danzibr's Totemist Handbook

[danzibr]

Here's a nice Totemist/Binder "theurge" build (it uses bloodlines in place of a theurge PRC): Ashardarlon Reborn. Look to the sixth post on how to replace the bloodlines in the build with a homebrew theurge class.

Thanks Count! I read this before but misplaced it. Interesting build.

And @Piggy Knowles: I just can't bring myself (unless not without more convincing) to change the color rating on Hunter's Circlet, though I did change the wording quite a bit.

Basically I'm using orange to mean situationally good. I do see that Hunter's Circlet can be very useful in certain situations, but I also think the majority of the time you bind it, it wouldn't be of any use.

[Karnith]

Very minor contribution: You mention in your guide in the section analyzing individual soulmelds that there is a feat that allows you to make an attack after using Blink Shirt to teleport, but that you don't remember the feat's name. I believe that you're referring to Sun School (from Complete Warrior), which requires BAB +4 and Flurry of Blows, and lets you make one attack at your highest BAB if you teleport into a square adjacent to an enemy.

[Kuulvheysoon]

No love for Spikers (PlH) or Shifters (ECS)?

There's a few of the Lesser Planetouched that you might find neat as well.

[danzibr]

Very minor contribution: You mention in your guide in the section analyzing individual soulmelds that there is a feat that allows you to make an attack after using Blink Shirt to teleport, but that you don't remember the feat's name. I believe that you're referring to Sun School (from Complete Warrior), which requires BAB +4 and Flurry of Blows, and lets you make one attack at your highest BAB if you teleport into a square adjacent to an enemy.

Added! I think Piggy Knowles mentioned that too, but still, thanks.

No love for Spikers (PlH) or Shifters (ECS)?

There's a few of the Lesser Planetouched that you might find neat as well.

I'm glad you mentioned Spikers. I totally forgot about them despite them being one of my favorite races (dunno, they just seem cool). I did intend to add Shifters. Now they're both added!

And by Lesser Planetouched you mean like Lesser Aasimar and Tiefling?

[Piggy Knowles]

And @Piggy Knowles: I just can't bring myself (unless not without more convincing) to change the color rating on Hunter's Circlet, though I did change the wording quite a bit.

Basically I'm using orange to mean situationally good. I do see that Hunter's Circlet can be very useful in certain situations, but I also think the majority of the time you bind it, it wouldn't be of any use.

If orange means situationally good, that's probably the right place for the standard meld and the crown bind. I like that it's there because it means that the totemist can turn into a tracker without devoting resources to it, unlike any other build.

I'd still probably bump up the totem bind a notch. Scent at ECL 2 is pretty nice, and serves as a hard counter to most forms of stealth. Shedu Crown + Mindsight beats it out, of course, but that's more because Mindsight is crazy and insane rather than because scent isn't useful. I know there's some stiff competition for the totem bind, since that's also where your primary offense most likely comes from, but hey, that's what Rebind Totem Soulmeld is for, right?

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Some sample builds:

Dwarven Defender (done right, for once)

Crusader1/Totemist6/Ironsoul Forgemaster10/Crusader1/Witch Slayer2

Breakdown:

Crusader to start off with for D12 HD and decent abilities. Start off with Martial Spirit stance for some self-healing which is actually relevant at low levels or Leading The Charge stance for more damage output on a charge. When you come back, pick up Thicket of Blades for better Area Denial. Remember that Prestige Classes offer full Initiation advancement for free.

Totemist 6 is a decent jump point. You got all of your low-end chakra at level 5, and 6 nets you an extra bind to use. This build doesn't use natural attacks, however Urksan Greaves are still a valid option for more damage on a charge.

Now, your Totem Bind is available to be swapped around, which actually gives you a lot of options. If you want ranged attacks, you can go for Manticore Belt. If you need to go underwater, go with Kraken Mantle. If you want some maneuverability, try using the Blink Shirt, for move action DimDoor. Remember, you can take your Move Action after your Standard Action if you like, so you can activate a Maneuver, then teleport somewhere else in the fight.

Ironsoul Forgemaster can really help you out. Because you are likely going axe and shield, your Shield pretty much makes you immune to blastomancy via investing essentia. Remember, you don't have to choose, you get all flavors of energy resistance at the same time.

Secrets of the Forge basically means that even if you don't have access to a MagicMart, you've at least got decent weapons. Forge Lore makes sure you can hit the Craft check DC's.

Armor Bond nets you some DR/-, just like Dwarven Defender does, but without being locked into place. Stacks with Adamantine Full Plate, which you gain proficiency with via Crusader.

Weapon Bond is an essentia dump for more damage output. The save is pathetic, but if your opponent rolls a natural 1, Dazing is not fun to be hit by.

Witchborn Binder nets you Mettle. This makes you able to shrug off secondary effects from spells such as Slay Living, Touch of Death, Disintegrate, and others.

This is meant as a beatstick/lockdown build, capable of taking a hit, and being mobile enough and threatening enough damage output that it has to be respected as a threat rather than simply ignored.

Manticore Shotgun

Swordsage1/Totemist6/Umbral Disciple 3/Swordsage1/Totemist9

This build is designed to be a hit and run build which gets a lot of benefit from the Manticore Belt in the Totem slot.

This build is dependent on the somewhat iffy rules interpretation that the Spines from the Manticore Belt are considered Natural Attacks. If your GM disagrees with this rules interpretation, much of the damage from this build vanishes, so make sure to verify this with your GM before starting.

In effect, Swordsage gives some survivability and the skills necessary to qualify for Umbral Disciple, which gives HiPS and 20% concealment always on.

Now then, let's talk about the Shadow Mantle. As written, it sucks. Darkness does NOT break Line of Sight, as it assumes (the author probably was having a flashback to AD&D 2nd ed) so, as written, it stinks. However, Umbral Disciple allows you HiPS, which means you can make a Hide check within your magical darkness, and making it function as it was probably intended to.

Right, now let's talk about the feat Double Chakra. We're actually wanting this one twice, once for the Shoulder chakra, and once for the Totem chakra. Why? Totem Avatar.

Shoulder bind increases size of natural attacks by one step. Now increase that further with Morale bonus to damage from the Totem bind.

Note: Heart of Fire would require an additional feat blown on Double Chakra for Waist, however it's 1d4 Fire damage when bound to Totem. Now, Fire damage is the single most commonly resisted elemental flavor, but it might be a viable alternative to binding Totem Avatar to Totem chakra.

The next soulmeld we will bind requires a feat for Shape Soulmeld, it's the Sighting Gloves. Insight Damage with ranged weapons that improves per essentia, then the free bind (from the feat) gives you Precise Shot.

We can also take the feat Improved Natural Attack (Spines) for another size boost.

Now we are looking at 2 size increases (one from the feat, one from Totem Avatar's Shoulder bind), Insight damage bonus from Sighting Gloves, either Morale bonus to damage from Totem Avatar or bonus d4's of damage from Heart of Fire. Plus since we're running around unable to be seen thanks to HiPS + Shadow Mantle, we're probably going to be able to add +1d6 Sneak Attack from Umbral Disciple and another +2d6 from Assassin's Stance. So, let's see what we've got

Now shape (but not bind) Dread Carapace for more damage, albeit at a penalty to attack. Still, you should be hitting Flat-Footed most of the time, so it shouldn't be a big problem. And if you have a problem hitting, dump essentia elsewhere to trade back attack for damage as a Swift action.

Now we need more Standard Actions. Well, how badly you tweak this depends on your allergy to cheese, and is best covered in its own guide.

You've got a +2 Soulmeld Capacity to the Totem chakra from your class, so you've got 7 shots. Each one is doing 2d6+(1+essentia) Insight bonus from gloves + (1+essentia) Morale from Totem Avatar +(1+essentia) untyped from Dread Carapace + 3d6 Sneak Attack (situationally immune)+ 1/2 Str mod. To get maximum damage output, find a way to significantly increase Essentia.

[danzibr]

If orange means situationally good, that's probably the right place for the standard meld and the crown bind. I like that it's there because it means that the totemist can turn into a tracker without devoting resources to it, unlike any other build.

I'd still probably bump up the totem bind a notch. Scent at ECL 2 is pretty nice, and serves as a hard counter to most forms of stealth. Shedu Crown + Mindsight beats it out, of course, but that's more because Mindsight is crazy and insane rather than because scent isn't useful. I know there's some stiff competition for the totem bind, since that's also where your primary offense most likely comes from, but hey, that's what Rebind Totem Soulmeld is for, right?

Yeah, that's a good point, the blindsense. Especially if the character already has some solid claws from race. I'll change that.

Some sample builds:

[...]

Excellent! Although there is no actual Dwarven Defender, I was thinking about Con to AC and the like yesterday, and the awesomeness of Ironsoul Forgemaster.

Anyway, I was wondering if the precision damage applied to all the spike attacks on the second build.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Anyway, I was wondering if the precision damage applied to all the spike attacks on the second build.

Unfortunately, no. They fall under the Volley Attack classification, so you only get precision damage once.

[danzibr]

Unfortunately, no. They fall under the Volley Attack classification, so you only get precision damage once.

Right. I was wondering if there was some way around that, like a Sorc and meta magic.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Right. I was wondering if there was some way around that, like a Sorc and meta magic.

