One of these turned out to be distressingly easy to score, so I finished a day earlier than expected.

Spoiler: Sam Urai 5
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Originality: 1
Your race and classes had nothing unique in this Iron Chef round, so you get nothing for the half of Originality based on distinguishing yourself from other contestants. You also matched a build suggested in the thread (as a joke), so there was nothing surprising in those classes. Your feats were straight out of the Player's Handbook, so nothing surprising there, either.

Power: 1.25
Aid Shugenja requires a Spellcraft check by the Shiba Protector (as specified by the Chairwoman here), but you've never trained that skill so you're forbidden from using this class ability. You're a simple sword fighter who gets no benfit from No Thought. You don't have 5 ranks in Balance, a basic defensive need. You've got lots of Iaijutsu Focus skill, but nothing to create the flat-footed condition necessary for use of that skill. CW Samurai gives you Two-Weapon Fighting (which normally requires DEX 15) and the benefit of Quick Draw (fairly late, at level 19), so with the maximum possible BAB maybe you could get Iaijutsu Focus damage bonus on both katana and wakizashi. That slight chance of one good attack, perhaps aided by Shiba Protector One with Nothing, is about the best I can say for you in this category.

Let's say you spend the surprise round closing with an enemy (a big supposition considering you have no ranks in Spot or Listen and are likely to be surprised instead). To gain maximum benefit from Iaijutsu Focus you have to get quite lucky. If the enemy isn't surprised they'll get to attack you right after you close with them. If they are surprised, they might have superior initiative and get to make a full attack against you in the first regular round of combat. Then you can move away, hoping that your half speed Tumble lets you get to another enemy who's still flat-footed and you'll be able to make a single melee strike, after which that new enemy gets to make their own full attack against you. Only if the first enemy is both surprised and has worse initiative will they be flat-footed and enable you to get the Iaijutsu Focus damage bonus from both katana and wakizashi.

Shiba Protector sets a low bar for character Power. Unfortunately, you devoted so much of your resources simply to satisfying the entry requirements for a 1-level dip into Master Samurai that you didn't even measure up to that level of Power.

Elegance: 1.5
Contestants: You will need to present a write-up of 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, as well as presenting a fully-fleshed out 20-level build in the table below.
You failed to follow the above rule.

You appear to have confused the OA Samurai and CW Samurai skills. You failed to spend all your skill points at OA Samurai level 1, but you did illegally include 4 ranks in two cross-class skills (Knowledge: nobility and Tumble). You didn't make any effort to distinguish skill points spent from skill rank totals in the build table.

Your arithmetic for level 20 DEX was off.

Your OA Samurai class gives you a katana and a wakizashi. You don't list any required gear, so that's all your character has. Your Mounted Combat and Mounted Archery feats don't help you with no horse and no bow.

You didn't include Ancestral Daisho improvement on the OA Samurai's level 4 class features (Dragon # 318, page 34).

You didn't follow the "use it, link it" rule.

You failed to cite your sources.

The story was minimalist and added nothing to help understand the build.

Your 1-level dip into Master Samurai doesn't synergize with the SI in any significant way, so that dip hurts your score in Elegance.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 1.25
You entered the SI in a timely manner and took all 10 levels of Shiba Protector, but don't appear to use anything from the class. Class features No Thought and One with All and Nothing are useless because you made Wisdom a dump stat (+0 modifier). Diamond Soul would have been better-served if you had a high Wisdom, but it might still be viable against a weak caster level check. You're not even permitted to use Aid Shugenja; it requires a Spellcraft check which you can't make untrained.

Your build also does nothing with Combat Expertise: you don't have any stratagem involving fighting defensively, nor do you build on it (take any feat which has Combat Expertise as a prerequisite). You do have enough Tumble ranks for an AC bonus when you're fighting defensively, so that at least would synergize with use of Combat Expertise.


Spoiler: Fang Xue 11.75
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Originality: 4
You picked a class that was unique for this round, and which also surprised me. Your race was as expected, while your feat choices were largely novel (not necessarily effective, but still novel). Maximizing Intimidate and adding Never Outnumbered and Imperious Command was the only hackneyed bit. Overall a very good show.

