[3.5] Rizban's Character Repository and Build Requests

[Rizban]

I've been playing and DMing D&D for a number of years and created many, many characters in that time. Whether PC or NPC, I typically make copious notes on their builds and have kept track of the notes of almost every character I've ever made. Flipping back through the notes and talking about old campaigns with some friends has inspired me to create a thread to share some of them. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading them and might get inspiration for characters in your own games.

You're free to use these characters in any games you play or run, but I do request that you not include them in any other work, whether for profit or not.

The vast majority of characters are built within the self imposed restrictions and house rules that have evolved into the Aldhaven Consolidated Rules, but not all of them are. Other than a few homebrew instances, the consolidated rules are more of a ban list than anything. So, most of the builds should be permitted in any game that allows the same source books. I will try to document the material included in each character, but I can't record everything, nor will I be reproducing rules text here.

If there are any special rules variants, alternate class features, or homebrew included, I will note it in the build. Ability scores and hit points in an entry will be as they were when the character was used or created as opposed to some arbitrary array or method, though I will typically use 32 point buy for ability scores. Also note that any alternate class features based on a roleplaying requirement (organization/deity/etc.) are either ignored or replaced with a requirement appropriate to the game setting for which the character was made. Substitution levels are considered compatible with one another, as long as they replace different class features.

All characters will use the same format, including a name, brief description and a stat block for a specific ECL, typically somewhere between 5 and 10. I will include background story and the full build from 1st onward, though most characters won't go all the way to 20. If you chose to play one of these characters or a variation thereof in a game, it'll be up to you to finish out the build. I won't be posting characters in any particular order, but I will try to keep an organized index here.

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On another note, if you have an idea for a new interesting character and would like for me to do a build similar to those in this thread, I'm defeinitely interested in doing so. Post up a basic character idea over in this thread. (Thread is expired. I'll create a new one when I'm looking for new ideas.) I'll build with specific effort towards making a character that has good character depth, is fun to play, and is effective in a moderately optimized group. Give as much information as you want, but please leave me a fair amount of room to play with. I'd prefer not to have actual class/feat suggestions, but if your concept is for a particular prestige class, then that's fine. However, I'm not going to recreate existing characters from other sources and reserve the right to only flesh out characters that I find interesting or challenging to create.

Spoiler: Source Book Abbreviation Guide

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Abbr.	Source Book
A&E	Arms and Equipment Guide
BoED	Book of Exalted Deeds
BoVD	Book of Vile Darkness
CAd	Complete Adventurer
CAr	Complete Arcane
CC	Complete Champion
CD	Complete Divine
City	Cityscape
CM	Complete Mage
CoR	Champions of Ruin
CoV	Champions of Valor
CPsi	Complete Psionic
CS	Complete Scoundrel
CSW	City of Splendors: Waterdeep
CW	Complete Warrior
DD	Deities and Demigods
DLCS	Dragonlance Campaign Setting
DM	Dragon Magic
DMC	Dragon Magazine Compendium
DMG	Dungeon Master's Guide v.3.5
DMG2	Dungeon Master's Guide II
DoE	Dragons of Eberron
DoF	Dragons of Faerun
DotU	Drow of the Underdark
Dr	Draconomicon
Dra	Dragonmarked
Dragon#	Dragon Magazine Number #
Dun	Dungeonscape
ECS	Eberron Campaign Setting
EE	Elder Evils
EH	Explorer's Handbook
EoE	Exemplars of Evil
EtCR	Expedition to Castle Ravenloft
EtDP	Expedition to the Demonweb Pits
EtRG	Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk
EtU	Expedition to Undermountain
F&P	Faiths & Pantheons
FC1	Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss
FC2	Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells
FF	Fiend Folio
FoE	Faiths of Eberron
FRCS	Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Frost	Frostburn
Ghost	Ghostwalk
HoB	Heroes of Battle
HoH	Heroes of Horror
LEoF	Lost Empires of Faerun
LM	Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
LoD	Lords of Darkness
LoM	Lords of Madness
MH	Miniatures Handbook
MIC	Magic Item Compendium
MM(#)	Monster Manual v.3.5, II, III, IV, and V.
MoE	Magic of Eberron
MoF	Magic of Faerun
MoI	Magic of Incarnum
MoF	Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerun
MotP	Manual of the Planes
OA	Oriental Adventures
PGtE	Player's Guide to Eberron
PHB	Player's Handbook v.3.5
PHB2	Player's Handbook II
PlH	Planar Handbook
PoF	Power of Faerun
RoD	Races of Destiny
RoE	Races of Eberron
RoF	Races of Faerun
RoS	Races of Stone
RotD	Races of the Dragon
RotW	Races of the Wild
Sand	Sandstorm
SBG	Stronghold Builder's Guidebook
Sharn	Sharn: City of Towers
ShS	Shining South
SM	Silver Marches
SoS	Secrets of Sarlona
SoX	Secrets of Xen'drik
SS	Savage Species
Storm	Stormwrack
ToB	Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords
ToM	Tome of Magic
UA	Unearthed Arcana
UE	Unapproachable East
Und	Underdark
WoL	Weapons of Legacy
XPH	Expanded Psionics Handbook

[Rizban]

The Builds

Character	Description	ECL*
Alvin Buckle	Former slave in the underdark escapes and turns on his former masters.	6
Radislav Pasternak the Inebriated	Incomprehensible drunken dwarf with a cursed sword.	7
Shrift the Mighty	A little kobold who can give his friends and enemies a helping hand.	9
Camellia Theaceae	Fey Paladin of Shenanigans, i.e. the Paladin Done RightTM	10
Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk	Kreen huntsman who literally hops across the planes.	10
Sven Korinson	A Royal Guard with an aberrant heritage.	11
Mirala	A goblin priestess in tune with her inner beast.	19

* Note: The listed ECL is the level of the character's stat block presented at the beginning of each character's entry; however, each has a level by level breakdown and has the information necessary to use the character at almost any level.

[Rizban]

Sven Korinson
The great grandson of a mindflayer bewitched by one of the Inspired, Sven Korinson is a talented guardsman of the Royal Guard who uses his innate talents to uncover and eliminate potential threats to the crown.

Sven Korinson (ECL 10)

Male Empty VesselECS Barbarian 2/Fighter 2/Sanctified MindLoM 4/War MindXPH 1/Psychic Warrior 1/Level Adjustment 1 NG Medium Humanoid (Human, Psionic) Initiative +6; Senses Listen +9; Spot +7 Languages Common, Draconic, Quor, Riedran AC 20 T 13 FF 16; Fort +14 Ref +7 Will +10 Save Bonus +4 vs spells/powers/SLAs/PSAs hp 104 (10 HD) Speed 30 ft., Climb 15 ft. Ranged +2 Merciful Hand Crossbow [+16/+11 (1d4+6+1d6 (all nonlethal)/19-20)] (Rapid Shot +15/+15/+10) Melee +1 Longsword [+12/+7 (1d8+2/19-20)] BAB +9 Grp +10 Attack Options Chain of personal superiority +2†, Cleansing strike, Disruptive blow, Favored Enemy Humans +2, Hit-and-Run Tactics, Point Blank Shot † This ability is currently active. Combat Gear Lesser Truedeath CrystalMIC (on crossbow), pearl of brain lockMIC, 3 tanglefoot bags Power Points/Day: 42; Powers Known (ML 8): 4th – psionic dominateB (DC 20) 3rd – dispel psionicsB 2nd – hustle, read thoughtsB (DC 16) 1st – detect psionics (PW), psionic charmB (DC 16), stomp (DC 15), urban strider Strength 12 (+1) Dexterity 18 (+4) Constitution 16 (+3) Intelligence 14 (+2) Wisdom 18 (+4) Charisma 10 (+0) Feats HD1 – Illithid HeritageCP, Human – Illithid CompulsionCP, Flaw – Hand Crossbow FocusDotU, Flaw – Apprentice (Criminal)DMG2, Barb2 – Rapid Shot, HD3 – Iron Will, Ftr1 – Point Blank Shot, Ftr2 – Dead EyeDMC, HD6 – Practiced ManifesterCP, PW1 – Illithid LegacyCP, HD9 – Greater Illithid LegacyCP (Flaws Meager Fortitude, Vulnerable) Possessions combat gear plus Boots of Agile LeapingMIC, Circlet of Persuasion, Healing BeltMIC, Masterwork Manacles w/Good Lock, Periapt of Wisdom +4, +2 Mithral Breastplate

Skill Total Ranks Bluff +10 5 Diplomacy +9 0 Gather Information +3 0 Intimidate +23 12 Knowledge – dungeoneering +4 2 Knowledge – history +4 2 Knowledge – psionics +10 8 Listen +9 5 Perform (dance) +4 1 Psicraft +8 4 Sense Motive +17 13 Spot +7 3 Unspent Skill Points - 15

Born into a family of questionable heritage, Sven grew up with next to nothing, but he never knew any differently. Driven from their homes by an angry mob, his grandfather had built a small cabin in the forests north of the vast farmlands surrounding the great city of Sesbury. Sven was a happy boy, climbing over, into, and through everything he could and just enjoying the outdoors. His loving parents let him roam as he would, though his mother worried constantly when he was out of site. His doting grandfather would tell him stories of far away lands and fantastic creatures as Sven sat on his knee and tugged on his “beard.” Sadly, these happy days were not to last.

Bandits fleeing justice in Federated Alliance lands made their way north into the woods. While Sven and his father were out hunting, the bandits stumbled upon the cabin, burning it to the ground while killing Sven's mother and grandfather. The two stumbled onto the scene horrified, having left their kill behind after seeing the rising smoke. The first five bodies they discovered belonged to the bandits, apparently killed by one another or blasted with some kind of potent energy, but eventually, the remains of their family were discovered.

Sven swore vengeance on the bandits and began to hunt down the few survivors. Armed with only the small crossbow he used for hunting rabbits, his agility, and his hatred, Sven killed the bandits one by one.

Spoiler: ECL 1-4

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Sven begins his career as a Barbarian, though certainly not a typical one. Growing up far from civilization left him time to climb wherever he wanted, as most boys will do, while honing his combat skills against the humans that constantly harassed his family. Despite his smaller stature, he's surprisingly intimidating.
He soon multiclasses into Fighter and quickly masters the use of his hand crossbow, becoming fairly deadly with it.
Though mindflayer blood courses through his veins, for the moment, it doesn't do much for him beyond strengthening his mind and body against magic and psionic attacks.

Starting Ability Scores: (32 pt buy)
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 10

Note That this build assumes the character has proficiency with a hand crossbow without needing to spend a feat. As compared to a light crossbow, I tend to think that dropping the damage die two sizes is sufficient to offset dropping the -2 penalty for shooting one handed. It still takes two hands and a move action to reload without a feat, just like the light crossbow. If you need to spend a feat on it, you can take it at 1st level and delay Hand Crossbow Focus to 3rd and take a different feat at 4th or take a class other than Fighter.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
1	Barbarian 1	+1	+2	+0	+0	HD1 – Illithid HeritageCP Human – Illithid CompulsionCP Flaw – Hand Crossbow FocusDotU Flaw – Apprentice (Criminal)DMG2	Climb speed (1/2 land speed), 1st favored enemy, illiteracy
2	Barbarian 2	+2	+3	+0	+0	Barb2 – Rapid Shot	Combat style (Rapid Shot), +2 Intimidate
3	Fighter 1	+3	+5	+0	+0	HD3 – Iron Will Ftr1 – Point Blank Shot	Bonus Feat, Hit-and-Run Tactics
4	Fighter 2	+4	+6	+0	+0	Ftr2 – Dead EyeDMC	Bonus Feat

In combat, Sven focuses on shooting his enemies as often as possible, from a higher vantage point if possible. If he can catch them flat-footed, he can deal significantly more damage.

The Ape Totem Barbarian^UA grants him a climb speed and +2 to Intimidate while the Crafty Hunter^UA ACF trades out rage for the Ranger's favored enemies and archery combat style.

He also takes the Hit-and-Run Tactics^DotU ACF for Fighter to give him +2 Initiative and Dex to damage vs flat-footed enemies, which gives him Dex to damage twice with the Dead Eye feat.

The Apprentice (Criminal) feat is the one questionable choice here, though I justify it as having been trained by his half-illithid grandfather, who was certainly in a legal gray area at the very best of times.

Note that Sven has a +1 Level Adjustment from his race, but the build breakdown assumes that he has already bought it off.

His vengeance complete and unable to bear remaining where he is, Sven leaves the place he has called home his entire life. He travels south into Alliance farmlands and eventually makes his way to Aldhaven. He quickly gains a position with the City Watch where he meets a mentor who recognizes Sven's latent psionic talent. He trains Sven in the ways of his tradition, focusing him on guarding himself against psychic attacks while enhancing his own personal prowess.

Soon, however, Sven discovers powers within himself that his new mentor hadn't taught him and never could have. Despite his general lack of social graces, he found that just by giving the person in front of him a little mental push, he could quickly make new friends and from there manipulate these friends into doing precisely what he wanted. Of course, this new ability couldn't stay secret long. He was quickly apprehended by his own partner in the Watch and turned over to the proper authorities.

Fortunately for Sven, a certain nobleman had also taken note of his abilities. He was given a choice: do hard labor for his crimes against his victims or join an even harsher training program to see if he had what it took to become something more. He chose the latter.

Now, several years later, he has become a member of the prestigious Royal Guard. Sadly, despite the vaunted name, he is mostly tasked with standing guard at the gate to the Nobles' Quarter keeping an eye out for those who might try to sneak their way past security. Still, he does occasionally have interesting encounters and occasionally gets a chance to flex his continually growing mental powers with a little bounty hunting work on the side.

