Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

[Heliomance]

Entry number 6!

Sound & Silence

Spoiler: Story

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Already after the deadline so don't have time for anything elaborate. The aberrant taint of Ragnorra caused one of the Dvati twins to be unable to speak so they couldn't talk in their own language and where made fun of for having to speak common. Major animosity built up and turn Sound & Silence to the dark side.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Neutral Evil Dvati Rogue 2 / Totemist 2 / Barb 2 / Rogue +1 / Life Eater 10 / Disciple of Mephistopheles 2

Starting Abilities: STR 14, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 8
All lvl increases to STR
Final Abilities: STR 19, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 14, WIS 12, CHA 8

Sworn to the Elder Evil, Ragnorra ,(vile feat(V) at lvl 1, 5, 10, 15)

Spoiler: Build

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Dvati	+0	+0	+0	+0			Darkvision (60ft), Twins, Echo Attack, Pair Link, Spell Conductor
2nd	Martial Rogue 1	+0	+0	+2	+0	Bluff(4)4, Hide(4)4, Intimidate(4)4, Move Silently(4)4, Knowledge (local) (4)4, Disable Device(4)4, Open Lock(4)4, Spot(4)4, Listen(4)4	Aberration Blood, Dodge(B), Willing Deformity(V)	Bonus Feat, Trapfinding
3rd	Martial Rogue 2	+1	+0	+3	+0	Bluff(1)5, Hide(1)5, Intimidate(1)5, Move Silently(1)5, Knowledge (local) (1)5, Disable Device(1)5, Open Lock(1)5, Spot(1)5, Listen(1)5	Combat Expertise(B)	Bonus Feat, Evasion
4th	Totemist 1	+1	+2	+5	+0	Knowledge (nature) (1)1, Knowledge (arcana) (1)1, Knowledge (planes) (1)1, Knowledge (religion) (1)1	Knowledge Devotion (religion)	Wild empathy
5th	Totemist 2	+2	+3	+6	+0	Knowledge (nature) (1)2, Knowledge (arcana) (1)2, Knowledge (planes) (1)2, Knowledge (religion) (1)2		Totem chakra bind (+1 capacity)
6th	Barbarian 1	+3	+5	+6	+0	Collector of Stories(2), Intimidate(2)7	Deformity (teeth)(V)	Lion Totem (pounce), Whirling Frenzy
7th	Barbarian 2	+4	+6	+6	+0	Listen(4)8	Multi attack	Uncanny dodge
8th	Martial Rogue 3	+5	+7	+6	+1	Hide(1)6, Knowledge (local) (1)6, Knowledge (religion) (6)8		Penetrating strike
9th	Life Eater 1	+5	+9	+8	+3	Knowledge (local) (2)7, Knowledge (arcana) (2)3, Knowledge (religion) (2)10		Deathwatch, Poison use
10th	Life Eater 2	+6	+10	+9	+4	Knowledge (local) (2)8, Knowledge (arcana) (2)4, knowledge (religion) (2)12	Inhuman reach	Sneak attack 1d6, death knell
11th	Life Eater 3	+7	+10	+9	+4	Knowledge (local) (2)9, Knowledge (arcana) (2)5, knowledge (religion) (1)13, Knowledge (nature) (1)2.5	Disciple of Darkness(v)	chill touch
12th	Life Eater 4	+8	+11	+10	+5	Knowledge (local) (2)9, Knowledge (arcana) (2)5, knowledge (religion) (1)13, Knowledge (nature) (1)2.5		Hide in plain sight
13th	Life Eater 5	+8	+11	+10	+5	Knowledge (local) (2)9, Knowledge (arcana) (2)5, knowledge (religion) (1)13, Knowledge (nature) (1)2.5	Deepspawn	Sneak attack +2d6, wounding sneak attack
14th	Life Eater 6	+9	+12	+11	+6	Knowledge (local) (2)10, Knowledge (arcana) (2)6, knowledge (religion) (1)14, Knowledge (nature) (1)3		Fatiguing touch
15th	Life Eater 7	+10	+12	+11	+6	Knowledge (local) (2)11, Knowledge (arcana) (2)7, knowledge (religion) (1)14, Knowledge (nature) (1)3.5		Enervation
16th	Life Eater 8	+11	+13	+12	+7	Knowledge (local) (2)12, Knowledge (arcana) (2)8, knowledge (religion) (1)15, Knowledge (nature) (1)4	Vicious wound, Evil Brand(V)	Sneak attack +3d6, draining sneak attack
17th	Life Eater 9	+11	+13	+12	+7	Knowledge (local) (2)13, Knowledge (arcana) (2)9, knowledge (religion) (1)16, Knowledge (nature) (1)4.5		Destruction
18th	Life Eater 10	+12	+14	+13	+8	Knowledge (local) (2)14, Knowledge (arcana) (2)10, knowledge (religion) (1)17, Knowledge (nature) (1)5		Feed
19th	Disciple of Mephistopheles 1	+13	+16	+15	+10	knowledge (religion) (4)21	Arterial Strike	Hellfire grasp, fire adept
20th	Disciple of Mephistopheles 2	+14	+17	+16	+11	knowledge (religion) (1)22, knowledge (local) (2)15, Spot(1)6		Fire resistance 10

Spoiler: Level 5

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I'm an unconventional squishy melee fighter, so I grab Dodge and Combat Expertise for a little survivability while using the improved flanking of the Dvati and Knowledge Devotion to shore up my ability to hit things. I lay the groundwork for future endeavors by gaining Aberration blood and pledging myself to an elder evil which allows me to grab Willing deformity. Totemist lets me shape Totem Avatar for some more hps and either Pegasus Cloak(feather fall) or Blink Shirt(teleport). And I can bind Girallon Arms which brings up some rules questions. Does binding give the benefits to both of the Dvati twins or only one? If it's only one then the twin without the bind will spend more of his time using Aid Other to increase hit chances on all of the new secondary natural attacks his twin gets.

Spoiler: Level 10

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I gained a bite attack on each twin and can pounce into combat to make better use of all my attacks which are now easier to hit due to Multiattack reducing the to hit penalty for secondary attacks. I also get to stay slightly further away from my pray thanks to Inhuman reach. I now have the option to use Team Melee Tactics (dodge, Combat Expertise, BAB+6) to further increase the benefits of Aid Other. My third Rogue level gives me Penetrating Strike which is an extremely important ability in that it lets me sneak attack creatures that are usually immune to it with the sneak attack die I just got by dipping my toe into the Secret Ingredient. The only creatures I can't sneak attack are those that can't be flanked. I can now cast death knell just in case one of the twins goes down in a fight.

Spoiler: Level 15

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I grab two more natural attacks on each twin via Deepspawn, another sneak attack die, and the ability I've been waiting for...wounding sneak attack. Any time I sneak attack a foe I stack a bleed and I currently have up to 16 attacks (Two sets of 2 iterative, 3 claw, 2 tentacle, 1 bite) if Girallon Arms binds to both twins or 13 attacks if not. That bleed damage stacks up nicely over time and I can go after other targets when I know, because of Deathwatch, that I've stacked enough for them to die. I also get a few once a day spells that can be situationaly useful.

