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    Titan in the Playground
     
    Heliomance's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Gender
    Female

    Default Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    A dimly-lit library. Rows of bookshelves line the walls, and as the camera slowly pans over them, we see that they are filled with gaming books. From the original brown-cover D&D manuals to the newest fifth edition supplements, we are given a brief but breathtaking history of over four decades of gaming in visual form.

    A pair of feet, clad in Converse, appear. The camera pans back to reveal the Chairwoman as she strides out into Optimization Stadium. Slowly, she looks around at the battleground. Rapidly, we are shown shots of the gaming materials here assembled: books, miniatures, maps, dice. The Chairwoman reaches down and picks up a twenty-sided die. She rolls it, then turns to the camera... and smiles.

    The camera pulls back from the smile to reveal... the Iron Gamers. Row upon row they stand, clad in the uniform of their trade: t-shirts with fantasy images, buttons with obscure quotes from novels and movies, dice bags at the ready. The shot dissolves into flames and the logo:


    Iron Gamer

    A montage of the contestants plays, with summaries of their optimization triumphs and achievements. Interspersed are brief interviews. Finally, though, the introductions are over. The contestants stand arrayed before the Chairwoman.

    Chairwoman: We unveil the ingredient!

    Tense music plays as the pedestal containing the mystery ingredient rises from below. Stacked neatly on the pedestal are copies of the Perilous Gateways web enhancement.

    Chairwoman: This month's theme is... Life Eater! ALLEZ OPTIMISER!

    -----------------------------------------------------------------

    Welcome, contestants, judges, and guests to Iron Chef LXXXIV. Here in Optimisation Colosseum, contestants will endeavour to create an optimised and flavourful character using a specified D&D3.5 prestige class as a "Secret Ingredient".

    Contestants: You will need to present a full 20-level build for your entry. Also required is a rundown of how your build works at lower levels, to demonstrate that it is a functional character that could be played from 1-20 in a real game. Traditionally contestants give "snapshots" of tactics and abilities at levels 5, 10, 15, and 20, as well as a "sweet spot" of their choosing that represents what they believe to be the high point of the build. The purpose of these snapshots is not just to showcase your use of the SI, it is to demonstrate that your character is playable at every level. For this reason, it's still worth giving a snapshot before you have entered the SI.

    Menu: The "special ingredient" can be drawn from any legal source. Originally, the plan was to mostly use Core and Completes, but that was a long time ago, and we've started running out of interesting classes to use if we restrict ourselves to those.
    32 point-buy is the presumed creation method, but we have generally allowed other levels of point-buy.
    If you do use a different point-buy, please make your case for its necessity in your entry. Keep in mind that for using exceptionally large or small point-buys may warrant deductions in elegance and/or power.

    Kitchen: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Elegance below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt or Generic Classes are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Also, item familiars are forbidden because I hate 'em. Please refrain from using Taint unless it's necessary for the Secret Ingredient.
    NB: Official Errata and 3.5 updates to 3.0 content are considered valid regardless of whether their sources would otherwise be legal. This includes the 3.5 update of Oriental Adventures given in Dragon Magazine, and the 3.5 updates of Dragonlance Campaign Setting content given in later third party Dragonlance books.

    Cooking Time: Contestants will have until 07:59 GMT on Tuesday, June 25th, 2019 to create their builds and PM them to the Chairwoman, Heliomance. Please put the name of your build in the subject line of your PM. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 07:59 GMT on Tuesday, July 9th, 2019 to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted.

    Judging: Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated on a scale from 1 (very poor) to 5 (exemplary) in each area: Originality, Power, Elegance, Use of Secret Ingredient.
    Power level is up to you. Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered. In the words of one of my predecessors, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.
    Elegance could bear a little elaboration. It basically measures how skillfully you put your build together, and whether you sacrificed flavor for power. We're cooking here - if your dish doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter how well-presented it is. Use of flaws is considered in poor taste, and judges are asked to take a dim view of this option, taking it into account while grading. Other things that will cause penalties here are excessive multi-classing, and classes that don't fit the concept - using Cloistered Cleric in a front-line melee fighter, for example, will lose you points.Please note the following change: a legal source's relative obscurity should not be considered as penalizing Elegance, excepting the aforementioned issues with Unearthed Arcana. Using too many sources may result in a penalty to Elegance at the judges' discretion, but a book's relative obscurity may not. In that same vein, drawing solely from the Core 3 (and the d20 SRD) should not be punished for lacking Originality.
    Presentation: Builds will be posted anonymously, in order to avoid the potential of bias towards a particular competitor. For this reason, please don't put your name in the build, as I'm likely to miss it when reviewing the entries!
    Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry.
    Spoiler
    Show
    NAME OF ENTRY
    Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
    1st New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    2nd New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    3rd New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    4th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    5th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    6th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    7th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    8th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    9th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    10th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    11th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    12th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    13th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    14th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    15th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    16th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    17th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    18th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    19th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities
    20th New Class Level +x +x +x +x Skills Feats New Class Abilities

    Code immediately below (spoiler).
    Spoiler
    Show
    [table="class: head alt1 alt2"]
    [tr]
    [th][B]Level[/B][/th]
    [th][B]Class[/B][/th]
    [th][B]Base Attack Bonus[/B][/th]
    [th][B]Fort Save[/B][/th]
    [th][B]Ref Save[/B][/th]
    [th][B]Will Save[/B][/th]
    [th][B]Skills[/B][/th]
    [th][B]Feats[/B][/th]
    [th][B]Class Features[/B][/th]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]1st[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]2nd[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]3rd[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]4th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]5th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]6th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]7th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]8th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]9th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]10th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]11th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]12th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]13th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]14th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]15th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]16th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]17th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]18th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]19th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]20th[/td]
    [td]New Class Level[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]+x[/td]
    [td]Skills[/td]
    [td]Feats[/td]
    [td]New Class Abilities[/td]
    [/tr]
    [/table]

    For entries with spellcasting, use the following table for Spells per day and Spells Known. (Spells Known only if necessary, i.e. Sorcerer or Bard, but not Wizard or Warmage)
    Spoiler
    Show
    Spells per Day/Spells Known
    Spells per Day/Spells Known
    Level 0lvl 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
    1st - - - - - - - - - -
    2nd - - - - - - - - - -
    3rd - - - - - - - - - -
    4th - - - - - - - - - -
    5th - - - - - - - - - -
    6th - - - - - - - - - -
    7th - - - - - - - - - -
    8th - - - - - - - - - -
    9th - - - - - - - - - -
    10th - - - - - - - - - -
    11th - - - - - - - - - -
    12th - - - - - - - - - -
    13th - - - - - - - - - -
    14th - - - - - - - - - -
    15th - - - - - - - - - -
    16th - - - - - - - - - -
    17th - - - - - - - - - -
    18th - - - - - - - - - -
    19th - - - - - - - - - -
    20th - - - - - - - - - -
    Code immediately below (spoiler)
    Spoiler
    Show
    [B]Spells per Day/Spells Known[/B]
    [B]Spells per Day/Spells Known[/B]
    [table="class:head alt1 alt2"]
    [tr]
    [th][B]Level[/B][/th]
    [th][B]0lvl[/B][/th]
    [th][B]1st[/B][/th]
    [th][B]2nd[/B][/th]
    [th][B]3rd[/B][/th]
    [th][B]4th[/B][/th]
    [th][B]5th[/B][/th]
    [th][B]6th[/B][/th]
    [th][B]7th[/B][/th]
    [th][B]8th[/B][/th]
    [th][B]9th[/B][/th]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]1st[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]2nd[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]3rd[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]4th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]5th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]6th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]7th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]8th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]9th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]10th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]11th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]12th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]13th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]14th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]15th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]16th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]17th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]18th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]19th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [tr]
    [td]20th[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [td]-[/td]
    [/tr]
    [/table]

    For other systems (Psionics, ToB, Incarnum, etc.) keep track of PP/maneuvers/essentia separately, preferably in a nice neat list.
    Speculation: Please don't post or speculate on possible builds until the "reveal," in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines.

    Leadership is banned; we're producing a meal, not a seven-course banquet for a hundred diners. If your entry includes a prestige class or ACF that grants Leadership or a Leadership-like ability as a bonus feat, the feat should be ignored and is not eligible to be traded away for another feat or ACF through any means.

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

    We will award 1st through 3rd places, as well as a shout-out for honourable mention. The honourable mention prize is given to the most daring or unexpected build. Judges, contestants and guests alike are invited to vote for honourable mention via PM. If there are no votes, Honourable Mention will go to the chairwoman's favourite build.

    The Builds

    Past Competitions

    Courtesy of some wonderful volunteers, there is a handy-dandy spreadsheet guide to all previous builds here.