Spoiler: ECL 5-10

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At 5th level, Sven takes his first level of Sanctified Mind, giving him some additional protection against mental attacks. Since the first level of the class doesn't progress manifesting, it's not wasted.
At 6th, Sven takes his first level of War Mind, finally gaining manifesting to spend all those racial power points he's just been sitting on so far.
More levels of Sanctified Mind and a dip into Psychic Warrior see him through the rest of this tier.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
5	Sanctified Mind 1	+5	+8	+0	+2		Partition mind
6	War Mind 1	+6/+1	+10	+2	+2	HD6 – Practiced ManifesterCP	Chain of personal superiority +2
7	Psychic Warrior 1	+6/+1	+12	+2	+2	PW1 – Illithid LegacyCP	Bonus Feat
8	Sanctified Mind 2	+7/+2	+13	+2	+3		Cleansing strike, +1 level of existing divine spellcasting or manifesting class
9	Sanctified Mind 3	+8/+3	+13	+3	+3	HD9 – Greater Illithid LegacyCP	Disrupting blow 1/day, +1 level of existing divine spellcasting or manifesting class
10	Sanctified Mind 4	+9/+4	+14	+3	+4		Hard to hold, +1 level of existing divine spellcasting or manifesting class

Sven gains better defenses and manifesting from Sanctified/War Mind. Unfortunately, the War Mind progression gets very, very few powers known.. The one level of Psychic Warrior is necessary for the bonus feat so he can pick up two bonus powers with the Illithid Legacy feat, which he qualifies for using Practiced Manifester (War Mind) to get his ML up. Greater Illithid Legacy gives him 2 more powers known. Psychic Warrior also gives him 2 more PP and another 1st-level power known, but since that power will be permanently stuck at ML 1, we need a useful power that works well regardless of level, such as detect psionics.

Cleansing strike gives him a smite-like ability, and disrupting blow gives him some real damage against psionics. Both, however, rely on melee combat, so he always keeps his City Watch issued longsword on hand. A way to get a “ranged smite” would be very beneficial, but I couldn't find a viable option that would actually apply to cleansing strike.

At level 10, he ends up with 9 BAB, ML 8, and 8 powers known (max of 4th-level). He's primarily a close-range archer, but he's got other options, including some save-or-suck options (charm and dominate) with decent save DCs.

[Rizban]

Radislav Pasternak the Inebriated
A lazy drunken dwarf with a chip on his shoulder inherits his father's cursed sword and uses it to get free beer.

Radislav Pasternak (ECL 7)

Male Gold Dwarf Commoner 1/Barbarian 5/BattleragerRoF 1 CN Medium Humanoid (dwarf) Initiative -1; Senses Darkvision 60; Stonecunning; Listen -1; Spot -1 Languages AC 16 T 9 FF 16; Fort +13 Ref +0 Will +0 +4 AC vs Giants, Save Bonus +4 vs poisons; +2 vs spells/SLAs hp 86 (7 HD) Speed 20 ft. Melee Unarmed [+12/+7 (1d3+8)] (Two-Weapon Fighting +10/+10/+8) Melee -2 Dancing Greatsword [+10/+5 (2d6+7/19-20)] BAB +6 Grp +21 Attack Options Cleave, Improved Grapple, rage 3/day† † This ability is currently active. Combat Gear Brawler's Gauntlets of Ogre Power +2† MIC, Moonshine † This item is currently active. Strength 22 (+6) Dexterity 8 (-1) Constitution 23 (+6) Intelligence 14 (+2) Wisdom 8 (-1) Charisma 10 (+0) Feats HD1 – Endurance, Flaw – Power Attack, Barb1 – Improved Unarmed Strike, Barb1 – Toughness, Barb1 – Two-Weapon Fighting, HD3 – Cleave, Barb2 – Improved Grapple, Barb3 – Great Fortitude, HD6 – Poison HealerFC1, Ritual – Least LegacyWoL (Flaws Incomprehensible AccentDraMag #330) Possessions combat gear plus +2 Mithral Breastplate, Moonshine, Moonshine, Also Moonshine

Skill Total Ranks Craft (moonshine) +12 10 Intimidate +12 10 Knowledge – history +7 5 Knowledge – religion +4 2 Listen -1 0 Perform -2 2 Profession (farmer) +3 4 Ride -1 0 Spot -1 0 Unspent Skill Points - 8

Radislav was born into a poor village to the poorest of farmers in the far northern lands of Albergion, a land of near perpetual frost and a short, bitter growing season. As is expected in a story such as that of fair Radislav, his childhood was harsh and bereft of joy. His mother died when he was very young, and Radislav has little memory of her beyond that of a sickly woman lying in bed. Blamed for his mother's death by his drunk of a father, Radislav was tormented by the old man from that day onward. Growing chiefly potatoes, what little Radislav dug up was quickly turned into coarse alcohol.

Though beaten daily by his father, Radislav did not break under him. Rather, like heated iron on anvil, it hardened him into a tough and bitter man, not far different from his own father. Radislav had even taken a liking to the drink whenever possible. When his father fell ill, rather than nursing the man, Radislav donned his father's heavy fur coat, grabbed the last two potatoes, the last bottle of moonshine, and headed off on his own, never to return.

His first day out on his own, Radislav encountered a bear cub and its mother, who quite thankfully, had been killed by a falling tree. He felt sorry for the cub who didn't seem to understand the loss of a mother, so Radislav took her in, planning to take care of the bear cub better than his own father took care of him.

Several days into his newfound freedom, Radislav's spirits were at an all time high, further fortified by drink. At last, he was free of all restriction and hardship and had made a true friend in the bear cub, whom he named Nesti. True, living alone was no easy task, especially feeding a bear and especially acquiring more to drink, but he was free from his father's lash and free from the family ties that had always held him down. Never again would he bow beneath their yoke. Never, that is, until the morning he stooped to skin the rabbit he had caught for his breakfast. Reaching to draw the knife from his belt, Radislav instead found himself staring dumbly at his father's sword.

Spoiler: ECL 1-6

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Radislav begins the game as a Commoner with the Incomprehensible Accent flaw. Not only is he a dwarf from a small village with their own dialect, but what he says is constantly slurred by the strong moonshine he constantly drinks. Though I usually don't use material from Dragon Magazine, it just seemed too good of a fit to not use it, and the bonus feat is nice.
He quickly multiclasses into Barbarian, because, let's face it, what's the point of being in a constant drunken stupor if you can't fly into a drunken rage and smash that irritating bard in the face with a tankard?
Though a bit of a drunken fool, Radislav is no idiot. He's innately fairly bright and has a good number of skill points, if a rather poor skill list. He needs ranks in Intimidate, Know (history), Know (religion), and Perform for upcoming prestige classes, but the ranks needed in them are fairly trivial. Intimidate needs 8 ranks, but that's a class skill for Barbarian. He will also have max ranks in Craft (moonshine).

Starting Ability Scores (28 pt buy)
Str 16, Dex 8, Con 17, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 10

Note Rules for alcohol as a poison and intoxication are found in Arms & Equipment Guide p32.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
1	Commoner 1	+0	+0	+0	+0	HD1 – Endurance Flaw – Power Attack	-
2	Barbarian 1	+1	+2	+0	+0	Barb1 – Improved Unarmed Strike Barb1 – Toughness Barb1 – Two-Weapon Fighting	Illiteracy, Improved Unarmed Strike (Two-Weapon Fighting), Toughness, rage 1/day
3	Barbarian 2	+2	+3	+0	+0	HD3 – Cleave Barb2 – Improved Grapple	Improved Grapple
4	Barbarian 3	+3	+3	+1	+1	Barb3 – Great Fortitude	Great Fortitude
5	Barbarian 4	+4	+4	+1	+1		Rage 2/day
6	Barbarian 5	+5	+4	+1	+1	HD6 – Poison HealerFC1	Bear hug (+4 grapple when raging)

In combat, Radislav focuses on two things: 1) Smashing the other guy's face, 2) Not spilling his drink.
He'll use whatever weapon is on hand, though he does rather like big weapons, he prefers use his bare hands and keeps a light weapon on hand that is useful while grappling. The Bear Totem Barbarian^UA grants Radislav some bonuses to grappling, including bonus feats. City Brawler^{AVB or DragMag#349} grants him Improved Unarmed Strike (with Two-Weapon Fighting when fighting unarmed) and reduces the penalties for using improvised weapons, perfect for bar brawls.

With his feat selection, he's a decent grappler for these levels, and if he stabs someone to death with his knife in a grapple, he can stab at anyone trying to break up the fight with Cleave. Lashing out at people trying to break up a bar brawl is definitely in character.
Starting at 6th-level, Radislav's body has become so adapted to drinking booze that throwing back a stout not only makes all the ladies prettier but also actually heals him, helping him to better maintain his *ahem* stamina.

Even in death, his father still managed to ruin Radislav's day. He had apparently inherited a magic sword... a cursed magic sword. Really, dad? You're the best. No, really. No sarcasm there at all. High five.

Radislav tried throwing the sword away, digging a hole and burying it, selling it, donating it to charity, and stabbing a priest of Pelor whose remove curse failed. Nothing seemed capable of parting Radislav with the weapon. Worse still, any time he tried to use another weapon, the sword would just sort of appear in his hands from nowhere, knocking any other weapon to the ground. It sure made cutting meat at dinner damned difficult. Thanks again, pops. It turned out okay though. Radislav preferred to just pick up his steak and gnaw through it and finally had a good excuse to do so.

Not only was the stupid sword awfully inconvenient and way too big, it was also horribly balanced and refused to hold an edge, no matter how well sharpened. Completely and totally worthless, the stupid sword just would not leave him alone. This kind of thing would tend to drive a man to drink, but Radislav was already close enough to just walk. No designated driver needed for good ol' Radislav. No, sir. Fortunately, Radislav never became an alcoholic. He never once attended a meeting. The only upside to things is that he was still able to use random items as improvised weapons, so long as they aren't generally recognized as weapons. Tankards? Perfect, except for tending to spill very valuable booze. Spoons? Fun, but not too effective. Table legs? Great, right up until someone mentions the word "club." It was a delicate balancing act, but it sure made brawls interesting.

In the town of Dorban's Rest, Radislav traded his blessed sword for the 30somethingth time in exchange for a few rounds of good beer. Unfortunately, this time, he didn't make it out of town before the sword transferred itself back into his possession. Seeing himself cheated, the barkeep and his burly friends made sure Radislav paid for his drinks in blood. Sober, bloody, and bruised, Radislav hurled the sword in fury at the barkeep as the man walked away. Hovering in midair for a moment, the sword proceeded to attack his enemies of its own accord for a few seconds before falling to the ground. Of course, it just made the men angrier. Having grown over the past few years, Nesti came to Radislav's rescue, driving away the men who assaulted him.

After recovering and skipping out on his clerical bills, Radislav stopped to really sit and examine the sword for the first time since it came into his possession. It became his new obsession, almost to the point of rivaling his love of dwarven gutfire. He'd always had a passing interest in history, and he decided it was time to do some research. After several months, Radislav found his answers. Generations past, his ancestor was a powerful wizard, one of the most powerful in the world. Said wizard had a very promising son whom he expected to follow in his footsteps. But, no, the son chose to go to Fighter School instead and disappoint dear old dad, who responded by creating an incredibly potent cursed sword that would ruin any chance his son had of ever becoming a fighter of any caliber. The sword had passed from father to son over the generations ever since. Suddenly, everything Radislav's father had ever done made perfect sense. Child abuse had been a family tradition for generations!

Spoiler: ECL 7-10

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At 7th-level, Radislav picks up his first level in Battlerager. He becomes rather more bold about just leaping on someone and punching their face in.
Nesti, up until taking Wild Cohort, has been more of a fluff companion than anything. Now, she can actually join him, though I don't think he can legally pick a bear through Wild Cohort just yet... Maybe delay it to a later level if you need to. *shrug*

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
7	Battlerager 1	+6/+1	+6	+1	+1	Ritual – Least LegacyWoL	Rage 1/day, gruff, rock gut
8	Battlerager 2	+7/+2	+7	+1	+1	Bat2 – Close-Quarter FightingRoF or CW	Close-Quarter Fighting, fearless
9	Battlerager 3	+8/+3	+7	+2	+2	HD9 – Wild CohortWeb Bat3 – Improved Unarmed Strike	Rage 2/day, Improved Unarmed Strike
10	Battlerager 4	+9/+4	+8	+2	+2	Bat4 – Great Cleave Bat4 – Reckless OffensiveRoF or XPH	Great Cleave, Reckless Offensive

Battlerager gives Radislav more rage uses per day at a greatly increased rate over Barbarian and a number of situationally useful bonus feats. He picks up Improved Unarmed Strike a second time from bonus feats. See if your DM will let you switch the second copy for Superior Unarmed Strike^ToB. As a DM, I'd probably let that work.

Radislav also discovers and unlocks the basic legacy abilities of his ancestral cursed great sword (stats provided at the end). The dumb thing is practically useless, but it does have some other interesting characteristics.

Combat still focuses on getting in close, always having alcohol on hand, and grabbing whatever is lying around to bash skulls. Intimidate and grapple start to fall off as effective tactics around here somewhere, depending on your DM and campaign. The main difference is that he now has a bear friend who joins him in battle.

Ha! Turns out the sword wasn't totally worthless after all. Why, with just a bit of research and a careful balancing act to get around the curses, this sword was actually quite potent. It seems that, though the wizard didn't want his kid taking up being a fighter, he also didn't want him to die horribly. Taking advantage of that and the generations of frustration, resentment, and downright hate his family had heaped upon this sword... Why, Radislav discovered that it had quite a collection of fantastic powers he was sure were far beyond its original capabilities. Embracing his inheritance, Radislav was determined to turn the curse to his advantage. It seemed the sword wanted to be free to fight, and he was going to let it. Throwing it at his enemies, Radislav was happy to let it slash as it would while he tore into things with his own hands.

If nothing else, it'd be a good bar trick for free beer. Whatever the case, now knowing the weapon's origins, Radislav was certainly not going to take up using magic. He wasn't about to give that long dead jerk the satisfaction.