Spoiler: Level 20

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I now get draining sneak attack which bestows a negative level on all attacks that were already stacking up wounds and makes even shorter work of my enemies. I pick up Vicious Wound and Arterial strike to stack wounds even quicker. I'm now at 18(15) attacks per round that stack 3 bleed and a negative level each and some additional fire damage on all of the natural attacks thanks to Hellfire Grasp. Feed allows me to pump up by Con a bit more which is doubly beneficial on a Dvati.

Spoiler: Sources

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Book of Vile Darkness - Disciple of Mephistopheles, Willing Deformity, Disciple of Darkness, Evil Brand
Complete Champion - Lion Totem, Knowledge Devotion
Complete Scoundrel - Collector of Stories
Complete Warrior - Arterial Strike
Dragon Magazine Compendium - Dvati
Dungeonscape - Penetrating Strike
Elder Evils - Sworn to Evil
Heroes of Horror - Deformity (teeth)
Lords of Madness - Aberration Blood, Inhuman Reach, Deepspawn
Magic of Incarnum - Totemist
Monster Manual - Multiattack
Player's Handbook - Barbarian, Rogue
Player's Handbook II - Team Melee Tactics
Savage Species - Vicious Wound
Unearth Arcana - Whirling Frenzy, Martial Rogue

[Heliomance]

Entry number 7!

Ana Piranha
CE Aquatic Human Factotum 10/Life Eater 10

The land-cult’s boat sat in the center of the lake. Ana and the others swam up to it. They lifted their heads above the surface and her father and the priest standing on the deck of the ship inclined their heads to one another. Her father spoke a word and the tank that the hunters had brought rose to the surface and its top unsealed. The priest intoned “Lord Baphomet. We send this sacrifice to the hungering depths, that she may please you in the Abyss.” A cow that they had brought from the land was lowered into the tank, and the starving fish inside immediately tore into it, rapidly stripping the creature to the bone. Above and below the water, the cultists chanted praise to the Prince of Beasts. Ana pressed her hands to the tank, and felt as the cow’s life force drained away.

Chumming the Ocean

Spoiler

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Ability Scores
12 Str, 13 Dex, 13 Con, 16 Int, 10 Wis, 14 Cha
Increase Int at all opportunities.

Build Table

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Factotum 1	+0	+0	+2	+0	Hide 4, Move Silently 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Bluff 4, Intimidate 4, Swim 4, Iaijutsu Focus 4, Craft (Poisonmaking) 4, Search 1, Spot 1, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 1, Forgery 1	Darkstalker, Swim-By Attack	Inspiration, Cunning Insight, Cunning Knowledge, Trapfinding
2nd	Factotum 2	+1	+0	+3	+0	Hide 5, Move Silently 5, Knowledge (Religion) 5, Bluff 5, Intimidate 5, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) 5, Search 1, Spot 1, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 1, Forgery 1, Quick Swimmer	-	Arcane Dilletante (1 Spell, Max Level 0)
3rd	Factotum 3	+2	+1	+3	+1	Hide 6, Move Silently 6, Knowledge (Religion) 6, Bluff 6, Intimidate 6, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 6, Craft (Poisonmaking) 6, Search 1, Spot 1, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 1, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 2 Quick Swimmer	Mortalbane	Brains Over Brawn, Cunning Defense, Arcane Dilletante (Max Level 1)
4th	Factotum 4	+3	+1	+4	+1	Hide 7, Move Silently 7, Knowledge (Religion) 7, Bluff 7, Intimidate 7, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 7, Craft (Poisonmaking) 7, Search 1, Spot 1, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 1, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 5 Quick Swimmer	-	Arcane Dilletante (2 spells), Cunning Strike
5th	Factotum 5	+3	+1	+4	+1	Hide 8, Move Silently 8, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 8, Intimidate 8, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 8, Craft (Poisonmaking) 8, Search 1, Spot 1, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 1, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 8 Quick Swimmer	-	Opportunistic Piety, Arcane Dilletante (Max Level 2)
6th	Factotum 6	+4	+2	+5	+2	Hide 9, Move Silently 9, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 9, Intimidate 9, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 9, Craft (Poisonmaking) 9, Search 1, Spot 1, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 1, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 9, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1 Quick Swimmer	Expeditious Dodge	-
7th	Factotum 7	+5	+2	+5	+2	Hide 10, Move Silently 10, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 10, Intimidate 10, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 10, Craft (Poisonmaking) 10, Search 1, Spot 1, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 1, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 10, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1 Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories	-	Arcane Dilletante (3 Spells)
8th	Factotum 8	+6	+2	+6	+2	Hide 11, Move Silently 11, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 11, Intimidate 11, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 11, Search 1, Spot 1, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 1, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1 Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories	-	Cunning Surge, Arcane Dilletante (Max Level 3)
9th	Life Eater 1	+6	+4	+8	+4	Hide 12, Move Silently 12, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 12, Intimidate 12, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 11, Search 1, Spot 1, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 4, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1 Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories	Sahuagin Flip	Deathwatch, Poison Use
10th	Life Eater 2	+7	+5	+9	+5	Hide 12, Move Silently 12, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 12, Intimidate 12, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 11, Search 1, Spot 1, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 4, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1, Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories	-	Sneak Attack +1d6, Death Knell
11th	Life Eater 3	+8	+5	+9	+5	Hide 13, Move Silently 13, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 13, Intimidate 13, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 11, Search 1, Spot 1, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 11, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1, Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories	-	Chill Touch
12th	Life Eater 4	+9	+6	+10	+6	Hide 14, Move Silently 14, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 14, Intimidate 14, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 11, Search 1, Spot 5, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 14, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1, Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories	Staggering Strike	Hide in Plain Sight
13th	Life Eater 5	+9	+6	+10	+6	Hide 15, Move Silently 15, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 15, Intimidate 15, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 11, Search 1, Spot 11, Listen 1, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 15, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1, Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories	-	Sneak Attack +2d6, Wounding Sneak Attack
14th	Life Eater 6	+10	+7	+11	+7	Hide 16, Move Silently 16, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 16, Intimidate 16, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 11, Search 1, Spot 16, Listen 2, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 16, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1, Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories	-	Fatiguing Touch
15th	Life Eater 7	+11	+7	+11	+7	Hide 17, Move Silently 17, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 17, Intimidate 17, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 11, Search 1, Spot 17, Listen 5, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 17, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1, Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories, Spot the Weak Point	Craven	Enervation
16th	Life Eater 8	+12	+8	+12	+8	Hide 18, Move Silently 18, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 18, Intimidate 18, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 11, Search 1, Spot 18, Listen 9, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 18, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1, Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories, Spot the Weak Point, Clarity of Vision	-	Sneak Attack +3d6, Draining Sneak Attack
17th	Life Eater 9	+12	+8	+12	+8	Hide 20, Move Silently 20, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Bluff 20, Intimidate 20, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 11, Search 1, Spot 20, Listen 20, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 20, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1, Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories, Spot the Weak Point, Clarity of Vision	-	Destruction
18th	Life Eater 10	+13	+9	+13	+9	Hide 21, Move Silently 21, Knowledge (Religion) 9, Bluff 21, Intimidate 21, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 13cc, Search 1, Spot 21, Listen 21, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 21, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1, Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories, Spot the Weak Point, Clarity of Vision	Font of Inspiration	Feed
19th	Factotum 9	+13	+10	+13	+10	Hide 22, Move Silently 22, Knowledge (Religion) 9, Bluff 21, Intimidate 21, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Craft (Poisonmaking) 22, Search 1, Spot 21, Listen 21, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 21, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1, Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories, Spot the Weak Point, Clarity of Vision	-	Arcane Dilletante (4 Spells)
20th	Factotum 10	+14	+10	+14	+10	Hide 23, Move Silently 23, Knowledge (Religion) 9, Bluff 21, Intimidate 21, Swim 5, Iaijutsu Focus 16, Craft (Poisonmaking) 23, Search 1, Spot 21, Listen 21, Tumble 1, Disable Device 1, Sleight of Hand 21, Forgery 1, Use Rope 1, Concentration 15, Diplomacy 1, Heal 1, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1, Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Heal 1, Disguise 1, Escape Artist 1, Gather Information 1, Sense Motive 1, Quick Swimmer, Collector of Stories, Spot the Weak Point, Clarity of Vision	-	Opportunistic Piety (+1 Use), Arcane Dilletante (Max Level 4)

