Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXII

[KrimsonNekros]

I had a second idea, but wasn't able to get past the stub though

[Darrin]

I had a second idea, but wasn't able to get past the stub though

Build submitted, although I never got a clear answer on Accelerated actions.

I, too, had a second idea that I've been noodling around with, but I can't quite get it to do everything I want it to do. I'm hoping the idea was obvious enough that someone else will submit something like it.

[LordOfCain]

I know it might be a tad early to suggest PrCs for next time, but has Forsaker been done yet?

[Venger]

I know it might be a tad early to suggest PrCs for next time, but has Forsaker been done yet?

It has not. It's a terrible class. It does offer an incredibly diverse net when it comes to entry though.

[WhamBamSam]

It has not. It's a terrible class. It does offer an incredibly diverse net when it comes to entry though.

Bad as it is, Forsaker isn't actually all that resilient to optimization. It may be resilient to effective optimization as the results might still suck, but at least it sorta interacts with other things (the SR stacks with other sources for instance) rather than giving a few crappy SLAs or minor skill boosts. I'm not sure I could produce an actual optimized build using Forsaker, but I could at least produce an optimized Forsaker.

[Zaq]

Forsaker, in addition to having the problem of, y'know, needing to break magic items all the time (in a real game, you'd probably just ignore that feature and ignore the lame DR you get from it, but in Iron Chef, you'd do that at the peril of your UoSI), has the problem of having nearly entirely passive/defensive class features. You can't really proactively show off DR or Slippery Mind or SR, you know? Even "Natural Weapons" is kind of hard to showcase, though at least it has a little bit more potential than the other things.

I also don't love the fact that you don't really get too many new abilities as you level up (you mostly get the same stuff with bigger numbers).

It'd be an interesting homebrew project for someone who's better at balance than I am, for what that's worth. It's a neat concept, and I'm sure it could be made to be functional and interesting without losing the basic idea. (It would never be a top-notch option, since magic is too tightly tied to the game's balance to make a character who refuses to benefit from magic really feasible, but we'd know that going in.)

[ZamielVanWeber]

I am so excited for this round I keep coming back to this thread to see if builds are posted. I am sure Heliomance is off doing normal people things... be still my beating heart.

[Muggins]

It'd be an interesting homebrew project for someone who's better at balance than I am, for what that's worth. It's a neat concept, and I'm sure it could be made to be functional and interesting without losing the basic idea. (It would never be a top-notch option, since magic is too tightly tied to the game's balance to make a character who refuses to benefit from magic really feasible, but we'd know that going in.)

Some tweaking could definitely be done to ramp up the class to competence - Tier 3 or so, in the common parlance. Probably by merging it with Spellfire Wielder and/or Spellthief (with a theme of draining spell slots and magic into benefits, much like Magic Destruction).

[Darrin]

I know it might be a tad early to suggest PrCs for next time, but has Forsaker been done yet?

Heliomance posted her list of possible secret ingredients earlier in the thread. Presumably she is still considering:

Arboreal Guardian
Aerial Avenger
Astral Dancer
Berserk
Cavestalker
Dungeon Delver
Elocator
Gatecrasher
Kinslayer
Oozemaster
Shaper of Form
Shining Blade of Hieronymous Bosch
Soldier of Light
Twisted Lord
Visionary Seeker

[The Viscount]

I don't even understand what Visionary Seeker is trying to do. What is it about Planar Handbook that makes all of its PrCs such excellent fodder for Iron Chef? Honestly any one of them seems ready for a round as SI.

Visionary Seeker does remind me of another fascinating divination class I think might be good for us: Eye of Lolth. It has some actual power but it's so all over the place that its hard to work with.

[Zaq]

I don't even understand what Visionary Seeker is trying to do. What is it about Planar Handbook that makes all of its PrCs such excellent fodder for Iron Chef? Honestly any one of them seems ready for a round as SI.

Visionary Seeker does remind me of another fascinating divination class I think might be good for us: Eye of Lolth. It has some actual power but it's so all over the place that its hard to work with.

Yeah, Visionary Seeker is 3 or 5 levels of features spread across 10 levels. I do think it's a tell that it (technically) progresses casting but that it doesn't require casting to get in. To me, that indicates that the casting aspect of it was probably tacked on late in development. (Perhaps it's not as cut and dried as that, but still, the whole thing feels kind of kludged together no matter how you slice it.)

I also think VS suffers from 3.5's crippling fear of non-daily abilities. Bend Fate and Trick Fate would be interesting as 1/encounter abilities, but they require waaaaay too much investment for something that only works once a day. They're not exactly trivial, but they're not nearly enough when you consider the opportunity cost. (Also, the fact that Bend Fate is proactive rather than reactive makes it much, much worse.) I can see why they wanted to put a daily limit on Spell Mimic, but I still feel like that limit is a little bit harsh. (Perhaps it would be better if the class gave you daily uses as per the table, but then you could also expend spell slots of the appropriate level to get additional uses? That would be interesting!) Moment of Prescience 1/day isn't the worst capstone I've ever seen, but a normal caster who doesn't lose caster levels is pretty much able to just cast MoP naturally by the time VS gets access to it. (I guess it's semi-useful for casters without MoP on their list? Still not worth losing 5 CL if it's only 1/day, of course.)

But yeah. It's just not a very well-designed class. Dice manipulation is a valid mechanic, but they were far too timid with it.

I've never even looked at Eye of Lolth before. It seems like one of those Forgotten Realms PrCs that is clearly designed for a specific character or a specific group of characters in some dev's home game. I completely agree that it's all over the place. (I will also mention that Cautious Attack is one of the most weaksauce feats I've ever seen.) Mostly it's just got a really obnoxious web (geddit? geddit? Web? Because drow?) of prereqs, and it does seem to place a lot of unnecessary restrictions on what you can do or how it works. The fact that you can share some of the bonuses with your allies is nice, though I really wish that Team Stealth worked on more than one other character at once. I can see some good dishes coming out of that, but I'll be honest, it seems like it'd be hard to exercise your Originality and really stand out from the pack.

[LordOfCain]

I would like a IC round with Arboreal Guardian or Berserk.

[Heliomance]

WHAT DID YOU DO GUYS WHY DO I HAVE 12 MESSAGES IN MY INBOX WHAT IS THIS
here you go

[Heliomance]

You use that picture, and you don't mention piles of hay at all?

Marg, Comet of Sharn



CG Female Orc Skilled City-Dweller Psychic Warrior 6/Elocater 10/Psion Uncarnate 3/Psychic Warrior +1

It's not the fall that kills you, it's the one who's falling.

Spoiler: Ability scores and languages

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Before racial adjustments:

STR: 14
DEX: 14
CON: 12
INT: 14
WIS: 16
CHA: 8

After racial adjustments:

STR: 18
DEX: 14
CON: 12
INT: 12
WIS: 14
CHA: 6

Ability score increases respectively go into strength, strength, wisdom, wisdom and strength.

Marg speaks common, goblin and orc. If the DM is lenient with languages, Syranian might be a more appropriate choice than goblin.

Spoiler: Build Table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Psychic Warrior 1	+0	+2	+0	+0	Balance +4, Concentration +4, Jump +4	Martial Study (Iron Heart) (Steel Wind), Expeditious DodgeB	Manifesting
2nd	Psychic Warrior 2	+1	+3	+0	+0	Balance +5, Concentration +5, Jump +5	MobilityB	-
3rd	Psychic Warrior 3	+2	+3	+1	+1	Balance +6, Concentration +6, Jump +6	Roofwalker	-
4th	Psychic Warrior 4	+3	+4	+1	+1	Balance +7, Concentration +7, Jump +7	-	-
5th	Psychic Warrior 5	+3	+4	+1	+1	Concentration +8, Tumble +2	Psionic SidestepB	-
6th	Psychic Warrior 6	+4	+5	+2	+2	Concentration +9, Tumble +4	Spring Attack	-
7th	Elocater 1	+4	+5	+4	+4	Concentration +10, Tumble +7, Use Psionic Device +3	Sidestep ChargeB	Scorn Earth
8th	Elocater 2	+5	+5	+5	+5	Concentration +11, Tumble +10, Use Psionic Device +6	-	Opportunistic Strike +2
9th	Elocater 3	+6/+1	+6	+5	+5	Concentration +12, Tumble +12, Use Psionic Device +10	Roof-Jumper	Dimension Step
10th	Elocater 4	+7/+2	+6	+6	+6	Concentration +13, Knowledge (Psionics) +1, Psicraft +1, Tumble +13, Use Psionic Device +13	-	Flanker
11th	Elocater 5	+7/+2	+6	+6	+6	Concentration +14, Knowledge (Psionics) +3, Psicraft +3, Tumble +14, Use Psionic Device +14	-	Opportunistic Strike +4
12th	Elocater 6	+8/+3	+7	+7	+7	Concentration +15, Knowledge (Psionics) +5, Psicraft +5, Tumble +15, Use Psionic Device +15	Headlong Rush	Transporter
13th	Elocater 7	+9/+4	+7	+7	+7	Concentration +16, Knowledge (Psionics) +7, Psicraft +7, Tumble +16, Use Psionic Device +16	-	Capricious Step
14th	Elocater 8	+10/+5	+7	+8	+8	Concentration +17, Knowledge (Psionics) +9, Psicraft +9, Tumble +17, Use Psionic Device +17	-	Opportunistic Strike +6
15th	Elocater 9	+10/+5	+8	+8	+8	Concentration +18, Knowledge (Psionics) +11, Psicraft +11, Tumble +18, Use Psionic Device +18	Psionic Body	Dimension Spring Attack
16th	Elocater 10	+11/+6/+1	+8	+9	+9	Concentration +19, Knowledge (Psionics) +13, Psicraft +13, Tumble +19, Use Psionic Device +19	-	Accelerated Action
17th	Psion Uncarnate 1	+11/+6/+1	+8	+9	+11	Concentration +20, Knowledge (Psionics) +14, Psicraft +14	-	Incorporeal Touch, Uncarnate Armor
18th	Psion Uncarnate 2	+12/+7/+2	+8	+9	+12	Concentration +21, Knowledge (Psionics) +15, Psicraft +15	Accurate Jaunt	Shed Body
19th	Psion Uncarnate 3	+12/+7/+2	+9	+10	+12	Concentration +22, Knowledge (Psionics) +16, Psicraft +16	-	-
20th	Psychic Warrior 7	+13/+8/+3	+9	+10	+12	Concentration +23, Knowledge (Psionics) +17, Tumble +20	-	-

Spoiler: Psionics

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Power Points:

Level	PP (including bonus PP)
1	1
2	3
3	6
4	9
5	12
6	17
7	22
8	22
9	27
10	32
11	32
12	37
13	46
14	46
15	55
16	70
17	70
18	86
19	91
20	104

Powers Known:
The level each power is gained is given in parentheses.

1st-level: Bite of the Wolf (3), Expansion (2), Vigor (1)
2nd-level: Animal Affinity (6), Hustle (5), Psionic Lion's Charge (4), Sustenance (10)
3rd-level: Evade Burst (7) Greater Concealing Amorpha (9), Psionic Teleport (12), Psionic Plane Shift (12)
4th-level: Energy Adaptation (19) Psionic Dimension Door (12), Psionic Freedom of Movement (13), Steadfast Perception (15)
5th-level: Adapt Body (18) Oak Body (16)
6th-level: Personal Mind Blank (20)

Spoiler: Story

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Spoiler: Psychic with a Polearm (3)

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"Rorl the Sneaky." Marg spoke as she entered the tavern. Half a dozen people, all from Sharn's criminal underbelly, turned to look at her. Some moved their hands to their weapons.

"Three days ago, you killed a merchant behind the Brass Pauldron. You stole his money and left his body to rot. I am here to put an end to your crimes."

The halfling she was addressing drew a knife, but Marg was faster. She charged across the room, swung her glaive, and watched Rorl's body slump back in the chair.

The two humans seated with Rarl drew swords and stabbed Marg, but their weapons drew no blood. The orc stepped back and span her weapon in a wide arc, spilling both thugs' guts.

The orc turned around and saw the remaining patrons rise and draw weapons. Unfazed, she dashed forward, dodging swords and knives. With one last leap, Marg reached the door, and ran out.

Justice had been served.

Spoiler: Mind the Gap (7)

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Marg nervously looked down. She'd been in a tight spot before, but this was something else. All out of psychic ability, wounded, exhausted, and cornered atop one of the city's higher towers... this wasn't good. The orc briefly considered jumping for a lower tower, but decided against it. The gap was too big: she'd never make it.

The ogre charged again, and Marg feebly tried to raise her weapon. It was useless: the Daask enforcer smashed the polearm aside and slammed into Marg, who found herself forced over the edge.


Marg fell.

Falling in itself she liked to compare to dreamlily usage. While you're doing it, it's great and you feel great, but stopping always meant pain.

Air rushed past her faster and faster, and Marg closed her eyes: no point in trying to break her fall: she was falling hundreds of feet.

Suddenly, the rushing air stopped. Marg cautiously opened one eye, wondering why Dollurh sounded like a busy Sharn road.

To her surprise, Marg found herself looking down at the pavement, suspended in the air a single foot above it. Carefully, she reached down, confirming that this was, indeed, real.

High above her, one very confused ogre watched his target get up and walk away.

Spoiler: What goes up... (10)

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Marg, her movements psionically aided, barely dodged the gnoll's strike. The hyena-headed criminal cackled wildly and redoubled her assault.

Marg was worried. This assassin was stronger than she was, but she couldn't let it get past her either. If that happened, the Lord Mayor's life was forfeit.

As another blow from the spiked chain pierced her defenses, a plan began to hatch in Marg's mind. It was crazy, it was risky, but if it worked...

Marg focused her psionic powers outward and moved herself to a balcony about four hundred feet up. The orc stared down at the street beneath her, took a deep breath, and jumped down.

As she fell, the orc used any loose brick, any balcony, any roughness in the tower walls to force herself down the street while maintaining her momentum.

Beneath her, the assassin became visible, running along the street. Marg readied her weapon.

When she was only a few dozen feet away from her target, the assassin looked up. She desperately tried to swing her weapon at the orc, but the latter twisted to the side and avoided the strike.

With the force of a four hundred-feet fall behind her attack, Marg swung her glaive twice. The first attack bisected the gnoll, the second took her head off. Marg watched the gnoll's corpse fall to the ground, then lightly touched down.

When one had saved the stability of the continent's biggest city, there are many emotions one might feel. Joy, pride, perhaps surprise, but Marg felt none of these.

Instead, she was amused. Free-falling hundreds of feet? Turns out it was fun.

Spoiler: Angeling for a job (15)

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"Only rarely do we receive visitors here." Raphael spoke.

"I know that." Marg replied.

"Even rarer is it when one comes here to aid our causes."

"Don't tell me you don't have problems. Sure, there's these brilliant floating cities, but you have your outcasts too, right?"

"Those." Raphael spoke, his face darkening. "I would like to apologize on behalf of my kin for them. Your city - they tend to end up there. A large number of us opposes the banishments, but the solars refuse to kill angels, even former angels."

"I know. So how about we team up? You tell me when the big shiny guys kick another outcast into Sharn, and I make sure they don't harm anyone."

"As long as you don't refer to my masters as 'big shiny guys', I must agree."

"Great! See you, then."

Raphael spread his wings, slowing his fall. Marg continued her descent through Syrania's bright sky, happily whistling as she did so.

For a moment, the angel marveled at the humanoid races. No matter how noble, kind or powerful they got... each of them seemed to be insane in its own particular way.

Spoiler: Die idol die (20)

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Marg was falling through the endless air layers of Syrania, as she did often, when Raphael appeared next to her.

"There's been an incident."

Marg turned towards him, slightly irked at having an entertaining falling session interrupted.

"Mitharel the Warder was cast out for heresy and, by chance or design appeared within Sharn's temple district. He immediately seized control of Olladra's main temple and took its occupants hostage."

"How are the guards doing?"

"Mitharel threatened to kill his hostages if they tried anything. To demonstrate, he caused two of them to fall to his death."

"He threw them down?"

"No, they freely jumped. The hostages have already fallen under his sway.

You should also know that Mitharel is a master of magical protections. The temple and at least three floors above and below it are warded against teleportation, and several magical alarms have been set up in and around it. Flight, including levitation, is impeded by the idol's aura. Approaching without getting noticed is impossible."

"Not for me. Where's the temple again?"

"Tower of Growth, sixty-ninth floor from the top. The idol is at the tower's center."

"I'm on it: see you soon."


Marg's Plane Shift put her a few miles above the Barren Sea, with Sharn's towers barely visible on the horizon. For a few seconds the orc fell, then she disappeared again.

Marg gazed down at Sharn's spires, quickly finding her target. Another jump through spacetime, and she was right above the tower.

3812 feet

Marg focused her psionic energy inwards, and her body became more dextrous. She quickly did a barrel roll, then continued her fall.

2564 feet

Marg drew her weapon, stared at it, then put it away again.

2045 feet

Time slowed down around Marg as she reassessed the situation. Falling, tower, idol, victory: it all checked out.

1242 feet

Marg watched the approaching roof with an expression of slight boredom.

832 feet

Marg expended a small amount of psionic energy to dodge a skysled, teleporting right past it. Its driver never noticed her.

219 feet

Marg noted an interesting cloud in the sky above her, then turned back to the towers.

17 feet

Marg and her equipment suddenly turned translucent. She reached the tower's roof, but instead of crashing through or stopping her fall she kept falling, moving through ceiling after ceiling. Flashes of studies, offices and dining rooms passed by, the chamber's occupants unaware of the orc.

As she fell, Marg counted the floors. Sixty-five, sixty-six, sixty-seven...

At the sixty-eight floor, Marg drew back her hand.

Falling through the ceiling of the sixty-ninth floor, Marg thrust it forward. The radiant idol, seated in the exact spot Raphael had said he'd be, blinked in surprise as a see-through orc fell through his ceiling and tapped him on the forehead.

Then he died.



Marg looked at the splattered ex-angel, literally torn apart by the force she'd hit him with. If she tried, she could just make out what had once been his left foot, now a shapeless smear with a few pulverized bones in it. Around her, confused people were waking up from the idol's enchantments.

Marg disappeared. Sure, she'd saved the temple and all within, she'd served the cause of good, she'd slain a megalomaniac angel...

But she also wanted to be very far away when that mess had to be cleaned up.

Spoiler: Level Breakdown

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Spoiler: Level 1-5

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Marg begins play as a typical psychic warrior. Expeditious Dodge is useful when charging, Steel Wind will kill many a mook. The temporary HP Vigor grants are good to have at the dangerous low levels.

At level 2, Expansion is added to Marg's repertoire, which is awesome because Expansion. Mobility increases, well, mobility, especially the kind you need when charging a foe behind enemy lines.

Level 3 brings Bite of the Wolf, and with it an extra attack. Roofwalker is useful should Marg encounter uneven or slippery terrain, but it's yet to reach its full potential.

From level 4 on, Marg can make full attacks on a charge, saving this build from a barbarian dip (and all associated elegance/originality penalties).

This section ends with Hustle (MOAR mobility) and Psionic Sidestep (same).

Spoiler: Level 6-10

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Level 6 gives Spring Attack, which is decent on a character that hasn't yet gained a second attack. Even so, I doubt it'll see much use.

Elocater entry is at level 7: not as soon as possible but not too late either. Scorn Earth already has use in making Master of the Roof trigger more often, and Sidestep Charge is useful should Marg lose initiative. Evade Burst helps evading bursts.

Opportunistic Strike is about the only thing at level 8. It's useful if Marg is in a team, I guess.

After the blandless of 8, level 9 comes along, and it's GLORIOUS. Why? Just look at Roof-Jumper's exact text.

Death from Above: [...] You must drop at least 20 feet. You must roll to hit; this qualifies as a charge attack, with all relevant bonuses and penalties. If you hit, you deal damage as normal, plus an extra 1d6 points for every 10 feet of distance beyond the first 10 feet; thus, a drop of 30 feet causes an extra 2d6 points of damage.[...]

That's right: DfA has no damage cap and counts as a charge. If you can't see the abuse potential here, I suggest a pair of glasses.

At the same level, Marg gets Dimension Step, which can place her hundreds of feet in the air. By jumping down from these heights, she can gain a ton of bonus dice (see further down for exact damage). After the attack, turn Scorn Earth back on and enjoy a safe landing. Right now the combo is only possible once per day, but that's about to change.

Finally, there's Greater Concealing Amorpha, a wonderful power that provides a huge miss chance. I recommend putting it up while airborne: no sense in wasting the rounds spent falling.

Level 10 brings Flanker, which is marginally useful. The flanking square can be designated at any time during Marg's turn, so she can do it while right above a foe to get the bonus on attack rolls as long as an ally is anywhere next to said enemy.

Spoiler: Level 11-15

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A bigger Opportunistic Strike at level 11: not much else to say here.

Level 12 is what I might call the build's sweet spot. Plane Shift, Teleport and Dimension Door are gained, thereby greatly increasing Marg's teleport capacity. She can now easily 'port up once per encounter.

Furthermore, Headlong Rush doubles (!) Marg's already huge damage output. With the orc attacking from above, she'll probably only be getting an AoO from her target, which can easily be avoided (remember those early feats?).

Capricious Step (gained at level 13) gets quite interesting if it can be used to move upwards. By taking two 5-ft. steps upwards after one of her charging falls, Marg can put herself out of reach of most creatures, thereby securing a safe Teleport up next turn.

Level 14: Explain to me what's so good about Opportunistic Attack that its levels don't advance manifesting? Not that +6 damage matters when your regular outputs are best described in scientific notation.

Level 15 gives Dimension Spring Attack: an apparently useless power with a niche use. If falling puts you 60 feet above an enemy, you can teleport down, deliver a (Roof Jumper-empowered) blow, and teleport right back, keeping your momentum all the while. It'll obviously require some timing, but nothing that can't be done.

Spoiler: Level 16-20

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Accelerated Action provides more screwing with the action economy, no objections here. It can be used to teleport up again after attacking (potentially maintaining momentum), an extra attack, or simply a bigger chance to hit.

At level 17, Psion Uncarnate is entered. Incorporeal Touch provides us with a wonderful weapon against heavily armored opponents: it works fine with Roof Jumper, so the low base damage doesn't matter.

The class gets even better at level 18, when it can be used to fall right through buildings. Up to now, Marg had been dependent on well-timed teleports and move-action Psionic Dimension Doors to hit foes beneath cover. In addition, Accurate Jaunt increases the chance of Marg's Teleports going well.

At level 19, Marg can take some of her equipment with her when going incorporeal. It's mostly useful for not becoming a naked, blood-covered orc lady every time you use Shed Body to kill something.

The build's capstone is the powerful Personal Mind Blank, which is very useful for any character. I shouldn't have to explain why.

Spoiler: Numbers!

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That talk of falling great distances and dealing Nd6 extra damage on all attacks is nice, but how much damage will Marg really be doing?

Spoiler: Rule assumptions

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I will be using the DMG II rules for falling (page 47), which dictate that a character falls 670 feet in the first round, and 1150 every round thereafter.

I'm also assuming falling doesn't take place at any fixed place during one's turn, but can be built around as desired.

From ECL 12 on, Marg can reliably teleport up thousands of feet with Psionic Teleport. Assuming she places herself at a height of 1820 feet, she can just make it to ground level after falling two rounds.

