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2017-04-24, 02:35 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Build number 3:
Originally Posted by Willow
Willow
``Get over here, lemme tell ya a joke...''
CE Wispling Jester 6, Warshaper 3, Astral Dancer 10
STR 22 : 16 -2 (race) +4 (warshaper) +4 (levelup)
DEX 14 : 10 +4 (race)
CON 18 : 14 +4 (warshaper)
INT 12 : 10 +2 (race)
WIS 10 : 10
CHA 16 : 16
Spoiler: FluffThe idea behind this build is that of a stalking, freddy-esq slasher-style jester. Luring victims into her personal realm of horror and slicing them up with claws and magic.
Whilst starting as a relatively normal psuedo-halfling, she slowly converts to a shape shifting, stretching horror.
Spoiler: Build DetailsNote: the table and descriptions of the jester class list different levels at which the second bonus feat come online, it's either 5 or 6.
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features LEVEL ADJUSTMENT Wispling - - - - - - Change Self 1/day, Halfling Traits, Small Size 1st Jester 1 +0 +0 +2 +2 Bluff 4, Intimidate 4, Perform (comedy) 4, Balance 4, Jump 4, Tumble 4, Move Silently 4 Dodge Jester's Audacity +1, Jester's Performance, Fascinate, Inspiring Quip 2nd Jester 2 +1 +0 +3 +3 Bluff 5, Intimidate 5, Perform (comedy) 5, Balance 5, Jump 5, Tumble 5, Move Silently 5 Deflect Arrows Bonus Feat 3rd Jester 3 +2 +1 +3 +3 Bluff 6, Intimidate 6, Perform (comedy) 6, Balance 6, Jump 6, Tumble 6, Move Silently 6 Mobility Taunt 4th Jester 4 +3 +1 +4 +4 Bluff 7, Intimidate 7, Perform (comedy) 7, Balance 7, Jump 7, Tumble 7, Move Silently 7 - New Class Abilities 5th Jester 5 +3 +1 +4 +4 Bluff 8, Intimidate 8, Perform (comedy) 8, Balance 8, Jump 8, Tumble 8, Move Silently 8 Snatch Arrows? Bonus feat?, Jester's Audacity +2 6th Jester 6 +4 +2 +5 +5 Bluff 9, Intimidate 9, Perform (comedy) 9, Balance 9, Move Silently 9, Never Outnumbered Assume Supernatural Ability, Snatch Arrows? Bonus feat?, Calming Performance 7th Warshaper 1 +4 +4 +5 +5 Disguise 3 - Mophic Immunities, Morphic Weapons 8th Warshaper 2 +5 +5 +6 +6 Disguise 6 - Morphic Body 9th Warshaper 3 +6 +5 +6 +6 Disguise 9 Spring Attack Morphic Reach 10th Astral Dancer 1 +6 +5 +8 +6 Bluff 10, Balance 9, Jump 10, Tumble 9, Move Silently 10, Assume Quirk - Relative Altitude 11th Astral Dancer 2 +7 +5 +9 +6 Bluff 11, Balance 11, Jump 10, Tumble 10, Move Silently 11, Second Impression - Evasion (no-gravity) 12th Astral Dancer 3 +8 +6 +9 +7 Bluff 12, Balance 11, Jump 12, Tumble 11, Move Silently 12, Social Recovery Shi`Quos School Improved Maneuverability 13th Astral Dancer 4 +9 +6 +10 +7 Bluff 13, Balance 13, Jump 13, Tumble 13, Move Silently 13 - Evasion 14th Astral Dancer 5 +9 +6 +10 +7 Bluff 14, Balance 14, Jump 14, Tumble 14, Move Silently 14, Sleight of Hand 2 - Astral Dodge +2/+1 15th Astral Dancer 6 +10 +7 +11 +8 Bluff 15, Balance 15, Jump 15, Tumble 15, Move Silently 15, Sleight of Hand 4 Sidestep Charge Improved Evasion (no-gravity) 16th Astral Dancer 7 +11 +7 +11 +8 Bluff 16, Balance 16, Jump 16, Tumble 16, Move Silently 16, Sleight of Hand 6 - Astral Agility 17th Astral Dancer 8 +12 +7 +12 +8 Bluff 17, Balance 17, Jump 17, Tumble 17, Move Silently 17, Sleight of Hand 8 - Improved Evasion 18th Astral Dancer 9 +12 +8 +12 +9 Bluff 18, Balance 18, Jump 18, Tumble 18, Move Silently 18, Sleight of Hand 10 Combat Panache Improved Maneuverability 19th Astral Dancer 10 +13 +8 +13 +9 Bluff 19, Balance 19, Jump 19, Tumble 19, Move Silently 19, Sleight of Hand 12 - Astral Dodge +4/+2, Lightning Speed
Spoiler: Spells
Jester Spells
Spells per Day/Spells Known
Level 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 1st 2/4 - - - - - - - - - 2nd 3/5 1/2 - - - - - - - - 3rd 3/6 2/3 1 - - - - - - - 4th 3/6 3/3 2/2 - - - - - - - 5th 3/6 4/4 3/3 - - - - - - - 6th 3/6 4/4 3/3 - - - - - - -
Spoiler: Levels 0-4Willow starts life as a typical jester, but with the nice addition of a built in disguise thanks to her ancestry. The jester spell list lends itself to controlling both the battlefield and individual targets, with such lovelies as grease and Tasha's Laughter available as early as second level. Dodge, light Armour, shield and jester's audacity stack to give her a very nice AC total as well for staying alive.
She's no slouch outside of combat either, with a nice selection of social and stealthy skills to her name, including fascinate. She can easily fill the role of the party face.
Spoiler: Levels 5-9Here we gain access to both second level spells, giving us a great many more out of combat utility. We also gain the mighty Warshaper class (access granted by our wispling shape change), buffing our stats as well as growing claws with extra reach! Having this extra reach gives us more options to move about the combat whilst consistently getting off spring attacks.
A key feat picked up here is assume supernatural ability. We can combine this with alter form to pick up any abilities from HD 5 or less tiny to medium outsiders. This includes some nice abilities such as the Arrowhawks, giving us a lightning bolt attack once per round; or the Dretch, for telepathy; Mephits for breath attacks; Rast for flight; Shadow Mastiff for hiding... And so on. This lets us get a lot more use out of just one spell.
We're also immune to crits now, so that's nice!
Spoiler: Levels 10-14 SWEET SPOT ~12Here's where stuff really picks up. We gain a bunch of bonuses to fighting in subjective gravity; and thus I suppose it's about time I told you why we're a Wispling.
A wispling is a small size outsider, meaning we can use alter shape to become a tiny size outsider! The one we're interested in here is the ETHER SCARAB, from the MMII. It has this rather useful SU ability, that we can assume when we become it:
This ability is special in that it doesn't require any special action on the part of the traveler (as bracelet of friends or the like) to activate it. Just walk through the hole and boom! Another plane! This means we can force our foes through it, or, more often, get them to walk through it themselves. With the taunt ability of the jester, we can open the portal, go through, and then goad whichever enemy we feel like into following us into our plane of choice. Where WE have the high ground, literally. With relative altitude, we always count as being above the foe, so every attack we make forces a save to prevent tripping, thanks to our Shi`Quos School training.Planar Rip (Su): By ripping at the planar fabric with its mandibles, an ether scarab can create a two-way portal between its own plane and another (usually the Material). This hole between the planes appears tiny, but it can accommodate any Large or smaller creature traveling in either direction. A planar rip closes in 1d4+1 rounds
Spoiler: Levels 15-19The rest of our levels and feats provide us with more defense whilst we are in our planar arena. Our tactics involve repeated charging in and fleeing with spring attack, so we pick up sidestep charge to hinder the enemies ability to respond in melee. Combining this with our grab arrows and improved evasion, it's hard for any kind of direct damage to get to us.
We pick up some more AC from astral dodge, stacking with dodge and jester's AC for a hefty total. Combat panache combos well with Astral agility if we get more than one foe in our trap.
We also pick up a few skill tricks here, to keep us up to speed with the rest of the party when it comes to social situations.
Spoiler: TechnicalitiesIf it is deemed that Wispling does not allow entry into warshaper, we can also qualify by alter shaping into something (tiny-medium outsider with 5 or less HD) with the shapechanger subtype, or with change shape as an SU ability, then assuming it. Such as the Magma Mephit!
Spoiler: SourcesWispling: Fiend Folio
Jester: Dragon Compendium
Warshaper: Complete Warior
Assume Supernatural Ability: Savage Species
Shi`Quos School: Drow of the Underdark
Sidestep Charge: Miniatures Handbook
Combat Panache: Player's Handbook II
Ether Scarab: Monster Manual IIQuotebox
Spoiler Originally Posted by Kalirren
Originally Posted by golentan
Avatar by Rain Dragon
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2017-04-24, 02:36 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Build number 4:
Originally Posted by Cheth Deppard
Cheth Deppard
Race: Talaire (Complete Psionic p. 141)
Build Stub: Simple Druid 2/Barbarian 1/Fighter 2/Astral Dancer 1/Abolisher 1/Planar Shepherd 5/Astral Dancer +8
Multiclass Penalty: No, but any penalty that discourages you from taking more levels in Astral Dancer is probably a good thing.