Blood in the Water

Spoiler

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Level 6

Spoiler

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We’re diving into the deep end of not just the alignment pool, but of actual water. We have enough bonuses to not really ever need to worry about actually hitting DCs for swim checks, but 5 ranks are still worth it for an extra 10 ft of movement once per encounter from the Quick Swimmer skill trick. Swim-By attack is a better version of Spring Attack while in the water, also allowing for things like Arcane Dilletante SLAs (souped up with Mortalbane) mid-move. So swim out of hiding, drawing a weapon to trigger Iaijutsu Focus, flip a Mortalbane Ice Dagger or somesuch at your foes (the +2d6 from Mortalbane applies to the splash as well) and swim off with Quick Swimmer giving the extra movement needed to trigger Expeditious Dodge. Factotum also is a headache-free way of getting all the necessary skills for the SI.

Level 10

Spoiler

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We stick around to Factotum 8 before entering the SI. Life Eater itself doesn’t get craft, but with ranks from Factotum levels, access to Magecraft, and Cunning Insight, we’re in decent shape to make our own poisons for Poison Use. Sahuagin Flip is fun, allowing us to withdraw as a move action after making a melee attack (including a touch SLA). Cunning Surge and Swim-By Attack can be used to make another attack of some sort mid-withdrawl as well.

Level 15

Spoiler

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Now we’re more into the meat of the SI. HiPS makes the swimming tricks really pop. Being underwater will generally mean not being in full daylight, so we can now hide during Swim-By Attacks and Sahuagin Flips. Chill Touch gives us a new Mortalbane vector. Staggering Strike is also online with damage from Craven helping to boost the DC. Ask your DM if the bleed from Wounding Sneak Attack counts as dealing damage with a sneak attack for the purposes of Staggering Strike (even at DC 1 that’s a 5% chance of not being able to do much for another turn) or if those who take damage from things like splash damage, the burst damage from Ice Knife, or the like also count as victims of the sneak attack for the purpose of wounding despite not actually taking the sneak attack damage.

Level 20

Spoiler

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Destruction is an insta-kill, or a Mortalbane vector on a successful save. Draining Sneak Attack is a welcome addition to earlier tactics. The +5 to Con from Feed makes us sturdier and saves a few skill ranks getting Concentration high enough to auto-succeed using Destruction defensively. We then finish out with Factotum, gaining an extra Arcane Dilletante spell and hitting 4ths, which opens up more offensive options, or Minor Creation to produce poisons.

An Hour After Eating

Spoiler

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Book of Vile Darkness: Mortalbane
Complete Adventurer: Staggering Strike
Champions of Ruin: Craven
Dungeonscape: Factoum
Lords of Madness: Darkstalker
Oriental Adventures: Iaijutsu Focus
Races of the Wild: Expeditious Dodge
Spell Compendium: Ice Dagger, Ice Knife
Stormwrack: Sahuagin Flip, Swim-By Attack
Web: Font of Inspiration, Life Eater
Everything else should be in the SRD.

[Heliomance]

Entry number 8!

Old Johnny Blackspine
LE>CE Skarn Cobra Strike Monk 5/Life Eater 5/Scaled Horror 2/Jaunter3/Life Eater 10

Stats (after racial mods)

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Str 16 (18) (Increase here at 16)
Dex 15 (13) (Increases here at other levels)
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 12
Cha 8

Backstory

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Don’t walk too close to the water’s brink
Don’t stare too long at the briny drink
Or you might find that soon you sink
And meet old Johnny Blackspine

He’ll drag you down to the depths below
He’ll eat you up and he’ll do it slow
And where you went no one will know
Except old Johnny Blackspine

If daddy’s been too long away
But wasn’t at the port today
He might have had a chance to play
With dear old Johnny Blackspine

If he smells blood then he’ll come quick
His spines will rattle and they’ll click
He poisons with the smallest stick
He's mean, old Johnny Blackspine

