Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CXXXI

[The Viscount]

Welcome to Optimization Stadium, the field of combat for our storied competition. Here the contestants will be transmuting lead into gold as we showcase the overlooked, underused, weird, wild, and wonky prestige classes.

In the Eberron setting, there is not, to my knowledge, a canonical answer for who is responsible for the day of morning. A prevalent theory is that it was caused by a new technological advancement from House Cannith. Regardless, they, like everyone else have to deal with the fallout in the Mournlands. This round, crack open Dragonmarked and wonder whether this can be twisted into a tortured Oppenheimer reference, this round we're cooking with Cyre Scout!

Welcome, contestants, judges, and guests to Iron Chef. Here in Optimization Colosseum, contestants will endeavor to create an optimized and flavorful character using a specified D&D 3.5 prestige class as a "Secret Ingredient".

Contestants: You will need to present a full 20-level build for your entry. Also required is a rundown of how your build works at lower levels, to demonstrate that it is a functional character that could be played from 1-20 in a real game. Traditionally contestants give "snapshots" of tactics and abilities at levels 5, 10, 15, and 20. The purpose of these snapshots is not just to showcase your use of the SI, it is to demonstrate that your character is playable at every level. For this reason, it's still worth giving a snapshot before you have entered the SI.

Menu: The "special ingredient" can be drawn from any legal source. Originally, the plan was to mostly use Core and Completes, but that was a long time ago, and we've started running out of interesting classes to use if we restrict ourselves to those.

32 point-buy is the presumed creation method.
If you do use a different point-buy, please make your case for its necessity in your entry. Keep in mind that for using exceptionally large or small point-buys may warrant deductions in elegance and/or power.

Kitchen: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Elegance below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Here's a guide to most of what has and hasn't been updated. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt or Generic Classes are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Also, item familiars are forbidden. Please refrain from using Taint unless it's necessary for the Secret Ingredient (subject to a penalty in Elegance proportional to the degree of cheesiness of the Taint usage).
NB: Official Errata and 3.5 updates to 3.0 content are considered valid regardless of whether their sources would otherwise be legal. This includes the 3.5 update of Oriental Adventures given in Dragon Magazine, and the 3.5 updates of Dragonlance Campaign Setting content given in later third party Dragonlance books.

Cooking Time: Contestants will have until 13:59 GMT on Sunday, March 17th, 2024 to create their builds and PM them to the Chairman, The Viscount. You may submit build by email if it is too large for a single PM. Please put the name of your build in the subject line of your PM. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 13:59 GMT on Sunday, March 31st, 2024 to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted.

Judging: Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated on a scale from 1 (very poor) to 5 (exemplary) in each area: Originality, Power, Elegance, Use of Secret Ingredient.

Power level is up to you. Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered. In the words of one of my predecessors, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.

Elegance could bear a little elaboration. It basically measures how skillfully you put your build together, and whether you sacrificed flavor for power. We're cooking here - if your dish doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter how well-presented it is. Use of flaws is considered in poor taste, and judges are asked to take a dim view of this option, taking it into account while grading. Other things that will cause penalties here are excessive multi-classing, and classes that don't fit the concept. Please note the following: a legal source's relative obscurity should not be considered as penalizing Elegance, excepting the aforementioned issues with Unearthed Arcana. Using conflicting setting material may result in a penalty to Elegance at the judges' discretion, but a book's relative obscurity may not. In that same vein, drawing solely from the Core 3 (and the d20 SRD) should not be punished for lacking Originality.

Presentation: Builds will be posted anonymously, in order to avoid the potential of bias towards a particular competitor. For this reason, please don't put your name in the build, as I'm likely to miss it when reviewing the entries!

Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry. (A fillable, pre-formatted version found here)

Spoiler

Show

NAME OF ENTRY

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
7th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
8th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
9th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
10th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
11th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
12th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
13th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
14th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
15th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
16th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
17th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
18th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
19th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities
20th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	Feats	New Class Abilities

Code immediately below (spoiler).

Spoiler

Show

[table="class: head alt1 alt2"]
[tr]
[th][B]Level[/B][/th]
[th][B]Class[/B][/th]
[th][B]Base Attack Bonus[/B][/th]
[th][B]Fort Save[/B][/th]
[th][B]Ref Save[/B][/th]
[th][B]Will Save[/B][/th]
[th][B]Skills[/B][/th]
[th][B]Feats[/B][/th]
[th][B]Class Features[/B][/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]1st[/td]
[td]New Class Level[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]Skills[/td]
[td]Feats[/td]
[td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]2nd[/td]
[td]New Class Level[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]Skills[/td]
[td]Feats[/td]
[td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]3rd[/td]
[td]New Class Level[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]Skills[/td]
[td]Feats[/td]
[td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]4th[/td]
[td]New Class Level[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]Skills[/td]
[td]Feats[/td]
[td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]5th[/td]
[td]New Class Level[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]Skills[/td]
[td]Feats[/td]
[td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]6th[/td]
[td]New Class Level[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]+x[/td]
[td]Skills[/td]
[td]Feats[/td]
[td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]7th[/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]8th[/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]9th[/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]10th[/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]11th[/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]12th[/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]13th[/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]14th[/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]15th[/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]16th[/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]17th[/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]18th[/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]19th[/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]20th[/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]

For entries with spellcasting, use the following table for Spells per day and Spells Known. (Spells Known only if necessary, i.e. Sorcerer or Bard, but not Wizard or Warmage)

Spoiler

Show

Spells per Day/Spells Known

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

Code immediately below (spoiler)

Spoiler

Show

[B]Spells per Day/Spells Known[/B]
[table="class:head alt1 alt2"]
[tr]
[th][B]Level[/B][/th]
[th][B]0lvl[/B][/th]
[th][B]1st[/B][/th]
[th][B]2nd[/B][/th]
[th][B]3rd[/B][/th]
[th][B]4th[/B][/th]
[th][B]5th[/B][/th]
[th][B]6th[/B][/th]
[th][B]7th[/B][/th]
[th][B]8th[/B][/th]
[th][B]9th[/B][/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]1st[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]2nd[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]3rd[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]4th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]5th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]6th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]7th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]8th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]9th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]10th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]11th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]12th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]13th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]14th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]15th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]16th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]17th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]18th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]19th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]20th[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

For other systems (Psionics, ToB, Incarnum, etc.) keep track of PP/maneuvers/essentia separately, preferably in a nice neat list.

Speculation: Please don't post or speculate on possible builds until the "reveal," in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines.

Leadership is banned; we're producing a meal, not a seven-course banquet for a hundred diners. If your entry includes a prestige class or ACF that grants Leadership or a Leadership-like ability as a bonus feat, the feat should be ignored and is not eligible to be traded away for another feat or ACF through any means. If your entry includes a prestige class that requires Leadership, you still need to qualify, but the feat should thereafter be ignored.

So! Who wants to sign up as a contestant, and who wants to sign up as a judge? Looking for as many contestants and judges as feel like playing!

We will award 1st through 3rd places, as well as a shout-out for honorable mention. The honorable mention prize is given to the most daring or unexpected build. Judges, contestants and guests alike are invited to vote for honorable mention via post in the thread or PM. If there are no votes, Honorable Mention will go to the chairman's favorite build.

Past Competitions

Courtesy of some wonderful volunteers, there is a handy-dandy spreadsheet guide to all previous builds here. PM if you'd like to contribute to the spreadsheet for access.

Spoiler: The First Hundred

Show

Iron Chef I: Entropomancer
Iron Chef II: Psibond Agent
Iron Chef III: Cancer Mage
Iron Chef IV: Stonelord
Iron Chef V: War Chanter
Iron Chef VI: Master of Masks
Iron Chef VII: Green Star Adept
Iron Chef VIII: Pyrokineticist
Iron Chef IX: Animal Lord
Iron Chef X: Mythic Exemplar
Iron Chef XI: Blade Bravo
Iron Chef XII: War Mind
Iron Chef XIII: Vigilante
Iron Chef XIV: Seeker of the Song
Iron Chef XV: Drunken Master
Iron Chef XVI: Assassin
Iron Chef XVII: Ardent Dilettante
Iron Chef XVIII: Unseelie Dark Hunter
Iron Chef XIX: Dread Pirate
Iron Chef XX: Incandescent Champion
Iron Chef XXI: Ghostwalker
Iron Chef XXII: Dervish
Iron Chef XXIII: Divine Crusader
Iron Chef XXIV: Tactical Soldier
Iron Chef XXV: Scion of Tem-Et-Nu
Iron Chef XXVI: Shadowdancer
Iron Chef XXVII: Mindbender
Iron Chef XXVIII: Cryokineticist
Iron Chef XXIX: Consecrated Harrier
Iron Chef XXX: Initiate of Pistis Sophia
Iron Chef XXXI: Shadow Sentinel
Iron Chef XXXII: Temple Raider of Olidammara
Iron Chef XXXIII: Drow Judicator
Iron Chef XXXIV: Dragon Disciple
Iron Chef XXXV: Death Delver
Iron Chef XXXVI: Acolyte of the Skin
Iron Chef XXXVII: Justiciar
Iron Chef XXXVIII: Hand of the Winged Master
Iron Chef XXXIX: Renegade Mastermaker
Iron Chef XL: Nightsong Infiltrator
Iron Chef XLI: Geomancer
Iron Chef XLII: Shadowblade
Iron Chef XLIII: Bladesinger
Iron Chef XLIV: Urban Soul
Iron Chef XLV: Talon of Tiamat
Iron Chef XLVI: Cipher Adept
Iron Chef XLVII: Cold Iron Warrior
Iron Chef XLVIII: Shadow Sun Ninja
Iron Chef XLIX: Thrall of Orcus
Iron Chef L: Corrupt Avenger
Iron Chef LI: Black Flame Zealot
Iron Chef LII: Anointed Knight
Iron Chef LIII: Zerth Cenobite
Iron Chef LIV: Osteomancer
Iron Chef LV: Mountebank
Iron Chef LVI: Dwarven Defender
Iron Chef LVII: Darkrunner
Iron Chef LVIII: Spellsword
Iron Chef LIX: Fleet Runner of Ehlonna
Iron Chef LX: Lasher
Iron Chef LX(II): Acolyte of the Ego
Iron Chef LXII: Dungeon Lord
Iron Chef LXIII: Witchborn Binder
Iron Chef LXIV: Slime Lord
Iron Chef LXV: Thunder Guide
Iron Chef LXVI: Dwarven Chanter
Irogn Chef LXVII: Gnome Giant Slayer
Iron Chef LXVIII: Fang of Lolth
Iron Chef LXIX: Shiba Protector
Iron Chef LXX: Order of the Bow Initiate
Iron Chef LXXI: Silver Key
Iron Chef LXXII: Spellfire Channeler
Iron Chef LXXIII: Flux Adept
Iron Chef LXXIV: Crinti Shadow Marauder
Iron Chef LXXV: Thief of Life
Iron Chef LXXVI: Legacy Champion
Iron Chef LXXVII: Great Rift Skyguard
Iron Chef LXVIII: Risen Martyr
Iron Chef LXXIX: Black Blood Hunter
Iron Chef LXXX: Master of Many Forms
Iron Chef LXXXI: Serene Guardian
Iron Chef LXXXII: Elocator
Iron Chef LXXXIII: Winterhaunt of Iboorighu
Iron Chef LXXXIV: Waverider
Iron Chef LXXXV: Astral Dancer
Iron Chef LXXXVI: Twisted Lord
Iron Chef LXXXVII: Shadowsmith
Iron Chef LXXXVIII: Arboreal Guardian
Iron Chef LXXXIX: Thrall of Demogorgon
Iron Chef XC: Bloodstorm Blade
Iron Chef XCI: Fatemaker
Iron Chef XCII: Eye of the Xanathar
Iron Chef XCIII: Hoardstealer
Iron Chef XCIV: Doomlord
Iron Chef XCV: Gnomish Artificer
Iron Chef XCVI: Oozemaster
Iron Chef XCVII: Aerial Avenger
Iron Chef XCVIII: Visionary Seeker
Iron Chef XCIX: Life Eater
Iron Chef C: Swiftblade

Iron Chef CI: Night Mask Deathbringer
Iron Chef CII: Blade Dancer
Iron Chef CIII: Psion Uncarnate
Iron Chef CIV: Atavist
Iron Chev CV: Primeval
Iron Chef CVI: Disciple of Mammon
Iron Chef CVII: Insidious Corruptor
Iron Chef CVIII: Crimson Scourge
Iron Chef CIX: Tattooed Monk
Iron Chef CX: Rage Mage
Iron Chef CXI: Watch Detective
Iron Chef CXII: Spinemeld Warrior
Iron Chef CXIII: Celebrant of Sharess
Iron Chef CXIV: Thayan Gladiator
Iron Chef CXV: Shining Blade of Heironeous
Iron Chef CXVI: Peregrine Runner
Iron Chef CXVII: Imaskari Vengeance Taker
Iron Chef CXVII: Siren
Iron Chef CXIX: Arcane Duelist
Iron Chef CXX: Berserk
Iron Chef CXXI: Dragon Descendant
Iron Chef CXXII: Cerebrex
Iron Chef CXXIII: Defiant
Iron Chef CXXIV: Beast Heart Adept
Iron Chef CXXV: Shadowspy
Iron Chef CXXVI: Ballisteer
Iron Chef CXXVII: Umbral Disciple
Iron Chef CXXVIII: Vengeance Knight
Iron Chef CXXIX: Demonologist
Iron Chef CXXX: Divine Agent

[The Viscount]

FAQ:
Q: What's this even about?
A: I'm glad you asked, actually...

