Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground XXII

[OMG PONIES]

What surprised me was the lack of Expeditious Dodge. On the other hand, maybe people thought Snowflake Wardance was too obvious...

Expeditious Dodge did make an appearance. And yes, I think everyone looked at Snowflake Wardance and thought "It's a trap!" The DEX and INT investments were already there on Dervish...adding CHA would have been a bit much.

[Amphetryon]

Fixing the "end of page" glitch.

[ILM]

Aight, here we go! Some really cool builds from everyone, even if the rules of the competition meant I had to score a few quite poorly. Congratulations to all!

Feel free to reach out by PM if you feel I've been glaringly unfair.


The Bloodstained Hurricane
How fitting that the first entry should be essentially the iconic whirling Dervish!

• Originality: 2. The downside of being the iconic Dervish is that pretty much everything is expected. Thri-Keen? Yeah. Ranger? Duh. Scout? I thought we’d see more of that but it turns out you’re the only one who used it. And with Scout and Ranger levels, Swift Hunter is pretty much a no-brainer. In addition, your focus on two-weapon fighting, getting tons of attacks and extra damage is nothing new for a Dervish. You do some well-written fluff but it didn’t get you the maximum bonus since it’s pretty much ‘RWAAARG SLICE THROUGH EVERYTHING’.
• Power: 4. There’s a reason the iconic Dervish is iconic. Many attacks, damage boosts, that’s a recipe for serious hurt and not many things can stand up to you once you start the blender. On the other hand, you could have entered Dervish a little before, bringing your tricks online earlier, and you have precious few options besides buzz-sawing everything that looks at you sideways and darting all over the battlefield. No significant skills (aside from Tumble, Perform and Jump, obviously), no ways to fly, see invisibility, overcome DR or deal with magic, a weak Fort save and a difficult start at low ECL all contribute to making you a one-trick pony. But at least, you’re a one-trick pony that kicks real hard.
• Elegance: 5. 3 classes, no setting-specific stuff, obvious synergies, no multiclass penalties. Clean and streamlined.
• UoSI: 4.75. High mobility, tons of attacks, and tricks to get extra damage to attacks; the only thing you’re not really getting anything out of is Elaborate Parry.

Total: 15.75


Avander Shellivathan

• Originality: 4. A ranged Dervish – that’s definitely something new. While Fighter and Ranger are fully-expected building blocks, you do use Ranger in a non-traditional fashion (as opposed to TWF for free, I mean). Incarnate is also something I didn’t see coming, though admittedly I’m not the Incarnum expert you’re looking for. Shame you didn’t write a little backstory.
• Power: 1.5. Unfortunately there’s also a reason people don’t do ranged Dervishes: it doesn’t work. It’s right there in the text for Dervish Dance: “While in this dervish dance, she can take a full-attack action (for melee attacks only) and still move up to her speed.”. Using the Yuan-ti bow and slashing damage arrows was smart and allows you to still get the bonus attack and damage from the dance, but you’re still forgoing the main benefit of going Dervish – and you can’t use the capstone at all. Alternatively, you could use your bow in melee to get the Dance’s benefits, but then your feat selection becomes irrelevant.
• Elegance: 2. The bow is a nice trick but aside from the fact it doesn't really work, it's FR specific (as is, technically, the fighter variant). In addition, you have a Ranger dip with multiclass penalties. There are also significant dark areas in your build: you take the hit and run Fighter variant but provide no way to reliably getting the opponent flat-footed; you have four levels of Incarnum user but give absolutely no details on what soulmelds you’ll get, where you’ll bind them, or how much essentia you expect to use.
• UoSI: 1.5. I’m afraid I can’t give many points to a build that takes 10 levels of Dervish but can’t take proper advantage of the Dance, its main feature. You’re also not getting anything from Slashing Blades nor anything special from Spring Attack or Elaborate Parry.

Total: 9


Weylin
Weylin, Weylin, Weylin. I really feel sorry for this build because I very much liked where it was going. Unfortunately I just can’t give it the points I want to.

• Originality: 4.5. You have a nice backstory that makes sense, and a few unexpected things. Binder is not something I saw coming, even with Paimon (see below) and neither did I expect Shadowdancer – mostly because it kind of sucks. Half-Orc was also not high on the list of races I envisioned, nor was Dragonborn. More importantly, you’re fielding a power-attacking Dervish, which while not entirely unheard of is still less common than the 2WF one, and focusing on provoking AoOs through Robilar’s Gambit, which is definitely new.
• Power: 4. First, the bad. I don’t think Paimon’s abilities make much sense once you’re getting into Dervish. Dance of Death is redundant, and 4 levels aren’t worth 4 Dex and a few skill bonuses. More importantly, I don’t think Whirlwind attack works like you think it can, in conjunction with a Dance. When you declare it you get one attack against each opponent in reach, but you still have the requirement of moving 5’ between each attack from the Dance. I honestly don’t think they were meant to work together, and strictly by RAW I don’t see how they can. Nonetheless, even if they do, Whirlwind attack does specify you lose any additional attacks or bonuses provided by abilities and feats, which include the +5 attack/damage from the Dance, and the extra attacks provided by Combat Reflexes (“You may make a number of additional attacks of opportunity equal to your Dexterity bonus” – AoOs are still attacks).
  In addition, you have some MAD (Str, Dex for AoOs and feat requirements, Con for HP, 15 base Int before Half-Orc modifiers for Combat Expertise, Wis for AC) and end up with a weak-ish Fort save. While you are getting wings, you have a very basic mobility (45 ft.) and like most the other builds (if not all), no ways to pierce invisibility, something you’ll run into often during the course of 20 levels.
  On the other hand, Robilar’s and Dance is both valid and very powerful, especially power-attacking along the way. Still, it would have been even better with Deft Opportunist and Side Step, and some way to get a miss chance and reach (my first thought being the spiked chain). High-level manoeuvres are also a solid plus, if only in versatility.
• Elegance: 1. Unfortunately, you messed up on the Dervish prerequisites and are missing Combat Expertise, making your entire build illegal. Not only that but you don’t have the Int to take the feat even if you had a slot to spare. In addition, not that it counts, you have one dip and I believe you have one too many manoeuvres at level 18.
• UoSI: 1. You can’t take the class so I can’t give you points for using it.

