Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground XXXII

[Venger]

There is no "If 3.0 is allowed" as that's addressed specifically in the rules and FAQ for the contest. Bastards & Bloodlines is a 3rd party book, and therefore not allowed, so that would not be the workaround I'm referencing.

I wasn't right with illithid heritage? darn.

[Amphetryon]

Fixing End of Page glitch.

[Aeryr]

Ritual from savage species probably, but expensive as hell. Or polimorph any object abuse, that is cheaper.

Voidmind (if you consider that illithidkin) creature is a pretty strong template considering that the body tamer grants quite a lot of extra HP and that the template grants one of the feats needed for the PrC. Also it grants nice tentacle bonuses.

[mattie_p]

Ritual from savage species probably, but expensive as hell. Or polimorph any object abuse, that is cheaper.

The only ritual that would get a humanoid there is the ritual of unlearning, but upon gaining the ECL of the target creature, loses all class levels and starting race and converts in entirety to the target creature.

In other words, why bother? Just start as the target creature.

[Aeryr]

If Illithidkin is a subtype a ritual of association would do. But whatever Illithidkin is it is not clear.

[Venger]

Ritual from savage species probably, but expensive as hell. Or polimorph any object abuse, that is cheaper.

Voidmind (if you consider that illithidkin) creature is a pretty strong template considering that the body tamer grants quite a lot of extra HP and that the template grants one of the feats needed for the PrC. Also it grants nice tentacle bonuses.

debatably voidmind would work, so you could enter as a changeling without even having to burn a feat on racial emulation, even if you'd have to eat the LA of 3

I guessed voidmind already, so that wasn't it. as useful as the template is, the LA of 3 is kind of a pain. you'd need 6 lvls of some full BA class, then presumably complete illithid body tamer and only have 1 level left to play with.

But whatever Illithidkin is it is not clear.

with you there. it doesn't appear to be a real rules thing, it appears nowhere else in underdark, nor in the MMs, nor LoM, so I think that it's some kind of fake thing.

[Empedocles]

Really sorry, but for a little while I'll have less then an hour of internet access a day I won't be able to judge for at least 2 weeks.

[mattie_p]

If Illithidkin is a subtype a ritual of association would do. But whatever Illithidkin is it is not clear.

I addressed this partially in the Simple Questions Q & A XX thread, but Ritual of Association only grants humanoids a valid humanoid subtype. The guy there thought he could get dragon as a subtype. Illithids/Mind Flayers are aberrations, which is not a valid subtype. I would rule that Illithid heritage feats from Complete Psionic would be sufficient to qualify as Illithidkin (although they do not grant a subtype), but that is not explicitly set out. Therefore, illithidkin would have to be defined by the DM for this competition, aka the Chairman, in the rules as set out in the posting for the next competition (should it be that class).

[Menteith]

I'm still holding out for a different class. Underdark is one of the books I don't have.

[Aeryr]

Oh, good to know. Even if a little nitpicking, dragon is a type not a subtype, and since we don't really know what illithidkin actually is it might be a humanoid subtype if the DM says so. Yeah I suppose that its quite hard to qualify for the body tamer without being an actual illithid or DM intervention.

Ps. DM intervention also would allow illithid bloodline from DMC

[Piggy Knowles]

The only ritual that would get a humanoid there is the ritual of unlearning, but upon gaining the ECL of the target creature, loses all class levels and starting race and converts in entirety to the target creature.

In other words, why bother? Just start as the target creature.

A Wish and a high enough Spellcraft check would get you there without that being a problem, per the expanded use of Wish on p150 of Savage Species. But I like to pretend that whole passage doesn't exist....

[gbprime]

The judger-naut very nearly got derailed by a couple killer weeks at work. But here we are, less than 48 hours before the judging deadline. Enjoy.

Star - 14.00

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Originality - 3.0 - Rogue was expected (-0.5), and a 2 level dip is worth a slight penalty as well (-0.25). Factotum was also expected, but there are less of them in the contest (-0.25). You're the only one to use Thief-Acrobat (and it's one of my favorites) (+0.5) as well as the only one to use Exemplar (+0.25), even if it's just a single level. Not the only changeling either, so no bonus or penalty there, but the background story is solid, so small bonus for that (+0.25).

Power - 4.0 - Craven is a bit overused, but reliable (+0.25). It would be worth more if you developed the "crit fishing" you mentioned in the build. You also develop Intimidate as a way of life (+0.25), and with the mention of Gloves of the Balanced Hand you net 5 attacks a round with [4d6+Craven] in precision damage (+0.5). You've also got significant out of combat skill ability going for you, but those bonuses are two categories below this one. =)

Elegance - 3.5 - Otyugh Hole actually fits for the background of the character (+0.25), and Thief Acrobat just works to tie in a skill heavy build to the theme (+0.25).

Use of Special Ingredient - 3.5 - One of my standards for the UoSI category is skill points, and when I saw "skill Master of..." in the build title, I thought you were going to clean up here. But I give bonuses/penalties for the prerequisite skills of the Special Ingredient class... and those weren't the skills you cranked up. =(

The prerequisite skills of Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), and Open Lock you took the minimum required ranks and never added a rank again (-0.25 each, for -0.75 total). Search is barely developed past the minimum, but since I clobbered you on the other 3 prereq skills, I'll leave this one alone (+-0). You do however have max ranks in seven skills by 20th level (+0.25 per skill past the fifth, total of +0.5), and this synergizes nicely with the Skill Mastery ability (+0.25). And you further add to Skill Mastery by taking it AGAIN with a level of Exemplar (+0.5).

