Gestalt Warrior Arena mk III Fight 18

[PhoenixRivers]

Sounds good to me.

[nefele]

OOC: Alright. Now it's all up to the dice gods.

ROUND 5

Aqualite can't see Moira, but he certainly can hear her laughter as she approaches. "Now, that's what I call a spectacle! Well done, little one!" she exclaims. And suddenly, there she is, to his south-east. "Let's finish this" she says, rather darkly this time, and dives towards the Paladin.

Just before reaching him, two of the gems on her belt turn dull and grey. She then speaks a command word and initiates a martial maneuver. Instead of just attacking Aqualite, she jumps up, soaring above him momentarily. She draws her sword during the jump and finally strikes the nixie below her as she falls down again.

GERONIMO!!!!!

attack: (1d20+57)[73]
damage: (16d6+118)[186] piercing damage + 11 fire damage

You are flat-footed against this attack.

Spoiler

Show

Move action: move from AJ-19, 15 up, to AC-11,5 ft up (adjacent to Aqualite)
Swift action: activate Belt of Battle for 1 standard action
Extra standard action from Belt of Battle: activate Gauntlets of True Strike
Free action: 1 inspiration point to attack.
Standard action: Death From Above maneuver. When adjacent to a foe, attempt a Jump check DC 20 (automatic success) and make a single melee attack. The foe is flat-footed against this attack and you deal a 4d6 extra damage.
Free action: Draw sword during the jump, right before striking.


attack modifiers:
+4 Slippers
+2 Shadow Hand stance (SH weapon property)
+6 inspiration point
+20 True Strike gauntlets

damage modifiers:
+12 Slippers
+7 Shadow Blade feat
+2d6 Assassin's stance
+4d6 Death From Above maneuver
+9d6+99 Iaijutsu Focus (automatically maximum damage)

EDIT- If you think "adjacent" means next and not above (which I cannot imagine why), I move and descend right next to you instead (AD11)!!!!!

[nefele]

OOC: I believe the dice gods were... merciful. Add +1 to the attack roll for attacking from higher ground. Any objections about the "adjacent" term? Go ahead and open the spoiler above.

[PhoenixRivers]

Incorporeal Miss Chance: (1d100)[77] low hits

[nefele]

Ghost Shroud:
While wearing a ghost shroud, you gain a
+1 deflection bonus to Armor Class. In
addition, all your melee attacks can affect
incorporeal creatures as if you were wield*ing
a ghost touch weapon.

[PhoenixRivers]

Source for that and the gauntlets?

[nefele]

Ghost Shroud, Magic Item Compendium page 104
True Strike Gauntlets, Magic Item Compendium page 144

[PhoenixRivers]

And how on earth does a 1 charge item not qualify as a consumable?

[nefele]

Oh, also:
Gauntlets of Heartfelt Blows, DR314 page 22 (I don't have that, I accessed it from Crystal Keep, to be honest).

Improving Magic Items, e.g. how you get multiple properties (unless it's a common attribute, like a stat bonus or resistance bonus, the 2nd property's cost is multiplied by 1.5): Magic Item Compendium page 233.

And how on earth does a 1 charge item not qualify as a consumable?

You don't consume it, do you?
Look, half of the characters here have a Belt of Battle and/or a Scout's Headband (which are, with 3 charges, as much "consumable" as something with 1 charge), and they've all been approved by the DM.

[nefele]

Personal opinion (it's up to the DM eventually):

Having charges is not the same as being consumable. When you drink a potion, it's gone and you can never use it again. Items with charges, and charges which renew every day for that matter, are reusable. Your Cube of Force has charges. So?

Is your problem about Craft Contingent Spell? Like, why can't you use them if everyone can use items with charges? Again, it's not up to me, but here's how I see it:

The problem with Contingent Spell is that it's 1) a custom magic item, which is explicitly forbidden and 2)a spell. I personally wouldn't accept a Rogue with Use Magic Device spamming scrolls in a Warrior Arena. This is more or less the same.

[PhoenixRivers]

Personal opinion (it's up to the DM eventually):

Having charges is not the same as being consumable. When you drink a potion, it's gone and you can never use it again. Items with charges, and charges which renew every day for that matter, are reusable. Your Cube of Force has charges. So?

Is your problem about Craft Contingent Spell? Like, why can't you use them if everyone can use items with charges? Again, it's not up to me, but here's how I see it:

The problem with Contingent Spell is that it's 1) a custom magic item, which is explicitly forbidden and 2)a spell. I personally wouldn't accept a Rogue with Use Magic Device spamming scrolls in a Warrior Arena. This is more or less the same.

Effectively, what's the difference between that item (The gauntlets) and a UMD'd scroll of true strike? They're functionally identical.

If the one is balanced by the reason of imbalance, then the other should be, as well.

If it's done to prevent keeping track of consumables? Then don't keep track. After all, there are CR appropriate kills made here. XP should be gained, but it's not. So, make consumables the same way.

I have a severe problem where we can get blink, invisibility, and any other spell we want on a stick, as long as there's an item...

and a potion that makes you jump farther, or run faster? is banned.

There's no rhyme or reason to the bannings. It's as if a child ran through the books with a crayon, marking things out.

If a scroll of True Strike is banned for power, then those gauntlets? Should be every bit as banned, because they're 1 use only in the arena, and provide the same benefit.

If it's banned for recordkeeping? Then the simple solution is: Don't keep a record. Follow the same policy set with XP.