    Spoiler: The First Fifty
    Show
    Iron Chef I: Entropomancer
    Iron Chef II: Psibond Agent
    Iron Chef III: Cancer Mage
    Iron Chef IV: Stonelord
    Iron Chef V: War Chanter
    Iron Chef VI: Master of Masks
    Iron Chef VII: Green Star Adept
    Iron Chef VIII: Pyrokineticist
    Iron Chef IX: Animal Lord
    Iron Chef X: Mythic Exemplar
    Iron Chef XI: Blade Bravo
    Iron Chef XII: War Mind
    Iron Chef XIII: Vigilante
    Iron Chef XIV: Seeker of the Song
    Iron Chef XV: Drunken Master
    Iron Chef XVI: Assassin
    Iron Chef XVII: Ardent Dilettante
    Iron Chef XVIII: Unseelie Dark Hunter
    Iron Chef XIX: Dread Pirate
    Iron Chef XX: Incandescent Champion
    Iron Chef XXI: Ghostwalker
    Iron Chef XXII: Dervish
    Iron Chef XXIII: Divine Crusader
    Iron Chef XXIV: Tactical Soldier
    Iron Chef XXV: Scion of Tem-Et-Nu
    Iron Chef XXVI: Shadowdancer
    Iron Chef XXVII: Mindbender
    Iron Chef XXVIII: Cryokineticist
    Iron Chef XXIX: Consecrated Harrier
    Iron Chef XXX: Initiate of Pistis Sophia
    Iron Chef XXXI: Shadow Sentinel
    Iron Chef XXXII: Temple Raider of Olidammara
    Iron Chef XXXIII: Drow Judicator
    Iron Chef XXXIV: Dragon Disciple
    Iron Chef XXXV: Death Delver
    Iron Chef XXXVI: Acolyte of the Skin
    Iron Chef XXXVII: Justiciar
    Iron Chef XXXVIII: Hand of the Winged Master
    Iron Chef XXXIX: Renegade Mastermaker
    Iron Chef XL: Nightsong Infiltrator
    Iron Chef XLI: Geomancer
    Iron Chef XLII: Shadowblade
    Iron Chef XLIII: Bladesinger
    Iron Chef XLIV: Urban Soul
    Iron Chef XLV: Talon of Tiamat
    Iron Chef XLVI: Cipher Adept
    Iron Chef XLVII: Cold Iron Warrior
    Iron Chef XLVIII: Shadow Sun Ninja
    Iron Chef XLIX: Thrall to Orcus
    Iron Chef L: Corrupt Avenger

    Iron Chef LI: Black Flame Zealot
    Iron Chef LII: Anointed Knight
    Iron Chef LIII: Zerth Cenobite
    Iron Chef LIV: Osteomancer
    Iron Chef LV: Mountebank
    Iron Chef LVI: Dwarven Defender
    Iron Chef LVII: Darkrunner
    Iron Chef LVIII: Spellsword
    Iron Chef LIX: Fleet Runner of Ehlonna
    Iron Chef LX: Lasher
    Iron Chef LX(II): Acolyte of the Ego
    Iron Chef LXII: Dungeon Lord
    Iron Chef LXIII: Witchborn Binder
    Iron Chef LXIV: Slime Lord
    Iron Chef LXV: Thunder Guide
    Iron Chef LXVI: Dwarven Chanter
    Irogn Chef LXVII: Gnome Giant Slayer
    Iron Chef LXVIII: Fang of Lolth
    Iron Chef LXIX: Shiba Protector
    Iron Chef LXX: Order of the Bow Initiate
    Iron Chef LXXI: Silver Key
    Iron Chef LXXII: Spellfire Channeler
    Iron Chef LXXIII: Flux Adept
    Iron Chef LXXIV: Crinti Shadow Marauder
    Iron Chef LXXV: Thief of Life
    Iron Chef LXXVI: Legacy Champion
    Iron Chef LXXVII: Great Rift Skyguard
    Iron Chef LXVIII: Risen Martyr
    Iron Chef LXXIX: Black Blood Hunter
    Iron Chef LXXX: Master of Many Forms
    Iron Chef LXXXI: Serene Guardian
    Iron Chef LXXXII: Elocator
    Iron Chef LXXXIII: Winterhaunt of Iboorighu
    Iron Chef LXXXIV: Waverider
    Iron Chef LXXXV: Astral Dancer
    Iron Chef LXXXVI: Twisted Lord
    Iron Chef LXXXVII: Shadowsmith
    Iron Chef LXXXVIII: Arboreal Guardian
    Iron Chef LXXXIX: Thrall of Demogorgon
    Iron Chef XC: Bloodstorm Blade
    Iron Chef XCI: Fatemaker
    Iron Chef XCII: Eye of the Xanathar
    Iron Chef XCIII: Hoardstealer
    Iron Chef XCIV: Doomlord
    Iron Chef XCV: Gnomish Artificer
    Iron Chef XCVI: Oozemaster
    Iron Chef XCVII: Aerial Avenger
    Iron Chef XCVIII: Visionary Seeker
    Last edited by Heliomance; 2019-06-10 at 10:59 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kalirren View Post
    The only person in the past two pages who has known what (s)he has been talking about is Heliomance.
    Quote Originally Posted by golentan View Post
    I just don't want to have long romantic conversations or any sort of drama with my computer, okay? It knows what kind of porn I watch. I don't want to mess that up by allowing it to judge any of my choices in romance.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    FAQ:
    Q: What's this even about?
    A: I'm glad you asked, actually...

    Q: Is Dragon Compendium Allowed?
    A: Yes (as well as its Errata), but individual issues of Dragon Magazine are not.

    Q: What about 3.0 materials?
    A: 3.0 materials, whether online or in printed form, are allowed unless they've been officially updated to a 3.5 edition.

    Q: Are Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, or Kingdoms of Kalamar allowable sources?
    A: The Dragonlance Campaign Setting is allowed, but the subsequent books for Dragonlance are considered 3rd party, and are therefore not eligible, despite the "WotC approved" status of those books. The same holds for Oriental Adventures (1st party) and the subsequent Rokugan books (3rd party). Materials from Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, and Kingdoms of Kalamar are considered 3rd party for purposes of this contest, and are therefore not allowed.

    Q: What about online sources in general?
    A: If the online source is a) published by WotC, and b) not replaced by an updated version at a later time, it is eligible. Use it, link it.

    Q: Where's the line drawn with "acceptable/unacceptable" for Unearthed Arcana? This will likely vary a bit from Chairman to Chairman. Item Familiars and Gestalt have always been verboten, since before IC migrated to GitP; don't expect that to change. Flaws have similarly always been noted as warranting a deduction; while I am Chairman, I'm extending that to Traits, though they warrant 1/2 the penalty in Elegance that a Flaw would because they're roughly 1/2 as useful. Alternate spell systems, alternate skill systems and alternate crafting rules all create an uneven playing field, and as such, will be disallowed for as long as I am Chairman. In a similar vein, LA buyoff and fractional BAB are also disallowed. Bloodlines and the Retraining options presented in the PHB2 are ripe for abuse, and will be strongly discouraged as long as I am Chairman. Note that judges are allowed to look askance at any use of Unearthed Arcana not specifically mentioned above, at their discretion, and otherwise penalize Elegance according to their preference.

    Q: What, exactly, does the ban on Leadership mean?
    A: As folks have started to try to work around the edges of this one, I'm forced to spell it out more plainly. No Leadership, Draconic Cohort, or Feats that grant a similar ability are allowed EXCEPT Wild Cohort while Heliomance is chairman. Any PrC you choose with Leadership or a Leadership-analog has that ability entirely ignored for this contest, as it may neither be used nor traded away via any means whatsoever.

    Q: What's the minimum score in a category?
    A: Assuming an entry is legal, the minimum score in any category is 1. If a judge is convinced that an entry is mechanically illegal by the RAW, the judge may give the build a score of 0 in Elegance, and proceed to judge the entry as if the offending material was not included. Failing to meet a special requirement for a prestige class does not merit a 0, but may qualify for a penalty, at the judge's discretion. Because this contest focuses on Player Characters, an entry that is not technically allowed for a PC, but is viable as an NPC, counts as a legal entry, but may receive a minimum score at the judges' discretion.

    Q: Creatures and templates with no listed LA are playable, right?
    A: No. No listed LA is equivalent to LA: -. It is not suitable for PCs. If you use it, expect judges to look extremely disfavourably on it.

    Q: So what's the deal with equipment, anyway?
    A: There is no official policy on how much equipment you should list. Historically, judges have frowned upon "item dependent" builds, but unfortunately the definition of that has been applied to mean anything from builds that don't function if you remove one very specific item, to builds that so much as mention a particular weapon. Builds that don't list gear should be assumed to buy useful generics - items to boost their primary stats, cloaks of resistance, appropriate magical weapons and armour, and so forth. If a build would find particular items useful, they should be listed, but experience suggests that the more generic you keep them, the more favourably judges are likely to look upon them, as a build being shut down because the Thundering Bagpipes of Urist McTrumpetbritches were unavailable is considered a weakness. Similarly, requiring items in order to be able to qualify for things tends to be frowned upon.

    Q: Do you have any other rules and guidelines on how to judge?
    A: We do, actually, designed to try and avoid unpleasantness we've encountered in past contests. The things we've come up with to avoid repeating this are given below.

    Spoiler
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    One Mistake, One Penalty
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    Judges are only allowed to penalise once for a given mistake. If someone messes up their skills and doesn't qualify for a PrC, ding them as hard as you like. Once. In one category. You don't then get to declare that because they didn't qualify for that PrC, they don't get those levels, and thus don't qualify for anything else. If Ranger is a common ingredient, ding them for Originality. Once. Don't also take off points for Two-Weapon-Fighting being a common ingredient.

    Non-exhaustive list of examples:

    Skills
    Allowed:
    • Giving a penalty for miscalculating the number of skill points gained
    • Giving a penalty for not having enough ranks to meet a prerequisite
    • Increasing the harshness of a skill miscalculation penalty if it affects critical skills including prereqs


    Not allowed:
    • Giving separate penalties for miscalculating skill points and for non-qualification where the non-qualification is solely caused by the miscalculation

    Prereqs
    Allowed:
    • Giving a penalty for not meeting prereqs
    • Scaling the penalty depending on how important the item that the build failed to qualify for is
    • Giving minimum score in UotSI for not qualifying for the SI
    • Not giving credit for (note: not the same as penalising for) tactics using feats or classes other than the SI that were not qualified for (but see below)


    Not Allowed:
    • "Cascading" failures to qualify - declaring that because a build doesn't qualify for a feat, for example, it also doesn't qualify for anything using that feat as a prereq
    • Treating a build as having fewer levels than it does because of FtQ for classes


    Other general things that are no longer allowed:
    • Penalising because someone has chosen to build a tribute to an existing creative work
    • Deciding that a backstory has not met a fluff prerequisite well enough, or because its method of meeting it is "unrealistic". You may penalise if a fluff prereq is not addressed at all, but not for how well it is addressed.


