Junkyard Wars in the Playground V: Dread Witch + Reaping Mauler - Fighter

[Kazudo]

Welcome to Junkyard Stadium! It is in this hallowed pile of miscellaneous parts that we will hold a competition of Practical Optimization with three components. The catch? Competitors may not use the third item in their builds!

Contestants: You will need to present a write-up of your build at at least one of the following points: 5th level, 10th level, 15th, 20th, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build, as well as presenting a fully-fleshed out 20-level build in the table below. Feel free to present as many of these as you like, and please give a rundown of the build's abilities and playability at all of the levels you didn't show. The rules are as follows:

Goal: For most challenges, the "special components" will be drawn from Core plus Completes. There will, from time to time, be special challenges that showcase secret components from other books--for example, the XPH.

32 point-buy is the presumed creation method, but we have generally allowed other levels of point-buy.
If you do use a different point-buy, please make your case for its necessity in your entry. Keep in mind that for using exceptionally large or small point-buys may warrant deductions in Build Stability and/or Power.

Workshop: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon Magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Build Stability below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere as this may cause a Build Stability deduction at the judges' discretion. If you use web material, link it. Dragon Magazine Compendium is allowed.. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt and fractional saves are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Also item familiars are forbidden because I hate 'em. Please refrain from using Taint unless it's necessary for one or more of the Components.

Completion Time: Contestants will have until [11:59 PM GMT on July 19th, 2014] to create their builds and PM them to the chairman, Kazudo. Builds will then be posted simultaneously to avoid copying. Judges will have until [11:59 PM GMT on August 2nd, 2014] to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted. As the precedence has been set from Episode 2, should all prospective judges have posted their rulings in a neat, timely fashion and all disputes have been settled satisfactorily (to either judges, contestants, or the Chairperson), the judging period may end prematurely to give way to a new episode. No reason to keep working on a finished building and avoid moving onto the next one.

Presentation: Builds will be posted anonymously, in order to avoid the potential of bias towards a particular competitor. For this reason, please don't put your name in the build as I'm likely to miss it when reviewing the entries. Also for this reason, PLEASE do not include any material that may or may not offend any potential viewers/judges/competitors OR break forum rules: It'll be me who gets in trouble for it, and you don't want that! Any builds which utterly and grossly violate forum rules WILL be withheld.

Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry.

Spoiler

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NAME OF ENTRY

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
2nd	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
3rd	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
4th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
5th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
6th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
7th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
8th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
9th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
10th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
11th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
12th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
13th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
14th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
15th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
16th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
17th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
18th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
19th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
20th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities

Table Code:

Spoiler

Show

[code]
NAME OF ENTRY
[table="class: grid"] [tr][td]Level[/td][td]Class[/td][td]Base Attack Bonus[/td][td]Fort Save[/td][td]Ref Save[/td][td]Will Save[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]Feats[/td][td]Class Features[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]1st[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]2nd[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]3rd[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]4th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]5th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]6th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]7th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]8th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]9th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]10th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]11th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]12th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]13th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]14th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]15th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]16th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]17th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]18th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]19th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]20th[/td][td]New Class Level[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]+x[/td][td]Skills[/td][td]New Feats[/td][td]New Class Abilities[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[/code]

For entries with spellcasting or other systems (Psionics, ToB, Incarnum, etc.) keep track of spells per day/spells known/PP/maneuvers/essentia separately, preferably in a nice neat list.

Speculation: Please don't post or speculate on possible builds until after the reveal in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines.

Leadership is banned: We're creating one things, not all of the things. If your entry includes a prestige class or ACF that grants Leadership or a Leadership-like ability as a bonus feat, the feat should be ignored and is not eligible to be traded away for another feat or ACF through any means.

So who wants to sign up as a contestant and who wants to sign up as a judge? Looking for as many contestants and judges as feel like playing!

This competition has two Necessary Components and one Forbidden Component.

A popular request is two 5-level PrCs which have very little in common and a forbidden ingredient that is deemed the easiest entry method between the two. Not gonna lie, a dartboard was involved for this one.

1. Originally introduced in Heroes of Horror:

The Dread Witch Prestige Class!

2. Originally introduced in Complete Warrior:

The Reaping Mauler Prestige Class!

And the Forbidden Component:
3. Originally introduced in the Player's Handbook:

The Fighter Base Class!

We will award 1st through 3rd places, as well as a shout-out for honorable mention. The honorable mention prize is given to the most daring or unexpected build that doesn't gain a medal. Contestants are invited to vote for honorable mention via PM. Everyone else can vote in-thread.

Ready? Steady? Get to the junkyard and start building!

Previous Competitions:
Episode 1: Shadowdancer + Sneak Attack - Rogue
Episode 2: Healing Spells + Ruby Knight Vindicator - no Cleric
Episode 3: Dragon Type + Mystic Theurge - Kobold
Episode 4: Book of Exalted Deeds + Undead Type - Completes Books

[Kazudo]

Judging Guidelines
Welcome prospective judges as well to the Junkyard Wars Judging Box! You are incredibly valuable to this competition and we want you to know that.