-Cautionary rhyme from a seaport town, date unknown

Build

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Skarn Cobra Strike Monk 1	+0	+2	+2	+2	Bluff 4, Hide 4, Intimidate 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 4	Apprentice (Criminal), (B)Dodge	+2 to Escape Artist, Dodge, Flurry of Blows, Spine Strike 1d6
2nd	Cobra Strike Monk 2	+1	+3	+3	+3	Bluff 5, Escape Artist 1, Hide 5, Knowledge (Religion) 5, Move Silently 5	(B)Mobility	Mobility, Invisible Fist
3rd	Monk 3	+2	+3	+3	+3	Escape Artist 3, Hide 6, Knowledge (Religion) 6, Move Silently 6	Water Heritage	Prayerful Meditation, Swim Speed +10ft
4th	Monk 4	+3	+4	+4	+4	Escape Artist 5, Hide 7, Knowledge (Religion) 7, Move Silently 7		Ki Strike (Magic), Water Step 20 ft, Spine Strike 1d8
5th	Skarn Monk 5	+3	+4	+4	+4	Escape Artist 6, Intimidate 7, Knowledge (Religion) 8		Purity of Body, Defensive Insight
6th	Life Eater 1	+3	+6	+6	+6	Escape Artist 8, Hide 9, Intimidate 8, Move Silently 9	Darkstalker	Deathwatch, Poison Use
7th	Life Eater 2	+4	+7	+7	+7	Escape Attack, Craft (Poisonmaking) 0.5(1), Hide 10, Knowledge (the Planes) 1 (2), Move Silently 10		Sneak Attack +1d6, Death Knell
8th	Life Eater 3	+5	+7	+7	+7	Craft (Poisonmaking)1(1), Hide 11, Knowledge (the Planes) 3(4), Move Silently 11		Chill Touch
9th	Life Eater 4	+6/+1	+8	+8	+8	Craft (Poisonmaking) 2.5(3), Hide 12, Knowledge (the Planes) 4(2), Move Silently 12	Spring Attack	Hide In Plain Sight
10th	Life Eater 5	+6/+1	+8	+8	+8	Craft (Poisonmaking) 5(5), Hide 13, Move Silently 13		Sneak Attack +2d6, Wounding Sneak Attack
11th	Scaled Horror 1	+6/+1	+10	+8	+8	Hide 14, Move Silently 14, Survival 3		Improved Grab, Keen Scent
12th	Scaled Horror 2	+7/+2	+11	+8	+8	Hide 15, Move Silently 15, Survival 6	Track	Freedom of Movement
13th	Jaunter 1	+7/+2	+11	+10	+8	Hide 16, Move Silently 16, Tumble 3		Travel Power, Benign Transposition
14th	Jaunter 2	+8/+3	+12	+11	+9	Hide 17, Move Silently 17, Tumble 6		Baleful Transposition, Fast Movement
15th	Jaunter 3	+9/+4	+12	+11	+9	Hide 18, Move Silently 18, Tumble 9	Multigrab	Dimension Door, Teleport
16th	Life Eater 6	+10/+5	+13	+12	+10	Craft (Poisonmaking) 7.5(5), Hide 19, Move Silently 19		Fatiguing Touch
17th	Life Eater 7	+11/+6/+1	+13	+12	+10	Craft (Poisonmaking) 10(5), Hide 20, Move Silently 20		Enervation
18th	Life Eater 8	+12/+7/+2	+14	+13	+11	Craft (Poisonmaking) 12.5(5), Hide 21, Move Silently 21	Greater Multigrab	Sneak Attack +3d6, Draining Sneak Attack
19th	Life Eater 9	+12/+7/+2	+14	+13	+11	Craft (Poisonmaking) 15(5), Hide 22, Move Silently 22		Destruction
20th	Life Eater 10	+13/+8/+3	+15	+14	+12	Craft (Poisonmaking) 17.5(5), Hide 23, Move Silently 23		Feed

Spells

Spoiler

Show

Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
11th		0*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12th-20th		1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Level 5

Spoiler

Show

Let’s start off with some monk. Skarn is a reptilian race for scaled horror, and has a helpful racial substitution levels that provide Intimidate to help qualify for the SI. Monk has many ACFs for us to customize with. Spine strike is a little short on text, so it’s not entirely clear if you can use your spines in the same round that you’re using spine strike in place of your unarmed strike, but I’m assuming not. Invisible fist is invaluable for a sneaky monk. As per Stormwrack, we can use the monk boost to increase our swim speed. Prayerful meditation gives us a bonus against all spells and effects from Good creatures, a far sight better than enchantment alone. Cobra Strike Monk grants us bonus feats to help qualify for Jaunter later.

Water heritage grants us a swim speed which also grants the bonus on swim checks for Scaled Horror. Apprentice (Criminal) gives us bluff for the 5 levels we’ll need it. Once we hit level 5 we can change alignment from LE to CE. It means we can’t take anymore monk, but we don’t lose anything. It was time for PrCs anyway. Our ducks all in a row mean we can progress on to the SI.

Level 10

Spoiler

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I’m tickled that right as we enter the secret ingredient, our saves appropriately become 6/6/6. Sneak attack gives us a payoff for that invisibility and our hide/ms which we’ll continue investing in. HiPS will work fine in the water, wherever there are light sources, there are shadows, and you’ll find shadows from the enemies you face. The SI unhelpfully doesn’t give us craft, but we still have the cap from monk so we can make some poison to apply with poison use. Use injury poisons and smear them on your spines for combat readiness. Chill touch makes for a good converter of your sneak attack dice to the attractive negative energy. Escape attack will pay off in a few levels when everything coalesces. Wounding sneak attack makes for a good break point to nab the last few important bits.
Darkstalker is a must for anyone with stealth. Spring attack is the last prerequisite for Jaunter, which we’ll be entering shortly.

Level 15

Spoiler

Show

Scaled Horror is a fun little class that is extraordinarily frontloaded. To start it will be giving us ranger spells, which fill out some utility as well as augment our natural abilities. Deep Breath will help you out when deep underwater, and embrace the wild can give you some extra sense in a pinch. The next important feature is improved grab. Hitting someone with your spines is using your natural weapons as an unarmed strike of sorts, but scaled horror has you covered either way. Here’s where flurry of blows becomes more useful, as each blow allows you a grapple attempt. You might want to skip the first grapple attempt or two to maximize your attacks (and thus your sneak attack and wounding) and that’s certainly your prerogative. Keen Scent is the next topic of interest. While underwater you work out to 180 feet, putting most regular scent to shame. The second part is the really fun one. You detect blood in the water at a range of up to 1 mile, and wounding attack means your victims are bleeding. Scent rules tell us that you can recognize familiar scents like familiar images, so you can distinguish your prey from other sources, and find them if you’re anywhere in the area. Track is a natural choice to hone this ability further for pursuit, so you can break off combat whenever you like safe in the knowledge you can find them again. Freedom of Movement in the water has the primary benefit of removing all of the penalties you’d normally face fighting in the water, allowing you to use slashing or bludgeoning weapons at full damage. It also means that you can effortlessly escape the grapples you start. This lets you fire off escape attack, for another hit that they’re flatfooted against. Thus more sneak attack and more wounding.

Jaunter has a wonky chart that doesn’t line up with normal advancement for poor fort and will saves. I’ve transposed it faithfully, but your DM might say use normal saves, which delays the increase from level 2 to level 3. End number is the same. Jaunter gives us the means to pursue with real speed. The speed boost means better maneuverability on the battlefield (remember your Spring Attack), and Benign and Baleful transposition make for good tactical movement. At level 3 are the real treats, dimension door for unfettered tactical teleportation, and teleport for crossing large distances. Teleport means that you can instantly get to anything whose blood you smell in the water. You can of course also use it to bring your friends to places you go.

Multigrab allows us to attempt a strategy that before would not have been viable. Improved grab from Scaled Horror allows you to conduct a grapple normally or to hold your target with your spines, in which case you do not count as being grappled. This ordinarily imposes a ruinous -20 to your grapple checks, but with Multigrab it’s lessened to a more reasonable penalty. Not counting as being grappled means you can do normal things like cast spells, use SLAs, and threaten spaces. It also means, more importantly, that you can invoke an important rule for grappling. Creatures in a grapple lose their dexterity bonus against creatures other than the one they’re grappling. You don’t count as being grappled by your target here, so you can sneak attack them with ease, piling on the wounding.