Perhaps if your GM permits it to fall under Greater Manyshot, even though that feat explicitly calls out using a bow.

Of course, that's why the build doesn't rely on sneak attack, but on other damage modifiers which work on all natural attacks. Which is why I listed the caveat that the build depends on spines from the Manticore Belt being classified as Natural Attacks.

The Dwarven Defender I was referring to in the first build is this one.

[danzibr]

Rating of soulmelds done. Open to constructive criticism. It's been slow going with teaching 8 hours and coming home to a wife and 2 kids.

To do:

• Feats and skill tricks
• Prestige classes, multiclassing, gestalt
• More builds
• Add more races and stuff

[123456789blaaa]

I recently found some very interesting Totemist builds through the Wayback Machine. These are by the poster JanusJones:

FOUR TOTEMIST BADDIES:

Mr. Stab n’ Grab, the Flaming Loogie, Sir Sticky Fingers, and Romper-Stomper!

The following is a selection of four rather unique Totemist builds that I’ve cooked up over the last month or so. I’ve used the following books: Complete Adventurer, Complete Warrior, Complete Scoundrel, Dragon Magic, Magic of Incarnum, Miniatures Handbook, Races of the Wild, Forgotten Realms - Serpent Kingdoms, and Forgotten Realms - Unapproachable East. There are also a bunch of Dragon magazine references. Nevertheless, all of these builds are more or less do-able with just Magic of Incarnum (though Mr. Stab n’ Grab and the Flaming Loogie require Serpent Kingdoms feats to work). Enjoy!

Mr. Stab n’ Grab (aka the Scorpion): Diabolii (Dragon #327) Totemist 20

Overview: Mr. Stab n’ Grab is one of the most effective possible medium-sized grappling builds, with a +63 (or more, depending on build!) to grapple. He can grapple creatures of any size without needing to grow himself, grapple using only his tail at no penalty (leaving him free to do whatever else he likes to his victim!), and has such a huge grappling bonus that almost nothing (barring the Tarrasque) can manage to escape him. This guy’s great for sicking on big bruisers in your game’s party - they’ll be utterly shocked when he immobilizes the tank in one hit!

Attributes: Strength 16~18 base, Con 19~20 (by 20th level including item bonuses).

Feats: Barbed Stinger (1st), Multigrab (3rd), Improved Multigrab (6th), Shape Soulmeld (9th), Double Chakra Bind - Totem (12th), Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (15th), Bonus Essentia (18th)

Items: Hand-bound Incarnum Gauntlets, Waist-bound +6 Belt of Giant Strength, Arm-bound Incarnum Bracers, +6 Con Item, +5 Tome of Strength.

Soulmelds: 6 essentia in Mauling Gauntlets (5 + 1 from Expanded Soulmeld Capacity + 1 from Incarnum Focus), 8 in Totem-bound Girallon Arms (5 + 2 from Totem Capacity + 1 from Incarnum Focus), 7 in Totem-bound Heart of Fire (5 + 2 from Totem Capacity), Arm-Bound Totem Avatar, Hand-bound Sphinx Claws, Shoulder-bound Phase Cloak.

Alternatives: If you like, you can choose to forgo the benefits of either Heart of Fire or Girallon Arm’s totem-bind in favor of a Wormtail Belt, which will offer you yet another barbed stinger to pierce your foes with. Ultimately, however, you won’t be able to attack with both tails in a round, since the Wormtail Belt specifically states that you cannot use it as a secondary attack. Another option, if you want a truly unreasonable grapple check, is an Arm-bound Kraken Mantle, which can provide another +5 (or +6 with an Incarnum Focus) un-named bonus that stacks with that of the Mauling Gauntlets and Girallon Arms. Something else worth considering (if you want to be totally cheesy with the build) is two or three levels of Umbral Disciple for 1d6 sneak attack. Add on Craven and you can do an extra 1d6+20 damage with all your natural attacks against your grappled foe, since they'll count as flat-footed but you won't. This is strictly CHEESE, however, and I do not reccomend it.

Tactics: Mr. Stab n’ Grab has a total grapple check (assuming a base 18 Strength, +5 from levels, +5 from a Tome, and +6 from the Belt of Giant Strength) of +15 (BaB) + 14 (Mauling Gauntlets) + 18 (Girallon Arms) + 4 (Improved Grapple from Totem Avatar) + 12 (Strength) of +63. He can grapple creatures of any size, and can do so with his tail stab alone, leaving his four claw attacks free to shred his hapless opponent. Each claw will do 1d4 + 7d4 fire damage, and his tail will automatically deal the same damage each round to his grappled opponent. The most beautiful part about Barbed Stinger is the fact that size, as a grappler, no longer matters with this feat - you can grapple an opponent of any size. Greater Multigrab allows you to use just your tail in a grapple at no penalty, meaning you are free to attack your grappled opponent or even another target (provided your Strength score is high enough to drag the impaled enemy along behind you on the ground!).

Sphinx Claws allow Stabby to jump into combat, clawing 4 times and stabbing once with his tail. If his tail hits, next round whoever he impaled is his chew toy. Better yet, if he grabs a nice small-sized character or a 90-pound-weakling caster, he can drag him or her around behing him while he fights the rest of his enemies. If a particular character is annoying you, Stab n’ Grab is a great way to kill him off (or try to!) without being unfair - he can just jump into camp, stab said character, then run away, dragging the hapless character along behind him!

The Flaming Loogie (aka The Spitting Dragon): Dragonborn Mongrelfolk Totemist 2/Scout 3/Fighter 2/Dragon Devotee 4/Hand of the Winged Masters 9

Overview: The Flaming Loogie is an entertainment build, able to hawk up burning loogies that cause 1d3 Con damage and deal skirmish damage to boot. He’s most effective when paired with other baddies, as he can run around and snipe at the characters in the party with the lowest base Con. If you choose, you can also make him a good character for hiding in plain sight and sniping, allowing him to terrorize a party by landing Con-draining hits every round as they frantically try to find him.

Attributes: 16~18 base Constitution, 14 Dexterity.

Feats: Dragontouched (1st), Spit Venom (3rd), Abiltiy Focus - Poison (6th), Point Blank Shot (Fighter 1), Precise Shot (Fighter 2), Improved Skirmish (9th), Improved Spit Venom (12th), Draconic Heritage - Battle Dragon (15th), Virulent Poison (18th).

Items: +6 item of Constitution, +5 Tome of Constitution.

Soulmelds: Totem-bound Phase Cloak plus any two other soulmelds you fancy. I suggest the Wormtail Belt for a +2 to natural AC and perhaps a Lamasu Mantle for a +2 deflection bonus to AC; Kruthik Claws, however, can be nice for the big bonus to Hide and Move Silently.

Alternatives: Instead of grabbing 4 levels in Dragon Devotee, you can grab 3 levels in Umbral Disciple and take the Darkstalker Feat (consider swapping out Virulent Poison or Draconic Heritage for this). If you do, you can hide in plain sight, allowing you to remain hidden while sniping at your foes. Granted, the penalty for hiding and shooting can get pretty annoying, but if you’re willing (and you juggle your feats around) you can try grabbing the Able Sniper and Woodland Archer feats from Races of the Wild to make sniping easier.

Tactics: The total Constitution on this character is pretty incredible - assuming an 18 base Con, your total becomes 18 + 5 (tome) + 5 (levels) + 6 (item) + 4 (Mongrelfolk) + 2 (Dragonborn) + 2 (Dragon Devotee) = 42. This makes your poison DC a whopping 10 (base) + 16 (Con) + 2 (essentia) + 2 (ability focus) + 2 (virulent poison) = 32. Spit Venom allows you to turn your Phase Cloak’s bite-based poison into a ranged touch attack, and skirmish adds dice of damage to improve this ability. Improved Spit Venom lets you do this at 60 feet of range, which is very handy. You can spit each round as a touch attack for skirmish damage, dealing 8d6+8 energy damage (sonic if you have the Heritage - Battle Dragon feat) and forcing a save vs. your Phase Cloak’s poison - failure means the target takes 1d3 Con damage as well. Consider pairing this guy with Romper-Stomper, below, to allow him to shelter in the protective threatened area of his enormous companion as he runs about spewing his venom.

Sir Sticky Fingers (aka the Phantom): Silverbrow Human Rogue 1/Totemist 9/Umbral Disciple 3/Teflammer Shadowlord 5, Umbral Disciple 2

Overview: This is a character for driving your players nuts. In a single round, he’s able to walk through a dungeon wall, steal tons of stuff off of an unsuspecting PC, then blink right back through the wall to where he started from. If you use him throughout a dungeon, you can gradually deprive your PCs of all their decent gear and ensure that they have an undying hatred for Sir Sticky that will make him the number one villain on their hit list. If you use him as a recurring baddie, his ultimate demise will provide them with a huge treasure trove (of all the stuff he stole off them earlier) and an unmatched sense of grim satisfaction.

Attributes: 16~18 Dexterity.

Feats: Able Learner (1st), Shape Soulmeld - Theft Gloves (human), Expeditious Dodge (3rd), Mobility (6th), Spring Attack (9th), Blind-Fight (12th), Bonus Essentia (15th), Double Chakra Bind (18th).

Items: +6 Item of Dexterity, +5 Tome of Dexterity, +10 Sleight of Hand competence bonus item, Incarnum Gauntlets.

