants? What about her?”
“Yeah. I think she’s just, really cute, but I don’t have it in me to go over and talk to her.” Nyx wound a lock of hair around her claw. “Do you think you could tell me which cabin she’s in? That way I could take my own time with it and write her a note to slide under her door to see if she feels the same way.”
The bartender snorted. “Ah, to be young again. ‘fraid I can’t do that. Tell you what, why don’t you write your little love note and I’ll take it over with her next round? I can deliver whatever she writes back to you later if you like for ten crowns. You’re with the bald chick in cabin 237, right?” The worst possible outcome: a reasonable solution to the problem Nyx had proposed without giving her what she actually needed. It looked like this wouldn’t be easy, so she’d just have to make it easier.
Nyx focused her gaze on the bartender’s eye and drew on her newly-discovered demon blood. A comforting warmth emanated from her as her cheeks glowed with an ancient flame and drew the bartender in closer, as generations of mortals before her had been drawn when damning themselves with demoniac pacts.
“That’s a very good suggestion, but what if I asked you again very nicely?” She draped the jointless flesh of her arm across the bartender’s shoulders. “Wouldn’t you like to give me her room number then?”
The bartender nodded, under Nyx’s command. “She’s in cabin 39. It’s a single. Please don’t let anyone know I told you. I could get in trouble,” she said hazily.
Nyx kissed her sun-weathered cheek and silently relieved the bartender of her pocket watch. “Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.”
She walked down a few cars and passed time in the lounge until just after midnight. She walked casually down the hall, confirmed she was alone, and teleported through the door to cabin 39. Jenta was asleep in the bunk, on her stomach judging by the position of her foot hanging beyond the edge of the sheets.
Nyx reached out in the darkness for Jenta’s neck and drew her claws across her unprotected flesh just enough for the poison Nyx had carefully applied on the walk over to do its job. After she left her assassin’s mark, she left what was sure to be a clean handprint on the mirror to satisfy the invigilator when he made his inspection in the morning. She washed the blood off her hands in the ensuite sink. Not finding a towel in even her enormous arm’s reach, which spanned the whole cabin and then some, she dried them on Jenta’s wind pants hanging from the hook on the door making an unbelievable amount of noise. She unlocked the door from the inside and walked back to her own cabin.
Predictably, Nyx’s things were rifling through themselves while Roz supervised.
“Giving up already, huh?” Roz needled.
“You know me, I’m a quitter.” Nyx sat on the edge of the bed.
“You already examine my smokes for coded messages from Phiarlan so I can have one, or do you need a minute?” Nyx’s hand swung by her ankle and idly fiddled with the straps of her heels.
One of the cigarettes placed itself between Nyx’s lips. “Matchstick wand is—“ before Nyx could finish, the cherry at the end bloomed and she took a puff.
“If I can lift the whole thing, it’s a trivial matter to agitate the particles at the end enough to produce sufficient friction to ignite the tobacco. You never did listen when I talked about my psionics, did you?” Roz drifted lazily to the door. Nyx couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Roz’s feet touch the ground.
“Do I need to? I mean, you’re riding on this train all right even if you can’t explain how the elemental binding works.” Nyx twisted at the waist slightly, baring the zipper on the back of her dress to Roz.
“Can’t you reach it yourself with those ridiculous noodle arms of yours?” Roz complained, even as the zipper began to rise against the pull of gravity.
“But you’re already up,” Nyx said in that cutesy whiny voice Roz had always pretended she hated. The zipper pulled itself smoothly open.
“I trust you can manage the rest on your own.” Roz opened the door only a crack and edged out into the hall. “Some of us have work to do. I’m off to eliminate my target.”
Nyx yawned and reached her arm all the way across the room to turn out the light. “Professor’s not here; you can just say ‘kill.’ Good luck. Don’t wake me up if you come back.”
Roz grunted, but had the decency to hang the “do not disturb” sign on the way out and left Nyx to sleep.
All too short a time later, Nyx was woken up by a polite, but firm knock at the door.
“Mmph?” she asked from under her pillow.
“Are you decent?” the professor asked.
“Depends who you ask.”
“I mean are you dressed? It’s time for the defense. Please join us in the dining car.”
“I can be. I’ll wake up Roz too,” Nyx said and reached into the closet for her clothes without getting up.
“She is already with us.” Of course she was. Nyx sat up and saw Roz’s bed made with corners too impossibly tight to be tucked in by hand.
Nyx joined the others in the dining car where blessedly a buffet table had been set up.
“Right, let’s get started, everyone,” the professor said and shut the door after her. He organized his notes on the other side of the buffet table. Nyx picked up a muffin and turned it over in her hand, examining a few red flecks on its surface.
“Is this craisin?” she whispered to Roz, regrettably hovering next to the only empty seat. She sat down.
Roz shook her head. “I know you don’t like craisin.”
Nyx took a bite. It was craisin. Roz smirked. Nyx set the muffin down and forced herself to swallow, not wanting to give her the satisfaction.
“I have examined the evidence you’ve left behind. It is now time to discuss the actions you’ve taken prior to your targets’ execution.” With a flourish like a street legerdemain artist, the professor yanked the tablecloth off the buffet table without disturbing any of the dishes atop it, revealing the table was in fact a glass box containing Jenta’s marred corpse dressed in a non-denominational white sacrificial robe. Nyx recognized her assassin’s mark circled in surgical ink.
It wasn’t the only one.
“Hey, that’s my target. Why’s there all that crap on it?” Luciano said, pointing an accusatory finger.
“You can’t possibly be serious,” Click said and reached out to refill his coffee cup from an urn placed over Jenta’s stomach. “The school can’t even afford to give us our own targets anymore?”
The professor shuffled his note cards and looked down. “Rest assured, those of you who didn’t eliminate the target first will have ample opportunity to prove the merits of your approaches. We’ll go by ticket number. Luciano, go ahead.”
Luciano rubbed at his temple. He and the Shriver of Minds wore matching sundark lenses, presumably in an attempt to conceal their hangovers, but having precisely the opposite effect.
He sipped a tomato juice and burped behind his hand without excusing himself.
“Sure, so, uh, I saw my target was human, so that meant she dreamed. Since the train ride’s so long, I figured she’d have to sleep sooner or later, and I could take care of her in the dreamscape,” Luciano explained.
“And by that you mean…” the professor prompted.
“Oh, uh, you know, use my mental discipline to reshape the dream to my needs, dreamwalk into the target’s mind once she went to sleep, and chuck her into the dreamheart, killing her instantly. I’d initially figured this’d be the way to go because I wouldn’t need to waste any time figuring out where her body was on the train first,” Luciano said.