Q: Is Dragon Compendium Allowed?
A: Yes (as well as its Errata), but individual issues of Dragon Magazine are not.

Q: What about 3.0 materials?
A: 3.0 materials, whether online or in printed form, are allowed unless they've been officially updated to a 3.5 edition.

Q: Are Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, or Kingdoms of Kalamar allowable sources?
A: The Dragonlance Campaign Setting is allowed, but the subsequent books for Dragonlance are considered 3rd party, and are therefore not eligible, despite the "WotC approved" status of those books. The same holds for Oriental Adventures (1st party) and the subsequent Rokugan books (3rd party). Materials from Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, and Kingdoms of Kalamar are considered 3rd party for purposes of this contest, and are therefore not allowed.

Q: What about online sources in general?
A: If the online source is a) published by WotC, and b) not replaced by an updated version at a later time, it is eligible. Use it, link it.

Q: Where's the line drawn with "acceptable/unacceptable" for Unearthed Arcana?
A: A few specific things are explicitly acceptable. The elemental/environmental races, spelltouched feats, variant character classes, specialist wizard variants, whirling frenzy, aspect of nature, and racial paragon classes are legal. Item Familiars and Gestalt have always been verboten, since before IC migrated to GitP; don't expect that to change. Flaws have similarly always been noted as warranting a deduction; I'm extending that to Traits, though they warrant 1/2 the penalty in Elegance that a Flaw would because they're roughly 1/2 as useful. Alternate spell systems, alternate skill systems and alternate crafting rules all create an uneven playing field, and as such, will be disallowed for as long as I am Chairman. In a similar vein, LA buyoff and fractional BAB are also disallowed. Bloodlines and the Retraining options presented in the PHB2 are ripe for abuse, and will be strongly discouraged as long as I am Chairman. Note that judges are allowed to look askance at any use of Unearthed Arcana not specifically mentioned above, at their discretion, and otherwise penalize Elegance according to their preference.

Q: What, exactly, does the ban on Leadership mean?
A: As folks have started to try to work around the edges of this one, I'm forced to spell it out more plainly. No Leadership, Draconic Cohort, or Feats that grant a similar ability are allowed EXCEPT Wild Cohort. Any PrC you choose with Leadership or a Leadership-analog has that ability entirely ignored for this contest, as it may neither be used nor traded away via any means whatsoever.

Q: What's the minimum score in a category?
A: Assuming an entry is legal, the minimum score in any category is 1. If a judge is convinced that an entry is mechanically illegal by the RAW, the judge may give the build a score of 0 in Elegance, and proceed to judge the entry as if the offending material was not included. Failing to meet a special requirement for a prestige class does not merit a 0, but may qualify for a penalty, at the judge's discretion. Because this contest focuses on Player Characters, an entry that is not technically allowed for a PC, but is viable as an NPC, counts as a legal entry, but may receive a minimum score at the judges' discretion.

Q: Creatures and templates with no listed LA are playable, right?
A: No. No listed LA is equivalent to LA: -. It is not suitable for PCs. If you use it, expect judges to look extremely disfavorably on it.

Q: So what's the deal with equipment, anyway?
A: There is no official policy on how much equipment you should list. Historically, judges have frowned upon "item dependent" builds, but unfortunately the definition of that has been applied to mean anything from builds that don't function if you remove one very specific item, to builds that so much as mention a particular weapon. Builds that don't list gear should be assumed to buy useful generics - items to boost their primary stats, cloaks of resistance, appropriate magical weapons and armor, and so forth. If a build would find particular items useful, they should be listed, but experience suggests that the more generic you keep them, the more favorably judges are likely to look upon them, as a build being shut down because the Thundering Bagpipes of Urist McTrumpetbritches were unavailable is considered a weakness. Similarly, requiring items in order to be able to qualify for things tends to be frowned upon.

Q: Do you have any other rules and guidelines on how to judge?
A: We do, actually, designed to try and avoid unpleasantness we've encountered in past contests. The things we've come up with to avoid repeating this are given below.

Spoiler

Show

One Mistake, One Penalty

Spoiler: What does this mean?

Show

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

Non-exhaustive list of examples:

Skills

Allowed:

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

Not allowed:

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

Prereqs

Allowed:

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

Not Allowed:

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

Other general things that are no longer allowed:

• Penalizing 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 penalize if a fluff prereq is not addressed at all, but not for how well it is addressed.
• Please don't base your scores off the scores of another judge.

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.

Q: Do you have any contest house rules or clarifications to ambiguous rules?
A: Some that have come up in previous contests and needed answers to:

• All creatures are proficient with any natural weapons they may have or acquire.
• Bonus feats that are granted even if you do not meet the prerequisites do not require you to meet the prerequisites in order to use.
• Able Learner's benefit applies to the level you take it.
• Weapons from soulmelds are considered to be magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming DR.
• Unarmed Swordsage grants Improved Unarmed Strike at level 1.
• Not finishing Savage Progression is subject to a penalty to Elegance
• One dispute per entry. Submit disputes by PM to the Chair.
• Ghostwalk ghost is banned
• Gold, silver, and bronze are awarded regardless of ties (e.g., 2 silvers does not preclude bronze)
• Spelltouched feats are legal and can be taken just like any other feat when you meet the prerequisites and have the feat slot available.
• The Variant Classes in Unearthed Arcana are considered ACFs.

Q: Can I submit more than one entry?
A: You may submit up to two entries into a given competition.

Q: Can I make edits or revisions to my submission?
A: As long as it is before the dishes have been posted in the reveal, you are welcome to revise or make edits to your entry. Please do so by sending a new PM with the changes incorporated.

Q: What is the chair's stance on builds with an "adaptation/variants" section?
A: If chefs have adaptations or variations on the build they want to present, they are strongly encouraged to put them together in a single section in the entry writeup. If you have a large enough variation, consider something like this linked build which presents two similar concepts to be judged separately.
In a build where major adaptations or variants are presented that would alter the score, judges are free to score the entry based only on the "central" or "main" build.

[Inevitability]

Ohhh I've been looking forward to this one. In to cook 100%.

[Inevitability]

A question about the ambiguously worded 6th-level feature:

Tireless (Ex): From 6th level on, you are able to keep going long after other characters have faltered. You gain Endurance as a bonus feat. If you already have Endurance, the bonus to checks and saves is doubled. In addition, you become immune to fatigue, and any effects that would normally exhaust you only fatigue you.

To be clear, is the 'in addition' clause fully independent, or is it a continuation of the 'if you already have endurance' section?

That is: if I don't have Endurance and I get my 6th-level in Cyre Scout, do I get the immunity to fatigue?

[The Viscount]

If you didn't already have the Endurance feat when you take your 6th level of Cyre Scout, you still gain immunity to fatigue.

[quetzalcoatl5]

In to cook!

Not really vibing with this ingredient. Bowing out for the moment.

[FactualArcher]

Exciting ingredient. In to cook as well!

[loky1109]

It's Eberron... I'm bad in Eberron. Don't think I'll come with entry.

[Korahir]

Since I cannot recall a round with an infusion based class, I have the followiing two questions, which I personally would be prefer not to be left for the individual judges since I feel there is a lot questionable RAW material in the sourcebooks:

• Are infusions a third kind of spells (arcane, divine, infusions)?
• Is cyre scout a spellcasting class?

[Inevitability]

For that matter, I have a question about how infusions. The artificer rules (which Cyre Scout refers to) say:

An artificer's infusions can only be imbued into an item or a construct (including warforged). He cannot, for example, simply imbue an ally with bull's strength. He must instead imbue that ability into an item his ally is wearing. The item then functions as a belt of giant strength for the duration of the infusion. He can, however, imbue bull's strength directly on a construct or a character with the living construct subtype, and infusions such as repair light damage and iron construct function only when imbued on such characters.

So alright, clear enough when we're talking Bull's Strength or Shield of Faith. But Minor Creation doesn't have a target: how does that work? And what about Lesser Globe of Invulnerability - does it function normally? Do we need to have an item or construct around to serve as the initial target? Or does it actually move with whatever item or construct we cast it on, which seems to be the interpretation advanced by Disregard Money, Acquire Buff Spells?

[Paragon]

Since I cannot recall a round with an infusion based class, I have the followiing two questions, which I personally would be prefer not to be left for the individual judges since I feel there is a lot questionable RAW material in the sourcebooks:

• Are infusions a third kind of spells (arcane, divine, infusions)?
• Is cyre scout a spellcasting class?

Magic of Eberron p53 has some kinds of answer to your questions I think

[Korahir]

Magic of Eberron p53 has some kinds of answer to your questions I think

Thanks for the pointer but I am aware of that paragraph. "Artificers and Prestige Classes" is a great ressource but it is not "Cyre Scout and Prestige Classes".

[H_H_F_F]

I'd tend to think they're not a spellcasting class, but that the rules for artificer apply to them as well.

Of course, if we want a ruling, we can ask for a ruling.

[Battlechaser]

Cyre scout does have a caster level: class level-1. So it would seem it is a spellcasting class.

[H_H_F_F]

Artificers and warlocks have CL as well

[Battlechaser]

So prestige classes with +1 CL could improve that caster level. It just can’t qualify for prestige classes that require spells.

[H_H_F_F]

So prestige classes with +1 CL could improve that caster level. It just can’t qualify for prestige classes that require spells.

As I mentioned, I think as far as prestige classes go it'd be reasonable to apply the artificer clause - but that's up to the chair.

I don't want to go overboard with stipulating what I think it can't qualify for, since my attention has been directed to the chilling effect that can have on prospective chefs.

[The Viscount]

As for whether Cyre scout is a spellcasting class, it depends on the context you're asking that question in. It says you can use infusions like an artificer, so text that refers to how artificer infusions work and qualify for things apply for Cyre scouts as well. The text on page 53 of Magic of Eberron which describes how artificers function applies to Cyre scouts as well, once they have reached 2nd level and can use infusions. You can qualify for classes that specify a caster level requirement, or for classes that require casting X level spells, so long as they do not mention arcane or divine. You cannot use infusions to enter a class that requires you to be able to cast a specific spell, even if you have a similar infusion. You gain the benefits of a prestige class that gives "+1 level of existing spellcasting class" but not if it mentions arcane or divine.

Infusions are not spells, and as stated on page 31 of Eberron Campaign Setting, "Infusions are neither arcane nor divine."

As for the wording on infusions, you are correct that the proposed way it works (must be cast on an item or construct) is not compatible with how some infusions work.
For lesser globe of invulnerability, you would choose a magic item or construct (we'll say range of touch since that's the most common range) and then it would continue to function like globe of invulnerability (not mobile, which does call our attention to how sloppily written the original spell is).
Minor creation simply functions as the spell, you don't need to target an item or construct because that's not how the spell works.

[Inevitability]

Any chance we could have a bit of an extension? Real life caught up with me and it'd really help me out if I didn't have to rush to finish an entry today. I'm a little busy for the forthcoming days too, but it should in no case be more than a week - just a few days if all goes well.

[The Viscount]

Any chance we could have a bit of an extension? Real life caught up with me and it'd really help me out if I didn't have to rush to finish an entry today. I'm a little busy for the forthcoming days too, but it should in no case be more than a week - just a few days if all goes well.

Good timing. I was just about to make a post asking where people are since I'm currently short on entries. Can't blame the chefs, I haven't thought of a build either.

Deadline is extended 1 week, OP updated accordingly.

[Inevitability]

Builds are in!

[Battlechaser]

I'm working on a build.

[Battlechaser]

Build is in.

[The Viscount]

Apologies, time got away from me. Now we can proceed to the reveal! (Please hold off on posting until the all clear.)

[The Viscount]

Nothing goes with variant magic systems quite like other variant magic systems.

