Villainous Competition IX: The Power of Villainous Thinking

[AvatarVecna]

To clarify, are Leadership and Leadership-like abilities banned here? I know they have been before...

[Telonius]

To clarify, are Leadership and Leadership-like abilities banned here? I know they have been before...

Yes, they are. This is only for the main villain; they can be assumed to have as many minions as necessary to perform their evil deeds.

Also, I received the third submission!

[JyP]

The clock is ticking - five days left! So far we have two entries.

Build submitted

[Telonius]

Got it, thanks!

[GreatWyrmGold]

I've been thinking about a possible theme for the next competition. I'll call it "Heroes of the Wrong Story". The gist is, potentially-heroic characters who have one or a few traits warped, leaving a character who can't be considered anything but antagonistic, even outright evil.
Maybe they go too far; there are plenty of examples, you can probably think of some off the top of your head. Maybe their goal—while noble—doesn't deserve the focus the villain gives it. Maybe they are misinformed. Maybe, like Miko Miyazaki, they are paranoid and see conspiracies in every shady nobleman sending bands of magically-empowered thugs across the globe. Maybe they've lost sight of the forest while dealing with the trees—or vise versa.
One way or another, you have a villain utterly convinced they are doing the right thing—who might well be doing so, from a certain point of view that happens to not be our own—and yet who the players have to stop.

[Telonius]

Two days left!

Apparently some of the enemies from the previous Villainous Competition are staging an assault on my location. (Forecast for Friday-Saturday is calling for 2+ feet of snow at the moment). I'll be posting the reveal fairly soon after the contest is closed, in case the power gets cut.

[Telonius]

One day left - time's nearly up!

I may actually be able to turn in a fully-realized build (not for judging), if none of the entrants are similar to it.

[Deadline]

I finally got an idea, but I know I won't have the time to get it ready for submittal for at least a few days, maybe longer. I'll happily share the build stub after the reveal, but I must say that this one was particularly difficult for me to draw any inspiration from. I had to dip into my large well of "dumb ideas" to come up with the idea I did this morning.

Good luck all, looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

[Zombulian]

I finally got an idea, but I know I won't have the time to get it ready for submittal for at least a few days, maybe longer. I'll happily share the build stub after the reveal, but I must say that this one was particularly difficult for me to draw any inspiration from. I had to dip into my large well of "dumb ideas" to come up with the idea I did this morning.

Good luck all, looking forward to seeing what comes of it.

Same boat. I was pretty excited but honestly I was having trouble making my build feel unique. I'll probably share the stub after the reveal.

[Inevitability]

Build submitted!

Next time I have a great but complicated idea a few hours before a contest ends, remind me not to act on it. I'm exhausted.

[Telonius]

Duly noted!

Just a few minutes to go now. I'll be posting the reveal soon after the deadline, then crawling under a rock until the snow is done.

[Telonius]

And here we go! In no particular order, our contestants.

First up, Marx "Orthopoxia Vulgaris"!

Spoiler: Marx "Orthopoxia Vulgaris"

Show

Marx “Orthopoxia Vulgaris”
CE Tauric Elven Hound/Phrenic Medusa
Assassin 2 /Psion 3 /Ballisteer 9 /Cragtop Archer 4
Ballisteer found here

There is a lawless region in-between the very ordered and structured kingdoms of Whatever and Uneed. This lawless region has been beset upon by a number of terrible maladies; the orthopoxic disease, where young officials, particularly hardworking and earnest men and women of society, will suddenly burst open in a spray of their viscera, as if an invisible beast exploded from within their bodies. Many of the victims of this disease are incredibly stressed, so both Kingdoms have legislated mandatory recreation and limited work hours, which seems to have stayed the virulence of the mysterious illness. This is quite an affront to the High Caste nobles, who can now do little to increase in power. Further, many of these untimely deaths have resulted in myriads of slaves from one of the kingdoms, (we all know which) running away and staging small resistances. Squashing them has become quite costly, and the loss of 10% of the field labor has led to food shortfalls of such a magnitude that we’ve had to ration the proportion of food available to the lower classes. Historically, this has been fine, but paired with the apparent lack of effort the nobles are displaying due to fear of the disease, the underclass have become quite restless, some even colluding with the slaves! What terrible times we live in.

Further, there are reports of a ragtag collection of miscreants assembling in the mountainous passes between the two kingdoms. The kingdoms best spies and special forces claim that there is a guild of thieves being collected by a leader known only as “Marx.” There are scant reports of what this Marx character looks like, but it is said that he is an anarchic centaur that sold his soul to the fiends. Other reports are that Marx is a Yuan ti anathema who rebelled against it’s god to instead follow a philosophy that he learned through consorting with Slaad death masters. None of that would matter much, as Marx seems unconcerned with interrupting trade between the two kingdoms…and we have bigger domestic problems to sort out first.

-Excerpt from the final letter that high lord Wintermoon,
penned before the orthopoxia disease took his life.

Campaign notes:
You will need two lawful kingdoms, at least one of which condones slavery. Between these two kingdoms you need about a two week ride through craggy forested terrain. I strongly suggest giving Marx a CN Skulk Druid as a Lieutenant who prescribes to the same worldview as Marx. This will allow for fell conspiracy use with awakened songbirds. A goliath Cragtop Archer would make sense in her retinue, as would a low level psionic artificer who esteems intellectual freedom (who probably does some outlawed far-realm stuff). Marx also needs a few thieves guild go-betweens who are steadfastly loyal to her, even if it is because they know (not believe) that she can kill them at any time from any distance. Marx has the most dramatic effect in a low Psi campaign. Marx is particularly susceptible against locate city bomb hi-jinx.

Character Background:
Clawing her way out of a shallow grave from the body of what she now assumes was her mother, Marx was born with no idea of her identity or her own backstory. A few years later, after being taken in by githzerai psion, she was able to unravel that she was the result of an experiment performed on an enslaved medusa, probably blinded and enslaved by the neogi. Living with her mentor, an assassin and tracker of some local renown, Marx was given some instruction on building psionic talent and how to develop her creeping around skills. When her mentor met his end due to an infected wound he sustained in a battle with a tainted slaver, Marx was once again alone in the world.


The Build:
Stats
Str 17 (Base 10, +7 elven hound racial bonus)
Dex 20 (Base 13, +7 elven hound racial bonus)
Con 15 (Base 12, +3 elven hound racial bonus)
Int 19 (Base 15, +2 phrenic +2 medusa racial bonus)
Wis 19 (Base 14, +2 phrenic, +3 medusa racial bonus)
Cha 17 (Base 8, +4 phrenic, +5 medusa racial bonus)

If stat increases occur, apply them all to intelligence.

Mechanical Premise
Remember when you were a kid, and you thought it would be so cool to use a knife made of ice to kill someone. The police would never be able to find you because the murder weapon melted. (Apparently empathy is a learned behavior). That kid grew up to be this monstrosity. This build uses some exact RAW wordings to facilitate this effect.

The assassin death attack reads:

Spoiler: Death Attack

Show

If an assassin studies his victim for 3 rounds and then makes a sneak attack with a melee weapon that successfully deals damage, the sneak attack has the additional effect of possibly either paralyzing or killing the target (assassin's choice). While studying the victim, the assassin can undertake other actions so long as his attention stays focused on the target and the target does not detect the assassin or recognize the assassin as an enemy. If the victim of such an attack fails a Fortitude save (DC 10 + the assassin's class level + the assassin's Int modifier) against the kill effect, she dies. If the saving throw fails against the paralysis effect, the victim's mind and body become enervated, rendering her helpless and unable to act for 1d6 rounds plus 1 round per level of the assassin. If the victim's saving throw succeeds, the attack is just a normal sneak attack. Once the assassin has completed the 3 rounds of study, he must make the death attack within the next 3 rounds. If a death attack is attempted and fails (the victim makes her save) or if the assassin does not launch the attack within 3 rounds of completing the study, 3 new rounds of study are required before he can attempt another death attack.

Look at this reading carefully, the attack doesn’t need to be a melee attack. It simply needs to be made with a melee weapon. The melee weapon that I have chosen is the javelin. Although technically, it is a ranged weapon, it can be wielded as a melee weapon. If you’re DM is skeptical of this reading, you have a few options: 1.) Take weapon proficiency (javelin; used as a melee weapon), 2.) Take weapon group proficiency (spears and javelins) (UA), or 3.) take weapon focus javelin and tormtor school (DotU p.57). These options require taking an additional early fighter or psychic warrior levels. Otherwise, use flaws...or get rid of ability enhancer, replacing it with fell conspiracy, and change "weapon proficency (javelin as melee)" to weapon focus (javelin) and take tormtor school in the HD 21 feat slot.

Great! now you can make a ranged death attack. But what if you wanted to make a ranged death attack from far away?

That’s where cragtop archer comes in: by using your assassin 1st level spell “sniper’s shot” and pairing it with the far shot feat, you can make death attack from extremely far away.

Spoiler: Sniper’s Shot & Cragtop Archer abilities

Show

Sniper’s shot: Your next single ranged attack (if it is made before the start of your next turn) can be a sneak attack regardless of the distance between you and your target. Swift action casting time, lasts 1 round.
Arcing Shot (Ex): A cragtop archer of 3rd level or higher can fire a high, arcing shot to gain greater range with her projectile weapon. Any time the cragtop archer can fire a projectile weapon in an area with at least 40 feet of clearance between her position and the ceiling (or any other overhead obstruction, such as a forest canopy), her maximum range with the projectile weapon is fifteen range increments rather than the normal ten range increments.
Horizon Shot (Su): From 4th level on, a cragtop archer can seemingly hit targets as far away as the horizon as easily as she can hit something nearby. As a full-round action, the cragtop archer can make a single attack with a projectile weapon. This attack is made with no penalty for range, though it still has the same maximum range as a normal attack by the cragtop archer. This ability can be used in conjunction with any ability that extends the range of a projectile weapon, such as the Far Shot feat or the cragtop archer's arcing shot ability.

All of this requires that the DM allows an attack with a melee weapon being used as the ammunition for a projectile weapon. As you can see, this requires the use of a projectile weapon that isn’t a javelin. The Icechucker from Frostburn comes to the rescue:

Spoiler: ICECHUCKER

Show

Icechucker: The icechucker appears to be a large crossbow at a casual glance, larger even than a heavy crossbow. Its launching mechanism is designed to fire large shards of ice (usually icicles) rather than regular crossbow bolts. You draw an icechucker back by pulling on a thick lever on the underside of the weapon. Loading an icechucker is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. If icicles aren’t handy to load into an icechucker, it can also be used to fire a javelin, dealing the same damage. The icechucker has a range increment of 30’.

But, perhaps the DM in charge of this game isn’t that liberal. No worries. Throw anything comes to the rescue. This feat allows you to throw a melee weapon with which you are proficient with a range increment of 20. Load your icechucker with your javelin and throw the entire thing.

With far shot, that range increment increases to 45’. Paired with arching shot, that means that the character can hit something 15x45 feet away =675 feet. Once he can afford the distance enhancement, that increases to 4,500 feet away.

Now, it is really hard to hit a person from a mile away because of cover and concealment rules...but don’t worry about that so much. Because 3.0 has a fancy little prestige class called the ballisteer, which is basically the soul bow minus the soul knife! It was never updated, so it stands. With this class, you can make ammunition that you shoot from a ranged weapon be invisible, explosive, and teleport through concealment and cover!

Spoiler: PHASE SHOT!

Show

Phase Shot (Sp): By expending 3 power points per shot, the ballisteer causes his ammo to phase and move through the Astral Plane. His shots ignore most natural and magical barriers, and his target is denied any armor bonuses it may have had. The target also loses any Dexterity and dodge bonuses if the ballisteer is attacking from a concealed position. This power also allows you to shoot targets through opaque walls, but the target gets total concealment against these attacks. Phase shot does not allow for sneak attacks unless the ballisteer could make a sneak attack without using phase shot. This is considered a teleportation effect and can be blocked by powers and spells that affect those. There is also a chance something occurs to the shot while it is on the Astral Plane: Any attack roll of a natural "1" or "2" is an automatic miss, and the shot is lost. This ability is applied as the attack is made.

Seeing as how your ammunition is a melee weapon, it can trigger the assassin’s death attack, and seeing as how you’re using a projectile weapon to sling the melee weapon based ammunition you can invoke the crag top archer’s ability, and seeing as how you can imbue that ammo with extra effects, you can use the ballister’s manifested abilities to assassinate anyone from nearly a mile away. The problem with doing all of this is line of sight.

To cover these line of sight bases, you have fell conspiracy, which allows a message spell between yourself and your allies. You also have clairvoyance or sense link as a manifestable power. If you have extensive geographical knowledge, a grid coordination system, and spotters, you can have a line of sight to your victim. Your spies use the message spell to report the targets to you using your predefined grid numbering system. You use clairvoyance on that region. Draw a bead for three turns and send an invisible exploding phasing javelin through the astral plane to kill them in a single hit. So long as you have pp, every 18 seconds, someone might die.

Now, if your DM really doesn’t like you using a melee weapon as ammunition that you shoot from a projectile weapon. You need to buy a bayonet for your icechucker and get the returning property put on it in addition to the distance enhancement. This turns your projectile weapon into a melee weapon with which you are proficient. You can now use it with throw anything. If you load the javelin into it, you can charge it with psionic stuffs, and although the chucker itself cannot bypass any cover, the ammunition inside of it can, which leads you to a weird rules conundrum…which can only be solved by paying a gnome to invent a “weapon flinger” for you. Retrain your exotic weapon proficiency: icechucker if this is how you have to do this. If this DM also doesn’t allow retraining, well….fine, I guess the build don’t work so good.

And so, putting it all together. This character can make your PC’s faces explode from a mile away with invisible ammunition. Over and over again…


…actually only a few times a day…unless, of course, they find some cognizance crystals and a wand of sniper’s shot.

The weakest part of this technique, besides the lack of PP, is the low DC of the death attack (DC 16 for many levels). The best way to lift this DC is to boost the daylights out of this character’s Intelligence. You will also wants gloves of endless javelins.

The absolutely necessary magical gear is: icechucker with distance enhancement, intelligence boosters, cognizance crystals, a wand of sniper’s shot, a wand of near horizon(CM), and gloves of javelins.

Note: This build can be made to work with a simple human, but the abilities don’t come online until level 20. And unless you use flaws, you won’t get to add craven and zen archery into it for more punch. But you could totally destabilize an entire kingdom. (Just add martial rogue and more psywar levels…)

Race:
Monstrous Humanoid, psionic subtype
Tauric (SS p. 133) elven hound (ROW p.189) / Phrenic (XPH) Medusa

Spoiler: Tauric thoughts

Show

The cheese with this template never ends. The CR is listed as “base creature +1.” The “base creature” is defined in the template as the animal half. This means that you can make a CR 2 creature with any amount of HD you want. The CR of the “base humanoid” is irrelevant. I chose medusa and elven dog because it got me enough feats and skills to hit the ground running. This arrangement is super sweet because the CR for the phrenic template doesn’t increase the CR of the entire creature, just the medusa half, which is totally subsumed by the template’s “as base creature +1”

The weird thing is that the template turns you into a monstrous humanoid in the end. So you can nest your tauric villain within a tauric villain. All at CR 2. My prelim research identified some other candidates for this cheese. All of the following are CR 1 animal/,magical beasts/vermin with more than 1 HD that fit into the specs for the template. If you ever do nest tauric species together, you can bring in the heavy hitting magical beasts after going through a two humped camel gateway. Your DM might just ignore you for a week…
MM1: riding dog, giant ant, giant bee, medium monstrous centipede, scorpion, and spider. The light horse, pony, mule, donkey (all of which you can modify the stats and speeds of with CoV)
FB: Snowspider
SSt: two humped camel
City of Splendor: Waterdeep: Watch spider
RoW: Brixashulty & Elven hound
Dragon Magic: phynxkin (Pounce Yo)

The following are some of the other monstrous humanoid candidates that I considered:
Sarrukh (SK), Abeil Queen (MM2), Spellweaver (MM2) Armand or Gulgar(MM3), Zern (MM4), Yuan ti (any of em), and paragon human, chitine (MoF).

Just imagine the tauric watchspider/tauric shedu/tauric titanic crab of legend/spellweaver! CR 2 sorcerer 20+ with a bunch of cleric casting…

This race grants Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Intimidate, Move Silently, Spot, Balance, Hide, Jump, Listen, Survival, Swim as class skills. With 2+int points to spend per HD, with a x4 bonus for the first HD. This race grants 8 racial hit dice and a natural armor bonus of +4. The speed is 50.

Skill bonus: Elven hounds have a +4 racial bonus on Balance, Hide, Jump, and Swim checks, and a +2 racial bonus on Listen and Spot checks. Elven hounds have a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by scent. I’m not entirely sure if the scent quality remains on the creature, but it’s marginally useful at best.

The race grants proficiency in all simple weapons as well as short bow, dagger, and apparently, snakes…Which I will try to optimize at some point in the future “Dual snake wielding medusa!” I’m thinking totemist…anyway, back to the matter at hand.

This race has Immune to sleep, low-light vision, dark vision 60, resist enchantment, Scent, sprint (move 5 times speed during charge 1/day). This race also has a charisma based petrification gaze attack that targets all within 30’ (DC=10+1/2HD+Cha mod) as well as a Constitution based poison: initial damage 1d6 Str, secondary damage 2d6 Str (DC = 10 +1/2 HD + Con mod). 