Power: 3.25
The combination of binding Naberius and choosing [Vile] feats which cause you damage is a good one. Of course, from the time you take Insane Defiance (level 6) until you get the ability to bind 2 vestiges (level 18) you lose flexibility; you either only bind Naberius (and really hope there's not a pulpit, soap box, or stage wherever combat finds you†), or you don't get the value of the abilty damage + immediate healing combo.
you’ve got 2 vestiges handy now, and they’ll probably be either zceryll and chupoclops or balam and haures, depending on your needs.
You don't have Expel Vestige or Rapid Pact Making, so you really don't have that flexibility. Either you're going to be using your [Vile] feats with Naberius, or you're not. You have to guess what your needs are going to be for the next 24 hours, and you're stuck even if your guess is a bad one.
† - My characters generally paint "Naberius: Talking Stick!" on the sides of all their darts, arrows, and bolts. It's really precious to have an enemy pick a missed arrow up off the ground and stand there yelling at you while you fire volley after volley at their friends.

By the time you get Astral Vambraces many attacks will be magical and thus overcome your DR/magic. This choice is of limited value, which value declines rapidly as most attacks become magical at higher levels.

Imperious Command is another feat of limited value to you. Simply put, intimidation is very tough without abilities beyond those you've chosen. To use the feat you must succeed at demoralizing an enemy, which attempt takes a standard action after you've invested in many skill ranks and the feat. Enemies resist with a modified level check, which costs them no special resources. Enemies of reasonable CR will maybe be a couple of HD below yours, and a maximized skill is 3 above, so that's perhaps a +5 advantage — except that's before their WIS bonus is factored in. So your 1 feat + maximized skill + standard action may yield a slightly-better-than-even chance to subject them to a fear effect for 2 rounds, and nothing if you fail. That's not good return for the investment. If you were a Zhentarim Soldier with Swift Demoralize we'd be talking a different story, but you're not. Never Outnumbered is nifty when it works, but it only affects enemies stupid enough to clump up (within 10' of you) and it's just one attempt per encounter.

You don't qualify for Open Lesser Chakra, so that's a waste.

You didn't list any required gear, so apparently you'll be fighting weaponless without Improved Unarmed Strike except on the days when you've bound a vestige which can attack.

You have no ranks in Spot or Listen; you're relying on Alertness and WIS bonus to avoid surpise. (Paying for cross-class skill ranks would be better than being clueless.) You've got enough Spellcraft skill to guarantee success on the easier Aid Shugenja check (empower) but not on the more difficult one (maximize). You don't have 5 ranks in Balance, a basic defensive need. You have no Tumble skill, whereas 5 ranks would provide an AC bonus that stacks with use of Combat Expertise to fight defensively.

Binder is a good choice to raise the Power of the overall character a bit above that of the SI, but your feats range from completely useless to situationally viable on the days you bind the right vestige.

Elegance: 2.5
Your build table abbreviations were hard to read. After "diplo 4" my first guess was that "sm 4" was 4 ranks in Swim.

You failed to specify your Pact Augmentation abilities.

Open Lesser Chakra requires CON 15, and you have 14, so the feat is illegal in the build.

Your sources were only roughly specified. You used some links.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 2
You're augmenting your Wisdom, which should ordinarily work well for the SI. You've manage to put together an effective character, but that's at the expense of some Shiba Protector abilities. You've emphasized using Insane Defiance offensively. The problem from a UoSI perspective is that using Insane Defiance means that you're not using Shiba Protector abilities. If you instead use Insane Defiance defensively, you're avoiding using both Dancing with the Elements and Diamond Soul. Using Imperious Command of course means you're not using No Thought. (You might be using One with All and Nothing, but you didn't say so and it's a limited use ability.) What you did mention in your writeup doesn't actually have anything to do with the Secret Ingredient.
If shiba protector is short-grain rice, insane defiance is the strand of saffron I add to give it taste, color, and joy.
Yes, there's a Shiba Protector class feature that requires having Shugenja nearby. But you're not using that, and you're using a feat and a Binder class ability rather than anything from the SI. This tactic is not a spice, but a menu substitution.

Your build also does nothing with Combat Expertise: you don't have any stratagem involving fighting defensively, nor do you build on it (take any feat which has Combat Expertise as a prerequisite).

You list no weapons, so you can't get much out of No Thought; if you've bound a vestige like Focalor you'll get partial benefit.


Spoiler: Shiba Daisuke 12.5
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Originality: 2.5
OA Samurai and Devoted Defender were used in several builds this Iron Chef round, and Crusader is duplicated in one, so you largely lose out on distinguishing yourself from the other entrants. OA Samurai is the expected entry to the SI according to the book, and I'm obviously not the only one who thought Devoted Defender was a good fit with the SI. Adding a Crusader dip, and successfully integrating it into the SI theme, was surprising. Iaijutsu Master, from the same book as the Samurai and Shiba Protector, was less surprising.

