Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground XXIV

[Private-Prinny]

Welcome, contestants, judges, and guests to Iron Chef XXIV. Here in Optimization Colosseum, contestants will endeavor to create an optimized and flavorful character using a specified D&D3.5 prestige class as a "Secret Ingredient".

Contestants: You will need to present your build at at least one of the following points: 5th level, 10th level, 15th, 20th, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build. Feel free to present as many of these as you like, and please give a rundown of the build's abilities and playability at all of the levels you didn't show. The rules are as follows:

Menu: For most challenges, the "special ingredient" will be drawn from Core plus Completes. There will, from time to time, be special challenges that showcase secret ingredients from other books--for example, the XPH.

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

Kitchen: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Elegance below. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Also, item familiars are forbidden because I hate 'em.

Cooking Time: Contestants will have until 11:59PM GMT on Sunday, September 18th, 2011 to create their builds and PM them to the Chairman, Private-Prinny. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 11:59PM GMT on Sunday, October 2nd, 2011 to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted.

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

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

Elegance could bear a little elaboration. It basically measures how skillfully you put your build together, and whether you sacrificed flavor for power. We're cooking here - if your dish doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter how well-presented it is. Use of flaws is an automatic loss of one point per flaw in this category. Other things that will cause lost points here are excessive multiclassing, and classes that don't fit the concept - using Cloistered Cleric in a front-line melee fighter, for example, will lose you points.

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

Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry.

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NAME OF ENTRY
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

2nd|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

3rd|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

4th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

5th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

6th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

7th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

8th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

9th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

10th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

11th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

12th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

13th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

14th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

15th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

16th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

17th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

18th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

19th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

20th|New Class Level|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|

+x

|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities[/table]

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[b]NAME OF ENTRY[/b]
{table=head][b]Level[/b]|[B]Class[/B]|[b]Base Attack<br>Bonus[/b]|[b]Fort Save[/b]|[b]Ref Save[/b]|[b]Will Save[/b]|[B]Skills[/B]|[B]Feats[/B]|[b]Class Features[/b]

1st|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

2nd|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

3rd|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

4th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

5th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

6th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

7th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

8th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

9th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

10th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

11th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

12th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

13th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

14th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

15th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

16th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

17th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

18th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

19th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

20th|New Class Level|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|[center]+x[/center]|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities[/table]

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

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Spells per day/Spells Known
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th

1st|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

5th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

6th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

7th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

8th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

9th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

10th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

11th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

12th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

13th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

14th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

15th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

16th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

17th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

18th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

19th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

20th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-[/table]

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[b]Spells per day/Spells Known[/b]
{table=head][b]Level[/b]|[b]0lvl[/b]|[b]1st[/b]|[b]2nd[/b]|[b]3rd[/b]|[b]4th[/b]|[b]5th[/b]|[b]6th[/b]|[b]7th[/b]|[b]8th[/b]|[b]9th[/b]

1st|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

5th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

6th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

7th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

8th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

9th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

10th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

11th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

12th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

13th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

14th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

15th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

16th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

17th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

18th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

19th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

20th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-[/table]

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

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

Leadership is banned; we're producing a meal, not a seven-course banquet for a hundred diners.

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

This week's special ingredient is:
The Miniatures Handbook's Tactical Soldier!
We will have trophies for 1st through 3rd places, as well as a special trophy for honorable mention. The honorable mention prize is given to the most daring or unexpected build. Judges, contestants and guests alike are invited to vote for honorable mention via PM.

Allez optimiser!

Contestants

The Builds

Past Competitions

Iron Chef I: Entropomancer
Iron Chef II: Psibond Agent
Iron Chef III: Cancer Mage
Iron Chef IV: Stonelord
Iron Chef V: War Chanter
Iron Chef VI: Master of Masks
Iron Chef VII: Green Star Adept
Iron Chef VIII: Pyrokineticist
Iron Chef IX: Animal Lord
Iron Chef X: Mythic Exemplar
Iron Chef XI: Blade Bravo
Iron Chef XII: War Mind
Iron Chef XIII: Vigilante
Iron Chef XIV: Seeker of the Song
Iron Chef XV: Drunken Master
Iron Chef XVI: Assassin
Iron Chef XVII: Ardent Dilettante
Iron Chef XVIII: Unseelie Dark Hunter
Iron Chef XIX: Dread Pirate
Iron Chef XX: Incandescent Champion
Iron Chef XXI: Ghostwalker
Iron Chef XXII: Dervish
Iron Chef XXIII: Divine Crusader

[Lateral]

Cool! I may be entering, once I dig up my MiniHB and take a look at the class.