CR Level Class BAB fort ref will Skills feats Class Abilities PP 2 0 8d8 racial hit dice 8 4 7 6 Bluff 5, Diplomacy 2, Disguise 5, Intimidate 5, Move Silently 8, Spot 8, Balance 5, Hide 8, Jump 5, Listen 5, Survival 8, tumble 1(cc) Track(bonus), Dodge (1), mobility (3), exotic weapon proficiency (icechucker (FB))(6) Racial skill bonus. Poison. Petrifying Gaze. Immune to sleep, low-light vision, resist enchantment, scent, sprint, 3/day defensive precognition, 1/day force screen, 3/day empty mind, mind thrust, 1day body adjustment, brain lock, 1/day aversion, blast 1 3 1 Assassin 1 8 4 9 6 UMD 6, decipher script 1, tumble 2 point blank shot (9) Sneak attack +1d6, death attack, poison use, spells, 3/day intellect fortress, 1/day psychic crush, 1 4 2 Psion 1 8 4 9 8 knowledge religion 4, knowledge geography 1, knowledge local 1 psionic shot (bonus) Bonus feat, Seer Discipline, 3 psion powers known 3 5 3 Psion 2 9 4 9 9 tumble 5 1/day psionic dominate, 5 psion powers known 7 6 4 Psion 3 9 5 10 9 tumble 6, profession cartography 1, concentration 3 Weapon proficiency (javelin as a melee weapon)* (12) 7 psion powers known 12 7 5 Ballisteer 1 9 5 12 9 concentration 9 throw anything (CW), psionic sidestep (web) 1/day energy current, tower of iron will, Psionic Sidestep, Throw Anything. 12 8 6 Ballisteer 2 10 5 13 9 climb 6 invisible shot, Psychic warrior manifesting level 1 13 9 7 Ballisteer 3 11 6 13 10 climb 10, concentration 11 mountain warrior (RoS)(15) 3/day psionic teleport, ethereal shot, Psychic warrior manifesting level 2 15 10 8 Ballisteer 4 12 6 14 10 concentration 15, UMD 7 energy shot 17 11 9 Ballisteer 5 12 6 14 10 concentration 19, UMD 8 1/day fission, incorporeal shot, Psychic warrior manifesting level 3 19 12 10 Ballisteer 6 14 7 15 11 UMD 10, decipher script 3 far shot (18) Pinpoint shot, Psychic warrior manifesting level 4 23 13 11 Ballisteer 7 15 7 15 11 Profession cartographer 5, survival 10 1/day ultra blast, explosive shot 27 14 12 Ballisteer 8 16 7 16 11 Gather information 3 improved psionic sidestep (web)(bonus) Psychic warrior manifesting level 5, improved psionic sidestep 31 15 13 Ballisteer 9 16 8 16 12 Gather information 5, knowledge geography 2 Fell Conspiracy (EoE) (21) Psychic warrior manifesting level 6, phased shot 35 16 14 cragtop archer 17 10 16 12 survival 12, spot 10, Hide 10 Adept climber, far sight 35 17 15 cragtop archer 18 11 16 12 survival 14, spot 12, concentration 20 Strike from above 35 18 16 cragtop archer 19 11 17 13 Hide 12, knowledge local 3 ability enhancer (death attack) (SS) (24) Arching shot 35 19 17 cragtop archer 20 12 17 13 knowledge local 5, profession cartographer 7 Horizon shot 35 20 18 Assassin 2 21 12 18 13 UMD 16, decipher script 5 +1 save against poison, uncanny dodge 35

*See Mechanical Premise above.

Assassin Spells
1st Level: Snipers Shot (SpC), Ebon Eyes (SpC), Instant Search (SpC)

Psion Powers:
1st Level: Sense link, Urban Strider (RoD), Deja Vu, Call to mind, Missive
2nd Level: Clairvoyant Sense, Object reading, Psychic Beacon (MoE p.105)

Psychic Warrior Powers
1st Level: Call Weaponry, Channel the Psychic Dragon (DM p. 77), Synesthete, Chamelion
2nd Level: concealing amorpha, Animal affinity

Spell and Power notes:
Sense link is used on an underling who shared the fell conspiracy near where Marx is hiding. If the underling sends a message, Marx will link to the underlings sense’s and use their eyeballs to aim a snipershot enhanced phase shot exploding death attack on the intruders.

Instant search is used rarely on those missions where Marx is intruding on a premises to retrieve an item (like a kings crown or such). Ebon eyes is there to pierce magical darkness; stupid Drow… Synesthete is there to handle fogs.

Urban strider, concealing amorpha, and chamelion are all used for city intrusion. With urban strider being a manifester’s spider climb. The Body Adjustment Psi-Like Ability (PLA) is used for intrusions over water (typically at night or during fog).

Object reading, Psychic beacon, Synesthete and the Scent ability are all used for tracking important people that Marx wants dead.

Deja Vu is rarely used and saved for flat footed opponents that are within real (not remote) viewing of Marx. Usually a preferred tactic for Marx to get away using her high speed.

Marx dislikes using psionic dominate seeing as it is very akin to slavery, and only uses the power to turn direct threats to herself onto others or to otherwise end an immediate threat. Marx is intelligent and eloquent enough to make most non-lawful folks to at least empathize. Ultrabalst, however, Marx is fine with opting for. For her, it’s better to be dead than out of control of one’s destiny and she extends that courtesy to her opponents.

Psionic Teleport allows Marx to get close (within a mile of her target) and to return to a safe base of operations.

The Fission PLA, paired with cognizance crystals, allows Marx to make two death attacks on either single or multiple targets.

Character Notes:
Marx is a Radical Anarchist Nihilist. Marx sees all sentient life as having a drive to impose order on a chaotic universe in order to hoard it’s power for themselves. This desire causes a dis-unity with fate and destiny that leads to dysfunction. In a conversation, Marx will point out that the Gods don’t actually care about their followers except as a means to an ends: to play stupid games with other gods that are just extreme passion plays no different than what semi-human nobles do.

Marx will point out how systematized government is a force multiplier that ultimately benefits one being at the expense of all others. This power imbalance, to Marx, as been so systematized that even the gods themselves, (who Marx views as extensions of the collective will of the people) perpetuate this injustice on reality itself. She’s even whispered to herself at night, “Change the people, change the gods, change reality.” If Marx counteracts some of the power imbalance, at least locally, she would not only be in defiance of the same artificial order that created an abomination like herself, but that she could actually create reality ripples wherein all of the multi-verse’s existence will re-equilibrate around truer ideals: Nothing actually matters, and that struggle and pain are unfair corruptions of a pure universe, so why can’t everything be good for everyone? Therefor, barriers to pleasure are the highest sins that one creature can impose on another. Given enough power, beings start taking the maximum potential pleasure that a creature can obtain and hoarding it for themselves. Marx sees herself as a Robin Hood in this regard. Because of this, occasionally she spies on common people in nearby kingdoms using clairvoyance, and after watching for a bit, she “frees” them by killing their abusive husband, landlord, boss, wife, or whathaveyou, as a type of guardian angel of vengeance. For the poor, these are freebie hobbies that she uses as opportunities to learn more about the local culture, relationships and to hone her assassination skills. For the rich, they need to contract a local thieves guild and pay for an assassination, which she’ll subcontract from them using a go between.

To Marx, the entire multiverse is in disharmony right now. To her, it is because there is an arbitrary order imposed on the raw fabric of existence. This idea is reinforced by her experience of turning life to stone, which she describes as entering a being through their eyes and stacking each part of their essence in neat little piles, with the heaviest bits weighing down the squirmiest bits so that all motion in their being stops. Because of this perception of petrification, Marx wears semi-opaque crystal goggles to protect others, opting to use this supernatural power only when her life is threatened, and even thereafter she feels hypocritical and often self atones through a couple day long bender of drug use.

Marx will attempt to keep from killing children and slaves. But not at great personal risk. Marx targets ostentatiously wealthy, especially if the adornment with wealth has little practical purpose. (She’d target a person in mundane golden plate mail before she would target a person with elven chain mail +15)

Write ups:
So when the PCs encounter Marx, it will be either to solve the problems of the kingdoms involved, or to petition her to solve the PC’s problem for them. The sweet spot for Marx is at CR 19. But PCs can interact with her at any point before then. At CR 6, she is psion medusa assassin who is for hire. At CR 15, she can use phase shot, and is the leader of her own assassin’s guild. Her guild operates as a tyrannical Co-op, with 10% of all gains going towards her personal wealth acquisition (she always spends her money on upgrading gear and hiring/bribes) and 70% of the rest of the wealth is perfectly evenly distributed. A 10% finders fee is given to those that secure marks.

At CR 19, Marx is probably well known as the world’s greatest assassin, with the ability to get within a mile of a target and plink away at them with an assassin’s death attack. The knowledge of this assassin will only be known to assassin tribes and thieves guilds, but they will won’t know exactly her race or all of her abilities, other than her marks wind up untraceably dead.

Further, she has developed a plan to destabilize the two most powerful lawful kingdoms on her continent in hopes that she can foment a movement to create a worldwide fear of power acquisition at the expense of others. She has chosen a spot of craggy mountain forest in-between these two kingdoms. She develops an intense knowledge of the land and a longitude Latitude grid system and distributes maps to her underlings of what their patrol regions are.

Even if her direct overlording isn’t directly acknowledged by the public at large as hers, the orthopoxia vulgaris disease is acknowledged as being the worst plague either kingdom has ever seen. Even the poor workers in the fields work less hard for fear of “catching it.” The fact that the occasional abusive husband/uncle/wife randomly has his/her face explode from the “disease” [really an invisible exploding phase shot poisoned javelin] really helps to keep the fear up. Although it is the political keepers of power that Marx slays most often. Slave traders and owners stopped using the routes through this pass between the two kingdoms because the “disease” is at its worst along the crags. Those trade caravans rather take an additional 4 week round about route.

Campaign Design:
One of the more horrifying ways to run a Marx campaign is to give the PCs the job of escorting officials that are on Marx’s kill list. The officials hire NPCs who also have access to disease removal, thinking that the orthopoxia is just a disease. As the PCs move throughout the two week treck, Marx uses her grid system using animal or low level hidden spies to fell conspiracy messages back to her to get into place to make death attacks. Depending on how OP the group is, I suggest not targeting any PCs with the instant death attack, but if your PCs have raise dead and the like, go for it. Marx has limited PP per day, and thus can only kill off 3 or 4 of the officials and their retainers at a time. With each event being an opportunity for the PCs to using magic or tracking to discover the true nature of the disease. If you stack the escorting job enough, you can kill a few people a day at random. If the PCs don’t figure enough out by half way, the rest of the magistrates will want to hustle the rest of the way.

If an unrelated bandit ambush occurred at the same time, that would be a great red herring.

Following the 3 clue rule, you could have one of Marx’s spotters have what looks like a super expensive map with the patrol grid on it, maybe with a descriptor of the next grid’s sentry pencilled in. Certain killers in the group might be able to identify the weapon based basis of the disease, or those with super spot/psicraft checks or astral tracking abilities can see that some teleport effect is responsible for the deaths. Lastly, clairvoyance is a traceable power, so perhaps that can tip them off. If the PCs split up, thinking that just the magistrates are what the targets are, have a messenger from Marx meet them in the middle of the road and tell them, “You are just hired help. The disease doesn’t want you. Go home to your spouses and to your health. Drink mead. Be happy.” If PCs don’t comply, Marx will attempt to pick them off. If she clairvoyantly saw them fight (bandit raid) she will take off her goggles after the first round of combat. Before combat, she will kill any PC using her particular trick, particularly those that own slaves or those that violently or sexually mistreat others. If she loses more than 25% of her hp, she attempts to psionically teleport away.

The other campaign design around marx is to need her to finish an assassin job, but they need to do the pre-prep. They need to infiltrate the castle and deactivate the teleportation blocking device. So that Marx can do her thing. If she is at CR 15 during this mission, her range is greatly reduced, and thus she will need to get within 450’ of the destination. I suggest an ocean’s 11 type scenario, with skill checks dominating the play, until something goes wrong and PCs need to fight their way out of some jam.

Spoiler: SOURCES

Show

CA = COMPLETE ADVENTURER
CM = COMPLETE MAGE
DM = DRAGON MAGIC
DotU = DROW OF THE UNDERDARK
EoE = EXEMPLARS OF EVIL
FB = FROSTBURN
MoE = MAGIC OF EBERRON
RoD= RACES OF DESTINY
ROS = RACES OF STONE
ROW = RACES OF THE WILD
SpC = SPELL COMPENDIUM
SS = SAVAGE SPECIES
SSt = SANDSTORM
XPH = EXPANDED PSIONICS HANDBOOK
CoV = CHAMPIONS OF VALOR
Web = Ballisteer, Psychic Feats

[Telonius]

Next up, The Cackling Prince!

Spoiler: The Cackling Prince

Show

Aside from the some complaints about the lack of accommodations from some of the diplomats you are escorting, your party arrives at the palace of the Athanth kingdom without issue.
The few Athanthi elves you have encountered on the travel have been even more cold and distant than the stories from centuries ago would indicate: some among your party have begun to voice questions as to whether renewing relations would even be worth the effort.

As you approach the throne room, you immediately note that the all the guards (despite appearing extremely dour) have crude, enormous smiles drawn on their faces in some kind of paint. Ambassador Fitzton seems to take this as a good thing: “See, the palace staff is decked out to celebrate our arrival. This mission is off to a great start son, a great start.” The page he’s speaking, (you seem to recall her name is Tisha) to politely declines to mention both that she isn’t anyone’s son and that painted smiles seem a very odd way to celebrate a guest.

As you enter the throne room, you are immediately faced with the court jester.
“GUESTS! We have guests! WELCOME! Welcome!” The rest of the court seems unresponsive and inattentive as he spins around and grabs a serving tray.

He offers the refreshments on the tray to the Ambassador with a flourish and motions to the similar trays situated around the room, indicating their presence to the rest of the Ambassador’s mission.
“Do have some Ambrosia. And don’t neglect the other liquid pick-me-ups in the small glasses: they were a pain to get a hold of. Once everyone is happy with their drink, we can get the party started.”

Ambassador Fitzton motions to the empty throne across the room: “Shouldn’t we wait for the King to arrive?”

The jester does a cartwheel across the room, landing beside the throne. He brings his hand to his face in a parody of deep thought. “King? I don’t think we have a king. We do have a dog though. Come out doggy.”
An elderly man with a chain and collar attached to his neck crawls out from behind the throne. Though his face is somewhat obscured by a smile like the one on the Guard’s faces, you immediately recognize it: it’s the same face as the one on the coins in this kingdom.

Color starts to drain from the Ambassador’s face has he reaches the same conclusion. “Bark for them dog.” With no sign of emotion on his face, the King coldly replies: “woof...woof.”

The jester glares angrily around the silent room. “It was funny. Laugh.” On command, some of the elves around the edge of the room respond with what could be charitably described as a golem’s attempt at laughter.
The jester shakes his head and makes an exaggerated sigh: “I hate this crowd. They might as well be dead.”

Grabbing the scepter hanging from his side, he waves it in the general direction of your party and the diplomats.
“You though, you’re new. What about it: can you take a joke?”
Behind you, the diplomats who had drank the ambrosia begin to fall to the floor. The guards have closed and barred the door to the throne room behind you.

Roll for initiative.

The Cackling Prince


Credit: Mr. Jack/Luke Mancini

Grey Jester RHD 8/Dark Creature Template/Ardent 3/Swordsage 2/Psibond Agent 10

CR/HD	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Features
4/8	Grey Jester RHD	4	2	5	5	Gather Information 5, Sense Motive 4, Hide 11, Move Silently 11, Tumble 5, Bluff 5, Concentration 5, Psicraft 5, Preform (Comedy) 9, Intimidate 5	Weapon Finesse, Psionic Meditation, Hidden Talent (Chameleon)1, Overchannel , Talented, Flaw: Inattentive, Flaw: Vulnerable	Empathic Feeding, Fey features, Tasha's Hideous Laughter
5/8	Dark Creature Template	4	2	5	5	Hide 19, Move Silently 17		Darkvision, +10 speed, Resistance, Superior Low Light Vision, Extraplanar, Hide in Plain Sight (Su), Cold Resistance 10
6/9	Ardent 1	4	2	5	7	Concentration 10	Practiced Manifester (Ardent)	Substitute Power ACF, Mental Power Mantle, Deception Mantle
7/10	Swordsage 1	4	2	7	9	Concentration 13, Move Silently 19, Hide 21, Tumble 7	Instant Clarity1	Quick to Act +1, Discipline Focus (Diamond Mind)2
8/11	Swordsage 2	5	2	8	10	Move Silently 20, Hide 22, Gather Information 7, Tumble 10	Maiming Strike	AC Bonus
9/12	Ardent 2	6/1	2	8	11	Concentration 15		Freedom Mantle
10/13	Ardent 3	7/2	3	9	11	Concentration 16, Gather Information 8, Tumble 11
11/14	Psibond Agent 1	7/2	3	11	11	Concentration 17, Move Silently 23, Hide 25, Tumble 13	Fey Heritage	Psibond (forced sense link)
12/15	Psibond Agent 2	8/3	3	12	11	Concentration 18, Move Silently 24, Hide 26, Trick: Acrobatic Backstab, Tumble 17		Psibond (nudge)
13/16	Psibond Agent 3	9/4	4	12	12	Concentration 19, Move Silently 25, Hide 27, Tumble 19, Preform (Dance) 4		Sneak attack +1d6
14/17	Psibond Agent 4	10/5	4	13	12	Concentration 20, Move Silently 26, Hide 28, Tumble 20, Preform (Dance) 5, Balance 2	Fey Legacy	Psibond (empathy)
15/18	Psibond Agent 5	10/5	4	13	12	Concentration 21, Move Silently 27, Hide 29, Tumble 21, Balance 5, Trick: Shrouded Charge		Lingering Psibond
16/19	Psibond Agent 6	11/6/1	5	14	13	Concentration 22, Move Silently 28, Hide 30, Tumble 22, Bluff 8, Psicraft 7		Psibond (suggestion), Sneak attack +2d6
17/20	Psibond Agent 7	12/7/2	5	14	13	Concentration 23, Move Silently 29, Hide 31, Tumble 23, Psicraft 12	Fiendish Heritage	Double Psibond
18/21	Psibond Agent 8	13/8/3	5	15	13	Concentration 24, Move Silently 30, Hide 32, Tumble 24, Psicraft 17		Psibond (False sensory input)
19/22	Psibond Agent 9	13/8/3	6	15	14	Concentration 25, Move Silently 31, Hide 33, Tumble 25, Psicraft 22		Sneak Attack +3d6
20/23	Psibond Agent 10	14/9/4	6	16	14	Concentration 26, Move Silently 32, Hide 34, Tumble 26, Psicraft 24, Preform (Comedy) 10	Fiendish Legacy	Psibond Dominate

¹Hidden Talent (Chameleon) is retrained to Instant Clarity at CR 6
²Sadly, the Grey Jester’s scepter does not appear as a preferred weapon for any discipline.