EDIT: There's a reason potions are discussed for 1 shot adventures. In such adventures, they're functionally identical to an item that allows it once per day, or (in this case) once per combat.

[nefele]

Yes, but there you go. A lot of things function weirdly in an arena. All items, feats, class abilities (what have you) that have limited uses and work only for 1 encounter/day or even 1 round/day can become crucial here, where most battles end in a couple of rounds. If I take a level of Eternal Blade, I get a bonus to my attack for 1 encounter and 1 creature type per day. For better or for worse, this limited ability works full-time in an arena, because one encounter is all you get.

A tournament, with multiple encounters per day, where you wouldn't just "refill" everything in between matches, would be very interesting, IMO. Hmm...

But why don't you pm Lyndworm with your objections? (I say pm because he doesn't seem too active in the thread lately.) He may change his mind, and alter the rules.


Also, are we done with this fight? I'd like to
1) open your spoilers
2) present my humble suggestions for your build (I've been meaning to for quite some time)

[PhoenixRivers]

Yes, but there you go. A lot of things function weirdly in an arena. All items, feats, class abilities (what have you) that have limited uses and work only for 1 encounter/day or even 1 round/day can become crucial here, where most battles end in a couple of rounds. If I take a level of Eternal Blade, I get a bonus to my attack for 1 encounter and 1 creature type per day. For better or for worse, this limited ability works full-time in an arena, because one encounter is all you get.

A tournament, with multiple encounters per day, where you wouldn't just "refill" everything in between matches, would be very interesting, IMO. Hmm...

But why don't you pm Lyndworm with your objections? (I say pm because he doesn't seem too active in the thread lately.) He may change his mind, and alter the rules.


Also, are we done with this fight? I'd like to
1) open your spoilers
2) present my humble suggestions for your build (I've been meaning to for quite some time)

We're done. As far as I'm concerned, until the runner of this arena makes some changes to make it actually function as it says it is supposed to function, I am done, in every sense of the word.

Using Scout's headband to justify Teleporting Boots, and having the gall to call it a warrior's arena? Shameful. Simply Shameful. (and that's not you. That's the management's decision to keep charge/day items)

[nefele]

Fine. Not for this Arena then, but for... for conversation's sake I guess. Humble suggestions for Aqualite:

1) Get a Belt of Battle. Really.
2) 2 levels of barbarian will give you less (Charging) Smite damage, but you'll get Pounce (that's Charging Smite x 3) and Uncanny Dodge. You have a lot of Dex and Dodge bonuses, it's a shame to lose all that when you are flat-footed.
3) You can do without one Extra Smiting and replace it with Awesome Smite. This feat is, well, awesome. Fear no miss chance from any source, this is crucial. (Fear no DR if you have nothing better to do.)

Also, about your Ninja:
Does he intend to get into melee a lot? Shadow Blade's Dex to damage only applies to melee attacks. You can take Dead Eye instead, if you can squeeze Weapon Focus as a prerequisite somewhere (maybe ditch Oversized TWF?). Only works at 30 ft range, but so does Sneak Attack.

You can switch classes between sides of gestalt. I mean, You can take Ranger 2/Rogue 13//LA 3/Ranger 11/Swordsage 1. That way, you lose no BAB (saves, hit points etc). BAB isn't too important, but you'll get another feat at 15th level. Err... now that I see your char sheet again, you DO have a feat at 15th already. I believe you shouldn't, you're ECL 15 but Level 14. (This is easily fixed, of course. As I just said. )

Finally, about this match, activating Scout's headband is a standard action. You can't fiddle with in the same round you've deactivated the Cube of Force (also a standard action).


Good luck.

[PhoenixRivers]

Fine. Not for this Arena then, but for... for conversation's sake I guess. Humble suggestions for Aqualite:

1) Get a Belt of Battle. Really.

Was originally in there. Dropped to make room for Cube of Force, as I didn't want to go through the trouble and headache of adding in 2 levels of barbarian (below). It would go in were I to revamp this character... Which would only be if the rules junta here decide that they have it in their time to revamp the ban/allow list so that it actually makes a modicum of sense.

I mean, Item Familiar... REALLY?

2) 2 levels of barbarian will give you less (Charging) Smite damage, but you'll get Pounce (that's Charging Smite x 3) and Uncanny Dodge. You have a lot of Dex and Dodge bonuses, it's a shame to lose all that when you are flat-footed.

Already known, noted, and planned for the build. I just see no need to waste my time when it's obvious that the rules junta didn't invest much in their decisions.

3) You can do without one Extra Smiting and replace it with Awesome Smite. This feat is, well, awesome. Fear no miss chance from any source, this is crucial. (Fear no DR if you have nothing better to do.)

Already considered, and rejected, for the crucial reason of requiring Power Attack.

And guess what crucial power attack requirement a character with Str: - cannot meet?

As for the rest? Thanks but no thanks. These characters were created exclusively for this arena. A lot, and I mean a lot, of work was put into them. Now that I've realized that the chief officer of the arena can't find time to run his arena, or to make sensible rulings to serve in his stead?

I doubt seriously that the stealth guy will ever see the light of day. And I'm not really interested in small talk over a waste of my time.

[Lyndworm]

Match Finalized.

Nefele/Moira 2.0, Victor
Wins 3/Losses 1

PhoenixRivers/Aqualite, Victim
Wins 0/Losses 1