    Note that these are protections, not licenses. Deliberately taking a feat that you know you don't qualify for hoping to just suck up the judging penalty for a feat that you couldn't normally take is not okay, and may lead to your build being disqualified.


    Q: Do you have any contest house rules or clarifications to ambiguous rules?
    A: Some that have come up in previous contests and needed answers to:
    • All creatures are proficient with any natural weapons they may have or acquire.
    • Bonus feats that are granted even if you do not meet the prerequisites do not require you to meet the prerequisites in order to use.
    • Able Learner's benefit applies to the level you take it.


    Q: Can I submit more than one entry?
    A: You may submit up to two entries into a given competition.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kalirren View Post
    The only person in the past two pages who has known what (s)he has been talking about is Heliomance.
    Quote Originally Posted by golentan View Post
    I just don't want to have long romantic conversations or any sort of drama with my computer, okay? It knows what kind of porn I watch. I don't want to mess that up by allowing it to judge any of my choices in romance.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Mythic Exemplar, huh. Two caster rounds in a row. Feels odd.

    Life Eater, whuzzat? Ne'er heard of it.
    Last edited by MisterKaws; 2019-06-10 at 10:07 AM.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Reading through the class, I'm left with a couple of questions. First of all, I've encountered the chill touch spells in a number of discussion focussed on how many creatures you can touch with it, and when these touches are made (it seems some people claim you can touch as many people as the spell allows the moment you cast it, others state that they're delivered through touch attacks as part of your normal attacks). Second of all, what's the save-DC for fatiguing touch?
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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Mythic Exemplar has already been done. Was that intentional?

    Iron Chef Medals
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    Sir 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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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Quote Originally Posted by WhamBamSam View Post
    Mythic Exemplar has already been done. Was that intentional?
    Hmm, that's true. It's round X.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Quote Originally Posted by WhamBamSam View Post
    Mythic Exemplar has already been done. Was that intentional?
    That was not intentional, I had not noticed. It was on my list of ingredients to use, I didn't check the back catalogue!

    Right, Life Eater it is then!
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kalirren View Post
    The only person in the past two pages who has known what (s)he has been talking about is Heliomance.
    Quote Originally Posted by golentan View Post
    I just don't want to have long romantic conversations or any sort of drama with my computer, okay? It knows what kind of porn I watch. I don't want to mess that up by allowing it to judge any of my choices in romance.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Cool. I've wanted Life Eater for a while.

    Iron Chef Medals
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    Sir 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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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Quote Originally Posted by Heliomance View Post
    That was not intentional, I had not noticed. It was on my list of ingredients to use, I didn't check the back catalogue!

    Right, Life Eater it is then!
    Can I undo my edit? ¬_¬

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Quote Originally Posted by MisterKaws View Post
    Can I undo my edit? ¬_¬
    Feel free :P
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kalirren View Post
    The only person in the past two pages who has known what (s)he has been talking about is Heliomance.
    Quote Originally Posted by golentan View Post
    I just don't want to have long romantic conversations or any sort of drama with my computer, okay? It knows what kind of porn I watch. I don't want to mess that up by allowing it to judge any of my choices in romance.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Quote Originally Posted by Heliomance View Post
    Feel free :P
    I don't remember what I posted.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    ICO Spreadsheet updated with placeholder for this cook.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    I certainly feel like Iron Chef eats my life now and again. In a good way. Usually.

    Weird ingredient. Really not sure how they picked those prereqs. Moderately interesting abilities, I guess? I’m going to need to think about it for a while. Not that I’m THAT likely to have time to enter, since I’m moving within the next few weeks.
    In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was Suck: A Guide to Truenamers

    Quote Originally Posted by Doc Roc View Post
    Gentlefolk, learn from Zaq's example, and his suffering. Remember, seven out of eleven players who use truenamer lose their ability to taste ice cream.
    My compiled Iron Chef stuff!

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Ooh! I had a build stub for this a fair while back...if I can dig it up, I might enter.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Deeply frustrating, but with just enough unique bits that I'm tempted. I hope I have the time to cook for this one.
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    Quote Originally Posted by willpell View Post
    Only playing Tier 1s is like only eating in five-star restaurants [...] sometimes I just want a cheeseburger and some frogurt. Why limit yourself?
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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Incidentally, with only minor abuse of the rules of Roman numerals, this is IC Challenge IC
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kalirren View Post
    The only person in the past two pages who has known what (s)he has been talking about is Heliomance.
    Quote Originally Posted by golentan View Post
    I just don't want to have long romantic conversations or any sort of drama with my computer, okay? It knows what kind of porn I watch. I don't want to mess that up by allowing it to judge any of my choices in romance.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    btw, since we're back to the life-eater, could the chair weigh in on the questions I asked about that class?
    Last edited by DeTess; 2019-06-11 at 06:25 AM.
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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    what a weird class. i'm in to cook.
    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!

    Quote Originally Posted by weckar View Post
    Venger, can you be my full-time memory aid please?
    Iron Chef Medals!
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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    I actually was planning on playing something similar to this class in a campaign that only lasted like 3 sessions. If I had known that this existed I would have used it. I want to cook but do not know if I will have time, pulling 50 to 70 hours a week rest of the month.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Just realized the PrC grants all good saves. I can't remember the last time I saw that for a class not made for monks.
    Kolyarut Avatar by Potatocubed.
    Quote Originally Posted by willpell View Post
    Only playing Tier 1s is like only eating in five-star restaurants [...] sometimes I just want a cheeseburger and some frogurt. Why limit yourself?
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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    definitely down for this one.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nifft View Post
    More sources, more choices, more power. Welcome to D&D.
    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee
    I mean, I have been assuming Jdizzlean looks like Nathan Fillion this whole time to start with...
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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Did this one get an extension? The 25th of june has passed a while ago now...
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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Quote Originally Posted by DeTess View Post
    Did this one get an extension? The 25th of june has passed a while ago now...
    If you want to enter something, as long as it's in before the reveal, it's fair game. Best of luck to you.
    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!

    Quote Originally Posted by weckar View Post
    Venger, can you be my full-time memory aid please?
    Iron Chef Medals!
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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    is everything ok helio?

    we're at almost 3 weeks past the deadline
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nifft View Post
    More sources, more choices, more power. Welcome to D&D.
    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee
    I mean, I have been assuming Jdizzlean looks like Nathan Fillion this whole time to start with...
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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Yikes, I did not mean to leave it that long, sorry! I am OK, executive dysfunction is a bitch. Let's have some entries, shall we?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kalirren View Post
    The only person in the past two pages who has known what (s)he has been talking about is Heliomance.
    Quote Originally Posted by golentan View Post
    I just don't want to have long romantic conversations or any sort of drama with my computer, okay? It knows what kind of porn I watch. I don't want to mess that up by allowing it to judge any of my choices in romance.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Entry number 1!

    Quote Originally Posted by Hunger
    Hunger Dragonborn Warforged (wings) CN -> CE
    Crusader 1/Barbarian 1/Totemist 6/Binder 1/Swordsage 1/Life Eater 10

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    Number 493809 remembered just before a great battle. Fresh from the forge the masters knew something was not right. Too free spirited they said. Too flighty. They stuck it on the front lines, seeing as how if it was a defect at least it would be eliminated quickly, and if it proved competent so much the better. It remembered the war horns, the tide of bodies of too many models and species to count surging up the hill towards his position. It remembered just before they met, a great tearing sound from its side. It turned to look into a vast hole which seemed to lead to nothingness which stretched on forever. Barely had it time to process when it felt a thump from its blind side. Something hit it, hard, and it felt itself deactivating as it was thrown into the blackness. It remembers a snapping sound as the field of battle disappeared and the hole to nothing seemed to close. Then it shut down.
    Time passed. Number 493809 knew not how long. It was not aware, though it feels like it was a long while. It hears a commanding sibilant voice ordering it to wake. It tries but though it is now aware it cannot see, it is inside something. With a surge of energy it bursts from what it was encased in. Something akin to a pod, but with liquid. Its plating is gone. Something grows from its shoulders, being constantly assembled as it walks around. It sees a great reptilian face, like a tarnished but some luminescent piece of silver. It feels a command “Live, learn, and tell your story.”
    It remembers falling. Far, far away. It lands softly in a verdant glade. Renewed with vigor to champion the cause of its savior, it wanders a short distance. A small town in the forest. No walls, no trenches, no defenses to speak of. Curious it investigates. A being with pointed ears shrieks in an odd tongue, runs away. Number 493809 tries to speak to tell its story. The thing does not know its words and does not stop. A bigger pointed ear thing, armed with a blade comes out shortly to stop its advance into the town. The thing says something in that odd tongue, then another one. Number 493809 speaks in each of its three tongues. Its normal words fall on deaf ears. It tries the dialect of the giants that made the ramparts it marched out it, and the thing seems alarmed.
    Finally it tries a third tongue, one its savior gave to it. Recognition crosses the face of the thing. It knew that one. Other point eared things gather, the one with the blade standing between Number 493809 and the rest. It tries to advance, speaking in its given tongue, the smaller point ears are scared. They scream and scatter. The big one forces it back, and haltingly says in the third tongue that abominations are not welcome here, or anywhere. The big point ear with the blade advances to attack, and Number 493809 is forced away.
    For some time Number 493809 wandered. Not many seemed to speak the third tongue nor the second, and none spoke the first. The ones who spoke third and second repeated what the big pointed eared one said with minor variation. It became bitter. It left its mission. What kind of creator would give a mission that it could not complete? It decided to leave the populated places and head to the wilds. No one to talk to there.
    It encountered savage wildlife and it learned to be savage to fight back. It found joy in that. Especially in those weaker than it, which it would slaughter easily, and merrily. Those stronger than it it ran from. It learned their ways, and tapped into their strength. It did not know when it started to consume them, only to stop shortly after. It did not gain their strength that way, but it felt right. Even if it had to remove parts of them from its core later.
    It wandered longer, growing, adapting, learning. It killed an old round ear drawing pictures on a moonless night in the dirt. The round ear was weaker than him and deserved to die. It found a book written in the tongue gifted to him by his worthless master, detailing multitudes of pictographs and entities from beyond space and time who granted power to those who knew their secrets. Number 493809 studied this book, and finished what the old round ear had started.
    It felt a new alien power inside, different from any it had known before. It also caused more new parts to assemble from its head, similar to how the parts that had assembled from its shoulders came to be. It was a master now, and it liked that. It merged what it knew and what it had learned into a new fighting method, and it continued to journey. A master needed subjects after all.
    After some time, it came across a babbling round ear. The round ear was weak enough to not even warrant killing, but that round ear was consuming another body and was impressed by his new head assembly. The round ear spoke in the second tongue to it and mentioned the prophecy of Baphomet and how a great horned one would one day slaughter and feast on all in orgiastic glee. Curious, it let this round ear live, and it was taken to a secret temple of Baphomet.