Power & Maneuvers

CR	PP3	ML4	Powers Known	IL	Maneuvers	Stances
≤5	2	-	Chameleon	-	-	-
6	4	5	Skate, Chameleon	-	-	-
7	2	5	(lose duplicate Chameleon	6	Cloak of Deception, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Mind over Body, Action before Thought Moment of Perfect Mind Mind Strike	Child of Shadows
8	2	5	-	7	Zephyr Dance	Assassin's Stance
9	8	6	Ego Whip	7	-	-
≥10	11	7	Schism	85	-	-

³Base Power Points only
⁴Reflects Practiced Manifester but not Overchannel
⁵ +¹/₂later HD

Base Ability Scores
These scores do not reflect bonuses from gear or inherent bonuses.
Those will be addressed in the level by level breakdown. The basis of the Racial Modifiers is handled in the next section.

	Elite Array	Racial Mod.	Score/ Bonus	Leveling Increases
STR	10	+0	10/+0
DEX	8	+12	20/+5
CON	14	+4	18/+4
INT	12	+4	16/+3
WIS	15	+0	15/+2	CR 8, CR 16
CHA	13	+6	19/+4	CR 12, CR 20

Extrapolating from the example Grey Jester
The Grey Jester appears in Heroes of Horror on page 151. Since the character needs to be moved up to the elite array per contest rules, I had to isolate the racial bonuses, class skills, etc. from the example monster. The Prince’s racial features are then further modified by the Dark Creature template from Cormyr:The Tearing of the Weave page 152.

Summary of the Prince’s Features from RHD:
Medium Fey (Extraplanar)
Racial Stat Bonuses: +12 Dex, +4 Con, +4 Int, +6 Cha
RHD: 8d6 HD, 6+int Skill points, Good Reflex & Will Saves
Racial Skill bonuses: +8 hide, +6 move silently
Class Skills: Diplomacy, Hide, Perform (Comedy), Move Silently, Use Magic Device
Movement Speed: 60ft
Weapon Proficiencies: Proficient with all simple weapons and with the scepter listed in the Grey Jester’s stat block
Special Qualities: DR 10/cold iron, SR 18, +2 AC (deflection), Superior low-light vision, Darkvision, Cold Resistance 10
Special Item: Scepter, 1d4 damage (finessable, presumably bludgeoning)
Special Abilities: Empathic Feeding (SU, DC 15), Tasha’s Hideous Laughter (SP, CL 5, Wisdom based DC), Hide in Plain Sight (Su)
Bleak Ones: Enemies of HD less than 8 drained to 0 from Empathic Feeding become bleak ones. The Cackling Prince can control 32 HD of Bleak Ones.
Languages: Common, Elven, Sylvan, 1 additional bonus language (from high INT bonus)

Methodology:

Spoiler

Show

Grey Jester has a listed LA, but (as is common for higher HD playable monsters) the entry does not break out racial bonuses, RHD elements, and stat bonuses.
Isolating these elements is a necessary step in building the character, since (among other reasons) the contest rules indicate the elite array rather than the standard array.

Given the prevalence of monsters in this competition, I’m assuming the judges are fairly familiar with the rules for advancing monsters and/or using them as PCs.
If anyone in the audience needs a refresher, however, GitP’s very own Ur-Priest has provided an excellent primer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...nster-Handbook) on the subject.

In this case however, three elements of the monster seem to break the standard rules.

1. First, the example character has a +2 AC Deflection bonus. Deflection bonuses usually come from something (feats, shields, something), but no such element is present. As such, it looks like the Grey Jester gets a racial +2 Deflection Bonus to AC instead of something more ordinary (like natural armor).
2. Second, the skills are problematic. If we assume that the example Grey Jester’s skills are all class skills for its RHD, then it has spent less than half of its skill points. Of the skills the example Grey Jester has, the following must be class skills (because they exceed its cross-class cap of 5.5): Diplomacy, Hide, Perform (Comedy), Move Silently, Use Magic Device
   
   • Not all of the remaining skills can be cross-class (it would cost too many points). To spend the remaining points without half-ranks, there are 3 possible situations:
     
     • Bluff and Sense Motive are class skills
     • Tumble and Spot are class skills
     • Tumble and Listen are class skills
   • Since the situation is unclear, I’ve only treated the skills that would exceed cross-class cap as class skills for this entry.
3. Finally, the DC for Tasha Hideous Laughter does not match the calculation based on Cha, which is the standard unless otherwise noted.
   
   • With a specified caster level of 5, a DC based on CHA (as is the standard unless otherwise noted) would be 18.
   • The listed DC of 15 only works if the DC is Wisdom-based.

Items
The Scepter
As a Grey Jester, the Prince has an unusual weapon. His scepter deals 1d4 damage (unspecified, but presumably bludgeoning), and is finessable (and therefore must be light).
This damage is somewhat sad, but his only other option for delivering Tasha’s Hideous Laughter is a touch attack. As such, the Prince will be keeping his bling-stick scepter and will get it enhanced throughout his career.

The following enhancements (all +1 bonus equivalents) directly enhance the build. The Scepter is important and should be further enhanced throughout the build, but these elements are prioritized.

• Power Storing (MIC 40): This allows the Prince to store a 5PP Ego Whip in the scepter ahead of time, increasing his Charisma damage output against his first melee target.
• Deadly precision (MIC 32): +1d6 Sneak Attack Damage. There’s actually an earlier version that does +2d6: I’m working under the technically un-RAW assumption that the MIC version supersedes it.
• Assassination (Cityscape Web Enhancement): +1d6 Sneak Attack, along with some poison benefits we won’t be using because there are no injury poisons that damage charisma.

Other specific items

• Rogue’s Vest (MIC 130): +1d6 Sneak Attack, some check & save bonuses.
• Misters (DotU 92): Deliver inhalation poison as a 5 ft. ranged touch attack. Used to deliver:
  
  • Dreammist (BoVD 42): Enthralls the user with “exotic” and “exotic” visions for d20+10 minutes, 50% chance not to act. Used as a conduit a way to make a target valid for Empathic feeding.
  • Burning Angel Wing Fumes (BoVD 44): Expensive poison with significant Charisma damage
  • Ungol Dust (SRD): Cheaper poison with lower Charisma damage
• A method of dispelling is highly desirable. Third Eye Repudiate (MIC 142) is a thematic option, but a version crafted above standard CL would be preferable.

Power Point & Augmentation Items
The prince is more than a little hungry for power points: his base pool and ability score bonus aren’t nearly enough. Each of the CR-specific walkthroughs indicates the PP budget used in the example combat. The budget is largely item-dependent. Cognizance crystals are the easiest option and will make up the majority of the budget, though there are a couple specific options that are superior:

• A Torc of Power Preservation (MIC 143) will save a couple power points, but more importantly it will add one additional tier of augmentation (both inside and outside of Schism)
• Power Link Shards (MoE 115) will both save points on augmentation and allow the Prince to exceed his manifestation cap.
• The manifester weapon properties is more cost effective than the equivalent cognizance crystals

General Note
The items here will be included in the walkthroughs by CR. They are well under-budget for both PC WBL and NPC equipment for a character of the Prince’s ECL at CR 10.
Since this is a boss villain, that’s probably an appropriate target. This gear would, however, be over-budget if compared to the treasure of an EL 10 encounter. The Scepter in particular would be problematic under such constraints, and would likely need to be reworked to just +1 power sharing.

The Prince at CR 5 (8 HD, Average HP 60.5, Attack +9, Fort 6, Ref 16, Will 7)
At CR 5 the Prince is just a Grey Jester with the Dark Creature template, which is to say a Grey Jester that can Use Hide in Plain Sight. This introduces a pattern he will reuse throughout his career: attack, then use HiPS avoid his enemies. Even without the benefit of Cloak of Deception, his Hide check is still sufficient to make the check against most enemies: with the benefit of Chameleon his check reaches 34 before even rolling. This will generally be enough to make the check against most enemies even with the 20 penalty for attacking. With his base move speed of 60, he can move at 30 while hiding without further penalty.

If one of his attacks successfully inflicts Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on his enemies, he will remain hidden as long as possible while using Empathic Feeding. If the enemy is fully drained, he will aim the resulting Bleak One at the party before re-engaging.

If faced with an enemy that is routinely making their saves against Hideous Laughter, the Prince will resort to a Mister with Dreammist to disable an enemy and begin feeding. Alternately, he can use one with Ungol Dust for some direct Charisma damage.

The Prince at CR 10 (13 HD, Average HP 97, Attack +12/+7, Fort 7, Ref 14, Will 14, PP 17)
By CR 10 the Prince has gained access to a small array of Powers and Maneuvers via Ardent (with practiced manifester to take advantage of the class's unique powers known mechanism) and Swordsage (with the benefit of a bunch of RHD to boost IL)

On the Ardent side, the chief benefits are Schism and Ego Whip. As a general rule, Schism will be his first standard action in combat. His first action from within the Schism will generally be to manifest Chameleon for the longer-than-encounter buff to hide.

Several of his tools now use psionic focus. To restore his psionic focus, his preferred option is to use Sapphire Nightmare Blade then and Instant Clarity. After the 3/day limit, he will hide instead take a breather round. While hidden, he will exchange his Standard action in the Schism for a Move action to use Psionic Meditation. At the same time, he will use his normal Full-round action to refresh his Swordsage Maneuvers.

Between Ardent and Swordsage, the Prince has netted several defensive options. Mind over Body, Action before Thought, Moment of Perfect Mind will allow him substitute concentration for a save. Zephyr Dance & the Deception Mantle’s granted power also give him defensive options against a direct attack.

The Prince has also added some improvements to his Attack & Hide routine: Cloak of Deception to become invisible gives an additional +20 to his hide checks. Skate and the Freedom Mantle will increase his movement speed 80 ft., allowing him to move at 40 feet while hiding without incurring further penalty.

The Prince’s attack routines build on his Empathic Feeding by targeting Charisma. This both speeds accelerates the turn-around on Empathic Feeding when an enemy is vulnerable to it and targets something that generally scales slower than HP (if at all).

Continuing on his Attack & Hide routine, the general pattern will be:

• Standard Attack: 4d6 Sneak Attack (Assassin’s Stance, Assassination, and Deadly Precision) converted into 2 Charisma damage via Maiming Strike. The first attack will also carry a 5 PP Ego Whip for a potential 2d4 Charisma.
  
  • If needed to restore focus, this will be a Sapphire Nightmare Blade. Otherwise the secondary attack brings the possibility of 2 more Charisma damage.
  • The resulting Charisma damage range is on a failed save is 4-10 (average 7). On a successful save, the range is instead 4-8 (4.5)
  • A successful attack also carries a potential application of Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, thus allowing Empathic Feeding.
• Schism Standard Action: As mentioned above, this will depend on whether there is a valid target for Empathic Feeding.
  
  • With at least one valid target available, Empathic Feeding will deal 1d4 Charisma (average 2.5) damage per target that fails their save.
  • Without a valid feeding target, he will instead use a Talented Overchannel and a Torc of Power Preservation to manifest a once augmented Ego Whip (2-8 Charisma damage, 2-4 on a successful Save)
• Swift Action: Cloak of Deception to improve his hide check.
• Move Action: Move at half speed and hide.
• Taken as a whole, this will yield between 5 and 20 Charisma damage in a turn: enough to incapacitate a high CHA target at the high end or get halfway there for a low CHA target.

He also has other options:

• Though it will cut into his PP reserve, he can go nova with Ego Whip. With a talented overchannel, a use of his Torc of Power Preservation, and a use of a Power Link Shard it will result in a 6d4
• Charisma.
  
  • Using a move action to for Psionic Meditation and using the same resources as above a 2nd time will allow and additional 3d4 Charisma damage inside the schism.
  • This yields a range of 9-36 Charisma damage (average 22.5).
  • Realistically, this will require an 11 PP cognizance crystal. He can likely only afford this once per day.
• As before, he continues to have the option of using a Mister of Dreammist or Ungol Dust.
• Finally, he can simply attack with HP damage with Sneak Attack: using Sapphire Nightmare Blade, this will yield 1d4+5d6+1 damage for a range of 7-35 (average 21).

Power Point pool

• Wisdom boosting items will help some, but realistically he’ll need an about 35 points worth of external power points, at least 1 of which comes in the form of an 11 point crystal.
• This should handle 1 combat per day. For a PC, this would be problematic. For a villain, however, it’s an acceptable option.

The Prince at CR 20 (23 HD, Average HP 172, Attack +19/+14/+9, Fort 11, Ref 19, Will 23, PP 24)
At CR 20, Psibond Agent has given the Prince additional options for to use inside the Schism. Beyond the direct option of dominating the enemies, false sensory input provides a method of disrupting mainfesters (and, via transparency, casters).

Mind Blank is a significant issue at this level: item based dispel psioncs/dispel magic should be used proactively. This also provides a method to dispel Hideous Laughter on a Bleak One before its duration is over, allowing them to attack their former comrades sooner.

Additionally, Fey Legacy and Fiendish Legacy have given the Price the following additional 1/day SLAs that can be used from within the Schism (all at CL 23):

• Confusion
• Dimension Door
• Summon nature's ally V
• Teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only)
• Summon Monster V (fiendish creatures only)
• Unholy Blight

Stat Bonuses: by this level the Prince should readily be able to afford a +5 inherent bonus and +6 enhancement bonus to both Wisdom and Charisma.

• Both will serve to prop up the DCs of his abilities (though sadly not that of Empathic Feeding).
• Additionally, the Wisdom will also boost his Power Points.
• With the level bonuses, this should yield Wisdom 28 and Charisma 32.

Power Point pool

• At this level, the Prince should easily be able to a far larger supply of cognizance crystals. A budget of 70/encounter will allow significantly more liberal use of the nova option.

The Bleak Ones
The build above presumes that the Prince will only be using Bleak Ones he creates in the course of combat (since Bleak Ones turned in advance would each contribute CR separately to the Encounter Level). If generic Bleak Ones are available, their job is mostly to run interference to prevent the enemies from catching up with the Prince if he fails to hide.

If he gets his pick of Bleak Ones, it’s worth noting that Joystealers (MM IV 78) have a Charisma attack: since they’re 6 HD, the Prince can keep 5 of them. I do SO hate dining alone.

[Telonius]

Our third competitor, Scar the Lion King of the Serengeti!