“Mm, but had you not left your mark, you know that would be a serious deduction,” the professor said, making a note.
“Yeah, but I figured I’d make it up with the points I got for speed. Anyway, you can see my mark there,” Luciano said with a chin nod, indicating that Jenta’s red hair had been blanched white all the way to the roots.
“So you did have time to determine the target’s location?” the professor asked.
“You could say that. Disciplined as I am, even I can’t will myself to go to sleep at eight thirty, so I went to the bar car to have one or two to help me along,” Luciano said.
“All right. Were you alone, or can anyone corroborate this?” the professor asked.
The Shriver of Minds weakly raised his hand, looking about as badly off as Luciano. “I had like, basically the exact same idea as Looch about drowning the target in the dreamheart. I just got to the bar car first and snagged the last empty table. He asked if he could sit with me cuz he was planning to get ‘housed so he could get to sleep early. I asked the waitress with the peg leg for another straw for my scorpionfolk bowl to help Looch catch up. I was trying to get sleepy enough to go in after my target too, and figured it’d go a little faster with some company. Y’know what they say about drinking alone.”
“Mm.” The professor made a note. “You are next in sequence, but does Luciano have anything more to add first?”
“Y’know, from that point, our stories are pretty much the same, so I’m fine sharing if he is,” Luciano said.
“I’m cool if you’re cool. Anyways, the target comes in a couple rounds later and sees there’s no more seats. Looch invites her to sit with us and I figure he’s just being friendly, cuz if this is my target, then he’s gotta have someone else. She offers to buy the next round on account of using our table and charges it to her room, so I find out where she’s staying like that and that’s how I left my mark.” As though there were any doubt, since the freckles on Jenta’s corpse had rearranged themselves to spell “I was assassinated by the Shriver of Minds and all I got was this lousy death grimace” across her cheeks.
“Which of you was able to throw the target into the dreamheart?” the professor asked.
“Well, that’s the thing,” Luciano said. “We bought the rest of the rounds after that, we’d go back and forth, me and the Shriver of Minds. I wanted to get the target drunk so she’d go to bed soon. I figured he just wanted some company on the trip to Korranberg.”
“Dude, I thought that’s what you were doing,” the Shriver of Minds said.
“Yeah, so eventually she had enough and left. The two of us were in the same cabin so settled up and went to bed. We both got into our dreamscapes and waited for the target to arrive, but she never did. After like two days in the dreamscape, I woke up and broke into the target’s room, but she was dead when I got there, so I marked her and went back to sleep,” Luciano said.
“I woke up later and did pretty much the same thing,” the Shriver of Minds said.
“And you didn’t notice Luciano’s mark?” the professor asked.
“Nah. There was no reason to turn on the lights once I was in the target’s cabin, so I didn’t. Someone in the hall might notice the light.”
“All right. If there’s nothing else, please tell me about what you did, Dacsell,” the professor said.
Dacsell opened a panel in their stomach and took out a ledger. They opened it with a silver-plated hand and began to read.
“Upon receiving my dossier, I memorized the target’s pertinent details and destroyed the files using the paper shredder in my chest. I repaired to the cabin I shared with Iris who had not yet arrived, selected the half of the room nearest the door to store my things, and changed into a Cannith porter’s uniform. When I heard we were to report to a lightning rail station for our exam briefing, I considered the possibility the exam would take place partially or wholly upon the train itself,” Dacsell said.
“What did you do next?” the professor asked.
“I took a copy of my forged identification card to the staff break room and added it to the roster of who was working the overnight shift. I took note of the employees in case anyone asked me questions. I made efforts to avoid these people to minimize the chances of my cover being compromised. I made a copy of a master key in the employees only area, read the passenger manifest, learned what cabin the target was in and determined its position on the train. I obtained access to the engine room to calculate the train’s exact speed. Once I had these figures, I located the comm room and contacted the stationmaster in Zolanberg—” Dacsell said.
“Hang on,” the professor interrupted. “What if he asked you for a password or something? Wouldn’t he know you aren’t a real rail employee?”
“That was not a concern. He knew me in my genuine capacity as an aspiring member of the assassin’s guild. I have been blackmailing him for several months. I used this to leverage him into withdrawing a device I have been storing in a locker at the Zolanberg rail station, calibrating it to the angle I had calculated and setting the timer for the moment the train would pass by,” Dacsell said.
“Wouldn’t a weapon like this stand out to rail employees who weren’t already compromised by you?” the professor asked.
“No, sir. I disguised my apparatus as an ordinary surveyor’s level. I have another one here if you wish to inspect it.” Dacsell opened their briefcase and handed over a tripod made of pipes and briefly explained the inputs to set the angle and time for automatic firing and indicated the chamber that held the ammunition, only visible if one knew where to look.
“How did you know to leave this device at the Zolanberg station? I didn’t announce the available elimination window for your target until last night. If it had opened later, we would have passed by the station with your agent lying in wait too early. What contingencies did you have available?”
Nyx thought the professor was being somewhat unfair. After all, the two prior students clearly hadn’t made any plans if lucid dreaming had failed to work. Perhaps because that much was obvious, he didn’t feel as though he needed to ask.
“I didn’t. I have similar devices at every station between Sterngate and Korranberg, and if you care to examine my records, you will find all the relevant stationmasters are similarly compromised. Once our exam travel schedule was disseminated to us, I spent the next several months constructing profiles of the stationmasters, building turrets, and renting lockers to store them in in case they would be of use during the exam.”
Nyx could not believe how they found time for all this. Then again, she liked to think she could be half as productive if she didn’t need to sleep.
“I see,” the professor said, doing an admirable job of not sounding the least bit impressed with his student’s preparation. “When I examined your target’s cabin, the window was unbroken. Did you use magic to repair it after your missile struck the target?”
“No, sir. I elected not to use magic in case a potential investigator scented a magical aura after the fact. Beyond my assassin’s mark, I chose not to leave evidence,” Dacsell said and gestured at Jenta’s feet, which were turned backwards.
“What did you do?”
“I installed a mechanical window opening shim set on a timer to open it for one minute while the train passed by Zolanberg station and shut it afterwards. I retrieved it when I passed by cabin 39 in the morning to leave my assassin’s mark if you care to examine it.” Dacsell handed over another device that looked like a very thin slide rule.
“Perhaps later. When examining the scene, I didn’t find a dart or arrow or anything. What did you use?” the professor asked.