Dolus Praeto - 12.0

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Originality - 3.5 - Warlock was unexpected (+0.5), and Human Paragon would be worth something if other builds hadn't also leveraged it.

Power - 3.25 - There's that Craven again, overused but useful (+0.25). You give up the opportunity to do 9d6 Eldritch Blast damage for 5d6 EB plus [3d6+Craven] precision damage, but you're really only optimized to do that damage once a round (-0.5). You do, however, make some effort at feinting (+0.25) and have a lot of invisibility going on to deliver that precision damage (+0.25) (which would be worth more if it came earlier than the Special Ingredient could provide the Invisibility spell anyway).

Elegance - 2.75 - A warlock being used for something other than a blaster sounds a bit like Elegance (+0.25), but I know more about his selection of magic items than I do about his tactics (-0.25). You make mention of him not being an Open/Disable kind of guy, which is good for the skillset you took, but then you mention that you can always take 20 and do it anyway... which at high levels is just a great way of getting yourself killed, especially since you don't have Evasion. So... yeah (-0.25).

FYI, Having a list of sources would be nice, and I would have penalized you a bit for it if you had used something unexpected.

Use of Special Ingredient - 2.5 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You take maximum ranks in one by 20th level (+0.25), you develop one well, and you totally ignore two others after you meet the PrC requirement (-0.5). You do a minimal amount of synergizing with the class abilities by hooking his spell list to the Touch of Healing feat, so small bonus there (+0.25).

And you're not really using the Skill Mastery class feature, though. Sure, you take the only 4 skills with it that you need to bother rolling dice on, but it's just THERE. For example... if you take 10 with Knowledge (Religion), you get a 29. That's one point shy of useful, and a lousy +1 to that roll from the myriad of magic items you had listed would have changed my opinion and avoided the penalty. (-0.5)

Unnamed - 11.5

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Originality - 3.0 - Rogue was the expected entry point (-0.5), but I'm giving that right back for Discuple of Mammon (+0.5) which is a very flavorful way to approach the skillset.

Power - 2.5 - Weapon Finesse and 5d6 of Precision damage are pretty much the norm for the contest. You do gain a bit of oomph by hitting a +16 BAB by the end of the build (+0.5), but you really don't develop any other tricks or synergies that would increase your overall prowess (-1). (Skill-monkey-ism is covered below.)

Elegance - 1.75 - You take Willing Deformity (Gaunt) twice. Both provide named bonuses which do not stack with each other. So your 12th level feat is useless (-0.5). Likewise, you did not select a feat at 15th level (-0.5), nor did you provide a background story (-0.5). (I'll assume his nickname is "unnamed" and won't penalize you for that.) Having a single base class to 6th level and no other base classes is a bit elegant, though, and is worth a small bonus (+0.25).

Use of Special Ingredient - 4.25 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You max out 3 of the four (+0.25 times 3 for a total of +0.75) and put at least 1 more rank in the other. You also have 23 ranks in 8 skills by 20th level, which nets you a +0.25 bonus for each skill beyond the fifth (total of +0.75).

The Thief, Steal, and Take Object class abilities of Disciple of Mammon are good synergy with the Temple Raider abilities (+0.5). You do not, however, take all 10 levels of Temple Raider, and that's a quarter point for every level shy (-0.75).

Durbein Stoneknock - 10.25

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Originality - 4.0 - A dwarf (+0.25) paladin (+0.25) is definately not the starting point I'd see for a Temple Raider, and Master Inquisitive is a unique entry point as well (+0.5). (Paladin would have been worth more had you been the only build based on it.)

Power - 2.5 - You do hit a +17 BAB (+0.25), but with only 1 smite per day and only 3d6 of precision damage, you're a bit shy on power (-0.5). You're a bit short on non-combat skills, except for Track, but you don't get that until 16th level, which is a bit late for an ability that any Ranger can pull off (-0.25).

Elegance - 2.0 - I'm confused... should I be looking at the list of feats in the Build Table, or the list of feats under it? The list below the table has feats you don't qualify for without using the feats on the table instead, but you don't get that many feats. So... eh? (-1.0)

Use of Special Ingredient - 1.75 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You completely neglect all four after qualifying for Temple Raider, netting a 0.25 penalty for each one (-1.0). You also don't seem to USE any of the Temple Raider's abilities, you just kind of have them, with the exception of using Devoted Inquisitor to chain Smite and Sneak Attack together... assuming I'm supposed to be looking a the table and not the list for which feats you took. If that is your intent, though, you can only do it once a day, which is pretty weak (-0.25), but it IS technically a use of a class feature.

Aasterninian's Thief - 9.0

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Originality - 3.5 - There's a swordsage in every contest, but in this case there's only one, so no penalty from me. =) Barbarian is unexpected (+0.25) and I'd give it more if you hadn't mixed in equal parts of Ranger for the raw skill points. Silverbrow is worth an uptick, though (+0.25).

Power - 1.75 - You hit a 16 BAB (+0.25) and have two weapon fighting (+0.25), but I don't know why you spend feats on Improved Unarmed when you're not getting more than 1d8 out of two feats on it (-0.25). Nor is your damage output all that fantastic, and I can't really count your martial maneuvers since you told us they were irrelevant (-0.5). So you end up with ... 5 attacks per round that do 1d8 damage (plus 3d6 sneak attack), OR a single attack that adds some cold damage. At level 20, you can practically be ignored (-1.0).