    Number 493809 had found what he was missing. It learned, and it consumed what it could, but it always wanted more. It became its defining feature, and it renamed itself. Hunger. Hunger was never satisfied, there too much to destroy, too much to consume. Luckily it had all the time in the world. After many years and countless round ears and pointed ears, Hunger finally could totally consume its prey, body and soul. It smiled, for its real work had just begun.






    Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
    1st Crusader 1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Balance +4, Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +4, Knowledge: Religion +4, Tumble +4 Hidden Talent: Psionic Minor Creation Furious Counterstrike, Steely Resolve 5, Maneuvers, skilled city dweller
    2nd barbarian 1 +2 +4 +0 +0 Balance +4, Bluff .5, Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +5, Hide .5 , Knowledge: Religion +4, Move Silently .5, Tumble +5 Feats Spirit Lion Totem (pounce), Whirling Frenzy, skilled city dweller
    3rd Totemist 1 +2 +6 +2 +0 Balance +4, Bluff +1 , Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +5, Hide +1, Knowledge: Religion +4.5, Move Silently +1, Tumble +6 Midnight Dodge Meldshaping, Wild Empathy, Skilled city dweller
    4th Totemist 2 +3 +7 +3 +0 Balance +4, Bluff +1.5 , Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +5, Hide +1.5, Knowledge: Religion +5, Move Silently +1.5, Tumble +7 Totem Chakra Bind (+1 capacity)
    5th Totemist 3 +4 +7 +3 +1 Balance +4, Bluff +2 , Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +5, Hide +2, Knowledge: Religion +5.5, Move Silently +2, Tumble +8 Totem’s Protection
    6th Totemist 4 +5 +8 +4 +1 Balance +4, Bluff +2.5 , Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +5, Hide +2.5, Knowledge: Religion +6,[b] Move Silently +2.5, Tumble +9 Multiattack
    7th Totemist 5 +5 +8 +4 +1 Balance +4, Bluff +3 , Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +5, Hide +3, Knowledge: Religion +6.5,[b] Move Silently +3, Tumble +10 Chakra Binds (crown, feet, hands)
    8th Totemist 6 +6 +9 +5 +2 Balance +4, Bluff +4.5 , Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +5, Hide +3, Knowledge: Religion +7, Move Silently +3,[b] Tumble +11 Totem Chakra Bind (+1 meldshaper level)
    9th Binder 1 +6 +11 +5 +4 Balance +4, Bluff +4.5, Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +7, Hide +3, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +3, Tumble +11 Improved Binding Soul Binding
    10th Swordsage 1 +6 +11 +7 +6 Balance +4, Bluff +5, Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +7, Hide +6, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +5, Tumble +12 Weapon Focus (Tiger Claw), improved unarmed Strike (B) Discipline Focus (Tiger Claw), Quick to act +1, maneuvers
    11th Life Eater 1 +6 +13 +9 +8 Balance +5, Bluff +5, Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +11, Hide +8, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +5, Tumble +12 Deathwatch, Poison Use
    12th Life Eater 2 +7 +14 +10 +9 Balance +5, Bluff +5, Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Intimidate +12, Hide +12, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +5, Tumble +12 Never Outnumbered Mindsight Sneak Attack +1d6, Death Knell
    13th Life Eater 3 +8 +14 +10 +9 Balance +5, Bluff +5, Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Escape Artist +2 , Intimidate +13, Hide +13, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +5, Tumble +16, Never Outnumbered Chill Touch
    14th Life Eater 4 +9 +15 +11 +10 Balance +5, Bluff +5, Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Escape Artist +6 , Intimidate +14, Hide +14, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +5, Tumble +17, Never Outnumbered Hide in Plain Sight
    15th Life Eater 5 +9 +15 +11 +10 Balance +5, Bluff +5, Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Escape Artist +10 , Intimidate +15, Hide +15, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +5, Tumble +18, Never Outnumbered Expel Vestige Sneak Attack +2d6, Wounding Sneak attack
    16th Life Eater 6 +10 +16 +12 +11 Balance +5, Bluff +5, Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Escape Artist +14 , Intimidate +16, Hide +16, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +5, Tumble +19, Never Outnumbered Fatiguing touch
    17th Life Eater 7 +11 +16 +12 +11 Balance +5, Bluff +5, Craft: Armorsmithing +4, Escape Artist +16 , Intimidate +17, Hide +17, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +5, Tumble +20, Never Outnumbered, Back on your Feet Enervation
    18th Life Eater 8 +12 +17 +13 +12 Balance +5, Bluff +5, Craft: Armorsmithing +5, Escape Artist +17 , Intimidate +18, Hide +18, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +5, Tumble +21, Never Outnumbered, Back on your Feet, Twisted Charge Darkstalker or Open Sneak Attack +3d6, draining sneak attack,
    19th Life Eater 9 +12 +17 +13 +12 Balance +5, Bluff +5, Craft: Armorsmithing +6, Escape Artist +18 , Intimidate +19, Hide +19, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +5, Tumble +22, Never Outnumbered, Back on your Feet, Twisted Charge, Nimble Stand Destruction
    20th Life Eater 10 +13 +18 +14 +13 ] Balance +5, Bluff +5, Craft: Armorsmithing +7, Escape Artist +19 , Intimidate +20, Hide +20, Knowledge: Religion +8, Move Silently +5, Tumble +23, Never Outnumbered, Back on your Feet, Twisted Charge, Nimble Stand, Nimble Charge Feed


    Maneuvers:
    Spoiler
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    Lvl 1: crusader’s strike, leading the attack, stone bones, douse the flames, charging minotaur
    Lvl10: Shadow Garrote, Shadow Jaunt, Cloak of Deception, Mountain Hammer, Distracting Ember, Burning Brand

    Stances:
    Lvl 1: Martial Spirit
    Lvl10: Assassin’s stance

    Incarnum Stuff
    Spoiler
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    Essentia: 5
    Chakra Binds: 2
    Soulmelds: 4

    Girallon Arms Bound to totem Chakra, Shaped to Arm
    Shedu Crown bound to the Crown
    Dragon Tail Shaped until level 8, then usually Blink Shirt
    Dread Carapace for fear stack is okay, shaped on feet bound to totem for fear stack. If you know mooks are coming in droves.

    Binding
    Spoiler
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    Bound Vestige is Usually Amon, though Dahlver-nahl, Naberius, and Malphas are swapped in as needed, or your vestige of choice.