Toris d'Cannith

CN Human

Human Paragon 1/Druid 1/Shadowcaster 1/Cyre Scout 7/Shadowcaster +1/Human Paragon+1/Cyre Scout +3/Cyran Avenger +5

Spoiler: Stats

Show

Str 10
Dex 14
Con 10
Int 16
Wis 14
Cha 14
Level up increases go to int

Spoiler: Story

Show

The trap was ready. Toris had hollowed out a maze under Sharn’s Cannith Enclave, and his mark had let him fill it with traps. Shadow was doing one final sweep of the tunnels. Cannith would be aware of any large operations in the area, but one wouldn’t be as easy to find, and his playing was far quieter than mining. The maze was dark, but Toris’ mark allowed him to get around as easily as if it was broad daylight. Shadow returned, and Toris began the climb.
He had made this hidden ladder himself, emerging in the most secret level of the facility. He was so close. Once Merrix was dead, he would be able to find out what had destroyed Cyre. Merrix shouldn’t have sent him to Whitehearth. There, he had been able to talk to the shades of enough Cannith workers to know that something the house had been working on had caused the Mourning, and he was almost certain that Merrix’s ambition had been involved.

Toris emerged onto the factory floor, his body blending with the shadows. His mastery of wands and the Mourning made him almost invisible to eye and magic. Ahead, he heard voices, and his heart leapt. One was Merrix’s. He peaked around a corner to see Merrix talking to two armed warforged. It was time to lay the charges. Crafted from a Sarlonan recipe, they would be enough. Toris started to move the charges into place. As he worked, he heard Merrix speak.
“I need you two to remove Toris d’Cannith. He’s become too dangerous.” Merrix handed one of the warforged a paper.
The warforged read for a moment, then laughed. “Dropped out of the Cannith academy. Spent a year at the Eldeen OutReaches druid program, but spent most of his time hunting. Marked, but not particularly powerful. Why is this man so dangerous?”
“Read the next page.” Merrix ordered. “He was in Cyre on the day of Mourning but escaped on the lightning rail, though not unchanged.”
As Merrix talked, Toris used the shadows to put charges into place.
“He joined the Cyre Scouts immediately,” Merrix continued. “And on missions leaders began to notice his control of shadows. We don’t know how he gained the power, but it proved useful. He was a skilled tracker and a better thief. Later on, he became fascinated with Cyre’s demise, disappearing every once in a while to search for clues. He’s growing close to the truth. He needs to die.”
The charges were ready. Toris smiled. His revenge was at hand.
“Go Shadow.” Toris whispered.
As Shadow flew off to start the charges, Toris wrapped his hand around a flask of alchemist’s fire. The fall should hurt them, but he wasn’t going to take any chances.
“Sir, there’s something in here.” one of the warforged suddenly stated.
Toris cursed. They must have seen Shadow. He hurled a flask of alchemist's fire into the middle of the group and reached out with shadows to grab Merrix’s wand. The flask hit Merrix, but did little to slow him down and even less to stop the two warforged. They charged towards him, but before they reached him, he flickered away to hide in the shadows.
Merrix was running for the exit, but before he got there Toris used created a wall of clashing metal in the way. Merrix skidded to a halt and leapt back and yelled “To me!” The warforged came running, but before they arrived, the charges went off. The room was engulfed in shards of metal, and the floor fell out from beneath the combatants. Toris was expecting it, but the explosion and the fall still knocked the wind out of him. His wounds were bleeding shadows, and he was unharmed. His mark let him sense Merrix and his two guards getting to their feet. He yelled. “Merrix, Cyre’s vengeance is coming.”
“Toris!” he replied. “You’ve betrayed Cannith. You’ll die for this.”
“I doubt it,” Toris answered, and flickered away For several minutes, Toris wore them down, throwing fire, stealing Merrix’s wands and striking with his sword. The passages of the maze confused the warforged, and soon they were finished. Then it was just him and Merrix. Toris advanced on him and prepared to stab. Merrix was stumbling desperately in the dark. “Spare me.” he begged. “I’ll give you the leadership of Cannith South. I’ll give you anything.”
“Spare you like you spared Cyre?” Toris asked as he stabbed. “I think not. You may not have meant to kill them, but your ambition fed the flames of the Mourning. May Dolurrh take your soul.”
Merrix died.

Spoiler: Table

Show

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Reflex Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Human Paragon 1	0	0	0	2	Hide 4 (+4), Move Silently 4 (+4), Sleight of Hand 4 (+4), Survival 4 (+4), Craft (Alchemy) 4 (+4), Perform (Strings) 4 (+4), Gather Information 4 (+4), Knowledge (Arcana) 4 (+4)	Able Learner, Least Mark of Making (Make Whole) (HB)
2nd	Deadly Hunter Urban Companion Druid 1	0	2	0	4	Hide 5 (+1), Move Silently 5 (+1), Sleight of Hand 5 (+1), Survival 5 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 5 (+1), Perform (Strings) 5 (+1), Gather Information 5 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 1 (+1)	Track (B)	Wild Empathy, Favored Enemy (Humans), Urban Companion, Nature Sense
3rd	Shadowcaster 1	0	4	0	6	Hide 6 (+1), Move Silently 6 (+1), Sleight of Hand 6 (+1), Survival 6 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 6 (+1), Perform (Strings) 6 (+1), Gather Information 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 1	Extend Spell	Fundamentals of Shadow, Apprentice Mysteries
4th	Cyre Scout 1	0	6	0	8	Hide 7 (+1), Move Silently 7 (+1), Sleight of Hand 7 (+1), Survival 7 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 7 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7 (+1), Gather Information 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 1		Direction Sense, Dragonmark Conduit (Preservation), Heir's Mark
5th	Cyre Scout 2	1	7	0	9	Hide 8 (+1), Move Silently 8 (+1), Sleight of Hand 8 (+1), Survival 8 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 8 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7, Gather Information 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 2 (+1)	Blind Fight (B)	Shadow Fighter
6th	Cyre Scout 3	2	7	1	9	Hide 9 (+1), Move Silently 9 (+1), Sleight of Hand 9 (+1), Survival 9 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 9 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7, Gather Information 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 3 (+1)	Lesser Dragonmark of Making (Minor Creation)	Detect Magic
7th	Cyre Scout 4	3	8	1	10	Hide 10 (+1), Move Silently 10 (+1), Sleight of Hand 10 (+1), Survival 10 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 10 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7, Gather Information 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 4 (+1)		Improved Direction Sense
8th	Cyre Scout 5	3	8	1	10	Hide 11 (+1), Move Silently 11 (+1), Sleight of Hand 11 (+1), Survival 11 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 11 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7, Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 2 (+2), Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 4		Dragonmark Conduit (Natural Healing)
9th	Cyre Scout 6	4	9	2	11	Hide 12 (+1), Move Silently 12 (+1), Sleight of Hand 12 (+1), Survival 12 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 12 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7, Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 4 (+2), Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 4	Greater Dragonmark of Making (Fabricate), Endurance (B)	Tireless
10th	Cyre Scout 7	5	9	2	11	Hide 13 (+1), Move Silently 13 (+1), Sleight of Hand 13 (+1), Survival 13 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 13 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7, Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 6 (+2), Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 4		Blindsense Mark, Innate Detect Magic
11th	Shadowcaster 2	6	10	2	12	Hide 14 (+1), Move Silently 14 (+1), Sleight of Hand 14 (+1), Survival 14 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 14 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7, Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 8(+2), Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 4	Persistent Spell (B)
12th	Human Paragon 2	7	11	2	13	Hide 15 (+1), Move Silently 15 (+1), Sleight of Hand 15 (+1), Survival 15 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 15 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7, Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 10 (+2), Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 4, Profession (Siege Engineer) 2 (+2)	Darkstalker, Craft Wand (B)
13th	Cyre Scout 8	8	12	2	14	Hide 16 (+1), Move Silently 16 (+1), Sleight of Hand 16 (+1), Survival 16 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 16 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7, Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 11 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 4, Profession (Siege Engineer) 2, Speak Language (Goblin)		Natural Survivor
14th	Cyre Scout 9	8	12	3	14	Hide 17 (+1), Move Silently 17 (+1), Sleight of Hand 17 (+1), Survival 17 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 17 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7, Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 12 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Sense Motive 5, Profession (Siege Engineer) 2, Speak Language (Goblin, Halfling)		Identify
15th	Cyre Scout 10	9	13	3	15	Hide 18 (+1), Move Silently 18 (+1), Sleight of Hand 18 (+1), Survival 18 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 18 (+1), Perform (Strings) 7, Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 13 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana) 5 (+1), Sense Motive 5, Profession (Siege Engineer) 2, Speak Language (Goblin, Halfling)	Craft Wonderous Item	Dragonmark Conduit (Magical Healing)
16th	Cyran Avenger 1	10	15	3	15	Hide 19 (+1), Move Silently 19 (+1), Sleight of Hand 19 (+1), Survival 19 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 19 (+1), Perform (Strings) 11 (+4), Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 14 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Sense Motive 5, Profession (Siege Engineer) 2, Speak Language (Goblin, Halfling)	Heroic Spirit (B)	Avenging Strike (Melee)
17th	Cyran Avenger 2	11	16	3	15	Hide 20 (+1), Move Silently 20 (+1), Sleight of Hand 20 (+1), Survival 20 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 20 (+1), Perform (Strings) 15 (+4), Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 15 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Sense Motive 5, Profession (Siege Engineer) 2, Speak Language (Goblin, Halfling)		Discern Lies 1/day, Enemy Region (Mournlands)
18th	Cyran Avenger 3	12	16	4	16	Hide 21 (+1), Move Silently 21 (+1), Sleight of Hand 21 (+1), Survival 21 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 21 (+1), Perform (Strings) 19 (+4), Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 16 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Sense Motive 5, Profession (Siege Engineer) 2, Speak Language (Goblin, Halfling)	Dragonmark Visionary	Avenging Strike (Ranged)
19th	Cyran Avenger 4	13	17	4	16	Hide 22 (+1), Move Silently 22 (+1), Sleight of Hand 22 (+1), Survival 22 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 22 (+1), Perform (Strings) 22 (+3), Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 17 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Sense Motive 5, Profession (Siege Engineer) 2, Speak Language (Goblin, Halfling, Gnome)		Speak with Dead 1/day
20th	Cyran Avenger 5	14	17	4	16	Hide 23 (+1), Move Silently 23 (+1), Sleight of Hand 23 (+1), Survival 23 (+1), Craft (Alchemy) 23 (+1), Perform (Strings) 23 (+1), Gather Information 5, Use Magic Device 18 (+1), Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Sense Motive 5, Profession (Siege Engineer) 2, Speak Language (Goblin, Halfling, Gnome, Elven, Dwarven, Draconic)	Quicken Spell (B)	Enemy Region (Breland)

Spoiler: Spells, Infusions, and Mysteries

Show

Class	Druid 0th	Druid 1st	Fundamentals	Mysteries	Infusion 1st	Infusion 2nd	Infusion 3rd	Infusion 4th
Human Paragon 1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Deadly Hunter Voice of the City Urban Companion Druid 1	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Shadowcaster 1	3	1	Arrow of Dusk, Black Candle, Sight Obscured, Umbral Hand	Quicker than the Eye	-	-	-	-
Cyre Scout 1	3	1			-	-	-	-
Cyre Scout 2	3	1			1	-	-	-
Cyre Scout 3	3	1			2	-	-	-
Cyre Scout 4	3	1			3	-	-	-
Cyre Scout 5	3	1			3	1	-	-
Cyre Scout 6	3	1			3	2	-	-
Cyre Scout 7	3	1			3	3	1	-
Shadowcaster 2	3	1		Steel Shadows	3	3	1	-
Human Paragon 2	3	1		Sight Eclipsed	3	3	1	-
Cyre Scout 8	3	1			3	3	2	-
Cyre Scout 9	3	1			3	3	2	-
Cyre Scout 10	3	1			3	3	3	1
Cyran Avenger 1	3	1			3	3	3	1
Cyran Avenger 2	3	1	Widened Eyes	Voice of Shadow	3	3	3	1
Cyran Avenger 3	3	1		Congress of Shadows	3	3	3	1
Cyran Avenger 4	3	1		Flicker	3	3	3	1
Cyran Avenger 5	3	1		Bolster	3	3	3	1

Spoiler: Level Breakdowns

Show

Spoiler: 1-5

Show

Toris is a character who tries to do a lot of things, which hurts his early levels. As a Human Paragon at first level, he doesn’t have a ton to do except sneak around and occasionally fix something. He occasionally hits people with a longsword (his martial weapon from Human Paragon), but he’s pretty bad at it. Druid helps him scout, letting him cast a couple spells a day. He usually goes for Camouflage, from the Spell Compendium which gives +10 to hide, making him incredibly hard to find. Shadow, his bat urban companion, helps at scouting, since it keeps Toris’ stealth skills. Track as a bonus feat also lets him leverage survival more. He can also actually use alchemy now. One item he’s particularly fond of, though it doesn’t become super useful until later, are Explosive Packs from Secrets of Sarlona, which are pretty much what they sound like: decently powerful explosives accessible to alchemists. They are very difficult to craft for Toris at this point, but he’ll eventually be able to make rather large ones. 3rd level is where things get a little more interesting, with some Shadowcaster. Sight Obscured boosts hide and sleight of hand, and Quicker than the Eye boosts sleight of hand and lets him use it at range with Umbral Hand. Together, this can be really annoying for enemies, though only once a day. Next it’s time for the SI, entered early. Direction Sense helps Toris’ tracking, and later on his maze navigating. Heir’s Mark is useful for boosting his marks CL, though he’s yet to get his lesser mark. Dragonmark Conduit is meh, useful passively but hard to find a use for actively. Next level brings Blind Fight, which works decently with Black Candle, to inconvenience enemies but not really Toris. Also, Infusions. Personal Weapon Enhancement is always nice for Bane when you know what you’re fighting, but Toris makes great use of Skill Enhancement to help him hit DCs, especially on Move Silently and Sleight of Hand.