Level 20

Spoiler

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Now that we’re finished with our other PrCs, let’s return our attention to the SI. Fatiguing touch and enervation are good for softening up foes for easier grappling, especially once you get draining sneak attack. Nothing goes with negative levels like more negative levels. Remember that casters lose spell slots when you smack them with this, and you could easily end up removing an opponent’s ability to cast the healing spells to counteract your wounding. When you do kill a target, don’t be afraid to teleport away with the body so you can use feed in peace, and return to your other bloodied foes at your convenience.
Greater Multigrab completely eliminates the penalty for holding an opponent with your spines, so you’re all the more likely to be able to hold them as long as you want while you get in your sneak attacks. Break it off with an escape attack, hit a different target, teleport or dimension door away leaving them bleeding, return when you like hidden under cover of invisible fist to strike again.

Seasoning to taste

Spoiler

Show

There is one build choice that elected not to include because I was uneasy with its legality. Planar Monk is a planar substitution level available at level 5 for monk. It trades purity of body for resistance 5 to the energy of your choice. More importantly, it grants Knowledge (the Planes) as a class skill. This could save a few skill ranks for the build, which would be appreciated, and lets Water Heritage pull double duty in qualifying for the sub level as well. However, substitution levels, unlike ACFs, have charts and skills. As such, it does not strike me as legal to take 2 substitution levels at once, so I prioritized Skarn monk. Of course, I’ve not seen any rules one way or the other, and your DM may be more permissive. In such a case it’s a nice addition that meshes well with Jaunter, and I certainly like energy resistance more than immunity to disease.

Sources

Spoiler

Show

Skarn, Skarn Monk: Magic of Incarnum
Scaled Horror, Multigrab, Greater Multigrab: Savage Species
Jaunter: Expedition to the Demonweb Pits
Escape Attack: Complete Scoundrel
Apprentice: DMGII
Walter Walk ACF, increased swim speed: Stormwrack
Darkstalker: Lords of Madness
Invisible Fist: Exemplars of Evil
Prayerful Meditation: Complete Champion
Water Heritage, Planar Monk: Planar Handbook
Monk, Cobra Strike Monk, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Track: srd

[Heliomance]

Entry number 9!

Spoiler: Maldred

Show

Maldred the Chaotic Evil Human Paladin of Slaughter 2/Hexblade 4/Abjurant Champion 5/Life Eater 9

Spoiler: Maldred

Show

Stat	Base	Level Up	Final
Strength	16		16
Dexterity	13	4, 8, 12	16
Constitution	14		14
Intelligence	13		13
Wisdom	8		8
Charisma	14	16, 20	16

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Paladin of Slaughter	+1	+2	+0	+0	Intimidate +4, Knowledge Religion +4, Hide +2, Move Silently +2	Combat Casting, Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Spiked Chain	Aura of Evil, Detect Good, Smite Good 1/day
2nd	Paladin of Slaughter	+2	+3	+0	+0	Intimidate +5, Knowledge Religion +5, Hide +2.5, Move Silently +2.5		Deadly Touch, Divine Grace
3rd	Hexblade	+3	+5	+0	+2	Intimidate +6, Knowledge Religion +5, Hide +3, Bluff +1, Move Silently +3	Combat Expertise	Arcane Attunement, Hexblade’s Curse 1/day
4th	Hexblade	+4	+6	+0	+3	Intimidate +7, Knowledge Religion +5, Hide +3.5, Bluff +2, Move Silently +3.5		Arcane Resistance
5th	Hexblade	+5	+6	+1	+3	Intimidate +7, Knowledge Religion +6, Hide +4, Bluff +2, Move Silently +4		Mettle
6th	Hexblade	+6	+7	+1	+4	Intimidate +7, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +4, Bluff +4, Move Silently +4	Improved Trip	Summon Familiar, CL 2, 1st level spells
7th	Abjurant Champion	+7	+7	+1	+6	Intimidate +7, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +4.5, Bluff +5, Move Silently +4.5		Abjurant Armor, Extended Abjuration, CL 3
8th	Abjurant Champion	+8	+7	+1	+7	Intimidate +7, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +5.5, Bluff +5, Move Silently +5		Swift Abjuration, CL 4, 2nd level spells
9th	Abjurant Champion	+9	+8	+2	+7	Intimidate +10, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +6, Bluff +5, Move Silently +5	Knockdown	CL 5
10th	Abjurant Champion	+10	+8	+2	+8	Intimidate +10, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +6.5, Bluff +5, Move Silently +6.5		Arcane Boost, CL 6, 3rd level spells
11th	Abjurant Champion	+11	+8	+2	+8	Intimidate +12, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +7, Bluff +5, Move Silently +7		Martial Arcanist, CL 11, 4th level spells
12th	Life Eater	+11	+10	+4	+10	Intimidate +14, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +8, Bluff +5, Move Silently +8, Spellcraft +2	Mage Slayer	Deathwatch, Poison Use
13th	Life Eater	+12	+11	+5	+11	Intimidate +16, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +9, Bluff +5, Move Silently +9, Spellcraft +4		Sneak Attack +1d6, Death Knell, CL 12
14th	Life Eater	+13	+11	+5	+11	Intimidate +17, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +11, Bluff +5, Move Silently +10, Spellcraft +6		Chill Touch, CL 13
15th	Life Eater	+14	+12	+6	+12	Intimidate +18, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +12, Bluff +5, Move Silently +12, Spellcraft +8	Arterial Strike	Hide in Plain Sight, CL 14
16th	Life Eater	+14	+12	+6	+12	Intimidate +19, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +14, Bluff +5, Move Silently +13, Spellcraft +10		Wounding Sneak Attack, Sneak Attack +2d6
17th	Life Eater	+15	+13	+7	+13	Intimidate +20, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +15, Bluff +5, Move Silently +15, Spellcraft +12		Fatiguing Touch, CL 15
18th	Life Eater	+16	+13	+7	+13	Intimidate +21, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +17, Bluff +5, Move Silently +16, Spellcraft +14	Improved Familiar	Enervation, CL 16
19th	Life Eater	+17	+14	+8	+14	Intimidate +22, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +18, Bluff +5, Move Silently +18, Spellcraft +16		Sneak Attack +3d6, Draining Sneak Attack, CL 17
20th	Life Eater	+17	+14	+8	+14	Intimidate +23, Knowledge Religion +8, Hide +20, Bluff +5, Move Silently +21, Spellcraft +17		Destruction

Spoiler: Spellcasting

Show

Spells per Day

Spoiler: Spellcasting

Show

Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	-	-	-	-
2nd	-	-	-	-
3rd	-	-	-	-
4th	-	-	-	-
5th	-	-	-	-
6th	0	-	-	-
7th	1	-	-	-
8th	1	0	-	-
9th	1	1	-	-
10th	1	1	1	-
11th	2	1	1	0
12th	2	1	1	0
13th	2	1	1	0
14th	2	1	1	0
15th	2	1	1	0
16th	2	1	1	0
17th	2	1	1	0
18th	2	1	1	0
19th	2	1	1	0
20th	2	1	1	0