Dacsell opened the chamber of his turret for the group to see. “My device uses a needle-shaped bullet made of frozen liquid injury poison so it would penetrate the target’s skin and then immediately melt. Due to the dimensions of the bullet, it isn’t massive enough to break the window without destroying itself, hence the opener. Based on the target’s position when I went to leave my mark, I believe you should find an entry wound approximately one inch behind the right earlobe.”
The professor held a magnifying glass to his eye and nodded. “Ah, there it is. Did you notice any other marks on the target when you left yours?”
“I didn’t turn on the light for similar reasons to the Shriver of Minds.”
“Can’t you see in the dark?”
Nyx winced.
Dacsell, to their credit, did not react. “That is a common misconception about my kind. Warforged cannot see in the dark, sir. I believe you are conflating us with non-living constructs.”
“Six, I’m sorry.”
“As I said: a common misconception. Is there anything else?”
“Ah, what did you do in between making your call and leaving your mark? Did you retire to your cabin to power down?”
Dacsell didn’t correct him this time. “No, sir. I was disguised as a member of staff, so went to attend to my duties. I served Luciano and the Shriver of Minds a number of alcoholic drinks after about ten o’clock, but I gather they were taken in by my disguise, blending in as a warforged train porter and didn’t recognize me.”
Luciano shrank in his seat. The Shriver of Minds cleared his throat.
“It’s not even like that, man. I can tell you guys apart; Looch can too. We just had a lot to drink that night, I’m sure there’s some stuff we just left out on accident. If we remembered you coming by, we’d have invited you to have a few with us and mentioned it to the professor.”
Dacsell closed their ledger and put it away. “One tool in an assassin’s repertoire is being noticed only when they wish to be. Don’t worry about it.”
The professor, desperate to move on, asked Iris to give her account next.
A few of her bees landed on the box and looked up at the professor.
“Since the dossier mentioned the target’s penchant for sky sailing, I dispatched bees to sniff out the smell of ozone from the upper atmosphere, heavy duty suntan lotion, and skyship engine oil, which has a much lighter, headier aroma than the kind used on the lightning rail.
“Nice,” Dacsell said.
“I found her cabin soon enough, but the seal on the doors in first class is too tight to accommodate any of my bees. I needed to find an air intake vent for the heating system, send some bees through that way, and cross reference with my main colony’s position on the outside,” Iris said.
“What if the heating system didn’t turn on?” the professor asked.
“Oh, it would. Given the part of Zilargo we’re traveling through and the time of year, once the sun set, night is cold enough for the heaters onboard to turn on. The problem from this point is if my bees inside the vents flew, they would be pushed off course from the updraft, so they had to walk through the vents, which made my travel time considerably longer. By the time any of them reached cabin 39, they had to wait until the vents iniside opened and enter the room. My main colony monitored the time outside and my bees waited until after midnight, entered the target’s nasal passage and delivered a fatal dose of venom to her brain, left my assassin’s mark, and exited. The ones remaining were going to need to wait until you came to examine the scene to leave, since the vent was blowing hot air into the room and they couldn’t fight the current, but the window opened, I gather due to Dacsell’s device, so they exited through the window and rejoined my main body later. Before you ask, I didn’t notice whether anyone had marked the target first since I didn’t have a reason to examine the exterior of the body, and since I was navigating by smell, I didn’t turn the lights on.”
The professor verified Iris’s mark, the target’s pupils being changed to hexagons, and moved on.
“Click, what did you do?”
“You lot made hard work of it, didn’t you? I picked her pocket so I could see what cabin she was in. That’s probably why she bought drinks on credit, since she didn’t have her purse. I didn’t fancy all this back and forth inside the train, so after it got dark, I went down the train to coach, climbed up along the outside and went back up to the car she was in along the roof,” Click said.
“What if someone had seen you?” the professor asked.
“There’s a whole lotta nothing out between the stations, professor. If someone can see me from one of the little towns out there a million miles away after sundown, they could’ve seen me through a brick wall.”
“What was your method of ingress?”
“I jimmied the window, shut it after me, stabbed her in the ear with a knife and left my mark.” He nodded at a white handprint over the corpse’s mouth, the pigment drained away.
“I was gonna go back out the way I came, but just then, her pillow turned into a snake!” He glared at Ina, who patted her snake on the head and laughed. “It startled me something terrible, so I just ran out into the hall and shut the door to keep it in there. I had something to settle my nerves in the bar and turned in.”
“I gather you are responsible for the snake,” the professor said to Ina.
“Yeah. I found one of the help pushing around a laundry cart, the old half-elf with the eyepatch, and gave her twenty crowns for her uniform and cleaning schedule and asked her to return my clothes early in the morning with the laundry delivery. I found the target’s room on her list, turned my snake into a pillow early enough that it’d turn back after midnight and take care of her. I turned down the rest of the rooms on the old lady’s list, waited around in my room for her to give me my stuff back, left my mark, picked my snake up from under the bed and went to sleep. The sun wasn’t up yet, so I didn’t see if anyone else had already left a mark.”
The professor verified that the target’s eyebrows had been warped into ovals encircling her eyes and made a note.
Nyx caught him up on what she’d done. He’d already noticed her mark: Jenta’s elbow joints had been moved up by her shoulders.
“I saw the remains of a Talenta tar-free in the target’s ashtray. Your brand?”
“Yeah.”
“The handprint on the mirror, how can you prove it wasn’t left by your identical twin sister?”
“Aside from her being on her honeymoon in the Icetop Mountains?”
“Not hard to be in two places at once.”
Nyx held up her hand and pointed to her claws.
“She’s not dedicated to Ragnorra . Her handprint would have round fingertips.”
“Thank you.”
Roz went last.
“I wandered the halls and remotely examined the contents of the empty rooms. When my telekinesis detected the distinctive texture of those ridiculous wind pants, I determined this to be a likely indicator of the cabin containing my target. I microkinetically manipulated the mechanism of the cabin’s lock to attain entry—” Roz said.
“Bullcrap you did. I left the door unlocked after I went because I didn’t have a way to reset it. You didn’t leave our cabin til after I got back, so you must’ve gone after me,” Nyx interrupted.
“Is this true? None of you should be able to lie during the defense. I have spells up,” the professor said.
So this was why Nyx’s cohort had been so forthcoming.
“I never actually said I unlocked it,” Roz said lamely. “I levitated in so she wouldn’t hear my footsteps, used my telekinesis to internally decapitate her, which you can verify by examining the depression present between the base of the skull and first vertebrae, used death grimace to turn her nose upside down, locked the door after me, and went to bed.”
The professor closed his notebook. “All right, that squares everything away with one exception. Which of you took the target’s thumbs?” He gestured at the glass and Jenta’s sleeves inched upwards to reveal the missing digits.