...Damn, it's listed right before 'War Hulk', and that was actually my wild guess as to the class for this Iron Chef.

Wait a minute, how are we supposed to build a teamwork-focused character without teammates?

Edit: All right, I've got an idea. Count me in.

[Kefkafreak]

Wow... this is the worst prestige class I've seen in a very long time. It's like taking a tier 5 class and making it worse.

I'll... try to think of something.

Wait a minute, how are we supposed to build a teamwork-focused character without teammates?

I did in the previous round

[Amphetryon]

Cieyrin's going to be so happy to see Tactical Soldier as the SI.

I'll compete this time around.

[Lateral]

Wait, for the Sidestep bonus feat, do you have to qualify for the feat to gain it?

[Private-Prinny]

...Damn, it's listed right before 'War Hulk', and that was actually my wild guess as to the class for this Iron Chef. :small tongue:

And have every entry be X 7/War Hulk 10/Hulking Hurler 3? No thanks.

[Lateral]

And have every entry be X 7/War Hulk 10/Hulking Hurler 3? No thanks.

Fair enough, although the Cancer Mage challenge managed to avoid similar pitfalls.

[ColonelFuster]

First thing I've seen since coming back from a hiatus. I might take a stab at this one.

Edit: I had this class confused with another, withdrawing respectfully. Good luck to all competitors!

[Private-Prinny]

Fair enough, although the Cancer Mage challenge managed to avoid similar pitfalls.

I never really liked the Festering Anger "trick" because it doesn't depend on RAW, and is completely at the whim of what you decide the "negative effects of diseases" entail.

[Lateral]

I never really liked the Festering Anger "trick" because it doesn't depend on RAW, and is completely at the whim of what you decide the "negative effects of diseases" entail.

Well, yes, but I don't think anyone who does the Hulking Hurler trick would get high points for Originality or Elegance.

But you're probably right; it's too easily abused to make a good challenge.

[BobVosh]

I liked only one part of this class when I looked at it before, and that was flanking from whatever square you threaten. I think it was a bonus feat so the class is even worse I bet.

Why would you be so cruel to our competitors, PP?

[Lateral]

I liked only one part of this class when I looked at it before, and that was flanking from whatever square you threaten. I think it was a bonus feat so the class is even worse I bet.

Why would you be so cruel to our competitors, PP?

No, it's a class ability; they get Sidestep as a bonus feat.

[DeAnno]

I have an absolutely silly idea.

To clarify, all forms of leadership, including random cohort feats, are banned, correct? With a PRC so focused towards teamwork, I just wanted to check.

[Lateral]

I have an absolutely silly idea.

To clarify, all forms of leadership, including random cohort feats, are banned, correct? With a PRC so focused towards teamwork, I just wanted to check.

Building on this, what about feats that don't give you a cohort, but give you an NPC ally that doesn't fight for you or help or anything, but is mostly just relegated to the background? (Specifically, I'm asking about the Apprentice feat from DMGII.)

[Devmaar]

Competing

Maybe this time I'll actually get the entry in...

[Amphetryon]

Questions about specific feats are probably best relegated to PM, to avoid tipping your hand.

[Hecuba]

I'd like to judge this one.

My criteria in brief:

Originality:
How unusual, mechanically, is your build? Is it a variation on a fairly standard build with changes for the Secret Ingredient, or is it something that's not usually on the plate for these kinds of classes? Are your tricks and tools from the general optimization toolkit, or are they based on some novel (or semi-novel) synergy?

Power:
I'll judge power on a sliding scale: I'll take the more powerful of
a) the "chassis" you build the PRC on if the PRC weren't there OR
b) the PRC if it were magically attached to a build of 10 levels of survivor.

While I won't be mapping to it explicitly, if your build would move that chassis up by the equivalent of a test of spite tier, you're probably at at least a 4.

Elegance:
How much do you have to give up to make this build work? How much do you have to presume? And on the flip side, how much room do you have to adapt it to the specific table and campaign at hand?