Total: 10.5


Sanavakri

• Originality: 3.75. Pretty much par for the course. I didn’t expect Kalashtar entries though I should have seen them coming what with PsyWar being kind of the obvious psionic choice. You’re also another two-handed power-attacking fighter. Your perfunctory fluff doesn’t lose you any points but isn’t really giving you an edge either. However, your focus on defensive fighting is very refreshing.
• Power: 3.5. You’re really getting a lot out of Expertise and fighting on the defensive, and are the only one to actually optimize the Elaborate Parry. I’m not really impressed with one of your PsyWarrior powers, Defensive Precognition, nor with your higher-level manoeuvres. Finishing move’s maximum 14d6 extra damage is rather lacklustre, and Swooping Dragon is unlikely to work on anything bigger than Large. Path of Shadows is a bit of a waste since you need Concentration anyway to get any mileage out of Moment of Perfect Mind; it would have shined if you’d managed to get a significant amount of manifester levels in there, though. The saves are nothing to write home about but only losing one point of BAB over 20 levels is. Like the others, your options to deal with flight, invisibility, and magic in general are, um, pretty much inexistent. I do like the combo you described (Dervish Dance + Combat Rhythm into Graceful Lunge and Power Attack) but in terms of damage output, it too is unimpressive. Even with A Thousand Cuts, Combat Rhythm only gets you an extra 50 damage, which isn’t likely to obliterate anything at level 20, and has measly returns considering you pretty much nova’ed to use this. The AC bump is a cool trick, but bear in mind AC’s relevance tends to decrease as levels increase.
  Still, you have all the standard tricks of a Dervish and extra versatility from manoeuvres, so I can’t very well dock points for that.
• Elegance: 4. Not much to say. A PsyWar dip with multiclass penalties and some Eberron-specific stuff. I can live with that.
• UoSI: 4.75. Good job here! You obviously made an effort to squeeze out all you could from Elaborate Parry, Dance, Movement Mastery, and Dancing Mongoose is a nice touch to give yourself more attacks. The only thing you’re missing out on is Slashing Blades.

Total: 16


Death of Xen'drik

• Originality: 3. Everything in there was kind of expected though Ranger 3 is an odd breaking point. Your one differentiating point is usage of the whip, which you don’t really use to the fullest (no attempts to optimize tripping, and you don’t seem to have a solution besides mobility to avoid drawing AoOs whenever you swing).
• Power: 1. Your numbers are really impressive, but you appear to have forgotten one thing: each tentacle whip symbiont deals 1 point of Dex damage per day. You have 4 whips, which means you’ll be catatonic within a week or so, and as far as I can tell you have nothing in your build to deal with the damage. I can’t give any points in power to a build that essentially commits suicide by construction.
  In addition, there are at least 2 wasted feat slots: Greater Multiweapon which you don’t qualify for (requires BAB +15), and Speed of Thought which you don’t qualify for either (the +1 LA Thri-Keen is not psionic). Furthermore, your build as presented relies on getting 4 tentacle grafts and a wand of Venomfire. While the wand, at least, may not be the most outlandish item to procure, I did say that builds would be judged on their own merits rather than on magic items they depend on to work. Without tentacle whips or Venomfire, the damage output of your build is much less impressive. Finally, even if you have a metric ton of attacks (19 attacks, without A Thousand Cuts), you don’t have the speed to use them all since you need to move 5 feet between each – unless you’re forgoing the mobility advantage of the Dervish Dance.
• Elegance: 1. As explained above, there are two feats you don’t qualify to take. In addition, you provided no sources at all and no stats either, so that we have no way to know if you qualify for the rest of the stuff you took. In addition, I don’t see where you got the Whip proficiency, though I’m going to assume the symbiont gives it to you (“a host can use the whip as a weapon,” PGtE p.300) – it would have been useful to mention it nonetheless. You used material from both Eberron and FR, have one dip and multiclass penalties, and you plan to use WRT on yourself via an item, which I find more than a bit cheesy.
• UoSI: 3. You took all the levels and optimized both number of attacks (but you don’t have enough speed to use them all) and extra damage through Venomfire (but not really aside from that). You’re not getting anything out of Slashing Blades or Elaborate Parry.

Total: 8


Devlin Bladehands

• Originality: 4.25. Well, Changeling/Warshaper is definitely different, as is the focus on unarmed fighting. The fluff is well written, though I have to raise an eyebrow at a character that got to level 20 just by training. Feh! My characters didn’t reach level 14 before saving the world twice!
• Power: 3.5. You’ve got slight MAD that’s offset somewhat by the bonuses from Warshaper. Int to damage is cool (why didn't anyone else do that?) and Dex on top is gravy, not to mention all that gets multiplied on a crit too. You do have a bit of trouble in beginning with +5 BAB at level 8 but you get over it soon enough. 6 attacks per round is okay but that -4 penalty hurts quite a bit; in the end, your raw damage potential isn't as impressive as other builds, and you're still suffering from the lack of flight/sight/etc (though at least you’re aware of it).
• Elegance: 3.75. I gotta start with this: the build is beautiful. There’s amazing synergies between everything, all the stuff you used makes perfect sense. Really beautiful work and from that point of view this is my favourite build out of all contestants. However, you’ve got two dips, multiclass penalties and some FR material and provided no sources (seriously guys, sources? Not rocket science), so it really wouldn’t be fair for me to give you the 5 I wanted to.
  I rather wish you’d filled those two spare feats. I understand that the mere fact you have a choice says something about the build’s versatility, but I think I would have preferred a complete character. No points docked for this though.
• UoSI: 4. You’ve got, much like other builds here, fairly decent optimization of most but not all class features and took all 10 levels. You haven’t tried to push your speed much higher than the 30 ft from your race and 15 ft from Dervish, don’t use the Slashing Blades nor Elaborate Parry.