Power: 3.75
You've managed to bolster the capabilities of the Shiba Protector pretty successfully with your many class dips. You've got the maximum BAB compatible with the Secret Ingredient. Skill selections are less effective. You've got some ranks in Spot and Listen, but you're mostly relying on Alertness and WIS bonus to avoid being surpised; and if you're surprised your Iaijutsu Focus skill will be wasted. You've got just enough Spellcraft skill to guarantee success on both Aid Shugenja checks (empower and maximize), so that one's efficiently executed. Your Tumble skill is pathetic; you're 2 ranks short of a nice boost to defensive fighting (and you're wishy-washy about whether you'll be using heavy armor, which would preclude use of the skill). You've invested a lot in Jump without a clear use for the skill. You have just enough Ride skill to get into trouble in combat. You don't have 5 ranks in Balance, a basic defensive need.

You don't list any necessary gear beyond the swords you get as an OA Samurai class feature, so you don't have a horse (which you can't Ride especially well anyway) or armor (which you can't use with some abilities).

Elegance: 1.75
Contestants: You will need to present a write-up of 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, as well as presenting a fully-fleshed out 20-level build in the table below.
You failed to follow the above rule.

The story amounted to your character, a Shiba Protector, comes from a long line of Shibas who protect. It didn't make up for the lack of required write-ups.

You didn't include Ancestral Daisho improvement on the OA Samurai's level 4 class features (Dragon # 318, page 34).

You failed to cite many of your sources (everything from Player's Handbook, for instance).

You don't list any required gear beyond the swords you get as an OA Samurai class feature.

You didn't follow the "use it, link it" rule.

Your build is pretty dippy, but most of those make sense in bolstering a Shiba Protector's abilities. Iron Guard’s Glare stance is the redeeming protective feature of your 1-level Crusader dip, for instance. Devoted Defender is a natural filler for more protective capabilities. However, the Iaijutsu Master dip has nothing special in it to make you a better Shiba Protector, and it's situated to delay your acquisition of more SI capabilities. It's a good fit in terms of Power, but by only bolstering your offense and personal defense rather than anything for your protectee, this dip hurts you in Elegance.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 4.5
Heavy investment in Wisdom gives you better use of several SI class features. Excellent all-around saves mean that with Dancing with the Elements you'll probably only get hit by spell effects when you roll a 1 for your saving throw. Two of the Shiba Protector feat requirements are passive, always-on bonuses; they don't need any tinkering. You've added a feat, Deceptive Dodge, that helps situationally (when you fight defensively), leveraging Combat Expertise. You added another feat which leverages Combat Expertise, Riposte, to create AoOs. Gaining productive use from this required feat investment is very good, though without Combat Reflexes increasing AoOs isn't necessarily productive. (I'm surprised you didn't go for Allied Defense (Shining South, page 19) to boost your protectee's AC. And I'm shocked that you managed to avoid the Tumble 5 ranks boost to defensive fighting.)

You've got excellent synergies with the SI and your Crusader stance and especially Devoted Defender Harm’s Way.


Spoiler: Fletcher's Flame 5.25
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Originality: 3
With a couple of unique classes for this round, only following the pack with Devoted Defender, you score well for the part of Originality dependent on distinguishing yourself from the competition. Race is as expected. I didn't expect Hexblade, though Swordsage and Devoted Defender were unsurprising. Failing to qualify for the SI is fairly novel, but not in a good way.

Power: 1.25
This build ends up with 10 levels compared to the expected 20, with 2 attacks per full attack. You fail to qualify for your later maneuvers because removing the 10 Shiba Protector levels drops your Initiator Level by 5. Relative to an average level 20 martial character you're very weak.

Elegance: 0
You screwed the pooch by failing to satisfy the Knowledge (religion) entry requirement for Shiba Protector, so your build is mechanically illegal. You managed to satisfy the Devoted Defender entry requirements on levels other than Shiba Protector, so that's still there (assuming the Alertness qualification works, which requires that your familiar be within 5' when you gain enough XP for level advancement); your build ends up with 10 levels instead of 20 after the offending material is removed.

There are other Elegance issues, but there's no point in rubbing salt in the wound.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 1
You don't use the Secret Ingredient due to a failure to qualify.


Spoiler: Iron Bear 8.75
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Originality: 3
Azurin was a unique race in this competition, and one I didn't expect; it was nice to see something different here. Crusader was duplicated in one other build, and Devoted Defender was fairly popular this Iron Chef round; Incarnate was your only unique class.

Power: 2
You've got BAB +14, which gives you 3 iterative attacks. Martial adept levels are a fairly standard way of boosting a melee fighter's Power. Your maneuver and stance selections seemed designed mostly to heal you or bolster you and your allies in melee combat. While self-healing might take the pressure off Your Shugenja spellcasting ally to keep you going, they are unlikely to benefit from melee combat boosts. Incarnate adds a little bit of utility, but not that much with only 2 levels.