Spoiler: Scar the Lion King of the Serengeti

Show

Scar the Lion King of the Serengeti

Huge Phrenic Dire Lion CR 13 / Phantom +2 / Ardent 1 / storm disciple 4

Spoiler: Build Table

Show

CR	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
2	Phrenic Dire Lion cub (tiny, cat model 1/4HD)	+0	+2	+2	+2	hide 0-4 size+4 racial, listen 1, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 0	Alertness	3/day—defensive precognition; 1/day—force screen ; 2 claws 1d2 and bite 1d3; power resistance HD+10; low-light vision, scent
3	very young dire lion (medium, leopard model 3HD)	+2	+3	+3	+3	hide 0-4 size+4 racial, listen 2, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 1	Run	3/day—empty mind, mind thrust ; 2 claws 1d3 and bite 1d6; improved grab, pounce, rake; +1 natural armor
4	phrenic young dire lion (large, lion model 5HD)	+3	+4	+4	+4	hide 0-4 size+4 racial, listen 2, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 3		1/day—body adjustment, brain lock ; 2 claws 1d4 and bite 1d6; +3 natural armor
6	juvenile dire lion (lion 8HD)	+6	+5	+5	+5	hide 0-4 size+4 racial, listen 4, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 4	Speed of Thought	1/day—aversion, psionic blast
7	young adult dire lion	+6	+6	+6	+6	hide 0-4 size+4 racial, listen 4, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 4		2 claws 1d6 and bite 1d8; +4 natural armor
9	adult dire lion (11HD)	+8	+7	+7	+7	hide 0-4 size+4 racial, listen 5, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 6	Multiattack	3/day—intellect fortress; 1/day—psionic dominate, psychic crush
10	mature adult dire lion (14HD)	+10	+9	+9	+9	hide 0-4 size+4 racial, knowledge (religion) 3, listen 5, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 6	Improved multiattack	1/day—energy current, tower of iron will
12	old dire lion (huge, 17 HD)	+12	+10	+10	+10	hide 0-8 size+4 racial, knowledge (religion) 6, listen 5, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 6	Improved initiative	3/day—psionic teleport; 1/day—fission ; 2 claws 1d8 and bite 2d6; +7 natural armor
13	very old dire lion (20HD)	+15	+12	+12	+12	hide 0-8 size+4 racial, knowledge (religion) 8, listen 6, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 6	Psionic Charge	1/day—ultrablast
15	Phantom template							AC deflection bonus, phantom defense, vulnerability to ghost touch, phantom strike, incorporeal jaunt
16	Ardent 1	+15	+12	+12	+14	concentration 1, hide 0-8 size+4 racial, knowledge (religion) 8, listen 6, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 6	Epic Speed	Assume psionic mantles (Natural World, Physical Power), 2 PP/day, 2 powers known : chameleon, adrenaline boost
17	Storm Disciple 1	+16	+14	+12	+16	concentration 2, hide 0-8 size+4 racial, knowledge (religion) 8, listen 6, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 6		shocking aura 5 ft
18	Storm Disciple 2	+17	+15	+12	+17	concentration 3, hide 0-8 size+4 racial, knowledge (religion) 8, listen 6, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 6		resistance to electricity 5, 6 PP/day, metaphysical claw
19	Storm Disciple 3	+18	+15	+13	+17	concentration 4, hide 0-8 size+4 racial, knowledge (religion) 8, listen 6, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 6	Superior Initiative	shocking aura 10 ft, stormwalker, 11 PP/day, animal affinity
20	Storm Disciple 4	+19	+16	+13	+18	concentration 5, hide 0-8 size+4 racial, knowledge (religion) 8, listen 6, move silently 0+4 racial, spot 6		resistance to electricity 15, 17 PP/day, vigor

Spoiler: Age categories

Show

Dire Lion Age	model	CR	HD	advancement	CR for Phrenic Dire Lion
cub	cat	1/2	1/4	-	1+1/2
very young	leopard	2	3	4-5 HD (Medium)	2+1
young	lion	3	5	6-8 HD (Large)	3+1
juvenile		4	8		4+2
young adult	dire lion	5	8	9-16 HD (Large); 17-24 HD (Huge)	5+2
adult		6	11		6+3
mature adult		7	14		7+3
old		9	17	(+1 CR Huge)	9+3
very old		10	20		10+3
ancient		11	24		11+3

Spoiler: Abilities

Show

CR	class	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
	Elite array	-2	+4	+2	0	+2	+4
	Phrenic template					+2	+4
	Awakened (optional)				(3d6)
2	Cat	3-2	15+4	10+2	2	12+4	7+8
3	Leopard	16-2	19+4	15+2	2	12+4	6+8
4	Lion	21-2	17+4	15+2	2	12+4	6+8
6	Lion 8HD			16+2
7	Dire Lion	25-2	15+4	17+2	2	12+4	10+8
9	Dire Lion 11HD
10	Dire Lion 14HD		20 (+1 12HD)
12	Dire Lion 17HD (Huge size)	23+8	21-2 (+1 15HD, -2 Huge size)	19+4
13	Dire Lion 20HD		20 (+1 18HD)
15	Phantom
16	Ardent 1		21 (+1 21HD)
17	Storm Disciple 1
18	Storm Disciple 2
19	Storm Disciple 3				3 (+1 24HD)
20	Storm Disciple 4

Spoiler: Design Notes

Show

Spoiler: CR 6, Kimba the White Lion

Show

In the Serengeti, during a big storm, lion cubs play near a big baobab... which is hit by lightning ! Only 2 cubs survive, one of them with strange powers... which will help him dominate the whole pride and devastate the environment.

My basis here is a Phrenic Dire Lion - but I use Lion, Leopard and Cat to simulate the younger versions and the progeny of our freak. Only changes are :
1) Good Will Save for Dire Lions,
2) Removal of racial bonuses/feats which are not possessed by Dire Lions.
Right now our phrenic lion is able to send dangerous mind thrusts 3/day for 8d10 damage - other psionics are used to defend itself or stun ennemies before pouncing on them.

His cubs can be captured to be used in a circus or menagerie, and then escape and wreak havoc in any environment - this would be a good lead for low level adventures.

(You can play this in D&D&D mode - Dungeons&Dragons&Disney - a prime material plane world where animals are awakened. Or you can place this in the Beastlands in the Outer Planes, which is much the same, or in your own world, in the south. Awaken is only an option there, as there's no guide to update CR with it.)

Spoiler: CR 10, Jungle Emperor Leo

Show

Once we are on Dire Lion basis, I only increase hit dices as Scar psionically dominates more and more lions and eat most herbivores - and expand his territory, where only the fitest survive - including humans which are soon hunted. But can adventurers even contain the freak lions from conquering all nearby countries, with Scar possessing psionics at 14th manifester level, which allow him to go Pikachu mode (with energy current)?

Spoiler: CR 15, The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Show

Scar was so strong that he became the biggest lion the Serengeti ever saw - humans were exterminated, only Dire Animals were able to survive, creating an hellish Dire Savannah populated by freak animals. Nearby human tribes rejoiced when he finally died, with a popular song and a hope to hunt his lesser progeny down to extinction. But as they tried to reclaim their ancestral home, they had to recoil in fear - the freak lions and dire animals would call upon Scar even after his death to protect his realm ! Can adventurers call upon other mighty totems against the Dire King ?

First I used Spirit Animal from Frostburn - but it is restricted to animals. Then I had the choice between the Ghost from Monster Manual 1, the same from Ghostwalk, and Phantom from Monster Manual 5... I think Phantom is best tailored here, as it does not add fancy powers. I would probably add extraplanar subtype on top to show that Scar came back from afterlife - but this is a house rule. Otherwise with 20th manifester level Scar is a fearsome foe, which should use and abuse of fission to come back again and again...

Spoiler: CR 20, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Show

Gaining more sentience and powers after death, called by the dire wildlife of his realm, Scar hunts humans and subdues them - humans would raise big cattle and be no more than slaves under the tyrannical freak lions. As the lions find a small magic portal to another plane, they send young cubs the other way... soon the Serengeti Empire will conquer all the realities !

Monster Manual I on Improving Monsters chapter says that it's possible for a monster with a template (a half-dragon lammasu, for example) to be improved by both increasing its Hit Dice and adding character class levels. A phantom would not continue to grow in size, so Scar is stuck on his previous physical appearance. I consider he can develop its mental powers though - hence class levels. Storm Disciple prestige class matches a Natural World Leader quite well (even better for Scar which gained his powers through a lightning strike).

Spoiler: Sources

Show

Complete Psionic (Ardent, Storm Disciple)
Epic Level handbook (Epic Speed, Superior Initiative feats)
Monster Manual 5 (Phantom template)

[Telonius]

Competitor number 4: The Overmind!

Spoiler: The Overmind

Show

The Overmind

"A horde of high-ranking sycophants and charlatans supplant themselves at the fore of the podium, staging rituals and theatrics to somehow cheat one another into thinking that the Overmind approves of their intentions."
-Administrator Antony

Spoiler: Concept in a minute

Show

Someone wanted to become a leader but had no leadership skills, so started taking over people's minds instead. As people started to get a bit annoyed with him doing this, he eventually hid away and, when he returned, pretended to be some kind of transcendent being, using this power to rule over them.

The lack of leadership skills is represented by low CHA, taking over minds with Telepath levels, his hiding away to accumulate power is part of his time as a slayer, his pretense to be transcendent by the fact that he has no psion uncarnate levels or any other way to transcend reality, and the power to rule over them... well, again, telepath powers.

Spoiler: Build Stub

Show

Lawful Evil Human Telepath (With Telepathic Communication) 10/Slayer 10. Telepath is a type of Psion found on the SRD. Slayer is found on the SRD. Telepathic Communication is found in The Mind's Eye (Expanded Classes Part 3 section).

Spoiler: Ability Scores

Show

Fun fact: I have screwed up the elite array in every previous VC I've entered, and no-one has noticed! Ha!

But for real this time, we're having STR 10 DEX 12 CON 14 INT 15 WIS 13 CHA 8

All bonus points go to intelligence. To clarify any skill point related confusion, whenever I gain intelligence at level 4, 12, or 20, I do get extra points at the level I improve the ability score but don't at any previous level:

For example, when Mialee becomes a 4th-level wizard, she decides to increase her Intelligence score to 16.
[...]
As a new 4th-level character, she can get the skill points immediately after raising her Intelligence, so she’ll get 5 points for attaining 4th level in the wizard class. She does not retroactively get additional points for her previous levels (that is, skill points she would have gained if she had had an Intelligence score of 16 starting at 1st level).

Yes, this gets weird fast. Oh well.

Spoiler: Table

Show

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Telepath 1	+0	+2	+1	+3	Concentration 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering, Psionics) 4, Psicraft 4, Sense Motive 4	Psicrystal AffinityB, Improved InitiativeB*, Hidden Talent (Astral Construct)	Discipline
2nd	Telepath 2	+1	+2	+1	+4	Concentration 5, Knowledge (Dungeoneering, Psionics) 5, Psicraft 5, Sense Motive 5	-	-
3rd	Telepath 3	+1	+3	+2	+4	Concentration 6, Knowledge (Dungeoneering, Psionics) 6, Psicraft 6, Sense Motive 6	Track	-
4th	Telepath 4	+2	+3	+2	+5	Concentration 7, Knowledge (Local) 1, (Dungeoneering, Psionics) 7, Psicraft 7, Sense Motive 7	-	-
5th	Telepath 5	+2	+3	+2	+5	Concentration 8, Knowledge (Local) 2, (Dungeoneering, Psionics) 8, Psicraft 8, Sense Motive 8	-	Telepathy
6th	Telepath 6	+3	+4	+3	+6	Concentration 9, Knowledge (Local) 3, (Dungeoneering, Psionics) 9, Psicraft 9, Sense Motive 9	Mindsight	-
7th	Telepath 7	+3	+4	+3	+6	Concentration 10, Knowledge (Local) 4, (Dungeoneering, Psionics) 10, Psicraft 10, Sense Motive 10	-	-
8th	Telepath 8	+4	+4	+3	+7	Concentration 11, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering, Psionics) 11, Psicraft 11, Sense Motive 11	-	-
9th	Telepath 8/Slayer 1	+5	+4	+3	+9	Concentration 12, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering) 12, (Psionics) 11, Psicraft 12, Sense Motive 12, Spot 4	Psicrystal Containment	Favoured Enemy +2, Enemy Sense
10th	Telepath 8/Slayer 2	+6	+4	+3	+10	Concentration 13, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering) 13, (Psionics) 11, Psicraft 13, Sense Motive 13, Spot 8	-	Brain Nausea
11th	Telepath 8/Slayer 3	+7	+5	+4	+10	Concentration 14, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering) 14, (Psionics) 11, Psicraft 14, Sense Motive 14, Spot 12	-	Lucid Buffer
12th	Telepath 8/Slayer 4	+8	+5	+4	+11	Concentration 15, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering) 15, (Psionics) 11, Listen 2 Psicraft 15, Sense Motive 15, Spot 15	Boost Construct	Favoured Enemy +4
13th	Telepath 8/Slayer 5	+9	+5	+4	+11	Concentration 16, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering) 16, (Psionics) 11, Listen 6 Psicraft 16, Sense Motive 16, Spot 16	-	-
14th	Telepath 8/Slayer 6	+10	+6	+5	+12	Concentration 17, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering) 17, (Psionics) 11, Listen 10 Psicraft 17, Sense Motive 17, Spot 17	-	Cerebral Blind
15th	Telepath 8/Slayer 7	+11	+6	+5	+12	Concentration 18, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering) 18, (Psionics) 11, Listen 14 Psicraft 18, Sense Motive 18, Spot 18	Practiced Manifester	Favoured Enemy +6
16th	Telepath 8/Slayer 8	+12	+6	+5	+13	Concentration 19, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering) 19, (Psionics) 11, Listen 18 Psicraft 19, Sense Motive 19, Spot 19	-	Breach Power Resistance
17th	Telepath 8/Slayer 9	+13	+7	+6	+13	Concentration 20, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering) 20, (Psionics) 11, Listen 20 Psicraft 20, Sense Motive 20, Spot 20, Survival 2	-	Cerebral Immunity
18th	Telepath 8/Slayer 10	+14	+7	+6	+14	Concentration 21, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering) 21, (Psionics) 11, Listen 21 Psicraft 21, Sense Motive 21, Spot 21, Survival 5	Overchannel	Blast Feedback, Favoured Enemy +8
19th	Telepath 9/Slayer 10	+14	+8	+7	+14	Concentration 22, Knowledge (Local) 5, (Dungeoneering) 22, (Psionics) 14, Listen 21 Psicraft 22, Sense Motive 22, Spot 21, Survival 5	-	-
20th	Telepath 10/Slayer 10	+15	+8	+7	+15	Concentration 23, Knowledge (Local) 9, (Dungeoneering) 23, (Psionics) 14, Listen 21 Psicraft 23, Sense Motive 23, Spot 21, Survival 5	Improved PsicrystalB	-

Your psicrystal has the Nimble personality to start, and gains the Hero personality at 20th.
^B Denotes a bonus feat for being a Psion.
^B* Denotes the bonus feat for being a human.
Mindsight is from Lords of Madness. Practiced Manifester is CPsi. Hidden Talent is XPH.

Spoiler: Power List

Show

All power are obtained in the order listed. Astral Construct is obtained from a feat, circumventing the restriction that normally prevents Telepaths accessing it (Feats are specified to ignore the restriction).

B is a bonus power. M'sE is a power from the Mind's Eye supplement, CPsi is one from Complete Psionic.

1st: Astral Construct^B, Psionic Charm, Matter Agitation, Call Item^M'sE, Entangling Ectoplasm, Control Flames
2nd: Control Sound, Read Thoughts, Psionic Tongues, Psionic Suggestion
3rd: Time Hop, Touchsight, Hostile Empathic Transfer, False Sensory Input
4th: Psionic Dominate, Schism, Psionic Modify Memory, Psionic Divination
5th: Anticipatory Strike, Mind Probe, Psionic Major Creation, Psionic Plane Shift
6th: Temporal Acceleration, Psychometry^CPsi, Retrieve
7th: Psionic Moment of Prescience, Decerebrate, Divert Teleport
8th: Psionic Iron Body, True Metabolism, Planar Embrace^CPsi
9th: Affinity Field, Stygian Conflagration, Affinity Field Pain

Explanations:

Astral Construct: Useful if you want a big bully to go and hit things for you. Also, when you "transcend reality", you need an avatar to appear and look awesome for a minute or so, right?
Psionic Charm: Diplomacy without the pesky having to roll for it part. Plus being able to spam it about four hundred times per day at high levels is nice.
Matter Agitation: You can set someone on fire. You can also commit arson at range. Not that anyone would ever want to do that. This power has the best damage:PP ratio in the game except for the other one you're going to use it with.
Call Item: Wait, I'm sorry, what, you can, for 5 power points, just produce a freaking alchemy lab out of nowhere? Oh, and alchemical items aren't actually magical, so you can just grab one of them. In general, though, this is just a really useful power for randomly producing objects you need.
Entangling Ectoplasm: Low level no-save-just-suck. It's pretty decent.
Control Flames: Essential for the budding arsonist: at high levels as well, the ability to turn a ceremonial-looking candle (or censer if you want to save on PP) into a freaking massive wave of flame that looks enough like a fire elemental that someone is probably going to try to fight it is absolutely awesome.
Control Sound: Fun for making your "Fire elemental" "Talk". Hey, you have enough random extra languages to blow one on Ignan.
Read Thoughts: Self-explanatory, really.
Psionic Tongues: Some of your stuff is language-dependant, like your telepathy.
Psionic Suggestion: Because of your Tongues effect, you can use this on anything with a mind, which is neat.
Time Hop: If you're being searched for, you can randomly disappear, but honestly it works best as a temporary disintegrate - it affects up to about 12 cubic feet of wood, which easily means that you can time hop an entire door. You can affect a tenth of that much steel, which is still... probably a door. Sometimes the fact that the thing comes back makes it better than disintegrate.
Touchsight: Now you know where everything is, even if it doesn't have a mind! For when Mindsight doesn't quite cut it.
Hostile Empathic Transfer: You'll need this when you snap and go into "Now you will feel my pain!" mode.
False Sensory Input: Make someone think that your astral construct is a freaking angel or something? I dunno. This is about the best thing for messing with any sense you like, so go crazy. Also, you can mess with true seeing!
Psionic Dominate: ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOPSION. Being able to Dominate Monster, only for longer, is really and truly neat.
Schism: So that you can have a big fake fire elemental and a little fake fire elemental!
Psionic Modify Memory: So that those people you annoyed when you were younger will forget about it.
Psionic Divination: Oh look, one of the best cleric spells in existence. I'll take twenty. And still have most of my power points left over.
Anticipatory Strike: Celerity isn't broken enough, guys.
Mind Probe: If you're going to maintain law and order, mind probing the accused is a quick way of forcing answers from someone.
Psionic Major Creation: Takes a while, but having a shower of gems appear out of nowhere is a cool display of power, and the ability to make something actually useful is, well, useful. You can arm a roomful of people if you think PCs are coming or create a wall to use to escape, for example.
Psionic Plane Shift: So you can mess with enemies who are on another plane.
Temporal Acceleration: What about a low level swift action version of time stop is not to like?
Psychometry: Really really good divination spell.
Retrieve: PCs show up brandishing their weapons, and then their weapons just disappear. And then you go out and hit them with them.
Psionic Moment of Prescience: For when you absolutely positively gotta pass that check.
Decerebrate: It's a nice save or die.
Divert Teleport: For when the PCs try to escape your chambers by teleporting.
Psionic Iron Body, True Metabolism, Planar Embrace, Affinity Field Pain: All of these are for the final fight, when you burst out of your hiding place, fast healing as you go, and force your enemies to suffer for every hit they land on you while you regenerate faster than they can kill you, and also you are somehow flying despite being a massive lump of iron.
Affinity Field: Use with True Metabolism to provide your congregation with a blessing as they fire spells and arrows at the encroaching PCs.
Stygian Conflagration: Take off some of the PCs' best spells. It looks like it allows a save but then you actually read it and it doesn't.