Languages: Common, Druidic, Sylvan, Celestial, Elsewhale
Alignment: NG
Ability Scores:
Ability Score Racial Points 4th 8th 12th 16th 20th Strength 8 Dexterity 14 6 Constitution 14 6 Intelligence 16 10 17 18 19 20 21 Wisdom 16 10 Charisma 8
Spoiler: Build Progression
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Simple Druid 1 +0 -1 +0 +2 Balance 4, Diplomacy 3, Handle Animal 4, Jump 1(cc), Know:Dungeon 2(cc), Know:Nature 4, Perform:Dance 3, Spellcraft 1, Survival 3, Tumble 4 Greensinger Initiate, Expeditious Dodge (Human), Track (UA variant), Martial Study: Steel Wind (Flaw: Meager Fortitude) Nature Sense, Wild Empathy, Animal Companion: Eagle, AC Bonus as Monk (UA variant), Favored Enemy: Aberrations (UA variant), Skilled City-Dweller ACF (Tumble) 2nd Simple Druid 2 +1 +0 +0 +3 Balance 5(+1), Diplomacy 5(+2), Handle Animal 5(+1), Jump 2(+2cc), Know:Dungeon 2, Know:Nature 5(+1), Perform:Dance 3, Spellcraft 1, Survival 3, Tumble 5(+1) Sandskimmer (ACF) -> Wild Talent (Celare) Sandskimmer ACF 3rd Barbarian 1 +2 +2 +0 +3 Balance 6(+1), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 4(+2), Know:Dungeon 3(+2cc), Know:Nature 6(+2cc), Perform:Dance 4, Spellcraft 1, Survival 3, Tumble 6(+1) Roofwalker, Speed of Thought Roof-Dweller ACF, Whirling Frenzy (UA variant), Skilled City-Dweller ACF (Tumble) 4th Fighter 1 +3 +4 +0 +3 Balance 7(+1), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 6(+2), Know:Dungeon 3, Know:Nature 7(+2cc), Perform:Dance 3, Spellcraft 1, Survival 3, Tumble 7(+1) Mobility Skilled City-Dweller ACF (Tumble) 5th Fighter 2 +4 +5 +0 +3 Balance 8(+1), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 8(+2), Know:Dungeon 3, Know:Nature 8(+2cc), Perform:Dance 4, Spellcraft 1, Survival 3, Tumble 8(+1) Spring Attack 6th Astral Dancer 1 +4 +5 +2 +3 Balance 8, Bluff 1(+1), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 8, Know:Dungeon 4(+2cc), Know:Nature 9(+2cc), Perform:Dance 3, Search 5(+5), Spellcraft 1, Survival 3, Tumble 8 Roof-Jumper Relative Altitude 7th Abolisher 1 +4 +5 +2 +5 Balance 8, Bluff 1, Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 8, Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4(+4), Perform:Dance 3, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Survival 5(+2), Tumble 8, Skill Trick: Twisted Charge 2 Wild Shape 1/day, Favored Enemy: Aberrations +2 8th Planar Shepherd 1 +4 +7 +2 +7 Balance 8, Bluff 1, Concentration 9(+9), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 8, Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Perform:Dance 3, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Survival 5, Tumble 8, Twisted Charge 2 Planar Attunement 9th Planar Shepherd 2 +5 +8 +2 +8 Balance 8, Bluff 1, Concentration 12(+3), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 8, Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Perform:Dance 3, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 6(+6), Survival 5, Tumble 8, Twisted Charge 2[/B] Cheetah's Speed Detect Manifest Zone, Animal Companion: Dire Eagle 10th Planar Shepherd 3 +6 +8 +3 +8 Balance 8, Bluff 1, Concentration 13(+1), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 8, Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Perform:Dance 3, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 12(+6), Survival 5, Tumble 8, Twisted Charge 2, Skill Trick: Spot the Weak Point 2 Wild Shape (Magical Beast) 11th Planar Shepherd 4 +7 +9 +3 +9 Balance 8, Bluff 1, Concentration 14(+1), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 8, Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Listen 6(+6), Perform:Dance 3, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 14(+2), Survival 5, Tumble 8, Twisted Charge 2, Spot the Weak Point 2 Plane Shift 1/day 12th Planar Shepherd 5 +7 +9 +3 +9 Balance 8, Bluff 1, Concentration 15(+1), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 8, Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Listen 11(+5), Perform:Dance 3, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 15(+1), Survival 5, Tumble 8, Twisted Charge 2, Spot the Weak Point 2, Skill Trick: Swift Concentration 2 Psionic Charge Planar Bubble 1/day 13th Astral Dancer 2 +8 +9 +4 +9 Balance 8, Bluff 2(+1), Concentration 15, Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 13(+5), Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Listen 11, Perform:Dance 3, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 15, Survival 5, Tumble 13(+5), Twisted Charge 2, Spot the Weak Point 2, Swift Concentration 2 Evasion (no gravity) 14th Astral Dancer 3 +9 +10 +4 +10 Balance 8, Bluff 3(+1), Concentration 15, Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 17(+4), Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Listen 11, Perform:Dance 3, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 17(+2), Survival 5, Tumble 17(+4), Twisted Charge 2, Spot the Weak Point 2, Swift Concentration 2 Improved Maneuverability 15th Astral Dancer 4 +10 +10 +5 +10 Balance 8, Bluff 5(+2), Concentration 18(+6cc), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Jump 18(+1), Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Listen 11, Perform:Dance 3, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 18(+1), Survival 5, Tumble 18(+1), Twisted Charge 2, Spot the Weak Point 2, Swift Concentration 2 Run Evasion 16th Astral Dancer 5 +10 +10 +5 +10 Balance 8, Bluff 9(+4), Concentration 19(+2cc), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Hide 3(+3), Jump 19(+1), Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Listen 11, Perform:Dance 3, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 19(+1), Survival 5, Tumble 19(+1), Twisted Charge 2, Spot the Weak Point 2, Swift Concentration 2 Astral Dodge +2/+1 17th Astral Dancer 6 +11 +11 +6 +11 Balance 8, Bluff 9, Concentration 19, Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Hide 8(+5), Jump 20(+1), Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Listen 11, Perform:Dance 5(+4cc), Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 20(+1), Survival 5, Tumble 20(+1), Twisted Charge 2, Spot the Weak Point 2, Swift Concentration 2 Improved Evasion (no gravity) 18th Astral Dancer 7 +12 +11 +6 +11 Balance 8, Bluff 10(+1), Concentration 20(+2cc), Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Hide 8, Jump 21(+1), Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Listen 11, Move Silently 4(+4), Perform:Dance 5, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 21(+1), Survival 5, Tumble 21(+1), Twisted Charge 2, Spot the Weak Point 2, Swift Concentration 2, Skill Trick: Shrouded Dance 2 Fleet of Foot Astral Agility 19th Astral Dancer 8 +13 +11 +7 +11 Balance 8, Bluff 11(+1), Concentration 20, Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Hide 10(+2), Jump 22(+1), Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Listen 11, Move Silently 10(+6), Perform:Dance 5, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 22(+1), Survival 5, Tumble 22(+1), Twisted Charge 2, Spot the Weak Point 2, Swift Concentration 2, Shrouded Dance 2 Improved Evasion 20th Astral Dancer 9 +13 +12 +7 +12 Balance 8, Bluff 11, Concentration 20, Diplomacy 5, Handle Animal 5, Hide 15(+5), Jump 23(+1), Know:Dungeon 4, Know:Nature 9, Know:Planes 4, Listen 11, Move Silently 15(+5), Perform:Dance 5, Search 5, Spellcraft 1, Spot 22, Survival 5, Tumble 23(+1), Twisted Charge 2, Spot the Weak Point 2, Swift Concentration 2, Shrouded Dance 2 Improved Maneuverability
Spoiler: Druid Spells
Typical Druid Spells Prepared
0lvl: create water, cure minor wounds, dawn (SC), detect magic, light, read magic
1st: aspect of the wolf (SC), faerie fire, instant of power (Forge of War), produce flame, wall of smoke (SC)
2nd: cloud wings (SC), heart of air (CMage), mass snake's swiftness (SC), summon swarm
3rd: dispel magic, heart of water (CMage), lion's charge (SC)
4th: enhance wild shape (SC)
Druid Spells per Day
Level 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 1st 3 2 - - - - - - - - 2nd 4 3 - - - - - - - - 3rd 4 3 - - - - - - - - 4th 4 3 - - - - - - - - 5th 4 3 - - - - - - - - 6th 4 3 - - - - - - - - 7th 4 3 - - - - - - - - 8th 4 3 2 - - - - - - - 9th 5 4 3 - - - - - - - 10th 5 4 3 2 - - - - - - 11th 5 4 4 3 - - - - - - 12th 6 5 4 3 1 - - - - -
Spoiler: Levels 1-5
Cheth starts with Simple Druid, which trades away Wild Shape and armor/shield proficiency for AC Bonus as a monk (Wis to AC!), Favored Enemy as a Ranger, and Track as a bonus feat. While Wild Shape is an important part of this build, Druid 5 isn't the best way to get everything else we need, so we'll pick up Wild Shape later with Abolisher. And since we're headed that way, might as well make abominations our favored enemy. Cheth takes Greensinger Initiate as his 1st level feat, which adds Bluff, Hide, and Perform to his class skills, as well as adding charm person to his spell list. For his human bonus feat, he takes Expeditious Dodge. With Strength of 8, he doesn't care much for melee at lower levels, favoring mostly a "run behind the meatbags and throw a shortspear or something" strategy.
I had to take a flaw here to make sure Balance was a class skill, so Cheth also picks up Martial Study: Steel Wind. If he does want to get into melee, then this lets him move (getting the AC bonus from Expeditious Dodge) and make two melee attacks, most likely with a shortspear or scimitar. He can also cast aspect of the wolf (Spell Compendium) and attack in wolf form. Steel Wind can also be used in wolf form, if need be.
For his second level, Cheth picks up the Sandskimmer as a bonus feat from the Sandstorm ACF. We don't care so much what it does (not much), just so long as it's a bonus feat. Now, about the race... Talaire are humans that may have latent psionic abilities tied to one of the Six Hidden Houses of Talaron. They may or may not have a special symbol (indicating their Hidden House ancestry) somewhere on their skin. A chance encounter with another Talairan or a disturbing dream could awaken a Talairan's "hidden" psionic power, in which case they gain the Wild Talent feat related to their Hidden House. If this happens before play, then Wild Talent becomes the Talairan's human bonus feat. If it happens later in life or during the course of play, Wild Talent replaces one of their existing bonus feats. However, the rules don't specify which bonus feat is lost, so instead of losing Expeditious Dodge or Martial Study, Cheth replaces the Sandskimmer feat with Wild Talent (Celare). This allows him to take psionic feats, and also gives him the burst power as a PLA 1/day.
After that, Cheth takes a level of Barbarian to pick up the Roofdweller ACF, which gives him Roofwalker as a bonus feat. He also picks up the Whirling Frenzy ACF because extra attacks are more interesting than something that mucks around with his Constitution score. Barbarian gives him armor proficiency, so he can wear a darkleaf chain shirt or breastplate (ECS) if it offers a better AC bonus than his Wisdom, and he can upgrade his shortspears to javelins and his sling to a light crossbow. He also picks up Speed of Thought, and since he doesn't really need to expend his psionic focus for anything right now, this effectively gives him a +10' insight bonus to speed, making up for the loss of Fast Movement.
The next two levels are Fighter to pick up two bonus feats: Mobility and Spring Attack. This allows Cheth to start his turn behind the front line, move up to attack (plus trip in wolf form), then fall back in with the REMFs while taking advantage of the AC bonus from Expeditious Dodge. Steel Wind may also be possible to use with Spring Attack... the rules aren't entirely clear, as they never bother to define what an "attack action" is. By strict RAW, a martial maneuver is a standard action but not necessarily an attack action. But then again... it's a standard action that allows you to make melee attacks, so... check with your DM.
Spoiler: Levels 6-10
Cheth enters Astral Dancer! Not necessarily because it does much for him at this point, but mostly because we don't quite qualify for Abolisher yet. The extra skill points from Astral Dancer helps him get the skill ranks for Abolisher, and he picks up 5 ranks of Search for the +2 synergy bonus on Tracking checks. He also picks up Roof-Jumper, which isn't quite useful yet, but will be soon.
Abolisher gives Cheth a couple important things: ranks in Knowledge: the Planes for getting into Planar Shepherd, an additional +2 damage against aberrations, and of course access to Wild Shape. Unfortunately, we only have access to medium-sized animals up to 3 HD, so... mostly black bear (combat), baboon (better Strength, still has hands), eagle/owl (scouting), porpoise (aquatic/blindsight 120'), and his preferred form: cheetah! Actually, since he can't quite get Sprint (Ex) yet, he's more likely to use leopard form for Pounce (Ex).
And so, on to the elephant in the room: Planar Shepherd, which advances druid spellcasting, Animal Companion, and Wild Shape. It also can be abused to do unspeakably horrific things to the action economy by attuning to a plane with an accelerated time trait. Oddly enough, that's not really what we're here for... mostly, we just need to attune to a plane with a "no gravity" or "subjective directional gravity" and for our purposes the normal ol' boring Astral Plane works perfectly well here. We'll get into the implications of using Planar Bubble (Su) later, but for right now all Planar Attunement does is protect us from the harmful effects when we visit the Astral Plane... which doesn't appear to have any harmful effects. Well, psychic storms, maybe, but it's not clear if these still happen in the 3.5 version of the Astral Plane.
Something else interesting happens at 8th level: Druid 2 + Abolisher 1 + Planar Shepherd 1 = 4 effective druid levels for Cheth's animal companion, and he upgrades his eagle into a Dire Eagle (Races of Stone). This is a large-sized creature with 5 HD and decent combat stats, and gives Cheth a flying mount to ride around when not in Wild Shape form.
At 9th level, Planar Shepherd gets detect manifest zone 1/day. This helps Cheth detect areas where the planar traits have bled through into the material plane, and thus lets him know where he might be able to use his Astral Dancer abilities... which at this point is a whole wopping +1 bonus on melee attack rolls. He also picks up Cheetah's Speed, which is much more interesting, as he can now sprint up to 10x his move speed as part of a charge once per hour. In hunting bat form (MM2), this gives him a 600' charge, and if he dives straight down from 1,200' (flying down doubles movement), he can use Roof-Jumper's "Death From Above" to kick in 119d6 bonus damage (average 416). Twisted Charge allows Cheth to make a 90-degree turn on a charge once per encounter, but if he does so he's restricted to only move up to his normal move speed.