Total: 15.5


Elrond Aldarion

• Originality: 2.75. I rather saw Revenant Blade coming, though Paladin is a surprise. On the other hand, it’s only a 1-level dip. In addition, your combat style and character focus are nothing new, and you have no backstory or fluff.
• Power: 3. You don’t have so much room for PA in spite of your impressive BAB, contrary for example to Weylin who found a way to get his full attack bonus on a lot of attacks. You’re not likely to hit anything if you PA on your iterative attacks. In addition, you have little extra damage aside from that 1.5x Str to each end of the double scimitar, which won’t get you very far without serious Strength optimization. Finally, you enter Dervish at the last possible moment due to being very feat-starved.
• Elegance: 2. Eberron and FR material, dips, multiclass penalties, and a variant from a Web Enhancement (that’s getting fairly obscure) aren’t making you many friends. In addition, I believe you’ve got a mistake in your stats and went with a 28 pb instead of 32. Finally, I’d like to point out that Valenar is described as a land of desert and plains in PGtE p.140, and you can actually see on the map of Valenar (ECS, p.211) that there are no mountains in Valenar. As a result, I think a Valenar Snow Elf is something you’re highly unlikely to see even in an Eberron setting. Definitely a stretch.
• UoSI: 4. Pretty much the same comments as above.

Total: 11.75


Salvatore Serafines

• Originality: 4. Iaijutsu was an unexpected source of extra damage but Fighter and Swordsage are in pretty much all the other builds. However, Factotum and Master of Masks are new (though MoM won’t count much considering it’s a one-level dip). The fluff was entertaining.
• Power: 3.5. Your secondary focus on skill helps you out of combat and that’s definitely a plus.
  Iaijutsu Focus is an interesting way to get extra damage but I feel you could have taken it further. Gloom Razor is fairly restrictive and only gets you 9d6 extra damage per round, which isn’t bad but not impressive either. Your initiative modifier (+10, by my count) may be high enough to give you a solid chance of getting a full round of flat-footedness, but you don’t have that many options to get a surprise round. Grease is a nice touch, but it’s going to take you a standard action to cast and only lasts 3 rounds (plus, if the target makes its save, it just moves out). It would have been interesting to get Celerity in there, as well as Nerveskitter and/or Primal Instinct. In short, you have potential for extremely impressive spike damage, but if you fail to get initiative your options narrow down tremendously. You’re also suffering from the usual lack of flight and ways to pierce invisibility.
• Elegance: 2.75. This is a pretty diptastic build, and you’ve got OA material (Iaijutsu Focus). On a personal level, I dislike Iaijutsu Focus due to it being 3.0 setting-specific material (though by RAW, it’s grandfathered into 3.5). I also dislike the Gnome Quickrazors because for one, I think the weapon looks retarded, and for two because it’s pretty cheesy. In fact, if you lose your quickrazors, you pretty much lose any way of making more than two Iaijutsu attacks in a fight.
• UoSI: 4. Once again, I’m going to make the exact same comment as above.

Total: 14.25


Kaycha

• Originality: 4.75. This one definitely stands out. Yours is the only build not focused (only) on destroying everything but on trying to play with the team. Your race, classes and even feats are all unique, except that unfortunately for you someone else went Binder. You even have a good backstory!
• Power: 2.5. Sadly, while original, Paragnostic Initiate is a weak, weak class that barely synergizes at all with Dervish. In addition – and while technically reasonable – you actually have to burn a feat slot on Martial Weapon Proficiency, which is something I haven’t seen in a while. You also have a ton of cross-class skills. Then again you do have some interesting, if ultimately minor, group battle tactics especially versus caster; unfortunately all this running around to get in place might leave you with little opportunity to use all your attacks in spite of your mobility (unless all the enemies are set up just right) and you have no particular damage optimization to speak of. I really think something like Robilar’s Gambit or Karmic Strike along with Combat Reflexes would have made you much more able to deal damage while getting in position.
  I remain unconvinced by the added value of binding Paimon on a Dervish considering you invested 7 levels in Binder. The other vestiges could come in handy, but don’t really synergize with Dervish either.
• Elegance: 4.5. Well, you’ve only got 3 classes in there, no dips and no setting-specific stuff that I could see. The only thing I have is a certain lack of synergies between the different avenues you pursued: you could just replace the Binder 7/PI 3 with pretty much anything else without changing your feats or anything.
• UoSI: 3. Well, you took all 10 levels and decently optimized your mobiity and initative, though you left aside the Elaborate Parry aspect and didn’t particularly seek to get more attacks or bonus damage (aside from your Favoured Enemies, which really kick in too late to matter). From the way you describe your build, Kaycha sounds like a supporter first and a Dervish second. In that regard, it does seem you’d have better options to support your concept – either by picking another PrC, or by shifting your focus a bit such as using AoOs, reach, or higher damage per attack.