No one said anything.
“If it wasn’t any of you, that means someone else beat eight trained assassins to the punch,” the professor said.
“Hey, you gave ‘em a four hour head start,” Luciano objected.
The professor backed down. He leafed through his notes.
“Dacsell, Ina: you two disguised yourselves as staff. Is it usual for the same member of staff to tend bar, wait tables and make beds all in the same shift?” the professor asked.
Ina shrugged.
“Now you mention it, it’s not,” Dacsell said. “When I looked at shift roster, I didn’t see the woman the others mentioned. I assumed she might be from one of the other cars and the train was short handed.”
“Your blackmail material on the Sterngate stationmaster, what was it?” the professor asked.
“He was loansharking,” Dacsell said.
The professor sighed and waved a wand at Jenta’s corpse to speak with it. It turned its defaced head toward him.
“Do you have any illegal, unpaid debts involving Lyrander?”
“Yes.”
“Is an elderly half-elf woman with an eyepatch and soarwood peg leg known to you?”
“Yes.”
“Is she an enforcer for the people to whom you are indebted?”
“Yes.”
The professor was silent a moment and rested his forehead in his hands.
“Does this still count or…” the Shriver of Minds asked.
“Sometimes, events like this occur out in the field. I can’t say it’s unrealistic. Scores will be posted next week,” he said, and vanished.
“If I don’t pass, I’m filing an appeal,” Roz complained.
“Dude, we should all pass. If Dacsell doesn’t get promoted straight to shadow in the night over this, I’ll appeal for him,” the Shriver of Minds said and clapped Dacsell on the shoulder. “I couldn’t even believe all that stuff you did.”
“You know what I can’t believe?” Dacsell said.
“What’s that?”
“That you can be awarded a doctorate in assassination and not know warforged don’t sleep. Even you two know that.”
Luciano laughed. “Yeah! And we didn’t even think we got the target.”
“If you need schematics of the heating ducts to reclaim the missing members of your colony, you can borrow my blueprints,” Dacsell said to Iris, who was about a head shorter from her missing bees.
“Thanks, but the ones who could get out already have. I’ll replace the rest soon enough.”
“I almost fell off the train so many times.” Click rubbed his shoulder.
Ina handed him a pill. “Sorry my snake scared you.”
“I wasn’t scared. But thanks.” Click swallowed it dry. “Once we stop in Zolanberg, anyone want to join me for brunch? I’d hate for all those restaurant reviews I read in the Kole’s notes to go to waste. I’ll even buy.”
“No,” Nyx said.
“Uh, rude,” the Shriver of Minds said.
Nyx raised her hand from behind the professor’s seat at Jenta’s casket. It held his purse.
“This one’s on the school,” she said, smiling with her shark’s teeth. She tossed Click the purse.
The train slowed to a halt and the others got up to pack their stuff.
“You coming?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’ll meet you there.” Once the others left, Nyx rummaged through the professor’s magic bag, which she’d also relieved him of during the defense, til she found what she was looking for: something to heal Jenta provided by the school’s insurance. It was the only way they could keep a stable supply of people willing to serve as assassination cadavers.
She opened the glass box and poured the healing draught in Jenta’s mouth. She coughed and sat hesitantly up.
“Oh, hello again,” she said. “This is a little embarrassing, but I don’t remember running into you on the train last night. I think we had a few too many. Mind catching me up?” She rubbed her temple where only a few hours earlier, she had been shot in the head.
Nyx slid one arm behind her shoulders and the other behind her knees and helped her out of the glass box and onto the floor. She shifted as she found her footing and gripped Nyx’s foot long bicep.
“I’m more hungover than I thought. You mind if I lean on you a little? It feels like my feet are on backwards.” They still were, along with the rest. Nyx couldn’t help but laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“I’ll tell you on the way to brunch with my friends. It’s kind of a long story.”
Spoiler: stubCE human factotum 3/human paragon 2/ chameleon 1
Spoiler: abilities
str 10
dex 10
con 14
int 18 (increase here)
wis 14
cha 8
Spoiler: table
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st factotum 1 +0 +0 +2 +0 balance 4, bluff 4, craft (poisonmaking) 4, diplo 4, disguise 4, iaijutsu focus 4, sleight of hand 4, sm 4, spellcraft 4, tumble 4, umd 4 font of inspiration 1, able learner (human), willing deformity (elder evil) inspiration, cunning insight, cunning knowledge, trapfinding 2nd factotum 2 +1 +0 +3 +0 balance 1 (5), craft (poisonmaking) 1 (5), disguise 1 (5), forgery 1, iaijutsu focus 1 (5), sleight of hand 1 (5), sm 1 (5), tumble 1 (5), umd 1 (5), assume quirk arcane dilettante (1 spell) 3rd factotum 3 +2 +1 +3 +1 autohypnosis 4, bluff 2 (6), craft (poisonmaking) 1 (6), disguise 1 (6), iaijutsu focus 1 (6), tumble 1 (6), umd 1 (6) fiendish heritage brains over brawn, cunning defense 4th martial rogue 1 +2 +1 +3 +3 autohypnosis 3 (7), bluff 1 (7), craft (poisonmaking) 1 (7), diplo 2 (6), disguise 1 (7), iaijutsu focus 1 (7), sm 2 (7), tumble 1 (7), umd 1 (7) bonus feat (combat expertise), poison use 5th martial rogue 2 +3 +1 +3 +4 autohypnosis 1 (8), bluff 1 (8), craft (poisonmaking) 1 (8), diplo 2 (8), disguise 1 (8), iaijutsu focus 1 (8), sleight of hand 2 (7), sm 1 (8), tumble 1 (8), umd 1 (8) social recovery deformity (teeth) (elder evil) evasion 6th chameleon 1 +3 +1 +3 +4 autohypnosis 1 (9), bluff 1 (9), craft (poisonmaking) 1 (9), iaijutsu focus 1 (9), sm 1 (9), tumble 1 (9), umd 1 (9), second impression improved trip aptitude focus 1/day (+2)
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2022-10-03, 10:07 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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- Feb 2009
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Nyx, pt. 2 of 2
Chair's note: continued from previous post!