Your skill selections aren't focused. You've got some ranks in Spot but nothing in Listen; you're mostly relying on Alertness from your Soulspark Familiar and WIS bonus to avoid being surpised. You've got more than enough Spellcraft skill to guarantee success on both Aid Shugenja checks (empower and maximize), and also more than required for Spellcaster Support, so I don't see the use of the overage. Your Tumble skill is somewhat more than you need for the boost to defensive fighting, but not enough to guarantee movement without provoking AoOs. You've got enough Jump skill to give a synergy bonus to Tumble, but not enough to clear more than a single square with a running start. You've got a few ranks in Diplomacy, but not enough to matter. With Intimidate countered by a modified level check you're unlikely to achieve anything with that skill. You do have 5 ranks in Balance, a basic defensive need.

Feats are hit or miss. Power Attack paired with Martial Stance (Aura of Perfect Order) makes sense, as it removes much of the guesswork from Power Attack calculations. Spellcaster Support is a mechanically illegal part of the build, so the fact that it's a weak feat is irrelevant. Combat Reflexes would be a much better choice if you had chosen some maneuvers or stances which provoked AoOs; as it is, you're mostly going to gain its benefit of allowing AoOs when you're flat-footed because you will be caught flat-footed a lot with weak perception skills.

All in all, your 18-level build ends up being underpowered relative to the SI.

Elegance: 1.5
The favored class for Azurins is Soulborn (Magic of Incarnum, page 8), not Incarnate. Iron Bear is subject to the Uneven Levels multiclassing rule (Player's Handbook, page 60) starting after 6th character level; from that point on, continuing for the rest of the build, he's subject to a 20% reduction in XP. The XP available is enough to get to just under level 19. Accordingly, the last 2 levels of the build are mechanically illegal. You manage to gain the most important Devoted Defender protective ability, Harm's Way, and your level 18 feat, but you don't get to BAB +16 and your fourth iterative attack.

Spellcaster Support is an [Ancestor] feat. Your terse "Sources" spoiler lists
Spellcaster Support: Dragon Magazine OA update
but apparently you missed this part (from Dragon # 318, page 37):
Any character can choose an Ancestor feat, but only at 1st level.
This isn't a legal feat at 15th level.

Soulspark Familiar as a way to gain Alertness is a fairly risky entry to all your Shiba Protector and Devoted Defender levels. Your Soulspark Familiar could be forcibly unshaped in a battle which results in enough XP to advance to the next level, at which time you would not have Alertness to qualify for your intended class. You get to assume successful attainment of those levels in your build table, but then I get to ding you for ignoring that risk here in Elegance.

You didn't follow the "use it, link it" rule.

Your sources were only roughly specified.

You mentioned only one piece of gear, a longsword.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 2.25
Your entry into the SI is delayed by your Incarnate levels so you can acquire Alertness, which means you're able to use the Secret Ingredient for less of the build. You emphasize Wisdom, which helps with class features No Thought, Diamond Soul, and One with All and Nothing. You've got a straightforward melee focus, so you'll get a lot of use out of No Thought to make up for low Strength. Your Fortitude save is excellent and Will is good, so you're well-situated to save against many spells with your Dancing with the Elements bonus. Reflex is low enough that even that boost may not help you.

I was rather perplexed at your maneuver and stance selections because none of them help protect your Shugenja spellcasting friends. The other Crusader build in this Iron Chef round, Shiba Daisuke, showed that there's at least one useful protective stance, Iron Guard’s Glare. Your Shugenja ally is more likely to benefit from that than from a bonus to their charge attacks. Similarly your soulmelds don't add noticeably to your protective capabilities. You're making yourself a somewhat better fighter, but not specifically a better protector. Your 1-level dip into Devoted Defender adds Harm's Way, which is a significant plus, but you failed to pick up the next 2 levels for more protective class features, including Defensive Strike to make Combat Reflexes more useful.

Your build also does nothing with Combat Expertise: you don't have any stratagem involving fighting defensively, nor do you build on it (take any feat which has Combat Expertise as a prerequisite). You do have enough Tumble ranks for an AC bonus when you're fighting defensively, so that at least would synergize with use of Combat Expertise.


Spoiler: Shiba Sanjuu 8.25
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Originality: 1.5
Your race and most (17/20 levels) of your classes were not unique in this Iron Chef round. You also matched a build suggested in the thread (as a joke), so there was nothing surprising in those classes. You get very little for the half of Originality based on distinguishing yourself from other contestants. The distinguishing classes were two small dips, Fighter and Exotic Weapon Master, and the first was unsurprising in a martial build. Your feats were mostly out of the Player's Handbook, so nothing much surprising there, either.