In an effort to make this competition more about improving overall optimization abilities and not just showcasing those who already can optimize fairly well, I'd like to add a bit to the judging.

To begin with, judges will be expected to put their judging in four categories:

Originality: How original the build is. This can be in terms of using only other builds in the competition or the world of Practical Optimization as a whole. Please keep in mind, however, that this game is over a decade old and that originality is a subjective term.

Power: What kind of power the build can harness. How you judge power level is entirely up to you, but please exercise consistency through your judging.

Use of Secret Components: How well the build synergizes the two required components. In this particular exercise, the forbidden component isn't necessarily going to be a massive hinderance as much as safety rails. However, if any build touches Kobold at all penalize accordingly.

Build Stability: How well the build would stand up to average DM scrutiny. Such things to go here would be number of sources, use of known cheese, etc.

The above four categories will be up for dispute by the contestants. The dispute process will begin once a judge has posted their judging. PM any disputes to the chairman (Currently Kazudo) where he will either attempt to, depending on the dispute, address the problem privately or publicly to ensure that the dispute is handled. NOT ALL DISPUTES WILL BE PRESENTED TO THE JUDGES. The dispute process is PRIMARILY as a method of correcting incorrect rule interpretations, math, or similar things.

For a somewhat new Disputes procedure: Each contestant will be permitted one dispute message per build per judge. Not one dispute, but one block of disputes. That way things can be figured out. THERE MIGHT BE SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE MORE ARE ALLOWED.

Concerning judging criteria: AS A PRE-EMPTIVE MEASURE, I would like to request that judging criteria be first PMed to the chairman (currently Kazudo) for a quick quality check. Once it is deemed worthy, it will be posted anonymously. JUDGING WILL STILL OCCUR AS NORMAL. This is to prevent any bias from individuals wishing to attempt to dispute certain measures of the criteria. It IS ok to say that you're judging, but don't indicate which criteria is yours.

Finally, I would like the judges, if possible, to take a moment and give suggestions on how the build could be improved. These should not impact the scoring or standing of the build at all and are simply a method of constructively being critical of the builds. Don't just tell someone how they did, tell them how you would have improved the build or what happened that you felt could have been done a tad differently. Please put all of these comments outside of your judging to avoid them being confused for judging points which can be disputed.

[Kazudo]

FAC: (Frequently Addressed Concerns)

CONCERNING FLUFF REQUIREMENTS: Should an entrant use a component that has a fluff requirement (Defined as a requirement that has no bearing on crunch rules; see the Assassin for example) please see to it that the fluff requirement is defined and placed in the build. It doesn't have to be a narrative, but a basic breakdown on when and how it occurred, just to sate the requirements.

CONCERNING MULTIPLE ENTRIES: Currently, no contestant can enter more than two builds per person. This hasn't been a problem yet, but in the interests of keeping the pool of builds as understandably small as possible while still wanting to grow the community, I'm instituting a 2 build cap.

CONCERNING BUILD ALTERATIONS: Before the cutoff time and subsequent reveal, alterations can be submitted in whole to the chairman (Kazudo). Please format them as you'd like them to appear with instructions on where to place them. After the reveal, NO ALTERATIONS OF ANY KIND can be made to an entry, so ensure it's what you want to submit!

CONCERNING FLUFF FOR THE BUILD: In some competitions and circumstances, drastic character changes (Alignment, Race, Build Focus, etc.) may be easier taken by judges using fluff. Even fluff similar to "Then I had a change of heart and became good aligned" may suffice. This isn't really a fluff competition, but a mechanics competition. However, it may show poorly if you have a drastic change in mechanics without any explanation. This is squarely in the judges' purview.

CONCERNING EXP REQUIREMENTS: Each build is allotted exactly 200,000 EXP. This is roughly 10,000 EXP more than necessary to get to 20th level. Please take note of this when planning your character for circumstances like LA Buyoff, Item Crafting, Magic Use, Multiclassing EXP Penalties, etc.

CONCERNING PREREQUISITES FOR PRCS: The stance I as chairman take on whether one must continually qualify for a PRC is:
Unless the PrC is in a book with a clause concerning loss of class features upon failure to qualify OR the PrC itself has a clause concerning Ex- versions of the class, one does not need to continually qualify for the PrC to continue gaining benefits from it and taking levels in it.

1Q. Hey look! A CWar PrC! Does that mean?!

1A. Yes, it has to keep prerequisites or you lose class features and progression etc. I think this is a first for the competition to be honest.

2Q. Wait. Wasn't this a different competition a second ago?

2A. Yes. The Chairperson was under the effects of a daze spell and put forth an actually impossible challenge. So I changed it. Sorry.
More FAC to come, I'm sure.

[Kazudo]

And actually, now that the dartboard's stopped spinning I've just noticed a pretty major problem. Hm.