    Crunchy bits and lvl by lvl
    Spoiler
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    Dragonborn (wings) warforged is your base. CN -> CE
    Str 16 Dex 15 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 8 base
    Str 16 Dex 13 Con 18 Int 10 Wis 10 Cha 6 after racials. Increase strength at every level.
    Con is great, flight is great, especially since warforged are immune to fatigue so they come online drastically earlier, and you are amazingly resilient. Also, importantly, you are immune to poison. That will be a key novaing ability.
    Lvl1: You are a crusader for skills! Who knew?! It is one of the few classes that gets both knowledge religion and intimidate as class skills, and it has the benefit of having a decent amount of skill points from a solid list, and it is quite possibly the most survivable level 1 class. You heal on every attack with your stance, plus you have a healing strike, your delayed damage pool, d10 HD and pretty great con. You have basically every maneuver you can have, since you only have 6 total options, with two being pretty functionally identical. Of note here is psionic minor creation. In addition to normal utility to make what you want 1x a day, it can make a ton of poisons. Greensickness and black lotus extract are both plant based and qualify. Greensickness is a Fort DC 33 inhaled poison, with primary and secondary Damage of 2d6 str AND 1d4 con. It clears groups, kills or incapacitates anything that breaths it in and has a fort save of basically NOPE for most levels. That’s and average of 7 strength damage and 2 con damage instantly as long as your enemy is living and breathes. Black Lotus extract is contact DC 20 for 3d6 con primary and secondary, so only a touch attack for an average of 10 con damage. The save is much easier but its still a very potent option when needed. Otherwise you are a super tanky crusader. Heal yourself getting around most warforged limitations with your maneuver and stance, beat things with a quarterstaff or greatsword (quarterstaff is super budget) and you can go bonkers with poison when needed. Also you can take time to fix yourself for more healing with armorsmithing. Just take 20 in downtime.
    Lvl 2: You can pounce for 2 attacks in your frenzy now. Still hardy.
    Lvl 3: Will save is hurting but at least you got some soulmelds to alleviate it a bit and give you some minor utility or skill bonuses as needed.
    Lvl 4: Totem comes online, which means girallon arms. This is good.
    Lvl 5: You have pounce, whirling frenzy, your totem bind, and your three go to melds. Your totem is girallion arms from now until the end of time, you also shape dragon tail for the extra attack and Shedu crown for the bonus to will because your will save is trash. Most of your essential will be in the crown and likely midnight dodge, tail sometimes. Your to hit is not great because no multiattack until next level. However, you have a massive number of attacks and can still coat yourself in black lotus extract to make a bunch of touch attacks. Your frenzy routine is now +8 claw/+8 claw/+8 claw/+8 claw/+8 claw/+3 tail, or +8 weapon/+8 weapon/+3 claw/+3 claw/+3 claw/+3 claw/+3 tail. As touch attacks those are pretty likely to hit for black lotus destruction, or for normal attacks you are not amazing but still decent enough and you have reasonable strength for ok bonus damage.
    Lvl 6-8: More essential, more totemist stuff. Your will save is awful, a trip to the otyugh hole is recommended and keep your crown shape/bind full until you know you do not need it. You have a fly speed now make use of it.
    Lvl 9: Binder and Improved binding. Why? Because I love binders. Honestly you can do most anything here. Binder gives a ton of utility and neat situational abilities, and they have upsides for later in the build. You could go bard for DFI here, another totemist for another bind and shuffle mindsight in early, a level of fighter for a bonus feat or whatever you feel is best. Binder gives Amon for a Gore attack like Baphomet, which lets your swap your dragon tail to blink shirt for tactical teleportation. You can get sudden strike, invisibility, scout bird, free skills, and any number of other things. You could skip Improved binding and stick with the level 1 vestiges but I like more options. Plus it helps with meeting skill reqs. Since knowledge religion is not on most classes you want to take levels in.
    Lvl 10: Your (unarmed) Swordsage level here means you can get up to 3rd level maneuvers and stances. You also finish your pre reqs if I have done my skill math correct. Assassin’s stance if your new go to, though you have a fall back for healing. You can also always flank now with your little elemental buddy, which coincidentally gives you infinite out of combat healing, just punch it in your other stance. You gain a ranged attack which your largely lack, more teleportation if you want to not bind blink shirt, reach if needed, greater invisibility if you want to bind something else, and everyones favorite lockpick in Mountain Hammer which your crusader maneuver qualifies you for. Also weapon focus in tiger claw is huge giving you an additional to hit for your now proficient unarmed attacks and claw attacks. Your frenzy attack looks like +11 unarmed/+11 unarmed/+ 9 claw/+9 claw/+9 claw/+9 claw/+8 gore (+8 tail) which with cloak of deception targets FF AC for an additional 2d6 per attack, 3d6 if you take the sudden strike vestige( lose gore though). If you prep with your lotus extract that’s 7 or 8 attacks vs. a flat footed touch AC target most times. The save is lacking now but variance is on your side with that many applications. Greensickness is still a great localized aoe if needed which has a wicked save still out of reach for many things, though there are more immunities to poison now if they are not immune its pretty unlikely they make the save.
    Lvl 11-12: In the SI now, focusing on your few key skills. You do not need many so just keep a few up. You get sneak attack which is an extra 1d6 on your attacks most of the time now, between your invisibilities and distracting ember, which with assassins stance and respectable strength is a fair bit of pure damage. You are not putting out uber charger numbers but with an average of 8 attacks and 23 strength is 128 DPR before each individual attacks damage assuming all hit. Double on dive. That is respectable. You also get mindsight at 12 making you nearly impossible to surprise. With a bind alters you can also have a respectable fear stack, making never outnumbered a reasonable skill trick to acquire here. Especially since you do not need or use a lot of your points.
    Lvl 13: Chill touch is more useful than you think, because undead are problematic. You can bypass with flight or teleportation but being able to send some packing is not bad. Fatigue is ok if it lands which it will not likely because your charisma is awful. Also since you hold the charge until it is dispelled and you get a fair few attacks, you could I believe hit multiple foes a turn. And you have enough attacks if you cannot hit multiples (or more than just your Unarmed strikes, held multiple charge spells gets weird) you can spare one for a potential rider, or just add it as a maybe into your attack routine. You can discharge on a normal unarmed or claw attack.
    Lvl 14: HiPS is nice, but you will not need it because of your invisibility most of the time. However with your hide skill being respectable and with melds and vestiges to enhance it further you can be a deadly ghost. See invis doesn’t see you if you are hiding, and you can short range teleport to someplace hide and get a better attacking angle, or reset charge paths, or any number of other fun things. You can also get a darkness bubble if needed so you always have concealment/shadow. Incarnum and Binding open up so many great options.
    Lvl 15: More sneak attack and wounding sneak attack are great. A bit more damage from the number of attacks is nice and being a ghost and forcing a bunch of bleed is nice, Baphomet would approve. You can play deadly cat and mouse and if they stop to heal you can get them again. Fear stacking here again helps, you can force them to flee as they bleed. Expel Vestige helps keeps versatility high.
    Lvl 16: Fatiguing touch can be nice, but not as easy to stack as fear. Again as a bonus rider on a hit not the worst.
    Lvl 17: Enervation is nice, a ranged debuff option is fine, and its an ok way to open fights. It also importantly lowers saves for poison and fear. Our final unarmed attack comes online yaay.
    Sweet spot! Lvl 18: It took a while but we are here. The sneak attack bump is nice, but better is draining sneak attack. A negative level on every sneak attack, and we are getting 9 attacks on Average in a frenzy, 4 unarmed, 4 claws, and one gore or tail. -9 to most everything in one round wrecks BBEGs or anything that is not immune or prepared. You can (more) easily trigger wightpocalypse now with humanoids, and you are immune to energy drain so it doesn’t bug you, and seeing as how you lack flesh in general they will likely leave you alone. You also blend pretty well, dealing 185 damage a round before rolling base weapon die without sudden strike vestige (which adds 31, all doubled on diving) which is pretty nice, assuming all attacks hit. You have a host of immunities, flight, short range teleportation, mindsight for catching (or setting up) ambushes, and can nova in a burst of poison which may be encounter ending right there, especially after adding 9 or so negative levels to something. Plus a variety of goodies from soulmelds and binding, and a bit of maneuvers for extra rounded out utility. Darkstalker enhances your sneakiness but is not really needed this late unless everyone has see invis., shape soulmeld for crystal helm for incorporeal foes, open greater chakra shoulders gives you a few more attacks or options, anything that gives essentia or power points, or anything that helps poison DC all work here.
    Lvl 19: Destruction is nice but your save DC is low, however being able to blow someone up at close range is great for ruining morale, especially if you do it from invisibilty.
    Lvl 20: Nom nom time. Warforged can benefit from consumables and I believe that applies to bodies. A bunch of free con is nice.
    HP: 147 (before inherents from feast)
    Fly 30 ft. Average, 30 ft. ground
    Attack routine in frenzy with base damages: Unarmed +19/+19/+19/+19. 1d6 +7 4 claws +17. 1d4 + 3 Tail+16 1d8 +3 or gore + 16 1d8+1d6+10 (on charge).
    Saves: Fort + 22, Ref + 15, Will +13
    AC 11 (before midnight dodge)

    So Hunger is a multiattacking fairly mobile debuffing beatstick. It has a decent bit of utility though the vastness that is binding and incarnum, covers most of its own weaknesses and can be an excellent debuffer or SoL in brief moments. It is also almost completely wealth independent. All numbers are gearless, no invested essentia. Great for a random loot dungeon crawl like WLD or low/no magic game.
    Recommended items: Necklace of natural attacks (savage species) with force enchantment, and possibly mage bane and/or something that dispels. Death ward sucks for you. Best full plate with fearsome and animated shield you can get, AC as it stands is pretty bad. Stat and save boosters, focusing on strength and will saves. FoM is not super needed with blink shirt and shadow jaunt, but never bad. Anything that improves your flight mobility. Mind Blank is nice later but you do not really need it early, or just get a banner of protection from good for most of the same stuff for a much cheaper price.
    Its weaknesses are incorporeal creatures, swarms (until lvl 9 with amon and not great after), and poison immune foes to a lesser extent. Death ward or immunity to negative energy hurt a lot, but Hunger is a decent blender with enough damage to contribute, especially if diving after level 6 for double damage, though losing the 5d6 sneak on every attack vs. immune targets does hurt as well. Will saves are pretty awful until SI, so keeping your crown bind full of essentia and possibly visiting the otyguh hole when/if you can is highly recommended.