Soulmelds: 5 essentia in Theft Gloves, Kruthik Claws (vary essentia investment for improving Hide and Move Silently), Crown-bound Threefold Mask, Totem-bound Blink Shirt, Shoulder-bound Phase Cloak. Essentia investment should vary depending on your needs.

Alternatives: You can, if you wish, dump 2 levels of Umbral Disciple for one more of Teflammer Shadowlord, granting you a death attack, and one of some other class - maybe Assassin for an extra sneak attack die or a second level of Rogue for evasion. This would allow you to examine your target, spring out of hiding to death attack, then disappear. You could also do this with levels of Feat Rogue (from Unearthed Arcana), saving your 3rd and 6th level feats by getting Expeditious Dodge and Mobility as bonus feats. This would, however, require you to pick up some sneak attack dice in some other way - Martial Study - Shadow Jaunt and Martial Stance - Assassin’s Stance might work for this purpose. Another feat that would be nice for this build is Darkstalker from Lords of Madness, which would allow you to hide even from enemies with Scent, Blindsight, Tremorsense, and the like.

Tactics: Sir Sticky Fingers is NOT a shadow pouncer. His purpose is, instead, to harry and annoy your PCs. My only warning about using this character is that your players may actually attempt physical violence against you after a while! Here’s the trick: with a Totem-bound Blink Shirt, this character can dimension door as a move action. With a Crown-bound Threefold Mask, he receives an extra move action once every other round. Hide Sir Sticky Fingers in a dungeon with a lot of adjacent rooms, or better yet one with more than one floor. The best possible dungeon for Sticky is one with two floors that are unconnected by stairs (the top floor being closed off with stone shape), with holes in the floor of the upper level to allow Sticky to see what the PCs are doing down below.

Here’s how he works. First, he uses a move action to move through the dungeon wall (using his shoulder-bound Phase Cloak), ending up next to one of the PCs. Next, he uses a free action (granted by his insane Sleight of Hand check!) to steal anything off the character that isn’t nailed down. His skill bonus should be 23 (ranks) + 12 (34 Dex) + 12 (Theft Gloves) + 10 (Competence Item) = +57. You can get it higher by improving his competence item if you like. Now he uses a second move action to either move back through the wall or dimension door using his blink shirt (if he’s got to move up through the ceiling instead of just back through a wall). He can do this all day, robbing the PCs and fading away before they can do anything about it!

In addition, he can shadow pounce if he needs to fight and remain hidden the entire time, thanks to the Umbral Disciple’s hide in plain sight + concealment ability. The penalty for moving and attacking while remaining hidden is only a meager -20, which is easily offset by skill ranks and Kruthik Claws. If you’re really concerned about staying out of sight, consider spending 22,000 gold on a Collar of Umbral Metamorphoses from the Tome of Magic, which will pick you up all the qualities of a Dark Creature (+6 to Move Silently, +8 to Hide, +10 to speed), or just grabbing some good competence bonus items to keep yourself well-hidden.

Romper-Stomper (aka Baphomet’s Chosen) : Water Orc (Unearthed Arcana) Half-Minotaur (Dragon #313) Totemist 2/Barbarian 2/Fighter 2/Psychic Warrior 2/Warmind 10/Warblade 2

Overview: Romper-Stomper is a huge, mobile tank, able to move up to 100 feet per round trampling every enemy (up to Gargantuan-size ones) for up to 8d6+34 damage. Keep in mind that this is not in a straight line, either - he can cruise around corners to trample all the opponents he wants to. Depending on the build you choose, this ability can be combined with either reach-fueled battlefield control tactics or a tripping ability. Not only that, RS is an excellent tracker with both the Track feat and Scent ability.

Attributes: 16~18 base Strength, 14 Con.

Feats: Combat Reflexes (1st), Extra Rage (6th), Improved Natural Attack - Trample (9th). See the Alternatives section for more on other feat choices.

Items: +5 Tome of Strength, +6 Item of Strength, Boots of Striding and Springing, +5 Weapon(s).

Soulmelds: Shedu Crown grants Romper-Stomper his primary attack form: Trample. After this, you can choose any two other soulmelds. Good ones include Sphinx Claws on a tripping build, Rageclaws for being able to act at negative HP, Wormtail Belt for natural AC, and the Lamasu Mantle for AC vs. evil opponents.

Alternatives: Good ones include Moment of Perfect Mind (shoring up your Will save), Rapid Counter (allowing an extra Aoo against approaching enemies), Swift Leap (helps you gain a bit more movement before a trample, which is especially handy in difficult terrain), Iron Heart Surge (arugably the best maneuver EVER!), and Emerald Razor (touch attacks are great with Power Attack and a humongous Strength!). Since you must have one 1st level stance, I suggest Punishing Stance to up the damage of your Aoos (note that this WON’T up the damage of your trample, since it doesn’t officially count as an attack - it requires no roll to hit!).

Tactics: There are two ways to run Romper-Stomper: either as a trample/tripper or as a battlefield control Aoo fighter. For the first, you’ll want Combat Expertise, Expeditious Dodge, Combat Reflexes, Karmic Strike, Improved Trip, Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, and Double Hit. The benefit of this approach is the ability to make trip attacks against any opponents that succeed in attacking you as you trample them, tripping them and attacking them twice. Use standard rage rules, as the Con will help your Trample DC and the penalty to AC will actually help, as characters who hit you will have a nasty surprise in store for them. You may want to consider Reckless Rage as well to gain a bit more Strength. Finally, you’ll want to use your last Warblade level to pick up a stance - I suggest Giant’s Stance for improving your damage.

For a battlefield control character, you’ll want Combat Expertise, Expeditious Dodge, Combat Reflexes, Karmic Strike, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Knockback, and Exotic WP Proficiency - Spiked Chain (or Rope Dart from Dragon #XXX). This option benefits more from an increased AC, so the Whirling Rage variant from Unearthed Arcana is the way to go. This character avoids Aoos with a high AC when trampling, then uses Combat Reflexes and Knockback to drive away any enemies foolish enough to attempt to close to melee distance. For your stance, try Pearl of Black Doubt - each missed attack will turn into another cumulative +2 to AC, making you well-nigh un-hittable by the end of your trampling turn.

Note that it’s also possible to use War Hulk for Romper-Stomper to get your Strength even higher. The reason that I chose Warmind instead is specifically due to the Expansion power, which allows Romper-Stomper to roll over targets of up to Gargantuan size (and has other benefits, like reach!). War Hulks also lose the ability to use mental skills, which ruins the Half-Minotaur’s Scent and Track abilities.

Depends on the build. Either way, during Romper-Stomper’s turn he moves up to twice his speed (40 feet base speed, +10 from Barb levels, +10 from boots, so 120 feet) in any direction, trampling enemies of large size or smaller underfoot. If facing huge enemies, he can use Expansion, growing to either Huge or Gargantuan size. This allows him to deal more trample damage. In essence, his trample acts almost like an area effect spell, but deals much more damage (base 3d6~5d6 + 1.5 x Strength). If a tripper, he has the added ability to floor any enemies foolish enough to attack him during his trample. If a battlefield controller, he can not only trample large numbers of enemies but defend a huge area with his Aoos (20~60 feet, depending on his size), keeping his allies safe and dealing huge damage to those who move within his threatened area.

Strength is a large part of Romper Stomper’s damage, and with his huge 50 Strength (18 base, +4 from being a Water Orc, +4 for Half-Minotaur, +4 from the Warmind’s Chain of Personal Superiority, +4 from Rage or +6 from Reckless Rage, +5 from levels, +5 from a tome, and +6 from an item) he has a massive trample damage of 3d6+30 - and that’s only when he’s large! If expanded to Garganutan, the damage goes up to 6d6+33; if he’s got Reckless Rage, it’s 6d6+34. If he has Giant's Stance, this rises to 8d6+34. He does immense damage with his melee attacks as well - 3d6+34 when large, and 6d6+34 when fully expanded.

Note that one of the very handy things about Romper-Stomper’s trample is that it requires no roll to hit. On the other hand, this means that his attack will be far less effective if his opponents wise up and do not attempt to attack him when he’s rolling over them - Reflex saves are a much better idea! Characters with evasion will prove particularly obnoxious, but should be rare.

Interesting builds no? Note that the Diabolus race was updated in the Dragon Compendium to have +1 LA so you'll need LA buyoff to use Mr. Stab n’ Grab as written.

The Flaming Loogie (TFL) and Romper-Stomper (RS) seem to be a little weak though. The spit attack of TFL takes a standard action so you can only gain the skirmish damage once per round most of the time. An sure it's a ranged touch attack but you have to take two feats (Spit Venom and Imp Spit)! And the poison is only 1d3 Con damage! Is that really worth boosting the DC with two feats (Ability focus and Virulent Poison) and pumping Con?

Romper-Stomper only does 8d6+34 damage at 20th level with Trample! Even taking into account being able to Trample over multiple enemies, that's pretty terrible (especially since the targets can choose to make a Ref save for half damage!).

EDIT: And here's the HTML version so you can copy it without having to redo all the formatting:

[QUOTE]FOUR TOTEMIST BADDIES:
 
 Mr. Stab n’ Grab, the Flaming Loogie, Sir Sticky Fingers, and Romper-Stomper!