Spoiler: 6-10

Show

More Cyre Scout! Detect Magic is pretty decent, and can help find magic traps when Toris scouts. Lesser Mark is great, because minor creation is always fun. He often uses it to supplement his alchemy supplies. More infusions are nice as well. Improved Direction Sense is minor, but if Toris happens to fail a survival check it’ll be helpful. Dragonmark Conduit (Natural Healing) at ECL 8 is good when it comes up but hard to actively use. By this point, he’s getting extremely good at Survival. Second level infusions, also unlocked at this level are limited to stat boosters. Toris is fairly MAD, so they can help buff him in melee with Bull’s Strength, improve his stealth skills, or his tracking as needed. At 9th, Toris gets a Mark of Fabricate which vastly improves the usefulness of his alchemy, as he can now make explosives much faster. Tireless is also nice, helping Toris go further into the day when tracking to help him catch his targets when they’re resting. At 10th, Toris gets 3rd level infusions and two of Cyre Scout’s most interesting features. Innate Detect Magic is great for scouts: automatic detect magic at boosted range, and the ability to scan for further information with another class feature lets you find pretty much any enemy who’s a threat before they get too close. Blindsense Mark is great too. Least uses are easy enough to spare, and Blindsense is great, particularly combined with Smokesticks and Blindfight to catch opponents off guard.

Spoiler: 11-15

Show

Toris takes a detour here to bring some combos online. Shadowcaster 2 brings a new mystery, Steel Shadows, and Persistent Spell as a bonus feat. Metamagic Item can be used to fuel persistomancy, but as of yet Toris doesn’t have any useful wands to persist. That changes next level, with Human Paragon 2, advancing Shadowcaster to give Toris access to Sight Eclipsed, an invisibility that basically gives Camouflage, without terrain restriction, vastly increasing Toris’ stealth. He also picks up craft wand, which works on mysteries, allowing him to use metamagic item to persist it, as well as Sight Obscured and Quicker than the Eye. Of course, all of this costs a decent amount of XP; for one second level wand and two firsts, it comes to 240 XP, but Toris can make those wands last for a long time, so he shouldn’t be behind in XP for more than a level or two. Toris also picks up Darkstalker, making his constant hiding much more reliable. Now, Toris is incredibly good at trailing people while remaining unseen, using survival, hide, and move silently. Plus, while undetected, he can rob people at range with Quicker than the Eye and Umbral Hand.
Now that Toris’ main combos are online, he finishes off Cyre Scout. Natural Survivor increases the reliability of his tracking. At ninth, Identify lets him actually use the random crap he steals from enemies. Dragonmark Conduit (Magical Healing) is, just like the other Dragonmark Conduit abilities, very hard to actively use, but nice when it comes up. Fourth level infusions are nice, particularly Legion’s Shield of Faith, though Rusting Grasp can be useful as well if Toris is trying to break in. Craft Wondrous Item unlocks a combo for Toris. Because of his mark, he can cast fabricate and make a Lyre of Building, which can be used to vastly speed up building. Half an hour of playing produces three hundred human-days of work, enough to create several buildings or an elaborate underground maze. Races of the Dragon states a skilled laborer can cut out a five foot cube of rock per eight hours of work. Toris uses Lyres of Building to set up elaborate mazes under enemy bases, and then demolish the upper floor using Explosive Packs created by his mark and alchemy skills. He can use the Profession (Siege Engineer) skill to place the packs so that they deal extra damage to objects, making it more useful.
The rationale behind this is that a Cyre Scout fights best inside the Mournland, or areas like it. While Toris can’t really bring people to the Mournland, he can bring them to areas that are like it, allowing him to use his directional senses and ability to operate in the dark to wear down enemies that can’t effectively respond to him. This does take a while to set up, so Toris will only use it for large fights, but it is pretty effective when it works. He can also use Lyres of Building to rework the battlefield in smaller ways, like changing the insides of his target's house and removing sources of light instead of resorting to massive explosions.

Spoiler: 16-20

Show

Toris spends his last few levels in Cyran Avenger, which provides him with several benefits. At 1st level, he gets Avenging Strike, which boosts the occasional sword attack he makes, and gives him Heroic Spirit as a bonus feat. Neither is amazing, though Avenging Strike gets better with the Eagle’s Splendor infusion. 17th unlocks the Voice of Shadow mystery. For Cyran Avenger, Toris gets Enemy Region, boosting his combat skills in the Mournlands, as well as Discern Lies 1/day which is a decent trick to have in his pocket. 18th level brings Congress of Shadows, another weak mystery, the ability to use Avenging Strike on ranged attacks, and most importantly Dragonmark Visionary, giving him Wall of Gears 1/day and an extra fabricate, both of which can power Dragonmark Conduits. Wall of Gears is decent area control that can cut off enemy escape. Next level, Toris picks up Flicker, the reason why he took two crappy mysteries. When Persisted with Metamagic Item, it gives him immediate action short range teleport all day, which is incredibly useful, letting him run away, fake spring attack, break into areas and so much else. At this level he gets Speak With Dead 1/day which is good at gathering information, though not game changing. Compared to Flicker, the next level of Cyran Avenger is underwhelming, but Apprentice Mysteries are a large upgrade. Bolster is powerful enough and an extra enemy region helps Toris when operating in Breland, or wherever else the campaign goes.

Spoiler: Sources

Show

Unearthed Arcana: Deadly Hunter Druid, Human Paragon
Tome of Magic: Shadowcaster, Mysteries
Lords of Madness: Darkstalker
Five Nations: Cyran Avenger
ECS: Mark of Making Feats, Heroic Spirit
Dragonmarked: Cyre Scout, Dragonmark Visionary
Complete Arcane: Persistent Spell
Cityscape Web Enhancements https://web.archive.org/web/20201112...d/we/20070228a: Urban Companion, Quicker than the Eye
Secrets of Sarlona: Explosive Packs

[The Viscount]

Who says infusions are for academics?

Can-Nan the Barbarian



CN Human Wizard 1 / Barbarian 4 / Cyre Scout 10 / Beastmaster 1 / Fist of the Forest 2 / Scorpion Wraith 2

Spoiler: Backstory

Show

Sweat gleamed on his muscular chest as Can-Nan leapt forth from the dark tropical underbrush, weapon at the ready. The barbarian bellowed a warcry that reverberated across the clearing as he dashed into the giants' camp.

The giant holding Xenxar turned, wide-eyed. The drow himself managed to faintly smile, despite his injuries, and yelled two words: not Can-nan's name, not an order, not a condemnation or curse, no, an acknowledgement. "Pandin Temn!" Scourge of giants! That title Can-nan had so rightfully deserved during his adventures at the Cursed Flamepeak (see LHoC #17), that blood-drawn mark of his power and grit! It seemed Xenxar had now, in his hour of dying, at last accepted Can-nan as a worthy battle-brother.

Two massive one-eyed guards stood between him and Xenxar's keeper. Can-nan was upon one of them, sword at the ready, and plunged it deep into the brute's side before he could even draw his weapon. The other cylops, however, approached now, axe drawn and shining with lost magics. Can-nan dodged a blow, then a kick, tried to dash around his opponent to hamstring him, but the one-eye was remarkably nimble for one so large, and the combatants were matched in resolve. Then the worst possible thing happened: Can-nan tripped, a coiling root intent upon causing his doom (or not merely a root? remember, it has not been long since Can-nan spurned Rebana of the Forest Flowers and earned that temptress's venomous ire - see LHoC #44).

The guard's axe came down upon the Lion of Menechtarun with terrible force. It bit deep, and though Can-nan endured the blow, the force alone was enough to bring him down and pin him to the stinking ground. But the lost heir of Cannith would not be slain this day! Inhuman fury crystallized in his battle-drunk brain, and with a mighty groan he flung his sword upwards. It struck the cyclops in his sole eye, provoking a howl of pain and a shower of blood. As his foe toppled backwards, Can-nan turned to face his final opponent, who flung Xenxar's limp body aside and approached at a jog, clearly intent on dispatching this strange foe before it acquired another weapon.

Little did the giant know that Can-nan needed no such thing. The warrior balled his fists, the knuckles calloused and rock-hard, and prepared-

----------------

Wilmur Mara D'Cannith licked his thumb and flipped the page of the roughly bound serial, not starting with the next page quite yet but taking a moment to savor the anticipation. In front of him, his summoned homunculus continued dutifully assembling wooden shafts and metal points into arrows. The perks of being a wizard; there were so many ways of doing work without having to do it yourself! A better way of contributing to Cyre's war effort than being on the frontlines as a battlesmith, for sure.

Then again, he supposed it was all going to be over soon anyway. The invention of warforged had obsoleted politics, logistics, propaganda - all that mattered was money, because money bought you soldiers on a scale it never had before. And well, Cyre was the richest of the five nations: there was no question they'd be coming out of this on top now.

But what was he doing, musing on all that? He still had an hour of wright-sitting (sorry, 'quality assuring') ahead of him, that meant an hour to finish Adventures of Can-nan, Lost Heir of Cannith #49: The Titan of Pra'xirek. He wondered if the writer was finally going to kill off Xenxar - it seemed more than likely, with the pair's rivalry ended at last. But maybe...

A distant rumble drew Wilmur's attention. The mage glanced at the homunculus to confirm it was still working, stepped over to the window, and was rewarded with the briefest glimpse of a rushing wall of mist befor-

----------------

Can-nan awoke, his body unusually frail and battered, his eyes stinging with dust, a foul taste in his mouth. Groggily, the barbarian rose and dusted himself off, surprised to discover he was wearing a strange, long garment, impractical and more than a little ostentatious compared to his customary loincloth.

More surprising were his surroundings. Where were Xen'drik's beautiful jungles, its snow-capped peaks and sun-baked plains? Instead, he found himself in the collapsed husk of a building, gray mist choking out the sky and obscuring vision beyond a dozen paces. A cursed land, beyond a doubt: the very air felt stale and dead. It was deathly quiet, and yet part of Can-nan's savage instincts were screaming that foes lurked near, just out of sight.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Can-nan slowly crept out of the ruin, a plan forming in his mind. He would regain his strength and escape this sorcerer's curse. He would return to beautiful Xen'drik, and reunite with his friends, his battle-mates, and his proud steed Kexveeer. And then he would attend to what truly mattered: foiling the witch-giant Nyetyrury, who he had clashed with many times already, before she could free her demonic master!

Emboldened by renewed purpose, the lost heir of Cannith went forth.