The turn breakdown would look something like this:

Turn 1:
Standard action: Psionic Teleport.
Move action: Hop down.
No action: fall 670 feet.

Turn 2:
No action: fall 1149 feet.
(Swift action: Psionic Lion's Charge)
(Free action: designate Flanker square)
Full-round action: Attack
Free action: Activate Scorn Earth.

Marg will be dealing about 1d10 (glaive) + 7 (strength) + 181d6 (Roof-Jumper) damage per attack, multiplied by two through the magic of Headlong Rush. This averages out to 1292 damage per attack: more than enough to kill Great Wyrm Gold Dragons, Abominations, or the Tarrasque.

Of course, should Marg add Psionic Lion's Charge, one (plus another if Bite of the Wolf is up) more attack is added. This increases the chances of hitting a single strong foe, or can be used to kill multiple foes at once. It'll also push the damage high enough to make Devastation vermin killable.

This two-round combo takes 5 PP normally, 8 with PLC added, and 9 if you also want Bite of the Wolf. In all cases, Marg can do it at least four times a day: once an encounter.

All this only becomes more reliable, more frequent and more powerful at higher levels.


A final note: as you can see Marg's weapon is largely irrelevant. I gave her a glaive to make it easier to hit multiple foes with a single full attack, but any weapon will work, really. Even an unarmed strike would work fine: Marg is provoking AoO's when attacking anyway!

Spoiler: Categories

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Originality.
It's a charger that's not a water orc and is not using Spirit Lion Totem, need I say more?

Seriously, I doubt someone expected weaponized falling, psionic orcs, or psion uncarnates.

Elegance.
The closest thing to a dip are the 3 levels in Psion Uncarnate. No multiclass penalties are incurred, and the build is consistent and logical.

Power.
Marg is very good at one thing (turning people into piles of crushed meat), and decent at several other things. Psionic Teleport/Plane Shift for 5 PP combined with Accurate Jaunt make her the party cab, and Shed Body has surprisingly useful applications for scouting.

UoSI:

The entry feats for Elocater are used to qualify for Psionic Sidestep, Roof Walker, and Roof-Jumper. They also have use in avoiding AoO's, which Marg and her Headlong Rushing habits will provoke often.

Elocater's class skills are used to enter Psion Uncarnate, and its class features have already been outlined before.

Spoiler: Sources

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Psychic Warrior - EPH
Elocater - EPH
Psion Uncarnate - EPH

Martial Study - ToB
Expeditious Dodge - RotW
Roofwalker - City
Psionic Sidestep - Web
Roof-Jumper - City
Headlong Rush - RoF
Accurate Jaunt - UA

Spoiler: Original

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Marg, Comet of Sharn



CG Female Orc Skilled City-Dweller Psychic Warrior 6/Elocater 10/Psion Uncarnate 3/Psychic Warrior +1

It's not the fall that kills you, it's the one who's falling.

Spoiler: Ability scores and languages

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Before racial adjustments:

STR: 14
DEX: 14
CON: 12
INT: 14
WIS: 16
CHA: 8

After racial adjustments:

STR: 18
DEX: 14
CON: 12
INT: 12
WIS: 14
CHA: 6

Ability score increases respectively go into strength, strength, wisdom, wisdom and strength.

Marg speaks common, goblin and orc.

Spoiler: Build Table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Psychic Warrior 1	+0	+2	+0	+0	Balance +4, Concentration +4, Jump +4	Martial Study (Iron Heart) (Steel Wind), Expeditious DodgeB	Manifesting
2nd	Psychic Warrior 2	+1	+3	+0	+0	Balance +5, Concentration +5, Jump +5	MobilityB	-
3rd	Psychic Warrior 3	+2	+3	+1	+1	Balance +6, Concentration +6, Jump +6	Roofwalker	-
4th	Psychic Warrior 4	+3	+4	+1	+1	Balance +7, Concentration +7, Jump +7	-	-
5th	Psychic Warrior 5	+3	+4	+1	+1	Concentration +8, Tumble +2	Psionic SidestepB	-
6th	Psychic Warrior 6	+4	+5	+2	+2	Concentration +9, Tumble +4	Spring Attack	-
7th	Elocater 1	+4	+5	+4	+4	Concentration +10, Tumble +7, Use Psionic Device +3	Sidestep ChargeB	Scorn Earth
8th	Elocater 2	+5	+5	+5	+5	Concentration +11, Tumble +10, Use Psionic Device +6	-	Opportunistic Strike +2
9th	Elocater 3	+6/+1	+6	+5	+5	Concentration +12, Tumble +12, Use Psionic Device +10	Roof-Jumper	Dimension Step
10th	Elocater 4	+7/+2	+6	+6	+6	Concentration +13, Knowledge (Psionics) +1, Psicraft +1, Tumble +13, Use Psionic Device +13	-	Flanker
11th	Elocater 5	+7/+2	+6	+6	+6	Concentration +14, Knowledge (Psionics) +3, Psicraft +3, Tumble +14, Use Psionic Device +14	-	Opportunistic Strike +4
12th	Elocater 6	+8/+3	+7	+7	+7	Concentration +15, Knowledge (Psionics) +5, Psicraft +5, Tumble +15, Use Psionic Device +15	Headlong Rush	Transporter
13th	Elocater 7	+9/+4	+7	+7	+7	Concentration +16, Knowledge (Psionics) +7, Psicraft +7, Tumble +16, Use Psionic Device +16	-	Capricious Step
14th	Elocater 8	+10/+5	+7	+8	+8	Concentration +17, Knowledge (Psionics) +9, Psicraft +9, Tumble +17, Use Psionic Device +17	-	Opportunistic Strike +6
15th	Elocater 9	+10/+5	+8	+8	+8	Concentration +18, Knowledge (Psionics) +11, Psicraft +11, Tumble +18, Use Psionic Device +18	Psionic Body	Dimension Spring Attack
16th	Elocater 10	+11/+6/+1	+8	+9	+9	Concentration +19, Knowledge (Psionics) +13, Psicraft +13, Tumble +19, Use Psionic Device +19	-	Accelerated Action
17th	Psion Uncarnate 1	+11/+6/+1	+8	+9	+11	Concentration +20, Knowledge (Psionics) +14, Psicraft +14	-	Incorporeal Touch, Uncarnate Armor
18th	Psion Uncarnate 2	+12/+7/+2	+8	+9	+12	Concentration +21, Knowledge (Psionics) +15, Psicraft +15	Accurate Jaunt	Shed Body
19th	Psion Uncarnate 3	+12/+7/+2	+9	+10	+12	Concentration +22, Knowledge (Psionics) +16, Psicraft +16	-	-
20th	Psychic Warrior 7	+13/+8/+3	+9	+10	+12	Concentration +23, Knowledge (Psionics) +17, Tumble +20	-	-

Spoiler: Psionics

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Power Points:

Level	PP (including bonus PP)
1	1
2	3
3	6
4	9
5	12
6	17
7	22
8	22
9	27
10	32
11	32
12	37
13	46
14	46
15	55
16	70
17	70
18	86
19	91
20	104

Powers Known:
The level each power is gained is given in parentheses.

1st-level: Bite of the Wolf (3), Expansion (2), Vigor (1)
2nd-level: Animal Affinity (6), Hustle (5), Psionic Lion's Charge (4), Sustenance (10)
3rd-level: Evade Burst (7) Greater Concealing Amorpha (9), Psionic Teleport (12), Psionic Plane Shift (12)
4th-level: Energy Adaptation (19) Psionic Dimension Door (12), Psionic Freedom of Movement (13), Steadfast Perception (15)
5th-level: Adapt Body (18) Oak Body (16)
6th-level: Personal Mind Blank (20)

Spoiler: Story

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Spoiler: Psychic with a Greatsword (3)

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"Rorl the Sneaky." Marg spoke as she entered the tavern. Half a dozen people, all from Sharn's criminal underbelly, turned to look at her. Some moved their hands to their weapons.

"Three days ago, you killed a merchant behind the Brass Pauldron. You stole his money and left his body to rot. I am here to put an end to your crimes."

The halfling she was addressing drew a knife, but Marg was faster. She charged across the room, swung her sword, and watched Rorl's body slump back in the chair.

The two humans seated with Rarl drew swords and stabbed Marg, but their weapons drew no blood. The orc stepped back and span her weapon in a wide arc, spilling both thugs' guts.

The orc turned around and saw the remaining patrons rise and draw weapons. Unfazed, she dashed forward, dodging swords and knives. With one last leap, Marg reached the door, and ran out.

Justice had been served.

Spoiler: Mind the Gap (7)

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Marg nervously looked down. She'd been in a tight spot before, but this was something else. All out of psychic ability, wounded, exhausted, and cornered atop one of Sharn's higher towers... this wasn't good. The orc briefly considered jumping for a lower tower, but decided against it. The gap was too big: she'd never make it.

The ogre charged again, and Marg feebly tried to raise her weapon. It was useless: the Daask enforcer smashed the sword aside and slammed into Marg, who found herself forced over the edge.


Marg fell.

Falling in itself she liked to compare to dreamlily usage. While you're doing it, it's great and you feel great, but stopping always meant pain.

Air rushed past her faster and faster, and Marg closed her eyes: no point in trying to break her fall: she was falling hundreds of feet.

Suddenly, the rushing air stopped. Marg cautiously opened one eye, wondering why Dollurh sounded like a busy Sharn road.

To her surprise, Marg found herself looking down at the pavement, suspended in the air a single foot above it. Carefully, she reached down, confirming that this was, indeed, real.

High above her, one very confused ogre watched his target get up and walk away.

Spoiler: What goes up... (10)

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Marg, her movements psionically aided, barely dodged the gnoll's strike. The hyena-headed criminal cackled wildly and redoubled her assault.

Marg was worried. This assassin was stronger than she was, but she couldn't let it get past her either. If that happened, the Lord Mayor's life was forfeit.

As another blow from the spiked chain pierced her defenses, a plan began to hatch in Marg's mind. It was crazy, it was risky, but if it worked...

Marg focused her psionic powers outward and moved herself about four hundred feet up. The towers still stood tall, but the street was just a tiny line beneath. The orc took a deep breath and ceased levitating.

As she fell, the orc used any loose brick, any balcony, any roughness in the tower walls to force herself forward while maintaining her momentum. At the same time, she psionically enhanced her body, strengthening her muscles.

Further and further down she went, moving along the wall as she did. Beneath her, the assassin became visible, running along the street. Marg readied her weapon.

When she was only a few dozen feet away from her target, the assassin looked up. Perhaps she'd heard Marg: it didn't matter. The assassin desperately tried to swing her weapon at the orc, but she twisted to the side and avoided the strike.

With the force of a four hundred-feet fall behind her attack, Marg swung her sword twice. The first attack bisected the gnoll, the second took her head off. Marg watched the gnoll's corpse fall to the ground, then lightly touched down.

When one had saved the stability of the continent's biggest city, there are many emotions one might feel. Joy, pride, perhaps surprise, but Marg felt none of these.

Instead, she was amused. Free-falling hundreds of feet? Turns out it was fun.

Spoiler: Angeling for a job (15)

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"Only rarely do we receive visitors here." Raphael spoke.

"I know that." Marg replied.

"Even rarer is it when one comes here to aid our causes."

"Don't tell me you don't have problems. Sure, there's these brilliant floating cities, but you have your outcasts too, right?"

"Those." Raphael spoke, his face darkening. "I would like to apologize on behalf of my kin for them. Your city - they tend to end up there. A large number of us opposes the banishments, but the solars refuse to kill angels, even former angels."

"I know. So how about we team up? You tell me when the big shiny guys kick another outcast into Sharn, and I make sure they don't harm anyone."

"As long as you don't refer to my masters as 'big shiny guys', I must agree."

"Great! See you, then."

Raphael spread his wings, slowing his fall. Marg continued her descent through Syrania's bright sky, happily whistling as she did so.

For a moment, the angel marveled at the humanoid races. No matter how noble, kind or powerful they got... each of them seemed to be insane in its own particular way.

Spoiler: Die idol die (20)

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Marg was falling through the endless air layers of Syrania, as she did often, when Raphael appeared next to her.

"There's been an incident."

Marg turned towards him, slightly irked at having an entertaining falling session interrupted.

"Mitharel the Warder was cast out for heresy and, by chance or design appeared within Sharn's temple district. He immediately seized control of Olladra's main temple and took its occupants hostage."

"How are the guards doing?"

"Mitharel threatened to kill his hostages if they tried anything. To demonstrate, he caused two of them to fall to his death."

"He threw them down?"

"No, they freely jumped. The hostages have already fallen under his sway.

You should also know that Mitharel is a master of magical protections. The temple and at least three floors above and below it are warded against teleportation, and several magical alarms have been set up in and around it. Flight, including levitation, is impeded by the idol's aura. Approaching without getting noticed is impossible."

"Not for me. Where's the temple again?"

"Tower of Growth, sixty-ninth floor from the top. The idol is at the tower's center."

"I'm on it: see you soon."


Marg's Plane Shift put her a few miles above the Barren Sea, with Sharn's towers barely visible on the horizon. For a few seconds the orc fell, then she disappeared again.

Marg gazed down at Sharn's spires, quickly finding her target. Another jump through spacetime, and she was right above the tower.

3812 feet

Marg focused her psionic energy inwards, and her body became more dextrous. She quickly did a barrel roll, then continued her fall.

3194 feet

Marg strengthened herself with psychic energy.

2564 feet

Marg drew her sword, stared at it, then put it away again.

2045 feet

Time slowed down around Marg as she reassessed the situation. Falling, tower, idol, victory: it all checked out.

1732 feet

Marg cloaked herself in an ectoplasmic film nearly the same color as the sky above her. Even if that guy had set sentries, they'd be unable to see her.

1242 feet

Marg watched the approaching roof with an expression of slight boredom.

832 feet

Marg expended a small amount of psionic energy to dodge a skysled, teleporting right past it. Its driver never noticed her.

219 feet

Marg noted an interesting cloud in the sky above her, then turned back to the towers.

17 feet

Marg and her equipment suddenly turned translucent. She reached the tower's roof, but instead of crashing through or stopping her fall she kept falling, moving through ceiling after ceiling. Flashes of studies, offices and dining rooms passed by, the chamber's occupants unaware of the orc.

As she fell, Marg counted the floors. Sixty-five, sixty-six, sixty-seven...

At the sixty-eight floor, Marg drew back her hand.

Falling through the ceiling of the sixty-ninth floor, Marg thrust it forward. The radiant idol, seated in the exact spot Raphael had said he'd be, blinked in surprise as a see-through orc fell through his ceiling and tapped him on the forehead.

Then he died.



Marg looked at the splattered ex-angel, literally torn apart by the force she'd hit him with. If she tried, she could just make out what had once been his left foot, now a shapeless smear with a few pulverized bones in it. Around her, confused people were waking up from the idol's enchantments.

Marg disappeared. Sure, she'd saved the temple and all within, she'd served the cause of good, she'd slain a megalomaniac angel...

But she also wanted to be very far away when that mess had to be cleaned up.

Spoiler: Level Breakdown

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Spoiler: Level 1-5

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Marg begins play as a typical psychic warrior. Expeditious Dodge is useful when charging, Steel Wind will kill many a mook. The temporary HP Vigor grants are good to have at the dangerous low levels.

At level 2, Expansion is added to Marg's repertoire, which is awesome because Expansion. Mobility increases, well, mobility, especially the kind you need when charging a foe behind enemy lines.

Level 3 brings Bite of the Wolf, and with it an extra attack. Roofwalker is useful should Marg encounter uneven or slippery terrain, but it's yet to reach its full potential.

From level 4 on, Marg can make full attacks on a charge, saving this build from a barbarian dip (and all associated elegance/originality penalties).

This section ends with Hustle (MOAR mobility) and Psionic Sidestep (same).

Spoiler: Level 6-10

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Level 6 gives Spring Attack, which is decent on a character that hasn't yet gained a second attack. Even so, I doubt it'll see much use.

Elocater entry is at level 7: not as soon as possible but not too late either. Scorn Earth already has use in making Master of the Roof trigger more often, and Sidestep Charge is useful should Marg lose initiative. Evade Burst helps evading bursts.

Opportunistic Strike is about the only thing at level 8. It's useful if Marg is in a team, I guess.

After the blandless of 8, level 9 comes along, and it's GLORIOUS. Why? Just look at Roof-Jumper's exact text.

Death from Above: You do substantial damage if you deliberately leap down to attack a foe beneath you. You must drop at least 20 feet. You must roll to hit; this qualifies as a charge attack, with all relevant bonuses and penalties. If you hit, you deal damage as normal, plus an extra 1d6 points for every 10 feet of distance beyond the first 10 feet; thus, a drop of 30 feet causes an extra 2d6 points of damage. You still take whatever damage you would normally take from the fall, but you can reduce the falling damage with a successful Jump check or Tumble check. You cannot use any ability to slow your fall (such as the monk's slow fall ability, or the feather fall spell) while attacking in this manner.

That's right: DfA has no damage cap and counts as a charge. If you can't see the abuse potential here, I suggest a pair of glasses.

At the same level, Marg gets Dimension Step, which can place her hundreds of feet in the air. By jumping down (accomplished by switching off Scorn Earth mid-jump), she can gain a ton of bonus dice (with a boosted two-round charge doing over 600 damage). After the attack, turn Scorn Earth back on and enjoy a safe landing. Right now the combo is only possible once per day, but that's about to change.

Finally, there's Greater Concealing Amorpha, a wonderful power that provides a huge miss chance. I recommend putting it up while airborne: no sense in wasting the rounds spent falling.

Level 10 brings Flanker, which is marginally useful. The flanking square can be designated at any time during Marg's turn, so she can do it while right above a foe to get the bonus on attack rolls as long as an ally is anywhere next to said enemy.

Sustenance is a simple way to cut down on food costs. It'll also be useful for Marg later.

Spoiler: Level 11-15

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A bigger Opportunistic Strike at level 11: not much else to say here.

Level 12 is what I might call the build's sweet spot. Plane Shift, Teleport and Dimension Door are gained, thereby greatly increasing Marg's teleport capacity. She can now easily 'port up once per encounter.

Furthermore, Headlong Rush doubles (!) Marg's already huge damage output. The opportunity attacks it provokes aren't that bad: remember what the orc spent her early feats on?

Capricious Step (gained at level 13) gets quite interesting if it can be used to move upwards. By taking two 5-ft. steps upwards after one of her charging falls, Marg can put herself out of reach of most creatures, thereby securing a safe Teleport up next turn.

Level 14: explain to me what's so good about Opportunistic Attack that its levels don't advance manifesting? Not that +6 damage matters when your regular outputs are best described in scientific notation.

Level 15 gives Dimension Spring Attack: an apparently useless power with a niche use. If falling puts you 60 feet above an enemy, you can teleport down, deliver a (Roof Jumper-empowered) blow, and teleport right back, keeping your momentum all the while. It'll obviously require some timing, but nothing that can't be done.

Spoiler: Level 16-20

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Accelerated Action provides more screwing with the action economy, no objections here. It can be used to teleport up again after full attacking (potentially maintaining momentum), an extra attack, or simply a bigger chance to hit.

At level 17, Psion Uncarnate is entered. Incorporeal Touch provides us with a wonderful weapon against heavily armored opponents: it works fine with Roof Jumper, so the low base damage doesn't matter.

Psion Uncarnate gets even better at level 18, when it can be used to fall right through buildings. Up to now, Marg had been dependent on well-timed teleports and move-action Psionic Dimension Doors to hit foes beneath cover. In addition, Accurate Jaunt increases the chance of Marg's teleports going well.

At level 19, Marg can take some of her equipment with her when going incorporeal. It's mostly useful for not becoming a naked, blood-covered orc lady every time you use Shed Body to kill something.

The build's capstone is the powerful Personal Mind Blank, which is very useful for any character.

Spoiler: Sources

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Psychic Warrior - EPH
Elocater - EPH
Psion Uncarnate - EPH

Martial Study - ToB
Expeditious Dodge - RotW
Roofwalker - City
Psionic Sidestep - Web
Roof-Jumper - City
Headlong Rush - RoF
Accurate Jaunt - UA

(I have two copies of this in my inbox - let me know if there's actually a difference and I pasted the wrong one)

[Heliomance]

Let's play a game!