At 10th level, Cheth gets Wild Shape (magical beast). Fortunately, I can cover the utility of this ability very quickly: there aren't any magical beasts native to the Astral Plane. If you manage to convince your DM to allow you to attune to a different plane, such as Dal Quor, then the utility of this ability could change significantly. Dal Quor contains a dream-version of every possible magical beast that can sleep or dream. Xoriat, however, doesn't appear to have any natives that are magical beasts. Also at 10th level, Cheth picks up another skill trick: Spot the Weak Point, which allows him to treat his next attack as a touch attack if he spends a standard action to study his opponent. If Cheth is flying above his opponent, he can spend one round to move into position (move action) and then use Spot the Weak Point (standard action), setting himself up for a Death From Above charge on the next round.
Spoiler: Levels 11-15
Cheth adds more levels of Planar Shepherd, picking up Plane Shift 1/day at 11th level, which allows him to easily travel to the Astral Plane (or another plane with a suitable gravity trait).
At 12th level, several important things unlock. First, Cheth now has caster level 7 and access to 4th level spells, including enhance wild shape (Spell Compendium). This gives him access to Sprint (Ex) when in cheetah form. He also picks up Psionic Charge, which allows him to expend his psionic focus to change direction in a charge. Combined with the Twisted Charge skill trick, this allows him to pull a complete 180-degree U-turn when charging a distance up to his speed. When flying around with Force of Will, this is 200'. And finally, Cheth picks up Planar Shepherd's signature ability, Planar Bubble (Su). This allows Cheth to enjoy the benefits of being on the Astral Plane even when he's on the Prime Material. It only lasts 5 hours per day, but he can now float around with a 200' fly speed. This has several implications, not the least of which: If Cheth activates both Sprint and Cheetah's Speed at the same time, he can charge 20,000' in a single round (Mach 2.9, or just slightly faster than a MiG-25 Foxbat). If he throws in burst from his Wild Talent (Celare), he can break Mach 3. If he throws in cloud wings (Spell Compendium), he can give an SR-71 Blackbird a run for its money (Mach 3.4). Sprint (Ex) and Cheetah's Speed (Su) are different sources by RAW, and since distance is a real-world value, the two x10 multipliers stack with each other for x100. If Cheth is lucky enough to start 20,000' directly above an opponent, he can use "Death From Above" to obliterate his opponent with 1999d6 bonus damage (6996 average). However, in a no-gravity or subjective-gravity environment, we need to talk a little bit about how we establish which way is "down" or "beneath" us. The Manual of the Planes (pp. 49-50) has this to say about moving around on the Astral Plane:
"When one is maneuvering through astral space, 'up' and 'down' are determined solely by the traveler's orientation. (down is beyond your feet, and up is above your head). Unlike normal flying, climbs and dives on the Astral Plane don't change a character’s speed, and there's no minimum speed to avoid a stall."
By that reading, down is whatever we decide is under our feet. The second option would be to invoke Relative Altitude (Ex) from Astral Dancer 1 to claim that we always have "higher ground" over our opponent, and thus we are always attacking from "above" regardless of which direction our individual gravities happen to be pointed. The third option would be, if our target has already chosen a direction under subjective gravity, we can use our opponent's definition of "down" and orient our movement accordingly. The fourth option would be to fly to a particular distance away from our opponent, switch subjective gravity with a DC 16 Wisdom check, and pick "down" to be whatever direction puts our opponent directly beneath us. This last method is less ideal, as there's a chance the Wisdom check could fail.
If terrain/cover/positioning is an issue, Cheth has two ways to change directions during a charge: Psionic Charge and Twisted Charge. Using Psionic Charge drops his speed a bit (190'), but allows a 90-degree turn when using his full multiplied speed. If Cheth is flying around under conventional gravity in dire hawk form, he can use Cheetah's Speed to charge 800', which should be enough to get him directly over an opponent and still have plenty of movement left to divebomb for several dozen Xd6 bonus damage. Even without Cheetah's Speed, he can fly above a target, turn 90-degrees down, and then divebomb (double speed under normal gravity) for a dozen or so Xd6 bonus damage, and he can repeat this every other round (regaining psionic focus as a full-round action). Twisted Charge allows him to make an additional 90-degree turn once per encounter, although he's limited to his normal move speed (200'). However, even on the Astral Plane, 200' is still a pretty good chunk of distance for a charge.
All this turning stuff brings up a difficult question... What exactly is Cheth's maneuverability rating when he charges? The movement rules in Manual of the Planes don't really address this: "An astral character may double move, but his maneuverability drops to average. An astral character may move at four times his speed (effectively running), but maneuverability drops to clumsy." If we go by strict RAW, the rules don't mention a drop in maneuverability for charging, so maneuverability would still be perfect. However, moving in a charge is a lot like a double move, and so maybe it should drop to average? I don't know, it's something you'll want to work out with the DM. Your maneuverability rating determines how much movement a 90-degree turn will take: Average = 10', Good = 5', Perfect = 0'. Worst case scenario would be average maneuverability in subjective gravity, in which case Cheth could fly straight up 90', turn 180-degrees (20' movement), and then dive straight down 90', activating Death From Above on the way down to deal an additional 8d6 damage (average 28). While this isn't exactly impressive at the moment, it will get considerably better once we upgrade Twisted Charge.
Now, hold on you might say, how is it you can charge *away* from an opponent, turn around, and still consider that a charge? Don't you have to charge to the closest square? Well, feats like Psionic Charge and Fleet of Foot remove the requirement for charging in a straight line, because otherwise they wouldn't work. Fleet of Foot explicitly addresses this with the "Normal:" description: "Without this feat you can run or charge only in a straight line." This means that if you have the feat, you no longer need to charge only in a straight line, and moving away from your opponent is the same as moving at an angle or perpendicular, so long as you satisfy the rest of the requirements for a charge.
Incidentally, if Cheth should need to Jump on the Astral Plane, or any other plane/zone with no gravity, then his 190' speed gives him a +64 on his Jump check. I have no idea if that's useful... on a plane where nobody can stand on anything solid and everybody is either flying or falling in every possible direction. Jumplomancer, anyone?
So... about that Planar Bubble. Cheth is attuned to the Astral Plane, which has a couple more perks than the gravity trait: poison stops working and all of his spells/SLAs can be Quickened as per the enhanced magic trait (which would be stupendously awesome if he weren't already using his swift action to concentrate on the bubble). If you want to align to a different plane to take advantage of an accelerated time trait, then the two notable examples are Dal Quor with a 10:1 time ratio and Xoriat with a 60:1 time ratio. And, oh look... Dal Quor has a subjective directional gravity, and Xoriat has no gravity! However, it's pretty likely the DM will either ban attunement to these planes outright or remove the time trait from the effects of the Planar Bubble. Even without the accelerated time trait, attuning to Dal Quor might be worth it to get access to dream versions of all the magical beasts that are medium-sized or smaller and have 6 HD or less.
Another issue with Planar Bubble is it requires Concentration, so it may restrict some of Cheth's actions. He can use Swift Concentration to maintain Planar Bubble as a swift action: "You can maintain concentration on a spell or similar effect as a swift action." (Emphasis added). Planar Bubble is not a spell, it's a Supernatural ability, but it's an ability that duplicates an existing spell effect (planar bubble is in the Spell Compendium), and I don't see why it wouldn't be considered a "similar effect". This likely means he has difficulty casting spells, as you can't cast spells while you're already concentrating on a spell effect. Actually, there may be some wiggle-room here by RAW, as the Duration rules for Concentration states: "You can't cast a spell while concentrating on another one." Planar Bubble is not a spell, as it's a Supernatural abil-- yeah, ok, that's probably not going to fly by most DMs, but you can ask about it. If the DM shoots you down, you can at least use spell-trigger items: "Spell Trigger, Command Word, or Use-Activated Items: Activating any of these kinds of items does not require concentration and does not provoke attacks of opportunity." (PHB p. 142). This means, if he weren't already using his swift action to concentrate on Planar Bubble or was already on a no-gravity plane, then Cheth could use a wand of lion's charge to get Pounce in cheetah form, although if he'd need a way to speak (he didn't take Natural Spell) and a way to hold/activate the wand. Pearl of Speech (600 GP, MIC) and a wand chamber in an Opposable weapon (+1 enhancement, Masters of the Wild) or an animated shield might work for that. If Cheth absolutely has to stop concentrating on Planar Bubble in order to cast spells, at least it lasts for another 1d10 rounds.
From 13th level onward, Cheth goes back to Astral Dancer. He picks up Evasion (no gravity), which is... almost useful? Too bad his Ref save is so awful. Next he picks up Improved Maneuverability, which gives him good maneuverability when he charges. At 15th level, Cheth picks up actually-useful Evasion, and then Run, which doesn't do anything useful for him but is a prereq for Fleet of Foot.
Spoiler: Levels 16-20
Cheth continues progressing with Astral Dancer (most likely due to severe head trauma after too many rulebooks thrown at his head). At 16th, he picks up Astral Dodge, which in a strange turn of events actually does something useful when he's not on the Astral Plane: +1 dodge bonus under any gravity, or +2 in no gravity. At 17th, he picks up the sorta-useful Improved Evasion (no gravity), and at 18th he gets Astral Agility. This last ability Cheth can use to... um... urgh. Ok, the best I can come up with is to drag an opponent through a wall spell of some sort, but there aren't a lot of druid wall spells that are 3rd level or lower: wall of smoke (1st, Spell Compendium), green blockade (Masters of the Wild), and wall of vermin (3rd, Complete Scoundrel). Unfortunately, none of those spells offer a debuff that might not also hit Cheth, nor do any of them really make sense to cast on the Astral Plane. Seriously, what is Astral Agility for? The whole point of the Astral Plane is a nearly-featureless expanse of open space, where you can approach or attack your opponents from any direction. Why would it ever matter if you switched places with them? Hopefully another Chef will come up with something interesting to do with this klunker. Also at 18th, Cheth picks up Shrouded Dance as a skill trick, because I thought it might be nice for a prestige class called Astral Dancer to actually be able to do something related to *dancing*. If Cheth isn't charging, or has to use a standard action to Spot the Weak Point or cast a spell, then this gives him something interesting to do with a move action.
Speaking of charging... 18th level is where Cheth upgrades Twisted Charge to Fleet of Foot and unlocks his *KILL SHOT*: When floating on the Astral Plane, or when concentrating on his Planar Bubble, Cheth can execute a U-turn charge while activating both Sprint and Cheetah's Speed. This means that under no gravity his KILL SHOT would be 9,995' on the "up" stroke, 10' to turn around, and 9,995' on the "down" stroke for 998d6 damage (average 3,493). If he spends a standard action beforehand to study his opponent, he can use Spot the Weak Point to make his attack a touch attack. If he's on the Astral Plane or is not concentrating on his Planar Bubble, he can cast lion's charge as a swift action to get Pounce. If he decides that's overkill, he can do this twice per encounter: once with Sprint for 98d6 damage (average 343) and then again with Cheetah's Speed for another 98d6. If Cheth has already used his Spring/Cheetah's Speed, or wants to save it for later, he can simply fly up/down 195' each way every other round for 18d6 bonus damage (average 63). Since he doesn't need to be in cheetah form for that, he can switch to a medium-sized animal that already has Pounce, such as a leopard or fleshraker (MM2).
At 19th level, Cheth picks up full-on Improved Evasion for-reals-now and he desperately needs it because his base Ref save is still only +7. Finally, as his Capstone, Cheth picks up Improved Maneuverability, which gives him perfect maneuverability even when double-moving or charging. This means that for his KILL SHOT in no gravity, Cheth can fly 10,500' straight up, instantly change direction, fly 10,500' straight down, and get 1049d6 bonus damage (average 3,671). If he opts not to use either Sprint or Cheetah's Speed, he can fly up/down every other round and get 20d6 bonus damage (average 70) on each attack that hits.
I have opted not to take the last level of Astral Dancer for two reasons: First, the Lightning Speed ability can be entirely replicated by making a DC 15 Tumble check, which Cheth can do reliably at Level 13 even if he rolls a '1'. And second, I couldn't fit all 10 levels into the build. At level 20, I don't think I'll really miss the +2 AC bonus.