Elegance - 2.25 - Draconic Cohort is a bit of an end run around the "no leadership" rule, and I'm subtracting a bit for it (-0.5). You'd be better off breaking up your swordsage levels so taht you gain some of your maneuvers later in your career when your initiator level is high enough to take some devastating ones. You also dont' develop your tracking skill at all, and have no skill required to use it (-0.25).

Use of Special Ingredient - 1.5 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You take additional ranks in Open Lock (and I suppose a half rank in Disable Device counts), but you don't improve the others at all after meeting requirements (-0.5). You have max ranks in a few skills, but not so many as to get a bonus from it. Nor do I see where you hooked any of your other abilities up to the Temple Raider's class features for synergy. You need to do more than take the class levels, you have to USE them to enhance other things you've got (-1.0). This build would be better served by some other sneaky class.

Zed - 10.75

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Originality - 2.5 - Bard was also one of the expected entry points, but with only 2 in the contest, the penalty is small (-0.25). A 2 level dip in Warblade is worth a hit too (-0.25).

Power - 4.0 - Craven again (+0.25). Two charges at high level for +35 times four is definately hard hitting (+0.5) I'd give you more points for power if you had Spirited Charge and Pounce on your own rather than relying on wands. The Shared Soulmeld for ethereal movement on your hippogriff is a nice trick (+0.25).

Elegance - 2.75 - A "craven" cavalry charger (-0.25)? Bardic Charging Raider, and none of those abilities overlap, but I'll leave that discussion for the next category.

Use of Special Ingredient - 1.5 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You give plenty of love to half of them, but two of the skills are not developed past the minimum (-0.5). What you don't do is use any of the Temple Raider's class abilities. You HAVE them, but you're not hooking them up to other class features for awesome synergy. (There's Craven, but you get a bonus for that in the Power category.) You too would be better off with another sneaky class that goes better with either bard or charging (-1.0).

Aundair Yannedge-Owens - 15.5

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Originality - 3.25 - Small hit for a 2 level dip in a base class (Archivist) (-0.25), but a larger bonus for the flavorful Extreme Explorer (+0.5).

Power - 3.75 - Arterial and Razing strike make for some passable bonus damage options in combat (+0.25), and you make better than full use of a small sea of action points (+0.25), and Improved Disarm makes up for a relative lack of damage (+0.25).

Elegance - 3.5 - However, I disagree with the idea that you can cause bleeding wounds even though you did no damage. The Arterial Strike feat specifies "each wound caused", and if you do no damage, you're not really wounding them (-0.5). The backstory adds to the overall image of the build, though (+0.25), and the Indiana Jones parallels are well played (+0.25). There's also something that just flows... archivist - extreme explorer - temple raider, all with near max ranks of UMD and Skill Mastery in same. (+0.5)

Use of Special Ingredient - 5.0 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You max out all four (+1.0) and also use 3 of the 4 with Skill Mastery (+0.25). Razing Strike makes synergistic use of the class spells (+0.25), Arterial Strike hooks up the class sneak attack to somehting else (+0.25), And the bevy of skill tricks makes good use of class skills (+0.25).

Congratulations, you have acheived a 5.0 in Use of Special Ingredient. This build IS a Temple Raider.

Eglath - 14.0

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Originality - 4.0 - A Goliath was definately unexpected (+0.5), as was a Wild Shape Ranger slash MoMF (+0.5). Divine Seeker would be worth a bit had you been the only one using it.

Power - 4.25 - Craven again (+0.25). The Savage Grapple and Improved Grapple combo is a great way to get a lot of bonus damage and use it reliably (+0.5), especially as a giant octopus (+0.5), good lord.

Elegance - 3.5 - Two rival organizations that are temples is a nice touch (+0.5), and nothing says "infiltrate" like a shapeshifter, so bonuses for that (+0.5). But Divine Seeker has a prereq of Stealthy, which you either overlooked or are using a 3.0 edition copy (it was updated to 3.5, as pointed out on the thread), so I have to ding you for that (-0.5).

Use of Special Ingredient - 2.25 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. Your skill list is far from complete, but its clear that you add a few ranks of Knowledge Religion later on and totally neglect the other skills after the minimums (since they're not stealth or disguise) (-0.75). You also don't finish all 10 levels of Temple Raider, and that's a deduction of a quarter point for each level shy (-0.5). Savage Grapple, however, is a lovely way to synergize your sneak attack into your overall motif (+0.25), and Natural Spell allows you to utilize your spells as well (+0.25), so you've integrated Temple Raider into your concept.

Arminel Rayne - 14.25

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Originality - 3.25 - Paladin is a bit rare as a start point (+0.25) and would have been worth more were there not two builds using it. The other supporting classes are also used elsewhere in the competition.

Power - 3.5 - Quite respectable charge damage (+0.5), and the bonus would be higher if you had Pounce.

Elegance - 3.25 - Charge, Stealth, and Temple Raiding... again, they don't really overlap. You fit them all into the build nicely, but there is little synergy there. A good backstory gets the concept across though, and is worth a bonus (+0.25).

Use of Special Ingredient - 4.25 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You max out all four (+1.0). Locate Creature and Locate Object are good synergy for the whole Temple Raider concept (+0.25), and gets you the bit of synergy you need, since you otherwise don't stack too many abilities.

Theodore Logan - 14.25

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Originality - 3.75 - Ah, there's the Dark Template, and being the only one to use this most excellent of sneaky templates nets a small bonus (+0.25). Factotum was one of the expected entries (-0.25), but a Mindbender dip was not (+0.25). And Hoardstealer fits VERY well (+0.5).