Spoiler: Languages and Abilities

Show

15 STR, 12 DEX, 14 CON, 16 INT, 12 WIS, 8 CHA
ASIs: STR, INT, INT, STR, STR

Languages: Common, Elven, Giant, Draconic

Spoiler: Build

Show

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Wizard 1	+0	+0	+0	+2	24: Concentration +4 (4), Craft (Poisonmaking) +4 (4), Knowledge (Arcana) +4 (4), Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +4 (4), Knowledge (Planes) +4 (4), Knowledge (Nature) +4 (4)	Least Dragonmark of Making (Mending), Great Fortitude (B), Improved Initiative (B)	Divination Specialist (Illusion banned), Enhanced Awareness, Prescience 1/day, Fighter Bonus Feat
2nd	Barbarian 1	+1	+2	+0	+2	8: Concentration 4, Craft (Poisonmaking) 4, Handle Animal +4 (4), Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4, Knowledge (Planes) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Survival +4 (4)	-	Rage 1/day, Spiritual Totem (Lion)
3rd	Barbarian 2	+2	+3	+0	+2	8: Concentration 4, Craft (Poisonmaking) 4, Handle Animal +2 (6), Jump +4 (4), Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4, Knowledge (Planes) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Survival +2 (6)	Power Attack	Uncanny Dodge
4th	Cyre Scout 1	+2	+5	+1	+4	6: Concentration +1 (5), Craft (Poisonmaking) 4, Handle Animal 6, Hide +2 (2), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4, Knowledge (Planes) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Survival +1 (7), Use Magic Device +2 (2)	-	Direction Sense, Dragonmark Conduit (Preservation), Heir's Mark
5th	Cyre Scout 2	+3	+6	+1	+5	6: Concentration +1 (6), Craft (Poisonmaking) 4, Handle Animal 6, Hide +2 (4), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4, Knowledge (Planes) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Survival +1 (8), Use Magic Device +2 (4)	Blind-Fight (B)	Shadow Fighter
6th	Cyre Scout 3	+4	+6	+2	+5	6: Concentration +1 (7), Craft (Poisonmaking) 4, Handle Animal 6, Hide +2 (6), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4, Knowledge (Planes) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Survival +1 (9), Use Magic Device +2 (6)	Lesser Dragonmark of Making (Minor Creation)	Detect Magic
7th	Barbarian 3	+5	+6	+3	+5	8: Concentration 7, Craft (Poisonmaking) +2 (6), Handle Animal +2 (8), Hide 6, Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4, Knowledge (Planes) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Ride +3 (3), Survival +1 (10), Use Magic Device 6	-	Trapkiller
8th	Barbarian 4	+6	+7	+3	+6	8: Concentration 7, Craft (Poisonmaking) +2 (8), Handle Animal 8, Hide 6, Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4, Knowledge (Planes) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Ride +5 (8), Survival +1 (11), Use Magic Device 6	-	Rage 2/day
9th	Cyre Scout 4	+7	+8	+3	+7	6: Concentration +1 (8), Craft (Poisonmaking) 8, Handle Animal 8, Hide +2 (8), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4, Knowledge (Planes) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Ride 8, Survival +1 (12), Use Magic Device +2 (10)	Skill Focus (Handle Animal)	Improved Direction Sense
10th	Beastmaster 1	+8	+10	+5	+7	8: Concentration 8, Craft (Poisonmaking) 8, Handle Animal 8, Hide +4 (12), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4, Knowledge (Planes) 4, Knowledge (Nature) +1 (5), Ride +2 (10), Survival +1 (13), Use Magic Device 10	-	Animal Companion, Wild Empathy
11th	Cyre Scout 5	+8	+10	+5	+7	6: Concentration +2 (10), Craft (Poisonmaking) 8, Handle Animal 8, Hide 12, Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) +1 (5), Knowledge (Planes) +1 (5), Knowledge (Nature) 5, Ride 10, Survival +1 (14), Use Magic Device +1 (11)	-	Dragonmark Conduit (Natural Healing)
12th	Cyre Scout 6	+9	+11	+6	+8	7: Concentration +2 (12), Craft (Poisonmaking) 8, Handle Animal 8, Hide +1 (13), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Knowledge (Planes) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Ride 10, Survival +1 (15), Use Magic Device +3 (14)	Improved Unarmed Strike, Endurance (B)	Tireless
13th	Fist of the Forest 1	+10	+13	+8	+8	7: Balance +2 (2), Concentration 12, Craft (Poisonmaking) 8, Handle Animal 8, Hide 13, Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Knowledge (Planes) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Move Silently +4 (4), Ride 10, Survival +1 (16), Use Magic Device 14	-	AC Bonus, Feral Trance 1/day, Fast Movement, Primal Living
14th	Fist of the Forest 2	+11	+14	+9	+8	7: Balance +3 (5), Concentration 12, Craft (Poisonmaking) 8, Handle Animal 8, Hide 13, Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Knowledge (Planes) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Move Silently +4 (8), Ride 10, Survival 16, Use Magic Device 14	-	Improved Uncanny Dodge, Untamed Strike
15th	Cyre Scout 7	+12	+14	+9	+8	7: Balance 5, Concentration +2 (14), Craft (Poisonmaking) 8, Handle Animal 8, Hide +1 (14), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Knowledge (Planes) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Move Silently 8, Ride 10, Survival +2 (18), Use Magic Device +2 (16)	Extra Rage	Blindsense Mark, Innate Detect Magic
16th	Scorpion Wraith 1	+13	+14	+11	+8	11: Balance 5, Concentration 14, Craft (Poisonmaking) 8, Handle Animal 8, Hide +5 (19), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Knowledge (Planes) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Move Silently +5 (13), Ride 10, Survival +1 (19), Use Magic Device 16	-	Poison Use, Sudden Strike +1d6, Wild Empathy
17th	Scorpion Wraith 2	+14	+14	+12	+8	11: Balance 5, Concentration 14, Craft (Poisonmaking) +2 (10), Handle Animal 8, Hide +1 (20), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Knowledge (Planes) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Move Silently +7 (20), Ride 10, Survival +1 (20), Use Magic Device 16	-	Darkness, Unexpected Assault
18th	Cyre Scout 8	+15	+15	+12	+9	7: Balance 5, Concentration +2 (16), Craft (Poisonmaking) 10, Handle Animal 8, Hide +1 (21), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (5), Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Knowledge (Planes) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Move Silently 20, Ride 10, Survival +1 (21), Use Magic Device +2 (18)	Flying Kick	Natural Survivor
19th	Cyre Scout 9	+15	+15	+13	+9	7: Balance 5, Concentration +3 (19), Craft (Poisonmaking) 10, Handle Animal 8, Hide +1 (22), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Knowledge (Planes) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Move Silently 20, Ride 10, Survival +1 (22), Use Magic Device +2 (20)	-	Identify
20th	Cyre Scout 10	+16	+16	+13	+10	7: Balance 5, Concentration 19, Craft (Poisonmaking) 10, Handle Animal 8, Hide +1 (23), Jump 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 5, Knowledge (Planes) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Move Silently 20, Ride 10, Survival +1 (23), Use Magic Device +3 (23), Nimble Charge skill trick	-	Dragonmark Conduit (Magical Healing)

(I'm aware it'd be better from a HP/raw skill point perspective to put the barbarian level first, but note that having wizard as our first class lets us more easily allocate skillpoints in wizard-only skills, which will be at a premium for most of our levels)

Spoiler: Spells

Show

Wizard spells:

Level	0lvl	1st
1st-20th	3	2

Spellbook:
All cantrips (except illusion)
1st-level: Critical Strike, Feather Fall, Grease, Mage Armor, Nerveskitter, Summon Marked Homunculus

Typical prepared:
0: Detect Poison, Light, Prestidigitation
1: Mage Armor, Nerveskitter

Cyre Scout infusions:

Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
5th	2	-	-	-
6th	3	-	-	-
9th	4	-	-	-
11th	4	2	-	-
12th	4	3	-	-
15th	4	4	2	-
18th	4	4	3	-
19th	4	4	3	-
20th	4	4	4	2

Spoiler: Spotlights

Show

ECL 5
A bit of a strange start, but we needed a base class that granted Knowledge (Arcana) and a fighter bonus feat, and wizard was the only thing that fit the bill. We'll strike first and strike hard, thanks to Improved Initiative and Power Attack, we have some decent armor, and 1/day we can add our intelligence modifier to most any roll. We enter Cyre Scout as early as possible, though it still takes a little for it to get up to steam. Also note Summon Marked Homunculus, a fun little Cannith-only spell that gives us our pick of construct buddies for 1 hour, giving us an interesting target to imbue our infusions in.

Personal Weapon Augmentation is a very good and versatile infusion (and a big reason we're such a melee-heavy build), with Valorous being a very strong go-to option and various other enhancements having their niches, but Magic Weapon and Shield of Faith are workable buffs at this level still too. Some might frown on combining rage with not-quite-casting, but it's not that contradictory: the infusions Cyre Scout gets are either meant to be used out of combat or on the first round of combat - there's no particular conflict with rage there!

ECL 10
Everything we do, we get better at. We can pounce for two attacks at +8 BAB, we can rage twice as often, and we've got Minor Creation to conjure up poisons that a summoned homunculus can then apply. Speaking of the homunculus, we upgrade our mark to the Lesser version and can now summon true homunculi, packmates, iron defenders, or persistent harriers as well. The packmate can specifically throw flasks (say, filled with contact or inhaled poison), so that's a nice way to double your effective actions.

Beastmaster gives us an overleveled animal companion, letting us take to the skies with a dire bat or fight in the water riding a large shark - notable challenges for melee builds to overcome!

Trapkiller is a nice little barbarian ACF that synergizes great with Cyre Scout. Our boosted survival can now be used to detect traps, we can disable mechanical ones with a (buffed) attack roll, and our Detect Magic SLA can be employed to study the magical ones we can't disable and figure out how to best bypass them. Or we can use Personal Weapon Augmentation to give our weapon the Dispelling enhancement from MIC (giving us 3 CL 5 dispels), and possibly even cast the infusion twice to get three Greater dispels at CL 15 via Greater Dispelling. Normally, trapkiller is kinda weak for demanding a huge skill investment and coming with a built-in -5 penalty on trap detection, but Cyre Scout already offsets most of the latter and mandates enough intelligence for the former to be no big deal.

ECL 15
Per the official WotC Xen'drik Expeditions organized play campaign standards: "Bestial defenders of the forest are common on Eberron, though the Guardians of the Green do not exist. There is no special requirement needed to take this prestige class". And so, we enter Fist of the Forest.

This gives us better unarmed strikes (that, like the monk's, can probably be enhanced by our infusions), constitution to AC (further boosted in rage and by Bear's Endurance), faster movement, flanking immunity, and 1/day Feral Trance. In addition, if we use Personal Weapon Augmentation on our unarmed strikes (making them count as magic), Fist of the Forest adds Lesser Ghost Touch (average of 75% damage against incorporeals instead of half) for free.

Feral Trance has 'synergy' with our infusions. Entering a feral trance destroys any shoes or gloves you might be wearing, which locks us out of the default source of certain bonuses (the default dex-enhancing item is a pair of gloves, for instance). As a cyre scout, we can route around this by imbuing a belt or headband with Cat's Grace, just to name something.

Sustenance, an awkward flavor-feature, becomes incredibly relevant suddenly. Our inability to feed on conjured food or purchased rations means we really appreciate the ability to just expend two Mending uses instead. Similarly, having to sleep for only 2 hours/night is much more impactful when that sleep must necessarily take place outside, and getting to heal naturally in the mournland is relevant when you can't sleep in a Rope Trick (probably counts as indoors) like everyone else.

Fatigue Immunity is nice for when our rage wears off (or when we deliberately end it to cast an infusion or SLA). Innate Detect Magic isn't too good, but note that by holding up an inch-thick chunk of metal (say, a weapon) and carefully moving it around to break and re-establish line of effect, you can determine the direction of magical effects with much greater accuracy than the feature normally allows. This helps with locating magic traps at a greater distance, further cementing our trapfinder role.

We're up to 4 rages a day and three attacks, and on top we get 3rd-level infusions. The most exciting is probably Greater Magic Weapon for making our unarmed strikes count as magical long-duration.

ECL 20
By eking out +16 BAB we secure that precious fourth iterative (and if we charge, all our unarmed attacks get significant bonus damage from Flying Kick). We at last find our way back to our 'homeland' of Xen'drik and study under the scorpion wraiths, giving us an initiative bonus in ambushes, the ability to Wild Emphatize with vermin, sudden strike, and most significantly, poison use, letting us cut the homunculus out of the loop and envenom our weapons ourselves. Between Blindsense Mark and Blind-Fight, we can fight in magical darkness almost unimpeded, and with three daily uses at CL 20 w can keep Darkness up for 10 hours a day.

Natural Survivor lets us take 10 on Survival, which with our final modifier (23 ranks, +1 wisdom, +10 cyre scout, +2 synergy regardless of location) means we can reliable reach a result of 46: enough to predict the weather a week in advance, always determine your direction to a very familiar destination (and by triangulating familiar locations, pinpoint your location), and move at full speed while foraging food and water for three party members - and detect nearly all traps, of course. We also max out UMD and Hide.

Identify was a class feature that had me stumped when I first saw this class (I feel like there was an earlier draft of Cyre Scout that granted it at -way- lower level): component-less identification is great, sure, but why so many uses? Who's going to have ten hours a day to spend on magic item gleaning? However, note the ability does not say 'this SLA takes an hour to use', but 'the process still takes as long as normal'. For us, a specialist divinr with Enhanced Awareness, 'normal' is 'ten minutes'. We can thus use this SLA in one-sixth of the customary time, letting us burn through all our uses in a little less than two hours. This is much more workable, especially when we only need to sleep for two hours a night - even in a party of elves, we can get all the identifying in before they wake.

Lastly, the high-level infusions: we mostly care about Minor Creation for giving us more and different doses of poison every day, but Lesser Globe of Invulnerability is a nice way to negate Daylight or protect a small area from those low-level spells that really mess up charges (Grease, Entangle, etc).