Total: 14.75

[Cieyrin]

It should be pointed out that, in Salvatore's case, Drow of the Underdark isn't setting specific. You're thinking of Underdark, which is FR. DotU talks about FR and Greyhawk but is not attached to a specific world, really.

[ILM]

Ah, quite right. I suspect WotC was just out to confuse me with that title.

[OMG PONIES]

I'm about halfway done judging, so I'll have to push back my delivery date. I still plan on having scores in by the judging deadline.

[kestrel404]

More judging is good. Go Ponies!

[gbprime]

Likewise, I'll have judging in by deadline. Rough week at work...

[OMG PONIES]

EDIT: And now my judging is done!

The Bloodstained Hurricane: 13.5

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ORIGINALITY: 2

• Splashes of Ranger! They're everywhere! Sheesh, I thought we'd see some of it, but 4 different entries using ranger? (-0.5)
• Thri-Kreen is a perfect race for a Dervish. So perfect, in fact, that another competitor had the exact same race idea. (-0.5)

POWER: 4

• You get the all-important 4 base attacks; on top of those Multiweapon Fighting ups that to 7 and Improved Multiweapon Fighting brings it up to 10. With the Thri-Kreen's bite attack, that's 11 attacks on a full attack, before the doubling of A Thousand Cuts. (+0.5)
• The Secret Ingredient is used not only for mobility, but also for the bonuses to attack and damage that it provides. Without Dervish, you'd be hitting less, and dealing less damage when you did hit. As such, this build is stronger than a similar build without the Secret Ingredient (+0.5)

ELEGANCE: 3

• While Swift Hunter on its own was only adding +1d6 and a second favored enemy, good job using it to qualify for Improved Skirmish. A Dervish is all about movement, so there shouldn't be many rounds where you're NOT moving more than 20 feet. A pretty nice combo to snag Improved Skirmish without more levels in Scout (+0.5)
• Extreme Leap and Leaping Climber were nice touches; unfortunately you don't qualify for Leaping Climber, as you've only put 4 ranks into Climb instead of 5 (-0.5)
• While Belt of Battle seems to be mentioned in every round of our competition, good job trying to find synergy with A Thousand Cuts, but the class feature unfortunately specifies once per day while performing a full attack action--it does not last for the entire round. (+0)
• I appreciate that the nonspionic thri-kreen was mentioned in your Adaptation section, along with the Quick trait. (+0.5)
• Ranger dip (-0.5).

UOSI: 4.5

• Speed of Thought is nice in that it's an insight bonus (and so stacks with Dervish fast movement). In addition, Dungeon Specialist was smart--you get rid of what would have been redundant fast movement in exchange for a climb speed, granting you some alternate mobility. Together with your skill tricks, these choices make great use of the Dervish's Fast Movement. (+0.5)
• Compliment points for a different facet of Dungeon Specialist: the fact that you can still attack with light weapons while climbing couples beautifully with Slashing Blades. (+0.5)
• Good point about needing speed to make all of your attacks in a Dervish Dance…I didn't even consider that. That level of diligence is worth some points here. (+0.5)
• All 10 levels of the Secret Ingredient were taken (+0.5)
• Dervish is not entered until 11th level (-0.5)

Avander Shellivathan: 10

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ORIGINALITY: 3.5

• Splashes of Ranger! They're everywhere! Sheesh, I thought we'd see some of it, but 4 different entries using ranger? (-0.5)
• Yes, fighters get full BAB and bonus feats. No, they are not a particularly interesting or original way of doing so. Three entries used this class, mostly to meet entry requirements (-0.5)
• Conceptually, this is brilliant. While everyone's looking for a two-weapon fighting dervish or a natural weapon-using dervish, I don't think anyone expected to see an archer build here (+0.5, but see Use of Secret Ingredient).
• I didn't expect to see any incarnates here, that's for sure (+0.5).
• Along the same note, I didn't think we'd see any Dusklings, either (+0.5).

POWER: 3

• Woodland Archer is one of my favorite feats for archer builds, and I think it's surprisingly underrated. (+0.5)
• While Incarnate was original, you don't list what it lends to the build. Regardless, an Incarnate/Ranger/Fighter Archer without Dervish would be stronger. (-0.5)
• You wind up with the all-important 4 iterative attacks. With Rapid Shot, you're up to 5. This is respectable, but on a Secret Ingredient built for multiple attacks, leaves a little to be desired. (+0)

ELEGANCE: 1 (minimum)

• Ranger dip (-0.5)
• You don't qualify for Exotic Weapon Proficiency at level 1, as it requires a BAB of +1. (-0.5)
• Because you don't qualify for EWP, you fail to qualify for Weapon Focus as well. (-0.5)
• Unfortunately, the snowball continues, and you don't qualify for Improved Critical on your weapon of choice. (-0.5)
• Furthermore, you list Weapon Focus twice. I don't believe you need to take it twice with double weapons, but I could be wrong. (0)
• For an archer, you gain Precise Shot rather late in the game. If Woodland Archer had come before it, it would have been forgivable. As it is, you'll be missing anyone in melee for more than half of your career. While part of this is because of the feats required for Dervish, it is also because of the feat required just to use the yuan-ti serpent bow. While an original trick, it is a bit cumbersome. (-0.5)
• You're getting slapped with some multiclass penalties (-0.5).

UOSI: 2.5

• Because you don't qualify for Weapon Focus as presented, you don't actually qualify for the Secret Ingredient. (-0.5)
• Duskling bonuses to land speed are enhancement bonuses, and as such do not stack with those of the Dervish. (-0.5)
• All 10 levels of the Secret Ingredient were taken. (+0.5)
• While I admire your conceptual gusto, you cannot use ranged attacks as part of your Dervish Dance. Please see the following:

  While in this dervish dance, she can take a full attack action (for melee attacks only) and still move up to her speed.