Spoiler: ECL 11-20

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	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
11	Legacy Champion 1	+9/+4	+8	+2	+4	Ritual – Lesser LegacyWoL	Reduced ritual cost (lesser), bond of lore
12	Legacy Champion 2	+10/+5	+8	+2	+5	HD12 – ???	Replace legacy ability (least) +1 level of existing class features
13	Legacy Champion 3	+11/+6/+1	+9	+3	+5		Extra legacy ability use (least) +1 level of existing class features
14	Legacy Champion 4	+12/+7/+2	+9	+3	+6	LC4 – ??? [Legacy]	Bonus legacy feat +1 level of existing class features
15	Legacy Champion 5	+12/+7/+2	+9	+3	+6	HD15 – ???	Replace legacy ability (lesser) +1 level of existing class features
16	Legacy Champion 6	+13/+8/+3	+10	+4	+7		Extra legacy ability use (lesser) +1 level of existing class features
17	Legacy Champion 7	+14/+9/+4	+10	+4	+7	Ritual – Greater LegacyWoL	Reduced ritual cost (greater)
18	Legacy Champion 8	+15/+10/+5	+10	+4	+8	HD18 – ??? LC8 – ??? [Legacy]	Bonus legacy feat +1 level of existing class features
19	Legacy Champion 9	+15/+10/+5	+11	+5	+8		Extra legacy ability use (greater) +1 level of existing class features
20	Legacy Champion 10	+16/+11/+6/+1	+11	+5	+9		Replace legacy ability (greater) +1 level of existing class features

Radislav spends the rest of his adventuring career developing and improving his inherited legacy weapon. The feats and special abilities he chooses at these levels are going to be largely dependent on what he needs for the campaign and what the DM allows. We'll assume he uses whatever is most beneficial to him.

For advancing class features, grabbing Barbarian 6 gives him Improved Two-Weapon Fighting when fighting unarmed, which he will be most often. Battlerager 5 gives him +1 rage and +2 natural armor. Commoner gives him more ranks in Profession (farmer) and Craft (moonshine). Really, it's a difficult choice which of the 3 is most important.

Spoiler: That Stupid Sword!

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Cursed Sword of the Pasternaks

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The cursed sword of the Pasternaks is a rather plain looking sword, though precious gems and gold inlay are worked into the pommel. The cursed sword passes from father to son in the Pasternak family, or to the next closest relative if no child is available. The sword is obviously cursed, and there is no way to dispose of it short of epic magic due to the epic level spells used in its initial creation and the powers it has accrued over the generations.
Nonlegacy Game Statistics: Medium -2 cursed greatsword.
Omen: The sword magically appears in the current heir's hands anytime he attempts to use any other weapon.

Legacy Rituals
Hit the Books: You are required to do research to learn your family history and discover the origin of the sword as a curse given by a disapproving father to his son. This takes a month of dedicated research and costs 1,500gp to gain access to the proper tomes and legal records.

Forswear Magic: In order to unlock greater abilities, you must forever swear to cast no spells, if only to spite the sword's original purpose. Casting spells, whether arcane or divine, breaks this oath, even if cast from scrolls or wands, though innate spell-like abilities do not break your oath. Cost: 13,000gp. If you break your oath, you must spend 2 weeks in meditation and pay half the cost again to renew your vow. You have access to none of the higher abilities of the cursed sword until the oath has been renewed.

Abusive Parent: Its powers derived largely from resent of ones parents for generations, the cursed sword's greatest abilities can only be unlocked by ensuring that the next generation will follow in your footsteps, perpetuating the cycle. If you have no progeny of your own, you must setup some sort of system to ensure their eventual childhoods are harsher than is just or find the person next in line after you and give them absolute hell. Bonus points if they swear vengeance on you. Cost: 40,000gp.

Level	Attack Penalty	Fort Save Penalty	Hit Point Loss	Abilities
5th	—	—	—	—
6th	-1	—	—	—
7th	—	-1	2	Dancing
8th	—	—	2	—
9th	—	-2	—	Intelligent
10th	—	—	2	???
11th	—	—	—	—
12th	-2	—	—	Constitution +4
13th	—	—	—	Strength of Fury
14th	—	—	2	Haste 5/day
15th	—	-3	—	—
16th	—	—	2	Magic Invulnerability
17th	—	—	—	Constitution +6
18th	-3	—	—	Spell Turning
19th	—	—	—	???
20th	—	-4	—	???

??? This entry marks an open slot on the item for an appropriately leveled ability to be added.

Dancing (Su): When thrown into the air in the presence of enemies, the cursed sword gains the dancing enhancement.

Intelligent (Su): The resentment in the sword has developed into a sapient force inhabiting the blade that reminds you quite strongly of your father... Intelligent item as per DMG p268. Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 16.

Constitution Bonus (Su): At 12th level, the cursed sword grants a +4 enhancement bonus to Constitution. At 17th level, this bonus increases to +6.

Strength of Fury (Su): Beginning at 13th level, you can multiply your weight by 8, gaining a +2 size bonus to Strength, a –2 size penalty to Dexterity (to a minimum of 1), a –1 penalty on attack rolls, and a +4 bonus on grapple checks. You double your carrying capacity and can grapple larger creatures as though you were a size larger. You do not physically become larger and do not gain a longer reach, nor do you take size penalties on attacks, AC, and Hide checks. While this ability is active, the cursed sword and any natural attacks you possess deal damage as though one size category larger.
This ability can be used at will as a full-round action and lasts 10 minutes each time it is activated. Caster level 10th.

Haste (Sp): While using the cursed sword, you can use a swift action to gain haste, as the spell, for 1 round. You may use this ability five times per day.

Magic Invulnerability (Su): Once per day, with a command word cursing magic, you may activate a lesser globe of invulnerability around yourself.

Spell Turning (Sp): Once per day, when you issue the command word and gesture with the cursed sword, you gain the ability to reflect spells back at a foe, as the spell turning spell.

[Rizban]

Alvin Buckle
Alvin Buckle is a former slave who escaped, trained, and returned to free his kin. He now woks to undermine his former masters' society and release the slaves, by any means at his disposal.

Alvin Buckle (ECL 6)

Male Whisper GnomeRoS Psychic RogueWeb 4/Fighter 1/ElocaterXPH 1 CN Small Humanoid (gnome) Initiative +6; Senses Darkvision 60; Low-Light Vision; Listen +2; Spot +2 Languages AC 21 T 16 FF 17; Fort +5 Ref +10 Will +3 +4 AC vs Giants hp 34 (6 HD) Speed 40 ft. Ranged Psychic Whip (power) [+9 (1d6)] (Stun: Will DC 14) BAB +4 Grp +0 Attack Options Dodge, hit-and-run tactics, Roof-Jumper, Roofwalker, sneak attack +2d6, Spring Attack † This ability is currently active. Combat Gear Shadow CloakDotU Power Points/Day: 27; Powers Known (ML 9): 2nd – concealing amorpha 1st – compression, disable, entangling ectoplasm, psychic whipSoS SLAs 1/day—ghost sound, mage hand, message, silence Strength 8 (-1) Dexterity 18 (+4) Constitution 14 (+2) Intelligence 16 (+3) Wisdom 10 (+0) Charisma 6 (-2) Feats HD1 – Hidden TalentXPH (psychic whip), Flaw – Dodge, Flaw – DarkstalkerLoM, HD3 – RoofwalkerCity, Ftr1 – Spring Attack, HD6 – Roof-JumperCity, Elo1 – Sidestep ChargeXPH Possessions combat gear plus +1 Mithral Chain Shirt (MobilityMIC)

Skill Total Ranks Balance +10 4 Bluff +2 4 Climb +6 7 Concentration +9 7 Diplomacy +2 4 Hide +19 9 Intimidate +2 4 Jump +10 5 Listen +2 0 Move Silently +15 9 Sense Motive +4 4 Sleight of Hand +7 3 Spot +2 0 Tumble +15 9 Use Rope +11 7 Unspent Skill Points - 0

Alvin, raised a slave, would never be taken captive again. Now he was the master. But, we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Alvin was born to a slave woman named Boralia. His father was unknown to him, and his mother refused to speak of the man who sired him. Life was hard under their derro masters, and gnomes who caught their masters' attention were slaughtered for pleasure on an almost daily basis. It was best to just keep your head down, farm the giant mushrooms, and avoid the derro lash.

Alvin had none of the typical abilities with minor illusions that the other gnomish slaves used to keep themselves amused. Though tormented by his peers for this, he was secretly proud of the things he could do that others couldn't imagine. His abilities to manipulate sound were unparalleled among the slaves, and his mind was always active.

One day, shortly after coming of age, Alvin came across a derro whipping a small girl to death, and he became filled with uncontrollable anger. He desired nothing more than to punish the derro for all the wrongs he'd endured all his life. With a flash of light, a coiled whip of raw energy appeared in his hands. Alvin, blinded by rage and bereft of thought, lashed out at the derro with his new weapon. Stunned by unexpected assault, the derro was quickly slain, and the corpse shoved off into the giant underground lake around which they lived. Fearing for his life, Alvin fled deep into the caves. Lost, alone, and starving, Alvin eventually collapsed in a heap. As darkness claimed him, his last sight was that of a tall humanoid bending over him, foul tentacles hanging from its face...

By all rights, Alvin should be dead. Instead, he finds himself a prisoner in his own mind. The mindflayer who found him had plans for the derro. In this former slave, the it saw a special talent that could be exploited and saw that Alvin had more value being dominated than he did as a quick snack. For the next two years, Alvin slaved under the illithid, honing his natural psionic talents and lurking around gathering information about the derro.

Spoiler: ECL 1-4

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Alvin Buckle begins play as a mere slave with latent psionic talent (the Hidden Talent feat). Escaping the slavery of the derro, Alvin quickly finds himself enslaved by a mindflayer, who in turn trains him to be a better servant.

Starting Ability Scores (28 pt buy)
Str 8, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 6

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
1	Psychic Rogue 1	+0	+0	+2	+0	HD1 – Hidden TalentXPH (psychic whip) Flaw – Dodge Flaw – DarkstalkerLoM	Sneak attack +1d6, trapfinding
2	Psychic Rogue 2	+1	+0	+3	+0		Evasion
3	Psychic Rogue 3	+2	+1	+3	+1	HD3 – RoofwalkerCity	-
4	Psychic Rogue 4	+3	+1	+4	+1		Sneak attack +2d6

Alvin focuses on stealth and sneak attacking. He focuses on using the weapon of his former masters, the whip. His psychic whip power gives him a whip for several rounds with a range of Close. He doesn't threaten any squares with it, but he does have the ability to make ranged touch attacks with sneak attack damage to a range of 30 feet at 1st level, which only increases in range as he gains levels. Damage on the whip isn't based on size, so using compression to increase his stealth abilities and AC won't really change his damage output.

He also starts with a collection of stealth-based SLAs that give him an extra nudge early on.

The Quick^UA trait gives him a base land sped of 40, which is still too slow. Any magic items he can get to increase that would be excellent.
He'll need two flaws to get the feats he needs, but they aren't specified here.

At second level, he picks up the Whip Climber skill trick, which allows him to use his psychic whip as a grappling hook to quickly escape danger or to start making use of some abilities he'll gain later.

Dodge is a waste of a feat, but it's a prereq for other stuff. Expeditious Dodge or Midnight Dodge might be better options.
Darkstalker allows him to hide from creatures that would otherwise sense him, especially down in the underdark.
He picks up Mobility from a +1 armor of Mobility [MIC]. It saves him a feat slot and serves as another prereq.
Roofwalker is excellent for Alvin. Focusing on hiding and ambushing, the benefits of this feat are pretty much always going to apply. Balance bonuses, reduced falling damage, and bonus AC when at a different height than your opponent are all very nice.

Alvin eventually escapes the domination of the mindflayer more through sheer luck than any skill on his part. Without the benefit of his "mentor" to continue his psionic development, Alvin is forced to rely on his own skill. He learns to better handle himself in a fight, though he's just not strong enough to keep up with others. He continues to rely on his favorite tactic: Running away. Turns out that he's able to use this skill to great advantage, and Alvin quickly discovers a way to combine his psionic talents with his new martial focus.

Spoiler: ECL 5-9

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Alvin picks up a level of Fighter with the Hit-and-Run Tactics ACF. He then heads into Elocator.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
5	Fighter 1	+4	+3	+4	+1	Ftr1 – Spring Attack	Bonus Feat, Hit-and-Run Tactics
6	Elocater 1	+4	+3	+6	+3	HD6 – Roof-JumperCity Elo1 – Sidestep ChargeXPH	Scorn earth, Sidestep Charge, +1 level of existing manifesting class
7	Elocater 2	+5	+3	+7	+4		Opportunistic strike +2
8	Elocater 3	+6+1	+4	+7	+4		Dimension step, +1 level of existing manifesting class
9	Elocater 4	+7+2	+4	+8	+5	HD9 – Expanded KnowledgeXPH (psionic charm)	Flanker, +1 level of existing manifesting class

The Hit-and-Run Tactics^DotU Fighter level gives Alvin a bonus feat, which he uses to pick up a prereq, +2 to initiative, and the ability to add Dex to damage vs flat-footed enemies. With his stealth abilities, it's a situational +4 damage, which is about the average of an extra sneak attack die.

Elocator grants him some nice maneuverability, lets him sneak around without ever leaving tracks of any kind, and some good combat abilities when he eventually teams up with allies.

Spring Attack will have some minor use for striking while staying out of range, especially with Alvin's 40ft land speed and long psychic whip. True, he can't SA outside of 30 feet, but he can let enemies get close, strike, and run away.
Roof-Jumper is where the fun starts. It lets him run down walls while moving sideways and deals extra damage when doing so. Anytime he can get above an enemy, he can hurl himself down, strike, and run away, dealing a handful of extra d6s in damage.

Alvin, having learned to use his psionic talents in battle, quickly starts to learn ways to cloud the minds of others to increase his skill. With a flash of insight, he realizes that he can use these abilities to sneak back into the derro city of his birth and work to overthrow them from within. He starts by surreptitiously spiriting away small groups of the slaves and works his way up to aggravating the derro's innate madness at the most inopportune times, leading many of the derro to slaughter one another in fits of chaotic rage. Progress is slow, but Alvin is dedicated, skilled, and fueled by a dual sense of justice and vengeance.