Originally Posted by Nyx, pt. 2
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2022-10-03, 10:08 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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- Feb 2009
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Sabina Daisy Atis
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Originally Posted by Sabina
Sabina Daisy Atis
Anthropomorphic Terrestrially Adapted Stingray
Lawful Good
Fighter 2/Monk 2
str 20, dex 16, con 17, int 8, wis 16, cha 6
Spoiler: Tables
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Monstrous HD (stormwrack 168, savage species 214) 1 0 2 2 4: Listen 2, Spot 2 weapon finesse (b), Barbed Stinger (Serpent Kingdoms 144) +1 nat AC, poison sting (1d4 +poison), darkvision 60, str +2, dex +4, con+2, wis +4, cha -2 2nd Monstrous HD 2 0 3 3 1: Spot 3 +2 racial bonus to poison DC 3rd Hit and Run ((DotU 58) Fighter 3 2 3 3 1: Jump 1 Close quarter fighting (Complete Warrior 97), point blank shot +2 initiative, add dex to damage against flatfooted opponents, bonus feat 4th Monk 3 4 5 5 3: Balance 3 Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple flurry of blows, bonus feat, AC bonus 5th Monk 4 5 6 6 3: Balance 5, Hide 1 Deflect arrows bonus feat, evasion 6th Fighter 5 6 6 6 1: Jump 2 precise shot, ranged pin (complete Warrior 104) bonus feat
Epic Feats Multigrab (Serpent Kingdoms 146) Ability Focus: STINGRAY POISON ( Monster Manual V 204) Touch of Golden Ice (Book of Exalted Deeds 47) Greater Multigrab (Serpent Kingdoms 146) Virulent Poison (Savage Species 40) Snatch Arrows Ability Focus: touch of golden ice Combat Reflexes Hold the line (Complete Warrior 100) Spear of Doom (Dragonlance Campaign Setting 87)
Level Grapple Mod
bab+size+strSting poison DC
10+1/2HD+conGolden Ice 1 6 15 2 7 16 3 8 16 4 12 18 5 13 18 6 14 19 6.1 14 19 6.2 14 21 6.3 14 21 14 6.4 14 23 14 6.5 14 23 14(maybe 16) 6.6 14 23 14(maybe 16) 6.7 14 23 16 (maybe 18) 6.8 14 23 16 (maybe 18) 6.9 14 23 16 (maybe 18) 6.10 14 23 16 (maybe 18)
Spoiler: Write ups
Level 1
When it comes to poison, something that can beat the rocket tag is desired. By using the anthropomorphic animal template to make a terrestrially adapted stingray (page 168 of Stormwrack for both terrestrial adaptation and stingray entries) into a 2HD monstrous humanoid with a sting attack that deals 1d4 damage + poison. The poison is awesome: Fort save (DC 10 + racial bonus of +2 + con mod + 1/2HD) vs https://www.d20srd.org/srd/condition....htm#nauseated for 1d4 hours. And if the opponent makes the save, they are sickened for 1d6 rounds. Secondary damage 1d3 dex. Nauseated limits those suffering it to move actions.
So that’s the poison.
Sabina’s stat array is as ridiculous as normal for anthropomorphic animals: +2 str, +4 dex, con +2, Wis +4, cha -2.
Augmenting this powerhouse is the barbed stinger feat, which gives the improved grab ability to the poison stinger and offers a chance to hit for stinger damage each round, each with a new dose of poison. Sickened doesn’t stack, but at first level the save DC is 15. This is the seed that will be water to grow into a poison beast. Weapon finesse is a bonus feat, but Sabina is str and con focused, and thus, the feat is there just tagging along like a remora.
Level 2
A second monstrous humanoid hit die.
Level 3
Hit and run Fighter adds point blank shot and +2 to initiative. Also dex to damage against flatfoots, but that requires rolling high in initiative to pull off. Level 3 and +3 bab allows Sabina to take close quarter fighting. “You gain an attack of opportunity whenever an enemy attempts to grapple you…If you deal damage with this attack, the enemy fails to start the grapple unless it has the Improved Grapple feat or a special ability such as improved grab. If the enemy has such an ability, you may add the damage you deal as a bonus on your opposed check to resist being grappled.”
Unless the opponent that you’ve stung beats the grapple check when originally hit, it must now either: 1) grapple Sabina to escape, triggering an attack of opportunity,, using the stinger with improved grab +poison, or 2.)blow a standard action on an escape artist check, which is still rolled opposed. Sabina wields a spear in our hands as a ranged/melee weapon.
Level 4
Monk brings improved unarmed strike, flurry of blows, wisdom to AC and improved grapple. Flurry is neat in that one can take a flurry in a grapple, triggering a grapple check with no penalty, as one can use the attack action to make a grapple check. Barbed stinger grants improved grab ability with a stinger attack, and that text states: “each successful grapple check it makes during successive rounds automatically deals the damage indicated for the attack that established the hold.” So if they aren’t getting nauseated yet, Sabina just flurries to hit them twice more. Or hits them and drags them. Improved grapple is granting +4 to the grapple check. At this level, the 17 con score is increased to 18.
Level 5
A second level of monk provides evasion as well as deflect arrows. Deflect arrows is important during these grapples. The stinger is doing all of the work, so a hand should be open.
Level 6
Fighter 2 and the bonus feat + level 6. Precise shot and ranged pin. At this level, the save DC for the stingray poison is DC 19, so there will be times where Sabina needs to poison someone and move on. Unfortunately, the nauseated still get move actions. To rectify this, Sabina can ungrapple and then use a hand axe or dagger to use ranged pin on the nauseated enemy. They will then have two options:1) Spend a standard action to remove the pinning weapon, oh wait they cant, they don’t have standard actions, or 2) Sit there and wait for secondary damage. This frees Sabina to go nauseating the enemies one by one.
Epic 1-3
Multigrab will allow Sabina to sting a person and then still full attack while the stinger maintains the hold. Considering that sabina’s mobility is limited, those full attacks should be ranged attacks, potentially using ranged pin to frustrate the opponent. Ability focus brings the stingray poison up to DC 21. Touch of golden Ice allows Sabina to “poison” evil opponents with a DC 14 contact poison 1d6dex + their charisma bonus/2d6 dex+ their charisma bonus. As a contact poison, it is per hit, and it stacks on top with the stingray poison. It can also target undead, fiends, elemental evils.
Epic 4-7
Greater multigrab allows Sabina’s stinger to handle the business behind her at no penalty, while sabina fires ranged pins or legitimate ranged damage, it frees Sabina up to make attacks of opportunity as everything but the stinger is not considered grappled. Virulent poison adds 2 to Sabina’s poison DCs. It’s DM’s discretion as to whether or not it adds to touch of golden ice. Ability focus touch of golden ice lifts the Save DC to 16. Snatch arrows allows Sabina to collect the detritus thrown at them by the concerned allies of whomever is being stung into submission.