Spoiler: Level 1-5: Telepathic Trickster

Show

"While in service to King Icari, I encountered a vagabond accused of using some kind of magical power to control people's minds, which is of course illegal. The stranger refused to give a name, a family of origin, or even a gender, and indeed appealed that attempting to find out any of these details is considered an intrusive search, in which matter the accused was most assuredly correct. When brought to trial, this stranger managed to leverage a defence based upon the unlikely idea that these powers were nonmagical. When asked how this was to be proved, the idea was put to us that magic detection spells would reveal the arcane school to which they belonged, even if the power in question was divine... the search could not reveal this detail or even whether the user was arcane or divine... the accused went free.

I have begun petitioning the nobles to make additions to the law to include this new type of power."
- Administrator Antony (Icarian Era), Notes of the Administrator Vol 3.

"It should be noted that Volumes 1 and 2 were destroyed by fire, and Volume 3 was only barely recovered with parts of the text illegible and whole chapters burned."
- Archivist Ari'El (Jonasite Era), Archive of Notes of Senior Officials.

At level 1, this person only has a few powers, but can make anyone friendly, until the power wears off of course. Well, then you just have to move on. Possibility of meeting PCs is existent, but there's no reason for them to be hostile, and certainly no reason for them actually to kill the psion, or to recognise it when it turns into the Overmind.

The next few levels give a few more person manipulation powers, and also your astral construct lasts long enough to be useful - which is nice, since it can punch out a fighter of your level.

Spoiler: Levels 6-10: Aspiring Slayer

Show

"The person claiming to be a Telepath reported to me to announce departure, and I responded requiring all given names, family names and called names. The Telepath smiled, and claimed lack of given names and ignorance of parentage, presumably due to orphanhood. Thus, under the previous emigrant - David Spear, called the Sunspear - I simply wrote "Called the Telepath". Apparently the given profession was as some kind of performer: trite little tricks with a fire that impressed children. The Telepath admitted to sharing my feelings on such use of this power, and indeed this was part of the reason for leaving. The Telepath had heard of some obscure group known as the Slayers, and wished to seek them out. I put the reasons for emigration down as a religious pilgrimage, a journey to meet friends, and a wish to seek other cultures. I wished the Telepath farewell as sincerely as possible, and received thanks in kind."
- Administrator Antony (Icarian Era), Notes of the Administrator Volume 4.

"It should be noted that the Notes of the Administrator, Volume 4 were not damaged by fire, but still not lauded during the Overmind Era as later volumes were."
- Archivist Ari'El (Jonasite Era), Archive of Notes of Senior Officials.

Losing a manifester level and everything that comes with it sucks, but you're going to return from your little trip able to wield better weapons and wear better armour, and then you start getting cool immunities (Divinations/Clairsentiences and mind affecting) later on, so it's way, way, way worth it. Anyway, powers... yeah, you can dominate stuff, and you can also create even better astral constructs! Make bigger animated fires! Why are all of my first-level powers really good? I dunno!

Upon meeting the PCs, your typical strategy is to throw a construct at them, and Dominate one of them so that they end up throwing their best stuff at their allies. That is, if the PCs have any reason to be hostile towards you.

Spoiler: Levels 11-15: Overmind Ascendant

Show

"King Icari died in a fire today. The city mourns him, and a new ruler will have to be appointed soon lest the city be dissolved into chaos."

"A force calling itself the Overmind has taken over the King's chamber, claiming that it is the spirit of what it means to be a ruler. We have reason to believe it, although those reasons cannot be disclosed here for the public good."

"In a typical ceremony, the avatar of the Overmind appears for just a minute or two at the beginning, and while a clever few see past it and beseech the Overmind itself, a horde of high-ranking sycophants and charlatans supplant themselves at the fore of the podium, staging rituals and theatrics to somehow cheat one another into thinking that the Overmind approves of their intentions. Once its part is done, braziers are brought forth, and the Overmind lights them without even being present. Sometimes the Overmind will create shapes in the fire, other times it gives gifts of wealth to those assembled, distracting those of weaker mind while they scramble for treasure that will disappear in a few hours. Our faith in the Overmind is never in question, and it seeks out criminals with deadly precision."

- Administrator Antony (Overmind Era), Notes of the Administrator Volume 5.

"It should be noted that the fifth volume was prominently displayed whenever the Administrator was not working on it during the Overmind Era."

- Archivist Ari'El (Jonasite Era), Archive of Notes of Senior Officials.

At this point, you basically know everything that's going on, and you can put on great displays of power without ever having to lead your hiding place. If you have to fight, your tactic is to send animated fires and astral constructs indirectly, and in any case, you have an entire congregation of dominated magi on your side. You'll be fine.

Spoiler: Levels 16-20: One-Winged Devil

Show

"Adventurers stormed the room, and finally, the Overmind could take it no more. "I have tried to be a good ruler, but you simply will not DIE. Now, you will feel my pain first hand!" it shouted, and out from its hiding place came the Telepath - though its power wrought it in iron and gave it foul devilish wings, it was unmistakable. For these long years, it had tricked us. By this point there was a mad rush to leave the room, and I myself hastened to safety. I do not know the events that transpired in this room, but I do no this: thus passed Overmind, called the Telepath."

"We later appointed Jonas Lightborn as king. May he rule over us with a fair hand."
- Administrator Antony (Jonasite Era), Notes of the Administrator Volume 6.

During the final fight, you finally snap. Using Iron Body, True Metabolism, Planar Embrace and Affinity Field Pain to buff yourself out the wazoo, you launch yourself towards the enemy... but before you reveal yourself, you throw astral constructs, animated fires, and negative-level blasts at the enemy to wear them down before launching into melee like the gish you kinda are - hey, you have medium BAB, you're cool.

[Telonius]

And, our last competitor: Brightness, the Star that Sees!

Spoiler: Brightness: The Star that Sees

Show

Brightness: the Star that Sees
LE Warforged Psion (Seer) 10/Crystal Master 10

"The stars shall fade away, the sun himself grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, unhurt amidst the wars of elements, the wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds."

Spoiler: Backstory

Show

Spoiler: Star in the dark

Show

"Am I stupid?"

The warforged looked at his cellmate, waiting for a response. The other warforged turned his metal head at him, and gave him a curious look. The other rubbed the yellow crystal on its temple, something it always did when thinking about complicated things.

The other warforged was smarter, the first one knew that. Still, not much smarter... right?

"There was... There was this tentacled one, and he was adding more crystals, and I asked why he did all this... And he just looked at me funny. And then he said I wouldn't understand even if he told me.

Does that mean I'm stupid?"

The other warforged was silent for a long time. Was it thinking about the experiments? About the crystals? Or did he know what to say but didn't want to?

The other warforged turned his head again, and spoke. The first one wasn't sure, but the other's expression seemed sad.

"No. You're the brightest thing down here."

Spoiler: A murder of one

Show

Much time had passed. The tentacled ones had come and gone, adding more and more crystals. They had seemed excited the last few times. For some reason, this worried the warforged.

One day, the other one came back from an experiment, visibly shaken. He did not speak of what had happened, which worried the warforged even more.

It was only a few minutes later that the tentacled ones returned. This time, they gestured for both of them to rise. The other ones eyes went great with fear, and he jumped to his feet.

Before the warforged could intervene, his cellmate had already jumped towards the tentacled one and slammed his fist in its face. The tentacled one gazed at its prisoner with rage, and let its anger wash over its assailant. The other warforged fell to its knees, dark smoke emerging from its orifices. The other turned, and looked at the first warforged one last time.

They were... going to... kill you... Don't... let... *hack*

Bright... ness....

Tentacled ones took his cellmate's lifeless body, and brought him along. Brightness wasn't sure what had happened then. He remembered the sound of groaning metal, the clear resonance of crystals, and the feeling of power, but what had happened, he didn't know.

He was placed in his cell again. The warforged inspected his new body carefully, then saw something that would have made his heart skip a beat had he had one.

It was a yellow crystal, smooth after having been rubbed by metal fingers countless times.

Brightness cried out, but none listened.

Spoiler: A star and its sky

Show

Brightness wasn't sure how much time passed after that. He wasn't experimented on again, he wasn't visited, and no one talked to him. Then, one day, one of the tentacled ones visited. It just stared silently at him, and then all went black.

When Brightness woke up, he was lying on his back on a grassy hill. Above him was nothing. No rock, no cave, no smooth white ceiling. Just an endless sky, filled with countless points of light.

Brightness' enhanced mind looked at the stars. And embedded in his body, a monster looked, too.

Spoiler: Ability scores

Show

Basic Array: STR 11, DEX 12, CON 12, INT 17, WIS 12, CHA 12
Post-racial adjustments: STR 11, DEX 12, CON 14, INT 17, WIS 10, CHA 10
Ability score increases All increases go into Intelligence. INTELLIGENCE ALL THE WAY.

Spoiler: Build table

Show

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Psion 1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Craft (gemcutting) +2, Concentration +4, Knowledge (Gemology) +2, Knowledge (Psionics) +4 Listen +2 Spot +2, Psicraft +4	Psiforged Body, Psicrystal AffinityB	Bonus Feat, Discipline (Clairsentience)
2nd	Psion 2	+1	+0	+0	+3	Craft (gemcutting) +3, Concentration +5, Knowledge (Psionics) +5, Spot +3 Psicraft +5	-	-
3rd	Psion 3	+1	+1	+1	+3	Concentration +6, Knowledge (Gemology) +3, Knowledge (Psionics) +6, Listen +3, Psicraft +6	Illithid Heritage	-
4th	Psion 4	+2	+1	+1	+4	Craft (gemcutting) +4, Concentration +7, Knowledge (Psionics) +7, Spot +4, Listen +4, Psicraft +7	-	-
5th	Psion 5	+2	+1	+1	+4	Concentration +8, Knowledge (gemology) +4, Knowledge (Psionics) +8, Spot +5, Listen +5, Psicraft +8	Psicrystal ContainmentB	Bonus Feat
6th	Crystal Master 1	+2	+1	+1	+6	Craft (gemcutting) +6 Concentration +9, Knowledge (Psionics) +9 Psicraft +9, Intimidate +3	Improved PsicrystalB, Illithid Compulsion	Improved Psicrystal
7th	Crystal Master 2	+3	+1	+1	+7	Craft (gemcutting) +10, Concentration +10, Knowledge (psionics) +10, Psicraft +10, Intimidate +4	-	Embed Gem (Aquamarine)
8th	Crystal Master 3	+3	+2	+2	+7	Craft (gemcutting) +11, Concentration +11, Knowledge (Psionics) +11, Psicraft +11, Intimidate +8	-	-
9th	Crystal Master 4	+4	+2	+2	+8	Craft (gemcutting) +12, Concentration +12, Knowledge (Psionics) +12, Psicraft +12, Intimidate +12	Illithid Legacy	Embed Gem (Diamond)
10th	Crystal Master 5	+4	+2	+2	+8	Appraise +3, Craft (gemcutting) +13, Concentration +13, Knowledge (Psionics) +13, Psicraft +13, Intimidate +13	-	-
11th	Crystal Master 6	+5	+3	+3	+9	Appraise +6, Craft (gemcutting) +14, Concentration +14, Knowledge (Psionics) +14, Psicraft +14, Intimidate +14	-	Embed Gem (Opal)
12th	Crystal Master 7	+5	+3	+3	+9	Appraise +9, Craft (gemcutting) +15, Concentration +15, Knowledge (Psionics) +15, Psicraft +15, Intimidate +15	Greater Illithid Legacy	-
13th	Crystal Master 8	+6/+1	+4	+4	+10	Appraise +13, Craft (gemcutting) +16, Concentration +16, Knowledge (Psionics) +16, Psicraft +16, Intimidate +16	-	Embed Gem (Moonstone)
14th	Crystal Master 9	+6/+1	+4	+4	+10	Appraise +17, Craft (gemcutting) +17, Concentration +17, Knowledge (Psionics) +17, Psicraft +17, Intimidate +17	-	-
15th	Crystal Master 10	+7/+2	+4	+4	+11	Appraise +18, Craft (gemcutting) +18, Concentration +18, Knowledge (Psionics) +18, Spot +7, Psicraft +18, Intimidate +18	Illithid Skin	Embed Gem (Ruby), Psicrystal Synergy
16th	Psion 6	+8/+3	+5	+5	+12	Craft (gemcutting) +19, Concentration +19, Knowledge (Psionics) +19, Spot +9, Psicraft +19, Intimidate +19	-	-
17th	Psion 7	+8/+3	+5	+5	+12	Craft (gemcutting) +20, Concentration +20, Knowledge (Psionics) +20, Spot +11, Psicraft +20, Intimidate +20	-	-
18th	Psion 8	+9/+4	+5	+5	+13	Craft (gemcutting) +21, Concentration +21, Knowledge (Psionics) +21, Spot +13, Psicraft +21, Intimidate +21	Illithid Skin	-
19th	Psion 9	+9/+4	+6	+6	+13	Craft (gemcutting) +22, Concentration +22, Knowledge (Psionics) +22, Spot +15, Psicraft +22, Intimidate +22	-	-
20th	Psion 10	+10/+5	+6	+6	+14	Craft (gemcutting) +23, Concentration +23, Knowledge (Psionics) +23, Spot +17, Psicraft +23, Intimidate +23	Quicken PowerB	Bonus Feat

Brightness' psicrystal is a crystal with the abilities of a 20th-level psicrystal. It has the Hero and Single-Minded personalities.

Spoiler: Psionics

Show

Number of PP/day (including bonus PP):

Level 1: 4
Level 2: 10
Level 3: 16
Level 4: 26
Level 5: 36
Level 6: 36
Level 7: 48
Level 8: 61
Level 9: 75
Level 10: 91
Level 11: 109
Level 12: 134
Level 13: 157
Level 14: 180
Level 15: 180
Level 16: 206
Level 17: 233
Level 18: 262
Level 19: 293
Level 20: 335

Powers Known:

Level 1: Control Light, Disable, Precognition
Level 2: Empathy, Vigor
Level 3: Clairvoyant Sense, Sensitivity To Psychic Impressions
Level 4: Ego Whip, Psionic Levitate
Level 5: Object Reading, Share Pain
Level 6: -
Level 7: Telekinetic Force, Time Hop
Level 8: Correspond, Remote Viewing
Level 9: Psionic Dimension Door, Energy Adaption, Psionic Charm, Read Thoughts
Level 10: Clairtangent Hand, Power Resistance
Level 11: Adapt Body, Psionic True Seeing
Level 12: Psionic Disintegrate, Dispel Psionics, Psionic Dominate
Level 13: Retrieve, Psionic Contingency
Level 14: Personal Mind Blank
Level 15: -
Level 16: Divert Teleport, Psionic Moment of Prescience
Level 17: Hypercognition
Level 18: Bend Reality, Psionic Greater Teleport
Level 19: Metafaculty
Level 20: Microcosm, Reality Revision

Gained through the (Greater) Illithid Legacy feat

Spoiler: Story

Show

Spoiler: More precious than rubies

Show

Brightness watched the stars all night. When dawn came, it walked. It walked through forests and mountains, it crossed rivers and lakes, until at last it arrived at a village.

The villagers were kind. They let Brightness stay in their village, where he learned to cut gems. The warforged was a tireless worker, and his jewelry was sold for high prices.

One day, when Brightness was carving gems, he heard a voice. The voice was familiar, almost like that of the other warforged. But that one was dead, right? Still, the voice persisted.

It talked to him of great tortures, of hiding its consciousness in a single crystal, and then watching as said crystal was transferred to Brightness. It talked of waiting for months until it had grown strong enough to talk to Brightness again. It talked of joy at being together once again. And Brightness looked at his hand, at the yellow crystal there, and rejoiced.

And so the monster drew him in.