  Also, you can only Dervish Dance with a double weapon if both ends of the WEAPON are slashing, no matter the ammunition. No dice for the Serpent Bow, though I can see a case being made that it's only "treated as a double weapon for the purpose of determining the cost of a masterwork version and enhancements" as per Secrets of Xen'drik page 137. Regardless, even if you CAN Dervish Dance with the bow in hand, it would only be for melee attacks made with the bow. Because of this, you won't be able to apply Rapid Shot, and thus can only make 4 attacks as part of a Dervish Dance (before any Cleaves). (-0.5)
• With Fast Movement and Dervish Dance, you'll be moving 40 feet in a round more often than not. Because of this, Expeditious Dodge was a good choice over the standard version or other versions. (+0.5)

Weylin: 10.5

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ORIGINALITY: 2.5

• When the Secret Ingredient was unveiled, I thought to myself, "Dervish Dance would partner well with some swordsage levels." Apparently, three other people thought the same thing. (-0.5)
• The Binder: the class that nobody expects but always seems to come up anyway…twice, this time (-0.5)
• A dragonborn half-orc? I definitely didn't expect to see any of THOSE in our Dervish competition (+0.5).

POWER: 3

• Good synergy between fast movement and Ring of Fire! Along with your AoO focus, you have the possibility to wrack up a lot of hurt on your enemies. (+0.5)
• You have the ability to wrack up a great number of attacks of opportunity. However, the main problem with AoO fishing is that your enemies can always decide NOT to attack you. Sure, you could be entitled to lots of AoOs, but once you do your Gambit Dance once, the DM is going to wise up and forego those attacks of opportunity. (+0)
• While your AC is high as presented, it relies largely on items. (-0.5)

ELEGANCE: 2.5

• I would have liked to see the swordsage levels spaced a little bit more to optimize your initiator level (-0.5)

UOSI: 2.5

• You don't qualify for the Secret Ingredient, which requires Combat Expertise, rather than Combat Reflexes. (-0.5)
• Wind Stride is an enhancement bonus to speed and, as such, does not stack with Dervish. (-0.5)
• Desert Tempest seems redundant with Dervish Dance, as does Paimon's Dance of Death. Rather than having multiple options for different scenarios, it seems that Weylin has the same option in multiple forms. (-0.5)
• Desert Wind Dodge works nicely with the Secret Ingredient, rather than the regular version. (+0.5)
• Flame's Blessing is one of my favorite stances. Good job realizing that this Secret Ingredient would benefit from it. (+0.5)
• Good combination of Improved Reaction with other initiative boosters like Quick to Act and Pact Augmentation (+0.5)
• I like where you were going with the creative use of Dervish Dance alongside Whirlwind Attack. Unfortunately, this is usually going to be a subpar option, since:

  When you use the Whirlwind Attack feat, you also forfeit any bonus or extra attacks granted by other feats, spells, or abilities (such as the Cleave feat or the haste spell).

  Goodbye, [Dervish] Dance of Death and A Thousand Cuts. Furthermore, you give up your regular attacks to make one attack against each enemy within reach at a certain point. While it's good for the situations in which you just cannot move and you're surrounded by mooks, it's not the excellent tactic you present it as. (+0)
• You can't use Hide in Plain Sight along with your Dervish Dance; the two are actually at odds. (-0.5)

Sanavakri: 14

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ORIGINALITY: 3

• Ah, the Warblade…the swordsage's burlier older brother with a little bit of a moustache. While it was nice to see for a change, two entries made use of it (-0.5)
• Nice touch with the Kalashtar; while you most likely picked it up for the Path of Shadows/Dancing with Shadows feat chain, it was still a breath of fresh air. (+0.5)

POWER: 3.5

• While you boost your to-hit and AC nicely, your number of attacks is fairly low (-0.5).
• However, Dancing With Shadows ensures that your fews attacks will all be hitting, which is more important in the long run (+0.5)
• Combat Expertise is the name of the game for Sanavakri, and Dervish is one of the best classes in the game for using it. Without Dervish, you'd be worse off (+0.5).

ELEGANCE: 2.5

• You get a bonus feat at level 3, which you've failed to list (-0.5).
• You're getting slapped with some multiclassing penalties. While it's great that you mention them, they're still there. Simply mentioning that you can swap them doesn't take that away, since you're losing out on initiator levels, BAB, and possibly having to rearrange your feat choices (-0.5).
• Beyond that, your adaptation notes provide a good variety of options for tailoring the build to play at any table (+0.5).

UOSI: 5

• Great way to get the most bang for your buck with Movement Mastery--taking 10 on Jump for maneuvers and Perform (Dance) for manifesting defensively is great (+0.5).
• Dancing with Shadows makes great use of your Combat Expertise, as well as Elaborate Parry. Nice find (+0.5)!
• A Thousand Cuts is a great way to reap the benefits of Stormguard Warrior (+0.5).
• All 10 levels were taken (+0.5).