Ok, to recap the Secret Ingredient:
Expeditious Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack: Cheth moves around a lot, so he'll probably be taking advantage of that +2 AC bonus from Expeditious Dodge almost every round. Mobility is useless after 13th level, but should save him a little pain and frustration through levels 4-12. Spring Attack is a viable combat strategy up until Cheth gets Wild Shape, and remains useful even after that as Cheth's Wild Shape options are limited by his lack of druid levels.
Relative Altitude: This is one of the keys to establishing "down" for the purposes of using Roof-Jumper's Death From Above. If Cheth picks up Shi'Quos School (getting Run earlier via a Flaw), Relative Altitude means his attacks in a no-gravity environment can trigger a save-vs-prone.
Evasion: This is really annoying... Rogues and Monks get this at level *TWO*! It boggles my mind why the designers would be so stingy with this...?
Improved Maneuverability: Yes, I took 9 levels of Astral Dancer for this, just to have perfect maneuverability while charging around the Astral Plane.
Astral Dodge: Well, it could be worse... at least you don't have to pick a target for your dodge bonus. And at least it does *something* in a gravity environment.
Improved Evasion: Cheth really needs this, as his worst save is Ref, so I expect to see a lot of failed Ref saves throughout his career.
Astral Agility: WTF?
Lightning Speed: Tumble check DC 15.
Spoiler: Variations
It really, really aggravated me that I couldn't figure out how to work in Balance as a class skill without resorting to a Flaw... ugh. But the rest of the build seemed to be working pretty well, so I figured I might as well take the elegance hit. I mean, I've got 9 levels of Astral Dancer, what kind of penalty could possibly compare to that? If your DM doesn't allow flaws but does allow some Dragon Magazine material, the Survivalist Fighter (Dragon #310) gets Balance as a class skill and can take Mobility/Spring Attack as bonus feats.
The most obvious variation that springs to mind (other than the undeniably sage advice of "Don't take any Astral Dancer levels") would be "Why not finish out Planar Shepherd?" But that all hinges on whether or not the DM is insane enough to allow attunement to faster-time planes. If this is possible, then Dal Quor's 10-to-1 time trait and access to dream-version magical beasts looks very tempting, while Xoriat's 60-to-1 time trait is just begging to completely smash a campaign into little itty-bitty pieces. More than likely, a DM might allow attunement to either of these planes so long as the time trait is removed from the effect of the Planar Bubble. In that case, Dal Quor's magical beasts offer the most interesting forms for Wild Shape.
Another option would be getting the Run feat earlier, either through another Flaw, or by taking another level of Horse Totem Barbarian. Horse Totem doesn't swap out Fast Movement, so it's compatible with the Roof-Dweller ACF. This means Cheth's KILL SHOT moves up to 15th level, where you can take Fleet of Foot. You lose out of Astral Dancer 9th, so you won't get "perfect" maneuverability, but there are other spells/magic items that can upgrade your maneuverability. If you're happy with that (and if you're not taking levels of Astal Dancer, you should be), then consider spending a flaw to pick up Shi'Quos School (which was the 18th level feat in an earlier version of this build) or Psionic Meditation. Shi'Quos School adds a save vs. prone save to any Spring Attack or Charge attack, which mmostly adds insult to injury, but also makes me wonder... is it possible to be prone on the Astral Plane? Would that look any different from not being prone? Psionic Meditation makes regaining your psionic focus easier, as having to spend a full-round doing nothing but that could be lethal at the higher levels. If regaining focus is just a move action, then Cheth can use his standard action to cast a spell or move to a safer position.
I considered swapping Cheth's Animal Companion for Cityscape's Urban Companion. Cheth only has seven class levels that contribute to advancing his companion, which means at higher levels his Dire Eagle might not be up to scratch. Most of the Urban Companion's stats scale up by character level, it gets 75% of Cheth's HPs, and can also use all his skill ranks, of which he has a considerable amount. If you would prefer an Urban Companion, the albatross (Stormwrack) has better stats than the hawk, but isn't quite as good at spotting.
Spoiler: Sources
Cityscape: Roof-Dweller ACF, Skilled City-Dweller ACF, Roofwalker, Roof-Jumper
Complete Divine: Cheetah's Speed
Complete Psionic: Talaire, Wild Talent (Celare)
Complete Warrior: Fleet of Foot
Eberron Campaign Setting: Greensinger Initiate
Expanded Psionic Handbook: Speed of Thought, Psionic Charge
Faiths of Eberron: Planar Shepherd
Lords of Madness: Abolisher
Races of Stone: Dire Eagle
Races of the Wild: Expeditous Dodge
Sandstorm: Sandskimmer ACF
Unearthed Arcana: Simple Druid variant, Whirling Frenzy variant
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Spoiler Originally Posted by Kalirren
Originally Posted by golentan
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2017-04-24, 02:37 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Build number 5:
Originally Posted by The Quiet One
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Spoiler Originally Posted by Kalirren
Originally Posted by golentan
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2017-04-24, 02:39 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Build number 6:
Originally Posted by Ellie
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Originally Posted by golentan
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Build number 7:
Originally Posted by Samuel Windsinger
Samuel Windsinger, The Man of High Ways
NE Raptoran Scout 5/Barbarian 1/Jaunter 4/Astral Dancer 10
Stats
SpoilerStr 14
Dex 17 (increases here)
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 10
Cha 9
Build
SpoilerLevel Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Scout 1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Balance 4, Hide 4, Jump 4, Knowledge (Planes) 2(4), Listen 4, Move Silently 4, Sense Motive 4, Spot 4, Tumble 4 Dodge Skirmish +1d6, Trapfinding 2nd Scout 2 +1 +0 +3 +0 Balance 5, Hide 5, Jump 5, Knowledge (Planes) 2.5 (1), Listen 5, Move Silently 5, Sense Motive 5, Spot 5, Tumble 5 Battle Fortitude+1, Uncanny Dodge 3rd Scout 3 +2 +1 +3 +1 Balance 6, Hide 6, Jump 6, Knowledge (Planes) 3 (1), Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Sense Motive 6, Spot 6, Tumble 6 Weapon Finesse Fast Movement +10ft, Skirmish +1d6/+1AC, Trackless Step 4th Scout 4 +3 +1 +4 +1 Balance 7, Hide 7, Jump 7, Knowledge (Planes) 3.5(1), Listen 7, Move Silently 7, Sense Motive 7, Spot 7, Tumble 7 (B)Mobility Bonus Feat 5th Scout 5 +3 +1 +4 +1 Balance 8, Hide 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 1(2), Knowledge (Planes) 4(1), Move Silently 8, Sense Motive 8, Spot 8, Tumble 8 Spell Reflection, Skirmish +2d6/+1 AC 6th Lion Spirit Totem Barbarian 1 +4 +3 +4 +1 Intimidate 3, Jump 8, Listen 8, Spring Attack Pounce, Whirling Frenzy 1/day 7th Jaunter 1 +4 +3 +6 +1 Hide 10, Move Silently 10, Tumble 9 Travel Power, Benign Transposition 8th Jaunter 2 +5 +4 +7 +2 Hide 11, Move Silently 11, Spot 9, Tumble 11 Baleful Transposition, Fast Movement 9th Jaunter 3 +6/+1 +4 +7 +2 Hide 12, Move Silently 12, Spot 11, Tumble 12 Two-Weapon Fighting Dimension Door, Teleport 10th Jaunter 4 +7/+2 +4 +8 +2 Hide 13, Move Silently 13, Spot 13, Tumble 13 Freedom of Movement, Plane Shift 11th Astral Dancer 1 +7/+2 +4 +10 +2 Bluff 5, Hide 14, Move Silently 14 Relative Altitude 12th Astral Dancer 2 +8/+3 +4 +11 +2 Bluff 10, Hide 15, Move Silently 15 Shi’Quos School Evasion (No Gravity) 13th Astral Dancer 3 +9/+4 +5 +11 +3 Bluff 15, Hide 16, Move Silently 16 Improved Maneuverability 14th Astral Dancer 4 +10/+5 +5 +12 +3 Bluff 17, Hide 17, Listen 9, Move Silently 17, Spot 14 Evasion 15th Astral Dancer 5 +10/+5 +5 +12 +3 Bluff 18, Hide 18, Listen 12, Move Silently 18, Spot 15 Improved Two-Weapon Fighting Astral Dodge +2(+1) 16th Astral Dancer 6 +11/+6/+1 +6 +13 +4 Bluff 19, Hide 19, Listen 15, Move Silently 19, Spot 16 Improved Evasion (No Gravity) 17th Astral Dancer 7 +12/+7/+2 +6 +13 +4 Bluff 20, Hide 20, Listen 17, Move Silently 20, Spot 18 Astral Agility 18th Astral Dancer 8 +13/+8/+3 +6 +14 +4 Bluff 21, Hide 21, Listen 18, Move Silently 21, Spot 20 Improved Skirmish Improved Evasion 19th Astral Dancer 9 +13/+8/+3 +7 +14 +5 Bluff 22, Hide 22, Listen 20, Move Silently 22, Spot 22 Improved Maneuverability 20th Astral Dancer 10 +14/+9/+4 +7 +15 +5 Bluff 23, Hide 23, Listen 23, Move Silently 23, Spot 23 Astral Dodge +4(+2), Lightning Speed
Backstory
SpoilerIn a particularly grimy tavern located in one of the darker parts of Ironwood Forest, Tonil the Bold pushed open the creaky wooden door and strode purposefully to the bar. In a declarative voice loud enough to be heard over the chatter he asked the barkeep for the second cheapest ale available. The barkeep fixed him with a particularly sour glare that communicated this was the type of bar with only one kind and poured him a tankard of rather sad looking beer. Tonil placed his coin on the bar and shuffled away with before any of the regulars could start heckling him. Looking for a place to sit he spotted a nearly open table in the corner, the only other occupant a lanky being dozing lightly, talon-like feet propped up on the table. Tonil took his seat quietly and drank deeply from the tankard.
Instantly regretting it, he set the tankard aside and turned to his tablemate.
“They say this is the place to find a guide through the roads less traveled.”
A pair of large yellow eyes opened sluggishly to take in the newcomer.
“If they are not so traveled, I would think they wouldn’t be roads, no?”
“Am I supposed to take that to mean you’re the one I’m looking for?”
“That depends.”
“Depends on what?”
His eyes opened fully and his face broke into a wide, rather empty, grin.
“Depends on what I get out of it.”
“Look, bird person, let’s get to it. I’ve got business to do in port, and I’ve got to get there before the ships leave. I don’t care how I get there, but I want safe and timely passage. Can you get me there or not?”
He was met with a hearty and somewhat croaking rustic laugh, with a knee slap and everything.
“Ah you city people. Always to the point and nothing more. Yes, I’m Samuel, and if you’re looking to get somewhere I’ll take you. The cost is my bar tab for the rest of the night, no negotiations. You in?”
“Done. What are you having?”
Samuel laughed all the louder this time, and clapped Tonil on the back.
“That’s the spirit, funny man! We travel tomorrow morning, tonight we make merry!”
What followed was several long hours of increasingly slurred rambling from Samuel, Tonil staring in a mixture of confusion and distaste as his conversation partner drank the foul ale like the sweetest water. He listened as Samuel of his travels to foreign lands and of the various fantastical creatures he met, each more clearly falsified than the last. At last his chattering stopped, and his head fell onto his arms at the table. Tonil wearily accepted the only shabby room for rent and lay himself to sleep.
The next morning he was rudely awoken by Samuel bursting into his room.
“The sun rises and so do we! Come, it is time we are off!”
Tonil sullenly rose and dressed, wondering how it was that his travel companion had imbibed so much more than him yet managed to be so annoyingly chipper this early.
They strode out on the path out the tavern, and traveled for maybe an hour at brisk clip, Samuel somehow dodging every low branch and slippery rock yet somehow managing to guide Tonil into tripping over every bulging root along the path. At a completely unremarkable patch of forest, Sameul stopped in his tracks and turned to Tonil.
“Here is acceptable.”
“Acceptable for what?”
“To begin the next leg of our journey of course. Hold my hands, I wouldn’t want you getting lost for this part.”