Spoiler: The history of a gemstone

Show

Brightness had gained a second purpose. By day, he carved gems, but by night, he practiced his psionic powers under the starry sky. The warforged grew stronger and stronger, and so did the yellow gem embedded in him.

One day, Brightness manifested his powers on an expensive necklace brought to him by a wandering adventurer. Curious, the warforged peered into the objects past. But the things he saw...

A goblin, brutally killed by the adventurer...
A screaming noblewoman being robbed by goblins...
A dying noble, having been poisoned by his own daughter...
A wretched farmer, his last heirlooms taken from him by a greedy young noble...

Brightness stared at the necklace. One item. One single item, yet so much suffering had come from it. Was this true for everything? Was life, at its core, strife and conflict?

The warforged left the village that day. Never did he return. The monster looked on in amusement.

Spoiler: I spy, I spy, with my clairvoyant eye...

Show

Brightness travelled once more, this time with a small crystal crawling over his body. Yet everywhere he went, he saw lawlessness and chaos. People took what they wanted, corrupt guards did nothing, and dead bodies lied rotting in the gutters. Only in the beauty of the stars and the company of his friend did he find peace.

The psicrystal became more single-minded. It told him to seize power himself, to root out the chaos and evil that had bloomed here. Yet Brightness refused.

Then one day, as Brightness was staying in a city, a hostile nation attacked. The warforged saw hundreds die, cut down by the swords of the enemy soldiers. Only through a recently-learned teleportation power did the warforged escape this fate.

From a distance, Brightness watched the city burn. He heard the cries of the pillagers, the screams of the survivors, the roar of fire. As he looked up, he noticed the fire made it hard to see the stars.

A world of constant fighting, of pain, of torture... a world where the fog of war obscured the stars... could one be happy in such a world? Brightness doubted it.

So he left.

Spoiler: Shoot for the moon...

Show

Many years passed. The city Brightness saw burn was forgotten, as was he himself.

Then one day, a new star appeared in the sky. It was a large star, yellow and strangely close. Astronomers debated the significance of its appearance, sages consulted tomes, and the common folk shrugged and went on with their lives.

After the star's appearance, however, things began to change. Major nations started incorporating it in their art, their architecture, their laws. The leaders started to rely upon astronomers for advice, then guidance, then most of their decisions.

Centuries after its appearance, the star has become the center of several nations' government. Of course, its desires had to be obeyed, but few minded. The star seemed to have almost superhuman knowledge of what other nations would do, or where valuable resources could be found. Criminals, too, were swiftly found and executed.

Over time, mystical aspects emerged. Some people claimed to hear the star talk to them. Others spoke of the star appearing to them in dreams. All worked to further its goals of order and obedience.


And Brightness? He floated there in the void. A thick, greenish membrane had covered him, and he barely moved, but his mind was active. He knew all. He knew best. If only those people would obey, all would be good. If they didn't, they deserved death.

The monster revelled. It had succeeded at its task.

Spoiler: Level breakdown

Show

Level 1:
You're a pretty standard psion. Disable should end fights quickly, though you are more of a non-combat character at this moment. Use craft (gemcutting) to repair yourself during downtime, or just to make some money.

Level 5:
You've got a lot of useful powers, both utility and combat-oriented. Nothing very interesting, though.

Level 10:
Crystal Master gives some fun permanent bonuses, Illithid Legacy gives great (and normally Telepath-only) powers, but most of all you get Remote Viewing. Through your sky-high Concentration score, you can manifest powers at virtually infinite range. Adventure from the comforts of your living room!

Level 12:
Time to leave the planet behind. Psionic Levitate lasts 10 minutes/level, so you need to expend only 36 power points to not fall to your death each day. Keeping Energy Adaption up all day costs 84 points, and Adapt Body costs 18 power points per day. You can pay this all, letting you effectively stay in space as long as you want.

A neat side effect of Energy Adaption is that you start to glow, which lets us pretend to be a star. If necessary, you can keep the glow hidden with Control Light.

You can use Clairvoyant Sense and Remote Viewing to observe and alter a location from outer space, so from here on it'll be a lot harder for anyone to notice your subtle plans.

Level 15:
Access to Personal Mind Blank makes you very hard to find. More PP and longer power durations also means you won't be spending most of your reserves on not dying horrible spacedeath. At this level, you should be able to send projections of yourself down, Dominate or Charm key people, and slowly reform their societies to better suit you.

Level 20:
Ever seen one of these old science fiction movies where an insane rogue AI controls a planet from outer space? You're that AI. Reality Revision, Hypercognition, and Metafaculty means that whatever you want to know is known and whatever you want to alter is altered.

If anyone tries to teleport to you, Divert Teleport lets you send them wherever you want. If anyone does reach you despite all this, you can just decimate them with Psionic Disintegrates, Ego Whips, and Microcosms, or move a few thousand miles away with Greater Psionic Teleport.

Spoiler: Using Brightness as a villain

Show

Brightness thinks he is doing good. However, manipulation through an illithid-forged psicrystal and centuries of isolation have driven him mostly mad. There are several scenarios where Brightness can be the antagonist:

-Brightness determines (using Hypercognition) that a descendant from one of the PC's will start a revolution if allowed to live, and starts sending assassins against the PC.
-The PC's are hired by a mysterious individual who knows the star's true nature and wants it gone.
-A cabal of mind flayers assault the surface world, seemingly always knowing where to strike next and where their foes are the weakest. Brightness is informing them, and the PC's need to remove him to have any chance of winning this war.

Spoiler: Rules issues

Show

You can't be a psiforged! The rules say no psionic races!
The chairman said:

'The character cannot be a naturally Psionic race (Elan, Kalashtar, Synad, etc.) or creature with an ability described as psionic (such as Aboleth, Couatl, Yuan-ti, Mind Flayer, etc). Creatures with spell-like abilities that are not described as psionic are fine. The Phrenic template is specifically allowed.'

If it has Psionics or Psi-Like abilities as special attacks, if any of its special attacks or special qualities are described as psionic, if it has bonus power points from its race, or if it's listed as Naturally Psionic (such as in the Elan entry), it's not allowed.

Warforged are not naturally psionic in any way, nor do they have abilities or special attacks/special qualities described as psionic.

While we do gain a bonus power point from Psiforged Body, these are not inherent to our race. Saying that a warforged is a naturally psionic race because an obscure racial feat grants you PP is like saying all warforged are made out of adamantine.


You can't survive the vacuum of space!
Yes I can. I'm using the space rules from Nailed to the Sky here, because I honestly can't think of any different rules dealing with extraterrestrial travel.

So what does Nailed to the Sky specify?
-You take 2d6 cold/fire damage per round, depending where in space you are. This is resisted through Energy Adaption.
-You take 1d4 damage from the vacuum of space per turn. Ignoring that warforged, being constructed creatures, probably shouldn't suffer from the vacuum, you can manifest Adapt Body. Or perhaps just buy a necklace of adaption, which is incredibly cheap and easy to get.
-You begin to suffocate. Big deal, we're a warforged.

And yes, I did make a character solely to prove that you can, in fact, play a spy satellite in D&D. :P

[Telonius]

And last, an entry from me. Not for judging just for kicks. Qubit!

Spoiler: Qubit

Show

I will remake this world in crystal and steel.

Build stub: Warforged Psion (Shaper)10/Constructor10

Qubit was created as an experimental Warforged, to see if they were capable of Psionics. Just as his construction was completed, the Creation Forge came under attack by a powerful (and jealous) Psion, who manifested the Microcosm power on Qubit and five of the low-level Artificers in the forge. They were all trapped in a world of their own devising, unaware that anything had gone wrong. His creators succumbed to starvation one by one. But Qubit, unburdened by the need for food or water, survived. Having just awakened, he had no idea that he was experiencing anything other than the real world. As he interacted with the constructed reality, he began to grasp how to shape it to his own dreams and desires. Soon he was at the center of a constructed utopia.

Years later, a recovery team located Qubit. With the help of a higher-level Psion, he was revived. His beautiful world was ripped away in an instant – a shock from which he never fully recovered. Worse, the world no longer bent to his every whim. Deprived of his beautiful dream, he now aims to recover his lost reality, by any means necessary. He is slowly gaining followers and influence in the Warforged community, and it’s only a matter of time before he unleashes some hideous strike.

Spoiler: Starting Stats

Show

Str 8
Dex10
Con 12->14
Intelligence 15
Wisdom 14->12
Charisma 13->11
Level-up increases go to Wisdom, Intelligence, Intelligence, Intelligence, Intelligence

Spoiler: Build Table

Show

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Psion1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Concentration 4, Disguise 4, Craft 4, Use Psionic Device 4	Psiforged Body, Psicrystal Affinity	Bonus Feat, discipline (Shaper)
2nd	Psion2	+1	+0	+0	+3	Concentration 5, Disguise 5, Craft 5, Use Psionic Device 5	-	-
3rd	Psion3	+1	+1	+1	+3	Concentration 6, Disguise 6, Craft 6, Use Psionic Device 6	Boost Construct	-
4th	Psion4	+2	+1	+1	+4	Concentration 7, Disguise 7, Craft 7, Use Psionic Device 7	-	+1 Wisdom
5th	Psion5	+2	+1	+1	+4	Concentration 8, Disguise 8, Craft 8, Use Psionic Device 8	-	Personal Construct (ACF)
6th	Psion6	+3	+2	+2	+5	Concentration 9, Disguise 9, Craft 9, Use Psionic Device 9	Psionic Meditation	-
7th	Psion7	+3	+2	+2	+5	Concentration 10, Disguise 10, Craft 10, Use Psionic Device 10	-	-
8th	Psion8	+4	+2	+2	+6	Concentration 11, Disguise 11, Use Psionic Device 11, Knowledge(Psionics) 1, Psicraft 1	-	+1 Intelligence
9th	Psion9	+4	+3	+3	+6	Concentration 12, Disguise 12, Use Psionic Device 12, Knowledge(Psionics) 2, Psicraft 2	Expanded Knowledge (Metamorphosis)	-
10th	Psion10	+5	+3	+3	+7	Concentration 13, Disguise 13, Use Psionic Device 13, Knowledge(Psionics) 3, Psicraft 3	Extend Power	Bonus Feat
11th	Constructor1	+5	+3	+3	+9	Concentration 14, Disguise 14, Use Psionic Device 14, Knowledge Psionics) 4,Psicraft 4, Bluff 1	-	Advanced Construction
12th	Con2	+6	+3	+3	+10	Concentration 15, Disguise 15, Use Psionic Device 15, Knowledge Psionics) 5,Psicraft 5, Bluff 2	Metamorphic Transfer	Ecto Protection 1, +1 Intelligence
13th	Con3	+6	+4	+4	+10	Concentration 16, Disguise 16, Use Psionic Device 16, Knowledge Psionics) 6,Psicraft 6, Bluff 3	-	Combat Construction
14th	Con4	+7	+4	+4	+11	Concentration 17, Disguise 17, Use Psionic Device 17, Knowledge Psionics) 7,Psicraft 7, Bluff 4	-	Boost Construct, Ecto Protection 2
15th	Con5	+7	+4	+4	+11	Concentration 18, Disguise 18, Use Psionic Device 18, Knowledge Psionics) 8,Psicraft 8, Bluff 5	Psicrystal Containment	Extended Construction
16th	Con6	+8	+5	+5	+12	Concentration 19, Disguise 19, Use Psionic Device 19, Knowledge Psionics) 9,Psicraft 9, Bluff 6, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1	-	Ecto Protection 3, +1 Intelligence
17th	Con7	+8	+5	+5	+12	Concentration 20, Disguise 20, Use Psionic Device 20, Knowledge Psionics) 10,Psicraft 10, Bluff 7, Knowledge (Planes) 1	-	Utility Construct
18th	Con8	+9	+6	+6	+13	Concentration 21, Disguise 21, Use Psionic Device 21, Knowledge Psionics) 11,Psicraft 11, Bluff 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 1	Practiced Manifester	Boost Construct, Ecto Protection 4
19th	Con9	+9	+6	+6	+13	Concentration 22, Disguise 22, Use Psionic Device 22, Knowledge Psionics) 12,Psicraft 12, Bluff 9, Knowledge (Nature) 1	-	Enhanced Construction
20th	Con10	+10	+6	+6	+14	Concentration 23, Disguise 23, Use Psionic Device 23, Knowledge Psionics) 13,Psicraft 13, Bluff 10, Knowledge (Local) 1	-	Quickened Construction, Ecto Protection 5, +1 Int

Spoiler: Powers Known

Show

Power Points increase as a Psion, except at levels 11 and 20. Psiforged Body grants an extra PP at level 1.

Level Powers
1 Astral Construct, Ecto Protection, Vigor
2 Inertial Armor, Detect Psionics
3 Psionic Repair Damage, Share Pain
4 Ego Whip, Psionic Tongues
5 Dispel Psionics, Time Hop
6 Solicit Psicrystal, Energy Wall
7 Psionic Divination, Psionic Fabricate
8 Psionic Freedom of Movement, Wall of Ectoplasm
9 Psionic Major Creation, Psionic Plane Shift, Metamorphosis (from feat)
10 Psychic Crush, Incarnate
11 -
12 Temporal Acceleration
13 Crystallize, Psionic Contingency
14 Personal Mind Blank
15 Energy Conversion, Mass Ectoplasmic Coccoon
16 Bend Reality
17 Psionic Greater Teleport, Astral Seed
18 Assimilate
19 True Creation, Genesis
20 -

Spoiler: Level Writeups

Show

Level 5
Qubit has just taken the Personal Construct alternate class feature, which he can use to summon an Astral Construct as though quickened. Several of his powers are spoken for, as Constructor prerequisites. His Psiforged Body turns him into his own Cognizance Crystal, giving him a few more options. Otherwise he is roughly as powerful as a typical Psion. The Vigor-Share Pain combination has come online. His Disguise check is unusually high for a Psion; he often uses it to “pass” for a humanoid.
At this level, Qubit is openly working as a powerful member of the town council representing the Warforged. His main day-to-day work is running what’s supposedly a charity. The charity has been designing homes for the town that look nothing like anything anyone has ever seen. At this level, the adventurers might get a hint of something wrong when a rival contractor comes to a sticky end, or a group of people are being forced off their land for being inconvenient to Qubit’s planned civic renewal.

Level 10
At this level Qubit has just recently gotten the Metamorphosis power (from a feat). Depending on how this is ruled to work with Living Constructs, you might be able to completely act the part of a Transformer; or, just change into other creatures as needed. The Incarnate power frees up several power points per day, at the cost of a bit of XP; and Extend Power can help with keeping his Astral Constructs around long enough to do some real damage. The power level is slightly lower than the average Psion, due to a general lack of Metapsionic feats (instead being taken up with prerequisites).
At this level, Qubit is the mayor, or has achieved a minor title of nobility. A series of new laws, supported by his Warfoged enforcers and other Lawful-Evil minions, is starting to bite hard. Beautiful older structures are being demolished, and there’s a growing sense of alarm within the city.

Level 15
Qubit now has access to Metamorphic Transfer, which greatly expands his power and versatility. Several important powers (like Temporal Acceleration, Personal Mind Blank, and Psionic Contingency) are now available, and his Astral Constructs are now much more dangerous thanks to the Constructor class. Unfortunately he has lost a manifesting level, but them’s the breaks.
At this level Qubit has achieved dominion over a large chunk of territory. Most of the older buildings have been relegated to scrap heaps. “Undesirable” humanoids have been enslaved to create increasingly bizarre structures and landscaping, though his supporters are enjoying a nice quality of life.

Level 20
Qubit is really getting to play Deity now. With Bend Reality, True Creation, and Genesis, he can recreate almost whatever he wants. Enhanced Construction now allows him to make more than one Astral Construct at a time. His Power Point total and number of Powers known is lower than the typical Psion, but Practiced Manifester helps a bit.
At this level, Qubit has an entire nation under his (literally) iron fist. His terrible plan is revealed: he’s researching a way to overcome the limitations of Genesis, and truly manifest it on the Material Plane.

Spoiler: Sources

Show

Psiforged Body: Magic of Eberron
Constructor: Mind’s Eye
Personal Construct: Mind’s Eye
Practiced Manifester: Complete Psionic

Rules Note: The Astral Construct power was famously nerfed in Complete Psionic, limiting the number of Astral Constructs to one only. If you play without this nerf, Qubit becomes quite a bit more powerful.

It looks like we have a great crop of competitors this time around - thank you to all of the competitors for your hard work. Judging starts now!

[daremetoidareyo]

I'm convinced that psionics characters get way weirder per level of optimization than any other subsystem.

A lion, a spy satellite, An evil lego set, medogsa, a false prophet with no social skills, and a jester.

[Korahir]

I sincerely think these entries are the most diverse and crazy submissions to a contest I have ever seen. I sit in shock and awe at the creativity on display here. Thanks to anyone who entered, you just made my day.

[daremetoidareyo]

I sincerely think these entries are the most diverse and crazy submissions to a contest I have ever seen. I sit in shock and awe at the creativity on display here. Thanks to anyone who entered, you just made my day.

I just gave all of them an intenser reading. I would introduce all of these characters into the same campaign world at first level. They all have such great overlap!