The Death of Xen'drik: 10.5

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ORIGINALITY: 2

• Splashes of Ranger! They're everywhere! Sheesh, I thought we'd see some of it, but 4 different entries using ranger? (-0.5)
• Yes, fighters get full BAB and bonus feats. No, they are not a particularly interesting or original way of doing so. Three entries used this class, mostly to meet entry requirements (-0.5)
• Ah, the Warblade…the swordsage's burlier older brother with a little bit of a moustache. While it was nice to see for a change, two entries made use of it (-0.5)
• Thri-Kreen is a perfect race for a Dervish. So perfect, in fact, that another competitor had the exact same race idea. (-0.5)
• I like how you began your backstory--the sermon felt like an ancient prophecy (+0.5)
• Symbionts and grafts were a mechanically interesting way to get a staggering number of attacks (+0.5)

POWER: 4

• Tentacle whips cost 8,000 gp each. While you still have natural attacks before you can afford them, your primary tactic relies on 32,000 gp of intelligent items. Furthermore, your bonus damage is dependent on a wand of a 4th-level spell at CL 5 (-0.5).
• With A Thousand Cuts, you have 37 attacks in a round. Even without it, you have 19 attacks in a round (+0.5).
• Nineteen! You deserve even more points for this ridiculous number of attacks (+0.5).
• Venomfire is a great (if expensive) buff for the Death (+0.5)

ELEGANCE: 1 (minimum)

• Fighter dip (-0.5)
• While you're getting hit with multiclass penalties, it's only once you reach level 20, so it's not really anything to worry about (+0).
• No inclusion of attributes means that I can't tell whether or not you qualify for any of the feats you've selected. In future rounds, please be sure to include this (-0.5).
• While it was a good idea to use the non-psionic Thri-Kreen, you cannot become psionically focused. Therefore, you cannot use Speed of Thought. Even though you still qualify for the feat, since you can't use it I believe this merits a deduction (-0.5).
• Greater Multiweapon Fighting requires a BAB of +15 (-0.5).
• Some people don't believe that Sage articles pull any weight, but I do; you might want to read this. According to the Sage, you can't use White Raven Tactics on yourself. However, since I know it's hotly debated, I won't be deducting (+0).
• You can't "gain knowledge of" White Raven Tactics from the Crown when it's already one of your maneuvers known; alternatively, you can't learn WRT from Warblade levels if you already know it via the Crown. As such, you can still only activate WRT once before you need to recover it. Your number of attacks is still ridiculous, but not to the extent you've presented (-0.5).
• While Magic of Eberron indicates that you can only have one type of graft at a time, you have two (daelkyr and yuan-ti). However, since Magic of Eberron indicates that the rules listed there only apply to grafts in that book, I'm not sure if it's a problem or not (+0).
• Each whip does 1 point of DEX damage every night. If you only had 1 symbiont, you'd be healing this damage back every night, so it would be a moot point. However, since you have 4 whips, you're losing a total of 3 DEX per night with no noted way of how you plan to heal the damage. You'd be paralyzed within a few days' time. (-0.5)
• Each whip has Ego 5. While it's low, that means you'll need to make 4 Will saves every time you act against the tentacles. Everyone throws a 1 sometimes, and then you're dominated until the DM says otherwise. Also, I'm not sure whether the Ego of a tentacle whip would make it hostile to the presence of other tentacle whips (-0.5).

UOSI: 3.5

• Nice job making a Dervish with 15-ft reach; it's a great way to keep your foes exactly where you want them (+0.5).
• All 10 levels of Dervish taken (+0.5).
• While you take all 10 levels, you only REALLY seem to be in the class for A Thousand Cuts. You provide a blurb about how Movement Mastery and Dervish Dance help the build, but that's just in passing (-0.5)

Devlin Bladehands: 11

Spoiler

Show

ORIGINALITY: 3.5

• When the Secret Ingredient was unveiled, I thought to myself, "Dervish Dance would partner well with some swordsage levels." Apparently, three other people thought the same thing. (-0.5)
• While changelings are one of my favorite races, I didn't think we'd see one here. It is the easiest way I know to snag entry requirements for Warshaper. Nicely done (+0.5)!
• A rather clever trick, using Versatile Unarmed Strike to make your unarmed strikes into slashing weapons (+0.5).

POWER: 3.5

• I was trying to kick around a build that used both Shadow Blade and Insightful Strike for DEX and INT to damage, since the Secret Ingredient requires a splash of both. Nice job making it work, and keeping a decent STR in there as well! (+0.5)
• Dervish solves the perennial monk problem of "flurry of blows or move?" quite nicely (+0.5)
• I'm sorry that we didn't see more sources of multiple attacks explicitly spelled out in your build. While Warshaper's Morphic Weapons could work quite nicely, you don't even mention it. Furthermore, Flurry of Blows and Two-Weapon Fighting are both great ways to start, but we needed something a little more (perhaps GWTF and ITWF for your last two feats?) (-0.5).

ELEGANCE: 1

• While I'm glad you gave a list of possible feats at levels 15 and 18, I wish you had selected some in order to present a complete build (-0.5).
• Monk dip (-0.5)
• Swordsage dip (-0.5)
• You're getting hit with some multiclassing penalties due to your level in swordsage (-0.5)

UOSI: 3

• All 10 levels taken (+0.5)
• Aside from mentioning flurry of blows + moving, you don't really showcase any of the class features of the Secret Ingredient (-0.5)

Elrond Aldarion: 11

Spoiler

Show

ORIGINALITY: 3.5

• Splashes of Ranger! They're everywhere! Sheesh, I thought we'd see some of it, but 4 different entries using ranger? (-0.5)
• I've not heard of snow elves before, so this one took me a bit by surprise (+0.5).
• I had never even HEARD of the Revenant Blade before, so I have to give you points for making me hit the books again (+0.5)

POWER: 3.5

• You lack the bonus damage of other TWF builds, with only the Secret Ingredient itself and Legendary Force contributing extra damage with your attacks (-0.5).
• You have the all-important 4 base attacks, but taking the full TWF feat tree brings that up to 7. A decent number of attacks for any TWF build (+0.5)
• You're the only build to preserve full BAB through all 20 levels, and that's worth something (+0.5)