Tonil did as he was told, and the pair stood silently for a minute or so. Just when he was about to ask if this was some sort of joke, he felt his body wrenching and falling in a direction somehow different from any other named one. He closed his eyes at the sudden vertigo, and when it had ceased he opened them to behold nothing but open sky. He was tumbling end over end in a nauseating manner, but he was not moving anywhere.
“Welcome, Tonil the Brave, to the Plane of Air! Ground is rare but wind is plentiful, and flying is the way to get around.”
“What on earth are we doing here, you gibbering fool?!”
“Not on earth at all! Weren’t you paying attention? You aren’t doing anything, my friend. As for me, I’m robbing you of whatever you’ve got hidden away. It must be quite valuable for you to be so desperate as to seek out a guide without going through any of the guilds. Those things exist for a reason, you know. A bit of advice, not that it will do you any good: If you find a deal that’s too good to be true, that’s because you’re being taken for a ride.”
Level 5
SpoilerWelcome to life as a scout. Nobody said it would be easy but I say it can be fun. Feats are going toward necessary feats. Dodge is first up on the list, with this, light armor, and high dex your AC isn’t bad for low levels. We’ve got to wait until 3 for Weapon Finesse (pesky BA), and Scout does its part by giving us Mobility. Skirmish at these levels is a helpful source of damage, since you only have the one attack anyway at this point moving and attacking is straightforward enough. Use the Finesseable weapon you like, short sword is a good choice. Don’t forget the AC bonus, at this level it’s the sort of thing that matters.
Uncanny Dodge, Battle Fortitude, and Trackless Step are nice little bonuses that will stay relevant. Spell Reflection is a helpful alternative to evasion for those rays, remember your dodge bonus and dex will apply there to help your chances. Skills are going toward prerequisites and useful scouting.
Once you hit level 5 you’ll be able to fly for 2 rounds at a time, which combined with gliding might be enough for the length of combat, allowing for easier movement without AoOs. If you must face them you do have investment in tumble and mobility to help. Because you can fly, you have the ability to dive when charging for double damage with a piercing weapon (like the short sword).
Level 10
SpoilerNow it’s time to get funky! A level of barbarian gives a helpful boost to BA as well as a scout’s best friend: pounce. The text for a dive makes sense that pounce would apply here but talk to your DM just to be clear. It’s not necessary for this build but it’s certainly helpful. Barbarian’s next gift is whirling frenzy, a variant of rage that gives +4 Str, +2 ref saves, and +2 dodge bonus to AC (remember dodge bonuses stack with each other!) and most importantly an extra attack in full attack. You have one brief use of it per day, use it whenever it feels you need it most. More attacks means more vehicles for skirmish damage. Barbarian’s final gift to us is proficiency with all martial weapons, which we will gladly use.
Spring Attack is our final prerequisite for the SI, and a reliable way to kick off skirmish if you can’t charge for whatever reason. For example after you’ve charged a target, you can Spring Attack along adjacent squares to trigger skirmish without provoking AoOs. Two Weapon Fighting gives us another attack to plop skirmish on top of when charging. Using barbarian’s martial proficiency, I suggest a rapier and a short sword.
Remember that when you hit level 10 you can fly ADED: All day every day, and you should be flying unless you want to make use of your 50 foot land speed or have some other good reason.
Our next class is Jaunter, which provides us with many useful treats, and at 4 levels it’s the perfect size. Using the same feats to enter as our SI, the benefit is a variety of teleporting powers. They all have their times and uses, and you can add value to any combat. I’m not going to posit on whether the travel powers are sufficient to trigger skirmish, but if they are keep in mind this applies to AoOs as well. What I’m concerned about most here is our capstone of Plane Shift. You know what that means: We’re going to planes with different gravity, baby!
Level 15
SpoilerNow that we have a reliable means of getting ourselves and our mark to another plane we can actually count on Astral Dancer’s features. I’ve chosen the Elemental Plane of Air because of the bond that Raptorans have with it and you can heal naturally on it, but you can use any subjective gravity plane you want, including Astral. Plane Shift can take along targets other than you and the SI helpfully provides Bluff in order to conceal your motivations. We’re going to be progressing sneak skills and perception ones for general usefulness after we can reliably make Tumble DCs.
On to features. Relative altitude provides us a +1 bonus on melee attack rolls, but much more importantly it gives us the means to exploit Shi’Quos school, which forces a ref save (based on your high dex) when you attack a foe at lower elevation with spring attack or charge. If you’re always at higher, that means they’re always at lower, and you can force a save on every attack in your pounce, which makes failure quite likely. By RAW they’re supposed to be lying on the ground when prone, but there isn’t any ground on the plane of Air, so for the sake of our sanity let’s just say they incur the penalties associated with being prone like penalty to AC and provoking AoO if they stand with a move action (remember skirmish here too). When full attacking, Improved Two Weapon Fighting means more attacks to deliver more skirmish.
Evasion in both altered gravity planes and regular combined with a high ref save and high dex mean you don’t have much to fear from AoEs. Improved maneuverability makes moving at high speeds about no gravity environments easier, and potentially in subjective directional gravity as well, assuming that you can set the gravity to 0. Astral dodge means more dodge bonus stacking on top of everything else, your AC at this point assuming only regular armor can be up to 10+4 (mithral chain shirt)+5 (dex)+1 (dodge)+1 (jaunter)+1 (skirmish)+ 2 (whirling frenzy) +2(astral dodge) = 26, not untouchable, but hitting you isn’t a foregone conclusion.
Level 20
SpoilerMore levels in Astral Dancer means it’s time to make things complicated, and everything comes together. Improved Evasion and Improved Maneuverability mean you really don’t care about AoEs and the like, and you can really get around on the nograv planes. Astral dodge brings you up to a respectable 28.
For the following ability, remember that because we were on the plane of Air we are using our flight to move around. Set your target as the direction of gravity, and get adjacent with them, pounce if you started far away. Astral Agility means you take a move action to swap places with your opponent. Because it’s an int check and you’re rolling at a +7 to +10 bonus I like your odds much more than theirs. This may seem pointless, but we’ve moved into their space, so traveled 5 feet from our original square. Now we just need to move 5 feet more, like with a 5 foot step, and we’ve moved enough to set off skirmish. Poke your foe with your reach weapon of choice and toss on the extra dice. I like the duom because you can still attack adjacent foes. Alternatively you can use a ranged attack like the raptoran footbow, I prefer reach weapon to keep foe threatened.
The following round we take one 5 foot step away from our foe, and stop flying. We now fall 10 feet down to our foe, who is obviously a solid surface, so will halt our movement. If your DM doesn’t want to let you corkscrew straight down with glide, just roll the jump or tumble check to negate the damage, with your high mod and high land speed you’ll make either every time. We fell those 10 feet so we’ve moved from our original square, triggering skirmish. Because we didn’t use an action to do so we can full attack with full skirmish. TWF with rapier and short sword for maximum damage. If you used a reach weapon in round 1 this setup keeps the enemy constantly threatened. You repeat this 2 round setup until the enemy dies.
Lightning Speed means no AoOs for any movement, so charge and move whenever you want however you want. This combined with Improved Skirmish unlocks an alternative attack routine for higher reward. As with before this begins when adjacent to the opponent, you can assume you closed ranks with a pounce.
Round 1: Move back 30 feet (doesn’t provoke AoOs) and fire an improved skirmish enhanced arrow from your raptoran footbow. Your AC is 30 from improved skirmish.
Round 2: Charge 30 feet to opponent and unleash Improved TWF Pounce enhanced by improved skirmish’s tasty 4d6 on each attack. The dive might come into play here, it mentions moving 30 feet and descending 10. Because of subjective gravity you can declare down to be wherever you like, and if you map out the geometry right you should be able to net that sweet double damage. The rapier and short sword I suggested are both piercing weapons for this exact reason.
Sources
SpoilerScout, Improved Skirmish: Complete Adventurer
Jaunter: Expedition to the Demonweb Pits
Shi’Quos School: Drow of the Underdark
Spell Reflection ACF: Complete Mage
Spiritual Totem: Complete Champion
Barbarian, Weapon Finesse, Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Whirling Frenzy ACF: srdQuotebox
Spoiler Originally Posted by Kalirren
Originally Posted by golentan
Avatar by Rain Dragon
Wish building characters for D&D 3.5 was simpler? Try HeroForge Anew! An Excel-based, highly automated character builder. v7.4 now out!
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2017-04-24, 02:41 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Build number 8:
Originally Posted by Zonda Yant
Zonda Yant a.k.a. Miss Direction
Spoiler: portrait
Spoiler: backstory
Spoiler: The Rules
Zonda lowered herself into the bestiary with the utmost of care. She’d practiced things like this many times. It was different when there was a real beast beneath her feet, though.
She pulled on her harness and cinched off the rope that suspended her from the top of the enclosure. The slumbering catoblepas beneath her lowed, but didn’t move. Zonda ground the dearly-bought powder in her hand into her eyes. The stuff stung more than her contact had told her.
In this most unlikely of places, so it was rumored, there lay a most fabulous treasure.
It wasn’t anything as base as gold or jewels. After all, how would she carry it back out of this pit? No, what lay inside was a far more valuable commodity:
information.
While Zonda couldn’t for the life of her explain all the rules, she understood that for the past few months, she had been indirectly involved in the great game. The goalposts moved constantly, but now and again, she’d get some picayune errand from untraceable sources.
“We got any company?” Zonda thought into the pipeline she had going with her spotter.
"If we did, I'd tell you. 's what you pay me for, anyway, Theodore said telepathically back. That handsome fella in there giving you trouble?
Zonda glanced at the catoblepas. It had a large, knit mask over its huge eyes. Probably to keep the light out as much as to keep its ocular death beams in. She'd never really thought about the bestiary after hours before, she supposed.
"Nah. Where is this thing anyways?" She kept her eyes wide open, knowing the magic burning her eyes would last only until she blinked again.
"Should be on the far wall. Over the thing's water dish."
Zonda suppressed a groan and tiptoed to the wall, her hands coming to rest on the rough stone.
"Should be or is?"
"Blunted if I know. That's your job. You sure about this whole bonus points thing? I've heard stories about people who tried to cheat... Though Zonda couldn't see him, she could feel the sentence twisting, incomplete in her mind. She found the place where the stone wasn't quite flush with the rest of the wall and the marking stood out in the moonlight, laid bare before her special eyes.
"Can't cheat if there aren't any rules." She pulled a small cup with the bottom cut out from her belt and whispered the words of completion into the wall.
"I subvert as I serve," she said with her voice.
The wall was supposed to show her its secrets now. She'd read it quickly, mentally recite it to Theodore, he'd copy it down, and they could puzzle it out at Morgrave over a pot of black tea, like always.
Supposed to.
The wall didn't cooperate and bit down on her wrist with a pair of sudden jaws. The gnashing made a horrible scraping bang, like hammer on anvil and woke the creature behind her.
Before Zonda could think to tell Theodore to flee, the night sky dissolved around her, and she found herself in the void.
Spoiler: The Game
Zonda collapsed, unsteady on her feet in a field of grass, sunlight beaming onto her back. She clutched her wrist, hoping the wound wasn't as bad as it felt.
Her thoughts of Theodore found no purchase. She was probably out of range. If so, she hoped he'd had time to get away before the city guard arrived.
Should've listened.
A handful of other people found their bearings around her, most of them having the sneakthief look, although there were a couple of outliers. A muscled brute here, a crystal-toothed psion there.
One stood out from the pack. He was dressed in the rude clothing of a beggar. Even from his lofty perch far above the field, lounging on a plush couch, she could smell his fug, like walking through tanner's row.
"All right, it looks like everybody's here. If you could shut up and stop licking your wounds, we could get started," he spat from on high.
Zonda glanced around at the others. Compared to some of them, she'd been lucky. One of them was already bleeding out.
"I'm sure this is a new experience for some of you malcontents, but for others, I'm sure you know the drill by now. In my travels I've come across everything my black little heart desires and need some new indulgence to fill it with. I'll skip the middle part and get to the end: you are to fight to the death for my amusement and the winner receives this fabulous mystery prize." He reached between the cushions of his couch and held up a box far too large to have fit within its confines. It spun listlessly in the air, shining on all sides with question marks and emitting a kind of predictable radiance.