Spells Known
Level
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
1st
-
-
-
-
2nd
-
-
-
-
3rd
-
-
-
-
4th
-
-
-
-
5th
-
-
-
-
6th
2
-
-
-
7th
3
-
-
-
8th
4
2
-
-
9th
4
3
-
-
10th
4
4
3
-
11th
4
4
4
2
12th
4
4
4
2
13th
4
4
4
2
14th
4
4
4
2
15th
4
4
4
2
16th
4
4
4
2
17th
4
4
4
2
18th
4
4
4
2
19th
4
4
4
2
20th
4
4
4
2

How does this all work. It is a specific reading, and it is headache inducing. Blame half casters like Hexblade, Paladin, Ranger, Spellthief, etc.
First a quote:

Spells: Beginning at 4th level, a hexblade gains the ability to cast a small number of arcane spells, which are drawn from the hexblade spell list (see Chapter 3). He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, just as a sorcerer can. To learn or cast a spell, a hexblade must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level (Cha 11 for 1st-level spells, Cha 12 for 2nd-level spells, and so forth). The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a hexblade’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the hexblade’s Cha modifier. Like other spellcasters, a hexblade can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table 1–1. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score. When Table 1–1 indicates that the hexblade gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level (for instance, 1st-level spells for a 4th-level hexblade), he gains only the bonus spells he would be entitled to based on his Charisma score for that spell level. The hexblade’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A hexblade begins play knowing no spells, but gains one or more new spells at certain levels, as indicated on Table 1–2. (Unlike spells per day, his Charisma score does not affect the number of spells a hexblade knows; the numbers on Table 1–2 are fixed.)

Upon reaching 12th level, and at every third hexblade level after that (15th and 18th), a hexblade can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the hexblade “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level hexblade spell the hexblade can cast. For instance, upon reaching 12th level, a hexblade could trade in a single 1stlevel spell (two spell levels below the highest-level hexblade spell he can cast, which is 3rd) for a different 1st-level spell. At 15th level, he could trade in a single 1st-level or 2nd-level spell (since he now can cast 4th-level hexblade spells) for a different spell of the same level. A hexblade may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

Through 3rd level, a hexblade has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, his caster level is one-half his hexblade level.

So for each level that a half caster gains a level in their class, they gain half a caster level.

Spellcasting: At each level, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming an abjurant champion, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

There are several ways to argue this point:
Option 1: You increase your caster level (in this case from CL 2 to CL 3), but only put yourself to level 5 on the Hexblade table (in which case you should only have CL 2). This means you gain no new spells known, no new spells per day, you just get a CL boost.
Option 2: You increase your caster level (again from CL 2 to CL 3), and since you are now CL 3 you put yourself on the Hexblade table where you would have CL 3 (level 6).
Option 3: You increase your “hexblade” level from 4 to 5, granting you nothing. No CL increase, no new spells per day, no new spells known, nothing.

To me the only fair way to treat the advancement from a prestige class on a half caster, is to increase their placement by 2 on the spells portion. This does not give them “early” access to spells. You need just as many caster levels to reach 4th level spells on a Hexblade in this manner as a wizard. You still get 4th level spells at CL 7. Same as Assassin and wizard.

Onto the why. Why have I gone through convoluted means to get access to hexblade’s crappy spell list? Cursed Blade.
Cursed Blade is a 4th level Assassin and Hexblade spell only. Lasting for 1 minute per caster level, any wounds dealt by your weapon can’t be healed until the recipient of the damage receives a remove curse. Combined with Wounding Sneak Attack and Arterial Strike, and you now deal an additional stacking 2 bleed damage per sneak attack continuing until the target receives a remove curse. You hit a guy 3 times, he starts taking 6 damage per round until he’s cured.

Oh and on the note of mage slayer, you apply effects on yourself in whichever order you choose iirc. So CL 7 - 4 = 3, 3 is less than 17, so your CL now equals your BAB of 17.

Spells Known:
1: Entropic Shield, Bloodletting, Augment Familiar, Detect Magic
2: Arcane Turmoil, Alter Self, Mirror Image, Suppress Magic
3: Hound of Doom, Dispel Magic, Vampiric Touch, Arcane Sight
4: Cursed Blade, Polymorph[/SPOILER]

Spoiler: Strategies

Show

You are a spiked chain tripping fighter. You have mage slayer. You're quite good at doing the CC job within 15 ft of yourself. In addition you bring unhealable wounds and negative levels whenever you can sneak attack. Your saves are absolutely phenomenal thanks to Divine Grace + Arcane Resistance + Good saves from Life Eater. Surprisingly you are fairly stealthy with Hide in Plain Sight and decent skill investment, add in the fact that you have some decent wand usage from your hexblade wands (for things like solid fog, greater invisibility, etc). You have a familiar which can do some fun things depending on which one you choose (I like getting flight via a hippogriff.) Your CL of 17 is fairly decent for dispelling using your quickened dispels. Get yourself a Runestaff of Abjuration or a Custom Runestaff of Shielding (Steel Shadows, Fire Shield, Repelling Shield, and Nightshield) to enjoy the benefits of Abjurant Armor.

[Heliomance]

And that's all of them!

I'm deeply sorry about the delay. I've had the tab open for a while, being weirdly intimidated by the prospect of making the reveal post, I don't know why. I realise I've not been the best chair this year, with a lot of delays for no good reason. I'd like to take the competition one thread further, to see it to the hundredth thread, and then I intend to step down as chair and let someone else have a turn.

Anyway, judges, have at!

[MisterKaws]

Huh, they're out!

I'm seeing a problem with one of the builds just from skimming through, but I'll leave it for after judging is done.

By the way, that entry 7 sounds super dirty in Portuguese, though it's probably accidental.

[Wolfem]

Added Dishes to the ICO Spreadsheet.

[Venger]

Thanks a lot, Wolfem

[Thurbane]

Congrats to everyone who got an entry in. SOme nice stuff there.

Wish I could have found my old stub (and the spare time) to get an entry in. I can't remember all of it,. but I think there was Spellthief and the Spell Drain and Death Devotion feats involved. I was pretty happy with it, from memory, but TBH, may not have been all that impressive compared to some of the builds entered.

[Venger]

Congrats to everyone who got an entry in. SOme nice stuff there.

Wish I could have found my old stub (and the spare time) to get an entry in. I can't remember all of it,. but I think there was Spellthief and the Spell Drain and Death Devotion feats involved. I was pretty happy with it, from memory, but TBH, may not have been all that impressive compared to some of the builds entered.

sounds pretty cool. I considered using spell drain with a skulk-friendly accelerated casting prc like assassin, but since the ability isn't exactly energy drain, I figured it wouldn't be worth the hassle and did something else.

[Efrate]

I am just happy to see a fair bit of MoI. More I read that the more I like it.

[The Viscount]

Lot of cool builds going in different directions here. Are any of our generous souls considering judging this round?

[Darrin]

Lot of cool builds going in different directions here. Are any of our generous souls considering judging this round?

I have been considering it, but I need to block out some time for it. As of right now, I don't know how long it would take. So put me down for a "maybe".