Epic 8-10
Combat reflexes is always good. The 16 dexterity grants 3 aoos per round, so now there can be multiple put downs doled out by close quarters fighting. It is also a pre-req for hold the line, an AOO generator for when allies try to save their nauseated comrade being filled with secondary dex damage poison rolls. Spear of doom is there to make it hurt.
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2022-10-03, 10:08 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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- Feb 2009
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Master Necromancer Xul
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Originally Posted by Xul
With the All Worldstone gone, we cannot return life to the Sanctuary. And fate has yielded its reward: a new world to call home. We live among its people now, hiding in plain sight, but watching over them in secret, waiting, protecting. I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are worlds apart, like us, there's more to them than meets the eye. I am Master Necromancer Xul, keeper of the balance, and I send this message to any surviving Priests of Rathma taking refuge among the worlds. We are here. We are waiting.
TN Human Necromancer 6
Spoiler: TablesStats
Abilities Initial 4th Total STR 10 10 DEX 14 14 CON 16 16 INT 17 1 18 WIS 9 9 CHA 8 8
Build
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Necromancer 1 0 2 0 2 24: {+4} Concentration: 4; {+4} Knowledge (arcana): 4; {+2 CC} Knowledge (dungeoneering): 1; {+2 CC} Knowledge (local): 1; {+2 CC} Knowledge (nature): 1; {+4 CC} Knowledge (religion): 2; {+2 CC} Knowledge (planes): 1; {+4} Spellcraft: 4; Spell Focus (necromancy) (H), Corpsecrafter (1) Skeleton Mastery 2nd Necromancer 2 1 3 0 3 6: {+1} Concentration: 5; {+1} Knowledge (arcana): 5; {+1 CC} Knowledge (dungeoneering): 1.5; {+1 CC} Knowledge (local): 1.5; Knowledge (nature): 1; {+1 CC} Knowledge (religion): 2.5; Knowledge (planes): 1; {+1} Spellcraft: 5; 3rd Necromancer 3 2 3 1 3 6: {+1} Concentration: 6; {+1} Knowledge (arcana): 6; {+1 CC} Knowledge (dungeoneering): 2; Knowledge (local): 1.5; {+1 CC} Knowledge (nature): 1.5; {+1 CC} Knowledge (religion): 3; Knowledge (planes): 1; {+1} Spellcraft: 6; Destruction Retribution (3) 4th Necromancer 4 3 4 1 4 7: {+1} Concentration: 7; {+1} Knowledge (arcana): 7; Knowledge (dungeoneering): 2; Knowledge (local): 1.5; {+1 CC} Knowledge (nature): 2; {+1 CC} Knowledge (religion): 3.5; Knowledge (planes): 1; {+1} Spellcraft: 7; {+2} Collector of Stories; 5th Necromancer 5 3 4 1 4 7: {+1} Concentration: 8; {+1} Knowledge (arcana): 8; Knowledge (dungeoneering): 2; {+1 CC} Knowledge (local): 2; {+1 CC} Knowledge (nature): 2.5; {+1 CC} Knowledge (religion): 4; {+1 CC} Knowledge (planes): 1.5; {+1} Spellcraft: 8; Collector of Stories; 6th Necromancer 6 4 5 2 5 7: {+1} Concentration: 9; {+1} Knowledge (arcana): 9; Knowledge (dungeoneering): 2; {+2 CC} Knowledge (local): 3; {+1 CC} Knowledge (nature): 3; Knowledge (religion): 4; {+1 CC} Knowledge (planes): 2; {+1} Spellcraft: 9; Collector of Stories; Tomb-Tainted Soul (6)
Epic Feats Fearsome Necromancy (E1) Sickening Grasp (E2) Sudden Extend (E3) Greater Spell Focus (necromancy) (E4) Knowledge Devotion (E5) Nimble Bones (E6) Weapon Finesse (E7) Necromantic Presence (E8) Necromantic Might (E9) Hardened Flesh (E10)
Spells per Day
Level Class 1st 2nd 3rd 1st Necromancer 1 2+1 2nd Necromancer 2 2+1 3rd Necromancer 3 3+1 4th Necromancer 4 3+1 1+1 5th Necromancer 5 4+1 2+1 6th Necromancer 6 4+1 2+1 1+1
Spell Known
Level Class 1st 2nd 3rd 1st Necromancer 1 Bone Armor; Raise Skeleton 2nd Necromancer 2 3rd Necromancer 3 Amplify Damage 4th Necromancer 4 Poison Dagger 5th Necromancer 5 Teeth Corpse Explosion 6th Necromancer 6 Raise Skeleton Mage
Spoiler: HighlightsAll enemies of humanity, come and bring your bones to me!
- Xul, Master Necromancer.
Levels 1-3. On these levels Xul isn't so powerful. His main weapon now is his raised skeletons. Not very powerful in base with Corpsecrafter and Destruction Retribution feats they could take the enemy by numbers and even being destroyed make some damage for the enemy. But with every level their usefulness is getting smaller and smaller even with help of Amplify Damage curse.
Levels 4-6. On the 4th level Xul learns the spell Poison Dagger and it becomes his new main weapon. Not ending poison and now better Bone Armor let Xul be a competent and dangerous melee combatant.
With 6th level and Tomb-Tainted Soul feat spell Raise Skeleton getting new "life" - now Skeletons are not only abrasive for enemy blades, but also healbots for Xul!
6th level is also significant, because Xul achieves 3rd level of spells and gets Raise Skeleton Mage. Skeleton mages are better version of regular Skeletons. With ranged poison attack they are less vulnerable, have greater damage potential and if die guarantee heal Xul and other skeletons.
Epic Feats. I can categorize epic feats in the three parts: feats that improve Xul's skeletons, feats that improve Xul's poison and feats that improve Xul's attacks.
In skeletons' favor work feats of Corpsecrafter line, Necromantic Presence and Necromantic Might.
For poison - Fearsome Necromancy, Greater Spell Focus and Sudden Extend, these feats improve DC and duration of Poison Dagger as well as debuff enemies with the fear.
Weapon Finesse and Knowledge Devotion add some bonuses to Xul's dagger's attack bonus and damage.
Plus, Sickening Grasp improves both skeletons and poison increasing spells' duration and of course Xul can use Sickening Grasp itself.
Spoiler: IssuesD&D books for Diablo II are very poorly written. Rules as Written are contradictory or incomplete and can't work without the DM's decision in places.
Raise Skeleton. Spell's description says 1 skeleton/level up to 10. Necromancer's Skeleton Mastery says "two skeletons (instead of normal one - this is ability effect) for every five levels". What is true?