 The following is a selection of four rather unique Totemist builds that I’ve cooked up over the last month or so. I’ve used the following books: Complete Adventurer, Complete Warrior, Complete Scoundrel, Dragon Magic, Magic of Incarnum, Miniatures Handbook, Races of the Wild, Forgotten Realms - Serpent Kingdoms, and Forgotten Realms - Unapproachable East. There are also a bunch of Dragon magazine references. Nevertheless, all of these builds are more or less do-able with just Magic of Incarnum (though Mr. Stab n’ Grab and the Flaming Loogie require Serpent Kingdoms feats to work). Enjoy!

[QUOTE]
[B][U]Mr. Stab n’ Grab (aka the Scorpion): Diabolii (Dragon #327) Totemist 20[/U][/B]

[B]Overview:[/B] Mr. Stab n’ Grab is one of the most effective possible medium-sized grappling builds, with a +63 (or more, depending on build!) to grapple. He can grapple creatures of any size without needing to grow himself, grapple using only his tail at no penalty (leaving him free to do whatever else he likes to his victim!), and has such a huge grappling bonus that almost nothing (barring the Tarrasque) can manage to escape him. This guy’s great for sicking on big bruisers in your game’s party - they’ll be utterly shocked when he immobilizes the tank in one hit!

[B]Attributes:[/B] Strength 16~18 base, Con 19~20 (by 20th level including item bonuses).

[B]Feats:[/B] Barbed Stinger (1st), Multigrab (3rd), Improved Multigrab (6th), Shape Soulmeld (9th), Double Chakra Bind - Totem (12th), Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (15th), Bonus Essentia (18th)

[B]Items:[/B] Hand-bound Incarnum Gauntlets, Waist-bound +6 Belt of Giant Strength, Arm-bound Incarnum Bracers, +6 Con Item, +5 Tome of Strength.

[B]Soulmelds:[/B] 6 essentia in Mauling Gauntlets (5 + 1 from Expanded Soulmeld Capacity + 1 from Incarnum Focus), 8 in Totem-bound Girallon Arms (5 + 2 from Totem Capacity + 1 from Incarnum Focus), 7 in Totem-bound Heart of Fire (5 + 2 from Totem Capacity), Arm-Bound Totem Avatar, Hand-bound Sphinx Claws, Shoulder-bound Phase Cloak.

[B]Alternatives:[/B] If you like, you can choose to forgo the benefits of either Heart of Fire or Girallon Arm’s totem-bind in favor of a Wormtail Belt, which will offer you yet another barbed stinger to pierce your foes with. Ultimately, however, you won’t be able to attack with both tails in a round, since the Wormtail Belt specifically states that you cannot use it as a secondary attack. Another option, if you want a truly unreasonable grapple check, is an Arm-bound Kraken Mantle, which can provide another +5 (or +6 with an Incarnum Focus) un-named bonus that stacks with that of the Mauling Gauntlets and Girallon Arms. Something else worth considering (if you want to be totally cheesy with the build) is two or three levels of Umbral Disciple for 1d6 sneak attack. Add on Craven and you can do an extra 1d6+20 damage with all your natural attacks against your grappled foe, since they'll count as flat-footed but you won't. This is strictly CHEESE, however, and I do not reccomend it.

[B]Tactics:[/B] Mr. Stab n’ Grab has a total grapple check (assuming a base 18 Strength, +5 from levels, +5 from a Tome, and +6 from the Belt of Giant Strength) of +15 (BaB) + 14 (Mauling Gauntlets) + 18 (Girallon Arms) + 4 (Improved Grapple from Totem Avatar) + 12 (Strength) of +63. He can grapple creatures of any size, and can do so with his tail stab alone, leaving his four claw attacks free to shred his hapless opponent. Each claw will do 1d4 + 7d4 fire damage, and his tail will automatically deal the same damage each round to his grappled opponent. The most beautiful part about Barbed Stinger is the fact that size, as a grappler, no longer matters with this feat - you can grapple an opponent of any size. Greater Multigrab allows you to use just your tail in a grapple at no penalty, meaning you are free to attack your grappled opponent or even another target (provided your Strength score is high enough to drag the impaled enemy along behind you on the ground!). 

Sphinx Claws allow Stabby to jump into combat, clawing 4 times and stabbing once with his tail. If his tail hits, next round whoever he impaled is his chew toy. Better yet, if he grabs a nice small-sized character or a 90-pound-weakling caster, he can drag him or her around behing him while he fights the rest of his enemies. If a particular character is annoying you, Stab n’ Grab is a great way to kill him off (or try to!) without being unfair - he can just jump into camp, stab said character, then run away, dragging the hapless character along behind him![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]
[B][U]The Flaming Loogie (aka The Spitting Dragon): Dragonborn Mongrelfolk Totemist 2/Scout 3/Fighter 2/Dragon Devotee 4/Hand of the Winged Masters 9[/U][/B]

[B]Overview:[/B] The Flaming Loogie is an entertainment build, able to hawk up burning loogies that cause 1d3 Con damage and deal skirmish damage to boot. He’s most effective when paired with other baddies, as he can run around and snipe at the characters in the party with the lowest base Con. If you choose, you can also make him a good character for hiding in plain sight and sniping, allowing him to terrorize a party by landing Con-draining hits every round as they frantically try to find him.

[B]Attributes:[/B] 16~18 base Constitution, 14 Dexterity.

[B] Feats:[/B] Dragontouched (1st), Spit Venom (3rd), Abiltiy Focus - Poison (6th), Point Blank Shot (Fighter 1), Precise Shot (Fighter 2), Improved Skirmish (9th), Improved Spit Venom (12th), Draconic Heritage - Battle Dragon (15th), Virulent Poison (18th). 

[B]Items:[/B] +6 item of Constitution, +5 Tome of Constitution.

[B]Soulmelds:[/B] Totem-bound Phase Cloak plus any two other soulmelds you fancy. I suggest the Wormtail Belt for a +2 to natural AC and perhaps a Lamasu Mantle for a +2 deflection bonus to AC; Kruthik Claws, however, can be nice for the big bonus to Hide and Move Silently.

[B]Alternatives:[/B] Instead of grabbing 4 levels in Dragon Devotee, you can grab 3 levels in Umbral Disciple and take the Darkstalker Feat (consider swapping out Virulent Poison or Draconic Heritage for this). If you do, you can hide in plain sight, allowing you to remain hidden while sniping at your foes. Granted, the penalty for hiding and shooting can get pretty annoying, but if you’re willing (and you juggle your feats around) you can try grabbing the Able Sniper and Woodland Archer feats from Races of the Wild to make sniping easier.

[B]Tactics:[/B] The total Constitution on this character is pretty incredible - assuming an 18 base Con, your total becomes 18 + 5 (tome) + 5 (levels) + 6 (item) + 4 (Mongrelfolk) + 2 (Dragonborn) + 2 (Dragon Devotee) = 42. This makes your poison DC a whopping 10 (base) + 16 (Con) + 2 (essentia) + 2 (ability focus) + 2 (virulent poison) = 32. Spit Venom allows you to turn your Phase Cloak’s bite-based poison into a ranged touch attack, and skirmish adds dice of damage to improve this ability. Improved Spit Venom lets you do this at 60 feet of range, which is very handy. You can spit each round as a touch attack for skirmish damage, dealing 8d6+8 energy damage (sonic if you have the Heritage - Battle Dragon feat) and forcing a save vs. your Phase Cloak’s poison - failure means the target takes 1d3 Con damage as well. Consider pairing this guy with Romper-Stomper, below, to allow him to shelter in the protective threatened area of his enormous companion as he runs about spewing his venom.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]
[B][U]Sir Sticky Fingers (aka the Phantom): Silverbrow Human Rogue 1/Totemist 9/Umbral Disciple 3/Teflammer Shadowlord 5, Umbral Disciple 2[/U][/B]

[B]Overview:[/B] This is a character for driving your players nuts. In a single round, he’s able to walk through a dungeon wall, steal tons of stuff off of an unsuspecting PC, then blink right back through the wall to where he started from. If you use him throughout a dungeon, you can gradually deprive your PCs of all their decent gear and ensure that they have an undying hatred for Sir Sticky that will make him the number one villain on their hit list. If you use him as a recurring baddie, his ultimate demise will provide them with a huge treasure trove (of all the stuff he stole off them earlier) and an unmatched sense of grim satisfaction. 

[B]Attributes:[/B] 16~18 Dexterity.

[B]Feats:[/B] Able Learner (1st), Shape Soulmeld - Theft Gloves (human), Expeditious Dodge (3rd), Mobility (6th), Spring Attack (9th), Blind-Fight (12th), Bonus Essentia (15th), Double Chakra Bind (18th).

[B]Items:[/B] +6 Item of Dexterity, +5 Tome of Dexterity, +10 Sleight of Hand competence bonus item, Incarnum Gauntlets.

[B]Soulmelds:[/B] 5 essentia in Theft Gloves, Kruthik Claws (vary essentia investment for improving Hide and Move Silently), Crown-bound Threefold Mask, Totem-bound Blink Shirt, Shoulder-bound Phase Cloak. Essentia investment should vary depending on your needs.