[Piggy Knowles]

I have been considering it, but I need to block out some time for it. As of right now, I don't know how long it would take. So put me down for a "maybe".

If you can find the time, that would be fantastic! Your judging is always top notch.

Any speculation on what Helio has in store for the Iron Chef century?

[The Viscount]

My deepest fears tell me it will be Shining Blade of Heironeus; I can only hope they are wrong.

[Piggy Knowles]

I have a feeling that Helio will throw us a curve somehow. Maybe she'll bring things full circle with something like blackguard, which if I recall correctly was the original Iron Chef ingredient way back on the BG boards.

[WhamBamSam]

Optimistic Prediction: Maybe my years of asking for Beast Heart Adept will finally be rewarded. It's a cool, unique, and actually pretty good PrC. Or something else off my ever-expanding list of Defiant, Eye of Gruumsh, Watch Detective, Mortal Hunter, Demonologist, Vassal of Bahamut, Ninja of the Crescent Moon, Rage Mage, DotU Arachnomancer, Disciple of Thrymm, Thayan Slaver, Warrior of Darkness, Tattooed Monk, and others I'm probably forgetting.

Realistic Prediction: Shining Blade. It's gonna be Shining Blade.

[EndlessKng]

I have a feeling that Helio will throw us a curve somehow. Maybe she'll bring things full circle with something like blackguard, which if I recall correctly was the original Iron Chef ingredient way back on the BG boards.

Was going to say - for an iconic prestige class from the very beginning, Blackguard seems oddly conspicuous in its absence... didn't realize it existed elsewhere, but even so.

And blackguard is a class that anyone who can get enough Knowledge Religion can join by 10th level (with a couple levels MC for classes Poor BAB but even then), so it does lend to a ton of builds.

Then again it has an annoying number of dead levels after fifth... if it wasn't a caster...

[Darrin]

If you can find the time, that would be fantastic!

Ok, I'm going to see if I can clear out some time this week to get some judging done. No ECD yet.

Any speculation on what Helio has in store for the Iron Chef century?

I've suggested Soulborn 20 a couple times, but Helio had very little interest in it.

[Piggy Knowles]

While we’re waiting for judges, figured I’d post my initial abandoned idea. For a while I was really stuck on the idea of a tibbit Life Eater, who used stealth to sneak into people’s spaces unnoticed and then unleash a flurry of draining attacks. I had most of the build planned out, and some strong ideas for the fluff as well: I was going to write a riff on the “Wait Till Martin Comes” story from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (like most stories in the collections, its origins predate that collection, but that’s the version I know best), where someone breaks into a house to get out of the rain and is met by increasingly larger and scarier cats who sneak in and quietly discuss eating him, but keep saying to “wait till Martin comes.” I thought I’d write a fairly straight take on the story, but at the climax when the protagonist runs away, it would be revealed that Martin was there the whole time, hiding in his shadow. Nothing groundbreaking, I know, but it sounded fun.

The build itself was kind of neat, using rogue + warblade as a sort of swordsage analogue, and with some nice Cha-focused tricks as well. I went with the standard Underfoot Combat/Confound the Big Folk method of attacking larger opponents, which combines really nicely with HiPS and a stealth focus, since you can actually sneak into enemy spaces. The secondary Cha-focus went straight back into stealth via a marshal dip for motivate Dexterity, while also giving me some neat ways to deal with undead via Undead Empathy + Wanderer’s Diplomacy.

Anyhow, I had the build skeleton more or less planned out, and even wrote up my build snapshots, when I thought of another idea and decided to go for that one instead. Didn’t really have it in me to do two entries this competition, so this one got relegated to my increasingly bloated google doc of build stubs. Figured I’d post it here instead of letting it just collect dust.

Spoiler: Wait Till Martin Comes

Show

Tibbit, rogue 4/warblade 2/marshal 1/life eater 10/uncanny trickster 3

1 rogue1- darkstalker, dodge
2 rogue2- weapon finesse
3 rogue3- knowledge devotion
4 rogue4- combat expertise
5 warblade1-
6 life eater1- skill focus (diplomacy)
7 life eater2-
8 marshal1- underfoot combat
9 life eater3- confound the big folk
10 life eater4-
11 life eater5-
12 life eater6- undead empathy
13 life eater7-
14 life eater8-
15 life eater9- wanderer’s diplomacy
16 life eater10-
17 warblade2-
18 uncanny trickster1- craven
19 uncanny trickster2-
20 uncanny trickster3-

maneuvers/stances
1- Sudden leap, sapphire nightmare blade, stance of clarity^stance
2- Rabid wolf strike
5- Dancing mongoose
6- Moment of alacrity
7- Hearing the air^stance, avalanche of blades

Marshal aura: motivate dexterity

POSS CHANGES: reshuffle later feats to take craven at 12 and bump undead empathy/wanderer’s diplomacy to 15/18

BUILD SNAPSHOTS
Rogue 4/Warblade 1:

During these lowest levels, Martin often prefers to remain in humanoid form for combat, as his cat form must enter the foe’s space in order to attack. As a feat rogue Martin does not have access to sneak attack yet, but he is still an agile fighter and can quickly reposition himself with sudden leap and apply bonus damage with Knowledge Devotion and his sapphire nightmare blade and rabid wolf strike maneuvers. Defensively his small size and high Dexterity, combined with Dodge and stance of clarity, allows him to remain alive.

Outside of combat, Martin possesses fantastic stealth (including a +21 hide bonus before items while in cat form) and decent social skills, as well as a wide smattering of knowledge skills. He is a capable infiltrator, able to use his cat form and Darkstalker to get into almost any location completely unseen.

Death’s ruin may seem like an odd ACF to take considering that Martin does not have sneak attack, but it will absolutely come in handy down the road.

Rogue 4/Warblade 1/Life Eater 4/Marshal 1:

In these first four levels of the secret ingredient, Martin completely comes into his own. Here Martin begins abandoning his humanoid form and remaining in cat form during combat. With Underfoot Combat and Confound the Big Folk, Martin can enter the space of a medium or larger foe while in cat form, receive a shield bonus from the foe whose space he is occupying, and have all of his attacks be considered as flat-footed. He can also make opposing attacks have a high likelihood of striking his opponent for the low cost of a -1 penalty to his attack rolls, and can even make trip attacks using a Dexterity check (further boosted by his marshal’s Motivate Dexterity aura), while his opponents are denied any bonus for their size.

These two feats are effective all on their own, but adding in Life Eater’s ability, they become quite a bit deadlier. With hide in plain sight, he can hide in his opponent’s shadow as he sneaks into their space, disappearing completely until he attacks in a flurry of claws and teeth. And while his damage is minimal, adding an injury poison and sneak attack to his three attacks helps keep him relevant in combat. He can also use chill touch as an alternative means of attacking for high-AC foes

Rogue 4/Warblade 1/Life Eater 9/Marshal 1:

At ECL 15, Martin has fully developed all of his main strategies. His sneak attack improves to +3d6, and each attack wounds his opponents and deals negative levels as well. He also gains some very nice spell-like abilities in enervation and destruction that allow him to attack from a distance without leaving his cat form.