Raise Skeleton Mage. What mages exactly are raised? There is no monster with this name in the Diablerie book. Even if we look at the next book - To Hell and Back, there is a monster category with this name consisting of four different skeleton mages. It's good I need the least one - Returned Mage and its poison.
Both Raise spells. It is reasonable to rule that skeletons' and skeleton mages' power increase with increasing CL. Maybe they can advance in HD or Necromancer could raise a more powerful version of undead (Returned instead of Skeleton, Bone Warrior instead of Returned and so on), but RAW is silent about this.
Both Raise spells. Again. I think you understand these spells aren't actually "summons" and (Summoning) after names is reference to the original PC game and, for Summoning, indication which spells will end these spells immediately. Is this important? Actually, yes. If these spells aren't summons, what will happen with skeletons when duration expires (or Xul uses another summoning spell)? It can't be "sending back to where it came from." So, should I think skeletons are just destroyed? If yes, then Destruction Retribution should activate by it. Sounds good. Up to 14d6* one-time negative energy damage with one first level spell!
*- Xul's CL for necro spells is 7 and Skeleton Mastery doubles amount of skeletons. 14 medium creatures could surround one medium creature all being within 10 ft from it.
Bone Armor's hit points. I don't know what we have here. In the original game Bone Armor absorbs some amount of damage instead of Necromancer, working as temporary hp. But here it can be an overly bold assumption.
Poison Dagger's poison. I think it should be Injury type, but it isn't specified actually, but said "successful hit (with dagger) may poison a living foe" which can be interpreted as "any hit, including touch attack hit." I don't want open this can of worms, but if you'll use Xul, you can ask your DM about it.
Returned Mage. I used last version of this monster - from book Diablo II: To Hell and Back. It has differ from original Returned Mage from Diablo II: Diablerie. Its poison bolt not only makes 2d6 damage on contact, but also poisons target for another 2d6 (with Fort save DC 12). Plus, this version of the monster has advancement line, but it isn't very important if DM didn't decide opposite.
Updating Skeletons to 3.5 redaction. Only thing that should be updated is SQ "half damage from piercing/slashing." It's clearly should be converted into DR 5/bludgeoning.
Spoiler: BooksNecromancer class and his spells are found in the Diablo II: Diablerie book.
Skeleton and Skeleton mage are taken from Diablo II: To Hell and Back.
Corpsecrafter feat line, Necromantic Might, Necromantic Presence and Tomb-Tainted Soul feats are from Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead.
Fearsome Necromancy and Sickening Grasp are founded in the Complete Mage.
Spell Focus and its Greater version are located in PHB.
Sudden Extend - from Complete Arcane.
Knowledge Devotion - from Complete Champion.
And Collector of Stories skill trick are from Complete Scoundrel.
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2022-10-03, 10:09 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
- Gender
Zashi
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Originally Posted by Zashi
Spoiler: Zashi
Race: Anthropomorphic Huge Viper [Large]
Class: Monstrous Humanoid 3 | Binder 3
Str: 12 [14, -2 race]
Dex: 26 [16, +6 race, +4 paimon]
Con: 14 [15, -2 race, +1 level]
Int: 14 [14, +0 race]
Wis: 14 [10, +4 race]
Cha: 4 [8, -4 race]
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Monstrous Humanoid 1 +1 +0 +2 +2 +4 Listen, Spot, Balance, +2 Tumble [4cc] Weapon Finesse Poison 2nd Monstrous Humanoid 2 +2 +0 +3 +3 +1 Listen, Spot, Hide, Balance - - 3rd Monstrous Humanoid 3 +3 +1 +3 +3 +1 Listen, Spot, Hide, Balance Touch of Golden Ice - 4th Binder 1 +3 +3 +3 +5 +4 Sense Motive - Soul Binding 5th Binder 2 +4 +4 +3 +6 +2 Sense Motive - Pact Augmentation, Suppress Sign 6th Binder 3 +5 +4 +4 +6 +1 Know[arcana, religion] Improved Binding -
Details and Features:
For binder, bind Paimon and pick +1 saves for Pact Augmentation. For ability scores, the table in Savage Species does not list them correctly, I went by the text.
Zashi is defensively pretty solid (dex, natural armor, saves), so stays in the front mostly. The idea is to use the accurate bite attack to deliver poison and golden ice to as many foes as possible. Besides the regular bite attack and 15' reach, there is Whirlwind Attack, Dance of Blades and Spit Venom. The rest of the feats are dedicated to making this more effective by increasing the DC and trying to get more attacks through attacks of opportunity as well as generally acting as a frontliner by creating flanking opportunities and keeping foes away from the backline.
Outside of combat, Zashi has excellent Spot and Listen (+12), decent Sense Motive (+8) and different movement modes (swim, climb).
Epic Feats:
Extended Reach
Ability Focus [poison]
Ability Focus [golden ice]
Virulent Poison
Combat Reflexes
Large and in Charge
Spit Venom
Vexing Flanker
Adaptable Flanker
Clever Opportunist
Sources:
Draconomicon
Drow of the Underdark
Player's Handbook 1
Player's Handbook 2
Tome of Magic
Savage Species
Serpent Kingdoms
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2022-10-03, 10:09 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
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Clever Girl Zhu
0123456789
Originally Posted by Zhu
Spoiler: It looks like this.
Spoiler: Or this.
Zhu be smart!
Zhu not beat clubs, Zhu beat fists! Club be. Whoosh! Club not be. Fist be. Whoosh, not whoosh. Fists be. Good! Zhu be smart!
Others bite. Zhu spit. And bite. Both! And spit all. You and you, and you, and you - all! Zhu be smart!
Zhu not fear poison. Poison not poison Zhu! Zhu be smart!
Zhu spit fists. Fists be poison! Zhu be smart!
Zhu can poisons. All can bite poisons, Zhu can not bite poisons. Another bites, grass, stones, many! Get, grind, mix. Zhu know poison! Zhu be smart!
Zhu beat fists. Zhu chop fists. Zhu stab fists. Zhu beat, chop, stab fists hard! Zhu be smart!
Zhu be smart!