Spoiler: Sources

Show

ACFs
Trapkiller - Dungeonscape
Spiritual Totem - Complete Champion
Diviner ACFs (Prescience, Enhanced Awareness) - Unearthed Arcana
Fighter Bonus Feat Wizard - Unearthed Arcana

Classes:
Scorpion Wraith - Secrets of Xen'Drik
Beastmaster - Complete Adventurer
Fist of the Forest - Complete Champion

Feats:
Dragonmark feats - ECS
Extra Rage, Flying Kick - CWar

Spells:
Critical Strike, Nerveskitter - Spell Compendium
Summon Marked Homunculus - Dragonmarked

Valorous weapons from Unapproachable East.

[The Viscount]

I don't want to use optimization to solve problems. I want to use it to turn characters into dinosaurs.

Luke Karlos



TN Were-Glidewing Human Savant 2 / Druid 1 / Fighter 1 / Cyre Scout 10 / Shiba Protector 1

Spoiler: Backstory

Show

Excerpt from a journal titled "Traveler", written around the turn of the century by Luke Karlos d'Cannith, discovered and published by his heirs in 1053 YK. The original document has been donated to the Mournland Reclamation Initiative, New Eston branch. A replica is kept on display in the Founder's Hall there.

...miraculously, my mad flight eastward bore fruits. Braving deadly threat after deadly threat, I at last came to the roiling mists again, and plunged in, trying to keep my bearings as well as I was able to. Somehow, I succeeded - I stumbled out onto the verdigris plains of Talenta, turned my grateful eyes skyward, and collapsed.

When I came to, I was lying on a pile of woven blankets in a cramped tent. A pot of soup stood besides me. For one absurd moment I feared that I had grown to enormous size, given that all my surroundings appeared comically undersized - the bowl of soup seemed more like a drinking cup, the spoon inside it a child's toy, the tent's ceiling touching my head even as I sat. But as my rescuer entered, I at once understood no such thing had happened.

You see, I had been found by the nomadic halflings that inhabit these parts, a people who proved every bit as hospitable and graceful as their city-dwelling cousins. They were an isolated tribe, but enough of them spoke enough Common for me to explain who I was and where I hailed from. They took a great liking to me, and though none had trouble pronouncing my name, the tribe settled on calling me Abarr’ien Haurach, a phrase that back then I knew not the significance of.

They explained that their travels would take them to the halfling settlement of Gatherhold in mere weeks, and I would from there be able to send word of my survival to Breland, where my family must no doubt be living in great anxiety. Less than eager to roam the outstretched plains by myself, I decided to accompany them until that time.

I quickly gained an abiding respect for these people. Their way of life was simple but sufficient, their stories enthralling, their love for their tamed beasts astounding. I would employ my mark's magic at the direction of their sacred weavers, who had me those repair ancient masks that supposedly housed ancestral spirits. I liked those masks - I did not pray to them as the halflings did, but I admired their craftsmanship, and if any spirits truly did reside within, I can only hope they appreciated me mending their homes.

Still, life on the plains was rough. When traveling to new campsites, the days were long and tiring: the halflings rode swift lizard-like steeds that I could not keep pace with, and thus I often found myself forced to march for ten or even twelve hours, accompanied by a rearguard that lessened their pace for my benefit. Not uncommonly, I would arrive at the day's camp exhausted, wolf down a meal, and drift off to sleep right away. How gracious I thought they were being, allowing a man who ate as much as four of their number to accompany them, while expecting so little in return!

Until that one night, when I learned the true price of their hospitality.

I had collapsed after a harsh march, this one longer than any I remember, only to wake to my body being jostled about. My hands and feet were bound with sturdy twine, my back laid flat on a large stone, my cries of surprise muffled by a gag. The halflings surrounded me, masks covering their silent faces, great fires behind them granting them the appearance of shadowy ghosts - and at once, no longer granted the privilege of looking down on them from above, did I become acutely aware of just how great their numbers were, how determined their postures, how sharp their blades.

They made no move for a long time, even as I trashed and groaned. Minutes, perhaps hours, passed - my eyes wandered from the emotionless faces staring at me, to the full moons shining just as dispassionately above.

Then suddenly, there was a rush of air, and I watched as a large shape blotted out the sky above me. Another beast - reptilian like the others, but larger, with broad triangular wings. Its face was elongated, culminating in a sharp beak on one end and a curved horn on the other. To my shock, as it landed, the halflings let out a cry in unison, then bowed, as if this animal was an angel of the Host!

Slowly, the creature approached me, planting muscular wings on either side of my head, wicked beak inching towards my face. Its body was warm, wet, and foul-smelling - the experience of watching it tower over me was like being locked inside a too-small tent with a barrel of rotting fish.

I now know what I faced that night - a lycanthrope, a beast-man, some obscure strain that had survived the Purge in this far-off land. Perhaps the very last of its kind, unable to spread itself among the halflings, forced to propagate itself through random travelers that fell into its worshippers' clutches.

But back then, when I lacked the comfort of knowledge, I could only trash in horror, and beg for my life in all the tongues I knew. It was to no avail - the last thing I remember is the glidewing's toothed beak clamping around my shoulder.

...

I awoke at dawn, covered in blood and mud, the dead-grey mists on the far horizon and nothing but grass as far as I could see. Many questions rushed through my mind - had I escaped my captors? Killed them? I still do not know, and do not expect to ever find out - never will I return to the Talenta Plains, that cursed land that plays at being without danger, where every friendly face may conceal a dagger: better to delve into places unashamed of their hostility.

But I digress: I must speak of the past, not my future plans, and so we return to my awakening. The days that followed were difficult. During the day, I would make some progress to what I thought to be the north (having decided that Karrnath was now my best hope of safety), but at night some full moon would inevitably rise, and I would black out, then awaken disheveled and disoriented - inevitably further from civilization than I was before. I quickly realized the nature of my condition, but what help was this? Controlling the transformations proved near impossible.

Until, at last, I reached a breakthrough. My mark! A maker's mark, suited to shaping and reshaping matter - surely it would be of use, if only I knew how to call upon it right? And so it was - I learned to channel its power into stabilizing my form, or into forcing transformations at times of my liking; thus allowing me at last to find my way home. In time, I would learn to put it towards greater purposes still.

And so I became what I am today. Famous scion of Cannith South, sole survivor of a doomed expedition, acclaimed guide, who with great courage returns time and time again to the dangers of the Mournland. Perhaps it surprises you that I never sought to have my curse removed. But I have long since ceased to consider it one - and why would I? When I soar above ruined cities on leathery wings, faster than man or horse could travel, I rejoice, knowing none can explore this desolate place like I have become able to.

And most importantly... I have never been a pious man, but like many of Cannith's line I know who to thank for flashes of inspiration and unconventional solutions - and I know the more obscure parts of his portfolio. If the god of artifice governs lycanthropy, too, why would I embrace one but reject the other?

Spoiler: Build

Show

Point-Buy: 12 STR / 12 DEX / 14 CON / 15 INT / 16 WIS / 8 CHA
ASIs: INT, INT, WIS, WIS
Lycanthropy adjustments +2 wis always, in hybrid or animal form +8 strength, +4 dexterity, +6 constitution
Mot12M: +1 intelligence
Final stats transformed at ECL 20: 20 STR / 16 DEX / 20 CON / 18 INT / 20 WIS / 8 CHA

Languages: Common, Draconic, Sylvan, Druidic
Alignment: I listed this as TN, but it could just as easily be CN, LN, NG, or NE. RAW this is vaguely dependent on how pterodactyl are 'perceived' but I personally see them as aloof, remote creatures, so a neutral alignment works fine.

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Savant 1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Concentration +1 (1), Craft (Woodworking) +3 (3), Disable Device +4 (4), Hide +4 (4), Knowledge (Arcana) +4 (4), Move Silently +4 (4), Search +4 (4), Spot +4 (4), Survival +4 (4), Use Magic Device +4 (4)	Combat Reflexes, Least Dragonmark of Making (Mending 2/day)B	Academic Lore, Skill Assistance (Hide), Trapfinding
2nd	Huntsman Druidic Avenger 1	+0	+2	+0	+4	Concentration +4 (5), Craft (Woodworking) +1 (4), Disable Device 4, Hide 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Move Silently 4, Search 4, Spot +1 (5), Survival +1 (5), Use Magic Device 4	-	Unarmored AC, Track, Nature Sense, Fast Movement, Favored Enemy (Constructs), Rage, Wild Empathy, Spellcasting
7th	Were-Glidewing (+3 HD, +2 LA)	+2	+5	+3	+5	Concentration 5, Control Shape +8 (8), Craft (Woodworking) 4, Disable Device +4cc (6), Hide 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Move Silently 4, Search 4, Spot +3 (8), Survival +2cc (6), Use Magic Device 4	Flyby Attack, AlertnessB, Iron WillB	Natural Armor, Curse of Lycanthropy, Alternate Form, DR 5/silver, Lycanthropic Empathy, Low-Light Vision, Scent
8th	Savant 2	+3	+5	+3	+6	Concentration 5, Control Shape +1 (9), Craft (Woodworking) 4, Disable Device +3 (9), Hide 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Move Silently +2 (6), Search 4, Spot +1 (9), Survival +3 (9), Use Magic Device 4	Lesser Dragonmark of Making (Minor Creation), Mark of the Twelve MoonsB	Talent Lore
9th	Fighter 1	+4	+7	+3	+6	Concentration 5, Control Shape +1 (10), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (1), Craft (Woodworking) +4 (8), Disable Device 9, Hide 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Move Silently 6, Search 4, Spot 9, Survival 9, Use Magic Device 4	Combat ExpertiseB	Hit-And-Run Tactics
10th	Cyre Scout 1	+4	+9	+3	+8	Concentration +3 (8), Control Shape +1 (11), Craft (Alchemy) 1, Craft (Woodworking) 8, Disable Device 9, Hide 4, Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (5), Knowledge (Religion) +2 (2), Move Silently 6, Search 4, Spot 9, Survival 9, Use Magic Device 4	-	Direction Sense, Dragonmark Conduit (Preservation), Heir's Mark
11th	Cyre Scout 2	+5	+10	+3	+9	Concentration +3 (11), Control Shape +1 (12), Craft (Alchemy) 1, Craft (Woodworking) 8, Disable Device 9, Hide 4, Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (6), Knowledge (Religion) +2 (4), Move Silently 6, Search 4, Spot 9, Survival 9, Use Magic Device 4	Surrogate Spellcasting, Blind-FightB	Shadow Fighter
12th	Shiba Protector 1	+5	+12	+3	+11	Concentration 11, Control Shape +2 (14), Craft (Alchemy) 1, Craft (Woodworking) +5 (13), Disable Device 9, Hide 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 6, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 6, Search 4, Spot 9, Survival 9, Use Magic Device 4	-	No Thought
13th	Cyre Scout 3	+6	+12	+4	+11	Concentration 11, Control Shape 14, Craft (Alchemy) 1, Craft (Woodworking) 13, Disable Device 9, Hide 4, Knowledge (Arcana) +2 (8), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 6, Search +3 (7), Spot 9, Survival +2 (11), Use Magic Device 4	-	Detect Magic
14th	Cyre Scout 4	+7	+13	+4	+12	Concentration 11, Control Shape +1 (15), Craft (Alchemy) 1, Craft (Woodworking) 13, Disable Device 9, Hide 4, Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (9), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 6, Search +3 (10), Spot 9, Survival +2 (13), Use Magic Device 4	Hover	Improved Direction Sense
15th	Cyre Scout 5	+7	+13	+4	+12	Concentration +1 (12), Control Shape 15, Craft (Alchemy) 1, Craft (Woodworking) 13, Disable Device 9, Hide +2 (6), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (10), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 6, Search +2 (12), Spot 9, Survival +1 (14), Use Magic Device 4	-	Dragonmark Conduit (Natural Healing)
16th	Cyre Scout 6	+8	+14	+5	+13	Concentration +1 (13), Control Shape 15, Craft (Alchemy) 1, Craft (Woodworking) 13, Disable Device 9, Hide +2 (8), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (11), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 6, Search +2 (14), Spot 9, Survival +1 (15), Use Magic Device 4	EnduranceB	Tireless, Team Rush Teamwork Benefit
17th	Cyre Scout 7	+9	+14	+5	+13	Concentration +1 (14), Control Shape 15, Craft (Alchemy) 1, Craft (Woodworking) 13, Disable Device 9, Hide +2 (10), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (12), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 6, Search +2 (16), Spot 9, Survival +1 (16), Use Magic Device 4	Great Flyby Attack	Blindsense Mark, Innate Detect Magic
18th	Cyre Scout 8	+10	+15	+5	+14	Concentration +1 (15), Control Shape 15, Craft (Alchemy) 1, Craft (Woodworking) 13, Disable Device 9, Hide +3 (13), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (13), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 6, Search +1 (17), Spot 9, Survival +1 (17), Use Magic Device 4	-	Natural Survivor
19th	Cyre Scout 9	+10	+15	+6	+14	Concentration 15, Control Shape 15, Craft (Alchemy) 1, Craft (Woodworking) 13, Disable Device 9, Hide +1 (14), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (14), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 6, Search +1 (18), Spot 9, Survival +1 (18), Use Magic Device +3 (7)	-	Identify
20th	Cyre Scout 10	+11	+16	+6	+15	Concentration 15, Control Shape 15, Craft (Alchemy) 1, Craft (Woodworking) 13, Disable Device 9, Hide +1 (15), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (15), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 6, Search +1 (19), Spot 9, Survival +1 (19), Use Magic Device +3 (10)	Greater Dragonmark of Making (Fabricate)	Dragonmark Conduit (Magical Healing)