Tsillah
Synad, CN, Scout 3/ Wilder 7/ Elocater 10

Abilities:

Spoiler

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Strength	Dexterity	Constitution	Intelligence	Wisdom	Charisma	Reason
12	15	12	14	8	16	32-point buy
12	16	12	14	8	16	4th
12	17	12	14	8	16	8th
12	18	12	14	8	16	12th
12	18	12	14	8	17	16th
12	18	12	14	8	18	20th

Build:

Spoiler

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Level	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Skills	PP	Feats	Features
1	Mantled Wilder	+0	+0	+0	+2	Autohypnosis (Wis) 4|+4 Bluff (Cha) 4|+4 Concentration (Con) 4|+4 Listen (Wis) 4|+4 Spot (Wis) 4|+4 Tumble (Dex) 4|+4	6	Dodge	Wild Surge +1, Psychic Enervation
2	Mantled Wilder	+1	+0	+0	+3	Autohypnosis (Wis) 5|+1 Bluff (Cha) 5|+1 Concentration (Con) 5|+1 Listen (Wis) 5|+1 Spot (Wis) 5|+1 Tumble (Dex) 5|+1	12	-	Light and Darkness Mantle
3	Mantled Wilder	+2	+1	+1	+3	Autohypnosis (Wis) 6|+1 Bluff (Cha) 6|+1 Concentration (Con) 6|+1 Listen (Wis) 6|+1 Spot (Wis) 6|+1 Tumble (Dex) 6|+1	18	Weapon Finesse	Wild Surge +2
4	Mantled Wilder	+3	+1	+1	+4	Autohypnosis (Wis) 7|+1 Bluff (Cha) 7|+1 Concentration (Con) 7|+1 Listen (Wis) 7|+1 Spot (Wis) 7|+1 Tumble (Dex) 7|+1	26	-	Surging Euphoria +1
5	Scout	+3	+1	+3	+4	Autohypnosis (Wis) 7|+0 Balance (Dex) 2|+2 Bluff (Cha) 7|+0 Concentration (Con) 7|+0 Hide (Dex) 1|+1 Listen (Wis) 7|+0 Move Silently (Dex) 2|+2 Search (Int) 2|+2 Spot (Wis) 8|+1 Survival (Wis) 2|+2 Tumble (Dex) 7|+0	26	-	Skirmish (+1d6), Trapfinding
6	Scout	+4	+1	+4	+5	Autohypnosis (Wis) 7|+0 Balance (Dex) 4|+2 Bluff (Cha) 7|+0 Concentration (Con) 7|+0 Hide (Dex) 2|+1 Listen (Wis) 7|+0 Move Silently (Dex) 4|+2 Search (Int) 4|+2 Spot (Wis) 9|+1 Survival (Wis) 4|+2 Tumble (Dex) 7|+0	26	Mobility	Battle Fortitude +1, Uncanny Dodge
7	Scout	+5	+2	+4	+5	Autohypnosis (Wis) 7|+0 Balance (Dex) 6|+2 Bluff (Cha) 7|+0 Concentration (Con) 7|+0 Hide (Dex) 3|+1 Listen (Wis) 7|+0 Move Silently (Dex) 6|+2 Search (Int) 6|+2 Spot (Wis) 10|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+2 Tumble (Dex) 7|+0	26	-	Skirmish (+1d6, +1AC), Fast Movement +10ft, Uncanny Dodge
8	Mantled Wilder	+5	+2	+4	+5	Autohypnosis (Wis) 8|+1 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 9|+2 Concentration (Con) 9|+2 Hide (Dex) 3|+0 Listen (Wis) 7|+0 Move Silently (Dex) 6|+0 Search (Int) 6|+0 Spot (Wis) 10|+0 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 8|+1	35	Expanded Knowledge	-
9	Mantled Wilder	+6/+1	+3	+5	+6	Autohypnosis (Wis) 9|+1 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 11|+2 Concentration (Con) 11|+2 Hide (Dex) 3|+0 Listen (Wis) 7|+0 Move Silently (Dex) 6|+0 Search (Int) 6|+0 Spot (Wis) 10|+0 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 9|+1	57	Spring Attack	-
10	Elocater	+6/+1	+3	+7	+8	Autohypnosis (Wis) 10|+1 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 11|+0 Concentration (Con) 12|+1 Hide (Dex) 4|+1 Listen (Wis) 8|+1 Move Silently (Dex) 7|+1 Search (Int) 7|+1 Spot (Wis) 11|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 10|+1	59	Sidestep Charge	Scorn Earth
11	Elocater	+7/+2	+3	+8	+9	Autohypnosis (Wis) 11|+1 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 11|+0 Concentration (Con) 13|+1 Hide (Dex) 5|+1 Listen (Wis) 9|+1 Move Silently (Dex) 8|+1 Search (Int) 8|+1 Spot (Wis) 12|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 11|+1	61	-	Opportunistic Strike +2
12	Elocater	+8/+3	+4	+8	+10	Autohypnosis (Wis) 13|+2 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 11|+0 Concentration (Con) 14|+1 Hide (Dex) 6|+1 Listen (Wis) 10|+1 Move Silently (Dex) 9|+1 Search (Int) 8|+0 Spot (Wis) 13|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 12|+1	74	Expanded Knowledge	Dimension Step
13	Elocater	+9/+4	+4	+9	+10	Autohypnosis (Wis) 15|+2 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 11|+0 Concentration (Con) 15|+1 Hide (Dex) 7|+1 Listen (Wis) 11|+1 Move Silently (Dex) 10|+1 Search (Int) 8|+0 Spot (Wis) 14|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 13|+1	90	-	Flanker
14	Elocater	+9/+4	+4	+9	+11	Autohypnosis (Wis) 16|+1 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 11|+0 Concentration (Con) 17|+2 Hide (Dex) 8|+1 Listen (Wis) 12|+1 Move Silently (Dex) 11|+1 Search (Int) 8|+0 Spot (Wis) 15|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 14|+1	91	-	Opportunistic Strike +4
15	Elocater	+10/+5	+5	+10	+11	Autohypnosis (Wis) 17|+1 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 11|+0 Concentration (Con) 18|+1 Hide (Dex) 9|+1 Listen (Wis) 13|+1 Move Silently (Dex) 12|+1 Search (Int) 9|+1 Spot (Wis) 16|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 15|+1	109	Expanded Knowledge	Transporter
16	Elocater	+11/+6/+1	+5	+10	+12	Autohypnosis (Wis) 18|+1 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 11|+0 Concentration (Con) 19|+1 Hide (Dex) 10|+1 Listen (Wis) 14|+1 Move Silently (Dex) 13|+1 Search (Int) 10|+1 Spot (Wis) 17|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 16|+1	128	-	Capricious Step
17	Mantled Wilder	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+12	Autohypnosis (Wis) 18|+0 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 13|+2 Concentration (Con) 20|+1 Hide (Dex) 10|+0 Listen (Wis) 15|+1 Move Silently (Dex) 13|+0 Search (Int) 10|+0 Spot (Wis) 18|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 17|+1	150	-	Wild Surge +3
18	Elocater	+13/+8/+3	+5	+11	+12	Autohypnosis (Wis) 19|+1 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 13|+0 Concentration (Con) 21|+1 Hide (Dex) 12|+2 Listen (Wis) 16|+1 Move Silently (Dex) 14|+1 Search (Int) 10|+0 Spot (Wis) 19|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 18|+1	151	Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain)	Opportunistic Strike +6
19	Elocater	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+13	Autohypnosis (Wis) 20|+1 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 13|+0 Concentration (Con) 22|+1 Hide (Dex) 14|+2 Listen (Wis) 17|+1 Move Silently (Dex) 15|+1 Search (Int) 10|+0 Spot (Wis) 20|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 19|+1	174	-	Dimension Spring Attack
20	Elocater	+14/+9/+4	+6	+12	+13	Autohypnosis (Wis) 21|+1 Balance (Dex) 6|+0 Bluff (Cha) 13|+0 Concentration (Con) 23|+1 Hide (Dex) 16|+2 Listen (Wis) 18|+1 Move Silently (Dex) 16|+1 Search (Int) 10|+0 Spot (Wis) 21|+1 Survival (Wis) 6|+0 Tumble (Dex) 20|+1	207	-	Accelerated Action

Powers:

Spoiler

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Level	Powers Known	Max Power Level	Powers Gained
1	1	1st	Control Light
2	2	1st	Elfsight
3	2	1st	-
4	3	2nd	Claws of Darkness
5	3	2nd	-
6	3	2nd	-
7	3	2nd	-
8	3	2nd	Precognition, Defensive
9	4	3rd	Shadow Eft
10	4	3rd	-
11	4	3rd	-
12	5	4th	Light Beam, Psionic Lion’s Charge
13	5	4th	-
14	5	4th	-
15	6	5th	Metamorphosis, Shadow Walk (Psionic)
16	6	5th	-
17	7	6th	Temporal Acceleration
18	7	6th	-
19	7	6th	-
20	8	7th	Ultrablast

Fluff:

Spoiler

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The young woman sat on the back of the wagon humming to herself. Her legs hung and swayed with her head to the rhythm of the song and the wagon’s movement. Her eyes seemed to wander off into the distance, and a strange smile rested easily on her face. A heavy spiked chain dragged between her legs. Most of the caravan seemed to be unnerved by her presence. One figure in the midst wasn’t. A burly half-orc sat comfortably on his horse near her and whistled in accompaniment.
She stopped suddenly, and turned her head to look into the woods, cocking it to the side. She raised a single finger, pointing at something. Her compatriot looked into the woods and nodded. He gripped his sword, and got ready for the fight.
In an instance everything around them went black. If was as if a moonless night had suddenly fallen, the caravan went into a frozen panic unsure what was happening. Within moments there were screams of pain coming from around them. The cries were interwoven with the sounds of focused shouts and intermittent giggles of insanity. Then it was all quiet.
The light returned as suddenly as it had disappeared, scarcely a minute having passed. The woman was still sitting in her place on the back of the wagon, though a broad grin was now plastered on her face, and fresh blood dripped from the chain between her legs. Her disposition seemed to be that of young child who’d just won a game. “We had fun Rognak.” The half-orc who traveled with her was walking out of the woods.
He nodded and patted her head. “I’m sure you did Tsillah.” He turned barked to the caravan leader. “Told you she was worth bringing along.” A grin was on his face as he spoke. I counted eight bandits dead, a few managed to get away, but I doubt they ‘ll be back.”
The caravan leader still seemed heavily unnerved. “That’s… good?” He took a breath to regain his composure. “What was that?” His hand gestured in the air around them.
Rognak shrugged his shoulders. “Damned if I know. Just something she does. She makes it dark, and we get to work.”
The girl cocked her head again and giggled. “We like work!”
This seemed to unnerve the people around her more. The caravan leader leaned in and whispered to her compatriot. “Is she always this crazy?” Tsillah rolled backwards and started laughing like a hyena.
Rognak mounted back up on to his horse grinning. “You ain’t seen crazy yet friend.”
Slowly, the caravan started forward once more, Tsillah still laughing madly.

Sources:

Spoiler

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Item	Source	Page
Synad	Complete Psionic	139
Wilder	Expanded Psionics Handbook	29
Wilder Mantle	Expanded Classes 1	http://archive.wizards.com/default.a.../psm/20070214a
Light and Darkness Mantle	Complete Psionic	70
Scout	Complete Adventurer	10
Educated WIlder	Expanded Classes 1	http://archive.wizards.com/default.a.../psm/20070214a
Expanded Knowledge	Expanded Psionics Handbook	150
Shadow Eft	Complete Psionic	98
Claws of Darkness	Complete Psionic	81
Light Beam	Complete Psionic	92
Shadow Walk (Psionic)	Expanded Psionics Handbook	98

Notes:

Spoiler

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Initial Choices: Level 1-9

Spoiler

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Wilder seems to be the Jack of All Trades of Psionics. They have access to most powers which makes them very easy to mold. Their high power point pool, and ability to ramp their manifester level also makes them an extremely appealing choice. The drawback however is that they have a very limited number of powers they can actually manifest. This makes their selection of powers crucial, but with their variety, they can still fill most roles.

Educated Wilder is a particularly useful ACF since it trades a somewhat lackluster class feature for access to more powers. These powers can be taken from any list so it gives our base class a lot more versatility.

The Mantle ACF trades Elude touch for one of the Ardent mantles. While we are forced to take the mantle powers, which restricts us, we gain an extra ability from the mantle, and some of our powers gain other perks. Admittedly the Light and Darkness Mantle isn’t the most powerful, but I liked the flavor of giving it to a Synad since it’s stated in their lore that they came through the Shadow Plane to reach the Material Plane. The Mind’s Eye web supplement also expands on mantles and gives us the option of trading or adding powers to it as long as we keep to the theme of the mantle and don’t exceed the 10 powers per mantle that we are allowed. I’ve traded the somewhat lackluster My Light at first level for Shadow Eft at 3rd, where we had no power previously.

Scout is here to give a boost to our spring attack, and take advantage of Capricious Step later on. Skirmish Damage requires us to move at least 10’ which capricious step will allow us to do without sacrificing our full attack. During our charges it also provides a little extra AC increasing the likelihood of us being able to use Sidestep Charge.

For optional feats we grab Weapon Finesse. This helps take some of the MAD out of our build as we no longer need strength to hit our targets. Since dexterity helps our AC, that and Charisma for a psychic powers are now the only two primary attributes we need. We still want a few points in strength to help out with damage, but they aren’t as critical now.

Initial Choices: Variation

Spoiler

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The build here focuses more to manifesting, however for a more melee focused build, later levels of Elocater or Wilder could be exchanged. Two levels would net us one extra d6 for our skirmish, and a bonus feat that can be used to take Spring Attack or Mobility, freeing up a general feat later for things like another Expanded Knowledge or Whirlwind Attack.

Elocater Choices: Level 10-20

Spoiler

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At level 10 we can head in Elocater. The meat of what we want from Elocater is in the first 7 levels. Scorn Earth grants us immunity to needing balance check so we can charge freely. Dimension Step provides an emergency escape once per day. Flanker is especially useful since we have more freedom for positioning and still being able to flank. Transporter gives us a couple nice utility spells, and Capricious Step is our real gem. Capricious Step grants an extra 5 foot step. This allows us to get out of some bad spots, and gives us the ability to trigger Skirmish without having to worry about provoking attacks of opportunity and still make a full attack.

For feats we dip into Expanded Knowledge twice for two choice powers. Psionic Lion’s Charge gives us pounce, and at later levels we can really crank out some damage with it. Metamorphosis lets us shift our form around similar to a druid’s wild shape. Together these abilities make us a viable threat on the front lines. At level 18 we grab EWP: Spiked Chain to further enhance our combat when we’re in our base form. Prior to this it was more effective to use our Claws of Darkness since they provided 2 attacks at full BAB. With a spike chain however we can perform 3 attacks with a decent attack bonus and trigger our bonus damage from skirmish and Psionic Lion’s Charge from 10 feet away. It also opens up the option for trip attacks to leave our opponents even more viable to subsequent attacks.

Our remaining levels provide some more nice bonuses. Our last level of Wilder lets us surge up to manifester level 20, While Dimension Spring Attack lets us get to what might otherwise be an unreachable foe. Accelerated Action gives a nice bonus, but isn’t particularly critical.

Sweet Spot: Level 16

Spoiler

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This is where everything really comes together. Our Claws of Darkness form our primary attack with two attacks at our full BAB. In situations where we aren’t using a charge, we can use Capricious Step to get our 10 feet of movement and then extend our claws to attack as needed. Unfortunately we can’t get our reach and make a pounce attack since the extension and Psionic Lion’s Charge are both swift actions, unless we trigger our racial ability. We are able to Metamorphosis into creatures of up to 15 HD with a wild surge, the max available for that power. Additionally with the ability to expend up to 15 PP on powers and a pool of 158 points, we’re mostly free to augment our powers as we need to.

[Heliomance]

NE Drow, struggling to throw off the reputation of his CG kin

Izzlyn Oussana


Drow in the rain by sagasketchbook

NE Dark Lesser Drow
Psychic Rogue 2, Hit and Run Fighter 2, Warblade 1, Psychic Assassin 4, Elocater 10

Abilities
Str 10
Dex 16 +2 = 18 +5 from level ups
Con 14 -2 = 12
Int 16
Wis 10
Cha 10

Spoiler: backstory and character traits

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Izzlyn was a gutter rat like many other drow bastards of noble houses. Izzlyn knew neither his mother nor his father. He lived off the streets and learned from it. The wet mushrooms of the underdark were his bed, the rocky cliffs his table. Very young he was approached by a group he only later learned was part of Bregan D'aerthe. He was trained by masters of sword and stealth and honed his skills. Only then did he learn that he was especially gifted.
Years later Izzlyn is a ranking member of Bregan D'arthe and has fulfilled many missions. He is deadly from the shadows, but there is still a pain in his heart. His early years left him scarred. He hates the floor and those beneath him. One day he promises to keep the following oath: I shall not touch the ground again for it is my most lively memory of the dark times I left behind. I am vulnerable no more, I am Izzlyn Oussana, the deadly shadow of Bregan D'aerthe.

Character traits:
Izzlyn is arrogant but surprisingly warmhearted once you earned his trust. He shares pleasure and pain with his comrades although he still follows his own ideals first. Never having lived in luxuries he is fascinated by the decadency of the noble houses and is prone to gambling and showboating. From time to time Izzlyn brings food to the gutter rats which he belonged too years ago. He never speaks with them though and when the bigger kids bully the little ones he just stands aside and watches firmly believing that only the strong and gifted shall survive.

Spoiler: Build table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Dark Template	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	Psychic Rogue	+0	+0	+2	+0	Concentration 4,Hide 4, Move Silently 4, Search 4, Spot 4, Listen 4, Autohypnosis 4,Disable device 4, Craft (poisonmaking) 4	Weapon Finesse	Sneak attack +1d6, trap finding
3rd	Warblade	+1	+2	+2	+0	Concentration 5, Hide 4.5, Move Silently 4.5, Search 4.5, Spot 4.5, Listen 4.5, Autohypnosis 4, Disable device 4, Craft (poisonmaking) 5	-	Battle Clarity (Reflex saves), Weapon aptitude
4th	Hit and Run Fighter	+2	+4	+2	+0	Concentration 5, Hide 5, Move Silently 5, Search 5, Spot 4.5, Listen 4.5, Autohypnosis 4, Disable device 4, Craft (poisonmaking) 5, Disguise 1	Dodge, MobilityB	Bonus Feat,+2 Init, Dex to damage if opponent is flat footed
5th	Psychic Rogue	+3	+4	+3	+0	Concentration 7, Hide 7, Move Silently 7, Search 6, Spot 5.5, Listen 5.5, Autohypnosis 4, Disable device 4, Craft (poisonmaking) 5, Disguise 1	-	Evasion
6th	Hit and Run Fighter	+4	+5	+3	+0	Concentration 8, Hide 7, Move Silently 7, Search 6, Spot 5, Listen 5, Autohypnosis 4, Disable device 4, Craft (poisonmaking) 6, Disguise 1	Spring AttackB	Bonus feat
7th	Elocater	+4	+5	+5	+2	Concentration 9, Hide 8, Move Silently 8, Search 7, Spot 6, Listen 6, Autohypnosis 5, Disable device 5, Craft (poisonmaking) 7, Disguise 1	Darkstalker	Scorn earth,Sidestep Charge
8th	Elocater	+5	+5	+6	+3	Concentration 10, Hide 9, Move Silently 9, Search 8, Spot 7, Listen 7, Autohypnosis 6, Disable device 6, Craft (poisonmaking) 7, Disguise 2	-	Opportunistic strike+2
9th	Elocater	+6	+6	+6	+3	Concentration 11, Hide 10, Move Silently 10, Search 9, Spot 8, Listen 8, Autohypnosis 7, Disable device 7, Craft (poisonmaking) 7, Disguise 3	-	Dimension step
10th	Elocater	+7	+6	+7	+4	Concentration 12, Hide 11, Move Silently 11, Search 10, Spot 9, Listen 9, Autohypnosis 8, Disable device 8, Craft (poisonmaking) 7, Disguise 4	Shi'Quos School	Flanker
11th	Elocater	+7	+6	+7	+4	Concentration 13, Hide 12, Move Silently 12, Search 11, Spot 10, Listen 10, Autohypnosis 9, Disable device 9, Craft (poisonmaking) 8, Disguise 4	-	Opportunistic strike+4
12th	Elocater	+8	+7	+8	+5	Concentration 14, Hide 13, Move Silently 13, Search 12, Spot 11, Listen 11, Autohypnosis 10, Disable device 10, Craft (poisonmaking) 9, Disguise 4	-	Transporter
13th	Psychic Assassin	+8	+7	+10	+5	Concentration 15, Hide 14, Move Silently 14, Search 13, Spot 12, Listen 12, Autohypnosis 10, Disable device 11, Craft (poisonmaking) 9, Disguise 4	Expanded Knowledge: Psionic Minor Creation	Sneak attack+1d6, death attack, poison use
14th	Psychic Assassin	+9	+7	+11	+5	Concentration 16, Hide 15, Move Silently 15, Search 14, Spot 13, Listen 13, Autohypnosis 10, Disable device 12, Craft (poisonmaking) 9, Disguise 4	-	+1 save against poison
15th	Psychic Assassin	+10	+8	+11	+6	Concentration 17, Hide 16, Move Silently 16, Search 15, Spot 14, Listen 14, Autohypnosis 10, Disable device 13, Craft (poisonmaking) 9, Disguise 4	-	Danger sense(uncanny dodge)
16th	Psychic Assassin	+11	+8	+12	+6	Concentration 18, Hide 17, Move Silently 17, Search 16, Spot 15, Listen 15, Autohypnosis 10, Disable device 14, Craft (poisonmaking) 9, Disguise 4	Craven	Sneak attack+2d6, +2 save against poison
17th	Elocater	+12	+8	+12	+6	Concentration 19, Hide 18, Move Silently 18, Search 17, Spot 16, Listen 16, Autohypnosis 11, Disable device 15, Craft (poisonmaking) 10, Disguise 4	-	Capricious step
18th	Elocater	+13	+8	+13	+7	Concentration 20, Hide 19, Move Silently 19, Search 18, Spot 17, Listen 17, Autohypnosis 12, Disable device 16, Craft (poisonmaking) 11, Disguise 4	-	Opportunistic strike+6
19th	Elocater	+13	+9	+13	+7	Concentration 21, Hide 20, Move Silently 20, Search 19, Spot 18, Listen 18, Autohypnosis 13, Disable device 17, Craft (poisonmaking) 12, Disguise 4	Expanded Knowledge: Astral Construct	Dimension spring attack
20th	Elocater	+14	+9	+14	+8	Concentration 22, Hide 21, Move Silently 21, Search 20, Spot 19, Listen 19, Autohypnosis 14, Disable device 18, Craft (poisonmaking) 13, Disguise 4	-	Accelerated action

Spoiler: PP table and Powers known

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Level	PP	Power Level
1	-	-
2	1	1st
3	1	1st
4	1	1st
5	4	1st
6	4	1st
7	6	1st
8	6	1st
9	10	1st
10	13	2nd
11	13	2nd
12	17	2nd
13	17	2nd
14	20	2nd
15	20	2nd
16	24	2nd
17	29	2nd
18	29	3rd
19	35	3rd
20	40	3rd

Powers:
Powers are taken (or gained) in the order they are written in each level.
1^st level: Entangling Ectoplasm, Compression, Bolt, Psionic Minor Creation, Astral Construct
2^nd level: Knock, Psionic, Control Sound
3^rd level: Hustle, Dimension Slide, Telekinetic Force

Spoiler: Maneuvers

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1st level: Stance: Punishing Stance, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Moment of perfect Clarity, Leading the Attack

Spoiler: Write up

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My main goal was to use Elocater in conjunction with a mobile "rogueesque" build. Most of the SI's abilities work on a very specific role in a party: secondary melee and utility guy mixed in a blender. The obvious way would be Psion 10/Elocater 10. This felt bland and not tasty enough. So I came up with this fine dish instead. I chose to build a Scout, Trapfinder, secondary melee guy. Secondary melee means to me this build works best with a big beat stick helping him.

Spoiler: Dark Template + Build up to Elocater (a.k.a. First five levels)

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The Dark Template is amazing in pretty much every scout build. What it does for Izzlyn: Increases move speed which works nicely with spring attack and hide in plain sight is just pure gold. For the price of +1 LA Izzlyn can use spring attack attacking a foe after sneaking up and then hide again thanks to hide in plain sight and the speed increase.

Psychic rogue is better than Lurk for Izzlyn because it has more skills and I wanted to have trap finding because scorn earth completely shuts down any pressure plate or pitfall traps. Weapon finesse is the first step into SADness. The Warblade Dip gives Izzlyn some much needed maneuvers to make full use of a maxed out concentration (Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Moment of perfect Clarity) and punishing stance to have an option for more damage. Hit and Run Fighter completes the SADness: whenever Izzlyn's foes are flatfooted, Izzyln adds DEX to his damage. Given his excellent Hide skill and a maneuver to turn an enemy flat footed and power to entangle foes(Entangling Ectoplasm), this should be a reliable damage boost. Of course Fighter hurts because of losing skill points, I couldn't take Thug as I needed the bonus feat but after quite some fiddling I could manage the skill points in the early levels and still fulfill the roles I was hoping for while securing early entry. Spring attack finishes the combo already mentioned earlier: sneak up, use spring attack (with punishing stance and sneak attack) and hide again. Your damage is pretty decent: calculating with a rapier: 1d6 (rapier)+1d6 (punishing stance)+4 (DEX) + 1d6 (sneak attack). That's 14,5 damage on average.

Spoiler: First 6 Elocater levels + 1 Psychic assassin

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ECL 10 and ECL 13 are the sweet spots of this build.
Scorn Earth intrigued me and it did hit me rather late but suddenly I remembered a horrible feat: Shi'quos school. Sadly it needs BAB+6 so we can only take it at ECL 10. Shi'quos school specifically states that you need to have an elevated position. Floating above ground is no doubt an elevated position. If your DM deems that 1 foot above ground isn't enough simply take the -1 penalty on attack for levitating. After hiding again, just touch the ground, reset the levitation debuff and go again. So after doing our spring attack trick the foe now has to save vs reflex or be prone scaling on DEX.
The other features of Elocater all contribute to our plan: sidestep charge is rather bad but AC is a strong point of Izzlyn so quite possible it could be useful. Opportunistic strike is amazing regarding our role: Beat stick Number 1 hits the target and we help out when needed and even get bonuses for that. Flanker also contributes nicely. Dimension step is obviously a great option (it is even SU). Psionic Knock helps in overcoming pesky traps or locked doors.
The detour into psychic assassin has multiple reasons: 1) multiclass penalties would be enforced if I continue psychic rogue 2) death attack sadly is based off INT but it is another save or die(or suck) targeting Fortitude and it can be simply applied in our routine of hide, spring attack, hide. 3) Poison Use is very late and may not be useful anymore but together with psionic minor creation we have an arsenal of arsenics (bad pun I know) on our hand. 4) I don't have the feats to enter Ebon Saint, Sanctified Mind or Illithid Slayer and some either lose the important class skills while others don't add to the set strategy of Izzyln.