[B]Alternatives:[/B] You can, if you wish, dump 2 levels of Umbral Disciple for one more of Teflammer Shadowlord, granting you a death attack, and one of some other class - maybe Assassin for an extra sneak attack die or a second level of Rogue for evasion. This would allow you to examine your target, spring out of hiding to death attack, then disappear. You could also do this with levels of Feat Rogue (from Unearthed Arcana), saving your 3rd and 6th level feats by getting Expeditious Dodge and Mobility as bonus feats. This would, however, require you to pick up some sneak attack dice in some other way - Martial Study - Shadow Jaunt and Martial Stance - Assassin’s Stance might work for this purpose. Another feat that would be nice for this build is Darkstalker from Lords of Madness, which would allow you to hide even from enemies with Scent, Blindsight, Tremorsense, and the like.

[B]Tactics:[/B] Sir Sticky Fingers is NOT a shadow pouncer. His purpose is, instead, to harry and annoy your PCs. My only warning about using this character is that your players may actually attempt physical violence against you after a while! Here’s the trick: with a Totem-bound Blink Shirt, this character can dimension door as a move action. With a Crown-bound Threefold Mask, he receives an extra move action once every other round. Hide Sir Sticky Fingers in a dungeon with a lot of adjacent rooms, or better yet one with more than one floor. The best possible dungeon for Sticky is one with two floors that are unconnected by stairs (the top floor being closed off with stone shape), with holes in the floor of the upper level to allow Sticky to see what the PCs are doing down below.

Here’s how he works. First, he uses a move action to move through the dungeon wall (using his shoulder-bound Phase Cloak), ending up next to one of the PCs. Next, he uses a free action (granted by his insane Sleight of Hand check!) to steal anything off the character that isn’t nailed down. His skill bonus should be 23 (ranks) + 12 (34 Dex) + 12 (Theft Gloves) + 10 (Competence Item) = +57. You can get it higher by improving his competence item if you like. Now he uses a second move action to either move back through the wall or dimension door using his blink shirt (if he’s got to move up through the ceiling instead of just back through a wall). He can do this all day, robbing the PCs and fading away before they can do anything about it!

In addition, he can shadow pounce if he needs to fight and remain hidden the entire time, thanks to the Umbral Disciple’s hide in plain sight + concealment ability. The penalty for moving and attacking while remaining hidden is only a meager -20, which is easily offset by skill ranks and Kruthik Claws. If you’re really concerned about staying out of sight, consider spending 22,000 gold on a Collar of Umbral Metamorphoses from the Tome of Magic, which will pick you up all the qualities of a Dark Creature (+6 to Move Silently, +8 to Hide, +10 to speed), or just grabbing some good competence bonus items to keep yourself well-hidden.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]
[B][U]Romper-Stomper (aka Baphomet’s Chosen) : Water Orc (Unearthed Arcana) Half-Minotaur (Dragon #313) Totemist 2/Barbarian 2/Fighter 2/Psychic Warrior 2/Warmind 10/Warblade 2[/U][/B]

[B]Overview:[/B] Romper-Stomper is a huge, mobile tank, able to move up to 100 feet per round trampling every enemy (up to Gargantuan-size ones) for up to 8d6+34 damage. Keep in mind that this is not in a straight line, either - he can cruise around corners to trample all the opponents he wants to. Depending on the build you choose, this ability can be combined with either reach-fueled battlefield control tactics or a tripping ability. Not only that, RS is an excellent tracker with both the Track feat and Scent ability.

[B]Attributes:[/B] 16~18 base Strength, 14 Con.

[B]Feats:[/B] Combat Reflexes (1st), Extra Rage (6th), Improved Natural Attack - Trample (9th). See the Alternatives section for more on other feat choices.

[B]Items:[/B] +5 Tome of Strength, +6 Item of Strength, Boots of Striding and Springing, +5 Weapon(s).

[B]Soulmelds:[/B] Shedu Crown grants Romper-Stomper his primary attack form: Trample. After this, you can choose any two other soulmelds. Good ones include Sphinx Claws on a tripping build, Rageclaws for being able to act at negative HP, Wormtail Belt for natural AC, and the Lamasu Mantle for AC vs. evil opponents.

[B]Alternatives:[/B] Good ones include Moment of Perfect Mind (shoring up your Will save), Rapid Counter (allowing an extra Aoo against approaching enemies), Swift Leap (helps you gain a bit more movement before a trample, which is especially handy in difficult terrain), Iron Heart Surge (arugably the best maneuver EVER!), and Emerald Razor (touch attacks are great with Power Attack and a humongous Strength!). Since you must have one 1st level stance, I suggest Punishing Stance to up the damage of your Aoos (note that this WON’T up the damage of your trample, since it doesn’t officially count as an attack - it requires no roll to hit!).

[B]Tactics:[/B] There are two ways to run Romper-Stomper: either as a trample/tripper or as a battlefield control Aoo fighter. For the first, you’ll want Combat Expertise, Expeditious Dodge, Combat Reflexes, Karmic Strike, Improved Trip, Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, and Double Hit. The benefit of this approach is the ability to make trip attacks against any opponents that succeed in attacking you as you trample them, tripping them and attacking them twice. Use standard rage rules, as the Con will help your Trample DC and the penalty to AC will actually help, as characters who hit you will have a nasty surprise in store for them. You may want to consider Reckless Rage as well to gain a bit more Strength. Finally, you’ll want to use your last Warblade level to pick up a stance - I suggest Giant’s Stance for improving your damage.

For a battlefield control character, you’ll want Combat Expertise, Expeditious Dodge, Combat Reflexes, Karmic Strike, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Knockback, and Exotic WP Proficiency - Spiked Chain (or Rope Dart from Dragon #XXX). This option benefits more from an increased AC, so the Whirling Rage variant from Unearthed Arcana is the way to go. This character avoids Aoos with a high AC when trampling, then uses Combat Reflexes and Knockback to drive away any enemies foolish enough to attempt to close to melee distance. For your stance, try Pearl of Black Doubt - each missed attack will turn into another cumulative +2 to AC, making you well-nigh un-hittable by the end of your trampling turn.

Note that it’s also possible to use War Hulk for Romper-Stomper to get your Strength even higher. The reason that I chose Warmind instead is specifically due to the Expansion power, which allows Romper-Stomper to roll over targets of up to Gargantuan size (and has other benefits, like reach!). War Hulks also lose the ability to use mental skills, which ruins the Half-Minotaur’s Scent and Track abilities.

Depends on the build. Either way, during Romper-Stomper’s turn he moves up to twice his speed (40 feet base speed, +10 from Barb levels, +10 from boots, so 120 feet) in any direction, trampling enemies of large size or smaller underfoot. If facing huge enemies, he can use Expansion, growing to either Huge or Gargantuan size. This allows him to deal more trample damage. In essence, his trample acts almost like an area effect spell, but deals much more damage (base 3d6~5d6 + 1.5 x Strength). If a tripper, he has the added ability to floor any enemies foolish enough to attack him during his trample. If a battlefield controller, he can not only trample large numbers of enemies but defend a huge area with his Aoos (20~60 feet, depending on his size), keeping his allies safe and dealing huge damage to those who move within his threatened area.

Strength is a large part of Romper Stomper’s damage, and with his huge 50 Strength (18 base, +4 from being a Water Orc, +4 for Half-Minotaur, +4 from the Warmind’s Chain of Personal Superiority, +4 from Rage or +6 from Reckless Rage, +5 from levels, +5 from a tome, and +6 from an item) he has a massive trample damage of 3d6+30 - and that’s only when he’s large! If expanded to Garganutan, the damage goes up to 6d6+33; if he’s got Reckless Rage, it’s 6d6+34. If he has Giant's Stance, this rises to 8d6+34. He does immense damage with his melee attacks as well - 3d6+34 when large, and 6d6+34 when fully expanded.

Note that one of the very handy things about Romper-Stomper’s trample is that it requires no roll to hit. On the other hand, this means that his attack will be far less effective if his opponents wise up and do not attempt to attack him when he’s rolling over them - Reflex saves are a much better idea! Characters with evasion will prove particularly obnoxious, but should be rare.[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

[danzibr]

Thanks Count! Great builds.

I haven't given them a thorough look (I did skim all 4 though), and Stabby seems the coolest but I don't understand how he works.

First, regarding the race problem, I think the author just found a LA +0 race with a tail attack. Not a crisis there.

But here's the bigger problem: to my knowledge you need Improved Grab (an Ex ability) or Snatch (a monstrous feat, and even then Snatch only works with claws and bite) to be able to grapple a creature with just a part of your body. I don't see how that build gets it at all.

Right, I'll have to look into Stabby a lot... totally cool idea, now to get it to work completely (unless I'm missing something).

[123456789blaaa]

Thanks Count! Great builds.

I haven't given them a thorough look (I did skim all 4 though), and Stabby seems the coolest but I don't understand how he works.

First, regarding the race problem, I think the author just found a LA +0 race with a tail attack. Not a crisis there.

But here's the bigger problem: to my knowledge you need Improved Grab (an Ex ability) or Snatch (a monstrous feat, and even then Snatch only works with claws and bite) to be able to grapple a creature with just a part of your body. I don't see how that build gets it at all.

Right, I'll have to look into Stabby a lot... totally cool idea, now to get it to work completely (unless I'm missing something).

You are. In fact you're missing one of the most crucial aspects of the build. That's the problem with skimming .