"Who do you think you are?" one of the orcs to Zonda's right shouted.
"As far as you lot are concerned, I am your god. Anyway, get to it. Don't think about turtling either, your wounds won't heal here and that's boring, so the sooner you get on with it, the sooner one of you can leave," he said.
"And don't think of trying to get froggy and hop away," he added as the psion flickered, disappearing for a moment only to remain in place. "I took precautions. Only one way out and all that."
The orc shrugged, lowered his axe, and took a bite out of the man bleeding to death in front of him.
His screams began the fracas. Zonda needed to get to higher ground. As soon as the thought was in her head, she lifted from the ground light as a feather, even though she didn't have any magic on her skin to help her do it.
"Oh, yeah, I turned off the gravity, so have fun with that," the false god said. His voice seemed to come from all around, as did the sound of him crunching on what looked like roasted nuts.
Zonda centered herself and took her position behind the orc, finishing off his quarry. Zonda hopped off his shoulder and grabbed the axe from his back after cutting it from its moorings with her finger blades. They may have been designed for purse strings, but a leather thong was a leather thong.
He didn't notice, elbow-deep in his prey by now, even though the man on the ground had long since stopped moving.
"Style points for the big guy! Ain't no room for sportsmanlike conduct here," shouted the voice from all around.
Zonda rose into the sky, trying to get high enough so she could at the very least have an idea of what she was up against.
She used the axe's oversized head to block a volley of javelins hurled by atlatl-wielding drow beneath her.
"I know I might've colored outside the lines a little with that bestiary thing, but isn't this a little blunted harsh?" she shouted to the man above, cupping her free hand around her mouth.
"Huh? Look, showboating's great and all, sweetheart, but save it til after you've got some kills," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Is this really the penalty for cheating at Xorvintaal?" Zonda said, doing a flip in the air to dodge an errant bolt of lightning.
"Boo! Work on your aim, pinhead!" the man on the couch shouted at the psion beneath him and hurled a handful of peanuts down below. "Huh? Zorvin-who? Look, the only rule to this game it stay alive--" he stopped and turned to look over his shoulder, a Karrnathi zombie was being peppered with arrows by a halfling squatting in a tree. He leapt up into its limbs and broke her tiny neck.
"--okay, so not alive, per se, just don't be killed. Whatever. You get what I'm saying."
Zonda switched the axe to her other hand, her crushed bones screaming as she did, and deflected an arrow from the zombie, who hadn't wasted any time making use of his new gear.
"AA! Thank you for your service!" Zonda shouted awkwardly. After a few more shots, he judged she wasn't in his effective range, gave a perfunctory salute, and moved to easier prey.
"What's to stop me from just sticking this axe inside you and taking whatever it is you've got keeping this place together?" Zonda asked. Her grip on the axe grew unsteady.
He blew a noisemaker after pulling it from the cushions of the couch. "You're the first one to ask that this go-around. Howsabout I just show you?”
The couch dipped toward the ground, dodging the projectiles and magical bolts of the battle with apparent ease.
“Keep up!” he yelled. Zonda did, with some difficulty.
“Hey, baldy!” he shouted at the psion. “Still think you’re so clever speccing for psychoportation? How’s that feel now? Bet it smarts.”
The psion grinned and his roughly-hewn jeweled teeth blasted forth one at a time, embedding themselves within the man’s greasy brown shirt like bullets. They kept him dancing like a ragdoll long after he went limp.
Zonda waited for the final part of the trick. As she did, she found something unnervingly familiar about the psion’s teeth. One of them had missed its mark and lay slightly beyond the dead man’s body. She pocketed it in a motion no one would be able to notice.
The psion said something threatening, though it was hard to make out through his gummy speech. Before he could advance further, the zombie engaged him.
“Pretty anticlimactic, right?” the man on the couch said as though he were alive. To Zonda’s surprise, he was. His flesh slowly pushed the jewels out of his skin and made itself whole before Zonda’s eyes.
She knew where she’d seen the jewel before.
“Oh, this? Just a gewgaw I picked up from the lower planes. Had it built custom. Hurts like anything, but can’t argue with the results.”
Someone on the battlefield quaffed a potion, or tried to. The man on the couch held up an empty glass, and seemingly from nowhere, it filled. He swallowed it in one gulp, the last of his wounds vanishing.
“I said no healing. That’s a ten yard penalty,” he said and hurled the glass at the battlefield, turning his head again.
Now was her chance.
Zonda put the jewel she’d discreetly pocketed between her teeth and bit as hard as she could. She didn’t stop until something cracked.
The pieces in her mouth, bloody and rough, were a far cry from the powder she’d paid so much for, but it wasn’t like she had any choice.
She spat the tiny, bloody shards into her hand and ground them into her eyes, trying desperately not to blink, hoping it would be enough.
Though she saw the world through a pink film, the glow of what she needed most was still impossible to miss. She willed herself into the chasm between the cushions and gravity accommodated her.
She waded—swam, more like—through oceans of stuff. Signs with crude sayings on them, rocks, rotten tomatoes, and innumerable snacks and foodstuffs before finding what she needed.
A key.
Like her captor had said, anticlimactic.
Her hand closed around it and she had her mental gravity pull her out before she flew too close to the sun and saw something better or more interesting.
She came out and fled from the couch, looking desperately for the lock it fit into.
The orc grabbed her by the ankle. She’d flown too low. He slammed her into a tree trunk. Though gravity conformed to her whims here, Zonda couldn’t think straight in circumstances like this.
The orc raised a huge rock over his head with both hands.
“’s my axe,” he grunted. There was no anger in his voice, just a simple statement of fact, which Zonda supposed it was.
She raised it protectively over her head before he stowed her brains in, more of an instinct than anything else. With the shadow cast by its huge blade, she saw something on the underside of the rock.
A keyhole.
“Wait! Take it back! I don’t want it, it’s not my size!” Zonda shouted. She threw it toward him in a gesture she realized after the fact might be misinterpreted as hostile.
Reflexively, the orc dropped the rock in his hands to catch his weapon. Without a mind of its own, the rock went with the traditional practices of gravity and landed on Zonda’s ankle.
She reacted predictably.
At the very least, the keyhole was facing up. She jammed the key inside of it and twisted. At once, a low, bass hum she didn’t realize had been droning her whole time here abated and was silent.
The orc stopped.
Within the rock’s face, Zonda saw Theodore in the reading room, pouring himself two cups of tea out of habit and sighing, pushing one away.
Through the magic that pierced her eyes, she knew that to get home she had only to will it, like the gravity in this strange place. Or how it had been, at least. Everyone was on the ground now, including their host and his couch.
Zonda was just about to attempt to redirect the orc’s ire, but was beaten to the punch.
“Hey, Thrask, my mind’s whole again, I can hop us out of here if you want,” the psion said, poking his head out of the bushes.
Thrask picked up his axe and kissed its blade. He wiped its grip in a way that made it hard for Zonda not to feel offended, even given the circumstances.
“Think we gotta thank our host f’r his hospitality first, Kror.” Thrask tested the edge of his blade with his thumb.
“He can’t be killed. Not that I’m trying to dissuade you, just thought you’d want to know,” Zonda said.
“’s the kinda thing we in the biz call a feature, not a bug,” Thrask said.
“If you don’t want to watch, I advise you be on your way, miss,” Kror gummed at her. “He gets a little nuts when he’s in one of his fits.”
Zonda nodded and dived into the stone in her lap just after the first of many blows landed.
Spoiler: The Victor
In the library of Morgrave, something nudged Theodore awake.
“Oh, is it closing time already? I’ll be on my way, just let me get my stuff,” he said.
Zonda sat opposite him and poured him a cup of tea.
Spoiler: stub
TN human factotum 5/trapsmith 1/swiftblade 1/astral dancer10/swiftblade 4
Spoiler: abilities
str 14 dex 15 con 14 int 16 (increases to int) wis 10 cha 8
Spoiler: table
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Factotum 1 +0 +0 +2 +0 balance 4, concentration 4, craft (trapmaking) 4, dd 4, open lock 4, search 4, sleight of hand 4, spellcraft 4, tumble 4, umd 4 midnight dodge, combat reflexes Inspiration, cunning insight, cunning knowledge, trapfinding 2nd Factotum 2 +1 +0 +3 +0 balance 1 (5), concentration 1 (5), craft (trapmaking) 1 (5), dd 1 (5), open lock 1 (5), search 1 (5), sleight of hand 1 (5), spellcraft 1 (5), tumble 1 (5), umd 1 (5) Arcane dilettante (1 spell) 3rd Factotum 3 +2 +1 +3 +1 bluff 1, balance 1 (6), concentration 1 (6), craft (trapmaking) 1 (6), dd 1 (6), search 1 (6), sleight of hand 1 (6), spellcraft 1 (6), tumble 1 (6), umd 1 (6) mobility Brains over brawn, cunning defense 4th Factotum 4 +3 +1 +4 +1 bluff 1 (2), balance 1 (7), craft (trapmaking) 1 (7), dd 1 (7), forgery 1, jump 1 (7), search 1 (7), sleight of hand 1 (7), tumble 1 (7), umd 1 (7) Arcane dilettante (2 spells), cunning strike 5th Factotum 5 +3 +1 +4 +1 bluff 1 (3), balance 1 (8), craft (trapmaking) 1 (8), dd 1 (8), diplo 1, jump 1 (8), search 1 (8), sleight of hand 1 (8), tumble 1 (8), umd 1 (8) Opportunistic piety 6th Trapsmith 1 +3 +1 +6 +1 listen 4, sleight of hand 1 (9), spot 4, tumble 1 (9) combat expertise Booby traps (simple), master disarmer, trap sense +1 7th Swiftblade 1 +4 +1 +8 +3 listen 4 (8), spot 3 (7), tumble 1 (10) Spring Attack, swift surge +1/+0 ft. 8th Astral Dancer 1 +4 +1 +10 +3 bluff 1 (4), listen 3 (11), sleight of hand 2 (11), spot 2 (9), tumble 1 (11), conceal spellcasting Relative altitude 9th Astral Dancer 2 +5 +1 +11 +3 bluff 3 (7), listen 1 (12), sleight of hand 1 (12), spot 3 (12), tumble 1 (12), mosquito’s bite improved trip Evasion (no-gravity) 10th Astral Dancer 3 +6/+1 +2 +11 +4 bluff 1 (8), escape artist 6, listen 1 (13), sleight of hand 1 (13), spot 1 (13), tumble 1 (13) Improved maneuverability 11th Astral Dancer 4 +7/+2 +2 +12 +4 bluff 1 (9), escape artist 4 (10), listen 1 (14), sleight of hand 1 (14), spot 1 (14), tumble 1 (14), easy escape Evasion 12th Astral Dancer 5 +7/+2 +2 +12 +4 bluff 1 (10), escape artist 1 (15), listen 1 (15), sleight of hand 1 (15), spot 1 (15), tumble 1 (15), clarity of vision master pickpocket Astral dodge +2 (+1) 13th Astral Dancer 6 +8/+3 +3 +13 +5 bluff 4 (14), escape artist 1 (16), listen 1 (16), sleight of hand 1 (16), spot 1 (16), tumble 1 (16), point it out Improved evasion (no gravity) 14th Astral Dancer 7 +9/+4 +3 +13 +5 bluff 3 (17), escape artist 1 (17), listen 1 (17), sleight of hand 1 (17), spot 1 (17), tumble 1 (17), use rope 1, spot the weak point Astral agility 15th Astral Dancer 8 +10/+5 +3 +14 +5 bluff 1 (18), escape artist 1 (18), listen 1 (18), sleight of hand 1 (18), spot 1 (18), tumble 1 (18), use rope 3 (4) escape attack shape soulmeld (sphinx claws) Improved evasion 16th Astral Dancer 9 +10/+5 +4 +14 +6 bluff 1 (19), escape artist 1 (19), listen 1 (19), sleight of hand 1 (19), spot 1 (19), tumble 1 (19), use rope 4 (8), acrobatic backstab Improved maneuverability 17th Astral Dancer 10 +11/+6/+1 +4 +15 +6 bluff 1 (20), escape artist 1 (20), listen 1 (20), sleight of hand 1 (20), spot 1 (20), tumble 1 (20), use rope 6 (14) Astral dodge +4 (+2), lightning speed 18th Swiftblade 2 +12/+7/+2 +4 +16 +7 jump 9 (17) open least chakra (hands) Blurred alacrity 19th Swiftblade 3 +13/+8/+3 +5 +16 +7 jump 5 (22), listen 2 (22), spot 2 (22), use rope 1 (15), twisted charge Sudden casting 20th Swiftblade 4 +14/+9/+4 +5 +17 +8 jump 1 (23), listen 2 (23), spot 2 (23), use rope 5 (20), slipping past Arcane reflexes, swift surge +1/+10 ft.