Spoiler: Late game

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I thought about taking only one level of psychic assassin and progress elocater immediately after again but decided against it as it would mean not progressing the DC of death attack. Elocater has the better class features, so this is really a very flexible choice in this build which can be adjusted as needed. Craven is as natural as darkstalker and finally I have room for the feat. The last delay- picking Expanded Knowledge over it - may be debatable. Capricious step, Dimension spring attack and accelerated action all allow Izzlyn to further his role. If the opponent is flat footed damage ramps up quickly too: calculating with a rapier at ECL 20: 1d6 (rapier)+1d6 (punishing stance)+6 (DEX) + 3d6 (sneak attack)+ 19 (craven) + 6 (opportunistic strike) = 40,5 damage on average. Decent enough for what I tried to build.

Spoiler: Variations

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If flaws are allowed, 2 feats that I would have loved to fit in are Drow Skirmisher and Dazing Boomerang (Races of Eberron and ECS). Dazing boomerang is nice debuff option and Drow Skirmisher opens up Scorpion chain (which is finessable) as a reach weapon.

Spoiler: Sources

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Drow of the Underdark: Hit and Run Fighter, Shi'quos school
Dark Template: Tome of Magic
Lesser Drow: Players Guide to Faerun
Psychic Rogue and Psychic Assassin: The mind's eye web enhancement
Warblade and Maneuvers: Tome of Battle
Craven: Champions of Ruin
Darkstalker: Lords of Madness

[Heliomance]

Forewarned is fourarmed

Ardatha Lilim

Spoiler

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Race: Savage Progression Tiefling
Build Stub: Ranger 2/Ardent 2/HnR Fighter 1/Elocater 4/Fighter +1/Mantled Wilder 2/Ardent +1/Elocater +6/Ardent +1
Multiclass Penalty: No
Languages: Common, Infernal
Alignment: CG
Ability Scores:

Ability	Score	Racial	Points	4th	8th	12th	16th	20th
Strength	10		2
Dexterity	18	+2	10			19
Constitution	14		6
Intelligence	10		2
Wisdom	14		6	15	16		17	18
Charisma	12	-2	6

Spoiler: Build Progression

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Ranger 1	+1	+2	+2	+0	Concentration 4, Hide 4, Jump 4, Move Silently 4, Survival 4, Tumble 4	Midnight Dodge, Track	Favored Enemy: Evil Outsiders, Spiritual Connection ACF, Skilled City-Dweller ACF (Ride->Tumble)
2nd	Ranger 2	+2	+3	+3	+0	Concentration 5(+1), Hide 5(+1), Jump 5(+1), Move Silently 5(+1), Survival 5(+1), Tumble 5(+1)	Two-Weapon Fighting	Combat Style
3rd	Ardent 1	+2	+3	+3	+2	Concentration 6(+1), Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 1(+1), Survival 5, Tumble 5	Mobility	Freedom Mantle (+10' speed), Natural World Mantle (Wild Empathy)
4th	Ardent 2	+3	+3	+3	+3	Concentration 7(+1), Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 2(+1), Survival 5, Tumble 5		Life Mantle
5th	Hit-and-Run Fighter 1	+4	+5	+3	+3	Concentration 8(+2cc), Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 2, Survival 5, Tumble 5	Spring Attack
6th	Elocater 1	+4	+5	+5	+5	Concentration 8, Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4(+2), Survival 5, Tumble 7(+2), UPD 2(+2)	Sidestep Charge, Practiced Manifester	Scorn Earth
7th	Elocater 2	+5	+5	+6	+6	Concentration 10(+2), Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Survival 5, Tumble 9(+2), UPD 4(+2)		Opportunistic Strike
8th	Elocater 3	+6	+6	+6	+6	Concentration 11(+1), Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Survival 5, Tumble 11(+2), UPD 7(+3)		Dimension Step
9th	Elocater 4	+7	+6	+7	+7	Concentration 12(+1), Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Survival 5, Tumble 11, UPD 12(+5)	Midnight Augmentation	Flanker
10th	Fighter 2	+8	+7	+7	+7	Concentration 12, Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Survival 5, Tumble 13(+2), UPD 12	Improved Two-Weapon Fighting	Skilled City-Dweller ACF (Ride->Tumble)
11th	Mantled Wilder 1	+8	+7	+7	+9	Concentration 14(+2), Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Spot 1(+1), Survival 5, Tumble 14(+1), UPD 12		Wild Surge +1, Psychic Enervation, Elements Mantle
12th	Mantled Wilder 2	+9	+7	+7	+10	Concentration 14, Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Spot 4(+3), Survival 5, Tumble 15(+1), UPD 12	Expanded Knowledge (Bestow Power)
13th	Ardent 3	+10	+8	+8	+10	Concentration 16(+2), Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Spot 4, Survival 5, Tumble 15, UPD 12
14th	Elocater 5	+10	+8	+8	+10	Concentration 17(+1), Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Spot 4, Survival 5, Tumble 17(+2), UPD 15(+3)		Opportunistic Strike +4
15th	Elocater 6	+11	+9	+9	+11	Concentration 17, Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Spot 6(+2), Survival 5, Tumble 18(+1), UPD 18(+3)	Metamorphic Transfer	Transporter
16th	Elocater 7	+12	+9	+9	+11	Concentration 17, Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Spot 10(+4), Survival 5, Tumble 19(+1), UPD 19(+1)		Capricious Step
17th	Elocater 8	+13	+9	+10	+12	Concentration 17, Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Spot 14(+4), Survival 5, Tumble 20(+1), UPD 20(+1)		Opportunistic Strike +6
18th	Elocater 9	+13	+10	+10	+12	Concentration 17, Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Spot 18(+4), Survival 5, Tumble 21(+1), UPD 21(+1)	Greater Two-Weapon Fighting	Dimension Spring Attack
19th	Elocater 10	+14	+10	+11	+13	Concentration 17, Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Spot 22(+4), Survival 5, Tumble 22(+1), UPD 22(+1)		Accelerated Action
20th	Ardent 4	+15	+10	+11	+14	Concentration 17, Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Psicraft 4, Spot 22, Survival 5, Tumble 22, UPD 23(+2cc)

Spoiler: Powers

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Level	Power Points	Ardent Powers Known	Ardent ML	New Ardent Powers (Mantle)	Wilder Powers Known	Wilder ML	New Wilder Powers (Mantle)
1st	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	3	2	1	Chameleon (Natural 1), Dimension Hop (Freedom 1)	-	-	-
4th	8	3	2	Touch of Health (Life 1)	-	-	-
5th	8	3	2	-	-	-	-
6th	17	4	6	Hustle (Freedom 2)	-	-	-
7th	18	4	7	-	-	-	-
8th	29	5	8	Animal Affinity (Natural World 2)	-	-	-
9th	38	6	9	Metamorphosis (Natural World 4)	-	-	-
10th	38	6	9	-	-	-	-
11th	40	6	9	-	1	1	Elemental Steward (Elements 1)
12th	45	7	9	Bestow Power (Expanded Knowledge)	2	2	Control Fire (Elements 1)
13th	57	8	10	Freedom of Movement (Freedom 5)	2	2	-
14th	57	8	10	-	2	2	-
15th	69	11	11	Psionic Revivify (Life 5), Psionic Teleport (Freedom 3), Plane Shift (Planes 3)	2	2	-
16th	83	12	12	Mend Wounds (Life 6)	2	2	-
17th	83	12	12	-	2	2	-
18th	98	13	13	Animate Plants (Natural World 7)	2	2	-
19th	116	14	14	Evade Burst (Freedom 6)	2	2	-
20th	143	15	15	True Metabolism (Life 8)	2	2	-

Spoiler: Levels 1-5

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Ardatha begins play as a Ranger. As an exile and outcast from the lower planes, she takes Evil Outsiders as her Favored enemy in true angstified gritty anti-hero fashion, so she can hunt down other demons and devils who prey upon prime-material humanoids. Since she'll be getting Wild Empathy later, she can trade it away here for the Spiritual Connection ACF, which is more likely to be useful than Wild Empathy anyway. Ardath starts with a typical Ranger-ish skill package, switching Ride to Tumble with the Skilled City-Dweller ACF, maxing out Concentration, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Survival, and Tumble.

After picking up Midnight Dodge and her TWF Combat Style, she heads into Ardent, choosing Freedom and the Natural World as her primary mantles. This gives her a +10' speed bonus when psionically focused, which will help her with Spring Attack later, and Wild Empathy for... uh, well, it gives her something of a Diplomacy option for dealing with animals and certain magical beasts. She doesn't really have the stats of a front-line fighter in her early levels, so she focuses on mobility and sneakiness, taking dimension hop for swift-action movement and chameleon to help her sneak. With her second Ardent level, she picks up touch of health, which gives her another minor role as a back-up healer. After that, she takes a level of Hit-and-Run Fighter (Drow of the Underdark) to pick up Spring Attack and finish qualifying for Elocater. Her TWF combat style restricts her to light armor anyway. The initiative bonus and Dex bonus on damage on flat-footed targets gives her a good solid "first strike" in combat and the capability to ambush targets when she hides. Overall, Ardatha is mostly a support character for her early levels.

Spoiler: Levels 6-10

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Ardatha enters Elocater, and this fixes a couple problems. Ardatha's abilites are focused around using Spring Attack whenever possible, so the prereqs are mostly met. It's a little unfortunate that Elocater requires Spring Attack but doesn't actually do much with it other than the 1/day Dimension Spring Attack at 9th level. Elocater helps her somewhat with multiclass penalties, as she uses several dips to pile up some TWF-friendly feats. The best part of Elocater, oddly enough, is the skills package: 6 per level, and the skill list has nearly everything on it a skill-focused melee character could want. We're going to use this to max out Concentration, Tumble, and Use Psionic Device. I usually put 5 ranks in Balance to avoid being flat-footed on slippery surfaces, but Elocater makes this unnecessary with Scorn Earth, allowing her to ignore any slippery or rough surfaces that would slow her down. Oddly enough, Scorn Earth also makes her pretty much immune to falling damage, allowing her to walk on air. Sure, it's very slow above one foot, just a 10' fly speed, but it's always on and she can use it skip any Balance or Climb checks she might have to make. The text doesn't mention any limit on height, and although it mentions psionic levitate if she tries to attack, there's no indication in the text that her movement is restricted to vertical elevation changes: it's essentially a permanent 10' fly speed. She'll get access to a better fly speed in a bit.

But first we pick up one of her signature powers: hustle from the Freedom mantle. Her combat strategy is going to be based around her ability to move as a swift action due to a curious quirk in the wording of Spring Attack. It's widely lamented that Flyby Attack is superior Spring Attack, because the former allows any standard action to be performed during a move, while Spring Attack specifies that you can only perform an "attack action". Unfortunately, the rules don't explicitly define what counts as an "attack action", but we do know there are at least two: the standard action attack, and the full attack. When Ardatha uses hustle as a swift action, she gets an additional move action to use during the round. Spring Attack then allows her to move + full attack + finish her move. The biggest downside to using hustle this way is it costs Power Points. At 6th level, she only has enough PP for five uses of hustle per day. However, as she gains more manifester levels and picks up Practiced Manifester, she has enough PP at 9th level to use hustle up to 12/day. We'll take care of the PP problem in a more permanent way a little later, but before that we need to pick up her second signature power: metamorphosis.

What's the use of getting all those full attacks if we're only attacking with two weapons? Well, obviously we don't have enough weapons, so let's add some extra arms. The first forms that spring to mind are Thri-Kreen and Girallon, which are undeniably well-armed, but also Diopsid (Dragon Compendium), Tako (Oriental Adventures), and Ormyrr (MM2). However, Ardatha's outsider type opens up several more interesting options: of course, there's the Dwarf Ancestor for the +20 natural armor, the Mercury Dragon for the 250' fly speed, and the Hydra for, uh... bitemancy, I guess. But if we're looking for extra arms, then there's another option for outsiders that has similar stats to the Girallon, but also gets Pounce (Ex) and Rake (Ex): the Ghirrash from the Miniatures Handbook. The 7 PP eats into how often Ardatha can hustle, but if she runs out of PP she can use Pounce to keep getting full attacks so long as she has a target within 120' (50' speed + 10' from Freedom mantle, doubled by charging).

Ardatha's reliance on Spring Attack also makes Sidestep Charge more useful: as she tends to spring back out of melee range, she's practically begging her opponents to close back into melee with a charge, and the +4 AC bonus helps counter the +2 attack bonus for charging. The rest of Elocater is a little disappointing. We don't quite have everything in place to take full advantage of Opportunistic Strike and Flanker yet, unless Ardatha already has a good party around her, but we'll address that shortly. Dimension Step only 1/day is a little annoying, but it's a good "Get Out of Certain Death Free" card she can play if she spends too much time on the front line and needs to get out of there in a hurry. After four levels of Elocater, Ardatha picks up the second half of her Fighter dip to get Improved TWF. When shifting into a form with multiple arms, her Two-Weapon Fighting feats switch over to Multi-Weapon Fighting feats. Unfortunately, the designers forgot the update the prereqs for Improved Multi-Weapon Fighting when the rules were updated to 3.5. For most of her forms, she should still qualify for Improved Multi-Weapon Fighting, but if she's short on Dex, she can manifest animal affinity to make up for it. If your DM insists on the BAB +9 prereq, then... well, you may need to wait a couple more levels to get Improved Multi-Weapon Fighting working in your multi-armed forms. Assuming your DM is ok with using the 3.5 TWF/MWF prereqs, then Ardath's Ghirrash form gets 8 attacks on a full attack: 2 primary and 6 offhand attacks. If she's in Tako form (Oriental Adventures), she gets 14 attacks on a full attack: 2 primary and 12 offhand attacks. While both those forms aren't as Dextrous as her natural form, they've certainly fixed her "low damage output" problem with much higher Strength: 23 for the Ghirrash, 20 for the Tako. As far as weapons go, I wasn't able to fit in Exotic Weapon Proficiency or Oversized TWF, so she sticks mostly to longsword + shortswords.

Spoiler: Levels 11-15

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After unlocking the versatility and combat options of metamorphosis, Ardatha detours into Wilder to fix a few other problems. Using Mantled Wilder, she picks up the elemental steward power from the Elements mantle. This actually fixes several problems: elemental stewards can be used with her Flanker ability, and if she has them attack with an energy ray just before she attacks, she can take advantage of her Opportunistic Strike. If she's worried about the touch attack not hitting, she can summon an Emberling to use matter agitation (no save, 1 damage on the first round). But her favorite steward is the Arctine, since it can manifest psionic grease 2/day under her opponents' feet, which she can ignore due to her Scorn Earth ability. If they don't have enough ranks in Balance, this renders them flat-footed and allows her to add her Dex bonus to damage via the Hit-and-Run Fighter ACF. Her second Wilder power is control flames, which gives her another fine-sized "mini-steward" that she can use to damage her opponents. It only does 1 damage on a failed Ref save, but that's enough to activate Opportunistic Strike.

At 12th level, Ardatha fixes her "running out of PP" problems by picking up another Ardent power via Expanded Knowledge: bestow power. By using Wild Surge with Midnight Augmentation and 2 points of essentia, Ardatha can recharge PP whenever she needs to. When augmenting bestow power up to 6 PP, Wild Surge provides +1 PP and Midnight Augmentation provides +2 PP. She spends only 3 PP and gets 4 PP back, for a net gain of +1 PP. She runs a 5% risk of Psychic Enervation, but in the long run she winds up with an average of +17 PP for 4 minutes of work (20 rounds manifesting bestow power + 20 rounds of regaining psychic focus). To put it mildly, this cracks open a huge amount of utility for Ardatha. Not only can she heal all of herself and all of her allies to full outside of combat (via touch of health), she can pretty much spend all day in a different form (well, ok, 9 minutes of metamorphosis followed by 2 minutes of recharging PP), and start off every combat with full PP. With 45 PP to work with, she's got plenty of PP to hustle + full attack every round, as well as manifest her other powers to deal with unique threats.

This is the *SEMI-SWEET SPOT* for Ardatha. She's a monster in melee, she can heal the party up to full, she can use metamorphosis as often as she likes for scouting, sneaking, disguise, etc., and has nearly unlimited minions via elemental steward.

At 13th level, Ardatha gets back into Ardent to pick up freedom of movement, and then back into Elocater for an upgrade on Opportunistic Strike and three more important utility powers: psionic revivify, psionic teleport and psionic plane shift. With psionic revivify, so long as she keeps a reserve of 9 PP, she can bring back a fallen ally that gets killed with an unlucky crit. The other two powers make her an interdimensional transfer hub for the entire party: anywhere they want to go in the multiverse, she can take them there almost instantly.

Also at 15th level, she picks up Metamorphic Transfer, which unlocks (Su) abilities when she uses metamorphosis. This only works 3/day, but the versatility is immense. However, I didn't want to get dragged down too far into that can of wormholes, since (Su) abilities aren't really the focus of the build, but if we just stick to the (Su) abilities on outsiders, here's some highlights:

Spoiler

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Erinyes (MM): continuous True Seeing
Formian Taskmaster (MM): Dominate Monster
Leonal (MM): Roar AKA Holy Word
Nightmare (MM): Astral Projection and Etherealness
Ravid (MM): Animate Objects
Cervidal (MM2): Horn Powers include Dismissal
Jovoc (MM2): Aura of Retribution
Dune Stalker (MM2): Kiss of Death, which is Stun or Die
Naztharune Rakshasa (MM3): Hide in Plain Sight
Trilloch (MM3): continuous natural invisibility
Shadurakul (FF): Shadow Blend, a continuous 40% miss chance
Vultivor (FF): Shadow Form, something like "Peter Pan Shadow" with a +15 Hide bonus
Alkilith (FF): Cloudkill Form
Owl Archon (BoED): Eye Ray, Fort save DC 20 vs petrification
Coure Eldadin (BoED): Alternate Form which is basically Navi from Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Shiradi (BoED): Lightshard Strike AKA Greater Dispel Magic
Hollyphant (BoED): Globe of Invulnerability
Unraveler (Planar Handbook): Disjoin which is kinda slow-motion disintegrate
Bar-Lgura (FC1): Abduction AKA Teleport Without Error
Yochlol (FC1): Mind Blank
Orthon (FC2): Dimensional Interference
Pleasure Devil (FC2): Beguile, a short-term dominate
Midgaard Dwarf (Frostburn): Curse which is a beefed up Bestow Curse
Artaaglith (Ghostwalk): Turn Undead as a Cleric 5

And this isn't an outsider, but I stumbled across it on a Google search for Pounce (Su), and... it's just really weird: Gravbeast.

Spoiler: Levels 16-20

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16th level is Ardatha's *SWEET SPOT*, or at least the spot where she gets access to her preferred form. While four arms was good, what I really wanted was SIX arms. However, try as I might, I couldn't figure out how to get access to a Marilith form or get around the 15 HD cap on metamorphosis. As it turns out, there really aren't any other six-armed creatures in D&D 3.5... except for one, and I eventually stumbled across it with a Google image search. Oddly enough, it was in the Miniatures Handbook, where I'd found the Ghirrash. Aspect of Hextor doesn't really have anything interesting as far as (Su) or (Ex) attacks, but it does have six arms, it's an outsider, and only has 12 HD. When in her Aspect of Hextor form, she gets 13 attacks on a full attack: 3 primary and 10 offhand attacks. If she wants to take advantage of the 22 Strength, she can use a two-handed weapon as her primary and still get 8 offhand attacks with her remaining arms. With continuous natural invisibility on (via Metamorphic Transfer) she also gets her Dex bonus on damage due to Hit-and-Run Fighter. Also at 16th level, she picks up mend wounds from the Life mantle. While she already has unlimited out-of-combat healing from touch of health, mend wounds has an augment option that allows her to heal all creatures within 20 of her for only 15 PP. Against undead, she can also use it as a touch attack, using the Life Mantle and Wild Surge to crank it up to 70 damage (Will save for half).

At 17th level, she picks up Capricious Step. While this isn't nearly as impressive as hustle + Spring Attack, it also doesn't use PP, so it's a nice option to have if she runs out of PP during combat and doesn't have time to recharge. She can full attack, back up 10' to get out of melee range, and if her opponent doesn't close back into melee, then she can use Ghirrash's Pounce to charge + full attack.

At 18th level, she gets Dimension Spring Attack from Elocater. While the 1/day limitation is somewhat insultingly stupid, it's still useful at least 1/day, and by my reading, she can still use hustle to get a full attack. By manifesting hustle before she uses Dimension Spring Attack, she still has a move action available when she takes her "attack action" as part of using Spring Attack. As per the "Deciding between an Attack or a Full Attack" rules (PHB p. 143), she can make a full attack as her attack action.

Also at 18th level, she gets animate plants from the Natural World mantle and Greater TWF. Animate plants does two things for her: first, she can use it to create more durable flankers if her elemental stewards are getting snuffed out too quickly, and second, she can use the entangle effect for battlefield control (lasts 12 hours!). She can use psionic freedom of movement (Freedom Mantle) or from Metamorphic Transfer (Spider Eater) to ignore the entangle effect. Greater TWF adds more offhand attacks, but there's an update issue with the Multi-Weapon Fighting version. The 3.5 update did not update the prereqs for Greater MWF, so it still requires Dex 19 and BAB +15 rather than BAB +11. If your DM allows you to use the Greater TWF prereqs instead, then great! Otherwise, you'll have BAB +15 at 20th level. The Dex 19 may be problematic, as most of Ardatha's preferred forms have Dex in the 16-17 range, which is good enough for Improved MWF, but not Greater MWF. Fortunately, animal affinity fixes this. Or, you know... Gloves of Dexterity is a thing.

There's one other thing she can do at 18th level... her ML is now 13, so she can change into a Totem Giant (Magic of Incarnum) and grab Soulmelds (Su) and Totem Chakra Bind (Su) with Metamorphic Transfer. To fill up the soulmelds, she can switch forms to Greater Soulspark and grab Incarnum Shroud (Su) for her third Metamorphic Transfer, which gives her an essentia pool equal to her HD. She can invest those 18 essentia points into the Incarnum Shroud for a +9 insight bonus on attacks, +9 insight bonus on AC, or Fast Healing 9. By shaping Girallon Arms on her Totem chakra, she gains an additional four arms, and if she shifts back to Aspect of Hextor, she gets 21 attacks on a full attack: 3 primary, 18 offhand (or 27 offhand with Greater MWF). It's not clear what happens to her Totem Chakra or bound soulmelds once metamorphosis wears off, but unbound soulmelds stay shaped until Ardatha unshapes them. Her natural Con score is 14, so even if she's not using metamorphosis or Metamorphic Transfer, she can walk around with four permanently shaped Totemist soulmelds. Typically this would be:

1) Threefold Mask of the Chimera (can't be flanked)
2) Rageclaws (Diehard effect)
3) Wormtail Belt (+2 Natural Armor)
4) Lammasu Mantle (+2 deflection bonus to AC vs. evil creatures)

At 19th level I wanted to pick up psionic restoration from the Life mantle, but due to the primary/secondary mantle rules, I had to settle for evade burst instead. This is a rather expensive form of evasion (13 PP? Really?), but Ardatha didn't have any immediate action powers, and you never know when a fireball or breath weapon is going to ruin your day, so... better than a poke in the eye, I suppose. Also at 19th level, she gets Accelerated Action from Elocater: she can accelerate a full attack action to get one additional attack at her highest BAB, she can accelerate a move action to gain +30', and she can accelerate manifesting a power, essentially giving her a "Quicken Power" ability 5/day. This is particularly useful for getting both metamorphosis and animal affinity manifested in the same round.