Power - 3.5 - Man this guy is sneaky (+0.5), and between Mindsight, Delay Potion, and all those Inspiration points, you have a heck of a bag of tricks (+0.5). You lack raw damage (-0.5), but with so many options and given the motif of the character, that's not what you're there for.

Elegance - 3.75 - I was all ready to dock you a half point for trying to stack Practiced Spellcaster on top of itself... but I'll be darned, it's an untyped bonus so taking it twice DOES work. Bonus for teaching me something(+0.25). And the backstory was nothing like I expected, but it was well written and served to define the character (+0.5).

Use of Special Ingredient - 3.25 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You give 3 of them some love after you meet the minimums, but Knowledge Religion stays with but a single rank (-0.25). I can see Brew Potion and Practiced Spellcaster as synergizing with the Temple Raider spellcasting ability (+0.5), but what I don't get is why you needed CL18. That seems like one feat too many, and there's a lot of things you can spend a feat on that are better at lvl 18 (-0.25). The Deep Pockets ability is just brilliant, though (+0.25).

Tia the Fox - 10.5

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Originality - 2.25 - Not the only changeling in the contest, so no bonus or penalty there. Rogue, however, was not only entirely expected (-0.5) but you took a 2 level base-class-dip in it (-0.25). Bard was also an expected entry (-0.25), but the Divine Bard variant is more flavorful in this case (IMO) and offsets the penalty (+0.25).

Power - 4.0 - Multiple dice of bonus sonic damage to an entire group is an impressive add-on (+0.5), and combined with your sneak attack dice, you're actually not helpless in the combat department (+0.25). And disguise plus massive bluff/diplomacy works for this kind of character (+0.25).

Elegance - 2.0 - You have no ranks in Knowledge Religion, so you don't meet the qualifications for Temple Raider (-1.0)

Use of Special Ingredient - 2.25 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You gain the bare minimums on three of them and then never advance any of the skills again (-1.0). You double up on skill mastery thanks to your Social Intuition feature, which is a bit of synergy (+0.25). You're otherwise pretty light on hooking up other class features to other things you do.

[mattie_p]

And gbprime has judged second!

Here are rankings now, for those of you keeping score at home...

{table=head]Rank|Name|Race|Classes|z3ro|gbprime|Average

1st|Eglath|Goliath|Ranger 5/TRoO 8/Master of Many Forms 4/Divine Seeker 2|15.5|14.0|14.75

2nd|Aundair|Human|Archivist 2/Ranger 3/Extreme Explorer 5/TRoO 10|12.5|15.5|14.0

3rd|Zed|Human|Bard 5/Human Paragon 3/TRoO 10/Warblade 2|16.0|10.75|13.38

4th|Theodore|Dark Human|Factotum 5/Mindbender 1/Hoardstealer 3/TRoO 10|12.0|14.25|13.13

5th|Dolus|Human|Human Paragon 3/Warlock 7/TRoO 10|14.0|12.0|13.0

6th|Star|Changeling|Rogue 2/Factotum 3/Thief-Acrobat 4/TRoO 10/Exemplar 1|11.0|14.0|12.5

7th|Arminel|Human|Human Paragon 1/Paladin 5/TRoO 10/Divine Seeker 4|10.0|14.25|12.13

8th|Tia|Changeling|Rogue 2/Divine Bard 8/TRoO 10|11.5|10.5|11.0

9th|Aasterinian|Silverbrow Human|Swordsage 4/Barbarian 3/Ranger 3/TRoO 10|11.5|9.0|10.25

9th|Unnamed|Tiefling|Rogue 6/Disciple of Mammon 7/TRoO 7|9.0|11.5|10.25

11th|Durbein|Desert Dwarf|Paladin 3/Master Inquisitive 2/TRoO 10/Deepwarden 5|10.0|10.25|10.13[/table]

[Amphetryon]

Thanks for pulling through, gbprime.

EDIT:

Incidentally, a build that I've tooled around with for TRoO is Wu Jen (water) 4/Factotum 3/TRoO 10/Uncanny Trickster 3. Take Snowcasting/Flash Frost/(Greater) Cold Focus/Sculpt Spell. Use UT to advance Wu Jen's class features to 6, while TRoO allows a caster focused on Fog and Poison effects to largely circumvent their downsides. Factotum fits the theme of an esoterica-seeking TRoO and grants Trapfinding, while adding to the Wu Jen/TRoO motif of mixing luck with style.

[Cieyrin]

Judging completed. My plan of attack didn't work as planned, so I just dozed through, since I won't have time tomorrow to work on judgings.

Star

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Originality: 4.5 Changeling Rogue/Factotum/Thief-Acrobat/Exemplar? Just Rogue or Factotum would be normal but you push the envelope of skill mastery to make a regular Exemplar cry tears of joy. (+1) Changelings would probably be common worshippers of Olidammara in non-Eberron settings but not as many as humans. (+.5)
Power: 3 You make no qualms about where your strengths lie and that's in your skills and being the skill monkey's skill monkey and a job you do with it. Skill Mastery from level 1, Cunning Knowledge to boost a skill as needed, further boosts from Thief-Acrobat, Temple Raider and Exemplar. (+1) Imperious Command and Never Outnumbered could have come much earlier and some other feat reorganizations could be warranted (why TWFing so late? For that matter, why is Agile Athlete so late?). (-.5) Craven and Telling Blow work well together, though again some what late, at least Telling Blow. Makes me think you could have focused more on Skill Tricks and really pushed your skill monkeydom to epic proportions. (-.5)
Elegance: 2.5 Skill Points Overspent (a shame on such a skill focused character. ) (-.5) Technically, Able Learner can't be taken by Changelings but, given they're the offspring of Humans and Dopplegangers, I think that can probably slide, at least more so than it does for Illumnians, so no score change there. Otyugh Hole would probably warrant a deduction but it was gained at a late level and worked seemlessly in that I think I can also allow that to slide.
Use of Secret Ingredient: 3 You make some use of sneak attack and Uncanny Dodge (+.5), though you aren't particularly great when it comes to traps or locks (-.5). You make excellent use of Skill Mastery (+.5) but you ignore spellcasting entirely (can't even cast without a major Wisdom booster). (-.5) Overall, Star makes good of half and ignores the other half, so it averages out.