As he continues to cloud the minds of others, its with a shock that Alvin realizes that he can hear the thoughts of those he's manipulating. Is this how the mindflayers feel? He struggles daily to resist the urge to enslave the mad derro to his will, refusing to drop to their level.

Spoiler: ECL 10-13

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	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
10	Shadowmind 1	+7+2	+4	+10	+7		Read thoughts +1 level of existing manifesting class
11	Shadowmind 2	+8+3	+4	+11	+8		Sneak attack +1d6
12	Mindbender 1	+8+3	+6	+11	+10	HD12 – MindsightLoM	Telepathy +1 level of existing manifesting class
13	Shadowmind 3	+9+4	+7	+11	+10		Cloud mind +1 level of existing manifesting class

Alvin picks up Shadowmind, which gives him more SA dice, manifesting progression, and some bonus powers known, which psychic rogues can really use.
Mindbender (psionic adaptation) gives him 100ft telepathy and access to Mindsight, which is a great feat for any character, especially in the lightless underdark.

From here, more levels of Shadowmind or Psychic Rogue will progress his stealthy/social aspects and manifesting. If he needs a more combat oriented focus, he can potentially take all 6 levels of Sanctified Mind^LoM, which only loses 1 more level of manifesting. Losing manifesting levels as a psychic rogue isn't that big of a deal though, as the manifesting supports the rogue rather than the other way around.

[Rizban]

Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk
A skilled huntsman and tracker, Ral'Tik tracks his quarry literally anywhere and can follow them with ease, attacking with weapons and spells simultaneously.

Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk (ECL 10)

Male Thri-kreenMM2/ShS 3/Fighter 2/Ranger 1/JaunterEtDP 4 LN Medium Monstrous Humanoid Initiative +8; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +3; Spot +3 Languages Common, Thri-Kreen, Elven AC 27 T 15 FF 23; Fort +11 Ref +15 Will +10 hp 68 (9 HD) Immune sleep Speed 80 ft. Melee x2 Claw [+11 (1d4+3)] Melee Bite [+11 (1d4+3)] Melee +2 Gythka [+13/+8 (1d10+6)] BAB +8 Grp +11 Attack Options Favored Enemy Elves +2, Hit-and-Run Tactics, Poison [DC13 (1d6 Dex/paralysis)], Spring Attack, Travel Devotion † This ability is currently active. Combat Gear Strength 16 (+3) Dexterity 22 (+6) Constitution 14 (+2) Intelligence 15 (+2) Wisdom 16 (+3) Charisma 6 (-2) Special Qualities Multiple Limbs, SLAs, Travel Power (9) Feats HD1 – Expeditious DodgeRotW, Flaw – Mobility, Race – Deflect Arrows, HD3 – MultiattackMM, Ftr1 – Spring Attack, Ftr2 – Multiweapon FightingMM, Rgr1 – Track, HD6 – Travel DevotionCC, HD9 – Improved Multiweapon FightingSS (Flaws Poor Reflexes) Possessions combat gear plus +1 Mithral Full Plate of NimblenessMIC, Boots of striding and springing, Gloves of Dexterity +2, Headband of Intellect +2, Healing BeltMIC, Lens of Detection, Periapt of Wisdom +2, Vest of Resistance +2

Skill Total Ranks Balance +9 3 Disguise +3 5 Gather Information +3 5 Hide +9 5 Jump +58 0 Knowledge – the planes +7 5 Listen +3 0 Spot +3 0 Survival +18 10 Tumble +11 7 Search +7 0 Unspent Skill Points - 0

Ke Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk, qhari kyor,
Da'tik-Dre'de ke-g'kaluk,
tik-tik chik-cha'ik.
Ke tak-dre.

Spoiler: Translation

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I am the Great Hunter of Distant Planes, bringer of vengeance,
Consecrated Harrier of my tribe,
defender of the faith.
I am your death.

Alone in the desert, the fierce hunter stalked his prey. The small animal he hunted was spooked, but it had not spotted him. The epitome of stealth, grace, and death, he rushed his foe and tore the life from it and began to feast on its flesh. The lizard was dead, and the mighty thri-kreen warrior stood tall, proud, eight mighty inches of pure terrifying death.

He had only just hatched the day before, and his instincts were sharp, though his mind not yet formed. He knew not to wander too far from the nest, but the lizard was too tempting a feast. As his mandibles begin to tear into the flesh of the lizard, a new scent arrives on the breeze, a powerful scent of sweet, delectable meat, irresistible. As he raises his head, from his kill, the hatchling rushes towards the scent. Across the sands he runs, at last catching up with the intoxicating aroma. Cresting the last small dune, he sees a tall, humanoid towering over him. This was the source of the scent, his racial memories providing the name of this exquisite meal. "Elf"

Rushing toward his target, its great size invoking no fear in his tiny frame, the kreen leaps into the air in ambush, only to be caught up in the spell the oblivious elf was casting for his allies, whisking them away from this plane. Disoriented and cut off from his home, the hatchling kreen finds himself lost in an endless maze of deep, crisscrossing canyons filled with people, noise, and filth. For the first time in his short life, he felt fear.

Lost and alone, the kreen hatchling learns to live in the city. He must live off of his speed and his agility, or he must die. Catching anything he can, he seldom stops moving and learns to quickly dart in, strike, and get out without his prey ever having the chance to strike back. He begins to grow and mature, the racial memories of his people flooding his mind as he tries to learn about his environment.
"Dejluk n'chtik. Chtik'dul-luk? Luk no'riik? Ral'tek thri-kreen kal? G'lat-draj kyor kal ke-zer'ti haldraj-zer?"

Spoiler: Translation

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This is all so wrong. Where are the dunes? Where is the blazing heat? Where are the great tribes of warrior kreen? Why do the mammals get so upset when I dine on delicious elf meat?

Spoiler: ECL 1-5

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The, as yes unnamed, thri-kreen starts off his life only to be "abducted" to a far distant city on another plane of existence. True he's never actually eight inches tall, but it makes for a better story that way and takes place before "game play" starts anyway.

He, of course, starts off with his two racial hit dice and his +1 Level Adjustment, +1 instead of being +2 due to not being naturally psionic. Quickly learning to fight but relying on his speed, he takes two levels in Fighter with the Hit-and-Run Tactics^DotU ACF, which is beneficial to him but also fits thematically with the character. Thri-kreen is one of the very, very few races I think is actually worth the RHD and LA. They get natural armor, bonus feats, 5 natural weapons (including 4 arms for hold weapons), poison, and +30 to Jump checks. I rarely, if ever, take the psionic version though, since the benefits they gain aren't really worth the extra +1 LA. They're also Monstrous Humanoids, so they get full BAB and two good saves.

Quick is a perfect trait for him. It adds +10 to his land speed but makes him lose 1hp/level. The hit point loss is mitigated, because he focuses on not getting hit, as you will see.

Dodge/Mobility/Spring Attack is usually a waste of feats, but this build actually capitalizes on them in later level and demonstrates one rather neat use of them.

Also note that I make use of the Cityscape Web Enhancement ACF Skilled City-Dweller with all classes where appropriate to swap Handle Animal for Gather Information, Survival for Sense Motive, and Ride for Tumble as a class skills.

Starting Ability Scores (32 pt buy)
Str 16, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 6

(Note that it's pretty vital to the build to take +1 Intelligence at 4th level and obtain a +2 Int item before level 6. If you can't, you can shuffle some feats around, but you really want this as soon as possible.)

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
1	Thri-kreen 1	+1	+0	+2	+2	HD1 – Expeditious DodgeRotW Flaw – Mobility	Thri-kreen traits
2	Thri-kreen 2	+2	+0	+3	+3	Race – Deflect Arrows	-
3	Thri-kreen 3	+2	+0	+3	+3		-
4	Fighter 1	+3	+2	+3	+3	HD3 – MultiattackMM Ftr1 – Spring Attack	Bonus Feat, Hit-and-Run Tactics
5	Fighter 2	+4	+3	+3	+3	Ftr2 – Multiweapon FightingMM	Bonus Feat

His primary tactic is to use Spring Attack to hit and avoid attack. He gets a +2 dodge bonus to AC from Expeditious Dodge whenever he moves at least 40 feet, and with the +4 dodge bonus from Mobility, he's not likely to be taking attacks of opportunity. Spring Attack lets him avoid attack from a single target, and his high AC, high Dex, and a few ranks in Tumble let him hopefully avoid any other attacks he might take from movement.

Spring Attack helps him out quite a bit in the city too, as he can move his full speed and attack, but, unlike a charge, it does not have to be in a straight line. This allows him to use alleys and other terrain to the best benefit, but most importantly, it lets him take full advantage of his +30 racial bonus to Jump checks. He can move, attack, then jump away to a balcony or the roof of a low building and completely avoid his enemies. Though not wonderful at it, a few ranks in Hide allows him to Jump to a location with cover, drop behind it, and Hide from sight, further protecting him.

His focus with feats is obviously fighting and avoiding being attacked. He's a quick hit-and-run style combatant, never standing in one place for too long. At early levels he focuses on trying to hide and blend in with his surroundings and also on better navigating the terrain and avoiding attack. However, if he does get pinned down, Multiweapon Fighting gives him an edge with full attacks.

One day, the adolescent kreen spots a lone elf in the alley, obviously not paying attention to his surroundings. He had not had fresh meat in nearly two weeks, not long for a kreen, but his hunger was rising, and the intoxicating scent of fresh elf was not helping. He had been laying low lately, as he had earned somewhat of a notorious reputation in this vast city. This lone elf, however, was too good of an opportunity to miss.

Darting in, the kreen slashes at it with a short blade he had "found," only to discover his feet were stuck fast to the ground! Struggle as he might, he could not break free.
"Kal ke'kluk?! Ke kcha-tak!"
"Calm yourself, little one. I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I have your best interests at heart."
Despite not believing him, the kreen becomes still, waiting for an opportunity to strike and free himself from whatever forces held him immobile.
"They have placed a bounty on your head. Do you know what that means?"
He gives one curt nod and clacks his mandibles in frustration.
"No, I'm not here to collect. I'm here to save you, remove you from the city. I have a job for one of your talents. Come with me, work for me, and I'll teach you to go anywhere you desire, where none can follow you."

Despite his better judgment and overwhelming desire to eat this particular elf, the kreen agrees.

"Good. Tell me your name."
"Ke n'uk. Ke'nk na'uk-noa."
"Well, if you haven't yet earned a name then I won't insult you by giving you one. I'll call you Kreen."
Kreen simply glares in response.

The elf offers his hand to the kreen, who tentatively pokes at it. With a brilliant flash of light, the elf transports them to a heavily forested land. Over the next year, the elf and kreen travel together hunting bounties across the planes. The kreen hones his tracking skills and begins to learn the magics of teleportation, which he views simply as leaping in a different manner.

One particular stop is of note, for on this stop, the kreen discovers an herb, recognition in his racial memory draws him to it.
"Zik-thok... Ke la'zik-thok!"
"You found 'zik-thok'? What is that?"
"Si'thok kreen tsu-dasl! Ke tsu-dasl'gythka!"
"Plants you use... what? I don't follow you. What about the gythka weapon? What is dasl?"
"Tak n'cha'dul. Chak'sariis."

Taking some of the herb, the kreen begins to chew it, injecting his natural poison into the herb and working it with his mandibles until it becomes a purple, frothy mess. This he spits into the sand and begins to work it into the shape of a three pronged blade. The blade of a gythka. The mixture hardens into crystal as he works, sharpening it into the tool of the thri-kreen. Stronger than steel, sharp as obsidian, hard as diamond. Dasl, the crystalline substance only thri-kreen can create, the substance of which all true kreen warriors forge their weaponry.

"Ker dasl."
"Amazing..."

That night, while the elf endured his nightly trance, the kreen slit his throat and consumed him. A delicious meal well worth the wait.

Spoiler: ECL 6-10

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At sixth level, the kreen takes a level of Ranger, using the Planar Ranger and Shapechanger alternate class features, both found in Unearthed Arcana. He learns how to track his quarry across the many planes the two companions travel.
He then begins to take levels in Jaunter, quickly learning how to teleport around, and eventually even to literally leap between planes, jumping off of the ground on one plane and landing on the ground of another.

Jaunter I felt was a natural extension to the thri-kreen, as it follows along with his high speed abilities and use of jumping and erratic movement. The additional speed bonus means he now has 60 feet of movement per turn.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
6	Ranger 1	+5	+5	+5	+3	Rgr1 – Track	Fast movement, 1st favored enemy, Track, wild empathy
7	Jaunter 1	+5	+5	+7	+3	HD6 – Travel DevotionCC	Travel power, benign transposition
8	Jaunter 2	+6+1	+5	+8	+3		Baleful transposition, fast movement
9	Jaunter 3	+7+2	+6	+8	+4		Dimension door, teleport
10	Jaunter 4	+8+3	+6	+9	+4	HD9 – Improved Multiweapon FightingSS	Freedom of movement, plane shift

The ranger level grants fast movement +10 as a barbarian, and Jaunter grants another +10 movement, bringing our kreen friend up to a land speed of 70 ft., which also gives a +16 to Jump...

He picks up Favored Enemy Humanoid (Elf), because they're just so darn tasty. Despite taking Humanoid (elf) as the choice here, I highly suggest taking Arcane Hunter^CM instead. If retraining is permitted in your campaign, then I instead very highly recommend Rival Organization from the Cityscape Web Enhancement instead, as it will fit perfectly both mechanically and thematically with later class levels. Each time your assigned target is changed (see later on the build), you go through retraining to change your Rival Organization to the appropriate one.

Track is great as a free feat, because it serves as a needed prerequisite, but the real focus of these levels is the movement abilities granted by Jaunter. He not only has greater movement option, but he has a bit of battlefield control now, with the ability to swap positions with allies and enemies. He also picks up teleport and dimension door and its capstone abilities: Freedom of Movement and Plane Shift. Now, nothing can hold him, and he can "leap" anywhere he desires.

Travel Devotion is more of a filler than anything else, and I'm sure there are other good feat options that you could squeeze in here instead. Still, being able to move 70 feet as a swift action is rather nice, even if it is only limited to 1 minute per day. A reasonable alternative is Martial Study (sudden leap)^ToB, which would allow a 1/encounter Jump as a swift action. With his massive Jump modifier, that would be a good alternative for a similar effect.