At 20th level, Ardatha finishes off with one more level of Ardent. This brings up her Manifester Level to 15, and she picks up true metabolism. Although she already has effectively unlimited out-of-combat healing, Regeneration 10 is still pretty darned useful in combat, and the Life mantle gives her an additional augment option: she can spend 5 PP to grant this power to another willing creature. This takes some prep work, and she needs to use metamorphosis to change into a Greater Soulspark, grab Incarnum Shroud (Su) with Metamorphic Transfer, and load up Midnight Augmentation to help pay for the augment, while using either the Life mantle or Wild Surge to increase her ML. This allows her to regenerate missing body parts for her allies if they are unlucky enough to lose a limb, so I felt this was a good addition to her backup role as a healer/fixer-upper.

Spoiler: Secret Ingredient

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Here's a breakdown of how Ardatha uses Elocater:

Prerequisites: Ardatha's entire build revolves around using hustle + Spring Attack as much as possible. She maxes out Concentration up through level 14 so she can regain psionic focus easily, as her recharge trick depends on it, and she uses the skill points and excellent skill list to max out Spot, Tumble, and Use Psionic Device.

Scorn Earth: Ardatha uses this to ignore terrain effects, particularly from her Arctines using psionic grease to render her opponents flat-footed.

Sidestep Charge: Since Ardatha relies on Spring Attack so much, she's more vulnerable to opponents charging her to get back into melee range. The +4 AC here both protects her from getting hit and provokes an AoO for her to get in another attack.

Opportunistic Strike: Ardatha uses elemental stewards to hit her opponents with energy ray just before she takes her actions for the round. Tempestans have the best chance to hit (+5 ranged touch attack), although if she wants to skip the attack roll she can direct an Emberling to use matter agitation instead (1 damage on the first round, no save). At higher levels, she can use animate plants to create sturdier minions to constrict or tramble her enemies just before she takes her actions.

Dimension Step: Why is this only 1/day? Well, at least it's (Su), so it doesn't provoke AoOs and doesn't use up any PPs. Ardatha uses this mostly to get out of trouble in a hurry.

Flanker: If she doesn't have allies to set up as flankers, Ardatha can summon elemental stewards or animate plants to help set up flanking.

Transporter: These are both great utility powers to have, and not having to pick them up with her mantles allows her to dedicate her "powers known" to more interesting selections. Even if she did pick them up with her mantles, they certainly wouldn't be 3rd level powers.

Capricious Step: This is mostly useful when Ardatha runs out of PP to spend on hustle, as she can use the extra 5' step to move out of melee range, keep up with a target, or switch to a new opponent within 10'. When combined with Flanker, she can pretty much step "behind" an opponent without sacrificing her full attack.

Dimension Spring Attack: Only 1/day, but by my reading, she can still use hustle to move + full attack + finish move. This would be used for any situation where she has line-of-sight to her opponent but moving/tumbling/flying would be problematic. Or she could also just use it because it looks friggin' cool!

Accelerated Action: She only gets 5 rounds/day, but she can use this ability at the start of the encounter to get an extra buff off quickly. On the first round, she can manifest metamorphosis as a free action, manifest hustle as a swift action, then move + full attack + finish move (with +30' enhancement to her speed). If she's already in one of her preferred combat forms, she can manifest animal affinity or animate plants instead.

The biggest question, of course, is why would Ardatha take Elocater over more levels of Ardent or Illithid Slayer? And yes, you could probably build a more potent psionic gish that way, but Elocater does have several advantages over an Ardent/Illithid Slayer: better skill points/skill list, free teleport and plane shift as 3rd level powers, and 5 rounds of Accelerated Action. Opportunistic Strike is somewhat comparable to Illithid Slayer's Favored Enemy bonus, but Opportunistic Strike works on a wider variety of creatures. Illithid Slayer has full BAB and better defenses against mental attacks, while Elocater has more interesting tactical options. So... a tossup, maybe? From the perspective of an Illithid Slayer, probably not. However, if you've already decided to be an Elocater, is this build one of the best ways to be an Elocater? And I really don't know... my idea was I wanted to use Spring Attack to stab things a lot with multiple swords, so that's the rabbit hole I dove down, and this build is what I came up with.

Spoiler: Variations

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I passed on the Arcane Hunter ACF (Complete Mage), but it's still a great pick if you're looking for something to take down arcane spellcasters. If you'd like to do some Trapfinding, you could also swap in the Trap Expert ACF from Dungeonscape if you like.

I chose Metamorphic Transfer instead of Assume Supernatural Ability because I didn't like the attack penalties or Will save to use it in combat, but you may prefer Assume Supernatural Ability over the 3/day limitation of Metamorphic Transfer. However, your DM may ban Metamorphic Transfer/Assume Supernatural Ability because... well, duh! If so, this isn't a big loss, as it's not really the focus of the build. Just put another feat in there, like Expanded Knowledge or Tap Mantle.

Speaking of feats, if your DM allows flaws, then there are several TWF-friendly feats I couldn't fit into the build: Combat Reflexes, Double Hit, and Oversized TWF come to mind.

The final build wound up pretty dip-heavy to avoid multiclass penalties. If your group doesn't play with the penalty, then my original idea was somewhere along the lines of Ardent 4/Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Elocater 10 (finishes with BAB +16), using Linked Power/Metapower with bestow power to recharge PP. However, the rules aren't clear if you need to expend your psionic focus twice when using Midnight Augmentation with another metapsionic feat, so you may need to clear that with the DM. Of course, ditching Elocater for more levels of Ardent and picking up the Dominant Ideal ACF could fix that. There was also a Mantled Wilder 4/Ranger 2/Fighter 2/Battle Dancer 1/Elocater 10/Something 1 version at some point, but I don't recall the particulars.

If the DM rules against the recharge PP trick, then the build still works well enough, you just need to be more careful about burning through your PPs. Stock up on dorjes of hustle or try to get your hands on a Psicrown of the Evader. If you're running low on PPs, switch to your Ghirrash form and use Pounce to get your full attacks instead of Spring Attack. You can also use plane shift to pop over to the Demiplane of Ectoplasm and grab some Canath fruit (cognizance crystals that grow on Canath trees).

Finally, one thing that kept bothering me as I went bookdiving to look for multi-armed creatures... most of them had Superior or Enhanced Multi-Weapon Fighting as a Special Quality, but metamorphosis doesn't grant it. I found a work-around, but it involves some fairly potent rules fromagery. I'll include it in a spoiler here, just for the sake of completeness:

Spoiler

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If you just want extraordinary qualities and supernatural abilities, you can use metamorphosis to turn into a Malaugrym (Monsters of Faerun), a 5 HD outsider with an Alternate Form (Su) ability that works like shapechange cast by a 20th-level sorcerer... yes, THAT shapechange, as an (Su) on a 5 HD creature. WTF, WotC? Anyway, use Metamorphic Transfer to turn into an Ormyrr, Darktentacles, or Marilith... whatever has the extraordinary qualities and supernatural abilites you want. This lasts 3 hours and 20 minutes, and you can use it 3/day.

However, let's say we want that as our permanent form, or let's say we want Enhanced Multi-Weapon Fighting on our Aspect of Hextor form? Well, first we use metamorphosis to switch to a Protean Scourge (MM3). Stab yourself and use Metamorphic Transfer to activate Split (Su), which creates a duplicate Protean Scourge. (Yes, is a Supernatural Split ability with no duration or usage limit. Yes, you can create an unlimited army of duplicates. However, we're not here for that trick... moving on.) Dismiss your Protean Scourge form to go back to Outsider type, and then use metamorphosis again to become a Malaugrym. Use Metamorphic Transfer again (x2) to shapechange into the form that has the Extraordinary/Supernatural abilities you want. Have your duplicate use metamorphosis to change into the form you want to add those (Ex) and (Su) abilities to. Your duplicate still has two uses of Metamorphic Transfer to pick up some additional (Su) abilities if you are so inclined. Now get your hands on a Power Stone of fusion and a Power Stone of astral seed and use your UPD skillz to manifest them: fuse together, kill yourself, and come back as the combined form ten days later with all your (Ex) qualities and (Su) abilities still intact. You lose a level, but that's nothing a Thought Bottle can't fix.

Spoiler: Backstory

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Cadenaro came to slowly. Something wet on his lips. Blood? He could taste blood. But no, this was something else... it smelled like... rosemary? A hard round rim was pressed to his lips. A cup, he suddenly realized. He took a sip, a warm liquid, but spiced with something... his mind, still groggy from pain, panicked with the thought of poison and he spat it out.

"Sorry. Too much cinnamon?" A female voice.

Cadenaro's eyes snapped open. The woman with the swords, six arms. She was holding a cup now, but... yes, still had the six arms. The swords, where were they? Sheathed, it looked like, but he couldn't see all of them. They were in a wooded clearing, but he could still smell smoke, and behind him somewhere he could still hear the sounds of battle. Had she dragged him here? No drag marks. Teleport, most likely.

"It's just tea," the woman said. "With some herbs. Chamomile, mostly. Some rosemary, cherry blossoms. Cinnamon to perk you up, but maybe I overdid it."

Cadenaro tried to feel out his body without making any sudden movements. Several cuts along his arms and legs were still slick with blood, but the deep cut in his ribcage had the dull throb of a deep wound that had recently been recently healed with magic. His chains, where were his chains? He reached out for one of them, but a sword blade appeared suddenly under his chin.

"Careful," said the woman. "I hear one chain clink, and I'll open up your throat."

"Who are you?" he croaked out.

"Ardatha Lilim."

Yes, it was her. He'd been warned... stay away from her, let the hamatula deal with her. But she'd torn through the hamatula, blades flashing in a blur, too quick to follow. When the hamatula fell, he'd stepped up to stop her from getting to his commander. He knew how to deal with swords, once you wrap a chain around them you can yank them away. But every time he swung his chains around a sword, two more dipped under his guard. He dropped back, trying to open up some space but she feinted and then lunged... the sword slipping between his ribs and up into his vitals was still a white-hot memory.

"Try the tea," she said, offering him the cup again, but the sword was still too close to his neck to put him at ease.

He took a sip, almost spat it out again, but then changed his mind and swallowed. "You wear our forms... yet you cut us down. Do you mock us?"

Ardatha gave him a six-shouldered shrug. "I tried a few angelic forms. I couldn't quite get the hang of the wings... the flying was fun, but I kept bumping them into things. And the molting... ugh!"

Keeping one eye on the sword, Cadenaro slowly moved a hand to his ribs, wiping away blood to feel for the mortal wound, but the flesh underneath was smooth. "You healed me... why?"

The sword at his throat was drawn back. "Now that's a very good question, but I don't quite have an answer yet. So let's have a little discussion, and maybe sort that out. You took an elven maiden hostage. You could have killed her... you certainly killed enough of her kinfolk. But not her. You could have tortured her for information, or even just for fun, but you didn't. Why not?"

Dark thoughts twisted through Cadenaro's guts, dark thoughts he did not want to think about. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it, then opened it again. "Commander wanted a hostage taken alive. He likes them fresh, not wounded."

"I know your commander. He does many cruel, unspeakable things, but he does not take hostages. And you certainly took your time bringing her to him... if I didn't know any better, I might say you were trying to protect her. What would you say if I told you this elven maiden was still alive?"

Cadenaro tried to hide the shock that went through his body, but did a bad job of it. "But... they told me she was killed trying to escape!"

"Escaped, yes. Killed, not so much... well, maybe I cut it a little too close, but once I got my hands on her, I was able to get her out of there. What's really bothering me, though... for a chain devil, you seem awfully concerned about her."

"She means nothing to me. Our legions will crush this stronghold and kill everyone who opposes us." Dark twisty thoughts, white hot hope... was he being torn apart inside?

Ardatha smirked at him. "You ever think about not killing everyone?"

"What do you mean?"

"The senseless slaughter. You're just a brainless killing machine, doing the bidding of your infernal commanders. Or do you ever wonder, maybe there's another way?"

"No. I follow my orders. There is no other way. You follow your orders or you die."

"You asked me why I wear this form. It is not to mock you. In my natural form, the one I was born with, I have horns, just like you. But I chose this form because I like it, because it suits my needs, and because it annoys some of the angels I work with. But this skin you wear, these chains that you wrap yourself in, these are still choices you choose to make. And you can still make different choices."

"NO! I follow the rules, or I die! There is no other choice."

"Then your rules are stupid. If your only choice is follow the rules or death... you need to choose some different rules. Tell you what, you can start now. You can go back to your commander, maybe get a glorious death as the archons finish off what's left of his legion. Or you can come with me, and see if that elven maiden is really still alive. The choice is yours." Ardatha stood up, sheathed her swords, and held out her hand.

Cadenaro eyed the hand warily, and then carefully got to his feet on his own, testing if his legs would take his weight, and found them shaky but functional. "She thinks I'm a monster!"

Ardatha dropped her hand with another six-shouldered shrug. "If you let your appearance define you, then yes, that is all she will ever see. But it's not your appearance that defines who you are, it's the choices you make." She turned away, but then stopped herself and turned back to face him. "I won't lie to you. You will be hated, feared, attacked. All the sins of your race, every evil act done by or in the name of your kin, will be held against you. And for many, no amount of good acts or protestations of piety will remove the revulsion and fear that fills them when they look upon you."

"But... won't they try to kill me?"

"A few might try. But most of them have nightsoil for brains, and are cowards at heart. The few that can see under your skin... those ones are worth it." Ardatha paused, folding her arms in front of her. "She has a name, you know. Her name is--"

"I know her name," said Cadenaro, perhaps too quickly.

"In Celestial, it means--"

"Laughter in the rain."

Ardatha chuckled. "Oh, you poor boy. You've got it bad. Come on then, let's get you a proper introduction." She extended her hand again.

Cadenaro hesitated. Behind him, the smell of smoke, and the cries of battle. His chains lay at his feet. "What about my chains?"

"Bring them. You're trying to be good, not stupid."

Cadenaro picked up his chains and took Ardatha's hand.

Spoiler: Sources

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Cityscape: Skilled City-Dweller ACF
Complete Champion: Spritual Connection ACF
Complete Psionic: Ardent, Mantles, Practiced Manifester
Drow of the Underdark: Hit-and-Run Fighter ACF
Expanded Psionic Handbook: Wilder, Expanded Knowledge
Magic of Incarnum: Midnight Dodge, Midnight Augmentation, Totem Giant
Mind's Eye Expanded Classes Part One: Mantled Wilder
Miniatures Handbook: Ghirrash, Aspect of Hextor

[Heliomance]

That picture is amazing but I can't think of a witty remark ;_;

Geoffrey Fourmyle

Spoiler: backstory

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Fourmyle turned the gilt invitation over in his hand. He’d tried to warn that d’Orien brat. He supposed there was just no helping some people.

He penned a response posthaste and pressed his signet ring over hot wax. A courier from Sivis was along and got it where it needed to go soon enough. Fourmyle certainly paid enough for the privilege.

It wasn’t long before he got off a plush car on the lightning rail and arrived at his destination. A garish loom hung out in place of a sign. The dream weaver. This was where he’d been invited to celebrate that wretched scion’s birth. One had to keep up appearances, after all.

Servants showed him inside and took his coat. Fourmyle had dabbled in places like this, but could never quite bring himself to enjoy it the way it had been intended.

“Hey, there you are! Glad you could make it, little Geoffrey!” crowed the birthday boy over a glass of something expensive. He snapped his clumsy fingers and asked why no one had poured his guest a drink yet.

“You ever been here before?” d’Orien asked.

Fourmyle tried not to smile. “Once or twice.”

d’Orien chuckled. “Okay, I’ll try and take it easy on you in there. But I ain’t making any promises.”

“Perish the thought,” Fourmyle said.

The two allowed themselves to be led into a solemn, white chamber alongside the other guests. They were laid in featureless reclining chairs, pure white cloth draped over their faces and hands.

But this was no barber’s hot towel. On the contrary, this was a preamble to being divested of one’s senses entirely and being opened up to something else.

Fourmyle half-listened to the attendant explaining the rules of the game. Something about moving the flag from point A to point B, capturing the enemy’s base, and so on. He was reminded to feel free to enjoy himself and that nothing that happened while his party was under the folie a dix that was their shared forced dream would have any effect when they all woke up again.

Fourmyle closed his eyes and got to his feet in boots that weren’t his own. He was dressed in quiet silks with an impractical but very comfortable hood that would’ve made eating or breathing quite impossible on the outside.

d’Orien stood at the other side of the battlefield, wearing the shape of some hulking brute. No comment from Fourmyle, though the other guests sniped amongst themselves that he was overcompensating.

“Whoa, it’s Fourmyle! I thought you were just along for dinner. I heard Kalashtar didn’t dream,” said one of the guests from an orc’s mouth.

Another elbowed him in the ribs with a warforged elbow. “Don’t be common. Sorry, Geoffrey, I can’t take my husband anywhere.”

“Don’t trouble yourself,” Fourmyle said, his voice unmuffled through his thick cloak and scarf. “The normal rules don’t apply in here, after all.”

The alarm went off letting them know the game had started. d’Orien had tried jumping the gun, so was struck with a ten yard penalty. Fourmyle stepped straight down, as if through fog, and found himself under ground, as he knew he would.

Unlike being buried alive back up above, there was nothing below the surface here. Once he was beneath the surface, he could see emptiness all round him and ran forward as though on black carpet. He knew he was on borrowed time, of course. The telepath running the game was bound to find him sooner or later and boot him back where he belonged, but not before he got to where he needed to be.

The heel of d’Orien’s heavy boot clomped overhead. Fourmyle made a great motion of his arms, as though swimming through the ocean and found himself back on solid ground again.

d’Orien had the flags of both teams clutched in his crude fist, the corpses of a couple of his friends dangling from his tusks.

“Warned you I wasn’t taking it easy in here, man,” he said, his voice clear as a bell despite the circumstances.

“I’d expect nothing less.” Fourmyle pressed his back to a boulder as d’Orien lumbered toward him.

“Just a game. Don’t worry, I’ll do you quick. Resurrection still stings in here, though.” d’Orien picked a bit of armor from his teeth.

One of Fourmyle’s team shouted and charged in from the field. He broke a sword against d’Orien’s flank. It lodged in his thick hide, but still caused him to turn his head. That was all Fourmyle needed.

He ducked in an exaggerated fashion and before he finished redistributing his weight, launched himself upwards with all his strength.

Outside, this would do nothing more than make Fourmyle fall on his face. But nothing was the same here. As the telepath parsed the opposing commands, there was a narrow window where the fabric of things was thinner. All Fourmyle had to do was pierce it.

He jabbed his knife straight up in the air and sure enough his hand popped up just in front of d’Orien, catching him in the throat. He fell to his knees and choked out something Fourmyle had no trouble knowing was obscene. The alarm went off marking the end of the round. Point for Fourmyle’s team.

“Touche, chum. Oh, and happy birthday.”

Spoiler: stub

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LE kalashtar cobra strike monk 2/warblade 3/psionic assassin 1/elocator 10/jaunter 4

Spoiler: abilities

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str 12
dex 16
con 14
int 16 (increases here)
wis 10
cha 8

Spoiler: build table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Cobra Strike Monk 1	+0	+2	+2	+2	balance 4, concentration 4, disguise 4 (2), hide 4, jump 4, ms 4, tumble 4	darkstalker	Bonus feat (dodge), flurry of blows, unarmed strike
2nd	Cobra Strike Monk 2	+1	+3	+3	+3	balance 1 (5), concentration 1 (5), disguise 1 (2.5), hide 1 (5), jump 1 (5), ms 1 (5), tumble 1 (5)		Bonus feat (mobility), invisible fist
3rd	Warblade 1	+2	+5	+3	+3	concentration 1 (6), disguise 1 (3), hide 1 (5.5), jump 1 (6), ms 1 (5.5), tumble 1 (6)	combat reflexes	Battle clarity (Reflex saves), weapon aptitude
4th	Warblade 2	+3	+6	+3	+3	concentration 1 (7), disguise 1 (3.5), hide 3 (7), ms 2 (6.5)		Uncanny dodge
5th	Warblade 3	+4	+6	+4	+4	concentration 1 (8), disguise 1 (4), hide 2 (8), ms 3 (8)		Battle ardor (critical confirmation)
6th	Psionic Assassin 1	+4	+6	+6	+4	upd 4	spring attack	Sneak attack +1d6, death attack, poison use, powers
7th	Elocator 1	+4	+6	+8	+6	autohypnosis 5, upd 4 (8)		Scorn earth, Sidestep Charge
8th	Elocator 2	+5	+6	+9	+7	hide 3 (11), ms 3 (11), tumble 1 (7), upd 3 (11)		Opportunistic strike +2
9th	Elocator 3	+6/+1	+7	+9	+7	hide 1 (12), ms 1 (12), spot 6, tumble 1 (8), upd 1 (12)	carmendine monk	Dimension step
10th	Elocator 4	+7/+2	+7	+10	+8	hide 1 (13), ms 1 (13), spot 6 (12), tumble 1 (9), upd 1 (13)		Flanker
11th	Elocator 5	+7/+2	+7	+10	+8	hide 1 (14), listen 4, ms 1 (14), spot 2 (14), tumble 1 (10), upd 1 (14)		Opportunistic strike +4
12th	Elocator 6	+8/+3	+8	+11	+9	hide 1 (15), listen 5 (9), ms 1 (14), spot 1 (15), tumble 1 (11), upd 1 (15)	spectral skirmisher	Transporter
13th	Elocator 7	+9/+4	+8	+11	+9	hide 1 (16), listen 5 (14) ms 1 (15), spot 1 (16), tumble 1 (12), upd 1 (16)		Capricious step
14th	Elocator 8	+10/+5	+8	+12	+10	hide 1 (17), listen 3 (17) ms 1 (17), spot 1 (17), k: planes 1 (0.5), upd 1 (17)		Opportunistic strike +6
15th	Elocator 9	+10/+5	+9	+12	+10	hide 1 (18), listen 1 (18), ms 1 (18), spot 1 (18) k:planes 1 (1), upd 1	evasive reflexes	Dimension spring attack
16th	Elocator 10	+11/+6/+1	+9	+13	+11	hide 1 (19), k: planes 6 (4), listen 1 (19), ms 1 (19), spot 1 (19), upd 1 (19)		Accelerated action
17th	Jaunter 1	+11/+6/+1	+9	+15	+11	hide 1 (20), listen 1 (20), ms 1 (20), spot 1 (20), tumble 5 (17), upd 1 (20)		Travel power, benign transposition
18th	Jaunter 2	+12/+7/+2	+10	+16	+12	balance 1 (6), hide 1 (21), listen 1 (21), ms 1 (21), spot 1 (21), tumble 4 (21), up 1 (20)	shi’quos school	Baleful transposition, fast movement
19th	Jaunter 3	+13/+8/+3	+10	+16	+12	balance 4 (10), hide 1 (22), listen 1 (22), ms 1 (22), spot 1 (22), tumble 1 (22), upd 1 (22)		Dimension door, teleport
20th	Jaunter 4	+14/+9/+4	+10	+17	+12	balance 4 (14), hide 1 (23) listen 1 (23), ms 1 (23), spot 1 (23), tumble 1 (23), upd 1 (23)		Freedom of movement, plane shift

Spoiler: maneuvers known

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three 1s:
leading the attack, douse the flames, steel wind
two 2s:
wall of blades, tactical strike

Spoiler: powers known

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three 1s: chameleon, control light, dimensional pocket

three 2s:
cloud mind, constrictor’s touch, dream lock

two 3s:
touchsight
greater concealing amorpha

Spoiler: playtips

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Spoiler: lvl 5

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Skulk around and get as many aoos off as you can. The tax, darkstalker, lets you sneak around monsters with special senses. Your maneuvers will add zing, and invisible fist helps with this a lot, allowing you to go invisible til the end of the round as an immediate. Cobra strike monk helps lay groundwork for elocator, paying most of the feat taxes, and carmendine monk helps out by consolidating your monk abilities under your intelligence, which also provides your psionic powers later on and gives a few bonuses from warblade.