You hear rustling cues about the winds changing over the steppe as the lion king is born. Your first adventure subplot is about a weak psion dominating people to be his friends and when the PCs step in he skips town. Mid levels, the PCs are commissioned to do oceans 11 level type heist for a custom rod of domination that can operate on warforged for a mysterious dogtaur. That rod of domination is later attempted to be used on the spy satellite the brightness as the worlds most powerful remote viewing tool by the worlds most long range assassin. The cackling prince ways waste to the interior kingdoms at mid high levels while the rumors from the step get much more forboding. After handling the mad prince, the phrenic dire animal problem starts spilling into the mainland and the PCs must consider allying with the robot nation of Cubit in order to have a chance of beating them back, because every other kingdom has been destabilized by the medusa/the brightness spy satellite duo...Who are being "controlled" by the overlord. Kind of. The overlord is having a ton of trouble keeping the medusa in line on her "assignments", mostly because she's so difficult to mind control when she's drugged out of her mind, which she routinely does whenever any little part of his will slips because she feels enslaved by him. And the satellite, being eternal, has only his own inscrutable plan and is just playing along...

[GreatWyrmGold]

I'm convinced that psionics characters get way weirder per level of optimization than any other subsystem.
A lion, a spy satellite, An evil lego set, medogsa, a false prophet with no social skills, and a jester.

I can't wait to see this...

I'll be using the criteria I outlined here, for all of the entries. Probably not all at once, possibly not soon.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Let's start with some First Impressions I had, quickly looking over the fluff and builds. I'll refer to this for when I do the actual judging, mainly so I can keep in mind how good or bad a given factor is in context. To avoid biasing the other judges, I'll spoiler it all twice.

Spoiler

Show

Spoiler: Rough template

Show

Random silly thoughts

Mechanical notes

Fluff/Plot notes

Miscellaneous notes

Play notes

Parting thoughts

Spoiler: Marx "Orthopoxia Vulgaris," AKA Karl

Show

Is the Kingdom of Whatever near Anywhere?
Didn't expect to see the icechucker again. The idea of chucking the icechucker amuses me.

You keep talking about Karl's build like she was a PC, not a villain—"Talk with your DM about doing X." That seems odd.
You keep treating the javelin chucked by the icechucker as a melee weapon or as ammunition for a ranged weapon whenever it would suit you. This is...questionable. Now, it's a neat trick, but it's questionable. Now, if you were just using it to justify the idea of ranged death attacks, I'd be OK, but you're trying to justify the use of ranged death attacks on a human-sized target a mile away who you can't see. Considering that sneak attacks and death attacks are both (by fluff) just normal attacks, perfectly aimed, I'm not sure I'd allow that. I might allow it if Karl was Skitter, but fell conspiracy doesn't cut it. Chucking a loaded icechucker, while amusing, seems to exist only to get the ammunition's effects to apply...which makes even less sense.
The tauric trick is nasty and I'm glad you didn't go all-in.
The build doesn't work very well at its stated purpose until high levels, and doesn't use most of its side abilities. In particular, you barely use psychic powers and write how Karl avoids using gaze attacks (even more than expected for a massively long-range attacker).
I'd have to look up a lot of powers from a lot of sources to understand your character's stuff. You provided most of them, thankfully, but not all.
Fifteen sourcebooks and two web enhancements...that's a lot of sources.

The described effects of Karl's attacks is neat, but doesn't quite match up to how she does them.
Just about everything with Karl's backstory is just there. She's an experiment—so what? Her mom was a neogi's slave—so what? She was mentored by a githzeri—so what? Look at how Lady Lenadel Sere's backstory affected her—she felt the desire to strike back at those she associated with the experimenters, and eventually tries to get direct revenge! The friends and allies mentioned play directly into her plans! None of this shows up here.
Why have psi-dominate at all? Karl should have picked a power that isn't inherently opposed to her ideology.
Karl's motivation is...not terribly original. "The government is evil," extended to all possible governments and even the gods.
Her plan is kinda silly, and it doesn't line up with her goals. Prevent people from obtaining more power at the expense of others...but don't do anything about the people who already have it. And hope no one assumes it's limited to the areas Karl can reach.
I'm not convinced that she would be seen as the rightful sovereign of the region, so much as a freak who happens to keep the peace there. And who is associated with Orthopoxia vulgaris.

I have trouble seeing how to implement Karl properly in play. If she uses her abilities as best as they can, the PCs have to deal with a save-or-die every several rounds, from a mile away, with nothing to do but try to kill the people who are somehow sending detailed enough information to let Karl make a perfect precision shot. If the PCs confront her at close range, she has little, because of how overspecialized she is for ridiculously long-ranged combat. She's a one-trick pony, and that trick doesn't offer much counterplay value. Dark Souls wouldn't touch this crap.
It was nice that you described how to use Karl at lower levels. Shame she can't do her trick until high levels.

An overly-complicated questionably-legal definitely-cheesy rocks-fall-level bad guy...once she gets there. Also a bunch of unused frills and a dull motivation.

Spoiler: The Cackling Prince, AKA Joff

Show

The introduction is great. A bit non-interactive for actual play, but a good way to get in the right mindset.

No clever tricks, but the mechanics are effective nonetheless.

The flavor is pretty much nonexistent. Who is the Cackling Prince? Why is he a prince? He is he torturing the king? How would he be worked into an adventure?

Joff seems like more of an encounter than a villain. Maybe the head monster at a local haunted house or something, but that's stretching it just to get him to an adventure scale.
The hide-in-plain-sight-based tactics are interesting, and will definitely be a difference in kind from most D&D combat.
I like the explanations of how to run Joff at any level.

Joff's a neat monster, but I'm not sure it's villain material. Nonexistant fluff doesn't help.

Spoiler: Scar the Lion King of the Serengeti, AKA Leo

Show

It's a lion. For all of its psionic abilities, it's really just a beast which mauls things.
I don't know why you added the +1 Int at 19th level. It was too little and too late to make the villain anything but an animalistic brute.
I can't complain about the extra sources. One was just a couple of simple feats whose effects are built into the stat block, the other was the best, simplest ghost-y template.

The character for this guy is...basically nonexistent. That said, it's more of a force of nature than a traditional villain, which isn't a bad thing. That said, the "explanation" for how it got its powers is silly and unneeded.

You provided ways for Leo to be a threat at all levels.

More of a force than a character.

Spoiler: The Overmind, AKA Om

Show

The art for each tier is neat, but kind of crude, and it doesn't really explain or clarify anything. It probably would have been better to leave it out.

The build is nice and simple. 50-50 classes.
[
I don't get a sense of who Om is. He's...there. And his plan is basically "control people psionically, ???, profit". Only I don't know what he's trying to to do, so I don't know what he would consider a profit...

Astral Construct is a neat, flexible power, but a pain to run without proper preparation. Like, statting out one or two good constructs the manifester uses?
Vague tactics are better than none. Barely.

A simple build, with nothing but numbers.

Spoiler: Brightness, the Star that Sees, AKA Mettaton (MT)

Show

So sue me, I was listening to the Undertale soundtrack when I was thinking of these nicknames.
Fantasy spy satellite? I approve.

No neat tricks, aside from pointing out what's possible within the rules. Admittedly, that's pretty neat.
I can't find the Crystal Master class, and you didn't say where you got it. Is it in the original Psionics Handbook?

The backstory is far more detailed than anything else in the contest. For once, I feel like I'm looking at a character rather than a cliche or—worse—a pile of numbers.
I like this guy. Is it the fact that such a villain is alien to the typical D&D campaign, yet its origins make sense from within? Is it how its motivations are perfectly logical? Is it that any action against such a godlike intelligence, theoretically benevolent, can be considered morally questionable? Hell, what's the difference between an immortal, all-knowing, extremely powerful being with supernatural power and a god?

The biggest problem I can see is using MT's background—its strongest and most interesting component—to any effect. It keeps to itself too much and wanders away from any potential conflict too frequently for the PCs, or anyone else, to learn of its motives. Connecting the star to the warforged would be basically impossible if the PCs didn't get up close and personal before and after.
The "level breakdown" section is pretty thin on tactical advice.
I'm honestly not sure how PCs could deal with MT once he started orbiting. He seems better-suited to background material than someone the PCs actually go up against—again, like a god.

Gimmicky on the surface, but far more than a mere spy satellite(/TV star). Probably better suited for some other medium.

If anyone disagrees with or has something to say about the points I bring up here, I'd appreciate feedback!

[Telonius]

One response from Brightness:

The Crystal Master class can be found here. It's basically a tattooed monk who can choose from a list of passive abilities.

Looking back, I definitely should have added a link. I blame my then-sleep-deprived mind.

Also, thank you for your feedback! I agree with most of it: I should indeed have posted more combat information but hey, time constraints.

[Telonius]

From Overmind:

Thanks for looking over the build. This isn't really a dispute per se, just a guided tour of OM's layout and stuff you might have missed, as well as addressing some stuff.

The art, yeah, I'm bad at art and using stuff from DeviantArt is hard because you need permission and it's hard to find a picture of an astral construct standing on a podium surrounded by worshipers, much less a flying psion made of iron on a broken podium surrounded by fire and worshipers.

I guess I didn't quite clearly convey that OM wanted to rule a kingdom because hey, who doesn't want to rule a kingdom? (Don't answer that.) Also I guess OM just wants revenge on the people who used to mock it for having no social skills. Also, it wanted to be remembered as a powerful leader, hence selective (if not quite efficient) burning of Administrator Antony's works. The ideas are there, I just didn't want to be quite explicit about them.

Astral construct isn't actually that hard to work with, having done so. You basically grab the stat block and go "Oh, and remember it poisons stuff" or "Oh, and it has X many more hit points". It's not that difficult to achieve.

Vague tactics, maybe, but all of my powers have a little guidance on how OM uses them, so you should be able to work something out.

I'm wondering a little what you mean by "Nothing but numbers"?

From the Cackling Prince:

I tried to get a good deal of this across through implication in the introduction (the same way I might foreshadow plot elements at the beginning of a campaign): apparently I didn't do a good enough job- I probably should have included some spoiler-ed knowledge rolls & such in the write-up, but it seemed clunky.

Since I seem to have botched that, I understand if you don't want to include it in your judging, but since you explicitly asked:

Spoiler

Show

• The elves of the Athanth kingdom withdrew from the rest of the world and have had no contact for centuries. This is why their culture is only known through "stories from centuries ago." Maintaining this isolation requires a certain degree of Deus Ex Machina, but c'est la vie. Your party is escorting the Ambassador and his mission, who have been invited to visit (ostensibly in hopes of restoring relations).
• The few elves you have been encountered on your travel through the kingdom have been "even more cold and distant than the stories [...] would indicate". You might initially write this off as elves being unusually stuck up, even for elves. The actual cause is that, for at least a significant portion of the centuries of isolation, they have been under the control of the Prince -- an evil fey who eats their emotions and eventually leaves them as near catatonic husks (Bleak Ones). Cf. also the suggestion to include Joystealers (who also feed on emotion to largely similar effect) as henchmen.
• 'Torturing' is probably the wrong word for what he has done to the king. The king (and the others mentioned as having the smiles drawn on their face, as well as the elves in the room who laugh on demand) are the Bleak Ones that the villain is currently controlling: anyone under 8HD whose emotions he eats becomes a Bleak One, but he can only control 32 HD worth at once.

Don't let the fact that its not in a tavern fool you: the introduction is just that -- the campaign introduction. The prince - or more properly getting rid of him so that the kingdom has a future better than "emotionless mind-slaves of an evil clown" available - is the adventure.

Yes, you're running into him right away in a hostile introduction. It's risky, but not as much as you might think.

• Keep in mind, you have civilians to protect
  
  • The Ambassador won't have drank the ambrosia or liquid pain (he was waiting on the king)
  • Tisha has a name (so she's probably fine too)
• Also, keep in mind that he has 32 HD worth of mind-slave hostages that will do whatever he says, such as throw themselves to certain death while he escapes.
  
  • Also, some of these hostages are the members of the Ambassador's mission who fell down behind you- the Prince has been feeding on them since they drank the Ambrosia or liquid pain. When they fell down, it was because their Cha hit 0 - making them Bleak Ones.
• If you can 1-shot him before he initiates a hide sequence, it would make the whole thing moot*. Short of that, however, his worst case scenario is hide and escape (and a nice dinner to boot, since he just ate the minds of a good portion of the Ambassador's staff).
  
  • The palace is nice and shiny, but he doesn't need to be there to keep turning the entire kingdom into emotionless zombies

To some of your other questions:

• Who is the prince? He's just an unusually competent Grey Jester who, discovering that a Kingdom had isolated itself, decided to take it over and turn it into his very own all-you-can-eat buffet.
• Why is he called the prince? He's in charge of the kingdom, and look at the picture: he has a totally-boss crown. King simply sounds too stodgy.

*In an actual game, the Bleak Ones provide a way to manage this risk. Unless it is Cha or Alignment based, Bleak One casters & manifesters maintain their abilities. 1 or 2 8-HD tier 1 minions could certainly provide a decent exit plan while still allowing us to introduce the villain. That's probably not in play here though: navigating the Bleak Ones without veering into the banned leadership space has been something of a tightrope walk for this character.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Brightness:
No problem. I'm glad to give feedback!

Overmind:
It's still helpful to know if you should get the one that poisons stuff, the one with more hit points, or what-have-you.
The Overmind doesn't really have character. He was mocked, and now he wants his own kingdom. That's about it.

Cackling Prince:
Thanks for the clarifications.
So...the campaign opens with fighting the boss? That seems unfair. And you also force them into his inner sanctum, closing off the means of escape, before letting them act? I've gotten crap for starting players in a prison cell, this is harsh.

[Telonius]

From the Cackling Prince:

When the group is willing, I much prefer to DM like my father taught me to swim: throw them in the deep end and rescue to prevent drowning as needed.

More to the point however, they aren't really that far up the creek: the doors are barred, not sealed by a cave in our anything. Additionally, the Prince has ample reason not to go for broke: he'll want to eat tomorrow and the day after too, and if he Ego Whips them into catatonia there won't be much CHA left to eat then. Until they establish themselves as threats instead of cattle, he has no reason to treat them as such.

Unless the refuse to attempt a retreat despite ample cause (there are civilians there that it is explicitly their job to protect), most of the PCs should make it out of the initial encounter with their minds intact.

From Scar:

I don't know why you added the +1 Int at 19th level. It was too little and too late to make the villain anything but an animalistic brute.
well, it's more about the background - the lion gaining more sentience after death, with intelligence higher than animals.

The character for this guy is...basically nonexistent. That said, it's more of a force of nature than a traditional villain, which isn't a bad thing. That said, the "explanation" for how it got its powers is silly and unneeded.
I should have added "The Lion King" from Disney in the sources Scar is basically the BBEG from the movie there, but his added psionic powers gave him an edge to oust and replace the "rightful" king. This needed an awakened lion, with Awaken not giving CR adjustment by RAW... So I kept this only as an option, going the way of a force of nature as the main build.

The "explanation" is mainly used to make a link between a lion cub freak, and his future as a Storm Disciple - to reinforce the idea of a force of (dire) nature.

More of a force than a character.
Yes, and I would even say a new lion invasive species - as the build can be used to describe Scar and his progeny as a new aggressive species destroying whole ecosystems to replace them by Dire animals.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Scar: You weren't exactly subtle with your Disney references. And if the lion is awakened, why is its Intelligence listed as 2?


Right, let's get started on the scores.

Spoiler: Marx (8.55/20)

Show

Overall: The capabilities of this sniper were incredible, but some critical rules assumptions had to be made, and as a villain she's a bit stale. It felt more like a min/max'd PC than a proper villain.