Power: 1.5
You've got the maximum BAB compatible with the Secret Ingredient. You get ease of adding weapon enhancements with Ancestral Daisho because it's a DIY project, but this doesn't give you any more gear than another 20th-level character. Your total for Ancestral Daisho enhancements is limited, independent of your funds because it's a specific class feature, so a total of +10 in katana enhancements leaves nothing available for the wakizashi. That's actually better for you, because you've set the character up to use double katanas; you simply buy a second katana and don't draw the wakizashi. You wisely avoided being locked into Two Swords as One with CW Samurai 2, and you've paid the cost in feats for this double katana combo. The problem is that you've focused a lot of build resources on being able to use those weapons, and just swinging swords well is very little to show for a 20-level build.

You're attempting to pull off a cheesy rules bypass with Power Attack and Uncanny Blow. Weapons which may have different categorizations, such as one-handed or two-handed depending on their use, do not remain in both categories simultaneously. Uncanny Blow applies when you're wielding a (normally) one-handed exotic melee weapon in two hands, not when you're wielding the same type of one-handed exotic melee weapon in each of your two hands. You can certainly make use of Uncanny Blow, but you do it by forgoing Two-Weapon Fighting. Or vice-versa. Uncanny Blow is redundant, though, because you've got Blades of Death from Master Samurai 4, the immediate previous level in the build. The net result is you've got a bit more flexibility in how you attack, but not noticeably greater Power, relative to what would be expected at level 19, and nothing extra for level 20. I'll take your alternative of Twin Exotic Weapon Fighting here instead.

You do have 5 ranks in Balance, a basic defensive need. You've got a fair amount of Iaijutsu Focus skill, but nothing to create the flat-footed condition necessary for use of that skill. You have just enough Ride skill to get into trouble in combat. You have excellent Tumble skill, which is a definite battlefield Power-up (if you don't throw it away by wearing Medium+ armor). You have no ranks in Spot or Listen; you're relying on Alertness and WIS bonus to avoid surpise. (Paying for cross-class skill ranks would be better than being clueless.) Aid Shugenja requires a Spellcraft check by the Shiba Protector (as specified by the Chairwoman here), but you've minimally trained that skill so you'll need a rolled 4 to succeed on the easier (DC 10) check, and a rolled 9 for the other; you'll fail to maximize a useful defensive spell from your Shugenja companion almost half the time. Relative to the Power of a Secret Ingredient that's on the weak side you're still coming up short for the 20 level build.

Elegance: 2.5
Your build stub claims to have 5 levels of Master Samurai, whereas the build table has 4 levels of MS and 1 level of Exotic Weapon Master. You would have been better off with the former, because Exotic Weapon Master has no special synergies with the Secret Ingredient and I penalize for dips that don't work well with the SI.

You failed to cite many of your sources (everything from Player's Handbook, for instance).

Your other sources were only roughly specified. You used one link.

You did mention some critical gear, which was refreshing in this Iron Chef round. You didn't do it in an easily-digestible fashion (a single gear list), which was less so. You mention armor spikes, but not the armor necessary for their attachment. You're limited to Light armor with those spikes if you want to use your maximized Tumble skill. You're limited to no armor if you want to use the Monk's Belt you also mentioned. You can't have all of these incompatible options, and a separate gear list would probably have brought that issue to your attention.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 2.75
You entered the SI in a timely manner and took all 10 levels of Shiba Protector; that's good on both counts. You've emphasized your Wisdom, which helps with class features No Thought, Diamond Soul, and One with All and Nothing. You've got a simple melee focus, so you'll get a lot of use out of No Thought. Your many dips have given you excellent Fortitude and Will saves, so you're in pretty good shape to benefit from Dancing with the Elements. I've already mentioned your Spellcraft weakness with regard to Aid Shugenja.

Making the rest of your build amplify your ability to protect your Shugenja charge is where you come up short. You've had to put so much of your build resources into satisfying the entry requirements for all your prestige classes that you've got nothing left over to be a better protector; and those PrCs themselves aren't great choices if you're trying to augment protection capabilities. Hitting things with your swords isn't enough to ensure your protectee's safety unless you can guarantee instant death to enemies, and you can't do that.

Your build also does nothing with Combat Expertise: you don't have any stratagem involving fighting defensively, nor do you build on it (take any feat which has Combat Expertise as a prerequisite). You do have enough Tumble ranks for an AC bonus when you're fighting defensively, so that at least would synergize with use of Combat Expertise.


Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of judging dissent.