Spoiler: lvl 10

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Psionic assassin springboards you into the secret ingredient and there’s no looking back. Kalashtar gives you a thick slice of extra power points, so make sure you enjoy them, alongside its other goodies. Take advantage of your frequent invisibility with spectral skirmisher, which, among other goodies, grants aoos when enemies try to attack your square while you’re invisible. You’ve got powers now, so enjoy them, and psionic assassin provides upd, which elocator backs up in spades. Remember transparency’s the default rule, so enjoy using dorjes and wands to your heart’s content.

Spoiler: lvl 15

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You’re nearly done with elocator, and most of your tricks have come together. Evasive reflexes lets you take a 5 foot step each time you would be entitled to an aoo, such as when people jab at you while you’re invisible under spectral skirmisher. Have fun not getting caught. Your capricious step ability, multiplying your effective number of 5 foot steps, makes this strategy much more powerful, offering a lot of flexibility and mobility on the battlefield. In tandem with elocator’s scorn earth ability, you aren’t found unless you want to be.

Spoiler: lvl 20

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You’re out of elocator and dovetailing into something that merges beautifully with it: jaunter. It shares elocator’s affinity for a great deal of battlefield mobility alongside an emphasis on tactical field movement and teleportation. Supplementing your jaunter abilities to move your friends around with benign transposition, shunt your enemies with its baleful cousin, taking greater advantage of all elocator’s movement-themed goodies with your speed boost, extra uses of dimension door, a larger teleport pool, and access to another form of plane shift, jaunter even offers up the important freedom of movement, which elocator doesn’t have on its own.

While elocator’s other goodies are limited, so jaunter’s second bank offers up a deeper bench, new functionality is always welcome. Shi’quos school is online and allows you to knock enemies prone if you charge an enemy at a lower elevation than you, which is all the time. Thanks again, scorn earth. This lets you knock him prone and unlike many similar methods of achieving this goal, there’s no recourse for him to trip you back. With your levitation via scorn earth and bottomless invisibility, all this will let you flit around at will.

Spoiler: sources

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core: monk, cobra strike monk, dodge, mobility, combat reflexes, elocator, spring attack
champions of valor: carmendine monk
exemplars of evil: invisible fist
player’s handbook II: spectral skirmisher
tome of battle: warblade, evasive reflexes
drow of the underdark: shi’quos school
lords of madness: darkstalker
expedition to the demonweb pits: jaunter
secrets of sarlona: psionic assassin

[Heliomance]

Well, that went south in a hurry

North and East

LE Dvati Divine Minion of Set
Fighter 2/Lurk 3/Elocater 7/Psychic Assassin 5/LA 3

Spoiler: Basic Crunch

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Base Ability Scores: 14 Str, 13 Dex, 14 Con, 16 Int, 13 Wis, 8 Cha
Levels: +4 Intelligence
Total: 14 Str, 13 Dex, 14 Con, 20 Int, 13 Wis, 8 Cha

Fighter ACF: Skilled City-Dweller (Handle Animal for Gather Information).

They came from the dark places. One from north, one from south. Terrors, each in their own right.
He, from the north, was of firm physique and mottled brow. He carried the mace, for its blood-stained weight defined him.
She, from the east, was of dextrous hands and lithe frame. She carried the axe, for its vicious serration defined her.
Apart, they were killers. Murderers of innocent men.
But together?
A force of nature. The hands of god.

Spoiler: ECL 6: Lurk 3/Fighter 2/LA 1

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North and East, as they are known, are a pair of thuggish Dvati twins native to Mulhorand. Despite their stylistic differences, they share a single mind and soul between them; a keen mind, at that. Though skilled combatants and a mildly competent manifester, their skillset is best suited for political or urban games.

The twins take whatever jobs they can get, both big and small, in an effort to amass wealth for themselves and gain the respect of their chosen deity, Set. Despite their low charisma score, their ranks in Bluff combined with the Conceal Thoughts power give them a distinctive edge in passing off their suspicious actions or outright lies to the unsuspecting common man. Likewise, a combination of Disguise ranks and the skill tricks Second Impression and Assume Quirk give them a significant advantage in dressing up as whomever they choose - often in pairs. In either case, they often work together so as to make use of their Pair Link racial ability (giving Aid Another checks a +3 bonus instead of +2). They use Gather Information to find only the best marks and gigs.

In combat, their tale is much the same. Expansion is used to compensate for their middling combat stats, and Spring Attack helps them get into flanking position without provoking attacks of opportunity (giving them both +1d6 sneak attack with their weapons, and the +3 flanking bonus from Pair Link). Their ranks in Spot, Listen, Move Silently, and Hide are all good for this level, allowing North and East to pick their battles and strike from advantageous locations. As Lurks, they also get six combat augments a day, usable as a swift action. Stunning Attack's DC is 13, which really isn't that bad for this level; otherwise, Additional Sneak Attack and Solid Strike are good standbys for damage.

They have two other powers of note; Compression and Detect Psionics. The former is useful for getting into the strangest places, and can optionally be a better combat bonus than Expansion. The latter is equivalent to detect magic in most campaigns, and should be treated with just as much respect.

With dedication, one earns the ire of their peers and subjects and masters. Respect follows, and gratification is oft delivered.
Such it was that, when those two found each other - the shadows of north and east, combined - they did great works in the name of their god.
And such it was that their god, Set, bestowed upon them his holy right to continue, unabated by sky or sea or space itself.
It happened in but a day, but that mattered naught.
For now, each snake and jackal and scorpion had been bestowed upon it a new strength, a new will.
The will to kill, relentless.

Spoiler: ECL 10: Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 2/LA 3

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Everything gets bigger, we enter the Secret Ingredient, and Set smiles upon the work of the twins, rewarding them with the Divine Minion template. We'll start from the top.

Spot, Hide, and Move Silently retain most of their bite with added skill ranks, although the latter two will begin to dwindle in effectiveness thanks to the commonality of sighted creatures (scent, blindsight, etc) and a lack of further skill ranks, so we'll be dropping it soon. Instead, we start pouring ranks into Knowledge (Local) so that our new Knowledge Devotion feat can start giving us bonuses in combat against humanoid opponents, which are North and East's intended targets (all in the name of Set, you understand). As for new powers, Psionic Knock can get us into almost anywhere without the need for an Open Lock check, and Detect Hostile Intent is an excellent addition to North and East's growing perceptive talents.

Let's talk about Elocater, though, because it's intent here is to be the star of the show. Scorn Earth lets us avoid most earthly obstacles, gives us pseudo-water walking, and should even let us climb walls - not to mention the ability to levitate, should we need it. Opportunistic Strike, while not "better" than the free movement of Scorn Earth, is quite powerful in the hands of North and East. Since each Dvati twin is considered a separate creature, they should have no trouble triggering this ability and using the +2 attack and damage bonus to land a devastating Lurk Augment or two.

Which brings us to Divine Minion. It was only a matter of time until North and East would kill enough of the right people to earn Set's respect, and their reward is potent indeed: Immunity to Fear is nice, as is the Outsider type, but free-action Wildshape is a big deal. The Brown Bear and Large Giant(Monstrous?) Scorpion forms are perfect for combat, with high physical ability scores, three attacks per round, and the Improved Grab ability to pin down pesky enemies. Otherwise, the various forms offer an immense amount of versatility, and can even be used as disguises thanks to the innate +10 bonus for shapeshifting.

They took many.
Dullards, to begin with, then the foolhardy. Their kind proved easy to quell.
The strong followed, and the dextrous, for they believed their strength was greater. Yet none could best the pair, cunning as they were.
Those of sagastic minds, wisened hearts and powerful egos proved the greatest challenge, but, ultimately, to no avail.
After all;
Folk of Set, God is He, do not care for the prayers of heathens.

Spoiler: ECL 17: Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 4/Psychic Assassin 5/LA 3 (Sweet Spot)

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It's a big jump in levels from ECL 10, but the wait is definitely worth it. Empowered by their faith, North and East complete the Test of Venom and enter The Fangs of Set, an assassin-cult - and, hence, we're going to take a quick detour from the SI to unlock the twins' true potential.

Psychic Assassin is an interesting prestige class, being part-Assassin and part-Psychic Rogue, but its abilities are perfect for North and East. +2d6 bonus sneak attack damage is a boon when flanking or attacking an unsuspecting foe, while a DC ~20 Death Attack can outright kill an unfortunate enemy - although, that being said, the twins do rather like toying with their food. Most importantly, however, is the acquisition of Mind Cripple, which adds 2 intelligence damage to every sneak attack they make. With the new addition of the Mental Assault augment, capable of dealing an additional 6 intelligence or wisdom damage, the twins should be more than capable of either sending enemies into a stupor or severely crippling most spellcasters, even without dealing lethal damage. Lurk Master also gives us access to the Ignore Concealment augment; handy for dealing sneak attack damage and triggering Mind Cripple. It's also noteworthy to mention that more ranks in Knowledge skills, as well as the Collector or Stories skill trick, should provide a solid combat bonus to the twins' attacks.

Extra levels of Elocater and extra manifester levels serve to either further the twins' potency or add extra dimensions to play. Dimension Step gets us about, gets us out, or gets us into places we shouldn't be; it's once a day, sure, but the ability to bring multiple creatures along for the ride is real fancy. Meanwhile, Flanker ensures that North and East will always be able to give themselves (or their allies) flanking bonuses, even when occupying the same space as an enemy. Energy Adaptation and Greater Concealing Amorpha protect us against energy damage and targeted attacks, respectively, and are excellent defensive buffs. It should also be noted that Expansion and Compression can now be reliably augmented without crippling the Lurk's tiny power point pool, further modifying the twins' size to whatever their preference - an ability useful both inside and outside of combat.

After all, why bother assassinating a guard, impersonating him, and manually opening doors when one can just wildshape into a viper and shink to Tiny size? With a high disguise bonus, the Escape Detection power and some guile, North and East should be experts at hiding in plain sight; scent can't rightly penetrate a later of perfume, and blindsense won't reveal the murderous psyche of a polymorphed twin. Once inside, a roguish triumvirate of Disable Device, Search, and Psionic Knock should prove more than adequate to deal with most physical barriers or preventative measures, opening the door for North, East, or some other assassin to seal the deal. Speaking of which: Fell Conspiracy is an interesting feat, and it secures North and East's place within Set's cult of assassins and vagabonds. Long-distance communication through Message, short-range Telepathy, bonuses to Spot and Listen, and an inability to be either flanked or caught flat-footed can help to ensure the success of almost any operation, much to the delight of Set himself.

Soon, though, the night ended. The run rose. The shadows subsided.
None know where they went, those creatures of malice and vile.
Mayhaps they left, set to terrorise some other plane of existence.
Or mayhaps they linger, hiding in the dark, waiting for those unwitting to fall prey to their jaws.
Suffice to say, little one, you had best be on your way. Head home, be safe, and sleep deeply.
For the curfew comes, and the shadows close.
Don't tempt them to return.

Spoiler: ECL 20: Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 7/Psychic Assassin 5/LA 3

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These final levels serve to round out the build, and while not strictly necessary are nevertheless fair additions. Opportunistic Strike increases to +4, giving further incentive to the precise use of Mental Assault, and Capricious Step is a very nice boost for a mobile, flanking fighter-pair like North and East. Transporter is the most interesting ability, however, as it gives us both Psionic Teleport and Psionic Plane Shift at a discount. With these abilities, the twins should be more than capable of taking themselves and any other assassins of Set to any location upon any plane, all to further the goals and will of their god. Why stop at Mulhorand when you could go to Thay, to Heliopolis, or to Sigil, and wreak havoc untold?

We also get two other powers with these levels: Touchsight, and Steadfast Perception. Both are effective solutions to most forms of visual or audial trickery, as targets are wont to do. Urban Tracking gives us the mortal means to do Set's will without his constant guidance, and should prove invaluable for tracking high-value targets across the multiverse.

Spoiler: Build Table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Lurk 1	+0	+0	+2	+2	4 Concentration, 4 Disguise, 4 Spot, 4 Listen, 4 Hide, 4 Move Silently, 4 Bluff	Hidden Talent: Expansion	Lurk Augment
2nd	Lurk 2	+1	+0	+3	+3	5 Concentration, 5 Disguise, 5 Spot, 5 Listen, 5 Hide, 5 Move Silently, 5 Bluff		Psionic Sneak Attack +1d6
3rd	Lurk 2/Fighter 1	+2	+2	+3	+3	5 Concentration, 5 Disguise, 5 Spot, 5 Listen, 5 Hide, 5 Move Silently, 5 Bluff, 3 Gather Information | Skill Trick: Assume Quirk	Dodge, Mobility (Bonus Feat)
4th	Lurk 3/Fighter 1	+3	+3	+3	+3	7 Concentration, 5 Disguise, 6 Spot, 5 Listen, 7 Hide, 7 Move Silently, 5 Bluff, 3 Gather Information
5th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2	+4	+4	+3	+3	8 Concentration{CC}, 5 Disguise, 6 Spot, 5 Listen, 7 Hide, 7 Move Silently, 5 Bluff, 4 Gather Information | Skill Trick: Second Impression	Spring Attack (Bonus Feat)
6th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 1	+4	+4	+5	+5	8 Concentration, 5 Disguise, 6 Spot, 6 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 6 Knowledge (Local), 5 Bluff, 4 Gather Information	Knowledge Devotion: Religion, Sidestep Charge (Bonus Feat)	Scorn Earth
7th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 2	+5	+4	+6	+6	8 Concentration, 5 Disguise, 9 Spot, 6 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 6 Knowledge (Local), 6 Knowledge (Religion), 5 Bluff, 4 Gather Information		Opportunistic Strike +2
8th-9th	Mulhorandi Divine Minion of Set LA +2	-	-	-	-	-	-	Fast Wild Shape (Brown bear, constrictor snake, crocodile, jackal (dog), Large giant scorpion, Medium viper, Medium giant scorpion), Fear Immunity, Type: Outsider
10th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 3	+6/+1	+5	+6	+6	8 Concentration, 5 Disguise, 11 Spot, 8 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 8 Knowledge (Local), 10 Knowledge (Religion), 5 Bluff, 4 Gather Information		Dimension Step
11th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 3/Psychic Assassin 1	+6/+1	+5	+8	+6	8 Concentration, 11 Disguise, 10 Spot, 5 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 8 Knowledge (Local), 10 Knowledge (Religion), 5 Bluff, 4 Gather Information | Skill Trick: Collector of Stories	Fell Conspiracy	Sneak Attack +1d6, Death Attack, Poison Use
12th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 3/Psychic Assassin 2	+7/+2	+5	+9	+6	8 Concentration, 13 Disguise, 10 Spot, 5 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 8 Knowledge (Local), 10 Knowledge (Religion), 5 Bluff, 4 Gather Information, 3 Disable Device, 3 Search		+1 Save Against Poison
13th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 3/Psychic Assassin 3	+8/+3	+6	+9	+7	8 Concentration, 15 Disguise, 10 Spot, 5 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 8 Knowledge (Local), 10 Knowledge (Religion), 5 Bluff, 4 Gather Information, 6 Disable Device, 6 Search		Danger Sense (Uncanny Dodge)
14th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 3/Psychic Assassin 4	+9/+4	+6	+10	+7	8 Concentration, 16 Disguise, 10 Spot, 5 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 8 Knowledge (Local), 11 Knowledge (Religion), 5 Bluff, 4 Gather Information, 9 Disable Device, 9 Search	Lurk Master	Sneak Attack +2d6, +2 Save Against Poison
15th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 3/Psychic Assassin 5	+9/+4	+6	+10	+7	8 Concentration, 17 Disguise, 10 Spot, 5 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 8 Knowledge (Local), 12 Knowledge (Religion), 5 Bluff, 4 Gather Information, 12 Disable Device, 12 Search		Danger Sense (Improved Uncanny Dodge), Special Ability (Mind Cripple)
16th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 4/Psychic Assassin 5	+10/+5	+6	+11	+8	8 Concentration, 17 Disguise, 15 Spot, 10 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 8 Knowledge (Local), 12 Knowledge (Religion), 5 Bluff, 4 Gather Information, 12 Disable Device, 12 Search		Flanker
17th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 5/Psychic Assassin 5	+10/+5	+6	+11	+8	8 Concentration, 17 Disguise, 15 Spot, 10 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 10 Knowledge (Local), 15 Knowledge (Religion), 5 Bluff, 9 Gather Information, 12 Disable Device, 12 Search	Urban Tracking	Opportunistic Strike +4
18th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 6/Psychic Assassin 5	+11/+6/+1	+7	+12	+9	8 Concentration, 17 Disguise, 15 Spot, 10 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 12 Knowledge (Local), 16 Knowledge (Religion), 5 Bluff, 15 Gather Information, 13 Disable Device, 13 Search		Transporter
19th	Lurk 3/Fighter 2/Elocater 7/Psychic Assassin 5	+12/+7/+2	+7	+12	+9	8 Concentration, 17 Disguise, 18 Spot, 10 Listen, 8 Hide, 8 Move Silently, 14 Knowledge (Local), 18 Knowledge (Religion), 5 Bluff, 15 Gather Information, 15 Disable Device, 15 Search		Capricious Step
20th	Dvati LA +1	-	-	-	-	-	-	60ft Darkvision, Twins, Echo Attack, Pair Link, Spell Conductor

Spoiler: Lurk Manifesting

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Daily Power Points and Manifester Level by HD:
(Includes bonus PP according to the Hidden Talent feat and base intelligence at each level. Magic items and other methods of improvement are not calculated here.)
1 HD: 4 PP, ML 1.
2-3 HD: 7 PP, ML 2.
4-5 HD: 9 PP, ML 3.
6-7 HD: 13 PP, ML 4.
8-9 HD: 19 PP, ML 5.
10-11 HD: 25 PP, ML 6.
12-13 HD: 31 PP, ML 7.
14-16 HD: 37 PP, ML 8.
16 HD: 47 PP, ML 9.
17 HD: 54 PP, ML 10.

Powers Known by HD:
1 HD: Compression, Expansion (Bonus)
2-3 HD: Conceal Thoughts
4-5 HD: Detect Psionics
6-7 HD: Psionic Knock
8-9 HD: Detect Hostile Intent
10-11 HD: Specified Energy Adaptation
12-13 HD: Greater Concealing Amorpha
14-16 HD: Escape Detection
16 HD: Touchsight, Psionic Teleport (Bonus), Psionic Plane Shift (Bonus)
17 HD: Steadfast Perception

Spoiler: Sources

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Expanded Psionics Handbook: Elocater, Hidden Talent, many powers
Forgotten Realms Web Articles: Divine Minion of Set
Dragon Magazine Compendium: Dvati
Complete Champion: Knowledge Devotion
Complete Psionics: Lurk, Lurk Master, many powers
Cityscape: Urban Tracking
Urban Classes: Skilled City-Dweller ACF
Exemplars of Evil: Fell Conspiracy
Mind's Eye: Psychic Assassin
Complete Scoundrel: Assume Quirk, Second Impression, Collector of Stories

[Heliomance]

Snaaaake, it's a snaaaaake, ooh, it's a snaaaake

Hssssss~

snek snek snek snek

"..Sir, must you truly insist that this thing is to be kept here?"

Master Trevlemere looked up from his studies. Before him laid tomes upon tomes, each detailing a different procedure, all in aid towards his goal. A goal that would shake the magical community to its knees, of that he was sure - as soon as he had the materials and knowledge at hand to do so.

He had already finished his studies. Thankfully, his assistant Grigory would help provide the final components.

"Yes. Yes, I do insist. Why? Does it bother you?"

As if to punctuate the point, Trevlemere's subject hissed sharply, baring its fangs. Grigory jumped. It wasn't the fangs that scared him; the beast was, after all, of a non-venomous variety. It was its sheer size and strength that troubled him.

"W-Well, yes, sir. It does! It could eat either of us whole, sir!"

"Well too bad. You're going to help me, and we're going to do it right this time. We need to use something wild, and this is it. No domestics."

"Sir-"

"Shut it," the master snapped, pulling a rod from his vest. "Stop talking and make yourself useful instead," he said, "put it to sleep. I'll need it placid if this is to work."

He tossed the rod to Grigory. The boy caught it deftly, but he hesitated.

Then he steeled himself.

"Yes, sir."

Spoiler: The Build

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Gripp, the Giant Constrictor Snake
Huge Animal
Hit Dice: 11d8+14 (63 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 20ft. (4 squares), climb 20ft., swim 20ft.
Armour Class: 15 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +4 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+23
Attack: Bite +13 melee (1d8+10)
Full Attack: Bite +13 melee (1d8+10)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Constrict 1d8+10, Improved Grab
Special Qualities: Scent
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +4
Abilities: Str 25, Dex, 17, Con 13, Int 1, Wis 12, Cha 2
Skills: Balance +11, Climb +17, Hide +10, Listen +9, Spot +9, Swim +16
Feats: Midnight Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Toughness
Environment: Warm forests, cages
Organisation: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 6
Advancement: Anthropomorphic

Spoiler: Dig Deeper

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Spoiler: Plans Gone Awry

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Not all creatures are born equal.

Gripp, for one, began his life as a mere serpent. He slept well, he ate smaller critters, and occasionally defended himself from larger predators. Life was simple. Life was good.

Then he got caught by a wizard. And then that wizard stuck him in a cage, and then that wizard doused him with alchemical substances and magical spells until up was down and right was wrong. It hurt. It made him angry. And so when the wizard cast his final spell, turning him from snake-thing to man-snake-thing, he wanted to return the favour. He wanted to show the wizard what it had felt like to be experimented on. Wanted him to know the pain that he had felt for so long.