Some specific elements here:

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• Obviously, the standard rules for Flaws are in force. Similar (but probably smaller in most cases) penalties will be levied if you are dependent on other variant rules (traits, fractional BAB/saves, etc). On the flip side, if your build is perfectly functional and effective, but has room to grow into common variants well, noting that in an adaption section might get you a small bonus if the synergy strikes me as good design. As a note, this will not be the case for flaws.
• How strapped are you for feats and skill ranks? Do you have barely enough to make entry, or can you spend some to meet the campaign/party needs?
• Are there any implicit or explicit contradictions in the build? Do you have to presume non-standard fluff? If there are setting specific elements to the character, do they draw from more than one setting? Do they cause contradiction internal to the setting? Are there alignment contradictions/shifts? Does the fluff of the various elements mesh well (or very not well)?
  In practice, you can usually find a way to justify these issues: but if you have to do so, you'll get a lower score here.
  
  As a note here, I'm not going to hold the simple fact that a build is found in a setting specific book as a setting specific element. A couple good watermarks I'll use are:
  -setting related entry requirements or class features
  -(usually with a lesser penalty) strong fluff based ties to setting specific organizations, deities, etc.
  If you can explicitly reference an adaptation section for the class, some or all of such penalties might be waved.
• How likely is this to be banned for issues other than raw power relative to the rest of the party? If you have to make an argument based on the semantics of a rule, you'll probably get a penalty. As a good benchmark, if a thread on the topic would devolve into an discussion of whether or not its legal, you'll probably get a penalty if your build needs to benefits from the more generous option.

Use of Secret Ingredient:
The mere presence of levels in the secret ingredient do not constitute good use there of. While I won't penalize dead SI levels (purely because I don't want my scoring to run exactly opposite of general trends), I won't reward them either. As a general example, if you only use 5 levels of the SI, I will score you more generously if you have 5 levels of other things that synergise well with the SI than I will if you have 5 more levels of the SI from which you get only BAB and saves. (Though 5 non-SI levels with no notable synergy will probably do worse).

Other elements:

• If the build accomplishes something novel that requires the SI or something that is made vastly better/easier with the SI, you'll score better.
• If the SI is actively detrimental to your goals, you'll probably score worse.
• While I won't penalize for the opposite, if your build make the SI a better choice over something that is usually a strictly better but mechanically similar class, you'll score well. For example, if you can make Divine Crusader a better option than Ur-Priest.

[AMFV]

I will be competing in this one again, hopefully it'll be better than last time.

[Piggy Knowles]

...wow. So, I've never owned the Miniature's Handbook. The only two things that ever really got referenced from it, Marshal and War Hulk, were both posted online as Wizards previews. This makes the MiniHB one of the only, if not the only, official 3.5e book that I've never actually read.

Long story short, I've never even seen this prestige class. This should be interesting. No ideas yet, but hopefully competing!

[Z3ro]

What a mess of a PrC. I'm gonna have to read up and think a little bit before I decide if I'm competing or judging.

[flabort]

Man, there's never a class I can find online
At least not when I have time to compete. *Glares at unseelie hunter*

Well, I'll have enough to do collecting people's builds from the Dessert round, so I guess whether I can compete or not is moot, eh?

[term1nally s1ck]

Huh. Umm..

Ahh, I've got nothing. I'll judge I guess. Posting criteria tomorrow.

[Lateral]

Hey, is Dragon Magazine kosher?

[Amphetryon]

The OP specifically says Dragon Magazine is not allowed.

[Lateral]

The OP specifically says Dragon Magazine is not allowed.

Ah, so it does. My bad.

[Private-Prinny]

Hey, is Dragon Magazine kosher?

What Amphetryon said. The problem with Dragon Mag. material is that it's filled with stuff that wasn't too well thought out, and there wasn't much quality control.

The Compendium is fine, though, since those are just things that WoTC decided to officially sanction.

[OMG PONIES]

Back in the kitchen!

[ranagrande]

I think I have an idea. If I really do, I shall make my Iron Chef debut!

If I don't, it'll be another false start. I've done that before.

[Amechra]

I'll do one as well; I already have an idea...

[Zaq]

I've always really wanted to play a Tactical Soldier, but I've never had a party that was both sufficiently high-level and sufficiently low-op to make it fly.

I'll be thinking about this one. If I'm inspired, I may enter. It's looking like a tough nut to crack, though.