ELEGANCE: 1

• I don't think you used a 32 point buy, if your stats are after racial modifiers. Instead, it looks like you've only used 28 point buy. Since it's less, I don't believe a deduction is warranted (+0).
• I'm glad to see a Ranger build here who took the class to 4 and used Champion of the Wild to snag Combat Expertise (+0.5)
• Travel Devotion seems out of place in the build as an odd capstone feat (-0.5).
• Paladin dip (-0.5)
• You're getting hit with some multiclass penalties (-0.5)
• You don't qualify for ITWF, due to the DEX requirement (-0.5)
• Additionally, you don't qualify for GTWF, due to the DEX requirement (-0.5)

UOSI: 3

• Dervish is not entered until 11th level (-0.5)
• All 10 levels of the Secret Ingredient were taken (+0.5)

Salvatore Serafines: 11.5

Spoiler

Show

ORIGINALITY: 2

• I don't think I've seen a freedom-fighting circus performer backstory before. Bonus points for a new angle! (+0.5)
• Yes, fighters get full BAB and bonus feats. No, they are not a particularly interesting or original way of doing so. Three entries used this class, mostly to meet entry requirements (-0.5)
• When the Secret Ingredient was unveiled, I thought to myself, "Dervish Dance would partner well with some swordsage levels." Apparently, three other people thought the same thing. (-0.5)
• Ah, humans. Is there anything they can't do? I'm surprised that you're the only human in this round, but not enough so to give you a bonus (+0).
• It's great to see Iajitsu Focus in the build. However, seeing it alongside Gnomish Quickrazors (with proficiency grabbed via Master of Masks) always leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. Here I hoped we were actually going to see some quickdrawing scimitars, or something equally flashy. Instead, we got something that's essentially lifted straight from the Factotum's Handbook. For shame (-0.5).

POWER: 4

• Hit and Run Tactics, along with Inspiration and Shadow Blade, give a possibility of 2*DEX+INT to damage somewhat frequently (+0.5).
• You have multiple ways to keep foes flatfooted, which is the name of the game for you. This contributes to three sources of bonus damage (Hit and Run Tactics, Iajitsu focus, and sneak attack via Assassin's Stance) (+0.5)

ELEGANCE: 1.5

• Feat retraining doesn't work the way you'd like it to. Please see the following:

  If the new feat has prerequisites, not only must your character meet them in his current state, but you must also be able to show that he met them at the time you chose the previous feat.

  (-0.5)
• You don't qualify for Gloom Razor, as you only have 7 ranks in Hide by my count before taking it (-0.5)
• Fighter dip (-0.5)

UOSI: 4

• I'm not sure how to take the following:

  While dancing, a Dervish cannot use skills or abilities that involve concentration or require her to remain still, such as Move Silently, Hide, or Search.

  While Gloom Razor's use of Hide may not require you to remain still, Hide is explicitly called out as one skill you cannot use (+0).
• Gloom Razor is actually a darn good feat for this build: Child of Shadow + swift action Hide = invisibility, reliably flatfooting multiple opponents with Moving Shadows and a Dervish Dance, not to mention free action Tumbles at a DC of 20 (laughably easy with Movement Mastery). Nicely done! (+0.5)
• Short swords are piercing weapons and, as such, cannot be used during a Dervish Dance (-0.5)
• Good combination of Improved Reaction with other initiative boosters like Brains over Brawn (+0.5)
• All 10 levels were taken (+0.5)

Kaycha: 15

Spoiler

Show

ORIGINALITY: 3.5

• The Binder: the class that nobody expects but always seems to come up anyway…twice, this time (-0.5)
• Yet another surprising Incarnum-based race! (+0.5)
• Beautifully-written backstory (+0.5)

POWER: 3

• You snag the important soulmelds for mobility and survivability (+0.5)
• You lack a source of extra attacks and bonus damage aside from the Secret Ingredient and a few small bonuses from Knowledge Devotion (-0.5).

ELEGANCE: 3.5

• By my count, you're spending far more skill points than you have. You should be getting 4 per binder level (16 at first level), and at first level you've spent 24 (-0.5)
• There's a reason people use binder all the time; it's got elegant little tricks laced throughout. Snagging Martial weapon Proficiency in the scimitar was nicely done, and allowed you to continue taking levels in binder without wasting a feat or choosing another weapon (+0.5)
• The build is simple and straightforward, along with being the most streamlined in this competition (+0.5)

UOSI: 5

• Sapphire Sprint's insight bonus is not just a great way to gain speed, but the extra AC works nicely for a Dervish (+0.5)
• Ah, yes, THERE'S Midnight Dodge! A great choice over its regular cousin (+0.5).
• While the Paragnostic Initiate's abilities don't seem related to the Dervish at first blush, they provide great bonuses like shutting down enemy spellcasters while still attacking others via Dervish Dance (+0.5)
• Your Tango section shows that careful attention was paid to every class feature (+0.5)
• Good combination of Improved Reaction with other initiative boosters like Pact Augmentation (+0.5)

Tallies After Two Judges
{table=head]ENTRY|PLACE|TOTAL|AVERAGE
Sanavakri|GOLD|30|3.75
Kaycha|SILVER|29.75|3.72
The Bloodstained Hurricane|BRONZE|29.25|3.66
Devlin Bladehands|Fourth|26.5|3.31
Salvatore Serafines|Fifth|25.75|3.22
Elrond Aldarion|Sixth|22.75|2.84
Weylin|Seventh|21|2.63
Avander Shellivathan|Eighth|19|2.38
The Death of Xen'drik|Ninth|18.5|2.31[/table]

[Cieyrin]

Weylin's math doesn't add up, Originality has a total modifier of -.5 and should be 2.5, so his total should be 10.5, not 11.