His feat focus shifts more towards fighting the best with what he has. He takes Multiattack and Multiweapon Fighting to be able to use his claws and bite attack more effectively as well as the weapons he carries. At 10th, he takes Improved Multiweapon Fighting to get in more attacks when he gets pinned down and actually makes full attacks.

Spoiler

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Note that IMWF was never officially updated to 3.5; however, this build assumes it follows the exact same changes as with ITWF, as the Monster Manual explicitly states that MWF is the same as TWF for creatures with multiple arms. So, the revised IMWF's prereqs are changed to "Dex 15, three arms, base attack bonus +6, Multidexterity, Multiweapon Fighting."

At long last, the kreen finds his way home. Crossing the sands of his birth, his instincts return him to the very spot of his birth. Freshly laid eggs hidden under the sand tell him the pack is not far away. Using the skills learned through his planar travels, the kreen chases the tracks of his former pack. Cresting the final dune, three guards emerge from the sands, having lain in wait for this lone kreen.

Gythkas whirl, and blood is spilled. One of the guards is thrown to the ground, and our kreen holds his gythka to its throat. Stepping back, he lifts his weapon above his head and clicks his mandibles in triumph, his pheromones permeating the air. Recognizing his scent as their own, the three warriors welcome him into the tribe.

He is led before the Ik, the priest of their tribe. It is this priest who judges the rites of passage and bestows the names upon those kreen who have survived their ordeal. Here, however, was a kreen who was not raised as part of the pack, had no clutch of his own, and yet endured great trials only to return triumphant. The story of his life told, the priest blesses him and confers upon him a name. Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk, or Great Hunter of Distant Planes.

That night, Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk and the other thri-kreen of age are led by the priest into the wastelands of the north on a pilgrimage. Arriving at the location, the supplicants gather in a half circle some distance from a strangely shaped mound of rock that Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk almost half recognizes. As the moon rises, the light strikes the great white marble head amidst the sandstone and granite of the valley. As one, the voice of the thri-kreen can be heard, "Chak'sa!" The racial memories of the Great One flooding through them is overwhelming. As each remembers the Great One who brought life to the world, they drop their heads to the ground and stretch out their antennae toward the massive image.

As their inborn knowledge tells them the ceremony ends, they reverently leave the site and return to the Ik. Those who are chosen shall serve in memory of the Great One while the rest return to the pack. Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk is chosen.

"Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk ats Da'tik-Dre'de."
"Ke-da Ral'kej datik."
"Tak se'a kaluk no'noa gythtik n'da-kreen dej'g qhari dre'de."
"Ke chat'dul."
"Tak zer'tik ak-g'kaluk de'no-na kcha-dea'dachu da'haazik. Kej dul thok'chak'sa. Dus-chak'sariis kej'chaka."

Spoiler: Translation

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"Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk, you are to become a Consecrated Harrier."
"I am honored to serve the Great One."
"You will leave the pack tomorrow to bring vengeance upon the thri-kreen who dishonor our ancestral ways, bringing them atonement through death."
"I understand."
"Your first target attacked our tribe some nights ago, slaying a revered elder of the priesthood. He headed north. Be alert, he is psionic."

Spoiler: ECL 11-20

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At 11th level, Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk has finally taken a name! He begins upon the path of the Consecrated Harrier to serve his pack and tribe. He will excel in this role, because he is already uniquely adapted to it, able to track his quarry even across planes without outside help or need of a high-level spellcaster.

He takes Consecrated Harrier through to the end, finishing off his second prestige class.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
11	Consecrated Harrier 1	+9+4	+6	+9	+6		Blessing of scripture +2, detect chaos
12	Consecrated Harrier 2	+10+5	+6	+9	+7		Sanctified sight
13	Consecrated Harrier 3	+11+6+1	+7	+10	+7	HD12 – MultitaskingSS	Dispel magic
14	Consecrated Harrier 4	+12+7+2	+7	+10	+8		Crushing despair
15	Consecrated Harrier 5	+13+8+3	+7	+10	+8		Blessing of scripture +4
16	Consecrated Harrier 6	+14+9+4	+8	+11	+9	HD15 – Bounding AssaultPHB2	False vision
17	Consecrated Harrier 7	+15+10+5	+8	+11	+9		—
18	Consecrated Harrier 8	+16+11+6+1	+8	+11	+10		Implacable hunt
19	Consecrated Harrier 9	+17+12+7+2	+9	+12	+10	HD18 – Shi'Quos SchoolDotU	—
20	Consecrated Harrier 10	+18+13+8+3	+9	+12	+11		Blessing of scripture +6, faultless hunt

At last, Ral'Tik not only has a name, but he also has reached the real focus of this build: the feat Multitasking. With this feat, Ral'Tik manages to effectively break the game.

Spoiler: Explanation

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Having four arms, Multitasking allows Ral'Tik to do a different partial action with his second set of arms any time he can normally make an attack action. The example the the feat gives is as follows: "Thus, you could attack with one or two arms while using a magic item, reloading a crossbow, or casting a spell with two other arms."

Pair this with Spring Attack. Spring attack allows you to move, attack specifically as an "attack action," then finish your movement. The attack action allowed by Spring Attack allows him to use his second set of arms to do another action. This allows him to make a second attack (for a mini-pounce), cast a spell, activate a magic item that takes a standard action or less, or use any of his spell-like abilities or Jaunter powers.

Now, before you follow the standard complaint against Spring Attack and say "attack action" is never defined in 3.5, it actually is. An attack action is a subset of Standard Action.

Bounding Assault is actually a wonderful feat for this build. By allowing Ral'Tik to Spring Attack twice in a single round, he now effectively gains 4 standard actions each round. Sadly, without LA buyoff, Ral'Tik can't squeeze in Rapid Blitz pre-epic, which would grant 6 standard actions per round. Although, I suppose that kind of thing really should be reserved for epic levels...

The class and feat combination thus far allows Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk to make the absolute most of his abilities gained from Consecrated Harrier while constantly staying out of harm's way. A personal favorite tactic of mine is to use Spring Attack to attack a target and cast hold person, and bound away. The target is then stuck there, allowing me to Spring Attack back and forth on it with it unable to do anything against me for awhile.

He adds a number of minor SLAs to his repertoire through these levels and ranger spellcasting at an accelerated rate, allowing him even more options with his multiple actions.

Shi'Quos School at 13th level is also a great feat for him. Each time he hits on a Spring Attack, his opponent must make a Ref save or fall prone. He essentially gets a free trip effect with every hit when using his primary tactic.

If a target should ever escape him, with implacable hunt, Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk knows where his prey has gone and has the speed and mobility to chase it down before it can disappear.

The capstone of Consecrated Harrier, faultless hunt, is perfect for Ral'Tik-Deja'raluk, as he can leap across planar boundaries with ease, being able to track his quarry regardless of the target's location across the planes is a very nice end to a build I rather enjoyed making.

[Rizban]

Mirala
A goblin priestess in tune with her inner beast. She uses her magics to lead her tribe spiritually and is also a potent warrior who fights to defend it.

Mirala (ECL 19)

Female Forestkith GoblinMM3 Druid 5/TotemistMoI 3/Totem RagerMoI 10/Level Adjustment 1 CN Small Humanoid (goblin) Initiative +3; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +2; Spot +2 Languages Goblin AC 17 T 15 FF 14; Fort +18 Ref +14 Will +15 hp 167 (18 HD) DR 5/— 50% fortification, 50% chance to ignore stun Speed 45 ft. BAB +12 Grp +15 Attack Options Discordant frenzy, Totem Rage 4/day†, Favored Enemy (Elves) +4, Favored Enemy (Humans) +2 † This ability is currently active. Special Actions Wild Empathy, Voice of the CityCity (web) Combat Gear Strength 22 (+6) Dexterity 16 (+3) Constitution 18 (+4) Intelligence 6 (-2) Wisdom 14 (+2) Charisma 10 (+0) Special Qualities Light sensitivity, tree shape, resist nature's lure, totem’s protection Feats HD1 – Cobalt RageMoI, Dru1 – Track, HD3 – Intimidating RageCW, HD6 – ???, HD9 – Elemental GrafterMoE, HD12 – ???, HD15 – ???, HD18 – ??? Possessions combat gear plus Earth Grafts: earth glider, elemental flesh (earth), stony plating, tremor graft

Skill Total Ranks Climb +14 0 Hide +11 0 Intimidate +18 18 Jump +12 0 Listen +2 0 Move Silently +7 0 Spot +2 0 Survival +12 10 Unspent Skill Points - 16

Deep in the Baladron Wood live the Zdateg, a primitive tribe of forestkith goblins. Though naturally skittish, they are well known for their feral lifestyle and violent reactions when their territory is invaded. One summer night, when a portentous moon was in the sky and the planes were aligned with the stars, a small kith girl was born to the chief of the tribe. Her faintly glowing blue eyes set her apart from the rest of her tribe from the moment she first looked upon the world.

Blessed from an early age, Mirala as she was named, was raised in the druidic ways of a priestess of the tribe; however, she did not readily take to the passive ways common to the druids of her tribe. Mirala had a great love and admiration of her father, the chief by virtue of being the biggest, strongest goblin in the tribe, and she desired greatly to be like him. Taking the teachings of the druids, she learned to harness the power of nature into a mighty fury, much like that of her barbaric father.

Though she loved the ways of the druids, she couldn't ignore her respect for her father and desire to follow in his path, despite the anger it caused her mentor. Abandoned by her druidic instructor as hopeless, Mirala began to try to each herself the magics druids that had been so tantalizingly waved before her to little avail. Though she spent many hours wandering the woods or transformed into a small tree, she grew no closer to the raw power of nature than she already was, having mastered only the most basic of cantrips. This held true until the day she stumbled into her true power.

Accompanying her father's hunting party as it left to track a pride of krenshar, Mirala could hardly contain her excitement. The pride had been harassing the kith for several weeks, and it was time to put down the predators to protect their people. The hunt went well enough, for they lost but a single warrior, and that to carelessness on his part, but slew several of the krenshar. Surely this would teach them not to hunt goblin. Mirala approached one of the krenshar as it lay dying, fascinated as it gasped its last in the throes of death. As its spirit wrenched free of its mortal form, it flew toward Mirala and bound itself to her face, forming a gruesome mask. Mirala had formed her first soulmeld.

Spoiler: ECL 2-4

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Mirala starts as a druid/totemist. Honestly, I think 4th level is where she'd be the most fun to play. She's got some neat tricks going and is rather potent with the ability to bring a few different abilities to bear. Of course, I usually tend to enjoy low-level play better than higher level.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
1	Level Adjustment
2	Druid 1	+0	+2	+0	+2	HD1 – Cobalt RageMoI Dru1 – Track	AC bonus, Fast movement (barb), 1st favored enemy, nature sense, rage 1/day, Track, voice of the city
3	Totemist 1	+0	+4	+2	+2		Wild empathy, illiteracy
4	Totemist 2	+1	+5	+3	+2	HD3 – Intimidating RageCW	Totem chakra bind (+1 capacity)

Mirala begins play as a druid, but not your average druid. She takes three alternate class features: Druidic Avenger, Deadly Hunter, and Voice of the City.

• Druidic Avenger^SRD trades away her animal companion and spontaneous summoning to gain barbarian rage and fast movement.
• Deadly Hunter^SRD trades away wild shape for AC bonus and fast movement as a monk and the favored enemy, swift tracker, and Track feat of a Ranger.
• Voice of the City^{City (web)} trades away wild empathy for the ability to communicate with people who don't speak your language. Since Mirala only speaks goblin, this is going to be helpful for her later.

At second level, Mirala goes into totemist, picking up the wild empathy she just traded away and the ability to shape soulmelds. At 3rd level, she gets her totem bind, which gives her plenty of fun options. Recommended soulmelds for this level are the Kruthik Claws for the Hide/Move Silently bonuses, Ankheg Breastplate for the AC bonus, and either Sphinx Claws or Girallon Arms (bound to totem) for the natural claw attacks.

Cobalt Rage is taken at 1st, because it's convenient and the +1 to damage and Will saves it gives is actually useful at this level. It's also a prerequisite for her PrC later.

Intimidating Rage isn't wonderful, but it seemed appropriate to her character. Another alternative would be Azure Enmity for additional bonuses against favored enemies and another point of essentia.

Her newfound power coursing through her very soul, Mirala returned triumphant to her tribe, the hunting party following behind her in awe of the unknown magics. Seeking out to the mentor that once cast her aside, Mirala unsheathed her powerful sphinx claws and struck her down, declaring herself the new spiritual leader for the tribe.

Fearful for their lives and in awe of her seemingly unique powers, the two acolytes under the former priestess did all they could to teach Mirala the secrets of their druidic heritage. Though Mirala never mastered all the arts they tried to teach her, for even they did not know all the secrets, she learned what she could while following her own spiritual path.

Spoiler: ECL 5-9

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Mirala picks up another level of totemist and then takes several more levels of druid.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
5	Totemist 3	+2	+5	+3	+3		Totem’s protection
6	Druid 2	+3	+6	+3	+4		Woodland stride
7	Druid 3	+4	+6	+4	+4	HD6 – ???	Fast movement (monk), trackless step
8	Druid 4	+5	+7	+4	+5		Resist nature's lure
9	Druid 5	+5	+7	+4	+5		2nd favored enemy, rage 2/day

These levels give Mirala a few more defensive bonuses, some movement stuff, and a 2nd favored enemy and use of rage. I primarily chose 5 levels of druid, because the monster entry for forestkith goblins in MM3 specifies that the elder of the tribe is a 5th-level druid.

The 6th-level feat is wide open to anything that you think would be good; however, I strongly recommend Bonus Essentia for the 2 extra essentia it grants. It will be less vital in a few levels, but more essentia is always important.

Learning to combine the raging spirit within her and the powerful soul magic she was beginning to master, Mirala takes a new step seeking a new path. To accomplish this, she takes a journey through the Wood alone. On this journey she encounters a powerful earth spirit.