Total Score: 13 I really liked the idea, just it needed more polish.

Dolus Praesto

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Originality: 3.5 Mystic Trickster types aren't a new concept, though going at it from Warlock is a slight spin on an old trick. (+.5)
Power: 4 Bonus spells are from Wisdom, not Charisma, so your spells per day is wrong. (-.5) As your build notes say, you're aimed at being an infiltration expert that gets the rest of your team inside, which you do admirably. (+1) Your invocations are well chosen (+.5), though some of your feats and equipment leaves something to be desired, especially given you expect to have certain equipment available, which can vary significantly by campaign. I'm especially curious why your later level mithral chain shirt has Twilight on it, since neither Warlock or Temple Raider casting is impeded by light armor, so that's just a waste of money. Weapon Finesse and Trickery Devotion don't seem to serve a purpose either. (-.5) You can handle single infiltration if necessary and, provided your invisibility isn't pierced, can get the drop on enemies reasonably well with Sneak Attack enhanced Eldritch Blasts + Craven and have decent tricks up your sleaves for getting into and out of trouble, which makes you not a drag on party resources. (+.5) Well done.
Elegance: 3 Bluff is cross-class for Temple Raiders (why, I have no idea), so you overspent skill points. (-.5) Otherwise, the build is efficient and clever (especially Human Paragon to pick up Spectral Skirmisher) (+.5)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 2 You get in at the last possible moment but with good reason, for finishing up Human Paragon, so no score change there. You enhance Sneak Attack and make use of most of your class features, though spells and the Luck Domain are fairly forgotten in favor of Invocations (-.5). Kinda makes me think you could have performed better with regular Rogue, given you could have got more Sneak Attack, skill points and the rest of the class features. (-.5)

Total Score: 12.5

Unnamed

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Originality: 3.5 Rogue is a pretty normal entry, though Tiefling Disciple of Mammon is somewhat off the beaten path. (+.5)
Power: 2 I'm...not exactly sure what you're supposed to be good at. Disciple gives a bunch of random spell-likes and abilities that are fairly situational. You have some skills but nothing exotically impressive. You don't use any of your casting and you get Dark Speech 9 levels later than when it first becomes available and would be actually useful. (Score eyeballed)
Elegance: 1.5 Overspent skill points. (-.5) Has 2 instances of Deformity(Gaunt), which can't be taken multiple times. (-.5) Missing feat at 15th. (-.5)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 1 Honestly, no idea what you're using Temple Raider for other than to enter the contest. (-1) You don't really use any of the abilities, you would have been better as a Rogue/Disciple, I think. (-1)

Total Score: 8

Durbein Stoneknock

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Originality: 5 Dwarf Paladin of Freedom/Master Inquisitive? Definitely not expected entry...(+2)
Power: 1 ...Because it doesn't work that well at all. The skills aren't there to support the class, you don't qualify to enter either Temple Raider or Deepwarden. He can only smite once to power Devoted Inquisitor, he has Combat Reflexes and a crap Dex and Pack Tactics is not a worthwhile feat. It's just a mess, the only good things going for him are his saves, as Serenity boosts them quite a bit. Unfortunately, having good defenses only goes so far, if you can't contribute, you're just a waste of space and a target for Barbarian trapfinding. (-2)
Elegance: 1 Gross overspending of skill points to qualify for Temple Raider (spent 14 when you had 7 when entering Inquisitive on cross class skills). (-.5) Doesn't qualify to enter Deepwarden (No Knowledge(Dungeoneering)). (-1) No 12th level feat. (-.5) Master Inquisitive isn't full BAB, so it's impossible for this build to enter Temple Raider at 6th. (-1)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 1 No idea what this has to do with Temple Raiders other than the theme and having levels just to make an entry. Doesn't do anything with the features that couldn't be done with Rogue levels. (-2)

Total Score: 8 The story was nice, it's just the rest of the build that fell apart. Rework, refactor, reenter.