Spoiler: playtips
Spoiler: lvl 5
At this level, you’re functioning like most other factota. Enjoy bonking people with aoos and adding your int to everything. your skills are laying groundwork for your later levels laying groundwork for astral dancer.
Use inspiration to boost damage, saves, attack, or skills as needed. opportunistic piety tops up your hp and arcane dilettante provides utility and offense at low levels.
Spoiler: lvl 10
Trapsmith grants some spells, including most notably haste. Use all your 1s for haste to qualify for swiftblade, and enjoy wants. your list has some killer stuff on it.
It gamely helps you enter swiftblade, which boosts your numbers and gives a bonus on attack, ac, and your monstrous ref saves. It also gives you spring attack, letting you enter astral dancer. Thanks, swiftblade!
You’re in astral dancer, and it’s paying off already, with evasion in 0-gravity, which your huge save makes great use of. Hop around and trip your enemies, remembering to add your int via brains over brawn.
Spoiler: lvl 15
Your evasion works everywhere now. Astral dancer never stops giving. In addition to its other bounties, it grants sleight of hand, which you make use of via master pickpocket. You can steal anything at any time. As astral dancer gives, it allows you to take.
The sphinx claws help out with your trips, and your evasion is now improved in all spaces. Your save is good enough that you should never have to deal with ref-save induced damage again
Spoiler: lvl 20
You can now pounce via the sphinx claws and no longer provoke aoos ever. Twisted charge, along with a whole host of other skill tricks are online to help you out. You can pivot during a charge during an encounter, no longer needing to worry about aoos and dish out full damage.
You have some extra space for swiftblade. You now have a 20% miss chance while buffed via haste, you can cast haste as a free action, and add int onto your init again in addition to brains over brawn.
Fly through the battlefield and scythe through enemies like wheat, knocking them down again when they try to stand up and dance through the planes.
Spoiler: sources
dungeonscape: factotum, trapsmith
swiftblade
planar handbook: astral dancer
magic of incarnum: midnight dodge, shape soulmeld, open least chakra
srd: mobility, combat expertise, improved trip,
city of stormreach: master pickpocketQuotebox
Spoiler Originally Posted by Kalirren
Originally Posted by golentan
Avatar by Rain Dragon
Wish building characters for D&D 3.5 was simpler? Try HeroForge Anew! An Excel-based, highly automated character builder. v7.4 now out!
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2017-04-24, 02:42 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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- Jan 2007
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
And that's all the builds. Get judging people!
Quotebox
Spoiler Originally Posted by Kalirren
Originally Posted by golentan
Avatar by Rain Dragon
Wish building characters for D&D 3.5 was simpler? Try HeroForge Anew! An Excel-based, highly automated character builder. v7.4 now out!
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2017-04-24, 02:50 PM (ISO 8601)Bugbear in the Playground
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- Mar 2014
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- NC
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
These are quite the interesting array... For those interested (since the forum ate my code) I'll include a stub to my build in a spoiler...
Spoiler: Build Stub
LN Buommen Cobra Strike Monk 2/Planar Ranger 2/H&RT Fighter 2/Jaunter 4/Astral Dancer 10
Darkstalker, Dodge, Mobility, Weapon Finesse, Two-Weapon Fighting, Spring Attack, Sun School, Superior Unarmed Strike, Raptor School, Snap Kick, Shi'Quos School, and Battle Jump, for my feats. Maxed out Balance, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (the Planes), Move Silently, and Tumble, with 10 ranks in Listen, because I had them left over towards the end. I was still working on tactics and level breakdown when my browser crashed.
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2017-04-24, 02:56 PM (ISO 8601)Troll in the Playground
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- Aug 2014
Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
I'm surprised that no one submitted a build with no levels of astral dancer
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2017-04-24, 03:14 PM (ISO 8601)Bugbear in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Pretty close to it though... There was one with only 3 levels, and another with only 9/10. Originally Posted by daremetoidareyo
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2017-04-24, 03:15 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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- Feb 2011
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Unfortunate you didn't get it in, but all those things do still look like they're still on display here. Originally Posted by WeaselGuy
We do have 2 that didn't finish, which is very exciting. it's always good to see more variety. Originally Posted by daremetoidareyo
I'll admit i had my reservations about this as a SI, but we've got some neat stuff this round, this was a fun ingredient.I've got a new fantasy TTRPG about running your own fencing school in a 3 musketeers pastiche setting. Book coming soon.
Check out my NEW sci-fi TTRPG about first contact. Cool alien races, murderous AIs, and more. New expansion featuring rules for ships! New book here NOW!
Iron Chef Medals! Originally Posted by weckar
Amazing Princess Mononoke avatar by Dispozition
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2017-04-24, 03:27 PM (ISO 8601)Pixie in the Playground
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- Apr 2017
Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Seems like a good crop of builds this time, I'm impressed!
I also have a stub left over that I just couldn't get the skill prerequisites to fit in nicely... Nothing but monk seems to have balance AND concentration-
Spoiler: StubHuman Scout 3/Hexblade 3/Paladin 2/Savage Progression Ghost 2/Astral Dancer 6/ Master of the unseen Hand 4
The idea was using ghost powers to maintain astral dancer status, then getting high saves (and evasion, even for non-reflex saves) in everything, then play keep-away with the enemy with violent shove and the high fly speed from astral dancer.
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2017-04-24, 05:01 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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- Jul 2016
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- Seoul
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Excuse me while I laugh myself sick, because the introductions of some of the entries are hilarious.
Cool elan Illithid Slayer by linkele.
Editor/co-writer of Magicae Est Potestas, a crossover between Artemis Fowl and Undertale. Ao3 FanFiction.net DeviantArt
We also have a TvTropes page!
Currently playing: Red Hand of Doom(campaign journal)Campaign still going on, but journal discontinued until further notice.
Extended sig here. Originally Posted by Squire Doodad
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2017-04-24, 05:07 PM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
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- Jan 2012
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- Secret Lair on Sol c
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Was considering to make a Neraphim Martial Rogue 4 / Something 1 / Ur-Priest 7 / Astral Dancer 8, with the idea of Presist-cheesing Planar Bubble so I got the bonuses at all times (given that Helio ruled that it would work as well in Subjective Gravity (which Limbo is, which is the native plane for Neraphims) ... but eh ...
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2017-04-24, 08:07 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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- Jul 2007
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- Terra Australis
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
My build was going to be "The Flying Zucchini Brothers": a pair of Dvati who were circus acrobat slaves captured by Githyanki, who eventually escaped to Sigil.
Mainly just focusing on pumping up Tumble to extreme levels, then going into Exemplar.
But apart from interesting fluff, there wasn't much to the build I could make worthwhile.My winning competition entries: Kinvig Arrumskor | The Great Pumpkinhead | Wynfrith d'Acker
Torn-City - Massively multiplayer online browser based crime RPG
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2017-04-25, 01:38 AM (ISO 8601)Troll in the Playground
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- Jul 2011
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- Michigan
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
My build ideas didn't quite pan out into a build I liked, but here was my thought process. The two root ideas were 1) Using Astral Agility to pull enemies into trapped squares (using Dance Through Danger from Trapsmith 4 to not set the trap off myself) and as many others came up with 2) use Shi'quos School+Relative Altitude. Like those others, I was a little worried about what prone means in absence of normal gravity. My solution to that was similar to what Ray is going for with his Blinking, to hang out on the Ethereal and use one of the methods of attacking into the Material Plane, where the prone condition is better understood. While I was at it, I figured I'd try to get away with pulling enemies into the Ethereal with Astral Agility (after all, I'd be in a non-gravity environment and my opponent's space would appear to meet the definition of 'adjacent').
There aren't that many ways of attacking from the Ethereal to the Material. Ninja 8 can do it a few times per day, and it gets Trapfinding for Trapsmith entry, so I thought I might have something solid with Ninja 8/Trapsmith 5/Astral Dancer 7 in some order or other who would Plane Shift into the Ethereal and just stay there. But it was going to be stuck twiddling thumbs (building traps maybe?) for a lot of the day, or worse, might get stuck on the Material after using Astral Agility to dump someone else into the Ethereal (and then get knocked off course by as much as 500 miles when I eventually shifted back). I came to the conclusion that I needed something better than Ninja 8 to attack the Material and something better than Plane Shift to get to the Ethereal.
The only better thing I know of to swing from the Ethereal into the Material is the Ethereal Reaver from Complete Psionic, which meant trying to find some way to justify the item reliance.
As for going Ethereal, I considered a few things. Fiend of Posession 1 can nab Etherealness at-will, Binding Chupoclops gets an at-will ability to go ethereal (albeit one with problematic limitations), and a few creatures have (Su) abilities that can get them there. In my infinite avarice, the one I really wanted was the Phase Spider's Ethereal Jaunt, since that allows for going Ethereal as part of a move action (like when switching places with a creature on the Material through Astral Agility), but the Magical Beast type is inordinately hard to acquire which makes it an awkward form to try assuming through Alter Self. To that end, I found myself considering even more item reliance through a Phylactery of Change.
Speaking of my infinite avarice, I really wanted Hustle, what with Astral Agility being a move action. I also considered Travel Devotion to free up the move action, but the premium edition version of Spring Attack not playing nicely with it didn't sit right with me, even though we were cleared to use the SRD version. I even thought about going for Lesser Celerity+Mark of the Dauntless to try to get that extra move action.
What I really wanted was to be a Phase Spider who would sit on a trapped square in the Ethereal, use Astral Agility to drag an unsuspecting enemy out of the Material (while simultaneously becoming Ethereal again rather than truly switch places), Spring Attack them in the same round (with no AoO, and the Phase Spider's Large size meaning I could guarantee 5 ft of movement before the attack), then flee behind a bunch more traps which they would have to awkwardly float through while I continued moving at a speed and maneuverability they couldn't match to continue Spring Attacking them or knocking over their friends back on the material. Is that so wrong?
So anyway, here were some stubs that I tried but ultimately was unhappy with.
1. Human True Thief Lurk 8/Trapsmith 5/Astral Dancer 7 or Human True Thief Lurk 7/Trapsmith 4/Chameleon 2/Astral Dancer 7. This was essentially a self-crafter setup. Ancestral Relic for the Phylactery of Change. Between using the Phylactery to assume the Fey type, Psionic See Invisibility off the Lurk list, and Fabricate off the Trapsmith list, it could self-craft a Feycraft Mouthpick Ethereal Reaver. Unfortunately, it was just too feat tight, and I didn't like using the Phylactery of Change to qualify for the necessary Assume Supernatural Ability. Also, Ancestral Relic requires a good alignment, and I didn't have a good way of getting trap materials onto the Ethereal permanently besides pulling a sentient creature carrying them onto the Ethereal via Astral Agility.
2. Human Mountebank 6/Magical Beast 2/Trapsmith 5/Astral Dancer 7. The two Magical Beast HD (and more importantly, Magical Beast type) come from UMDing a Wand of Aspect of the Wolf then getting hit by a Maximized Empowered Awaken. Has a good number of Alter Self uses per day, with which to engage in shenanigans, but needed to be gifted its Feycraft Mouthpick Ethereal Reaver as well as its casting of Maximized Empowered Awaken. Still, maybe I should have just submitted this one.