Spoiler: Druid Spellcasting

Show

Typical Spells Prepared:
Orisons: Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Light
1st-level: Healthful Slumber, Longstrider, Obscuring Mist

Spoiler: Cyre Scout Infusions

Show

Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
11th	2	-	-	-
13th	3	-	-	-
14th	4	-	-	-
15th	4	2	-	-
16th	4	3	-	-
17th	4	4	2	-
18th	4	4	3	-
19th	4	4	3	-
20th	4	4	4	2

Spoiler: Build Spotlights

Show

ECL 10
So what's up with all this? At this point in time, we're a bit unfocused - we can turn into a pterodactyl at-will and fly another PC around, we can find traps and do okay at disabling them, we have some druid magic, we've got good defenses and saves, we have a solid 20 strength + large size and can rage once per day, and we can track at high speed. Normally, afflicted lycanthropes have to worry about involuntarily turning while low-level, but Mark of the Twelve Moons leverages our dragonmark into a +10 bonus on Control Shape checks, so we always make the DC 25 check to prevent turning when damaged. Minor Creation is really versatile and our woodworking investment means we can create most wooden items (note that Bronzewood is vegetable material but can replace steel where needed, so even 'metal' weapons are on the table).

Not having to eat or drink is more of a ribbon benefit, but it's worth noting that if we're masquerading as a mundane pterodactyl, it prevents us from having to carry bags of rations that'd mark us as unusual.

ECL 15
A quick dip into Shiba Protector (note that per OA page 33, the clan requirement is dropped outside of Rokugan) gets us our solid wisdom to attack and damage. Control Shape gets boosted to the point where we can reliably make the check with four or fewer full moons in the sky (the situation 99.6% of the time).

Cyre Scout now gives us infusions! The various ability enhancers are better for us than most, because transforming means our gear unequips and we'll lose whatever prior enhancement bonuses we possessed, skill enhancement is a nice utility booster, and more importantly we gain the amazing Personal Weapon Augmentation. We can now slap whatever +1 enhancement best fits the situation on a weapon we use - including, per LoM page 46, Mouthpick. Turn into a pterodactyl, grab whatever exotic weapon you feel like using, and get free proficiency while wielding it in your mouth. Flyby Attack is really annoying for a lot of enemies, and you're in a perfect position to leverage it - dart out of a cloud of your own creation, make an attack against a flat-footed foe (hello there, Hit-And-Run fighter), and fly back in to enjoy total concealment. Note that thanks to our savant training, we can share our Hide ranks with nearby allies, meaning that they can sneak around in our cloud pretty well even when untrained!

(Fun exotic options include CAdv's longstaff for flank immunity, whips for 15 ft. reach and combat maneuvers, Underdark's pincher staff for long-distance grappling, and the spiked chain for all-around AoO-farming goodness)

Shadow Fighter goes great with our new Hover feat. We can create giant dust clouds by flapping our wings, then mostly ignore the concealment that creatures within enjoy. Detect Magic is solid utility, and Improved Direction Sense is better the faster you're traveling (wandering for 1d4 hours and getting 10 miles off course is less bad than wandering for 1d4 hours and getting 30 miles off course), making it quite useful for our speedy airborne self. If the area we're in doesn't have enough detritus to make Hover work, Minor Creation should be able to change that: flour is vegetable material! If all else fails, druid magic can serve to create concealment as well. Once we get Blindsense Mark, this'll provide us with a tool to locate foes even if we cannot see them - Scent works until then.

Dragonmark Conduit synergizes with Healthful Rest (SComp), gained from our druid level.

ECL 20
Great Flyby Attack means we can now just hit three foes at our max attack bonus, which is very fun when combined with combat maneuvers like tripping or grappling - disrupt the entire battlefield and prevent them from hitting you back! Fabricate lets us grow our arsenal of exotic weapons on a slightly more permanent basis and has great creative potential (barred door in the way? fabricate SLA, I'd like to turn it into a million toothpicks).

Natural Survivor helps with our tracking, as does the steadily mounting Survival bonus from Cyre Scout. Identify is a bit weird to get this late, but note that we have Academic Lore (identical to bardic lore), which per the SRD may explicitly 'provide a clue to an item's function', so if we have a big hoard of magic items (or are walking around a magic shoppe) this'll give us an idea of what to prioritize identifying. It's not much, but it's something.

Innate Detect Magic is actually really bad (it just tells you y/n whether there's magic within 150 feet), but flight once more makes it better by giving us a third dimension to gather information from. If that sounds abstract, consider the situation where some one-story compound has a bunch of magical auras all over the place - a normal cyre scout can roughly pinpoint the outermost ones by noting where her magic sense starts pinging, but has no clue about the location of magic closer to the center. However, if you can fly, then you can simply swoop over the compound at an altitude of 148 feet, pinpointing any individual source of magic with great accuracy. Again, the fact that our flying form is relatively inconspicuous helps a lot here.

Endurance is... not a good feat, but I'd argue we as a flying PC benefit more than most, because sustaining forced marches is more rewarding to us than it is to a normal PC. Consider: if a typical PC undertakes a forced march and ends up having to rest, this does not expose him to any new local threats - anything that can run into his campsite, he could run into while marching. The total time of exposure is longer, yes, but ultimately the rest will compose only a small portion of the trip's danger.

For us, however, being forced to stop and rest means being forced to stop flying, and that's a whole different situation! All of a sudden, we're going from being high and dry above most random encounters to landing smack-dab in their middle - we went and ruined what would've been a perfectly safe method of transportation by having to rest! Endurance helps prevent this scenario, letting us ensure a degree of safety on for instance escort missions that a groundbound party simply cannot offer (also, having Endurance while being mount-sized offers double returns on investment for very obvious reasons). Or, if that's not convincing, we at least use it to qualify for Team Rush, letting our high speed (50 with Longstrider up, 40 without) apply when determining the entire party's overland movement rate. Your heavily armored friends will be grateful!

Lastly we get 3rd- and 4th-level infusions - Minor Creation is as versatile as can be, and Lesser Globe of Invulnerability lets you flyby in and out of the protected area, hitting faraway foes while enjoying protection on your own turn. Note that Gust of Wind and many similar effects are excluded from the sphere, making it much harder to disrupt your hover clouds. At 3rd-level, Greater Magic Weapon is a good way to let your home-crafted weapons actually overcome DR/magic (the enhancement bonus is barely better than that granted by Magic Weapon, but the duration is far superior).

Speaking of DR/magic, the Dragonmark Conduit capstone gives us some. For most characters, it's all but worthless, but being a lycanthrope makes it better! Consider: silvering a weapon reduces its damage. Few characters will thus ever silver their primary (heavily enhanced) weapon. Normally, solving that issue is as simple as bringing along a backup silver weapon - which is likely to be nonmagical for cost-saving reasons (neither lycans nor devils have DR/magic), and which we thus still get to apply DR against.

Spoiler: Sources

Show

Glidewing - Eberron Campaign Setting
Savant - Dragon Compendium
Shiba Protector - Oriental Adventures
Hunter Druid, Druidic Avenger - Unearthed Arcana

Dragonmark of Making - ECS
Mark of the Twelve Moons - Dragonmarked
Surrogate Spellcasting, Great Flyby Attack - Savage Species

Exotic weapon uses inspired by Haberdash the Masked.

[The Viscount]

Haroun Khalifa, eat your heart out.

Arnauld ‘Focus’ d’Cannith

CG Human Factotum 5- Cyre scout 10- Chameleon 5

Spoiler: Short background

Show

The young man always had a problem keeping his attention on any one subject for very long. It had driven his tutors mad and his parents to despair. And it had earned him his nickname: 'Focus', mostly shouted in exasperation. They had no idea how difficult that was when everything was interesting.
And he had no idea it would take the Day of Mourning to get focused. That moment, that day changed everything. While he was safe on another 'study trip', his parents, his little sis, his entire family was killed. He had only one goal now. Well two: find the remains of his family so he could have them resurrected and find the one responsible for the Mourning and end him.

Spoiler: Abilities

Show

	STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
Base	8	12	14	18	14	8
Level				+5
Total	8	12	14	23	14	8