Aasterian's Thief

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Originality: 4 Swordsage/Barbarian/Urban Ranger? Not one of the usual suspects, certainly, for a Temple Raider. (+1)
Power: 1 Unusually high point buy, AT is built on 50 point buy compared to the more usual 32. (-.5) Seems to be built like a skirmisher, though the details of how it's supposed to be achieved are rather lackluster. Knowing what maneuvers and spells you're using would have helped with that. (-.5) Unarmed Strike training starts late and for no apparent reason other than because it seemed a cool idea; would have benefited by going Unarmed Swordsage from the get-go. (-.5) Only gets Ferocity 1/day, so that doesn't help in most fights and ignoring maneuvers makes Insightful Strike never come up. (-.5) Permanent Flight isn't bad and is achieved as early as possible. (+.5) Favored Enemy of a Temple that may never show up seems a bad idea. If there was some back story to support it or why you serve Aasterian, it could make sense but there isn't. (-.5)
Elegance: 1 Again, unusually high point buy and for no reason I can fathom, which probably wouldn't fly at most tables. (-.5) Overspent Skill Points, not to mention that awkward half rank of Disable Device that's just hanging out there, serving no purpose. (-.5) Swordsage just for Shadow Blade, Wis to AC and some skills, Barbarian for 1/day Ferocity. (-1) Dragon Cohort is a derivation of Leadership, which is banned from IC (-1)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 1 Seems really tacked on just to make an entry. (-1) Doesn't really make use of any class features, though it has the Wisdom to make use of Raider spells, which is probably a side effect of the unusually high point buy. (-.5) Gets in at last possible moment. (-.5) Probably would have benefited from not going into Temple Raider and pursuing more Swordsage.

Total Score: 7

Sky Raider Zed

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Originality: 4. A hippogriff rider who phases through doors, walls and into vaults to rob temples blind? That's certainly different. (+1)
Power: 1 A lot of your assumed power draws from equipment and access to purchase of said equipment, which is a dangerous assumption to make. (-.5) Especially where it comes to stats, as you try to go in several directions and strain your ability scores well beyond their limits, as without your precious Belt of Magnificence or Manuals, you can't cast any of your 3rd level bard spells (no Clairvoyance) and you can barely cast all your Temple Raider spells with your Human Paragon boosted Wis. (-.5) You do secure your hippogriff mount but late and it's pretty squishy (half your hp and all those d6 HD is doing you no favors there).
This isn't to mention the limitations of Clairvoyance that (a) it doesn't extend your magical or extraordinary vision you may possess, so if it's magically or naturally dark, you don't get to see much of anything on the other side and it's blocked by lead (any secure temple will keep their good stuff protected with it) or if it's warded against scrying (major temples or especially secretive ones, like those devoted to Vecna). (-.5)
The Hippogriff isn't terribly great indoors, since it can't hover and it being large means that when it's not phased it may end up squeezing in human sized temples (temples aren't typically designed with mounts in mind, so them tight passages may be an issue), so you may end up losing it and suffering XP losses from multiple familiar losses. Also the issue of charging in-doors after combat has started can be a problem, which will often nullify your mounted strengths, even with sneak attack charges with a lance possibly taking a target out, since you don't have Spirited Charge without a wand you may or may not have, especially since Heroics isn't a Spell Known on your Bard list. (-.5)
On the skill side, you have some investment in place, though your dependence on adamantine weaponry to deal with locks for you does crunch on your style. You are stealthy and a trap spotter but that's pretty much all you got going for you (not to mention that your Hippogriff lacks Darkstalker, meaning extraordinary senses will notice it, if not you). So, in a dungeon setting (or temple, given the PrC), you can work out well, but outside it and you'll have to depend on everyone else.
As for your ethereal charging, it doesn't work nearly as well as you'd claim, at least for sneak attacking with it, as while you're ethereal, you're invisible AND insubstantial, meaning you can't affect creatures on the Prime Material. So, either you charge in and can't stab anybody or you stop, become visible and substantial but then you don't have anything going that's denying your target's Dex (concealment from Blur is not good enough to elicit that), so no Sneak Attack. I will grant you'll likely have Surprise for ethereal charging, so you'll get one round of sneak attacking but after that, you're kinda screwed, especially if your target doesn't have a space for you to materialize into since you're riding a large creature in enclosed spaces, not to mention Ride-By requires straight line movement, so better hope there's some place beyond the wall on the other side for you to be, as otherwise you may get spit somewhere you don't want to be. (-.5)
Elegance: 1.5 Dipped Warblade purely for the maneuvers in the last levels. (-1) Skill points are all over the place in spending more or less than what you have. (-.5)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 3.5 You find a use for almost every part of the PrC and, despite power flaws, you are definitely a raider, though significantly different from the norm. (+1) Your dependence on your high level Temple Raider spells when you only get 1 each day doesn't work terribly well without boosting your Wis with magic items you may never get. (-.5)

Total Score: 10 Neat idea, though execution left something to be desired.

Aundair Yannedge-Owens

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Originality: 4 Ranger is expected, Archivist is not. (+.5) Adapting Indiana Jones to Eberron and shaping the story to it fits Temple Raider rather well and you've essentially made the character work well as him, though the lack of pistol/hand crossbow was somewhat irksome. Extreme Explorer isn't something that seems to come up that often, either. (+.5)
Power: 4 You're certainly a skill monkey and have the spread and skill tricks to make it work. (+1) You make your Sneak Attack work well, even with a whip, which is a feat unto itself. (+.5) Your limited spellcasting is more limited than you posit, though, as you don't have the Wisdom to use your high level Temple Raider spells, which does impede your versatility. (-.5) Razing Strike is genius for dealing with undead, though you don't have any counters to constructs and it comes on rather late.
Elegance: 5 It all went smoothly and in character for an Indiana Jones expy, like clockwork. Temple Raider came up at the last possible moment but for good reason. A pleasure to read. (+2)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 4 Sneak Attack was well utilized and expanded on (+.5), Trap Sense was thoroughly used (+.5) and Uncanny Dodge was presumably taken advantage of, given the Dex emphasis. (+.5) The faux pas with Wis for TR casting does crunch on spellcasting (-.5) and Luck domain wasn't mentioned at all.