The build uses the Barbed Stinger feat from Serpent Kingdoms . This feat is special in that it allows you to gain Imp Grab with your sting attack against opponents of any size. This is what separates the build from a normal grappling totemist 20. Janus wanted a build that could grapple any foe without having to grow in size. Imp Grab without size limits is very rare. The only other way I am aware of for a player to get it without magic that changes your form is by being a were-octopus.

This is also why Diabolus is needed. It is one of the few races in dnd that gets a sting attack. The only other way I know of for a player to get a sting attack is by taking levels in Geomancer.

[Darth Stabber]

Why you no improved unarmed strike? It adds iterative attacks to totemist nice and easy, while not interfering with natural weapons (no matter the configuration).

[Piggy Knowles]

I like JJ's incarnum four builds, but some of them have issues and/or are a bit outdated.

Stabby doesn't actually qualify for Barbed Stinger, as it does not have a sting attack, but rather only a tail attack.

Flaming Loogie is neat, and I'd like to play around with the concept a bit, but the spit attacks don't actually deal damage and therefore can't trigger skirmish damage.

Sticky Fingers misinterprets how Spring Attack works - you don't get a move action before and after the attack, so you can't move, steal/attack, and then dimension door away. Most of the build can be replicated by Phase Cloak + flyby attack via Manticore Belt, without requiring the Spring Attack line or the teleportation. I'd also pick up mindsight to actually observe these folks from other rooms.

I guess my biggest problem is that Sticky Fingers has a lot of rigmarole for something that a straight totemist, or rogue 1/totemist 19 or whatever, would actually do better. Take Able Learner, Shape Soulmeld (Theft Gloves), Mindsight, Double Chakra, Bonus Essentia, Expanded Soulmeld Capacity x2. Or, even better: Able Learner, Hidden Talent (PMC), Shape Soulmeld (Theft Gloves), Mindsight, Psycarnum Infusion, Double Chakra, Bonus Essentia, Expanaded Soulmeld Capacity. Observe with Mindsight, flyby attack while phasing through the walls or from the floor to the ceiling or what not, poison them with PMC poison, rob them blind.

I do have a couple of neat builds that work on similar concepts, though, including what I still consider to be my best Fighter 20 build, the Incarnum Thug:

Spoiler

Show

The Incarnum Thug

BUILD: Azurin, Zhentarim Thug Fighter 20 (Skilled City Dweller variant, Ride -> Tumble)

Why thug? It's pretty rare to see this variant without also taking the sneak attack fighter variant as well, but for these purposes, it works. The lack of the bonus feat at first level really doesn't slow this build down, and the skills are actually pretty important (especially Sleight of Hand). Martial rogue could theoretically work in its place, but it means you won't have the BAB for some of the capstone feats toward the end.

Ability Scores:
32-PB: Str 16/Dex 14/Con 14/Int 14/Wis 10/Cha 10
28-PB: Str 16/Dex 13/Con 14/Int 13/Wis 8/Cha 10
Rolled: Prioritize Str and Con, of course. Make sure Dex and Int are at least 13. If you can't afford at least a neutral score in Cha, consider dropping Urban Tracking and Gather Information.

Feat Progression

1- Midnight Dodge, Shape Soulmeld (Shedu Crown)
2- Combat Expertise
3- Shape Soulmeld (Phase Cloak), Skill Focus (Intimidate)
4- Improved Trip
6- Open Least Chakra (Crown), Mobility
8- Spring Attack
9- Mindsight
10- Urban Tracking
12- Open Lesser Chakra (Shoulders), Martial Study (Shadow Jaunt)
14- Elusive Target
15- Shape Soulmeld (Theft Gloves)
16- Bounding Assault
18- Imperious Command
20- Rapid Blitz

Romper Stomper is a neat idea, although I'd probably work toward Robilar's and avoid the pre-reqs required for Karmic Strike.

[123456789blaaa]

I like JJ's incarnum four builds, but some of them have issues and/or are a bit outdated.

Stabby doesn't actually qualify for Barbed Stinger, as it does not have a sting attack, but rather only a tail attack.

Flaming Loogie is neat, and I'd like to play around with the concept a bit, but the spit attacks don't actually deal damage and therefore can't trigger skirmish damage.

Sticky Fingers misinterprets how Spring Attack works - you don't get a move action before and after the attack, so you can't move, steal/attack, and then dimension door away. Most of the build can be replicated by Phase Cloak + flyby attack via Manticore Belt, without requiring the Spring Attack line or the teleportation. I'd also pick up mindsight to actually observe these folks from other rooms.

I guess my biggest problem is that Sticky Fingers has a lot of rigmarole for something that a straight totemist, or rogue 1/totemist 19 or whatever, would actually do better. Take Able Learner, Shape Soulmeld (Theft Gloves), Mindsight, Double Chakra, Bonus Essentia, Expanded Soulmeld Capacity x2. Or, even better: Able Learner, Hidden Talent (PMC), Shape Soulmeld (Theft Gloves), Mindsight, Psycarnum Infusion, Double Chakra, Bonus Essentia, Expanaded Soulmeld Capacity. Observe with Mindsight, flyby attack while phasing through the walls or from the floor to the ceiling or what not, poison them with PMC poison, rob them blind.

I do have a couple of neat builds that work on similar concepts, though, including what I still consider to be my best Fighter 20 build, the Incarnum Thug:

Spoiler

Show

The Incarnum Thug

BUILD: Azurin, Zhentarim Thug Fighter 20 (Skilled City Dweller variant, Ride -> Tumble)

Why thug? It's pretty rare to see this variant without also taking the sneak attack fighter variant as well, but for these purposes, it works. The lack of the bonus feat at first level really doesn't slow this build down, and the skills are actually pretty important (especially Sleight of Hand). Martial rogue could theoretically work in its place, but it means you won't have the BAB for some of the capstone feats toward the end.

Ability Scores:
32-PB: Str 16/Dex 14/Con 14/Int 14/Wis 10/Cha 10
28-PB: Str 16/Dex 13/Con 14/Int 13/Wis 8/Cha 10
Rolled: Prioritize Str and Con, of course. Make sure Dex and Int are at least 13. If you can't afford at least a neutral score in Cha, consider dropping Urban Tracking and Gather Information.

Feat Progression

1- Midnight Dodge, Shape Soulmeld (Shedu Crown)
2- Combat Expertise
3- Shape Soulmeld (Phase Cloak), Skill Focus (Intimidate)
4- Improved Trip
6- Open Least Chakra (Crown), Mobility
8- Spring Attack
9- Mindsight
10- Urban Tracking
12- Open Lesser Chakra (Shoulders), Martial Study (Shadow Jaunt)
14- Elusive Target
15- Shape Soulmeld (Theft Gloves)
16- Bounding Assault
18- Imperious Command
20- Rapid Blitz

Romper Stomper is a neat idea, although I'd probably work toward Robilar's and avoid the pre-reqs required for Karmic Strike.

Aww you're right about Stabby . I really liked that build too . If we want to replicate it...the only ways I know of to get a Sting attack are the Sting Tail graft (50,000 gp so unaffordable before 11th level at the earliest. And while it's nice that there's no RAW way to take it away from you, it's still a build that requires an item to work) and taking level in Geomancer (works but changes the build completely. Also, it seems like kind of a waste to not use the size-increasing magic that you get from the spellcasting Geomancer continues).

Can I get a quote for attacks that don't deal HP damage not triggering Skirmish?

I really like your Incarnum Thug build. If I'm reading the build right, you spring attack towards them using the phase cloak, then free action Sleight of Hand all the items you can off of them and trip them. Thanks to Imp Trip this give you another melee attack. After you finish moving you then use Shadow Jaunt to move away. Am I correct? Also, I don't see PA in the feats section though or really any damage enhancing feats at all. How is the build dealing appropriate damage?

Any thoughts on how to get Romper-Stomper and The Flaming Loogie to deal acceptable damage?

[Piggy Knowles]

Can I get a quote for attacks that don't deal HP damage not triggering Skirmish?

I'm basing it off of the rules compendium/complete arcane rules on weaponlike spells. To qualify for precision damage, it must deal some sort of damage or negative levels (Rules Comp p136). Spit Venom doesn't actually deal any damage (even ability damage) - it just lets you make a ranged attack to poison an enemy. It's the same reason the Con damage wouldn't be multiplied on a crit - the Con damage isn't actually part of the attack, but rather the attack is just to see if you can successfully affect them with your poison.

I really like your Incarnum Thug build. If I'm reading the build right, you spring attack towards them using the phase cloak, then free action Sleight of Hand all the items you can off of them and trip them. Thanks to Imp Trip this give you another melee attack. After you finish moving you then use Shadow Jaunt to move away. Am I correct? Also, I don't see PA in the feats section though or really any damage enhancing feats at all. How is the build dealing appropriate damage?

Actually, Shadow Jaunt was just to get in some tactical teleportation. It mostly just uses Phase Cloak's shoulders bind to ethereally phase in and out via Spring Attack, get several attacks via Rapid Blitz, rob the enemy blind, and phase away. I considered using Blink Shirt instead, which is at-will but much shorter range, but I decided the better range of Shadow Jaunt was preferred.