Originality (2.75/5)
Was its concept surprising? Yes, and I like the way it surprised me. 1.5/1.5
Was its build surprising? Yes, but I'm not quite so sure I like how it did so. 0.3/0.5
Does it and its plan fall into villain stereotypes? It's a violent anarchist. Yes. It's not as bad a stereotype as it could have been, though. 0.3/0.75
Does it involve a clever trick or plan? It uses some mechanical trickery to get its perfect sniping abilities...but its plausibility and legality are both disputable, and the villain's plan leaves much to be desired. 0.4/1.25
How long does it take to summarize your character? Weird monster who is a perfect assassin and a stereotypical anarchist. And all of those adjectives are optional. 0.25/1

Elegance (1.1/5)
Is the progression smooth? Its schtick doesn't come into play until high levels. Level 15's Phased Shot is vital, and even then Arching and Horizon Shot are almost required as well. You can do things with those stats at lower CRs, but not her thing. 0.1/1
Is everything legal and consistent? Questionably so at best, and the rules disputes don't even lead to a result that makes logical sense with what the abilities are supposed to represent. 0/1
Did you fulfill contest requirements? Manifesting levels and evil alignment are present; forbidden classes and races are not. However, she is not a legitimate leader of any region. She leads a group of bandits in a lawless region, and she is the guildmaster of an assassin's guild...but neither of those would be the "open and acknowledged leader of a territory of some size" even if Marx wasn't secretive to the point of pretending to be a plague and her own minions not knowing who she is. I can't even give you partial credit. 0/0.5
Did you avoid dips? Two levels of assassin. Three of psion, but you do advance that part further with Ballisteer. It could be worse, but it could be better. 0.75/1.25
How easy is it to run your villain? The biggest problem is that the villain's difficulty is punishing more than challenging. How do you run an encounter with an enemy who can kill you from a mile away within a minute of one of her minions getting a good look at you? In case this isn't bad enough, the villain is so secretive that the PCs won't be able to figure out what's going on. Third of the author's suggestions make this even worse. First, they suggest running her in a low-psi campaign, which reduces the chance of understanding what the hell is going on even further. Second, their suggested campaign involves protecting some nobles—and being told that her attacks are caused by a disease. There is a bit of a suggestion of how to figure out what's going on...if they catch a spotter, identify a "disease" which tricked two whole kingdoms, or think to try and detect clairvoyance. Third, a foe this mysterious doesn't need red herrings. The author did try, though, and they did more than some people. 0.25/1.25

Competence and Power (3.15/5)
Marx is a brute, albeit one with delusions of grandeur.
How capable is the villain of achieving its goals? Marx's ideology is well-explained, if shamelessly derivative of Marxism, but her goals are completely unexplained. Certainly, the idea of her tearing down every major government—even leaving aside local governments and her hatred of the gods—is implausible. The described effects her attacks are having are more in line with ruining productivity and impeding slavers than actually breaking down any governments...which is in line with her limited abilities and her methodology. In short, whatever her goals are, she doesn't seem capable of fulfilling them. 0/0.8
How difficult is it to reach the villain? Ha! 1.6/1.6
How much of a fight can the villain put up? Depends on the details. If the PCs start at extreme range, victory is almost impossible. If they start closer, they have a chance, since the villain is so heavily specialized for extreme-range combat...though the petrifying gaze makes for a final unexpected "F you". So the battle is either nasty or nothing special as far as difficulty goes. 1.05/2.05
Any classic blunders? Nothing I can see. 0.55/0.55

Memorable Villainy (1.5/5)
Is the villain a character? Marginally. 0.5/1.25
Would I like to run the villain? Heck no! 0/0.5
Does the villain have a sensible, fitting goal and plan? No. For all the talk of philosophy, no goal is mentioned, and the plan is vague and ineffective. 0/1
Does the villain inspire strong emotions in the players? Yes, but "frustration" isn't what I was going for. 0.3/1
Is the villain's concept linked to its rulership? The villain's concept is centered around its sniper abilities, with its assassin's guild and bandits being a secondary consideration, but the ideology is a good touch for this category. 0.1/0.5
What scale is the villain? Too much for an encounter, but I'm not sure I can build a whole campaign around her. Maybe a short one. 0.6/1

Spoiler: The Cackling Prince (13.45/20)

Show

Overall: Creepy, terrifying, and a unique challenge, but its minimal background and lack of a motive cost heavily.

Originality (4.35/5)
Was its concept surprising? For this contest? Yeah. (1.5/1.5)
Was its build surprising? I didn't expect to see any martial stances in a psionic contest. (0.5/0.5)
Does it and its plan fall into villain stereotypes? The Prince strikes me as channeling the essence of horror movie monsters, with no small amount of trickster added in. Still, that's hardly an expected stereotype, so I can't ding you too much. (0.5/0.75)
Does it involve a clever trick or plan? Combat use of Hide in Plain Sight completely changes the dynamic of combat. (Unless some of the characters are really good at Spot checks, I guess.) (1.25/1.25)
How long does it take to summarize your character? Hm...would something like "dark soul-draining fey who usurped an elven kingdom" work? (0.6/1)

Elegance (4.15/5)
Is the progression smooth? Even as a Dark Gray Jester, his central gimmicks—Hide in Plain Sight and Charisma loss—are clearly present. (1/1)
Is everything legal and consistent? So far as I can tell. (1/1)
Did you fulfill contest requirements? Manifesting levels and evil alignment are go, forbidden classes and races are not, but I'm not sure if he counts as the "open and acknowledged leader" of Athanth. That said, he doesn't seem to be hiding his influence so much as not being noticed, and Athanth is at least an actual kingdom rather than some arbitrary patch of lawless land, so I can comfortably give you partial credit. (0.25/5)
Did you avoid dips? Two levels of Swordsage. Could be better, could be worse. (0.75/1.25)
How easy is it to run your villain? You provide a good amount of information that helps run the Prince, especially at high levels. That said, a villain whose primary gimmick is the players not knowing where he is is a good deal harder to run, so I can't give you a perfect score. (1.15/1.25)

Competence and Power (3.25/5)
The Cackling Prince is a Brute, which makes me think I should rethink my use of the term "Brute".
How capable is the villain of achieving its goals? Goals? What goals? If it's just trying to hold onto the kingdom, I'm not sure how well the Prince could do it; he controls only a handful of Bleak Ones, and there's no indication that the kingdom loyally serves him. Perhaps he is manipulating the kingdom from behind the scenes using the king, but then I'd need to deduct points from contest requirements...not that I'm convinced a Bleak One could pretend to be a king. (0/0.8)
How difficult is it to reach the villain? He literally invites the PCs into his inner sanctum. That said, his hiding ability and the minions he has around him make fighting him trickier, so I can't give you a 0. (0.25/1.55)
How much of a fight can the villain put up? Fighting the Prince means trying to hit a practically invisible target who see invisibility and true seeing won't help find, while taking damage to an attribute most adventurers dump. Not only is it challenging (but not too punishing—there are ways to get around his stealth), but it's unique—a difference in kind from normal combat. (2.1/2.1)
Any classic blunders? Invites the heroes into his inner sanctum. Still, this is hardly the worst mistake he could make, and is easily changed without affecting the villain. (0.25/0.55)
There isn't any category which properly represents the biggest selling point of the Cackling Prince—the difference of kind offered by his encounter—so I'm increasing this category's score by 25%, from 2.6 to 3.25

Memorable Villainy (2.2/5)
Is the villain a character? Barely. (0.25/1.25)
Would I like to run the villain? Not as written, but I can see him making a great head monster for a haunted-castle adventure. (0.4/0.5)
Does the villain have a sensible, fitting goal and plan? Not that I can see. (0/1)
Does the villain inspire strong emotions in the players? Oh yes. (1/1)
Is the villain's concept linked to its rulership? Tangentially. (0.05/0.25)
What scale is the villain? Probably only an adventure. (0.5/1)

Spoiler: Scar (16.1/20)

Show

This is a tricky one to grade, since it's more of a force of nature than a classic villain. I've adjusted the values of certain categories to account for this.

Originality (3.55/5)
Was its concept surprising? Yeah, I'd say so. (1.75/1.75)
Was its build surprising? Most of it was just increasing the CR of the base cat, but I wouldn't expect Storm Disciple. (0.4/0.75)
Does it and its plan fall into villain stereotypes? A bit, I suppose. It's very...plague-ey, like a zombie apocalypse without the infection. Still, it's far from the worst stereotype. (0.15/0.25)
Does it involve a clever trick or plan? No...though the unexpected force-of-nature thing deserves credit somewhere. (0.25/1)
How long does it take to summarize your character? Psionic alpha lion, leading a horde of dominated lions to turn the world into a quasi-Darwinist wilderness. (1/1.25)

Elegance (3.9/5)
Is the progression smooth? It hits a bump when it goes from phrenic lion to phantom lion ardent, but it's pretty good overall. It even provides statistics for a CR 1.5 mook! (1/1)
Is everything legal and consistent? Ability score bonuses are wonky, and you're listing a Hide penalty for the Tiny and Medium sizes, but other than that I don't see any problems. (0.7/1)
Did you fulfill contest requirements? Five levels of manifester? Barely. "Open and acknowledged leader of a territory"? I'm not sure a pack leader counts, though it's better than a secret bandit leader. (0.2/0.5)
Did you avoid dips? One level of Ardent, but Storm Disciple continues advancing those powers. Still, they mostly feel like they're there because the contest requires five manifester levels. (0.75/1.25)
How easy is it to run your villain? Simple. It's a big lion with a few psionic powers and such rounding everything out. As for the big picture, it's a horde of lions rampaging across the land. You don't need to be a master roleplayer or a master of improvisation to deal with this. (1.25/1.25)

Competence and Power (4.65/5)
Closer to a Brute than a Schemer, though as a force-of-nature it isn't quite either.
How capable is the villain of achieving its goals? For a certain definition of "goals," very capable indeed. I'm not convinced that the psionically-controlled lion horde could destroy civilized towns, but it would wreak havoc on the countryside—especially if the phrenic lions bred true. (0.7/0.8)
How difficult is it to reach the villain? He's in the middle of a wild expanse full of dominated lions and the like. Tricky, and very...similar to the overall leonine conflict. (1.6/1.6)
How much of a fight can the villain put up? It's a darn impressive gish. The lion would be pretty vulnerable to full casters—but what isn't? (2.05/2.05)
Any classic blunders? I'm not sure I can fault the creator of this creature either way. (0.3/0.55)

Memorable Villainy (4/5)
Is the villain a character? Force of Nature, so...not really applicable. It certainly feels like more than a pile of statistics—indeed, the statistics of the lion itself are one of the least important parts of the adventure! (0.5/0.5)
Would I like to run the villain? Yes. (1.25/1.25)
Does the villain have a sensible, fitting goal and plan? So far that it has a plan, yes. (0.5/0.5)
Does the villain inspire strong emotions in the players? It should inspire some, but I can't think of any in specific that it would inspire. (0.5/1.5)
Is the villain's concept linked to its rulership? Pride leader, psionically dominating other lions. (0.25/0.25)
What scale is the villain? I can see focusing a large campaign centered around Scar, or at least the phenomena it represents or causes. (1/1)

Spoiler: Overmind (8.15/20)

Show

Overview: Bland.

Originality (0/5)
Was its concept surprising? In a contest about psionic rulers, a person who became a ruler by psionically dominating people is not surprising. (0/1.5)
Was its build surprising? Not really. (0/0.5)
Does it and its plan fall into villain stereotypes? Yeah. Mind-control-based domination is a common stereotype, as is the villain taking by "unfair" measures what they can't get the "fair" way. (0/0.75)
Does it involve a clever trick or plan? Not that I see. (0/1.25)
How long does it take to summarize your character? Psionic overlord. (0/1)

Elegance (3.95/5)
Is the progression smooth? Yes. Overmind can start (limited) mind control right off the bat. (1/1)
Is everything legal and consistent? So far as I can tell, yes. I'm docking points for not saying when the various powers are learned. It's still not explained clearly—you have to know how many powers a psion learns at each level—but I won't deduct as many points. (0.85/1)
Did you fulfill contest requirements? It is evil. No forbidden choices have been made. It has plenty of manifesting levels, one of only two villains that didn't abandon their primary manifesting class for a prestige class ASAP. Finally, it is the single villain in this contest which is, by the end of its history, indisputably the open and acknowledged ruler of a territory. (0.5/0.5)
Did you avoid dips? Ten and ten? Yes. (1.25/1.25)
How easy is it to run your villain? It's a generic overlord villain. The DM needs to work to figure out an Evil Plan or something, but beyond that... (0.8/1.25)
And yes, the total should be 4.3...but a lot of the "elegance" feels more like shallowness to me. Thus, I'm docking about 10%.

Competence and Power (3.7/5)
Overmind is a schemer, which makes me realize I need to rethink that nomenclature.
How capable is the villain of achieving its goals? With care taken to make sure the right people (with a high power-to-Will-save ratio) are charmed, yes. Assuming that "control the land" is its only goal—I'm docking extra points for not having solid goals beyond "Love me, mind-slaves!". (1.05/1.8)
How difficult is it to reach the villain? It's hard to tell, but pretty hard once the fanatics and whatnot are set up. (1.25/1.55)
How much of a fight can the villain put up? The villain is designed to be surprisingly tanky. (1.1/1.1)
Any classic blunders? No, but more due to flatness than anything. (0.3/0.55)

Memorable Villainy (0.5/5)
Is the villain a character? No. Even the creator admitted this. THIS IS A BAD THING. (0/1.25)
Would I like to run the villain? No, not if I had the time to make a deeper one. (Or steal borrow one from these contests.) (0/0.5)
Does the villain have a sensible, fitting goal and plan? Nothing beyond "take over". Which is also what it needs to do ahead of time to be a threat. (0/1)
Does the villain inspire strong emotions in the players? Nothing special, no. (0/1)
Is the villain's concept linked to its rulership? Yes. Rulership is about all it has. (0.25/0.25)
What scale is the villain? A long campaign could be made to dethrone the Overmind...but the GM would need to make up a lot on their own to do so. Come to think of it, they'd basically need to invent their own villain... (0.25/1)

Spoiler: Brightness (19.4/20)

Show

Originality (4.25/5)
Was its concept surprising? YES! It's a D&D spy satellite. (1.5/1.5)
Was its build surprising? No...aside from being designed to be a freaking spy satellite! But that barely counts. (0.25/0.5)
Does it and its plan fall into villain stereotypes? Technically, but "antagonistic benevolent AI" isn't a fantasy villain stereotype. (0.75/0.75)
Does it involve a clever trick or plan? D&D! Spy! Satellite! And the fact that it all works requires several other clever tricks. (1.25/1.25)
How long does it take to summarize your character? Artificial life disenfranchised by the world, who sought ultimate power to make the world perfect. (1/1)

Elegance (4.5/5)
Is the progression smooth? It loses points for not getting its schticks ready until 10-12 level...but not many, since dealing with the fantasy spy satellite shouldn't be something that you do in one adventure. (0.75/1)
Is everything legal and consistent? Surprisingly for a spy satellite, yes! (1/1)
Did you fulfill contest requirements? We again run into the question of if a spy satellite acting as a quasi-deity counts as "the open and acknowledged leader of a territory of some size". I'm inclined to say "no". I'm also not convinced it's evil, and warforged built for psionics seem like a spiritual violation of the no-psionic-races rule. (0/0.5)
Did you avoid dips? Yes. (1.25/1.25)
How easy is it to run your villain? Here's a tricky bit. Run it as the Big Bad? Tricky. But it makes a great setting element, and it can make an effective Bigger Bad. This doesn't even require knowing the details of the rules, just the background and the thought of fantasy spy satellites. (Not that the details hurt.) (1/1.25)

Competence and Power (4.45/5)
Schemer, all the way.
How capable is the villain of achieving its goals? I keep comparing Brightness to a god. There's a reason for that. Immortal, omniscient, and if not all-powerful then extremely powerful. Also, people more or less worship it. (1.8/1.8)
How difficult is it to reach the villain? It's in orbit. Getting there requires braving the dangers of space...and also getting to space somehow. (1.6/1.6)
How much of a fight can the villain put up? Not its strong suit, but it has a few tricks it can pull out in a pinch. (0.5/1.05)
Any classic blunders? Not that I see. (0.55/0.55)

Memorable Villainy (5/5)
Is the villain a character? Certainly. (1.25/1.25)
Would I like to run the villain? Maybe not as a villain per se, but as a setting element or plot-driver? (0.5/0.5)
Does the villain have a sensible, fitting goal and plan? Yes. (1/1)
Does the villain inspire strong emotions in the players? Spy satellite. In D&D. If that doesn't inspire strong emotions...well, imagine all the AI overlord tropes, in an alien setting. This should do something to unsettle your players. (1/1)
Is the villain's concept linked to its rulership? Yes, even if it's indirect rulership. (0.25/0.25)
What scale is the villain? Some villains can define a campaign. Brightness can define a campaign setting. Or, y'know, you could just be on a quest to smash it. There's nothing wrong with that, though it does waste Brightness's dramatic potential. (1/1)

Brightness in first place, Scar not too far behind, Cackling Prince not far behind that, and Marx and the Overmind behind them, the Overmind taking last place. Sounds right.

If you think I screwed up, do let me know. Possible screwups include:
* Grading you too harshly
* Grading someone else too softly
* Grading one person lower than another in one category despite my notes suggesting I like how they did it better
* Unjustified arbitrary adjustments
* Lack of justified arbitrary adjustments
* Adding wrong

[Telonius]

Thank you for the judging! My inbox is open for any disputes. We still have a week left, if any other judges want to jump in.

One minor quibble from the Chancellor - it looks like the possible scores for Competence don't actually add up to 5? I may have missed that in the last competition too.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Thank you for the judging! My inbox is open for any disputes. We still have a week left, if any other judges want to jump in.

One minor quibble from the Chancellor - it looks like the possible scores for Competence don't actually add up to 5? I may have missed that in the last competition too.

I was a contestant in that competition, so no you didn't.
On closer inspection, they all add up to 4.75. Whoops. That's probably why so many were so hard to add...I'll go back and add in that 0.25. Let's say 0.05 to each category, plus 0.05 to whichever category that contestant did well in?

EDIT: That also let me catch a couple addition errors. And might have introduced one or two.
Could you think the chancellor guy for me?

[Telonius]

No problem!

Dispute from Overmind:

So there's a problem with your originality score. The scores range from 1 to 5, with the exception of using UA variants where you can give 0. Similarly there's a problem with your second criterion for excellence:

I'm docking points for not saying when the various powers are learned.

All power are obtained in the order listed.

Notwithstanding the s on powers which I didn't check thoroughly enough, that would seem to answer that.

You seem to have docked points for "Flatness" and the fact that the build doesn't inspire you, personally, no less than thirteen times. It reads as "Actually, everything about this villain is fine, but I don't like it so I'm going to take away all its points."

The "How long does it take to summarise your character" section strikes me the wrong way. Here, let me have a go: Sniper, Soul eater, Lion, Psionic mastermind hellbent on getting back those who have wronged it and gaining total rulership through mental domination, psionic satellite. See what I'm getting at? You can't really summarise the overmind as just a "Psionic overlord" without essentially ignoring, well, the entirety of the overmind's character.

It just looks as though you've gone into the judging determined to give the overmind a bad score before you've even looked it through, properly.