    Sources
    Spoiler
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    Warforged: Eberron Campaign Setting
    Dragonborn of Bahamut(wings): archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20060105b
    Crusader, Swordsage, Maneuvers, Stances : Tome of Battle
    Totemist, Midnight dodge, soulmelds and essentia: Magic of Icarnum
    Dragon tail soulmeld: archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060912a&page=4
    Hidden Talent: Expanded Psionic Handbook
    Greensickness: Monster Manual 3 Plague Bush entry
    Binder, vestiges, improved binding, expel vestige: Tome of Magic
    SI: See chair’s post
    Multiattack: Monster Manual 1
    Mindsight, darkstalker: Lords of Madness
    Skilled City Dweller: archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a
    Whirling Frenzy: SRD
    Spirit Lion Totem: Complete Champion
    Skill tricks: Complete scoundrel and adventurer, I forget which are which.
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    Entry number 2!

    Quote Originally Posted by Oroba

    Oroba, Weaver of Webs

    Spoiler: Backstory
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    Spoiler: Threshold
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    Oroba ambled from her small, crooked house atop a mountain where few ever tread. She picked a plum from a tree with her strong hand. The other lay by her side, tiny and withered, clutching her cane whittled from a tree that had long since left the mountaintop. The wisps of hair on her hand stood on end among the folds of her wrinkled flesh, grasping for their twins. Ever since Oroba had been separated by a knife's point from her sister, parts of her longed for their counterpart. Despite magic's best efforts, they would always be two parts of a whole.

    Oroba sat at their stone bench and examined the board on the table before her. Pieces lay untouched since the first snow of last winter, some representing figures she had forgotten. Others were new additions, put there surreptitiously by her sister in her absence. Oroba ran her fingertip along one, a child holding a knot of chains in her hand, a tiny ruby brooch holding her cloak shut like a drop of blood.

    Sure enough, Deigra's wizened silhouette emerged from the mists of early morning. She and her cane lurched over from her house on the other tine of the mountain. Like a fork, it separated the sisters but for their meetings in this valley garden.

    "What do you lay against my champion, m'dear?" Deigra nodded toward an ancient figurine of charred white oak. A diadem of fangs plucked from the mouths of rats rested atop his head. Diegra didn't even touch him, many seasons of dust comfortably coating his bare shoulders. He seemed to flaunt how long he had sat, entrenched on the board.

    Oroba set the child down in an ebony square. "Her. And those in her path she manages to rally."

    Deigra grinned, her crooked teeth rasping against each other as she laughed. "You always did have to make things difficult, didn't you? What shall we say, yours or mine brought here alive before the end of the harvest?"

    "And no direct interference," Oroba bit her plum in half.

    "Perish the thought." Deigra took the other half and spat out the stone. It landed on the line dividing their estates. "As it lies." She ground it into the earth with the tip of her cane.


    Spoiler: Mentor
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    Clouded Moon climbed the final step to reach the mountain's peak. Her visions had led her here. All was as it had been in her dreams, down to the last stone in front of the ramshackle house before her. She stepped forth and motioned to knock with her mailed fist, but the door opened before she had a chance.

    "Come in, child," the crone within said. She was enormous, but stooped. Her limbs weren't straight for more than a hand's span, twisted like roots.

    "I'm here to free the land from the-th the pall of oppression it's fallen under in recent years," Clouded Moon said.

    "Ah, yes. Well thank you, dear one. As you can see, I'm feeling very oppressed here. People coming here day and night to oppress me despite my best efforts." The crone poured fragrant tea into two bone cups out of a pot carved to look like a skull (Clouded Moon hoped.)

    "You're probably wond-, um, please don't make fun of me, I have a whole speech prepared. You've gone and made me lose my place." Clouded Moon fiddled with the length of priest-blessed chains she'd wended around her body to protect her from the evil spirits rumored to haunt this valley.

    "If you've prepared it in advance, you can get out the cards and find your place. I'll even pretend not to look if you like." The crone sipped her tea.
    "Can't read. I'm afraid our village is too simple for such extravagances. Surely this is due to the evil workings of the Prince-"

    "Prince of Teeth. Right. I've heard tell of him and so on and so forth. I've got an artifact here to help you in your noble quest if you promise to get on with it after you've had something to eat," the crone said. She reached into a drawer on her table and pulled out the biggest ruby Clouded Moon had ever seen. It must've been the size of a whole peppercorn!

    "Wow! What convinced you? Has he been here? Or those in his employ?" she asked.

    "Sure," the crone said. "Mostly it was your natural leadership and speaking ability. Whoever sent you here was clear the prince must be taken alive, yes?"

    Clouded Moon frowned and ate some small cakes, finer than anything she'd ever tasted. "Well, yes, now you mention it, Lord Roberts was quite insistent. Not repaying evil with evil, right?"

    "Yes, that's it exactly. You're quite the perceptive one, aren't you?" The crone pushed a plate of sausages toward her.

    "Well, I don't like to brag," Clouded Moon said, her mouth full. Was this what beef tasted like? No wonder people wrote songs about it. She'd heard the Prince of Teeth had it every night. Imagine! "Don't worry, he'll be alive when he gets here." She swallowed and looked as serious as she could. "This I swear to you."

    Clouded Moon reached for the knife closest to her on the table and ran it across her thumb. "I'll swear it in blood if you like," she said just as she realized it was a butter knife and wished she'd fallen off the mountain.

    "No, no, dear, that's fine. Why don't I just wrap a few things up for your journey?" The crone nudged a fully loaded pack much nicer than the one Clouded Moon wore on her back.

    "Gee, thanks! Your cooking is great, but this is kind of a lot, don't you think?" Clouded Moon said, trying not to be too obvious about counting the cakes.

    "Well, since this, Prince of Teeth, was it? Since he's oppressed so many people, you might find people who want to help you. I thought it might speed things along if you had some extra provisions. Plus the less time you have to spend hunting--"

    "Or gathering," Clouded Moon said helpfully.

    "Or gathering, the more time you can spend on your quest," the crone finished.

    After a quick goodbye, Clouded Moon was on her way to defeat the Prince of Teeth.


    Spoiler: Abyss
    Show

    Clouded Moon swung from the chandelier in the Prince of Teeth's throne room, and decapitated the last gargoyle. "That's for Click!" The cutpurse had given his life for their mission. His dying scream would haunt her for the rest of her days, as would the smell of his burning flesh when he had failed to disable the final lava trap.

    The Prince of Teeth laughed at her declaration. "You think I need these things to protect me? Ha! I've got a place on my brow for those canines of yours, brat!" He tore off his tattered black cape, revealing his pale, muscular chest and dove toward Kris, digging his claws into the parts of her flesh she hadn't yet replaced with living crystal. She didn't scream. Classic Kris.

    "That's what you think!" Clouded Moon pulled her blade in a circle and cut through the chain holding the chandelier to the ceiling. "You should never underestimate the bravest souls of Belstrand's Hollow!" The chandelier tinkled and clattered on its journey downwards. The Prince of Teeth raised his hand, black nails glistening with fresh blood to abjure it somehow, but faltered.

    "Wait, where did you say you were from?" That was all it took. The spokes of the chandelier pinned his arms to his sides. From there, it was a simple matter for Clouded Moon to tie his wrists and ankles with the length of haunted chain she'd worn wrapped around herself this whole time as an armored shell. Hopefully, bringing this tyrant to justice would lay the spirits within each link to rest forever and let them move on to the next world.

    Kris staunched her wounds with the black soil of her homeland. "Oh, so you've heard of Belstrand's Hollow?" She smirked, no longer making an effort to hide her fangs. Kris lifted the crown of teeth from the prince's head and twirled it around her crystalline finger. "Howell, check it out. Free hat."

    "No time for that, devil woman. Let's get this over with." The grizzled man lifted a black bag stitched meticulously with holy runes and loomed over the prince.

    "If only." Kris extruded a blade from her thumb, letting it grow til it was two hand spans long. She pressed it to the prince's neck and drew a drop of blood.

    Howell elbowed her aside and yanked the bag over the prince's head. "None of your nonsense. You know the rules."

    Clouded Moon swallowed. "Yeah, that's right! I mean, we'd be no better than the Prince of Teeth if we did that!" She slapped Howell on the part of his back not marred with burn scars from the dragon that lay dead in a heap on the floor. He shrugged her off with something that looked an awful lot like disgust.

    "Death is too good for his kind." Howell healed himself with a nip from the iron flask around his neck that didn't smell much like holy water.

    "No, it's not! Kill me! Please! You like my castle? You've seen the whole thing by now. Take it, it's yours! Lock me away forever. Keep me in the dungeon. Just don't take me back there!" He stopped talking when Howell punched him in the stomach.

    "Silence, filth." Howell's magic enforced his command. The runes on the blag bag glowed, cutting off whatever the prince was going to say next. They brightened the louder he tried to scream.

    "Guys, he's not--I mean, there isn't a reason to, uh--" Clouded Moon wasn't sure what she was trying to say, even though she thought it was obvious what she meant.

    "The order was for alive, not well, kid." Kris ran her tongue across a hound's tooth on the prince's crown and frowned. "After all this, the damn thing's not even magic? I figured the only reason laughing boy here would wear this was if it was giving him some juice. Barely worth keeping, now."

    "Still your sorrows. Even if it's purely decorative, I'm sure some deviant like you will pay handsomely for it solely for the reputation," Howell scolded.

    "Hey, you're right." Kris donned the crown even though it caught in her bangs. "Just for that, I'll take first shift tonight." Howell grumbled, almost like he hadn't wanted to make Kris feel better.

    "First shift for what? There won't be any more attacks. It's over! We beat the Prince of Teeth! We're heroes!" Clouded Moon said, since everyone else seemed to be forgetting.

    "This is gonna be hilarious. Click's gonna kick himself for missing this," Kris said.