Unfortunately, the wizard did not survive the process. The world would, sadly, not learn of his marvellous creation. A true shame. On the upside, though, this left Gripp free to do pretty much whatever he wanted. It was a welcome freedom after his lengthy imprisonment, although he would soon learn to carve his innate magic into a weapon. It turned out that most humanoids didn't like having a giant, serpentine creature slithering amongst them, and so he often found himself either fighting for his life or living on the fringes of society. Either way, he was left to fend for himself.

Not everyone hated him, though. By comparison, adventurer-ilk were no strangers to strange things, and often treated him with a modicum of respect. Eventually, he encountered a group which was more than happy to take him along, providing food and shelter so long as he pulled his weight. Which he did, naturally.

Years passed like this. Decades, even. Not with the same group, of course - adventurers rarely partied for long, and his skills were always demanded elsewhere - but in essence, this was certainly true. He built quite a name for himself, even, with his incredible speed and massive size making him a force to be reckoned with in battles and taverns alike. His skills as a scout were, likewise, treasured even by the best. It wasn't good enough for him, though, that life of sheer excess and battle. Not quite.

He wanted something with just a little more bite than that.

And so, he advanced his powers. He worked hard to better himself. He trained hard to go farther, faster, through means both mundane and magical. He learned to teleport, individually or in groups, and learned how to move between the planes themselves. At the behest of a dare, and with little concern for his own safety, he pushed himself to depart alone - and depart he did. For eight years.

He came back one day, yes, but changed. Irrevocably. Not just in mind, for he had grown far more unstable in his time away, but in body, too. His scales had darkened, his eyes had turned to pits, and his very body had been kissed by the plane of shadow upon which he had been forced to reside in servitude to some dark race. He never spoke of it, and he never drank a drop again. Instead, he hid. He brooded.

He still got work, of course. He always had, and always would; such was the life of a supermassive constrictor-kin. Many noticed the changes in his will and ways, but did nothing, believing it to be mere age. He still fought well, after all, if a bit more viciously than before. He could take care of himself, they reasoned. He had to be strong enough to do that.

And so he died, on the inside out, until the day he died.

A walking husk.

Spoiler: Build Basics

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Gripp, the Husk That Was
Race: Anthropomorphic Giant Constrictor Snake (3 RHD, LA 1)
Classes: RHD 3/Psychic Warrior 5/Elocater 10/LA +2
Alignment: True Neutral (becoming Chaotic Neutral at ECL 15).
Psychic Warrior ACF: Mantled warrior (replaces 2nd level bonus feat with a Mantle).

Ability Scores: 32 Point Buy
Base: 17 Str, 8 Dex, 16 Con, 10 Int, 13 Wis, 10 Cha
Racial: +6 Str, +8 Dex, -2 Con, +4 Wis, -4 Cha
Levels: +1 Wis, +3 Str
Total: 26 Str, 16 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Int, 18 Wis, 6 Cha

Spoiler: Build Table, Mark II

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ECL	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
4th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/LA 1	+3	+1	+3	+3	6 Hide, 6 Spot	Midnight Dodge, Mobility	+4 Natural Armour, 20ft Land/Swim/Climb Speed, Bite (1d6), Improved Grab (Bite), Constrict (1d6), Scent, Darkvision 60ft, Alignment: True Neutral
5th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 1/LA 1	+3	+3	+3	+3	6 Hide, 6 Spot, 2 Concentration	Speed of Thought (Bonus Feat)
6th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 2/LA 1	+4	+4	+3	+3	6 Hide, 6 Spot, 4 Concentration		Mantled Warrior: Freedom
7th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 3/LA 1	+5	+4	+4	+4	6 Hide, 6 Spot, 6 Concentration	Spring Attack
8th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 4/LA 1	+6	+5	+4	+4	6 Hide, 6 Spot, 8 Concentration
9th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 1/LA 1	+6/+1	+5	+6	+6	6 Hide, 6 Spot, 8 Concentration, 6 Move Silently	Sidestep Charge (Bonus Feat)	Scorn Earth
10th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 2/LA 1	+7/+2	+5	+7	+7	9 Hide, 6 Spot, 8 Concentration, 9 Move Silently	Elusive Target	Opportunistic Strike +2
11th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 3/LA 1	+8/+3	+6	+7	+7	12 Hide, 6 Spot, 8 Concentration, 12 Move Silently		Dimension Step
12th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 4/LA 1	+9/+4	+6	+8	+8	14 Hide, 6 Spot, 8 Concentration, 14 Move Silently, 2 Listen		Flanker
13th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 5/LA 1	+9/+4	+6	+8	+8	15 Hide, 6 Spot, 8 Concentration, 15 Move Silently, 6 Listen	Darkstalker	Opportunistic Strike +4
14th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 6/LA 1	+10/+5	+7	+9	+9	16 Hide, 8 Spot, 8 Concentration, 16 Move Silently, 8 Listen		Transporter
15th	Dark Creature Template +1 LA	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Hide in Plain Sight, Resistance to Cold 10, Superior Low-Light Vision, Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
16th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 7/LA 2	+11/+6/+1	+7	+9	+9	17 Hide, 10 Spot, 8 Concentration, 17 Move Silently, 10 Listen		Capricious Step
17th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 8/LA 2	+12/+7/+2	+7	+10	+10	18 Hide, 12 Spot, 8 Concentration, 18 Move Silently, 12 Listen	Shape Soulmeld (Kraken Mantle)	Opportunistic Strike +6
18th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 9/LA 2	+12/+7/+2	+8	+10	+10	19 Hide, 14 Spot, 8 Concentration, 19 Move Silently, 14 Listen		Dimension Spring Attack
19th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 10/LA 2	+13/+8/+3	+8	+11	+11	20 Hide, 16 Spot, 8 Concentration, 20 Move Silently, 16 Listen		Accelerated Action
20th	Monstrous Humanoid 3/Psychic Warrior 5/Elocater 10/LA 2	+13/+8/+3	+8	+11	+11	20 Hide, 16 Spot, 10 Concentration, 20 Move Silently, 16 Listen	Open Lesser Chakra (Arms), Bounding Assault (Bonus Feat)

Spoiler: Psychic Warrior Manifesting

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Daily Power Points and Manifester Level by ECL:
(Includes bonus PP according to base wisdom at each level. Magic items and other methods of improvement are not calculated here.)
5th: 2 PP, ML 1
6th: 5 PP, ML 2
7th: 9 PP, ML 3
8th-9th: 13 PP, ML 4
10th: 17 PP, ML 5
11th-12th: 23 PP, ML 6
13th: 29 PP, ML 7
14th-16th: 35 PP, ML 8
17th: 41 PP, ML 9
18th: 47 PP, ML 10
19th: 57 PP, ML 11
20th: 67 PP, ML 12

Powers Known by ECL:
5th: Grip of Iron
6th: Expansion
7th: Call Item
8th-9th: Prowess
10th: Detect Hostile Intent
11th-12th: Damp Power
13th: Greater Concealing Amorpha
14th-16th: Dimension Hop, Psionic Teleport, Psionic Plane Shift
17th: Strength of My Enemy
18th: Steadfast Perception
19th: Psychokinetic Weapon
20th: Power Claws

Spoiler: ECL Breakdowns

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ECL 5: RHD 3/LA 1/Psychic Warrior 1

Spoiler

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Gripp begins his life as an Anthropomorphic Constrictor Snake with a single level in Psychic Warrior. I'll explain both.

Anthropomorphic Constrictor Snakes are an interesting base. Natural Large size gives him advantages in grapple checks, and he retains the Improved Grab (Bite) and Constrict abilities of his animal cousin. At this stage, his plan for combat encounters is simple; find the most vulnerable target, and then grapple it to death. Although his 20ft movement speed is something of a weakness, he does possess both a swim speed and a climb speed (both 20ft), giving him a reasonable amount of maneuverability despite his sub-par speed.

Then, at level 4, he becomes a Psychic Warrior. It would be an overstatement to say that everything changes, but it does give him a lot of new tools to work with. For starters, it gives us access to the Speed of Thought feat, boosting all of our modes of movement (land, climb, and swim) by +10ft. We also learn a single psionic power, which will be Grip of Iron, because at this level Expansion only lasts for a single round (though feel free to purchase a Dorje with a higher manifester level). Grip of Iron gives us a +4 enhancement bonus to grapple checks for 1 round/level and we can activate it as an immediate action, making it a fairly reasonable tool for a semi-dedicated grappler like ourselves. Our 18 Wisdom gives us a grand total of 2 power points, so make those two manifestations count.

We also have some other tidbits. Midnight Dodge isn't too important for now, but will be useful later and allows us to qualify for the Spring Attack line (which we need for Elocater). Mobility is a nice bonus, though we don't really optimise around it. We also have 5 ranks in Balance, for reasons you're likely already aware of. Our ranks in Hide will come into play soon, but not yet.

On a final note is our equipment. As a psychic warrior, we can (and should) be using medium armour (breastplate, ideally), because we have a decent dexterity bonus and because Spring Attack can't be used in heavy armour. This medium armour is ideally enchanted, and should almost definitely have armour spikes, because getting free damage on a successful grapple at the cost of a few gold pieces is just plain good. Consider getting a Glaive for attacks of opportunity, as it has reach (30ft for a Large creature) and a high base damage (2d8 for a Large creature), but try to stick to your bite and armour spikes for full attacks. Your aim should be to initiate a free grapple using a bite, followed by free constrict damage on a successful grapple check (with armour spikes providing bonus damage on future rounds, if I have the right reading here).

Spoiler: Grapples

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Let's do some maths, since maths is a) fun and b) illustrative.

• At ECL 5, we have 4 hit dice and a BAB of +3.
• At this level, Gripp has a base Strength score of 23, for a +6 modifier as a bonus to grapple checks.
• Since we're Large, we have a +4 size bonus to grapple checks.
• Finally, Grip of Iron gives us a +4 enhancement bonus to grapple checks.

This is a total bonus of +17, which, like all things in dnd 3.5e, is miles stronger than the capabilities of a character who hasn't optimised their grappling capabilities.
In other words, it should be more than enough for our needs at ECL 4.

ECL 10: RHD 3/LA 1/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 2

Spoiler

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Gripp develops his psychic powers and applies his growing mobility to the Elocater class.

Psychic Warrior gives us more powers, more power points, and a trick or two. With the Mantled Warrior ACF, we get a mantle of our choice instead of our 2nd level bonus feat, and we're going to go with the Freedom Mantle. This gives us the mantle's granted ability - in this case, +10ft/round to our speed (all modes, again, since it doesn't specify otherwise) for a total of 40ft/round, and the vaguely useful ability to expend our focus to resist or escape a grapple (why would we want to?) - as well as access to its powers, if we want them. By ECL 10, we end up picking the following powers:

• Expansion, for the benefits of Huge size; for us, that's damage dice, extra Strength, and a bigger bonus to Grapple checks. Lasts either 5 rounds or, with an augment, a whopping 50 minutes. And it gets better once we hit ML 7, with either a swift-action manifest or the effect of Gargantuan size.
• Call Item, because having the ability to summon almost any mundane item - up to a price of 1000gp, using the power's augments - is an absurdly powerful ability to have. Even if we presume that we have to be able to hold the item in question in our hands in order to successfully manifest this power, our ability to turn Gargantuan size muddies even those waters. I'll talk more about it elsewhere, though, so as not to clutter the list itself.
• Prowess gives us another chance at landing an attack of opportunity against an enemy, particularly one who triggers Sidestep Charge. The ability to disrupt an opponent's entire turn, especially after they've used all of their actions, with an unexpected grapple should not be underestimated.
• Detect Hostile Intent makes for an excellent way to scout out enemies, even through walls, despite our poor detection skills. Its long duration is an added bonus.

Spoiler: Call Item

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As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of things we could summon with this power.

• Basic items, as referred to by the power and in Table 7-8 of the Player's Handbook. A flask of acid, a 10-foot ladder, chains and ropes and bindings of any size or quality, chalk, crowbars, even a portable ram. Food might be pushing it, but could be theoretically useful. Summoning an everburning torch is a neat party trick.
• On the note of acid, most alchemical items and poisons fall under the limits of this power. Torchbug Paste is good for revealing creatures you've detected, but haven't pinpointed, via Detect Hostile Intent. Sleep-Smoke can be used to brute-force enemies into unconsciousness, for grappling or otherwise. Stonebreaker Acid can be used to break through stone walls with little effort.
• Freestanding Walls, as described in the Stronghold Builder's Guide. A 10x10x6 block of hewn stone is impractically difficult for most creatures to destroy, could theoretically be held in a Huge- or Gargantuan-sized creature's hands, and could be used for short-term battlefield manipulation.
• Thanks to Scorn Earth, we can have all sorts of fun using Marbles and Caltrops. Marbles are fun for creatures that can't make balance checks or who don't have the 5 ranks needed to retain their dexterity bonus to AC. Caltrops can be used to hinder the movement of nearby, ground-walking creatures, and Crystal Caltrops can brute-force a creature to sleep. This is our alternative to Freestanding Walls for a source of "mundane," short-term battlefield control.
• Shapesand and Chaos Flasks are infamously versatile items which can be generated with this power. With a successful wisdom check - something which Gripp should be fairly competent at - nearly any item, or even diminuitive creature, can be created with a mere handful of rounds (and without the restrictions applied to Call Item). There are too many uses for me to realistically list here.
• Really, just use your imagination.

For many of these items, the logic of RAW would be that they are expended after use, and that their effects afterwords would technically remain after the expiry of the Call Item power under any other circumstances. A more RAI approach limits the usability of many of these options, but not by much; many of these expendable items only require one round to be useful.

We should also consider getting a dorje of Chameleon, if possible, to help offset the size penalties to hide that we're quickly beginning to amass.

We also get some levels in Elocater, which gives us two abilities of note: Scorn Earth, and Opportunistic Strike. Sidestep Charge is just icing right now, being an extra +4 AC and an opportunity attack (if we haven't already used it) against chargers, but we'll be talking more about it later on. Scorn Earth is a really neat ability that lets us just ignore difficult terrain, practically ensuring that we'll be the most mobile character in any combat encounter. Its uses outside combat shouldn't be ignored, either; it lets us levitate at will (either at 10ft/round or with our various +10ft bonuses, it's not entirely clear), and we should even be capable of moving along walls or ceilings using it. It is, for all intents and purposes, a straight improvement to all our modes of movement. Opportunistic Strike is "less useful" in that it doesn't do anything on its own, but in a team environment (i.e. most combats, since we're likely in an adventuring party) gives us a nice attack and damage bonus that's practically free. It's also a reward for sticking close to our teammates.

There's another reason for us to stay close to our party, though, and that's Spring Attack. Spring Attack gives us a way to make use of our high movement speed, ability to ignore difficult terrain, and also our grapple modifier. Thanks to the wording on Spring Attack, Gripp can choose to use his bite instead of a more standard weapon, and therefore get an opportunity to make a grapple check on the run - similar to a pouncing tiger, but with some very interesting caveats. Let's say that we make the attack roll and initiate the grapple successfully. But what then? Spring Attack says that we interrupted a single move action with a standard attack, and that we would normally continue our move action to our intended destination. However, the Grapple rules say that we have to spend a standard action to move while grappling, and only on a successful check, but we've already spent our standard action this round to initiate the grapple.

My interpretation of these rules is that, despite being in a Spring Attack, we stop moving because we're in a grapple; it seems to be the more reasonable option of the two. More importantly, we have ways to get around this restriction. Since ECL 5, we've gotten access to the Expansion power (Huge size, for an extra +5) and the augmentation of Grip of Iron (for another +2). We also have a higher base Strength (24, for an extra +1) and BAB (another +3). We probably also have some relevant magic items and grafts, mentioned in a later section, but we don't expressly need them to achieve our goal here. At ECL 10, we have a baseline grapple modifier of +28, which should prove more than enough against most enemies. Since we use the Improved Grab ability to enter into grapples, we have the option of taking a -20 penalty to our check to remain uninhibited by the grapple, and our baseline grapple modifier is probably high enough to do so without comprimising the grapple. If we do, then we should be able to continue our Spring Attack movement unhindered, bringing the enemy creature with us. This has uses both alone and in groups; alone, we can levitate or hover-climb our way into dropping an enemy from a deadly height or into an otherwise dangerous area; in groups, we can drag them back to our teammates to clobber with impunity. If we want, we can even repeat the process in future rounds - even if we have an opponent already in tow!

I'd also like to give a brief mention to Sidestep Charge, which we get for free just for being an Elocater. This little, do-nothing feat is even less useful for us in most contexts, since our massive size lends itself well to getting an attack of opportunity off before the target is even in melee range. The +4 bonus to AC is nice, sure, but hardly worth considering. There's a slight interaction between this feat and the Elusive Target feat worth mentioning, and for simplicity's sake, I'm going to presume that you're already familiar with the Shock Trooper feat and its common CharOp applications. I'm going to list it as a sequence of events, since that'll be easy to explain.

• Someone is going to charge Gripp, or otherwise looks like the charging type.
• Gripp allocates that creature as their Dodge target.
• That creature uses the Heedless Charge maneuver from the Shock Trooper feat, pumping their power attack damage at the cost of AC.
• Gripp's Elusive Target feat triggers, and the enemy gets no power attack damage. They still take the penalties though.
• Sidestep Charge also triggers, and he gets a +4 bonus to his AC against the charge. This punishes the enemy if they left any power attack penalties on their attack roll.
• Even if the enemy makes it past Gripp's threatened area without provoking an attack of opportunity, he gets one anyway if they miss, which punishes them for either penalising their attack roll or for penalising their AC.

In other words, it's a nice bonus that's nice to have. Gripp, having Improved Grab (Bite), can also just use this as an opportunity to make a grapple check and ruin the opponent's day, so that's handy. If we use Prowess, we can even get a second attack of opportunity per turn (and change our dodge target to the charging enemy at the same time), reactively allowing us to make even greater use of these abilities.

ECL 15: RHD 3/LA 2/Psychic Warrior 4/Elocater 6 (Sweet Spot)

Spoiler

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Gripp furthers his skills as a dimension-skating Elocater, and aquires the Dark template after a plane shift gone wrong.

More levels of Elocater mean more fancy tricks. Opportunistic Strike increases to +4, and Flanker should allow us to receive the bonuses for flanking a grappled target even though we're sharing the same space during a grapple, making for some nice teamwork opportunities. Though the RAW on what happens when a grappled character makes use of the Flanker ability is a little fuzzy, since we'll ideally be considered ungrappled it shouldn't prove that much of an issue. Dimension Step lets us get almost anywhere we want, but faster than if we'd just levitated there via Scorn Earth; for situations with time constraints, it's a clear improvement. Transporter, meanwhile, gives us access to Psionic Teleport and Psionic Plane Shift, for long-distance travel at a discount. This makes you, for all intents and purposes, the party caravan; capable of teleporting virtually anywhere, on virtually any plane of existence, at the cost of a mere 5 power points. Unfortunately, Psionic Plane Shift can't be used on an unwilling target like the standard spell version, even if both it and Psionic Teleport can still be freely used on unconscious targets. These abilities also give Gripp the perfect opportunity to aquire some highly useful grafts from throughout the cosmos, which I'll explore more in the Tools of the Trade section.

Regardless, the potential use of these powers is quite useful, and the resulting extraplanar adventures result in Gripp aquiring the Dark Creature template. His skill ranks in Hide and Move Silently come into full bloom thanks to this template, which grants hefty bonuses to both while also giving the Hide in Plain Sight ability. In addition, the template grants a +10ft bonus to speed, increasing Gripp's land, climb, and swim movement modes to a grand total of 50ft/round. We finally acquire the Darkstalker feat, which has been a long time coming (since we've had ranks in Hide since level 1) but has only now become truly relevant thanks to the Dark template and our now-capped ranks in Hide and Move Silently. Gripp should now have little trouble, if any, concealing himself before fights, his enhanced speed allowing him to move at a pace equivalent to most standard party members even while sneaking.

Gripp also gets to further his psionic knowledge, reaching a manifester level of 9 and learning 4 new powers.

• Damp Power, for an immediate-action "counter" to any numerically-variable powers, spells, PLAs, or SLAs that target us. With the augment, we can even protect our whole party from area spells, presuming we're in the area of effect; who needs Evasion when a 6d6 fireball only does 6 damage?
• Greater Concealing Amorpha is all the benefits of improved invisibility, but with none of the precise text that allows for easy interaction from opponents. The shorter duration is well worth the benefits of nigh-impregnable total concealment.
• Dimension Hop comes into its own here, with out enhanced manifester level and power point reserve letting us use this power to greater potential than before. We can use this to quickly cross obstacles that we would otherwise have to levitate over, or to extend our reach for Spring Attacks (by using it before we Spring Attack with the intent to bring back our target back to our team, or to otherwise drop them off somewhere unfortunate).
• Strength of My Enemy, particularly with its swift-action enhancement, is a fairly decent combat buff that we can apply to our bite. Though the limited lifespan of most enemies and short duration of most combats in 3.5e will often prevent us from getting a particularly high bonus from this power, the associated no-save strength damage will help to further increase our odds of a successful grapple check.

Speaking of grapple checks, let's do a quick checkup on Gripp's grapple modifier at ECL 15, since it's kinda important for him. Expansion now increases our size to Gargantuan, for another +6; Grip of Iron gets us another +2; our BAB has increased, for an extra +3; and we can probably expect a minimum +2 bonus from Strength of My Enemy. This is another +13 atop our previous total of +28, for a baseline of +41. Taking the -20 penalty to remain ungrappled is now a lot less risky for us to do, as we've still got a +18 grapple modifier to swing around.

ECL 20: RHD 3/LA 2/Psychic Warrior 5/Elocater 10

Spoiler

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Gripp learns the final talents of an Elocater, and returns to his roots with a final level in Psychic Warrior.

Elocater gets some new tricks; some big, some small, as per usual. Capricious Step is a pretty useful trick for a character of Gargantuan size, since a mere 5ft step is nothing in the eyes of giants. Even if our main tactic is to grapple enemies, in more long-winded and equal-strength battles where we're forced to use only full attacks to resolve things, the ability to take a 10ft step could prove invaluable. Opportunistic Strike gets another increase, resulting in a total bonus of +6, though there's not much else to discuss in regards to it.

Of greater interest are the Dimension Spring Attack and Accelerated Action class features. Dimension Spring Attack, though usable only once per day, further extends our capabilities as a guerilla combatant; though we likely can't bring an opponent back with us, it can be used to better navigate past pits and obstacles, or to flawlessly attack from hiding before disappearing again without a trace. Accelerated Action is an even more interesting ability, giving us an effect equivalent to 3e Haste for up to 5 rounds per day. While the full attack bonus is nice (again, not all combats can be won through Spring Attacks) and the movement bonus mildly useful, the most interesting use of this ability is to manifest a power as what amounts to a free action. This could be from a Dorje - of which there are many useful, powerful effects to choose from - or from Gripp's own power list, such as Strength of My Enemy, Greater Concealing Amorpha, or Psychokinetic Weapon. Ultimately, these are both class features which reward the creative use of Gripp's tools, and are valuable additions to Gripp's arsenal of tricks.

We get some extra powers known and power points, just like usual.