[BobVosh]

Wow, close between top 3.

Also binders are becoming really popular in these competitions aren't they?

[Amphetryon]

Wow, close between top 3.

Also binders are becoming really popular in these competitions aren't they?

If I were to guess why, I'd say it was something like this: Binders aren't strong enough on their own that folks would question the choice to PrC, especially into the (generally) suboptimal options showcased as the Secret Ingredient in the contests. On the other hand, they're versatile enough to fill almost any role, so they can easily slide into a lot of PrCs with some planning, and they provide tangible - if small - benefits consistently. Lastly, they appear obscure enough that folks might not expect to see them, though, given how many of these contests we've had, I don't think any base class actually meets that metric anymore.

[Akal Saris]

Hrm...what base classes have been really rare?

I've only seen Truenamer in 1-3 entries. Not sure if scout has ever made an appearance. I don't think I've seen any Healers, or any shugenja. Never seen a death master entry, maybe only 1-2 sha'irs or jesters.

I'm tempted to say that sorcerer has been the least common core class, though I have no evidence to back that up.

[Amphetryon]

Hrm...what base classes have been really rare?

I've only seen Truenamer in 1-3 entries. Not sure if scout has ever made an appearance. I don't think I've seen any Healers, or any shugenja. Never seen a death master entry, maybe only 1-2 sha'irs or jesters.

I'm tempted to say that sorcerer has been the least common core class, though I have no evidence to back that up.

I promise Shugenja made an appearance; I used it in the first IC I entered here at GitP with Munchy.

[OMG PONIES]

Hrm...what base classes have been really rare?

I've only seen Truenamer in 1-3 entries. Not sure if scout has ever made an appearance. I don't think I've seen any Healers, or any shugenja. Never seen a death master entry, maybe only 1-2 sha'irs or jesters.

I'm tempted to say that sorcerer has been the least common core class, though I have no evidence to back that up.

Scout just appeared in THIS round. I'll have to check my sheet to see the most and least frequent base classes--analysis may take a day or so.

[Urpriest]

Scout just appeared in THIS round. I'll have to check my sheet to see the most and least frequent base classes--analysis may take a day or so.

Scout's definitely been around before. One of the Drunken Masters was a Scout.

I feel like there haven't been any Samurai. I can't recall any Spirit Shamans, but maybe there have been some. And no OA Shamans, but I could see that being looked down on some.

[Zaq]

I can't recall any Warmages off the top of my head, but I'm not going to declare that there definitely haven't been any.

[Amphetryon]

I can't recall any Warmages off the top of my head, but I'm not going to declare that there definitely haven't been any.

That would be me again. D. Merwin Elbert, Pyrokineticist and Warmage.

[Cieyrin]

Definitely no Sohei, either, and there's been a lack of Ninja as well.

[Zaq]

Let's see. Soulborns aren't very common, and I can't think of any offhand. We see quite a few Spellthieves, the occasional Hexblade, more than a couple Swashbucklers . . . not many Lurks (Psychic Rogue is more common), but a few. I can't think of any Wilders, but I'd be surprised if there weren't any at all. I don't recall any Erudites, but they might just count as Psions, of which there are quite enough, I think.

Have there been any Artificers? They're T1, so I would imagine that we've had at least a few people using them to try to buff their Power scores, but between how poorly they multiclass (seriously, when is Artificer/Secret Ingredient better than just Artificer?), how easy it is to break them, and how reliant they are on downtime and proper crafting opportunity, I'd be surprised if there were more than a couple.

[Cieyrin]

Have there been any Artificers? They're T1, so I would imagine that we've had at least a few people using them to try to buff their Power scores, but between how poorly they multiclass (seriously, when is Artificer/Secret Ingredient better than just Artificer?), how easy it is to break them, and how reliant they are on downtime and proper crafting opportunity, I'd be surprised if there were more than a couple.

Tribble had an artificer for one of the contests, the fey forgemaster with the battlefist and mechanical dragon, and I think there was another one in the Master of Masks contest, the entry that customized all her masks as magic items with 1/day spell-likes.

EDIT: There we go, Sally from IC: Vigilante and Seera D'Cannith from IC: Master of Masks.

[Amphetryon]

Definitely no Sohei, either, and there's been a lack of Ninja as well.

Keiji Mutoh was a Ninja. That's what I get for entering so many of these things.

[BobVosh]

I feel like there haven't been any Samurai.

OA, CW, or Both?

[Urpriest]

OA, CW, or Both?

Both as far as I can tell.

[Cieyrin]

Keiji Mutoh was a Ninja. That's what I get for entering so many of these things.

There's your veteran's challenge, not only should you use whatever obscure Secret Ingredient the current contest requires, use a base class no one has previously used or used the least!

[ILM]

Isn't there something wrong with Devlin's elegance? If you're starting at 3 and then docking half-points four times, you should be ending up at 1.5 rather than 1.

[term1nally s1ck]

0.5 * 4 = 2.

Umm....

[BobVosh]

Last day for judges btw. Hope we get at least one more done.

[OMG PONIES]

Weylin's math doesn't add up, Originality has a total modifier of -.5 and should be 2.5, so his total should be 10.5, not 11.

This has been fixed...sorry, Weylin.

Scout's definitely been around before. One of the Drunken Masters was a Scout.

Heh, oh yeah, that was mine: Chieftain Nini. Too many entries blurs the memory, I guess.

[ILM]

0.5 * 4 = 2.

Umm....

*a few hours later, now wide awake*

<_<

>_>

Let's forget about this entire thing, shall we?