Though she approaches it reverently, mostly out of fear, the spirit becomes hostile and attacks. After a brief battle, Mirala is defeated, but the earth spirit is appeased and takes pity on her. Though unable to speak, Mirala uses her crude communication abilities to find common ground, and the spirit teaches her how to call upon it and its ilk for power and guidance in ways similar to the way she calls upon the souls of magical beasts. Taking the powers of earth spirits into herself, Mirala returns to her tribe and challenges her father for leadership of the tribe.

Mirala's father's final words as he lay her feet were only of pride in his daughter, dying in a pool of blood, a smile of contentment on his face. That day, Mirala became chief and priestess of her tribe, a feat none had ever before achieved.

Spoiler: ECL 10-19

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From here, Mirala goes into Totem Rager and finishes it out. She does have a +1 LA, so she's got one free level to play with at 20th. If you play with LA buy off, then she's got 2 open levels.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
10	Totem Rager 1	+5	+9	+6	+5	HD9 – Elemental GrafterMoE	Totem rage, wild empathy
11	Totem Rager 2	+6+1	+10	+7	+5		Extra rage +1 level of existing meldshaping class
12	Totem Rager 3	+7+2	+10	+7	+6		Damage reduction 1/— +1 level of existing meldshaping class
13	Totem Rager 4	+8+3	+11	+8	+6	HD12 – ???	Chakra binds (crown, feet, hands) +1 level of existing meldshaping class
14	Totem Rager 5	+8+3	+11	+8	+6		Extended rage +1 level of existing meldshaping class
15	Totem Rager 6	+9+4	+12	+9	+7		—
16	Totem Rager 7	+10+5	+12	+9	+7	HD15 – ???	Damage reduction 2/— +1 level of existing meldshaping class
17	Totem Rager 8	+11+6+1	+13	+10	+7		Extra rage +1 level of existing meldshaping class
18	Totem Rager 9	+11+6+1	+13	+10	+8		Chakra binds (arms, brow, shoulders) +1 level of existing meldshaping class
19	Totem Rager 10	+12+7+2	+14	+11	+8	HD18 – ???	Totem chakra bind (+2 capacity) +1 level of existing meldshaping class

Totem Rager gives Mirala a number of nice options. She gets additional rage uses, longer rages, and bonus essentia when raging, all of which are essential to her build. She also progresses her meldshaping, gaining some additional chakra binds that she's been sorely missing until now.

The damage reduction is pretty minor, but the earth elemental grafts boost that a little as well as giving her some other nice options. However, since both sources of her DR explicitly stack with other DR of the same type, getting some additional DR X/— to boost it up should be a priority. If you can get it to 10 or higher, then it'll actually have a bit of an impact.

I also didn't fill in her feats, because they're pretty well open. There are some things that are definitely nice, but nothing is particularly necessary. This is one of the few builds I've made that isn't extremely feat intensive. I do suggest Multiattack and Power Attack slotted in somewhere, but they aren't strictly necessary.

All in all, this is going to be weaker than a straight druid, but I like the way she turned out. I feel like it would be an almost ideal leader for a goblin tribe, particularly the forestkith goblins. Since that was my design goal, I'm pretty happy with the result.

[Rizban]

Shrift the Mighty
This little kobold can give a big helping hand to friends and enemies alike.

Shrift (ECL 9)

Venerable Male Earth KoboldMM+UA Monk 1/Psychic Warrior 6/Fighter 2 LE Medium Dragon (Reptilian) Initiative +2; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Light Sensitivity; Listen +7; Spot +7 Languages Draconic, Common AC 14 T 14 FF 14; Fort +9 Ref +4 Will +7 –-2 saves vs [air] creatures Speed 30 ft. BAB +6 Grapple +12 –+1 Battlefist [+14 (6d6+7+2d6(claw) | x2)] (Brutal Surge) – Claws of the Beast [+7 (2d6+3 | x2)] (Secondary) – Slam [+7 (1d4+3 | x2)] Attack Options +1 attack vs [air] creatures, Bull Rush (+14), Dungeon Crasher, Power Attack –Brutal Surge – Bull Rush as swift action after melee attack. –Decisive Strike – Full-round action, attack at -1 for double damage. –––+1 Battlefist [+13 (12d6+14+4d6(claw) | x2)] Power Points/Day: 20; Powers Known (ML 6): 1st – Call Weaponry, Claws of the Beast†, Expansion† 2nd – Animal Affinity†, Hustle, Strength of My Enemy Spell-Like Abilities: Mighty Wallop 3/day† hp 71 (9 HD) Strength 22 (+6) Dexterity 10 (+0) Constitution 14 (+2) Intelligence 12 (+1) Wisdom 16 (+3) Charisma 11 (+0) Special Qualities Slight BuildWeb, Stability +4, Draconic Rite of Passage Feats HD1 – Dragonwrought (Emerald Dragon)RotD, Flaw – Kobold EnduranceRotD, Monk1 – Improved Unarmed Strike Monk1 – Monastic Training (Psychic Warrior)ECS, PW1 – Power Attack, PW1 – Weapon Focus (Battlefist), HD3 – TashalatoraSoS, Ftr1 – Improved Bull Rush, HD6 – Draconic ReservoirWeb, PW5 – Beast StrikeDragon#355, HD9 – Shock TrooperCW, Item – Improved Natural Attack (unarmed strike) (Flaws: Meager Fortitude) Possessions combat gear plus Strongarm BracersMIC, Mighty ArmsFoE, +2 Wisdom item, Fanged RingDrM, 6300 gp

Skill Total Ranks Listen +7 4 Spot +7 4 Autohypnosis +10 5 Concentration +7 5 Tumble +10 10 Unspent Skill Points - 49

Born and raised high in the mountains, Shrift lived out his early years in a monastery built by kobolds descended from an emerald gem dragon said to live in the nearby volcano. Though more myth and legend than fact, the elder took the occasional rumblings of the volcano as proof that their patron dragon was alive and well and guarding over them. The kobold monks lived in peace, perfecting their minds and bodies and most devious traps... for physical training purposes, of course.

As Shrift grew up, he knew he was different from the other monks. He had a bit more spark than they did, a bit more emerald to his scales. True, all the kobolds here were dragonwrought, but he felt he was even more dragon than that. He was quite certain he was stronger, tougher, and psionicer than his peers. His one love in life? Hitting things. And he could hit things. Hard!

Spoiler: ECL 1-3

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At 1st level, Shrift is a Monk. He punches things and dreams small dreams of being big. He really wants to punch big, so he takes the alternate class feature Decisive Strike^PHB2 – Trade flurry of blows for making a single attack that deals double damage. Eventually, he'll be able to make two attacks at double damage, but not for awhile. If he's less concerned with big numbers, he might stick with flurry to make multiple hits, but that's just crazy talk!

2nd and 3rd levels are Psychic Warrior with the ACF Soulbound Weapon^Web – Lose 2nd level bonus feat, forced choice of 1st-level power. Gain Weapon Focus and a summoned weapon that scales with level.

Soulbound Weapon is an interesting ACF in that you trade away your second level bonus feat and gain an extra bonus feat at 1st-level. It makes dipping one level for two bonus feats a viable option, assuming you want Weapon Focus, but we're not actually doing that here...

While not immediately that useful at this level, it will definitely help Shrift out later. His favorite trick is summoning a weapon with Brutal Surge for extra uses of swift action bull rush. For now, it just ensures that he has a weapon on hand when needed. Mostly, he still just uses his fists and saves his power points for other things.

Starting Ability Scores: (28 pt. buy)
Str 14, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 9, Wis 11, Cha 8

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
1	Monk 1	+0	+2	+2	+2	HD1 – Dragonwrought (Emerald Dragon)RotD Flaw – Kobold EnduranceRotD Monk1 – Improved Unarmed Strike Monk1 – Monastic Training (Psychic Warrior)ECS	Bonus Feat, AC bonus, decisive strike (-2), unarmed strike
2	Psychic Warrior 1	+0	+4	+2	+2	PW1 – Power Attack PW1 – Weapon Focus (Battlefist)	Bonus Feat, Weapon Focus
3	Psychic Warrior 2	+1	+5	+2	+2	HD3 – TashalatoraSoS	Soulbound weapon

When playing this character, beg to start at a higher level than first. Six or higher is best, but starting below 3rd is just painful.

That said, Shrift's main focus is punching things. He's decent at it for a little guy. He deals a measly 1d4 damage with his unarmed strike, but he's got tricks!

By third level, he's picked up the Mighty Arms graft from Faiths of Eberron. This gives him a 1d4 slam attack, which he can use as a secondary attack at -5 if he wants, but he's much more likely to use that full round action for Decisive Strike to do double damage. The main purpose of the graft is to be able to use a battlefist. If you haven't picked up a bttlefist for him at this point, you can call one with Call Weaponry, albeit without its usual +1 enhancement.

The best part of the battlefist is that it lets a monk deal unarmed damage at +1 size. So, with a decisive strike, Shrift can deal 2d6+2xStr damage. That's still not wonderful, but it's a start and not terrible for 3rd level. But we're not done yet!

Shrift also picks up Expansion as a power known at 3rd level, so with that active, his damage increases to 2d8+2xStr.

He also performs the Draconic Rite of Passage^RotD sometime after 2nd level, picking up Mighty Wallop as a 1/day SLA. So, for a few rounds a day, that decisive strike damage further increases to 4d6+2xStr. Now we're talking. He saves this ability for fighting big boss monsters and uses his smaller punches for everything else.

He's also got Power Attack at this level, but it's not really useful due to the -2 penalty from decisive strike and only having +1 BAB. He won't use the two together, but he might power attack for 1 to blow through mooks a little faster.

Tashalatora lets Psychic Warrior and Monk stack for a few things, including unarmed damage. So, other than a quick dip in Fighter coming up, Shrift is probably going to stay in Psychic Warrior from here on out.

As an alternative to Mighty Wallop, Shrift might choose Blood Wind^SpC so that he can throw his fists at range. Yeah, it costs him a little damage, but it gives him range. If there's a wizard in the party, he should be casting (greater) mighty wallop of Shrift anyway... at least if that wizard doesn't want to get thwacked!

As he grew, Shirft started to become something of a bully, knocking the other young kobolds around as he pleased. Hearing the squeaks of fear and occasional crunching bones filled his dark little heart with mirth as he sent his training partners tumbling along the ground. Known for his massive metal fist of fury, the other kobolds gave him a wide berth when they could and prayed for a quick recovery when they couldn't. Shrift ruled the monastery with a iron fist, well, steel fist, at least among the younglings. The elders still had a few tricks up their sleeves to keep him in place when he got too out of hand, but he was learning quickly.

Then one day a traveler arrived at the monastery. Bedraggled, burnt, and suffering from exposure, the man-thing was taken inside. After a brief interrogation, the head monks killed him and tossed his gangrenous corpse outside their walls. Tales of a red dragon rampaging across the human lands in the valleys below was of no concern to them. After all, they had their own patron dragon to protect them. No lesser dragon, no mere red could harm them or their guardian.

Shrift knew different. Their patron wasn't going to protect them. Shrift was. He could handle any threat that came his way. After all, he was the dragonest thing around these parts, and he was determined to prove it!

Spoiler: ECL 4-6

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4th and 5th level are both in Fighter. He likes the idea of shoving people around, so he takes Improved Bull Rush as his bonus feat. At 5th level, he takes Dungeon Crasher^Dun for a bonus to saves/AC vs traps, a bonus to breaking down barriers, and a very nice damage bonus of 4d6+2xStr when he knocks someone into a wall.

At 6th level, he hops back into Psychic Warrior and picks up Claws of the Beast as his power and Draconic Reservoir as his feat. Draconic Reservoir Gives him another 2 daily uses of Mighty Wallop, and Claws of the Beast gives him some other secondary attacks for when he doesn't want to use decisive strike. It also will give him a nice combo in a few levels.

Kobold Endurance that we took at 1st-level might have seemed like an odd feat choice, I mean, it's basically Endurance. Blegh. However, it gives a few other miscellaneous bonuses over normal Endurance, including a +4 bonus to Str checks. Bull Rush is a Strength check. Combined with Improved Bull Rush, that's an extra +8 to the check. Combined with Stability of an Earth Kobold, that's an extra +8 to resist bull rushes. Combined with dungeon crasher, that's an extra +8 to break things. Seems like that's worth a feat to me, and that doesn't even touch on the other things it does.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
4	Fighter 1	+2	+7	+2	+2	Ftr1 – Improved Bull Rush	Bonus Feat, Hit-and-Run Tactics
5	Fighter 2	+3	+8	+2	+2		Dungeon crasher
6	Psychic Warrior 3	+4	+8	+3	+3	HD6 – Draconic ReservoirWeb	—

Tactics at these levels aren't really any different. Punch things when you can.

One difference is that by this level, Shrift has picked up a pair of Strongarm Bracers, allowing him to wield larger weapons as though he had Powerful Build. This gives him a Medium battlefist, which should give him an additional size increase to damage (but ask your DM). Additionally, battlefists specifically look as if they were made for a size larger creature, so we have our small kobold dragging around a giant metal fist nearly as large as he is, swinging it around wildly in battle.

Unarmed strike damage has gone up to a base of 1d6→1d82d6(battlefist)→3d6(expansion)→4d6(mighty wallop)→8d6(decisive strike).

The monastery was burning. Shrift was dying. His "friends" were dead. Dragons cheat! They can freakin' fly! How was he supposed to punch it if it was up in the stupid sky?! It wasn't fair!

With one last desperate effort of psionic might, Shrift managed to stabilize his wounds, drifting away into a self-induced psionic coma. He awoke a few days later with just enough energy to draw the last of his reserves into knitting his wounds enough to keep his intestines where they belonged. Pulling himself into a sitting position, he looked around. The monastery was devastated, the kobolds slaughtered, and their patron dragon's volcano merrily erupting with no signs of their patron in sight.

With the elders dead, Shrift decided that is was his duty to rebuild. He would become the new master of the few survivors and create a new order of psionic monks, an order capable of defending itself against even the cheating dragons!