Undead Empathy and Wanderer’s Diplomacy may seem like an odd departure from his attacking-focused feats, but they go a long way toward shoring up his single biggest vulnerability: the undead. With a decent Charisma, good skills and his Skill Focus feat, Martin is an excellent bluffer and passable diplomancer. These two feats work in tandem to let him make a bluff check as a standard action (with no penalty!) to temporarily influence the attitudes of mindless undead, leaving him capable of completely removing them from combat with a DC 25 bluff check.

Rogue 4/Warblade 2/Life Eater 10/Marshal 1/Uncanny Trickster 3:

Martin finishes out his last levels by focusing on his initiating. Bouncing back into warblade immediately gives him access to dancing mongoose, and he also picks up moment of alacrity and avalanche of blades as well. Dancing mongoose increases his attacks in a single round to 5 despite his moderate BAB, and when adding on sneak attack, craven, negative levels and wounding, that is significant, even against undead (who are immune to negative levels and poison but still take sneak damage thanks to Martin’s death’s ruin ACF). Against low-AC foes he can go further and use avalanche of blades for potentially even more attacks.

Moment of alacrity provides an interesting trick. Since Martin’s usual attacking sequence requires first sneaking into his opponent’s space, it means he typically does not start dealing damage until the second round of combat, and he has to watch out for enemies that attempt to leave the shared space. With moment of alacrity, Martin can delay until after all his opponents act, sneak into their space, use moment of alacrity to shuffle himself back up to the top of the initiative order, and then immediately attack on the next round with all his benefits.

Uncanny trickster offers a few excellent benefits here. In addition to advancing his warblade levels while also providing extra skill tricks and significantly improved skill points/selection, it also allows Martin to avoid multiclassing penalties and effectively provides an extra .5 initiator level (since it advances warblade but is not itself an initiating class, it effectively provides +3.5 IL in three levels), allowing Martin to just eke out IL 13 for 7th-level maneuvers. (If your DM does not allow this, it’s still superior to taking more levels of warblade due to the skills and avoidance of multiclassing penalties; the only thing that changes about the build is that Martin must choose a 6th-level or lower maneuver instead of avalanche of blades when swapping out sapphire nightmare blade.)

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I'm seriously considering judging, but before I do I need to ask how fair it is to make the story/fluff a significant part of the score. I was thinking of going as high as +1 in Originality for good fluff (no penalty for lacking fluff, you just don't get those points), and additionally waiving or reducing some penalties in Elegance if the fluff did a good enough job justifying them (this would be for dipping and such, not actually illegal stuff, naturally). Is that fair/reasonable, or am I letting my own preference for a good story have too big an influence on the score?

[pabelfly]

I'm seriously considering judging, but before I do I need to ask how fair it is to make the story/fluff a significant part of the score. I was thinking of going as high as +1 in Originality for good fluff (no penalty for lacking fluff, you just don't get those points), and additionally waiving or reducing some penalties in Elegance if the fluff did a good enough job justifying them (this would be for dipping and such, not actually illegal stuff, naturally). Is that fair/reasonable, or am I letting my own preference for a good story have too big an influence on the score?

Did judging on another thread, and reading up on how others have scored... yeah, I think it's quite fair to partially base your score on the story concept that a character brings with them.

[Darrin]

I'm seriously considering judging, but before I do I need to ask how fair it is to make the story/fluff a significant part of the score.

That is entirely at the discretion of the judge. Sometimes judges address story/fluff points in Originality, sometimes it shows up in Elegance. Judges actually have quite a bit of leeway in how they weight their scoring rubrics.

I can't really speak for other judges, but I can explain my own reasoning (even though nobody asked): Coming up with a backstory is one of the toughest parts of Iron Chef for me, so much so that it often prevents me from submitting something that works mechanically but I can't think of a decent backstory for it. Some chefs only submit a bare-bones backstory, some skip it entirely. I want to be fair to chefs have trouble with backstory or decide not to provide any.

So my reasoning: I will not penalize an entry for having a short/brief backstory, or for having no backstory at all. Skipping or skimping the backstory won't hurt you. What I use the backstory for is when I have two builds that are "tied" on points, but I feel that one build should be a little stronger than the other, then I will look into the backstory for reasons to elevate a score in a particular category. So I tend to use story/fluff for tiebreakers.

I was thinking of going as high as +1 in Originality for good fluff (no penalty for lacking fluff, you just don't get those points), and additionally waiving or reducing some penalties in Elegance if the fluff did a good enough job justifying them (this would be for dipping and such, not actually illegal stuff, naturally). Is that fair/reasonable, or am I letting my own preference for a good story have too big an influence on the score?

That sounds entirely fair and reasonable.

[DeTess]

I'm seriously considering judging, but before I do I need to ask how fair it is to make the story/fluff a significant part of the score. I was thinking of going as high as +1 in Originality for good fluff (no penalty for lacking fluff, you just don't get those points), and additionally waiving or reducing some penalties in Elegance if the fluff did a good enough job justifying them (this would be for dipping and such, not actually illegal stuff, naturally). Is that fair/reasonable, or am I letting my own preference for a good story have too big an influence on the score?

This sounds fair to me. When I judge I generally award up to 1 point for extremely flavorful builds. I'd personally be a bit careful of letting fluff buy off penalties, unless the penalty is fluff related. For example, I penalized a build in the past for taking an [exalted] feat in addition to several morally grey classes/feats/features (don't quite remember the details). A fluff aknowkedgement and explanation could have prevented that.

[Piggy Knowles]

It’s been a long time since I’ve last judged, but when I did, I always looked for builds that were thematic and flavorful and seemed like they’d be interesting as characters or NPCs, and rewarded them with decent scores accordingly. Sometimes that was represented in a well-written backstory, but sometimes it was present in the build itself. There have been plenty of entries over the years that managed to really capture who they were and what they were going for with minimal (and in some cases non-existent) backstories, and there have been just as many cases where a long or convoluted backstory only served to muddy the waters.

Basically, what I’m interested in is a clear idea of who the character is and what makes them interesting, and there are a lot of ways to get that across. Show me that, whether you do it through a backstory or little vignettes or epic poetry or just through a really flavorful and well-done build, and I’ll be happy. Don’t present that, and no amount of backstory will fix it for me.

[Heliomance]

Any updates on judging? We've come so far, it would be a real shame to have the contest die now, on the 99th thread!

[Empyreal Dragon]

Would I be able to judge? I have some thoughts, and since I just missed entry I'd love to participate somehow.

[Zaq]

I won’t have free time until December. But I will happily judge Round XCIX in December if no one else steps up to the plate before then.

Yes, I’m aware of how dumb that statement is.

[jdizzlean]

Would I be able to judge? I have some thoughts, and since I just missed entry I'd love to participate somehow.

please do!

[Piggy Knowles]

We've come so far, it would be a real shame to have the contest die now, on the 99th thread!

"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but with a whimper."

If no one is working on judging at all by the end of the week, I'll withdraw my entry and judge instead.