    Spoiler: Road
    Show

    Clouded Moon welcomed the chance for rest once darkness fell over the land. It was going to be a long journey back. Even without bloodthirsty monsters at her heel, transporting the Prince of Teeth would slow them down. She hadn't been asleep long when the noise of battle awakened her once more. Clouded Moon drew her blade and whirled in a circle looking for assailants.

    She saw only Kris grappling with the Prince of Teeth by the riverbed, his head under the water's surface. Clouded Moon didn't feel good.

    "Hey! C-c'mon! Can't you see he's not dangerous? You don't have to do that to him." Clouded Moon crept closer to the riverbank but couldn't bring herself to sheathe her blade.

    "You wanna try telling him that?" Kris grunted and lost her footing on the slippery rocks. The bag came off the prince's head and he dove into the water. Kris grabbed his chain and braced herself against the shore. "If you're up, then help me, unless you want to violate the precepts of your mission."

    Clouded Moon dropped her blade and helped pull the prince out of the water. Before he had a chance to thank her, Kris put the bag back over his head. "I'm doing you a favor, trust me," she said.

    Clouded Moon wasn't really in the mood to talk so tried her best to rest. During her watch, they were attacked by a gang of gargoyles. Curiously, they only seemed interested in attacking the prince. By now, her party was adept at killing gargoyles, so it was dealt with quickly, but it still seemed odd, even if she was the only one who thought so.

    The closer they got to home, the less like adventuring their quest became. After a few days, there weren't any more monster attacks. They were making camp one day and Clouded Moon took the prince his ration. She took the bag off his head at mealtimes. The others just rolled up the part for the mouth. He didn't cry out for his minions to swarm him. Not anymore.

    "Here you go," she said and broke off a piece of a scone.

    "No," he said, devoid of the bombast he'd had in his throne room.

    "You've got to eat something," she said and had some herself in case he thought it was poisoned.

    "Heavens and hells, you really don't know, do you, girl?" he said with something like pity. "I know if I go without for long enough, I'll die. I've made my peace with that."

    "I don't think we're that far off," Clouded Moon said.

    "Then it doesn't matter," the prince said.

    Kris came over to relieve her. "What's this? You two having a little heart to heart?"

    "I don't think he's hungry," Clouded Moon said, trying not to meet Kris's gaze.

    "Huh. Why don't you go get us some more firewood, kid? Your shift's over." Kris picked up a piece of meat from the prince's plate and chewed it.

    When Clouded Moon got back, the prince's plate was empty, and his mouth was bloody. Some of his teeth were broken. She hoped they got home soon.


    Spoiler: Refusal
    Show

    "One more day. I can't tell you how glad I'll be to be done with you," Kris said to no one in particular.

    She took point in marching order, since Click was still dead. She'd stopped talking to the prince days ago. Mostly she acted like he wasn't even there. What Clouded Moon had thought was affectionate banter between her and Howell, or perhaps even the smoldering embers of a star-crossed romance between a holy man and whatever Kris was didn't look likely. The things they said to each other had about as much warmth behind them as the crystal parts of Kris's skin. They could hardly stand to look at each other anymore. About the most Kris said to Clouded Moon now was to change shifts.

    "I can't help but wonder if my god guided me to capture the right unholy creature in that castle," Howell mused to himself.

    "You're not fooling anyone, you know. We all know what god you worship. I don't know why you're still playing it coy," Kris said.

    "Allowing you to hear his name would pollute it," Howell said.

    "You guys have been, uh, you helped me succeed on my mission. That's something," Clouded Moon said, trying to keep a smile on her face.

    "Her mission," Kris said. Despite himself, Howell couldn't suppress a chuckle. Clouded Moon couldn't figure out why.

    Soon enough, they were at the mountain's base. Despite Kris and Howell's efforts to keep him fed, the prince was too weak to climb.

    "I don't suppose you might consider making this easy on us," Kris said.

    "Die in hell," the prince said.

    "Fair enough," Kris said. "We'll have to tie him to a branch, hang him below us, and carry him up. It's the only way." They'd come this far. They tied themselves together and began the climb

    Howell channeled the spirits of ancient beasts to climb the mountain with spectral claws, gouging holds into the rock. Kris shaped her crystals into hooks and spikes to speed her ascent. Clouded Moon had to make do with the nonmagical chains left in her possession, hammering spikes and digging in with pitons. Their ascent was uneven, but eventually, they got to the top.

    Before they could get their bearings, Clouded Moon heard the ragged wheeze of the prince's breathing. He must have gotten the bag off. Clouded Moon got to her feet and turned around. The prince had a bottle of Kris's cursed soil in his teeth and was working the cork out with his tongue.

    "No! I didn't go through all this for you to ruin it now!" Kris yelled.

    "Guys, it's fine, maybe he just wants to heal his wounds. He doesn't look so good," Clouded Moon said.

    "That foul earth kills regular people," Howell said. He reached for the ropes binding him to the others, but he was furthest from the prince.

    "I really didn't want to have to do this." Kris's crystal eye glowed with a dull blackness. She held her empty hand out and the prince collapsed flat on his back. His toes turned inward, and his hands grasped into claws, palms out. He seized up and held so terribly still.

    "Is he--?" Clouded Moon started.

    "Finish a sentence. Once. Just once. No, you stupid girl, he's not dead." Kris opened her palm and held a grape-sized lump of brain. "The order was in one piece. I figure as long as it adds up, we'll still get the full sum."

    Howell lifted the prince's limp body over his shoulder. "If not, it's coming out of your share, witch."

    Clouded Moon winced, waiting for Kris's retort.

    "You know what? That's reasonable. I'll give you that one," Kris said.

    Clouded Moon cut herself loose from their climbing ropes and opened the door to the crone's house. "Wait, you guys are getting paid?"

    Spoiler: Belly
    Show

    Lord Roberts was waiting inside. He was wrapped in furs to ward off the chill of the mountain air. He had a lantern clutched in his fist. There was already a fire burning in the small house, but he seemed to treat the thing more as a talisman. Always, he kept it between himself and the crone.

    "You're here. Thank the heavens. Come in, come in, come in," Lord Roberts said. "Gods know I can't stand being alone with this . . . thing," he murmured to Clouded Moon, putting his arm around her shoulder in a way that made her feel uncomfortable.

    "That's not nice," Clouded Moon said. The crone teetered in the kitchen and ladled mulled wine into mugs. She accepted one just as Lord Roberts mouthed "don't" from behind the crone's hunched back.

    "Thank you," Clouded Moon said and took a sip.

    "That him?" Lord Roberts nodded toward the lump over Howell's shoulder.

    "Most of him," Howell said.

    "Snitch." Kris gave the crone a chin nod. "Here, catch." She tossed the chunk of brain toward the crone who opened her jaws and caught it like a dog. The edges of her mouth went back further than they should when they opened.

    "Well, these things can get away from you," the crone said. "You empty his bladder and bowel?"

    "He took care of that on the walk up. Is there anywhere I can change after?" Howell asked.

    "Oh, feel free to use the garden. I have it mostly to myself." She limped over to him and picked the prince off his shoulder in one hand. The muscles in her arms stood out like cords of rope as she lifted him over the table and set him on the kitchen counter. She rubbed the prince with olive oil and sharpened an enormous razor on a whetstone.

    "W-was this why you wanted him alive? So he'd be fresh?" Clouded Moon asked.

    Lord Roberts laughed.

    "Nothing so base, I assure you," the crone said as she shaved him.

    "You'll see soon enough. Even if you wish you hadn't," Lord Roberts drank deeply from a flask around his neck.

    The crone hanged the prince by the ankles over a ceiling beam so he dangled over the dining table. Above him was the skull of something between man and bull with writing under it, like a shrine to some evil god. Clouded Moon didn't want to know what it said. The prince's soft breathing didn't quicken.

    "Please, everyone, sit. Make yourselves comfortable. We have a long night ahead of us," the crone said as she made a quick, triangular cut across the prince's neck, his blood draining into a bowl fashioned from some enormous thing's skull cap.

    Kris picked at a roll with her crystalline talons and put a few crumbs of bread in her mouth.

    "I hope it hurts, you bastard," Howell hissed.

    "She's already eaten the part of him that feels pain. Feels anything, really. It's not in that spirit stuff you're so hot for. Just in our meat." Kris took a pinch of salt from a cellar on the table.

    "Is the blood for a ritual or something? The blood of a great evil?" Clouded Moon asked. That was the kind of thing needed for powerful magic.

    "No, it's for gravy," the crone said. She stood from her chair and took a bite out of the prince's calf. His lack of any reaction, even the slightest breath let Clouded Moon be sure he was quite dead.

    "I don't feel so good," Clouded Moon said. "May I please be excused?" She pushed her chair back a hand span, but was stopped by Lord Roberts's arm across her back.

    "No one moves. No one leaves. Not until she's finished. She has to destroy it all. What's to keep her from saving a piece aside if we don't watch her?" Lord Roberts asked, unblinking.

    "Sir, forgive me for speaking out of turn, but this is-- this is wrong! What are we doing here?" Clouded Moon swallowed, feeling her gorge rise.

    "When I found this thing digging up graves, I thought it was just a beast. I repacked the soft earth and buried what was left and tried to put it out of my mind. Our village is small. There's not enough fresh corpses to sustain its appetites. Soon, it began to kill to sate its hunger. On its own, this would be bad, but not unfixable. The problem was, people it ate couldn't always be brought back," Lord Roberts said.

    "What, you mean she ate too much for the spell?" she asked.

    "No. Even those spells, the ones that don't need a body. They didn't work. Those people were just gone. Forever."