Total Score: 17

Eglath

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Originality: 3.5 Ranger was expected, (-.5) Goliath Master of Many Forms definitely was not. (+1)
Power: 4 Wild Shape in general is pretty powerful by itself, let alone boosted by Master of Many Forms (+1), further enchanced by Savage Grapple and Craven for a murderizing machine (+.5). You have adequate numbers of spells to enhance yourself but your lack of Natural Spell (since you seem to be in an alternate form most of the time) makes it kinda moot, since they're mostly not long duration. Not to mention that technically don't get Powerful Build, as it requires a specific feat to keep it while wildshapaed (Powerful Wild Shape) (-.5). It's difficult to judge your skills, given you kinda half-assed them and making an assumption on what your grabbing isn't fair to the other competitors that went to the trouble, so I'm not going to score you on it here. Elegance, however...
Elegance: 1.5 Unfinished skills (can't judge what isn't there, Sturgeon's and Murphy's Laws willing) (-1). Applying errata after posting isn't very kosher in my book. (-.5)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 1 I don't know why Temple Raider is here, other than flavor and qualifying for the contest. You could probably have done better with just Rogue and more MoMF for what you were doing. (-2)

Total Score: 10

Sir Arminel Rayne

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Originality: 4 Paladin of Freedom is straight out of right field. (+1) I have a soft spot for stealth paladins, too, though that's not worth extra points. :3
Power: 3.5 Stealth, breaking and entering and charging power attacks give you a decent mix of abilities. (+1) Your low Wis does deny you your high level Temple Raider spells, though, so you're somewhat limited when it comes to dealing with threats that are out of reach or are resilient against sharpened lengths of steel. (-.5)
Elegance: 5 It flows reasonably well, with skills and feats selected at decent points for their power. No messed up prereqs, skill points all match out, ability scores appropriately on the point buy. I don't see any table really saying no to this. (+2)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 2.5 You get in almost at the earliest point possible. (+.5) You enhance the features with Divine Seeker (+.5), though the Temple Raider abilities don't seem particularly used and you favor strengths despite the Temple Raider, not because of it. (-.5) The low Wis detracts from using your spells as well. (-.5) You'd probably would have been better to pursue something like Shadowbane Inquisitor for what you were going for. (-.5)

Total Score: 15

Theodore Logan

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Originality: 2.5 Factotum is the new Rogue, so it's a natural entry into Temple Raider. Not innovative, though. (-1) Hoardstealer isn't something that comes up too often and is kinda the arcane brother to Temple Raider and they complement each other. (+.5)
Power: 3.5 You're stupidly stealthy and generally aware of others around you, between Darkvision 90', Superior Low-Light Vision, Mind Sight and generally high Spot and Listen, so you work well as party scout, which seems to be your schtick. (+1) You don't have enough invested in Knowledges to pull off Cunning Knowledge + Collector of Stories shenanigans, since you need 1 rank in a skill to use Cunning Knowledge and Knowledges are trained only. (-.5)
Elegance: 1 Factotums don't actually cast, so you can't use Arcane Dilettante to pick up Brew Potion. (-.5) Dip Mindbender for telepathy and Mindsight, dip Hoardstealer for Deep Pockets. (-.5) Your skillpoint selection is all over the place, like picking up 5 ranks of Disable Device at 2nd level out of nowhere and buying ranks of UMD and Spot in Temple Raider. (-.5) You take Practiced Spellcaster for Temple Raider twice. (-.5)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 2 You get in at the last possible moment while you're dipping other classes for goodies. (-.5) You don't really capitalize on Temple Raider spellcasting besides the CL boosting, which isn't apparent for the reason for. You have just enough Wisdom to use the spells but otherwise give lip service to them. You probably would have been better off continuing to pursue Hoardstealer. (-.5)

Total Score: 9

Tia the Fox

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Originality: 2 Rogues and Bards are both expected entries, as noted in the PrC's intro. (-1) Changeling is somewhat different, though, as is going Divine Bard. (+.5) Dragonfire Inspiration off of Battle Dragon Heritage is pretty old hat, though. (-.5)
Power: 3 Inadequate ranks in Perform are gained to use most Bardic Music when they'd normally be acquired. You can't use any of your bardic abilities till 6th, so in the mean time you're like a underpowered sorcerer with skills. Not to mention you don't meet the prerequisite ranks for Song of the Heart when you acquire it, the Eberron Bard ACF doesn't void meeting the prereqs. (-1) You're an impressive face, though, between spells, Changeling Rogue and Draconic Presence. (+.5) Impressive detection senses as well. (+.5)
Elegance: 2 Proficiency with medium armor doesn't give you proficiency with mithral heavy armor. (-.5) Otherwise, it all works together pretty well. (+.5). Doesn't qualify for Temple Raider, as lacks Knowledge(religion). (-1)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 2 You make decent use of the spells and Uncanny dodge but that's about it. Skill Mastery gets some lip service but you have it for most of your used skills already. Probably would have been better off with Exemplar or more Rogue. (-1)

Total Score: 9

My vote for Honorable Mention goes to Sky Raider Zed. The build had the guts to go for something unusual and could have achieved it with some more refinement, for which the entrant should be commended. Plus, c'mon, Ethereal Flying through temples, that's just not something you see everyday.