As for bonus damage, this was actually designed for an arena game where I would be taking on a druid without shapechange. I had a number of greater dispelling weapons, and a rod of absorption on a string tied around my wrist. The plan was to hold the rod of absorption to suck up any spells sent my way. Then I'd drop it as a free action (it stays nearby thanks to being tied to my wrist), phase in while drawing a greater dispelling weapon, trip attack, attack three times using all three daily uses of greater dispel to get rid of any buffs, steal anything I possibly could, drop my weapon as a free action, and phase out, drawing the rob of absorption to protect from any counterattacks. Next round I'd do it again, until I knocked out all buffstacks and neutralized any items giving me trouble. (I also had a number of shrunken lead cubes I would scatter throughout the playing field, to give me safe spots to phase to.) I was more worried about making enough attacks to get three shots at dispelling each round, so that I would have a solid chance at actually dispelling something despite the CL disparity, and figured I could win by death from a thousand cuts if I could run down his spells, knock out any buffs, and keep him from targeting me.

If it were for an actual game, I'd definitely pick up Power Attack, though. I honestly forgot all about it when I tried to turn this from an arena build into an actual build, and managed to include Urban Tracking but not Power Attack somehow

Any thoughts on how to get Romper-Stomper and The Flaming Loogie to deal acceptable damage?

I'll have to look through my books, but there's got to be a way. Venomfire immediately comes to mind for the Flaming Loogie.

[danzibr]

You are. In fact you're missing one of the most crucial aspects of the build. That's the problem with skimming .

The build uses the Barbed Stinger feat from Serpent Kingdoms . This feat is special in that it allows you to gain Imp Grab with your sting attack against opponents of any size. This is what separates the build from a normal grappling totemist 20. Janus wanted a build that could grapple any foe without having to grow in size. Imp Grab without size limits is very rare. The only other way I am aware of for a player to get it without magic that changes your form is by being a were-octopus.

This is also why Diabolus is needed. It is one of the few races in dnd that gets a sting attack. The only other way I know of for a player to get a sting attack is by taking levels in Geomancer.

Ahh, it wasn't the any size condition which concerned me but rather the Improved Grab. Got the book now, see the feat, all cleared up, thanks!

There's still the issue of Mauling Gauntlets not adding a bonus to grapple checks.

And, as mentioned, the sting attack/tail attack. Fortunately Wormtail Belt explicitly gives you a sting attack. Well, "You can use your wormtail belt’s stinger to make natural attacks." Consider the Diabolus injects poison, the fact that it's a tail attack rather than a sting attack is probably due to poor writing (consult DM time). But then another problem: you get totem chakra at level 2, so Barbed Stinger would be your level 3 feat (unless you start at at least level 2, take your flaw and hope your DM uses the RAW ruling of flaws).

Right... when I have time I'll add these in with modifications/suggestions/et cetera.

EDIT: Cheesy way to get around Wormtail Belt's only-attack-per-round restriction: Black Blood Cultist. When you succeed on a grapple check (not even using the "Attack an Opponent" option) you deal damage as if you hit with all your natural weapons. Not actually attack. So combat looks like this:

1) Attack with your stinger like normal.
2) Barbed Stinger gives you a free grapple initiation.
3) On subsequent rounds you're free to do other stuff while keeping your grapple.

From what I'm reading as long as you don't use your Wormtail Belt stinger to actually *attack* you can do whatever you want, so to speak. So if you're just continuing to make grapple checks with it you should be good.

[Piggy Knowles]

Any thoughts on how to get Romper-Stomper and The Flaming Loogie to deal acceptable damage?

OK, thinking about the Flaming Loogie some more, my thought is...

Silverbrow Human, Cloistered Cleric 1/Totemist 2/Scout 3/Chameleon 10/Umbral Disciple 3/Psychic Warrior 1

(Can replace Silverbrow with Azurin if not using favored class penalties - bonus essentia is probably more useful than access to the draconic soulmelds for this guy.)

Trickery & Planning domains

1- Extend Spell, Persistent Spell, Able Learner
3- Spit Venom
6- Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell)
9- Improved Skirmish
12- Travel Devotion
15- Psionic Meditation
18- Craven
20- Psycarnum Infusion

Use your floating feat for Open Lesser Chakra (Shoulders). Cast Venomfire for 20d6 acid damage on your ranged attack (24d6 with Karma bead). Go ahead and persist Bite of the Werebear for a sizable Con boost too, if you'd like. Bind Phase Cloak to your totem chakra for the poison attack. Bind Shadow Mantle to your shoulders chakra, and keep your essentia there.

Attack routine would look like...

Swift action: Move via Travel Devotion, keeping your opponent inside the range of your shadow mantle's darkness effect.
Standard action: Fire an acidic loogie that deals 24d6 + improved skirmish + 1d6 + 20 acid damage, and they save versus poison. Expend your psionic focus to max out your totem chakra, giving your poison a +6 DC boost.
Move action: Regain psionic focus.

Congratulations! You're now a bear shrouded in darkness hocking giant acidic loogies that melt flesh and poison people.

EDIT: Sorry, a few mistakes in this build. (I put it together just sitting here this morning, so I guess there were bound to be.) The big one is that it doesn't qualify for improved skirmish. I might do something silly like drop Umbral Disciple and do Rogue/Scout with Swift Ambusher. I'll think on it while I'm at work.

[Pesimismrocks]

Just a small thing I'd like to add: Saurian sifters. They're like shifters but with a CON bonus and two shifter traits. So a widetail longtooth gets 2 d6 natural attacks at level 1.

[Piggy Knowles]

After giving it some more thought, here's my modified version of the Flaming Loogie:

Human (of some sort), Rogue 3/Scout 4/Cloistered Cleric 1/Totemist 2/Chameleon 10

1. Rogue1- Able Learner, Craven
2. Totemist1-
3. Totemist2- Spit Venom
4. Cloistered Cleric1- Extend Spell, Extra Turning
5. Scout1-
6. Chameleon1- Persistent Spell
7. Chameleon2-
8. Chameleon3-
9. Chameleon4- Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell)
10. Chameleon5-
11. Chameleon6-
12. Chameleon7- Open Lesser Chakra (Shoulders)
13. Scout2-
14. Scout3-
15. Scout4- Swift Ambusher, Improved Skirmish
16. Chameleon8-
17. Chameleon9-
18. Chameleon10- Travel Devotion
19. Rogue2-
20. Rogue3-

Persist Hunter's Eye, and cast Venomfire each morning while using a bead of karma. Bind the Phase Cloak to your totem chakra and the Shadow Mantle to your shoulders chakra.

Keep your essentia in Shadow Mantle maxed out (you may want to use your bonus feat for Bonus Essentia).

Each round, move and attack, hocking a loogie at your intended target. As vision is impossible inside your sphere of darkness, but you have blindsight within it, you should get both sneak and skirmish damage. That means 38d6+20 acid damage (24d6 venomfire +8d6 hunter's eye +2d6 sneak +2d6 skirmish +2d6 improved skirmish +20 craven). Plus they save for poison damage, too, but whatever.

Anyhow, that's only an average of 153 damage per shot, which is still a little low for my tastes. (By CR 20 I think a dedicated damage dealer should be averaging at least 250 damage.) Persistent cloud of knives might help for an additional 1d4+16d6+20 or whatever, but that's still below my arbitrary benchmark. I'm sure other Chameleon spells could bring it up, but I'll have to give it some thought...

[danzibr]

Why you no improved unarmed strike? It adds iterative attacks to totemist nice and easy, while not interfering with natural weapons (no matter the configuration).

Added! I actually mentioned this elsewhere, just not in the feats section.

Just a small thing I'd like to add: Saurian sifters. They're like shifters but with a CON bonus and two shifter traits. So a widetail longtooth gets 2 d6 natural attacks at level 1.

Man I'm glad you brought this to my attention! What a terrific race.

And Count and Piggy, I added the builds. Thanks guys!

EDIT: I need to do some formatting though.

[Jackalope]

Danzibr, you'll probably be able to get a better description of how natural attacks work by looking at http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=482.0.

[danzibr]

Danzibr, you'll probably be able to get a better description of how natural attacks work by looking at http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=482.0.

Huh? I've read that. Why do you link this? Is it to include it in the useful links?

EDIT: Nope, just checked, it's already there.

[Tenebris]

I'm surprised that the Soul Manifester did not make to your handbook. (Or have I missed it terribly?).

Very standard, very simple entry with Ardent 2 and Practiced Manifester (other: Totemist 2, Incarnate 1). Metamorphosis power through the Natural World mantle or Expanded Knowledge feat; I prefer the latter, since there are may far more useful mantles to pick. Then change shape to 12-headed hydra, Worg Pelt bound to your hands chakra; therefore you have 12 trip attempts per round.

Vow of Poverty is still optional, but not a shabby option anymore, since you won't that much use of your body slots. (And you don't worry if they are occupied by items anymore, before binding your soulmelds).

And yes, you benefit from being a dragonborn warforged still. (BTW, I don't like the idea of using INHERITED templates on warforged, and then going incarnate construct).

[danzibr]

I'm surprised that the Soul Manifester did not make to your handbook. (Or have I missed it terribly?).

Very standard, very simple entry with Ardent 2 and Practiced Manifester (other: Totemist 2, Incarnate 1). Metamorphosis power through the Natural World mantle or Expanded Knowledge feat; I prefer the latter, since there are may far more useful mantles to pick. Then change shape to 12-headed hydra, Worg Pelt bound to your hands chakra; therefore you have 12 trip attempts per round.