Spoiler: ECL 7-9

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Levels 7 to 9 are when Shrift starts to really get his act together. We see the powers Animal Affinity, granting him a +4 bonus to the ability score of his choice, Hustle for more move actions, and Strength of My Enemy to drain Str from targets and add it to his own.

The biggest boons though are the reduction in the penalty to decisive strike and the Beast Strike and Shock Trooper feats. Shock Trooper has been covered to death, and it's pretty easy to figure out. Beast Strike lets Shrift stack his claw damage with his fist.
He's also picked up a Fanged Ring for Improved Natural Attack (unarmed strike).

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
7	Psychic Warrior 4	+5	+9	+3	+3		Decisive strike (-1)
8	Psychic Warrior 5	+5	+9	+3	+3	PW5 – Beast StrikeDragon#355	Bonus Feat
9	Psychic Warrior 6	+6+1	+10	+4	+4	HD9 – Shock TrooperCW	—

More of the same, really. He's really only got one trick, but he's not totally useless when he can't put everything together. He's got enough skill points to do something else on the side too, but I haven't really explored that with this build... I leave that up to you.

Now, onto the fun parts.

Beast strike is a fun little toy that lets Shrift add his claw damage to his unarmed strike. Claws of the beast gives him claws that scale with his level. His unarmed strike scales with his level. The two stack. So, his damage scales with his level twice over. Gotta love that.

So, we have a base of 1d6→1d82d6(battlefist)→3d6(Improved Natural Attack)→4d6(expansion)→6d6(mighty wallop).
So, we have 6d6+Str+2d6 from our claws. We make this a decisive strike for 12d6+2xStr+4d6. (Note that claw damage may or may not double depending on DM interpretation. The one time I used it, the DM ruled that it doubled for decisive strike but not for critical hits. So... *shrug* ask your DM. Even without doubling at all, it's good extra damage from the feat.)

With all of his buffs active, a light tap from Shrift deals an average of 70 damage, threatening death by massive damage. If his target survives that, he activates Brutal Surge, throwing his target back into a wall for an additional 4d6+2xStr damage. On an average hit with bull rush, Shrift is dealing 84 damage.

Unarmed strike and claws of the beast only improve from there, the penalty from decisive strike fades away, and he eventually does two hits instead of one. While 84 damage per hit at 9th level isn't phenomenal, it's certainly respectable. If he takes Psychic Warrior all the way to 20, he'll be doing serious damage, even without decisive strike by stacking his unarmed strike and fully augmented claws of the beast. The additional powers he gains can give him added power or flexibility (claws of the vampire for healing is good), and he has an additional seven feats to select.

As a final note on items, if you purchase a permanent battlefist (which I do in this build) try to get a wand chamber^Dun built into it. Also try to get a wand sheath^ECS in your mighty arms, two if you can. Stick dorjes of useful powers in these so you have them on hand and can't drop them or be disarmed of them. It's like picking up a few extra powers known at the cost of a little gold. Some very useful powers that you would want that aren't included in the build are inertial armor and force screen (especially with the abjurant champion adaptation), vigor, detect hostile intent (better as a continuous item...), concealing amorpha, prowess.

Spoiler: ECL 10-20

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Levels 10 to 20 are just lots of Psychic Warrior. Lots of it. Shrift needs to take PsyWar at least to level 10 so he can get the double decisive strike for two attacks when making a decisive strike. He might consider picking up Snap Kick^ToB to make a third attack.

Beyond that, I might suggest taking Abjurant Champion^CM with the suggested psionic adaptation (which I stat out here), as it is also quite good; although I think only 2 levels rather than the full 5. Abjurant Champion would help out with getting the most out of his psionic powers, but it halts monk progression for each level he takes. He doesn't really have the spare power points to power the psionc version of arcane boost, and the capstone is useless to him, since his ML is already higher than his BAB.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
10	Psychic Warrior 7	+7+2	+10	+4	+4		—
11	Psychic Warrior 8	+8+3	+11	+4	+4	PW8 –	Bonus Feat, decisive strike (-0)
12	Psychic Warrior 9	+8+3	+11	+5	+5	HD12 –	—
13	Psychic Warrior 10	+9+4	+12	+5	+5		Double decisive strike
14	Psychic Warrior 11	+10+5	+12	+5	+5	PW11 –	Bonus Feat
15	Psychic Warrior 12	+11+6+1	+13	+6	+6	HD15 –	—
16	Psychic Warrior 13	+11+6+1	+13	+6	+6		—
17	Psychic Warrior 14	+12+7+2	+14	+6	+6	PW14 –	Bonus Feat
18	Psychic Warrior 15	+13+8+3	+14	+7	+7	HD18 –	—
19	Psychic Warrior 16	+14+9+4	+15	+7	+7		—
20	Psychic Warrior 17	+14+9+4	+15	+7	+7	PW17 –	Bonus Feat

[Rizban]

Camellia Theaceae
Camellia is the paladin done "right." As a fey, you just know he's going to cheat to get there.

Camellia Theaceae (ECL 10)

Male FeytouchedFF→ Half-FeyWeb Barbarian 2/Paladin 3/HellreaverFC2 5 CG Medium Fey Initiative +1; Senses Low-Light Vision; Listen +2; Spot +2 Languages Common, Sylvan AC 10 T 10 FF 9; Fort +14 Ref +10 Will +12 Speed 15 ft., Fly 30 ft. (good) BAB +10 Grapple +16 – Energy Bow [+21 (2d6+2+2d6 | x3)] Attack Options Favored Enemy (+2 Chaotic Outsiders, +2 Devils†, +2 Undead), Holy Fury†, Furious Strike†, Rapid Shot, Power Shot † This ability is currently active. Special Actions Divine Succor (20), Divine Resolve, Divine Shield, Heroic Sacrifice Combat Gear SLAs Charm person at will; glitterdust 1/day; hypnotism 1/day; detect law 3/day; enthrall 1/day; protection from law 3/day; confusion 1/day; lesser geas 1/day hp 79 (10 HD) Immune Enchantment spell school, compulsions, fear, mind-affecting Strength 14 (+2) Dexterity 12 (+1) Constitution 10 (+0) Intelligence 12 (+1) Wisdom 10 (+0) Charisma 24 (+7) Feats HD1 – Charming the Arrow Web, Flaw – Point-Blank Shot, Flaw – Stone PowerToB, Barb1 – RoofwalkerCity, HD3 – Knowledge DevotionCC, Barb2 – Rapid Shot, HD6 – Weapon Focus (longbow), HD9 – Worldly FocusFoE (Flaws: Slow, Vulnerable) Possessions combat gear plus

Skill Total Ranks Bluff +11 2 Gather Information +14 7 Hide +3 0 Intimidate +9 2 Knowledge – arcana +2 1 Knowledge – dungeoneering +2 1 Knowledge – local +2 1 Knowledge – nature +2 1 Knowledge – psionics +2 1 Knowledge – religion +11 10 Knowledge – the planes +7 6 Listen +2 0 Move Silently +3 0 Spot +2 0 Unspent Skill Points - 0

Spoiler: ECL 1-3

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I need to give you one major heads up on this build right now. This build uses an extensive amount of what some DMs might call "shenanigans" but does so only to achieve a particular result, not necessarily to break the game or make an overpowered character. It uses numerous alternative class features, substitution levels, level adjustment buy off (twice), a racial transition class, feat retraining, and items to meet prerequisites. If your DM is not comfortable with this level of fiddling around to achieve a concept, I suggest you not even consider using this in a game. If your DM is okay with it, then I definitely suggest looking this character over, as it was a lot of fun when I played a variation of him in a campaign.

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Camellia begins his life as a Barbarian with a +1 Level Adjustment, he's a typical Feytouched but not a typical Barbarian. He quickly multiclasses into Paladin, but... also not a typical Paladin. He can't rage or smite evil and really tries hard to avoid melee. But, he's a fey. Fey are capricious, random, and weird. So, just accept it. You can't fix him. Only the gods know how many women have tried.

The shenanigans start from level one and only get worse from there. Actually, it's not even bad at 1st level... for now. First level makes use of one Barbarian ACF.

• Crafty Hunting^SRD which trades away rage and rage-based abilities for a Ranger's favored enemies and ranged combat style.

Fast movement helps out a good bit in the early levels, because we took the Slow flaw for that nice bonus feat, giving Camellia a land speed of 25 feet (30/2+10).

At second and third level, Camellia realizes his true calling and multiclasses into Paladin... with four ACFs. (The original build used seven, but...)

• Paladin of Freedom^SRD, changing from LG to CG, which just fits a fey much better and harkens back to his Barbarian origins.
• Avenging^SRD to trade a few features for more favored enemies...
• Holy Judge^CoV (1st level) trading smite evil for more favored enemies (I'm sensing a pattern here...)
• Ruby Rose Knight^CoV (3rd level) trading divine health for favored ene *cough* immunity to Charisma damage/drain.

Also recommend Harmonious Knight substitution level, if the DM allows. It requires a character to have Milil as his patron deity, which doesn't work with the rest of this build. If you can ingore the fluff restriction, do it. It swaps Detect Evil for Inspire Courage, which is perfect for a fey paladin singing his way through battle.

With that, we've reached ECL4. Oh... level four, how much fun you are when the DM begins to pull out his hair and weep. Oh, if you but lasted forever...

As soon as we take our third class level, we're going to buy off our +1 Level Adjustment. Camellia's current ECL is 4, so he must pay 3,000 XP to remove his LA. This reduces his XP total from 6,000 to 3,000, making him a 3rd-level character. Sure, Camellia is now technically one level behind the rest of the party, but he hasn't actually lost any power. Thanks to the semi-magical way in which encounter XP is calculated, he'll be catching up in no time.

Now we get to level 4. Right? No? Do we? Well, we do, sort of. Much like Schrodinger's Cat, we both do and do not have it at the same time. Confused yet?

Once Camellia gets back up to 6,000 XP, he's eligible for his fourth level. So... he's starts to take a level, but wait! We're not there yet! He just gained a level, but before gaining any benefits of the new level, he gets a chance to do some retraining^PHB2! He immediately retrains a class feature, retraining his Barbarian fast movement into

• Roof-Dweller^{City Web} which trades fast movement for a tactical feat.

Fast movement is not going to be benefiting him anymore, because he just might never touch the ground again.

So, having retrained the class feature he wanted, Camellia promptly levels up, taking the Feytouched/Half-Fey Transition Class, transforming him from being merely touched by the fey into a full- um... half-fey, with all the benefits and drawbacks thereof. This includes, of course, a +1 Level Adjustment! But what's this? He's at 6,000 XP, 3 class levels, and 1 LA?! Gasp! He immediately spends 3,000 XP to buy off his Level Adjustment. Again! He's right back to 3rd level and 3,000 XP while the rest of the party is around 8,700 XP. Thankfully, he'll catch up again in just a few encounters, and, for now, he's still only 1 level behind. On the other hand, he just got a pretty huge boost in power that scales up as he levels.

One last note on retraining: When Camellia reaches 6,000 XP for the third time , he'll retrain Power Attack (which has been pretty useless thus far) into Stone Power, which can actually be used with ranged attacks. He can't normally qualify for it, but since he should have been getting a fair share of the loot, he should have the wealth of a character of 5th level by now. He purchases a Novice Stone Power Belt^ToB to have access to a Stone Power maneuver of his choice up to 3rd level then retrains Power Attack into Stone Power.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
1	Barbarian 1	+1	+2	+0	+0	HD1 – Charming the Arrow Web Flaw – Point-Blank Shot Flaw – Power Attack Stone PowerToB Barb1 – RoofwalkerCity	1st favored enemy, illiteracy, fast movement Roofwalker
2	Paladin 1	+2	+4	+0	+0		Aura of good, detect evil, 1st favored enemy, favored enemy (devils) +2
3	Paladin 2	+3	+5	+0	+0	HD3 – Knowledge DevotionCC	Divine grace

Camellia's tactics are pretty simple. Avoid the enemy, shoot them with arrows. It's not fantastic, especially at early levels, but it works. Charming the Arrow swaps his to hit modifier from Dex to Cha, and the +4 Cha gives you plenty of things to play around with.

Picking up Knowledge Devotion at 3rd is pretty critical to the build, especially at these levels. The bonuses to hit and damage are invaluable, as archery tends to have difficulty dealing sufficient damage.

Spoiler: ECL 4-10

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Starting at HD4, the shenanigans have pretty well stopped, for now... With the foundation set, Camelia just has to grow into his role.

He takes another level of Paladin and Barbarian using the ACFs I've already mentioned to get some meaningful options.

From there, Camellia enters Hellreaver, taking it through 5th level. The PrC is focused on beating down evil outsiders, but it has some other, less enemy specific, options that work out rather well for him. We stop at 5th level for a number of reasons. Hellreaver 6 is a dead level for Camellia, since the only ability it grants requires a melee attack he'll never be able to use. Levels 7 to 10 are pretty good, but only 10th adds something new while the rest just progress his existing class features. He has better options for his levels.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
4	Paladin 3	+4	+5	+1	+1		Aura of resolve, enduring personality
5	Barbarian 2	+5	+6	+1	+1	Barb2 – Rapid Shot	Combat style (Rapid Shot), uncanny dodge
6	Hellreaver 1	+6/+1	+6	+1	+3	HD6 – Weapon Focus (longbow)	Holy fury, furious strike +2/+1d6
7	Hellreaver 2	+7/+2	+6	+1	+4		Divine succor (10 points)
8	Hellreaver 3	+8/+3	+7	+2	+4		Divine resolve, divine shield
9	Hellreaver 4	+9/+4	+7	+2	+5	HD9 – Worldly FocusFoE	Furious strike +4/+2d6, mettle
10	Hellreaver 5	+10/+5	+7	+2	+5		Divine succor (20 points), heroic sacrifice

Sometime around level 8 to 10ish, Camellia kills Hank and takes his Energy Bow for ranged power attacks. It's the only published way to use a Power Attack ability at range in 3.5. Beg the DM for it. Beg I say! Do not stop until Camellia gets his energy bow! Once this is in his hands, try not to laugh maniacally.