Spoiler: Table

Show

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Reflex Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Factotum 1	0	0	2	0	44: {+4} Bluff: 4; {+4} Craft alchemy: 4; {+3} Disable device: 3; {+4} Disguise: 4; {+2} Hide: 2; {+2} Knowledge arcane: 2; {+2} Listen: 2; {+2} Move silently: 2; {+1} Open lock: 1; {+4} Profession herbalist: 4; {+1} Knowledge local mournlands: 1; {+3} Search: 3; {+2} Sense motive: 2; {+2} Spellcraft: 2; {+2} Spot: 2; {+4} Survival: 4; {+2} UMD: 2;	Least dragonmark of making (make whole, human), Able learner (level)	Inspiration, trapfinding, cunning insight, cunning knowledge
2nd	Factotum 2	1	0	3	0	11: {+1} Bluff: 5; {+1} Craft alchemy: 5; Disable device: 3; {+1} Disguise: 5; {+1} Hide: 3; {+1} Knowledge arcane: 3; {+1} Listen: 3; {+1} Move silently: 3; {+1} Open lock: 2; {+1} Profession herbalist: 5; Knowledge local mournlands: 1; Search: 3; {+1} Sense motive: 3; Spellcraft: 2; {+1} Spot: 3; {+1} Survival: 5; UMD: 2;		Arcane Dilettante (1 spell)
3rd	Factotum 3	2	1	3	1	11: {+1} Bluff: 6; {+1} Craft alchemy: 6; Disable device: 3; {+1} Disguise: 6; {+1} Hide: 4; {+1} Knowledge arcane: 4; {+1} Listen: 4; {+1} Move silently: 4; Open lock: 2; {+1} Profession herbalist: 6; Knowledge local mournlands: 1; Search: 3; {+1} Sense motive: 4; Spellcraft: 2; Spot: 3; {+1} Survival: 6; UMD: 2;	Track	Brains over Brawn, Cunning defense
4th	Factotum 4	3	1	4	1	11: {+1} Bluff: 7; {+1} Craft alchemy: 7; {+1} Disable device: 4; {+1} Disguise: 7; {+1} Hide: 5; Knowledge arcane: 4; {+1} Listen: 5; {+1} Move silently: 5; Open lock: 2; {+1} Profession herbalist: 7; Knowledge local mournlands: 1; {+1} Search: 4; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 3; Spot: 3; {+1} Survival: 7; UMD: 2;		Arcane Dilettante (2 spells), cunning strike
5th	Factotum 5	3	1	4	1	11: {+1} Bluff: 8; {+1} Craft alchemy: 8; Disable device: 4; {+1} Disguise: 8; {+1} Hide: 6; Knowledge arcane: 4; {+1} Listen: 6; {+1} Move silently: 6; Open lock: 2; {+1} Profession herbalist: 8; Knowledge local mournlands: 1; {+1} Search: 5; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 4; {+1} Spot: 4; {+1} Survival: 8; UMD: 2;		Opportunistic piety
6th	Cyre scout 1	3	3	4	3	7: Bluff: 8; Craft alchemy: 8; Disable device: 4; Disguise: 8; {+1} Hide: 7; Knowledge arcane: 4; {+1} Listen: 7; Move silently: 6; Open lock: 2; Profession herbalist: 8; {+1} Knowledge local mournlands: 2; {+1} Search: 6; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 5; {+1} Spot: 5; {+1} Survival: 9; UMD: 2;	Weapon Finesse	Direction sense, dragonmark conduit (preservation), heir's mark
7th	Cyre scout 2	4	4	4	4	7: Bluff: 8; Craft alchemy: 8; Disable device: 4; Disguise: 8; {+1} Hide: 8; Knowledge arcane: 4; {+1} Listen: 8; Move silently: 6; Open lock: 2; Profession herbalist: 8; {+1} Knowledge local mournlands: 3; {+1} Search: 7; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 6; {+1} Spot: 6; {+1} Survival: 10; UMD: 2;	Blind-fight	Shadow fighter, infusion
8th	Chameleon 1	4	4	4	4	10: Bluff: 8; {+2} Craft alchemy: 10; {+3} Craft Trapmaking: 3; {+2 CC} Disable device: 5; Disguise: 8; Hide: 8; Knowledge arcane: 4; Listen: 8; Move silently: 6; Open lock: 2; {+1} Profession herbalist: 9; {+1} Knowledge local mournlands: 4; Search: 7; Sense motive: 4; {+1 CC} Spellcraft: 6,5; Spot: 6; Survival: 10; UMD: 2;		Aptitude focus 1/d (+2)
9th	Cyre scout 3	5	4	5	4	8: Bluff: 8; Craft alchemy: 10; {+1} Craft Trapmaking: 4; Disable device: 5; Disguise: 8; {+1} Hide: 9; Knowledge arcane: 4; {+1} Listen: 9; Move silently: 6; Open lock: 2; Profession herbalist: 9; {+1} Knowledge local mournlands: 5; {+1} Search: 8; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 7,5; {+1} Spot: 7; {+1} Survival: 11; UMD: 2;	Darkstalker	Detect magic
10th	Cyre scout 4	6	5	5	5	8: Bluff: 8; Craft alchemy: 10; Craft Trapmaking: 4; Disable device: 5; Disguise: 8; {+1} Hide: 10; Knowledge arcane: 4; {+1} Listen: 10; Move silently: 6; Open lock: 2; Profession herbalist: 9; {+1} Knowledge local mournlands: 6; {+1} Search: 9; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 8,5; {+1} Spot: 8; {+2} Survival: 13; UMD: 2;		Improved direction sense
11th	Chameleon 2	7	5	5	5	10: Bluff: 8; {+4} Craft alchemy: 14; {+4} Craft Trapmaking: 8; {+1 CC} Disable device: 5,5; Disguise: 8; Hide: 10; Knowledge arcane: 4; Listen: 10; {+1} Move silently: 7; Open lock: 2; Profession herbalist: 9; Knowledge local mournlands: 6; Search: 9; Sense motive: 4; Spellcraft: 8,5; Spot: 8; Survival: 13; UMD: 2;		Bonus feat
12th	Cyre scout 5	7	5	5	5	8: Bluff: 8; Craft alchemy: 14; Craft Trapmaking: 8; Disable device: 5,5; Disguise: 8; {+1} Hide: 11; {+1} Knowledge arcane: 5; {+1} Listen: 11; Move silently: 7; Open lock: 2; Profession herbalist: 9; {+1} Knowledge local mournlands: 7; {+1} Search: 10; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 9,5; {+1} Spot: 9; {+1} Survival: 14; UMD: 2;	EWP: gnome calculus	Dragonmark conduit (natural healing)
13th	Cyre scout 6	8	6	5	6	8: Bluff: 8; Craft alchemy: 14; Craft Trapmaking: 8; Disable device: 5,5; Disguise: 8; {+1} Hide: 12; Knowledge arcane: 5; {+1} Listen: 12; {+1} Move silently: 8; {+1} Open lock: 3; Profession herbalist: 9; Knowledge local mournlands: 7; {+1} Search: 11; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 10,5; Spot: 9; {+1} Survival: 15; {+1} UMD: 3;	Endurance	Tireless
14th	Chameleon 3	9	7	6	7	10: Bluff: 8; {+3} Craft alchemy: 17; {+3} Craft Trapmaking: 11; {+1} Disable device: 6,5; Disguise: 8; Hide: 12; Knowledge arcane: 5; Listen: 12; Move silently: 8; {+1} Open lock: 4; Profession herbalist: 9; Knowledge local mournlands: 7; Search: 11; Sense motive: 4; Spellcraft: 10,5; Spot: 9; Survival: 15; {+2} UMD: 5;		Mimic class feature 1/d
15th	Cyre scout 7	10	7	6	7	8: Bluff: 8; Craft alchemy: 17; Craft Trapmaking: 11; Disable device: 6,5; Disguise: 8; {+1} Hide: 13; Knowledge arcane: 5; {+1} Listen: 13; Move silently: 8; Open lock: 4; Profession herbalist: 9; {+1} Knowledge local mournlands: 8; {+1} Search: 12; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 11,5; {+1} Spot: 10; {+2} Survival: 17; UMD: 5;	Lesser dragonmark of making (minor creation)	Blindsense mark, innate detect magic
16th	Cyre scout 8	11	8	6	8	8: Bluff: 8; Craft alchemy: 17; Craft Trapmaking: 11; {+1 CC} Disable device: 7; Disguise: 8; {+1} Hide: 14; Knowledge arcane: 5; {+1} Listen: 14; {+1} Move silently: 9; Open lock: 4; Profession herbalist: 9; Knowledge local mournlands: 8; {+1} Search: 13; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 12,5; {+1} Spot: 11; {+1} Survival: 18; UMD: 5;		Natural survivor
17th	Chameleon 4	12	8	6	8	10: Bluff: 8; {+3} Craft alchemy: 20; {+6} Craft Trapmaking: 17; {+1 CC} Disable device: 7,5; Disguise: 8; Hide: 14; Knowledge arcane: 5; Listen: 14; Move silently: 9; Open lock: 4; Profession herbalist: 9; Knowledge local mournlands: 8; Search: 13; Sense motive: 4; Spellcraft: 12,5; Spot: 11; Survival: 18; UMD: 5;		Ability boon +2
18th	Cyre scout 9	12	8	7	8	8: Bluff: 8; Craft alchemy: 20; Craft Trapmaking: 17; Disable device: 7,5; Disguise: 8; {+1} Hide: 15; Knowledge arcane: 5; {+1} Listen: 15; {+1} Move silently: 10; Open lock: 4; Profession herbalist: 9; {+1} Knowledge local mournlands: 9; {+1} Search: 14; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 13,5; {+1} Spot: 12; {+1} Survival: 19; UMD: 5;	Practiced spellcaster chameleon	Identify
19th	Cyre scout 10	13	9	7	9	8: Bluff: 8; Craft alchemy: 20; Craft Trapmaking: 17; Disable device: 7,5; Disguise: 8; {+1} Hide: 16; Knowledge arcane: 5; {+1} Listen: 16; Move silently: 10; Open lock: 4; Profession herbalist: 9; {+1} Knowledge local mournlands: 10; {+1} Search: 15; Sense motive: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 14,5; {+1} Spot: 13; {+2} Survival: 21; UMD: 5;		Dragonmark conduit (magical healing)
20th	Chameleon 5	13	9	7	9	11: Bluff: 8; {+3} Craft alchemy: 23; {+3} Craft Trapmaking: 20; {+4} Disable device: 11,5; Disguise: 8; Hide: 16; Knowledge arcane: 5; Listen: 16; Move silently: 10; Open lock: 4; Profession herbalist: 9; Knowledge local mournlands: 10; Search: 15; Sense motive: 4; Spellcraft: 14,5; Spot: 13; Survival: 21; {+1} UMD: 6;		Aptitude focus 2/d (+4)

Spoiler: Chameleon Spellcasting

Show

Level	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	4	2	0	-	-
2nd	4	3	1	-	-
3rd	4	3	2	0	-
4th	4	4	3	1	-
5th	4	4	3	2	0

Spoiler: Infusions

Show

Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	-	-	-	-
2nd	1	-	-	-
3rd	2	-	-	-
4th	3	-	-	-
5th	3	1	-	-
6th	3	2	-	-
7th	3	3	1	-
8th	3	3	2	-
9th	3	3	2	-
10th	3	3	3	1

Spoiler: Level breakdown

Show

Spoiler: Level 1-5

Show

Focus just dabbles around as a bog standard factotum. He might not be strong but gets intelligence to all STR and DEX checks and skill checks, and if necessary to saves, attack and damage. Least dragonmark (make whole) is chosen because it can repair items completely. This comes in handy in the Mournlands. It's also a prerequisite for Cyre scout. Able learner is chosen as a prereq for chameleon. And track will make use of the survival bonuses from cyre scout. His preferred weapons are alchemical items.

Spoiler: Level 5-10

Show

Enter the secret ingrediënt. (Improved) direction sense helps focus to find the way in the Mournland. Heir's mark increases his CL for the dragonmark. Detect magic will help him find magical items that can help him on his endeavor. Chameleon is chosen for its adaptability and casting. Darkstalker helps Focus survive. Weapon finesse helps him hit more. Infusions can help him in a pinch. Blind-fight combined with smoke-bombs will help him land hits or run away.

Spoiler: Level 11-15

Show

More alternating of cyre scout and chameleon. The bonus feat from chameleon opens a canload of extra possibilities. I want to point out create infusion from masters of the wild. It allows you to create edibles from every divine spell you know, which for chameleon can come from any list. Plus the survival DC to find the necessary components/herbs while foraging is maximum 10 + twice the spell level, thus maximum 18 for Focus. The bonuses to survival kan also be used for trailblazing. Endurance and immunity to fatigue will help him to keep on running. Craft trapmaking will help him make boobytraps or alchemical traps (or explosive packs) and he can lead anyone following him into their zone of death.
EWP gnome calculus increases the range he can throw his alchemical items. Lesser dragonmark minor creation can fuel the dragonmark conduit or blindsense mark. It also allows to take the greater dragonmark as bonus feat, either for the SLA or for the 10 day dragonmark conduit powers. Innate detect magic will increase his odds of finding magical items.

Spoiler: Level 16-20

Show

We finish the secret ingrediënt: it allows us to take 10 on survival and identify the magical items without material cost. Chameleon nog gives ability boon +2, which Focus can put wherever he needs it that day. The occasional evasion can come in quite handy. Practiced spellcaster chameleon is taken to increase the duration of created infusions and lessen the chance they will be dispelled.
Other possible combo's are listed below.

Spoiler: Good combo's

Show

• Scribe scroll: especially for summon marked homunculus to get a wee crafter buddy
• create infusion: with survival we can find the necessary herbs to create infusions from every divine spell up to level we know. This takes time, hence the marked homunculus.
• greater dragonmark of making: to power the dragonmark conduit powers
• Grenadier: alchemical weapons are his specialty
• Endurance + tireless: forced marches are no problem. He might not be the fastest (without longstrider), but he will last the longest.
• Innate detect magic, blindsense, improved direction sense: he’ll make a good bloodhound.
• High survival: he can leave false trails to lead enemy parties into his traps (hence the craft trapmaking)
• Favorite infusions: magic vestment, (greater) magic weapon, resistance item, skill enhancement, personal weapon augmentation, metamagic item, rusting grasp against wandering warforged

Spoiler: Sources

Show

• Factotum: Dungeonscape p14
• Chameleon: Races of Destiny p111
• Dragonmark of making: Eberron campaign setting p54, 56 and 65
• Able learner: Races of destiny p 150
• Track: Player's handbook p 101
• Weapon finesse: PHB p 102
• Darkstalker: Lords of Madness p 179
• Create Infusion: Masters of the wild p 22 and 31
• Gnome calculus: Arms and equipment guide p 6-7
• Grenadier: PHB II p 79

[The Viscount]

Our entries for the round! Judges, over to you!

[Inevitability]

Definitely a weird ingredient this round, but one I must say I had fun building for! I had a few ideas that didn't quite make it but that I'd like to share anyway.


-Looking at high-DC uses of Survival, I kind of fixated on the 'automatically succeed on all fortitude saves against severe weather' clause, because the idea of getting to grant yourself and your allies immunity to tornadoes and hurricanes just sounded hilarious to me. Unfortunately, 60 is still a rather hard target to hit, and needing to actually be able to generate your own storms drove me towards something like savage bard 3 / cyre scout 10 / stormsinger 7, which felt more than a little awkward.

-I had some ideas of using the targeting rules of infusions to imbue infusions into a psicrystal, but no psionic class has particular synergy with cyre scout so I dropped that pretty quickly.

-Running some sort of Dragonmark Smite build and using Personal Weapon Augmentation with that enhancement that gives you one extra smite per day seemed like a nice way to tie everything together, except I had no idea what to do with the SI's higher levels and the whole thing ended up feeling like a worse version of the Wet Horse Teeth build I made for JW.

-One idea I had for making that weird 10/day Identify ability relevant was identifying cursed items: casting Identify on a cursed item only has CL% chance of identifying the curse, so getting 10 costless CL 20 castings is the perfect tool here, with about a 90% chance to determine any given item's curse with one day's worth of uses. To actually get (possibly) cursed items, I looked into Extract Demonic Essence, at which point I might as well craft some charged items to use with the 3rd-level infusions, but that added three not-very-good prereq feats to the build to optimize only a very small part of the SI.


Best of luck to the judges!