• Steadfast Perception is basically True Sight lite, giving us immunity to all figments and glamers as well as a hefty +6 to spot and search checks; an excellent tool for the scout we've become.
• Psychokinetic Weapon lets us animate almost any weapon to fight for us. Though it uses our wisdom modifier instead of our strength modifier, it still seems to make multiple attacks if we have a high BAB (three attacks by ECL 20), and still seems to threaten a space. Though we can't use our Expansion-modified Gargantuan Glaive for this purpose (it reduces in size once it leaves our possession), we can carry around a Colossal+ Glaive to achieve a similar, if not more potent, effect. Either send it off to threaten a 60ft radius, or leave it at home as you use Spring Attack to collect and return enemy creatures for a battering.
• Power Claws becomes more useful with a higher manifester level and against enemies with greater defenses. The ability to deal force damage with our bite attacks overcomes most forms of damage reduction, and I think it even lets us grapple ethereal creatures thanks to the permissive wording of Improved Grab.

Gripp's feats also introduce some changes. Shape Soulmeld (Kraken Mantle) and Open Lesser Chakra (Arms) combine to give us a +3 bonus on grapple checks, as well as a pseudo-constrict that scales to Gargantuan for 4d6 bonus damage. Although we are allocating our single point of essentia here, rather than in Midnight Dodge, this shouldn't effect Elusive Target and its benefits at all; Midnight Dodge still functions at 0 essentia, it just gives a +0 dodge bonus to AC, and Elusive Target only cares that you've chosen a target for your dodge-equivalent. We also get another feat of note, and it's called Bounding Assault. Bounding Assault says that, whenever we use the Spring Attack feat, we designate two targets to ignore AoOs from and get two attacks instead of one, with the second at a -5 penalty. Since this doesn't follow the standard rules for multiple attacks in a round, I haven't been able to find any RAW reason as to why Gripp wouldn't be able to therefore make two bite attacks in a single Spring Attack; naturally, this becomes a rather potent upgrade to our catch-and-retrieve method for dealing with enemies. Go out, grapple up to two enemies, and bring them both back to the rest of the team; the -20 penalty doesn't stack, and we have the free limbs, so why not?

To update our running total on grapple modifiers, here's a quick breakdown. Another +1 bonus from hitting 26 strength, another +3 BAB, another +2 from Grip of Iron, and the +3 bonus from Kraken Mantle and co yield an added bonus of +9, for a total baseline modifier of +50 at ECL 20. That -20 penalty should be no fuss at all by now.

Spoiler: Tools of the Trade

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While by no means dependent on items, Gripp - like many characters - benefits greatly from the addition of certain magic items and grafts to his person. Also, I'll talk about his expected bonuses and capabilities (mostly grapple-related) at ECL 15, his sweet spot. This is not an exhaustive guide, but it is broad.

Dorjes: Since the only requirement is to have the power on his spell list, Gripp can use any Dorje containing powers from the Psychic Warrior class list or from the Freedom Mantle.

• Chameleon: As mentioned earlier, a +10 enhancement bonus to hide checks should help to compensate for the -12 hide modifier for being Gargantuan. Either get a dorje, or find some other magic item that'll lessen the blow.
• Body Adjustment, Body Purification, and Stygian Erasure: Heals regular damage, ability damage, and negative levels, respectively. Useful when solo, not so much when in a party with characters who can cast such spells and powers for free.
• Psionic Freedom of Movement: When you need it, it'll save your life. Otherwise, not worth having on our main list. The ring is probably a better investment though.
• Rage of the Remorhaz and Form of Doom: These are potent combat upgrades which we (unfortunately) don't get through our levels, but we can - and most definitely should - get them through Dorje use. Especially Rage of the Remorhaz, which effectively deals 4d6 pseudo-constrict fire damage.
• Personal Mind Blank: Because getting yourself dominated is no fun.
• Adapt Body: Somewhat conditional, but if Gripp's going to be travelling to other planes he's going to want this in his pocket. Only a fool would travel to the plane of fire without something like this.

Grafts: I'll be talking about the "old grafts" here, since the new ones don't offer much for Gripp. They also don't have any restrictions or penalties, save for the corrupting influence of fiendish grafts.

• Spike Stones: This Maug graft is like armour spikes, but better. They deal 2d4 pseudo-constrict damage when used by a medium-sized creature, and add a bonus 1d4 damage to any natural attacks made. They also seem to stack with armour spikes, so you may as well get both. They only cost a pithy 4,000gp, making them easily affordable.
• Locking Hand: Another Maug graft, this one grants a +5 bonus to oppose attempte to escape a grapple, and multiple copies of the graft stack. 2,000gp is a pittance, and for two (for a total untyped bonus of +10), very afforable.
• Added Tail, Replacement Tail: These Yuan-ti grafts give us a few things, but most notably grant a pseudo-constrict effect (which are Constrict in all but name, so check with your DM). 6,000-12,000gp isn't that high of a price, considering you can acquire them on the material plane.
• Grappling Tentacle: This Fiendish graft, while a possible cause for a descent into evil and depraved acts, also gives us a natural weapon, a +4 strength bonus whenever using it, and a further +4 bonus whenever using it to make most grapple checks. Though 20,000gp is a bit steeper than most grafts, the untyped +8 grapple bonus and theoretical ability to obtain it on the material plane are tantalising benefits.
• Vampiric Fangs: This Undead graft lets us deal 1d4 constitution damage and gain temporary hit points for pinning a foe in a grapple; something which Gripp is quire adept at. Against tougher enemies, the 25,000gp investment might just be worth it. Matches well with..
• Poison Fangs: Another Yuan-ti graft, this one inflicting a DC 17 Fortitude poison which deals 1d6 constitution damage when you pin a foe in a grapple. 8,000gp is a lot cheaper, but it does allow a saving throw to resist the effect.

Finally, let's talk about grappling, and how these items and effects impact it. At ECL 15, he can probably expect the following benefits.

• A +41 grapple modifier as baseline, as detailed above.
• A Grappling Tentacle, for an untyped +8 grapple bonus.
• Between a Belt of Giant's Strength and/or the effects of Strength of My Enemy, an extra +2 to +5.
• Two Locking Hands, together giving a +10 untyped bonus to maintaining grapples.
• In total, he'll probably be walking around with a +53 modifier (more than enough for the -20 penalty) and a +63 modifier to maintain grapples.

When initiating a grapple or maintaining one, the following things happen.

• Bite damage, for about 2d6+18 (presumming ~34 strength). Spike Stones deals an extra 1d4* damage.
• Constrict damage, for another 2d6+18.
• Spike Stones damage, for 2d4*.
• Armour Spikes damage, for 3d6**.
• Rage of the Remorhaz damage, for 4d6.
• On a pin, Vampiric Fangs deals 1d4 con damage.
• On a pin, Poison Fangs deals 1d6 con damage on a failed DC 17 fort save.
  *The RAW isn't clear on whether the damage of Spike Stones increases with size; if so, 2d4 becomes 4d6, and 1d4 becomes 2d6.
  **This interpretation of Armour Spikes' damage trigger may be incorrect. Also, it might include a strength bonus to damage. Ask your DM.

At ECL 20, the grapple modifier increases to about +62/+72, and Kraken Mantle offers an additional 4d6+12.

What about creatures with Freedom of Movement? We can't grapple those!

• At ECL 15, a full attack is at BAB +9/+4; at ECL 20, a full attack is at BAB +12/+7/+2.
• With a strength of 34ish, two-handed weapons or primary natural attacks deal +18 damage, standard weapons +12, and light weapons +6.
• Our primary weapon is either a Glaive or a Greatclub, dealing 4d8+18 damage per hit.
• We also get a bite attack at a -5 penalty, for 2d6+1d4+6 damage.
• In these cases, Form of Doom is preferred to Rage of the Remorhaz. We get +4 Strength (not calculated above), +5 natural armour, DR 5/-, +10ft to our land speed, and four 6d8+6 tentacle attacks.

In short, I feel that Gripp can hold his own even when his primary combat trick has been taken from him. He also remains an incredibly mobile warrior.
There's also the option of toting some form of antimagic field, either cast on you or on an item in your possession, such as a ring. This also happens to shut down Dimension Door, Gripp's other eternal foe. Since most opponents with such effects are unlikely to have a competitive grapple modifier, we can safely disregard many of the grapple-boosting tricks used here while fighting said targets, similar to how a spellslinging dragon within an AMF is still a dragon.

Spoiler: Sources

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Complete Scoundrel: Torchbug Paste
Arms and Equipment Guide: Marbles, Stonebreaker Acid
Waterdeep, City of Splendors: Sleep-Smoke
Races of Faerun: Crystal Caltrops
Sandstorm: Shapesand
Planar Handbook: Chaos Flasks
Mind's Eye: Call Item, Mantled Warrior ACF
Expanded Psionics Handbook, Complete Psionic: Psychic Warrior, Elocater, Speed of Thought, various powers.
Fiend Folio: Spike Stones, Locking Hand, Added Tail, Replacement Tail, Grappling Tentacle
Libris Mortis: Vampiric Fangs
Lords of Madness: Darkstalker
Complete Warrior: Elusive Target
Magic of Incarnum: Midnight Dodge, Shape Soulmeld, Open Lesser Chakra, Kraken Mantle.
Savage Species: Anthropomorphic Giant Constrictor Snake
Complete Psionic: Freedom Mantle, some other powers.

[Heliomance]

And that's all of them, sorry for the delay. Now git judging!

[Troacctid]

Before looking at the entries, here are the notes I had on the entry classes.

Spoiler

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Psychic Warrior: The most blatantly obvious choice, and the one the book calls out as the expected entry. Bonus feats allow them to easily gain the prerequisites, and they can easily enter on time as a Psychic Warrior 6 or Psychic Warrior 4/Fighter 1. They're already melee-focused, so they're well-primed to make use of Opportunistic Strike, and they very much appreciate the extra skill points and bonus powers known.

Ardent: Ardents have full manifesting, which gives them a lot of power, although their list is somewhat limited. Medium BAB allows them to qualify on time as an Ardent 6 or Ardent 4/Fighter 1. Their weird powers known mechanic also allows them to pretty much just gloss over the lost manifester levels with Practiced Manifester so they don't even meaningfully delay access to higher-level powers. The Conflict mantle fits right in with a melee strategy, and Creation provides astral constructs to enable opportunistic strikes. Another obvious choice.

Lurk: Lurk is also a natural entry class. They have the BAB to enter on time, their sneak attacks work well with the Elocater's enhanced flanking, and their augments only work on one attack per turn, which meshes well with the Spring Attack prerequisite and the once-per-round limit on Opportunistic Strike.

Psion: Psion is somewhat obvious in that it's Psionic Class #1 and Elocater is a psionic prestige class. It unquestionably has the best manifesting, and provides more general utility than any other entry class. Psions also get to upgrade every aspect of their chassis, so the upside is pretty high. On the other hand, it's also not very easy for a Psion to qualify, thanks to their poor BAB, so while at first glance they might look like the obvious choice, they're actually pretty cumbersome to work with. You could enter as a Psion 9, but that's a long time to wait before coming online. More likely, you'd multiclass. I'd expect to see either Psion 5 or 6 with a full BAB dip (probably Fighter or Warblade), or some other non-psionic class dipping Psion for 1st level powers. Shaper and Nomad are the obvious disciplines: Shaper for astral contructs to set up opportunistic strike (especially good with the personal construct variant to quicken it for free), and Nomad for thematic reasons. Egoists are also a possibility, since Elocater does encourage melee combat, and Kineticist is called out in the book as a common entry (although I'm not sure why—their exclusive powers aren't particularly synergistic with the class). Erudite is the least likely because of its multiclassing restriction, which, fun fact, applies to all psionic classes, including psionic prestige classes, so if you ever have more Elocater levels than Erudite levels, get ready to say goodbye to your ability to learn new powers!

Psychic Rogue: Psychic Rogues are a lot like Lurks in that they have medium BAB and sneak attack to qualify easily and take advantage of a flanking-based strategy. However, they also don't stand to gain as much from the prestige class, since they already have the same chassis and they'd be giving up their sneak attack progression. Still, sneak attack is a natural pairing with Elocater due to the flanking synergy, so I expect to see at least one of these.

Wilder: Wilder is normally just a worse version of Psion, but for this round, the fact that it has better BAB makes it viable. I would not be surprised to see a Wilder.

Divine Mind: I don't think this class is ever going to be expected for anything. It's very bad. Take your Originality points and expect a big hit in Power.

War Mind: It's a late entry, but it works well with a melee strategy. What's awkward is that the coolest ability comes at level 5, but you don't really want that many levels because you'd be wasting some of Elocater's manifesting, which is inelegant. Full BAB 5/War Mind X/Elocater X is within the realm of possibility, but I don't think it's an obvious build. I think we're more likely to see a full BAB class dipping Psion.

Psionic Assassin: This is the Assassin variant from Secrets of Sarlona with its own manifesting progression, not to be confused with the Psychic Assassin, which is from the Mind's Eye web articles and advances one of your other manifesting classes. I could imagine a Psionic Assassin-based Elocater as a way to transition a vanilla skillmonkey-type into higher levels, but it would be kind of an oddball strategy, especially since you could have just played a Psychic Rogue from the start if that's the niche you were after. Unexpected.

Psionic Fist: Gets around the drawback of partial manifesting by only having 10 levels' worth, but leaving the class also defeats the purpose somewhat, since you're no longer advancing Monk abilities—raising the question of why you didn't just go Psychic Warrior from the start. I'd be surprised by one of these.

Zerth Cenobite: Ha ha ha, yeah right, like anyone even remembers this class exists.

EDIT: There's a Dvati Lurk! Yes! That was my build! (Although I didn't have the Psychic Assassin levels.) So glad to see a dvati, it's perfect for this prestige class, and it has good synergy with lurk as well.

EDIT 2: I didn't even notice the divine minion on there! I was toying with that as well! Although Set is pretty aggressive with the LA; I would have spring for Nephthys or Anhur.

Hmm, I see a couple Shi'Quos Schools, but no Staggering Strikes, that's a little surprising. The interaction between Staggering Strike, Spring Attack, and Sidestep Charge can be pretty brutal against melee enemies.

[LordOfCain]

Dang... now I'm semi-glad I didn't submit a build... I wouldn't have stood a chance...

[The Viscount]

I know that feeling. All I got into my build was going to be a crusader/marshal/ardent/ectopic adept making constructs and flanking with them with master of tactics and tactics of the wolf, putting flank on my flank, and trying to screw around with white raven to trigger opportunistic strike but after that just kind of run out of steam.

[Darkcouch]

Really surprised not to see a Telflammar Shadowlord. Maybe Vizinni was in full effect or maybe shadow pounce just overshadowed Dimension spring attack too much.

[Troacctid]

I don't think Telflammar Shadowlord fits well with what the Secret Ingredient is doing. The lack of manifesting progression makes it kind of a nonbo?

[Venger]

Hmm, I see a couple Shi'Quos Schools, but no Staggering Strikes, that's a little surprising. The interaction between Staggering Strike, Spring Attack, and Sidestep Charge can be pretty brutal against melee enemies.

I know I considered staggering strike, but I wound up spread too think as far as feats go.

I certainly never thought about telflammar shadowlord. it's one of my favorite classes, but I agree there's not a ton of synergy here. it's really annoying to qualify for, and can't be entered til 8, so a build would be xx5/elocator10/xx5 with some weird level breaking going on. plus, it has a fourth prereq feat, and elocator already stings at 3. it'd be pretty hard to show off psionic tricks with one less feat to work with, especially if you weren't human, as several dishes are.

[Muggins]

Gosh. There's a lot more overlap with some of these builds than I was expecting, and practically all of the ideas I didn't end up using would up elsewhere. Except for the Shifter Wilder/Elocater, I suppose, though Tsillah is pretty close.

Before looking at the entries, here are the notes I had on the entry classes.

[Lotastext]

Hmm, I see a couple Shi'Quos Schools, but no Staggering Strikes, that's a little surprising. The interaction between Staggering Strike, Spring Attack, and Sidestep Charge can be pretty brutal against melee enemies.

Nice rundown of the classes. I think we saw most of the base classes this round, save for Divine Mind (though I can hardly blame anyone for that). A lot of hit-and-run fighters, a surprising number of ToB classes, but with all the rogues and scouts and such I really expected to see more staggering strike, true.

EDIT: There's a Dvati Lurk! Yes! That was my build! (Although I didn't have the Psychic Assassin levels.) So glad to see a dvati, it's perfect for this prestige class, and it has good synergy with lurk as well.

EDIT 2: I didn't even notice the divine minion on there! I was toying with that as well! Although Set is pretty aggressive with the LA; I would have spring for Nephthys or Anhur.

At a quick look, I'd probably say they went with Set because of his portfolio (he really likes assassins, yo) and because of the alignment restriction on assassin. Speaking of which; I count three of them this round, two psychic and one psionic, which strikes me as odd since neither gel with elocater that well at all.

Edit:

plus, it has a fourth prereq feat, and elocator already stings at 3. it'd be pretty hard to show off psionic tricks with one less feat to work with, especially if you weren't human, as several dishes are.

I want to just quickly point out how annoying this was.

The average character gets 7 feat in their life, and Elocater forces you to spend half of them on a bunch of awful dexterity-based feats. If you're not a human and you don't get any bonus feats, you get a grand total of one unique feat before level 10. One.

Good luck doing anything else before getting into the SI.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Got some good choices here I see and definitely some unexpected ones. I will hopefully have try to hace judging posted tomorrow.

[Darrin]

Really surprised not to see a Telflammar Shadowlord. Maybe Vizinni was in full effect or maybe shadow pounce just overshadowed Dimension spring attack too much.

Not so much Vizinni... I had a second idea built around Telflammar Shadowlord, and it did mostly what I wanted, but I wasn't entirely happy with it. Here's what I had:


Race: Silverbrow Human
Stub: Monk 2/HnR-SA Fighter 1/Psion 2/Crusader 1/Elocater 7/Telflammar Shadowlord 4/Elocater +3
Ability Scores: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 8
Alignment: LE

Spoiler

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Cobra Strike Monk 1	+0	+2	+2	+2	Concentration 4, Diplomacy 4, Hide 4, Jump 4, Move Silently 4, Spot 4, Tumble 4	Improved Unarmed Strike, Dodge, Blind-Fight, Hidden Talent (dimension hop)	Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Strike, AC Bonus
2nd	Cobra Strike Monk 2	+1	+3	+3	+3	Concentration 5, Diplomacy 5, Hide 5, Jump 5, Move Silently 5, Spot 5, Tumble 5	Mobility	Invisible Fist ACF
3rd	Hit-and-Run Sneak Attack Fighter 1	+2	+5	+3	+3	Concentration 5, Diplomacy 5, Hide 6, Jump 5, Move Silently 6, Spot 5, Tumble 6	Mobility, Dragonfire Strike	Hit-and-Run ACF (Drow of the Underdark), Sneak Attack ACF (Unearthed Arcana), Skilled City-Dwller ACF (Tumble)
4th	Psion 1	+2	+5	+3	+5	Concentration 6, Diplomacy 5, Hide 7, Jump 5, Move Silently 7, Spot 5, Tumble 6	Linked Power	Nomad Discipline
5th	Psion 2	+3	+5	+3	+6	Concentration 7, Diplomacy 5, Hide 8, Jump 5, Move Silently 8, Spot 5, Tumble 6
6th	Crusader 1	+4	+7	+3	+6	Concentration 9, Diplomacy 5, Hide 8, Jump 7, Move Silently 8, Spot 5, Tumble 9	Spring Attack	Skilled City-Dweller ACF (Tumble)
7th	Elocater 1	+4	+7	+5	+8	Concentration 10, Diplomacy 5, Hide 10, Jump 7, Move Silently 10, Spot 5, Tumble 10, UPD 3	Sidestep Charge	Scorn Earth
8th	Elocater 2	+5	+7	+6	+9	Concentration 11, Diplomacy 5, Hide 11, Jump 7, Move Silently 11, Spot 5, Tumble 11, UPD 8		Opportunistic Strike +2
9th	Elocater 3	+6	+8	+6	+9	Concentration 12, Diplomacy 5, Hide 12, Jump 8, Move Silently 12, Spot 5, Tumble 12, UPD 12	Metapower	Dimension Step
10th	Elocater 4	+7	+8	+7	+10	Concentration 13, Diplomacy 5, Hide 13, Jump 12, Move Silently 13, Spot 5, Tumble 13, UPD 13		Flanker
11th	Elocater 5	+7	+8	+7	+10	Concentration 14, Diplomacy 5, Hide 14, Jump 14, Move Silently 14, Spot 7, Tumble 14, UPD 14		Opportunistic Strike +4
12th	Elocater 6	+8	+9	+8	+11	Concentration 15, Diplomacy 5, Hide 15, Jump 15, Move Silently 15, Spot 10, Tumble 15, UPD 15	Psionic Meditation	Transporter
13th	Elocater 7	+9	+9	+8	+11	Concentration 16, Diplomacy 5, Hide 16, Jump 16, Move Silently 16, Spot 13, Tumble 16, UPD 16		Capricious Step
14th	Telflammar Shadowlord 1	+9	+9	+11	+11	Concentration 16, Diplomacy 5, Hide 17, Jump 17, Move Silently 17, Spot 16, Tumble 17, UPD 16		Shadowsight, Shadow Jump
15th	Telflammar Shadowlord 2	+10	+9	+12	+11	Bluff 1, Concentration 16, Diplomacy 5, Hide 18, Jump 18, Move Silently 18, Spot 18, Tumble 18, UPD 16	TWF	Shadow Blur
16th	Telflammar Shadowlord 3	+11	+10	+12	+12	Bluff 3, Concentration 16, Diplomacy 5, Hide 19, Jump 19, Move Silently 19, Spot 19, Tumble 19, UPD 16		Shadow Walk
17th	Telflammar Shadowlord 4	+12	+10	+13	+12	Bluff 5, Concentration 16, Diplomacy 5, Hide 20, Jump 20, Move Silently 20, Spot 20, Tumble 20, UPD 16		Shadow Pounce
18th	Elocater 8	+13	+10	+14	+13	Bluff 5, Concentration 18, Diplomacy 5, Hide 21, Jump 21, Move Silently 21, Spot 21, Tumble 21, UPD 18	Martial Study: Shadow Stride	Opportunistic Strike +6
19th	Elocater 9	+13	+11	+14	+13	Bluff 5, Concentration 20, Diplomacy 5, Hide 22, Jump 22, Move Silently 22, Spot 22, Tumble 22, UPD 20		Dimension Spring Attack
20th	Elocater 10	+14	+11	+15	+14	Bluff 5, Concentration 22, Diplomacy 5, Hide 23, Jump 23, Move Silently 23, Spot 23, Tumble 23, UPD 22		Accelerated Action

One of the issues I had with it is the various methods I had to get dimension door weren't technically the same as a spell or SLA: Shape Soulmeld/Blink Shirt and the Shadow Jaunt maneuvers are (Su). I thought psionic dimension door should qualify for TSL's requirements, but that put off Shadow Pounce until very late in the build. It was also missing some feats I wanted, notably Improved/Greater TWF.

The Shadow Pounce Trifecta wasn't entirely solid: dimension hop as a swift action every turn could be done for 0 PP (via Linked/Metapower), but psionic dimension door cost 7 PP as a standard action, and the move-action Shadow Stride had to depend on the Crusader recovery mechanic, so it wasn't going to be there every round. I thought about replacing three levels of Elocater with Totemist 2/Knight of the Middle Circle 1, which gives me a move-action dimension door every round, but I found it harder to justify Elocater 7 when Illithid Slayer or something else might work better.

It's *mostly* there, and gets at least two full attacks a round, but last ingredient I rushed on the second build and it came out somewhat half-baked, so I decided not to push it this round.