Immunity to compulsion effects is meh, especially since he's already immune to Enchantments, but... Chaotic is worth it! Also, he gets immunity to fear later anyway, so it all works out. Enduring personality is pretty nice though. It makes him immune to Charisma damage, and his attacks and several of his class features are based on Charisma. It's not phenomenal, but it's a nice touch. It's especially nice against an ego whip psion... *grumble*

Rapid Shot as a bonus feat...

Hellreaver is where we want to be. Gain holy fury points at the start of every battle based on Charisma that he can spend for several special abilities, including a smite-like ability that works with ranged attacks. At 1st-level Hellbreaker, that's 7 "smites" that give +2 attack and +1d6 damage, by 4th level, that's 11 points to spend on his abilities. Not fantastic, but it works at range. Those bonuses double at Hellreaver 4. In my opinion, this is what smite evil should have been.

Additionally, he can spend points to heal as a swift action at range. Let me repeat that. Swift action healing. At range. Congratulations, we just got a combat healing ability that doesn't suck. It's a shame that Crusader maneuvers don't work with ranged attacks, otherwise... Also, he can spend points to boost his saves or AC, even after the roll has been made. He also picks up Mettle, i.e. Evasion for Fort/Will saves. Finally, he can choose to take Con damage to refill his holy fury points if he runs out in a particularly long battle.

Let's talk about something: Feats.
Weapon Focus (longbow). It's a prereq for his next PrC. Just accept it and move on.
Worldly Focus is a total waste of space, but it's needed for later shenanigans. He doesn't worship the Sovereign Host, but due to an Adaptation section elsewhere in the book, this isn't an issue.

Spoiler: ECL 11

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Yes, this entire section is for a single class level.

Camellia decides that he wants some spellcasting. After all, the spellcasters in his party are running away with the game. Sure, he has some nice SLAs, and he can just finish off Hellbreaker if he wants to be a decent fighting character. The problem is he wants in on that real spellcasting thing too! We want a fast advancing PrC that'll get him up to 9th-level divine spells that is compatible with his alignment and makes use of his very high Charisma. That means Ur-Priest is simply not an option. That leaves him with Divine Crusader. Normally this is considered a fairly weak class, but we're starting with the shenanigans again! Camellia may end up dropping down to 3/4 BAB and a slightly lower HD, but he's picking up a second good save and eventually 9th-level spells. He can still also get the BAB for his 4 iterative attacks for the times when he wants to do that and Rapid Shot. A couple points of BAB and a few hit points for good casting? It's a worthwhile trade.

Let's stop a moment and take stock of things. Camellia is Chaotic Good and uses a Composite Longbow, which counts as a longbow for most things, including deity's favored weapon. This is very important, because that means he has to find a deity to follow who is also CG and has longbow as a favored weapon. Let's go ahead and look through all of Camellia's non-homebrew options. I'll cover all the bow options for completeness, even those that he'd rather not take. When listing domains, I only list those in the default description rather than those extras that can be added via additional supplements, but you should always add as many domain options as your DM will allow!

Deity	Alignment	Domains	Favored Weapon	Source
Apollo	CG	Good, Healing, Magic, Knowledge, Sun	Composite Longbow	D&D
Phaulkon	CG	Air, Animal, Chaos, Good, War	Longbow	LGG
Solonor Thelandira	CG	Chaos, Elf, Good, Plant, War	Longbow	F&P
Less Desirable Options
Ehlonna	NG	Animal, Good, Plant, Sun	Longbow	PHB
Mayaheine	LG	Good, Law, Protection, War	Longbow	LGG
Myhriss	NG	Good, Healing, Protection	Shortbow	LGG
Rudd	CG	Chaos, Good, Luck	Shortbow	LGG
Shevarash	CN	Chaos, Elf, Retribution, War	Longbow	F&P
Silver Flame	LG	Exorcism, Good, Law, Protection	Longbow	ECS
Silver Flame – Knights Militant	LG	Endurance, Exorcism, Good, Wrath, War	Longbow	PGtE
Silver Flame – Puritans	LG	Inquisition, Law, Purification	Longbow	PGtE
Silver Flame – Radiant Flame	LG	Glory, Good, Mysticism, Protection	Longbow	PGtE
Telchur	CN	Air, Chaos, Cold, Strength, Winter	Shortbow	Frost
Uller	CN	Chaos, Protection, Travel	Longbow	D&D
Vandria Gilmadrith	LN	Law, Protection, War	Longbow	RotW

As we can see, there are only three options that perfectly fit with Camellia and nine that are pretty close. Of the three that are perfect, Apollo is clearly the best option, based primarily on domain choice. Based on fluff text, Phaulkon is probably the first choice. Solonor is an elf. Everyone knows elves are too stuck up, and Camellia really doesn't want to get involved in elf/drow politics. He's already got enough on his plate dealing with the Seelie and Unseelie courts. Since Camellia already has Knowledge Devotion and Apollo is pretty much perfect (if a bit of a pacifist), offers the Knowledge domain with other good domain choices, and specifically offers the exact type of weapon he already uses, Camellia makes the easy choice to become a Divine Crusader of Apollo.

Lets look at Apollo's domains: Good, Healing, Magic, Knowledge, Sun.
Granted Powers:
Good, Healing, and Knowledge provide +1 CL to a few spells, not great but not terrible. Camellia's CL is pretty limited, so this is a nice enough benefit. Knowledge also adds all Knowledge skills as class skills, which would be nice if he had the skill points to spend.
Magic makes him count as a wizard of half his Divine Crusader level for activating certain items. This isn't useless, but... Considering that he'd never count as more than a 5th-level wizard, it's not really good either.
Sun gives him a 1/day Greater Turning that replaces a normal turning attempt... which is nifty, if he had turning. We could apply the Dragonlance Campaign Setting (an official WotC book!) rule on Mystics here that grants a normal turning pool instead. I'd likely go this route, but it's up to the DM. Although, if the DM has been flexible enough for you to even get here, the DM is probably likely to allow this too.
Spell Lists:
Good fits with the Hellbreaker theme of smiting evil, but it's pretty mediocre.
Healing gives Heal, Regenerate, and Mass Heal, which are all great spells, but the rest are wasted due to Camellia's essentially unlimited swift action healing through divine succor.
Knowledge gives some good divinations, including true seeing and foresight. Not the most useful in combat, but it's a respectable choice for utility.
Magic gives some interesting options: identify, dispel magic, antimagic field, and disjunction. Also a decent choice.
Sun gives a few blasting spells and two defensive spells. Interesting if you want to blast more.

Ultimately, the domain choice is going to depend largely on the campaign and DM. Since he's going for the gold here anyway and has left all rationality behind, Camellia selects the Sun domain and wheedles his DM into granting him turn undead as per the rule for Mystics. With his super high Charisma, he might even actually use it to actually turn undead!

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
11	Divine Crusader 1	+10/+5	+9	+2	+7		Aura

Camellia gains a Chaotic Good aura, the Good part stacking with his three paladin levels. He also gains fast advancing divine spellcasting from exactly one domain... but he gets up to 9th-level spells!

Spoiler: ECL 12-16

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Camellia has realized the error of his ways. Apollo is great and all, and definitely his first choice, but he should have been worshiping the entire Olympian Pantheon from the beginning!

The Olympian Pantheon specifically can be worshiped as a whole, specifically has no alignment at all and permits clerics of all alignments (so his CG alignment here is acceptable), and is universal enough to slot into the Sovereign Speaker's Adaptation section. I suppose Camellia should be called an Olympian Speaker instead.

Five levels of Olympian Speaker grants Camellia 5 bonus domains and an extra 3rd-level spell slot, losing only 1 spellcasting level along the way. So long as he doesn't lose any more, he'll still hit his goal, 9th-level spells by level 20. If he dumped a few levels of Hellbreaker, he could get there faster, but... he didn't do that. Hindsight being 20/20 and all that...

So, now that he worships the entire pantheon, his domain choices broaden considerably: Air, Animal, Artifice, Chaos, Charm, Community, Creation, Death, Destruction, Earth, Evil, Fire, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Luck, Madness, Magic, Nobility, Plant, Protection, Strength, Sun, Travel, Trickery, War, Water, and Weather. Not a shabby list at all, and that doesn't even touch on the extra domains from other sources he might be able to finagle onto the list.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
12	Sovereign Speaker 1	+10/+5	+9	+2	+9	HD12 – Travel DevotionCC	Bonus Domain
13	Sovereign Speaker 2	+11/+6/+1	+9	+2	+10		Bonus Domain, +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
14	Sovereign Speaker 3	+12/+7/+2	+10	+3	+10		Bonus Domain, extra domain slot, +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
15	Sovereign Speaker 4	+13/+8/+3	+10	+3	+11	HD15 – Spontaneous DomainsCC	Bonus Domain, +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
16	Sovereign Speaker 5	+13/+8/+3	+10	+3	+11		Bonus Domain, +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class

Olympian Speaker opens up a lot of options for Camellia. The exact ones he chooses are going to be completely campaign dependent based on what he needs, what his allies can do, and what he thinks is going to be fun to use in whatever situation he has. He'll need to pay a bit of attention and think a bit when preparing spells, at least for now.

Travel Devotion gets him around the battlefield a bit better, even though his swift actions are already pretty tight. It's very useful when he needs it. Since he has turn undead uses now *cough*, he can even use it more than 1/day...

At level 15, we rely on a questionable awesome ruling. Using Divine Crusader, Camellia can prepare and cast spells specifically only from his domains, therefore all spell slots he has should be considered domain slots. Since his massive Charisma convinced his DM of this rule interpretation, he takes the Spontaneous Domains feat and now has fully spontaneous casting from all six of his domain lists. That repetitive banging sound is Camellia's DM's forehead repeatedly introducing itself to his desk... or possibly his DM introducing the DMG to Camellia's player's face.

Spoiler: ECL 17-20

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Camellia has finally hit level 20. He dips Contemplative for two levels, then he slides back into Divine Crusader, because he gets better saves, higher BAB, a better HD, and full casting progression off of it.

By level 20, he has 9th-level spontaneous casting from a spell list consisting of 7 domains, enough BAB for four iterative attacks, a number of good SLAs, a very nice combat healing option, decent ranged threats, and is lots of fun to play. Camellia has become the paladin your paladin could smell like.

	Class	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Feats	Special
17	Contemplative 1	+13/+8/+3	+10	+3	+13		Bonus domain, divine health +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
18	Contemplative 2	+14/+9/+4	+10	+3	+14	HD18 – (Open)	Slippery mind +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
19	Divine Crusader 2	+15/+10/+5	+11	+3	+15		—
20	Divine Crusader 3	+16/+11/+6/+1	+11	+4	+15		Resistance to electricity 5

[Rizban]

Keld Drummond

Male Human Artificer 3 LN Medium Humanoid (Human) Initiative -3; Senses Listen +0; Spot +0 Languages Common, Elven, Draconic, Dwarven, Giant AC 19 T 13 FF 16; Fort +3 Ref +4 Will +3 –Masterwork Breastplate (+5), Masterwork Light Wooden Shield (+1) Speed 30 ft. BAB +2 Grapple +4 –Masterwork Crossbow, light [+6 (1d8 | 19-20/x2)] Artificer Spellcasting –CL 3; Infusions: 2nd (2/day), 1st (4/day) Spell-Like Abilities 1/day – Repair Light Damage hp 24 (3 HD) Strength- 14 -(+2) Dexterity- 16 -(+3) Constitution- 14 -(+2) Intelligence- 18 -(+4) Wisdom- 10 -(+0) Charisma- 16 -(+3) Feats: Two-Weapon Fighting, Extend Spell, Least Dragonmark of Making, Scribe Scroll, Brew Potion, Twin Spell, Craft Wondrous Item –Flaws: Unreactive Other Possessions: Spell Component Pouch, 600 gp

Skill Total Ranks Concentration +8 6 Craft (armorsmithing) +12 6 Craft (weaponsmithing) +12 6 Disable Device +10 6 Knowledge – arcana +10 6 Search +10 6 Spellcraft +12 6 Use Magic Device +9 6

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[Endarire]

Thankee for your contributions!

[unseenmage]

I remember Shrift! Very satisfied at the level of detail on the *little* guy.

Am looking forward to the next build request thread, there's a wizard I always wanted to see come to life...

[Nifft]

Keld Drummond

Male Human Artificer 3 LN Medium Humanoid (Human) Initiative -3; Senses Listen +0; Spot +0 Languages Common, Elven, Draconic, Dwarven, Giant AC 19 T 13 FF 16; Fort +3 Ref +4 Will +3 –Masterwork Breastplate (+5), Masterwork Light Wooden Shield (+1) Speed 30 ft. BAB +2 Grapple +4 –Masterwork Crossbow, light [+6 (1d8 | 19-20/x2)] Artificer Spellcasting –CL 3; Infusions: 2nd (2/day), 1st (4/day) Spell-Like Abilities 1/day – Repair Light Damage hp 24 (3 HD) Strength- 14 -(+2) Dexterity- 16 -(+3) Constitution- 14 -(+2) Intelligence- 18 -(+4) Wisdom- 10 -(+0) Charisma- 16 -(+3) Feats: Two-Weapon Fighting, Extend Spell, Least Dragonmark of Making, Scribe Scroll, Brew Potion, Twin Spell, Craft Wondrous Item –Flaws: Unreactive Other Possessions: Spell Component Pouch, 600 gp

Skill Total Ranks Concentration +8 6 Craft (armorsmithing) +12 6 Craft (weaponsmithing) +12 6 Disable Device +10 6 Knowledge – arcana +10 6 Search +10 6 Spellcraft +12 6 Use Magic Device +9 6

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That's some nice formatting you got there.

Was it automated, like from a spreadsheet export? Or was it by hand?

[Rizban]

That's some nice formatting you got there.

Was it automated, like from a spreadsheet export? Or was it by hand?

I use a spreadsheet, but it's a bit finicky. It really isn't something that would be useful to anyone else who wasn't very familiar with it or wanted to spend a lot of hours learning it.