[Cieyrin]

And new scores means new totals:

{table=head]Rank|Name|Race|Classes|z3ro|gbprime|Cieyrin|Average

1st|Aundair|Human|Archivist 2/Ranger 3/Extreme Explorer 5/TRoO 10|12.5|15.5|17.0|15

2nd|Eglath|Goliath|Ranger 5/TRoO 8/Master of Many Forms 4/Divine Seeker 2|15.5|14.0|10.0|13.167

3rd|Arminel|Human|Human Paragon 1/Paladin 5/TRoO 10/Divine Seeker 4|10.0|14.25|15|13.083

4th|Dolus|Human|Human Paragon 3/Warlock 7/TRoO 10|14.0|12.0|12.5|12.833

5th|Star|Changeling|Rogue 2/Factotum 3/Thief-Acrobat 4/TRoO 10/Exemplar 1|11.0|14.0|13|12.67

6th|Zed|Human|Bard 5/Human Paragon 3/TRoO 10/Warblade 2|16.0|10.75|10.0|12.25

7th|Theodore|Dark Human|Factotum 5/Mindbender 1/Hoardstealer 3/TRoO 10|12.0|14.25|9|11.75

8th|Tia|Changeling|Rogue 2/Divine Bard 8/TRoO 10|11.5|10.5|9|10.33

9th|Unnamed|Tiefling|Rogue 6/Disciple of Mammon 7/TRoO 7|9.0|11.5|8|9.5

10th|Durbein|Desert Dwarf|Paladin 3/Master Inquisitive 2/TRoO 10/Deepwarden 5|10.0|10.25|8|9.416

11th|Aasterinian|Silverbrow Human|Swordsage 4/Barbarian 3/Ranger 3/TRoO 10|11.5|9.0|7|9.167[/table]

Oh, and a note to gbprime: in reference to Theodore and Practiced Spellcaster, it has a clause that says it has to be applied to different classes, so it can't be stacked on the same class.

[Amphetryon]

Note for Cieyrin:

Something I'd like to bring to the attention of one of the judges:

Cieyrin marked off my build (Dolus) half a point for using Charisma instead of Wisdom in my spells per day table. But I didn't, or my spells per day would be a lot higher

In other news, I'll be out of town until about 3 hours after our traditional reveal time.

[Cieyrin]

Note for Cieyrin.

If Dolus didn't use Charisma, I have no idea how the spells per day were generated, as Wis 14 does not give that many spells per day as the build suggests. Going by the Charisma score perfectly fits the spells per day, hence why I went by that assumption and thus the deduction. Look at the bonus spells from ability scores table, 14 provides 1 bonus 1st and 2nd, 22 gets you 2 bonus 1st and 2nd levels, 1 bonus 3rd and 4th.

[OMG PONIES]

There's at least one other work-around.

Is our chairman pimping Dragon Magazine Compendium's Shaper of Form again? I'm AFB so I forget the specifics.

[Invader]

How often are there competitions like this or competitions in general for different things?

[Amphetryon]

Final Tally time! While I received other disputes, they would not have changed the final standings regardless of their merits. A big round of applause, as usual, for all contestants and judges.

Aundair Yannedge-Owens: Xodion - 1st place
Eglath: mattie_p - 2nd place
Sir Arminel Rayne: Xodion - 3rd place
Dolus Praedo: Yorrin
Star: Golden Ladybug - Honorable Mention
Sky Raider Zed: The Gilded Duke
Theodore Logan: Venger
Tia the Fox: Kuulheysoon
Unnamed: _flint_
Durbein Stoneknock: Toy Killer
Aasterinian's thief: Sgt. Cookie

Iron Chef Challenge in the Playground XXXIII will be up shortly.

[Venger]

congrats to eglath! I liked your build a lot.

[Amphetryon]

Tada.
Two posts ninja'd in between the contest announcement and the FAQ.

[Golden Ladybug]

Whoo, I like getting mentions. Honourable ones are even better

Anyway, congratulations to Xodion and mattie_p. Aundair, Elgath and Arminel were all very cool characters, and I really liked reading over them.

This was a pretty cool first Iron Chef, and I'm looking forward to the next one. Hopefully I'll talk more in that one.

[Menteith]

Tada.
Two posts ninja'd in between the contest announcement and the FAQ.

Sorry : (. I get excited....

[Xodion]

Wow, I was hoping for one, but getting two trophies? Thanks to the judges . I'm surprised Aundair won so hard, he was actually more of a joke build - I genuinely expected some more Indiana Jones style builds. Well done to everyone, though, we got an amazing amount of variety out of what seemed like a very restricting class.

To the next round!

[Aeryr]

Is our chairman pimping Dragon Magazine Compendium's Shaper of Form again? I'm AFB so I forget the specifics.

Already thought on that renaissance requires that the creature you are turning into doesn't have LA

[Venger]

Already thought on that renaissance requires that the creature you are turning into doesn't have LA

you are correct. whatever workarounds might exist, shaper of form is not one of them.

[mattie_p]

Hooray! 2nd place in my 2nd IC competition. I really enjoyed this one. A really tough one.

Master of many forms inspiration came very, very late into the competition, like 6 hours before submission time. I do have some questions for Cieyrin, but I'll pm them. Overall I am satisfied with the results, even if my questions had an impact on his judging I doubt it would bump me to first place.

Looking forward to adding a trophy to my sig, and looking forward to the next competition!

EDIT: there are to be trophies, right?

[Cieyrin]

I do have some questions for Cieyrin, but I'll pm them. Overall I am satisfied with the results, even if my questions had an impact on his judging I doubt it would bump me to first place.

I'll be happy to take any questions via PM, as my scorings did kinda squeak in in the last minute, from any contestant. This week is a bit crazy for me due to job interviews but I'll try to be timely.