Vow of Poverty is still optional, but not a shabby option anymore, since you won't that much use of your body slots. (And you don't worry if they are occupied by items anymore, before binding your soulmelds).

And yes, you benefit from being a dragonborn warforged still. (BTW, I don't like the idea of using INHERITED templates on warforged, and then going incarnate construct).

Right, still working on PrC's. I intend on adding all the MoI ones in, at least (been slow going lately). I will certainly add your suggestions in. Thanks!

And why do you not like that template business? Because it's cheesy? To my understanding it's fine (so to speak) if you do Incarnate Construct after other templates. Honestly I wouldn't do it, nor allow a player to do it most likely. A Half-Minotaur Warforged is incredibly silly to begin with.

[123456789blaaa]

Danzibr, could you mention in the spoiler below Ashdarlon Reborn that there is a variant of the build using a homebrew PRC instead of bloodlines later down in the thread?

I'm basing it off of the rules compendium/complete arcane rules on weaponlike spells. To qualify for precision damage, it must deal some sort of damage or negative levels (Rules Comp p136). Spit Venom doesn't actually deal any damage (even ability damage) - it just lets you make a ranged attack to poison an enemy. It's the same reason the Con damage wouldn't be multiplied on a crit - the Con damage isn't actually part of the attack, but rather the attack is just to see if you can successfully affect them with your poison.
<snip>

I don't have access to the Rules Compendium right now so I may be missing something but aren't those rules for...well...weaponlike spells? Not attacks in general?

Ahh, it wasn't the any size condition which concerned me but rather the Improved Grab. Got the book now, see the feat, all cleared up, thanks!

There's still the issue of Mauling Gauntlets not adding a bonus to grapple checks.

So that reduces his grapple check to 49...ouch . Not sure for how to make up for that...what other soulmelds could he shape?

And, as mentioned, the sting attack/tail attack. Fortunately Wormtail Belt explicitly gives you a sting attack. Well, "You can use your wormtail belt’s stinger to make natural attacks." Consider the Diabolus injects poison, the fact that it's a tail attack rather than a sting attack is probably due to poor writing (consult DM time). But then another problem: you get totem chakra at level 2, so Barbed Stinger would be your level 3 feat (unless you start at at least level 2, take your flaw and hope your DM uses the RAW ruling of flaws).

Right... when I have time I'll add these in with modifications/suggestions/et cetera.

EDIT: Cheesy way to get around Wormtail Belt's only-attack-per-round restriction: Black Blood Cultist. When you succeed on a grapple check (not even using the "Attack an Opponent" option) you deal damage as if you hit with all your natural weapons. Not actually attack. So combat looks like this:

1) Attack with your stinger like normal.
2) Barbed Stinger gives you a free grapple initiation.
3) On subsequent rounds you're free to do other stuff while keeping your grapple.

From what I'm reading as long as you don't use your Wormtail Belt stinger to actually *attack* you can do whatever you want, so to speak. So if you're just continuing to make grapple checks with it you should be good.

Binding the Wormtail Belt to get the stinger means Heart of Fire will have to go. Goodbye fire damage . Any suggestions for what to invest it in (not sure Wormtail Belt is worth investing into...)?

Also, you don't actually need BBC in this instance. Barbed Stinger allows your stinger to deal automatic sting damage (including poison) every turn.

After giving it some more thought, here's my modified version of the Flaming Loogie:

Human (of some sort), Rogue 3/Scout 4/Cloistered Cleric 1/Totemist 2/Chameleon 10

1. Rogue1- Able Learner, Craven
2. Totemist1-
3. Totemist2- Spit Venom
4. Cloistered Cleric1- Extend Spell, Extra Turning
5. Scout1-
6. Chameleon1- Persistent Spell
7. Chameleon2-
8. Chameleon3-
9. Chameleon4- Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell)
10. Chameleon5-
11. Chameleon6-
12. Chameleon7- Open Lesser Chakra (Shoulders)
13. Scout2-
14. Scout3-
15. Scout4- Swift Ambusher, Improved Skirmish
16. Chameleon8-
17. Chameleon9-
18. Chameleon10- Travel Devotion
19. Rogue2-
20. Rogue3-

Persist Hunter's Eye, and cast Venomfire each morning while using a bead of karma. Bind the Phase Cloak to your totem chakra and the Shadow Mantle to your shoulders chakra.

Keep your essentia in Shadow Mantle maxed out (you may want to use your bonus feat for Bonus Essentia).

Each round, move and attack, hocking a loogie at your intended target. As vision is impossible inside your sphere of darkness, but you have blindsight within it, you should get both sneak and skirmish damage. That means 38d6+20 acid damage (24d6 venomfire +8d6 hunter's eye +2d6 sneak +2d6 skirmish +2d6 improved skirmish +20 craven). Plus they save for poison damage, too, but whatever.

Anyhow, that's only an average of 153 damage per shot, which is still a little low for my tastes. (By CR 20 I think a dedicated damage dealer should be averaging at least 250 damage.) Persistent cloud of knives might help for an additional 1d4+16d6+20 or whatever, but that's still below my arbitrary benchmark. I'm sure other Chameleon spells could bring it up, but I'll have to give it some thought...

I really like how this version is much cleaner than the one you posted before. Very nice .

Though I do wish there was a way the cloistered cleric level could be gotten rid of without losing too much power though. Cleric 1 is one of my most hated dips and persisting one round spells is cheesy as heck.

Getting a sturdy mount obviates the need for Travel Devotion. Wild Cohort maybe?

I wonder if Dissolving Spittle would be better than spending a feat and two class levels...

The Dragon #313 version of Spit Venom blinds the target for 2d6 hours so that's a straight buff if it's allowed.

At the end of the day though-while I do really like this build-I don't think it's worth it unless your DM allows the Dragon #313 version of Spit Venom. Otherwise you're just using a bunch of things that make almost anything they're added too better (the chameleon PRC, Divine Metamgic, etc) and focusing them on a method of attack that doesn't have anything particularly special going for it. Getting a ranged touch attack is nice but is it worth giving up full attacks?

Although...the Deadly Spittle feat allows you to spray your spit in a 15-foot cone-shaped burst. If you could still gain Sneak Attack with it than that could be worthwhile.

[Piggy Knowles]

So, here's a totemblade build I've been working on. I haven't got maneuvers finished yet, but here's a preview:

Dragonborn (Heart Aspect) Water Orc, Totemist 9/Warblade 8/Uncanny Trickster 3

1. Warblade1- Dragon Tail
2. Totemist1-
3. Totemist2- Multiattack
4. Warblade2-
5. Warblade3-
6. Totemist3- Headlong Rush
7. Totemist4-
8. Warblade4-
9. Warblade5- Ironheart Aura, Stormguard Warrior
10. Totemist5-
11. Totemist6-
12. Warblade6- Combat Reflexes
13. Warblade7-
14. Totemist7-
15. Totemist8- Robilar’s Gambit
16. Warblade8-
17. Totemist9-
18. Uncanny Trickster1- Entangling Exhalation
19. Uncanny Trickster2- Blind-Fight
20. Uncanny Trickster3-

Uncanny Trickster 2 progresses warblade, while Uncanny Trickster 3 progresses totemist. End result is a warblade with IL 15 and 8th-level maneuvers (Raging Mongoose!), and a totemist with six soulmelds and three chakra binds (including arms, brow and shoulders).

Some interesting notes:

• Ubercharging without Power Attack - Leading the Charge gives +15 damage per attack on a charge, Sphinx Claws plus lots of natural attacks and Headlong Rush means you can easily take out CR-appropriate enemies in a single charge.
• Stormguard Warrior loves lots of attacks to charge up Combat Rhythm, which you've got in spades.
• Oh yeah, Stormguard Warrior + Robilar's is pretty fun, too.
• Raging Mongoose for four additional attacks as a swift action is pretty nasty, especially if you use your initial attack routine to charge up Combat Rhythm.

When I finish the maneuver progression, I'll post that up too.

I'm really not sure about Entangling Exhalation as a capstone feat - it's really just there as filler (and a remnant from an earlier version of the build, which was more breath-focused). Chances are when I finish doing maneuvers and see what I qualify for, I'll swap it out for Martial Study. If that's the case, I'll probably switch to wings aspect for dragonborn.

[danzibr]

Alright, I'm back on board. Sorry, terrible hiatus. This semester's crazy for me. Teaching 5 classes, taking 2. I cleaned up the builds post (and it exceeded the max characters, had to shuffle things around).

Danzibr, could you mention in the spoiler below Ashdarlon Reborn that there is a variant of the build using a homebrew PRC instead of bloodlines later down in the thread?

Done!

So that reduces his grapple check to 49...ouch . Not sure for how to make up for that...what other soulmelds could he shape?

Kraken Mantle can make up for it somewhat, but the bonus isn't very big in comparison. But hey, constrict damage.

Binding the Wormtail Belt to get the stinger means Heart of Fire will have to go. Goodbye fire damage . Any suggestions for what to invest it in (not sure Wormtail Belt is worth investing into...)?

Also, you don't actually need BBC in this instance. Barbed Stinger allows your stinger to deal automatic sting damage (including poison) every turn.

Ahh, true, but here I was talking about getting mega damage. Super cheesy since you're grappling *only* with your tail yet dealing damage with all your natural weapons.

Oh, and Piggy, I'll totally post that when it's done.