[weckar]

Interesting combination... It's not difficult to see what the hard part is here, and I don't think Ur Priest would have solved it anyway.

[Sian]

something I notice is that it's impossible to have 5 levels of both of those. the lowest ammount of levels i can see is level 22 (and two different ways

[Kazudo]

Well, I did add something to the FAC to hopefully allow some creativity to hit the table.

[WhamBamSam]

Well, I said I'd judge unless it was an impossible round to resist, and this is a pretty easy one to resist. I'll fix up my judging criteria a bit, then send it to you.

I also have concerns about some rulings you put in the FAQ, but I'll include those in the PM to limit speculation.

[Kazudo]

Sounds great. It's sounding like this might just be a fault with the dartboard. I might shuffle the ingredients a bit better before we get too far into this one methinks, like I had to do last time. Not allowed to start a new competition sleep deprived ever again.

...Yeah, found one I like better. Hold on for a slight reboot on this one. I'll get this chairmanning thing down soon.

[Kazudo]

ALRIGHT. I changed two of the components around. Hope that does it a bit better. Anyway, back to the chalkboard.


I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.

[Amphetryon]

ALRIGHT. I changed two of the components around. Hope that does it a bit better. Anyway, back to the chalkboard.


I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.
I will not put impossible challenges up as Junkyard Wars episodes.

The revision looks. . . better, and much less painful. I may have time to enter.

[weckar]

Awwwww, I had just figured the last one out, too :(

[WhamBamSam]

Okay, that's a much more reasonable. I've sent you some judging criteria. I've got a rough idea as well, but I'll just post the stub after the reveal.

One thing about the rules you laid down for spellcasting requirements before the ingredient change though, seeing as it's no longer speculation...

Requiring spell slots of the appropriate level is fine. Putting the kybosh on DMM Heighten for Heirophant entry is perfectly reasonable. Requiring the ability to cast two 7th level spells is not. I'm assuming the intent was to prevent Versatile Spellcaster cheese, but it also keeps spontaneous casters like Favored Souls from qualifying at the level where they get 7th level spells and effectively prevents Divine Crusaders from qualifying at all without list expansion chicanery or taking Heighten Spell as a feat tax.

[Kazudo]

Right, and it was a slow realization that caught me afterwards that led to me having to take it down. There really wasn't anything I could do that wouldn't significantly narrow the builds that wouldn't count as blatant houseruling or homebrew, so I opted out of it instead.

[weckar]

Welp, I suppose it is time to review fear and grappling rules!

[PraxisVetli]

So, just to make sure, it is Reaping Mauler and Dread Witch, right?

[Kazudo]

Yes! The competition finally has its head screwed on as straight as it can be.

[Irk]

These synergize a lot actually. In my sig I have a build combining these two concepts.

EDIT: Also, may I join the rudisplorking fan club?

EDIT2: Not that I'll be mimicking that build if I choose to enter. I already have a different idea, but regardless of whether or not I'm in I'll be watching with interest.

[Telonius]

I'll be up for judging this time. Might take a day or so to write up the criteria though.

[dysprosium]

This ingredient list is just too awesome not to try and put something together!

[Kazudo]

EDIT: Also, may I join the rudisplorking fan club?

Hahaha! Feel free to be a fellow C.O. of the Rudisplorking fan club.

[Irk]

Hahaha! Feel free to be a fellow C.O. of the Rudisplorking fan club.

Awesome! I'm in.

[Deadline]

Huh. I can really only see this building out in one way. I'm not sure there will be much variation this round. I ... need to think on whether or not I want to enter.

[weckar]

Personally, I have to bow to Irk; as I myself see little synergy here that would not be reaching. The forbidden ingredient is mostly... odd.

[Deadline]

Personally, I have to bow to Irk; as I myself see little synergy here that would not be reaching. The forbidden ingredient is mostly... odd.

I know, right? Nobody was going to use fighter anyway, so having it be forbidden is ... nice? I guess? At any rate, I'm working up a frankenstein right now, as the juices are flowing. Now I just need to make sure I've got enough skill points...

[Eldariel]

I know, right? Nobody was going to use fighter anyway, so having it be forbidden is ... nice? I guess? At any rate, I'm working up a frankenstein right now, as the juices are flowing. Now I just need to make sure I've got enough skill points...

It does remove Zhentarim Fighter which could've worked here decently.

[Ikeren]

I'm curious what was up before this?

Hierophant + ???

I'll probably submit a build. I already have a loose idea.

[Deadline]

It does remove Zhentarim Fighter which could've worked here decently.

Aha! I knew there must have been something I was missing!

[weckar]

I'm curious what was up before this?

Hierophant + ???

I'll probably submit a build. I already have a loose idea.

Reaping Mauler. I think quick consensus was that there was only one way to make it work.

[OMG PONIES]

I've got a concept that's mostly for lulz, but we'll see if I can make it work...