CN Athach
Spoiler: StatsAbilities Initial Race/Template 2nd 3rd 4th 6th Total STR 17 2 2 2 23 DEX 14 14 CON 17 2 1 20 INT 8 -4 4 WIS 8 2 10 CHA 8 -4 4
Spoiler: LevelsLevel Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Aberration 1 0 0 0 2 Craft (poisonmaking) 4 Improved Unarmed Strike Three arms, +1 natural armor 2nd Aberration 2 1 0 0 3 Craft (poisonmaking) 5 Bite 1d4 3rd Aberration 3 2 1 1 3 Craft (poisonmaking) 6 Multiweapon Fighting Poison (1d4 Str, 1d4 Str) 4th Aberration 4 3 1 1 4 Craft (poisonmaking) 7 Bite 1d6 5th Aberration 5 3 1 1 4 Craft (poisonmaking) 8 +2 natural armor 6th Aberration 6 4 2 2 5 Craft (poisonmaking) 9 Spit Venom Poison (1d6 Str, 1d6 Str)
Spoiler: Epic feats# Epic Feats 1 Deadly Spittle 2 Virulent Poison 3 Ability Focus (poison) 4 Deadly Poison 5 Poison Resistance 6 Poison Immunity 7 Superior Unarmed Strike 8 Versatile Unarmed Strike 9 Rapid Metabolism 10 Mind Over Body
Spoiler: Level by LevelSpoiler: 1st to 5thZhu is pretty simple now. Firstly she can strike. Next strike and bite. Next strike, strike, strike and bite (with a poison). And of course she could craft some poisons if she has components, but now it's more a theoretical option than real tactical possibility. Zhu due to her nature is a powerful melee combatant, and the further, the more.
Spoiler: 6thThis level is an important milestone. Now Zhu gets Spit Venom feat. This means not only the ability to spit her poison as a ranged weapon, but also she can spit it at her fists. With that feat poison becomes Contact (in addition to Injury) and can be applied to unarmed strikes. And it is totally safely for Zhu:
With her level and Constitution Zhu now has three poisonous unarmed attacks with DC 18 in addition to her bite attack. Originally Posted by MM, p. 313
Spoiler: Epic 1stDeadly Spittle not just gives new delivery method Zhu's poison, but also ability to apply poison to all three fists at once. Combined with AoE poison attack.
Spoiler: Epic 2nd to 4thZhu improves her poison at these levels. Now it has DC 22 and secondary damage 2d6 Str.
Spoiler: Epic 5th to 6thZhu is immune to all poisons now! She starts to use her craft skill broader since then. And of course apply her creations to her fists.
Spoiler: Epic 7th to 8thSpeaking of Unarmed Strikes. 1d6 damage is better than 1d3 and ability to choose bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage helps against DRs and lets Zhu to use Injury poisons.
Spoiler: Epic 9th to 10thThese two feats should be good support for such melee brutes as Zhu. She should get punched regularly and ability to recover faster is very useful.
Spoiler: AdaptationsSome of Epic feats may not be so useful in specific games. If you find such, be free to change any to Sudden Ability Focus (Tome of Magic, p. 74). Extra +2 to poison's DC will never be superfluous.
It is possible to make Zhu non-unarmed. Three morningstars easily replace unarmed strikes (and will free up at least three feats), but I make unarmed version specifically, being under the impression of pictures that you can see at the very beginning of my entry.
Spoiler: Controversial pointAthach Monster Class. Yes, I know.
NOT ALLOWED: Any race or template with a level adjustment other than +0. (Or any other source of LA other than a race or template, if any such things exist.)but... Zhu actually never had LA above +0. First level of Athach Monster Class when it obtains LA is 7th. So this rule isn't broken.Highlighted because of past issues: It is not enough for your build to end with a level adjustment of +0. You must be +0 from start to finish. No using ANY build elements with a level adjustment above +0, even if they then get mitigated or reduced somehow.
Spoiler: BooksType Name Book Page Race Athach Savage Species 156 Feat Improved Unarmed Strike PHB Feat Multiweapon Fighting MM 304 Feat Spit Venom Serpent Kingdoms 147 Feat Deadly Spittle Serpent Kingdoms 145 Feat Virulent Poison Savage Species 40 Feat Ability Focus MM5 204 Feat Deadly Poison Savage Species 31 Feat Poison Resistance Serpent Kingdoms 147 Feat Poison Immunity Serpent Kingdoms 147 Feat Superior Unarmed Strike Tome of Battle 33 Feat Versatile Unarmed Strike PHB2 85 Feat Rapid Metabolism Expanded Psionics Handbook 50 Feat Mind Over Body Expanded Psionics Handbook 48
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2022-10-03, 10:10 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
- Gender
Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
And that's the lot! Not even Rasputin could survive all eight of these poisoners. Judges, do your thing!
In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff! Originally Posted by Doc Roc
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2022-10-03, 10:35 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
- Join Date
- Feb 2011
- Location
- Texas
- Gender
Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
What a great looking round.
I've got a new fantasy TTRPG about running your own fencing school in a 3 musketeers pastiche setting. Book coming soon.
Check out my NEW sci-fi TTRPG about first contact. Cool alien races, murderous AIs, and more. New expansion featuring rules for ships! New book here NOW!
Iron Chef Medals! Originally Posted by weckar
Amazing Princess Mononoke avatar by Dispozition
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2022-10-04, 04:38 AM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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- Feb 2014
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- Arcadia
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Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
And to think I expected my build to be one of the weirder ones...
Creator of the LA-assignment thread.
Come join the new Junkyard Wars and build with SLAs and a breath weapon!
Interested in judging a build competition on the 3.5 forums but not sure where to begin? Check out the judging handbook!
Extended signature!
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2022-10-04, 05:08 AM (ISO 8601)Barbarian in the Playground
- Join Date
- Apr 2013
Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
Yeah, this round ended up being pretty crazy. My sympathies for whoever judges. Originally Posted by Inevitability
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2022-10-04, 06:55 AM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
- Join Date
- Mar 2020
- Location
- Moscow
- Gender
Re: Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XL
Table!
Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef Total Place Modayn Mo'problums TN Warforged Deadly Hunter Favored Environment Spontaneous Affliction Fire Elemental Companion Druid 5/Landforged Walker 1 Naa'it Sabes TN (ex-familiar) Hairy Spider Druid 5/Planar Shepherd 1 Najka Valukar NE Half-Drow Druid 5/Cleric of Vulkoor 1 Nyx, pt. 2 CE Human Factotum 3/Drow Martial Rogue 2/Chameleon 1 Sabina Daisy Atis LG Anthropomorphic Terrestrially Adapted Stingray Hit and Run Fighter 2/Monk 2 Master Necromancer Xul TN Human Necromancer 6 Zashi ?? Anthropomorphic Huge Viper Binder 3 Clever Girl Zhu CN Athach -
This is my line! Originally Posted by Inevitability
Last edited by loky1109; 2022-10-04 at 07:02 AM.
If you could make anything and everything welcome to the Zinc Saucier XLV: Figaro
My competition's medals.
Spoiler: For purposes of clarity1109 is September, 11 - my birthday.
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