3. Human Lurk 4/Magical Beast 2/Chameleon 7/Astral Dancer 7. Sort of a combination of above ideas. Self-crafting mixed with Awaken cheese, using Mark of the Dauntless+Lesser Celerity in place of Hustle. Didn't have room for Trapsmith, which perhaps bugged me more than it should have. Just pulling an unsuspecting enemy into the Ethereal should be enough, but I really wanted them to also be hit by arrows (also I liked the 'Spider's Lair' imagery that created).
4. Kaorti Outsider 2/LA+2/Spellthief or Cloistered Cleric (Kobold Domain, Travel Devotion) 1/Fiend of Posession 1/X 2/Astral Dancer 7/Trapsmith 5. It's somewhat debatable whether the Kobold Domain will actually get you into Trapsmith (as it's not technically a class feature, but does say it's as the Rogue class feature). Etherealness isn't quite as good as the Phase Spider ability here, but it'd do I guess. With Travel Devotion or maybe going Ardent with the two open levels for Hustle, it might have sort of worked.
5. Kaorti Outsider 2/LA+2/Spellthief or Cloistered Cleric (Kobold Domain, Travel Devotion) 1/Fiend of Posession 4/Trapsmith 4/Astral Dancer 7 or Kaorti Outsider 2/LA+2/Cloistered Cleric (Travel Devotion, whatever) 1/Fiend of Posession 6/Astral Dancer 9. This one was going to try to make an Ethereal Reaver by Possessing an ordinary Longsword and abusing the language about the Ethereal Reaver existing simultaneously on the Material and Ethereal, then flown the sword around and attacked with it through Ethereal Force of Will movement. Would have been a departure from the other tricks, but could sort of do them as well while in Ethereal Form.
6. Human Binder 8/Knight of the Sacred Seal (Tenebrous, probably) 5/Astral Dancer 7 or Silverbrow Human Binder 10/Chameleon 3/Astral Dancer 7. Chupoclops ability to go Ethereal has some major issues, but Travel Devotion movement (a swift action), is something that you can do without going back to the Material afterward. So with Tenebrous fueling Travel Devotion, you can run around on the Ethereal, only coming out onto the Material when you attack. With the floating crafting feat from Astaroth and a Psionic Vestige+Expanded Knowledge (Psionic See Invisibility) it could even craft an Ethereal Reaver.
Other things I messed with were even more of a mess. I'd probably have actually done alright had I just settled on one of my builds and written it up, but ah well.
I've done a preliminary reading of the builds, and will try to start judging tomorrow.
Iron Chef Medals
SpoilerSir Driscoll Conia - Silver - IC L
Nick Snarespan - Gold - IC LIII
Lucy "Legs" Silvertail - Bronze - IC LXVIII
Bolfarg of Knoss - Gold - IC LXXVII
Ivarr Deathborn - Bronze - IC LXXVII
Ahmtel - Silver - IC LXXVIII
Tocke of Nessus - Gold - IC LXXIX
The Blessed Third - Silver - IC LXXXI
Galahad Galapagos - Gold - IC LXXXIV
Sai-don, Knight of the Tide - Bronze - IC LXXXIV
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2017-04-25, 09:48 AM (ISO 8601)Ettin in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Pretty interesting setup. For reference for later competitions, warblade and swordsage have both balance and concentration. Originally Posted by FunkyGoose
Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
Awards Originally Posted by willpell
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2017-04-25, 10:52 AM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
as do savant and factotum Originally Posted by The Viscount
I've got a new fantasy TTRPG about running your own fencing school in a 3 musketeers pastiche setting. Book coming soon.
Check out my NEW sci-fi TTRPG about first contact. Cool alien races, murderous AIs, and more. New expansion featuring rules for ships! New book here NOW!
Iron Chef Medals! Originally Posted by weckar
Amazing Princess Mononoke avatar by Dispozition
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2017-04-25, 10:53 AM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
For easy reference:
Stellar Terpsichoreology
Entry Alignment/Race Stub Schtick Ray and Rae (link) CN Human Bard 7/AD 3/Sublime Chord 1/Ronin 2/Windrider 7 Rhino Bombing Sir Jasonica Deathbringer (link) L? Human Divine Mind 10/AD 10 Bloviational Awesomeness Willow (link) CE Whisperling Jester 6/Warshaper 3/AD 10 Planar Rip Hoodwinkery Cheth Deppard (link) NG Tailare Druid 2/Barbarian 1/Fighter 2/AD 1/Abolisher 1/Planar Shepherd 5/AD +8 Supersonic Roof-Jumping The Quiet One (link) L? Buomman Savant 1/Monk 6/Savant +3/AD 10 Word Given Form/Planar Bubble Sneakery Ellie (link) ? Human? Barbarian 3/Fighter 1/Jaunter 4/Telflammar Shadowlord 4/AD 8 Shadow Pouncing Backstabbery Samuel Windsinger (link) NE Raptoran Scout 5/Barbarian 1/Jaunter 4/AD 10 Flying Skirmisher Zonda Yant (link) TN Human Factotum 5/Trapsmith 1/Swiftblade 1/AD 10/Swiftblade +3 Embrace the Haste Last edited by Darrin; 2017-04-25 at 12:46 PM.
Handbooks:
Shax's Indispensable Haversack, TWF OffHandbook
Builds:
Archon of Nine, Jellobomber, King of Pong, Lightning Thief
Spells:
Druidzilla, Healbot, Gish
Iron Chef:
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2017-04-25, 11:10 AM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
And expert. Originally Posted by Venger
Well, it wouldn't have been the most underpowered class in the contest...Creator of the LA-assignment thread.
Join the new Junkyard Wars round and build with Cloaked Dancer and a companion creature!
Interested in judging a build competition on the 3.5 forums but not sure where to begin? Check out the judging handbook!
Extended signature!
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2017-04-25, 11:16 AM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Thanks for the chart, Darrin, but you left one off. I added it in for you. Originally Posted by Darrin
Last edited by Venger; 2017-04-25 at 11:18 AM.
I've got a new fantasy TTRPG about running your own fencing school in a 3 musketeers pastiche setting. Book coming soon.
Check out my NEW sci-fi TTRPG about first contact. Cool alien races, murderous AIs, and more. New expansion featuring rules for ships! New book here NOW!
Iron Chef Medals! Originally Posted by weckar
Amazing Princess Mononoke avatar by Dispozition
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2017-04-25, 11:21 AM (ISO 8601)Troll in the Playground
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- Aug 2014
Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
My idea was to go planar shepherd (astral) using the rules to render all nonanimate matter around myself as if affected by no gravity. Then carry around a super dense item to attract all of it. You know, how gravity works in space where the largest mass attracts smaller masses. Then "fall" towards an opponent, who has to make a reflex save or get smashed by the accumulated mass of it all :10d6 damage. Seeing as how when I pass by, the mass of junk would be falling laterally, it would crash into them as a falling object. You can fall 300 feet in a round, so you could smash through a ton of opponents.
Add a net or harpoon with spring attack to debuff. But planar shepherd does all the work there and real world physics are weird when adjudicated, it seemed kinda lame.
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2017-04-25, 11:24 AM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
That's an interesting idea. at least someone touched on it here. Originally Posted by daremetoidareyo
Are there rules for creating a gravity sink in D&D if a hulking hurler let you borrow his osmium yo-yo? I don't know about them. Are they hidden in spelljammer or something?I've got a new fantasy TTRPG about running your own fencing school in a 3 musketeers pastiche setting. Book coming soon.
Check out my NEW sci-fi TTRPG about first contact. Cool alien races, murderous AIs, and more. New expansion featuring rules for ships! New book here NOW!
Iron Chef Medals! Originally Posted by weckar
Amazing Princess Mononoke avatar by Dispozition
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2017-04-25, 02:06 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
It seems problematic, at the least. The most ridiculously used justification for bringing real-world physics in D&D I see is the following line: Originally Posted by Venger
The obvious problem here is that we're talking about a scenario that's explicitly not taking place on the material, but in a bubble that's essentially the astral.The Material Plane tends to be the most Earthlike of all planes and operates under the same set of natural laws that our own real world does. This is the default plane for most adventures.
Of course, one could also argue that despite the bubble, the area still counts as the MP, in which case I suppose rules could be inferred from physics.Creator of the LA-assignment thread.
Join the new Junkyard Wars round and build with Cloaked Dancer and a companion creature!
Interested in judging a build competition on the 3.5 forums but not sure where to begin? Check out the judging handbook!
Extended signature!
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2017-04-25, 08:50 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
I had to stop for a minute after reading Sir Jasonica Deathbringer.
Like, I didn't enter in this competition. Who submitted the brilliant parody-troll-protest build in my place? Because that's what we have on our hands here. There's a lot of subtle touches that make it really well-done.
I think the image is wrong, though. It should be this:
Spoiler
It's way too early for this, but I give Sir Jasonica my vote for HM.
(Plenty of the other builds are also excellent stuff. I'm very happy I didn't enter this round. I couldn't have even if I had wanted to, between a birthday and a vacation and a new job and a new D&D campaign, but still. I would not have measured up.)In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers
My compiled Iron Chef stuff! Originally Posted by Doc Roc
~ Gay all day, queer all year ~
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2017-04-25, 09:30 PM (ISO 8601)Troll in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
I don't think that works. There isn't actually 'no gravity' in space. Space is on the Material Plane, so there's normal gravity there, there just aren't things with a strong gravitational pull nearby. In a plane which truly has no gravity, massive objects shouldn't have any pull. Originally Posted by daremetoidareyo
And Mountebank and PsyRogue if we really feel like dredging up all the options available, along with the Shifter Ranger, Shifter Druid, and Elf Ranger sub-levels. Originally Posted by Venger
Iron Chef Medals
SpoilerSir Driscoll Conia - Silver - IC L
Nick Snarespan - Gold - IC LIII
Lucy "Legs" Silvertail - Bronze - IC LXVIII
Bolfarg of Knoss - Gold - IC LXXVII
Ivarr Deathborn - Bronze - IC LXXVII
Ahmtel - Silver - IC LXXVIII
Tocke of Nessus - Gold - IC LXXIX
The Blessed Third - Silver - IC LXXXI
Galahad Galapagos - Gold - IC LXXXIV
Sai-don, Knight of the Tide - Bronze - IC LXXXIV
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2017-04-26, 09:01 AM (ISO 8601)Barbarian in the Playground
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- Apr 2013
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
My idea was to run a Psion Cobra Strike Monk, and abuse Flurry of Blows while using psionics and metamorphosis to maintain combat viability.
Iron Chef in the Playground LXVI - Honorable Mention : Azalin Stonecutter
Iron Chef Home Cooking in the Playground II - Second Place : Takenaka Kenshin
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2017-04-26, 01:40 PM (ISO 8601)Pixie in the Playground
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- Apr 2017
Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
[Speculation stuff]
Last edited by FunkyGoose; 2017-04-26 at 06:20 PM.
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2017-04-26, 02:14 PM (ISO 8601)Titan in the Playground
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- Feb 2011
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
Let's leave the judging to the judges so we don't spoil their palates. We can ask that chef after the reveal.
I've got a new fantasy TTRPG about running your own fencing school in a 3 musketeers pastiche setting. Book coming soon.
Check out my NEW sci-fi TTRPG about first contact. Cool alien races, murderous AIs, and more. New expansion featuring rules for ships! New book here NOW!
Iron Chef Medals! Originally Posted by weckar
Amazing Princess Mononoke avatar by Dispozition
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2017-04-27, 09:45 AM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground LXXXV
I'm utterly impressed by the number of dishes for such an unsavory ingredient
VC XV, The horsemen are drawing nearer: The Alien and the Omen (part 1 and part 2).
VC XVI, Burn baby burn:Nero
VC XVIII, This is Heresy! Torquemada
VC XX, Elder Evil: Henry Bowyer
And a repository of deliciously absurd sentences produced by maddened optimisers in my extended signature
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