    "I don't understand," Clouded Moon said.

    "There's a surprise," Kris said.

    "A lesser man, a simpler man, would've seen this unnatural magic as something to be destroyed without a second thought. But not I. I cornered this thing and said in exchange for it leaving the village and going into exile, now and again, I'd feed it a nice big meal. Someone the world was better off without. But I know I couldn't leave it to its own devices. What would stop it from leaving a foot or a claw in its larder only to bring it back again and again? No. We had to monitor it. It's the only way," Lord Roberts said, seemingly more for his own benefit than anyone else's.

    The crone took this talk in stride. By now, she was sucking the meat off the prince's ribs. Even if she'd been offended, she hardly could've responded. It wasn't long before she was cracking his bones to suck out the marrow. When they were dry, she ground them in her jaws like rye beneath a millstone. Lord Roberts nodded to Howell, who took out a scroll. He spoke the words to raise the dead and named the Prince of Teeth.

    "Hey! You had that the whole time? Why didn't you use it on Click? He was your son!" Clouded Moon demanded.

    Howell finished the incantation, and, chillingly, nothing happened. Lord Roberts nodded. "It is done. Farewell to the Prince of Teeth."

    "I know he was my son. Why would you feel as though you needed to remind me of that? If I used it on him, I couldn't have proved our enemy was dealt with. How would we collect the bounty that way?" Howell said.

    "Bounty? But I thought--" Clouded Moon began.

    "We'll see you're taken care of, don't you worry yourself over it," Lord Roberts said.

    "No. Well, I mean, thank you, of course, but I thought we were doing this to protect the land. Liberate the people the Prince of Teeth was oppressing. Did someone just hire us to do this?" Clouded Moon asked.

    Lord Roberts chuckled. "Well, you don't get to be in a position like his without making a few enemies. The way I see it, we were doing a little of both. Who ever said a man can't serve two masters? Anyway, now that he's dealt with, I'll leave you to your own devices. Howell, go change out of that piss soaked robe. I'll send word to you when your money arrives and you can resurrect your idiot son as many times as you like." Howell grunted.

    "Kris, until the next threat looms, you know the position of my personal guard is still open," Lord Roberts said.

    "And it'll stay that way," she said.

    "Clouded Moon, you have a lot to learn, but the next time there's a threat to the village--"

    "Call someone else."


    Spoiler: Two
    Show

    After she'd bid the last of her visitors farewell, Oroba went into her garden. She burnt the priest's discarded garment and sprinkled the ashes in her spice garden. She lurched to the game board between her house and her sister's. The Prince of Teeth was no longer on the board. She moved her Knight of Chains a square forward and smiled.


    Spoiler: stub
    Show

    NE lesser tiefling incarnate 7/necrocarnate 3/life eater 10


    Spoiler: abilities
    Show

    before mods
    str 16
    dex 12
    con 14
    int 14
    wis 14
    cha 8

    after racial mods
    str 16
    dex 14
    con 14
    int 16
    wis 14
    cha 6

    after increases
    str 18
    dex 14
    con 17
    int 16
    wis 14
    cha 6

    increase str at 4 and 20, increase con at 8, 12, and 16


    Spoiler: table
    Show

    Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
    1st Tiefling Incarnate 1 +0 +2 +0 +2 bluff 4, hide 4, k (arcana) 4, k (planes) 4, k (religion) 4, ms 4 (2), spellcraft 4 midnight dodge aura, detect opposition (good), see in darkness
    2nd Incarnate 2 +1 +3 +0 +3 k (arcana) 1 (5), k (planes) 1 (5), k (religion) 1 (5), ms 1 (2.5), spellcraft 1 (5) chakra bind (crown)
    3rd Tiefling Incarnate 3 +1 +3 +1 +3 bluff 1 (5), hide 2 (6), k (arcana) 1 (6), k (religion) 1 (6), spellcraft 1 (6), ms 1 (3) necrocarnum acolyte expanded soulmeld capacity +1, incarnum radience 1/day + concealment
    4th Incarnate 4 +2 +4 +1 +4 k (arcana) 1 (7), k (planes) 1 (6), k (religion) 1 (7), ms 1 (3.5), spellcraft 1 (7) chakra binds (feet, hands)
    5th Incarnate 5 +2 +4 +1 +4 k (arcana) 1 (8), k (planes) 1 (6), k (religion) 1 (8), ms 1 (4), spellcraft 1 (8) rapid meldshaping 1/day
    6th Incarnate 6 +3 +5 +2 +5 k (arcana) 1 (9), k (planes) 3 (9), spellcraft 1 (9) ordered chaos
    7th Tiefling Incarnate 7 +3 +5 +2 +5 bluff 3 (8), hide 3 (9), spellcraft 1 (10) telepathy 100ft
    8th Necrocarnate 1 +3 +5 +2 +7 intimidate 3, ms 2 (5) harvest soul (1 minute), improved meldshaper level
    9th Necrocarnate 2 +4 +5 +2 +8 intimidate 5 (8) mindsight necrocarnum soulshield
    10th Necrocarnate 3 +4 +6 +3 +8 intimidate 3 (11), never outnumbered chakra binds (arms, brow, shoulders)
    11th Life Eater 1 +4 +8 +5 +10 balance 5, hide 4 (13) deathwatch, poison use
    12th Life Eater 2 +5 +9 +6 +11 hide 2 (15), ms 7 (12) darkstalker sneak attack +1d6, death knell
    13th Life Eater 3 +6/+1 +9 +6 +11 hide 1 (16), ms 3 (15), sleight of hand 5 chill touch
    14th Life Eater 4 +7/+2 +10 +7 +12 sleight of hand 7 (12), mosquito's bite hide in plain sight
    15th Life Eater 5 +7/+2 +10 +7 +12 hide 2 (18), intimidate 4 (15), ms 3 (18) double chakra (arm) sneak attack +2d6, wounding sneak attack
    16th Life Eater 6 +8/+3 +11 +8 +13 bluff 4 (12), hide 1 (19), intimidate 3 (18), ms 1 (19) fatiguing touch
    17th Life Eater 7 +9/+4 +11 +8 +13 bluff 5 (17), hide 1 (20), intimidate 2 (20), ms 1 (20) enervation
    18th Life Eater 8 +10/+5 +12 +9 +14 bluff 3 (20), hide 1 (21), intimidate 1 (21), k (religion) 3 (11), ms 1 (21) open greater chakra (waist) sneak attack +3d6, draining sneak attack
    19th Life Eater 9 +10/+5 +12 +9 +14 bluff 1 (21), hide 1 (22), intimidate 1 (22), k (religion) 5 (16), ms 1 (22) destruction
    20th Life Eater 10 +11/+6/+1 +13 +10 +15 bluff 1 (23), hide 1 (23), intimidate 1 (23), k (religion) 5 (21), ms 1 (23) feed


    Spoiler: playtips
    Show

    Spoiler: 5
    Show

    You get to enjoy the goodies of a standard evil incarnate. Get bonuses to a bunch of skills, deal reliable ranged damage with dissolving spittle. Tiefling incarnate's cool sub levels let you see in darkness, including magical, and gives concealment during incarnum radiance, which is pretty cool. Lesser tiefling allows you to benefit from effects such as enlarge person or similar. It also gives you darkness to hide in and trigger your hide in plain sight later on. Stay mobile and beat up enemies. Things are going to get interesting.

    Spoiler: 10
    Show

    Ordered chaos allows you to be treated as chaotic to enter life eater, while you actually remain NE throughout your whole career, so as to avoid losing your meldshaping from incarnate. Thanks, ordered chaos. It's also a thing tied to abyssial heritage, which dovetails nicely with tiefling. Tiefling incarnate gives telepathy, so you gotta get mindsight to pinpoint enemies to leap upon and drain the life from. Necrocarnate makes your bottled essentia into a fountain and lets it all be limitless. Just carry around the ol' bag of rats (or whatever) and have fun. Appropriate for an aspiring life eater. You've got your arm, brow, and shoulder open now too, so your melds are an awful lot more useful, letting you do great stuff, especially with your necrocarnum ensemble. The necrocarnum touch at range is a great conduit for your later sneak attacks via life eater.


    Spoiler: 15
    Show

    You're in life eater now. You can keep your necrocarnum touch (or whatever else) locked and loaded by doubling up your arm chakra, and darkstalker's online to go with your hide in plain sight (hips.) since life eater grants hide/ms. You've got the best kind, too, which allows you to make a check while being observed and without cover to hide behind. stay near 10ft of shadows, and you'll be golden. Necrocarnum touch's ray allows you to zap enemies for sneak attack at range if you like and goes well with life eater's negative energy focus. Goes very well with mindsight to zero in on enemies while staying hidden. Wound enemies, bleed them out, and kick some butt.


    Spoiler: 20
    Show
    You've wrapped up life eater and have the last of its abilities. You can destroy the soul itself and create a magic block only the gods can overcome. Nicely done. Your waist is open now, enabling further melds which synergize with your other soul destroying route via necrocarnate. Enjoy making your opponents' weaknesses your strengths.



    Spoiler: sources
    Show

    magic of incarnum: incarnate, necrocarnate, open greater chakra, double chakra, midnight dodge, tiefling incarnate
    lords of madness: darkstalker, mindsight
    player's guide to faerun: lesser tiefling
    fiendish codex 1: ordered chaos
    complete scoundrel: never outnumbered, mosquito's bite
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  28. - Top - End - #28
    Titan in the Playground
     
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    Entry number 3!

    Quote Originally Posted by Sybil Soule
    Sybil Soule
    CE Unseelie Fey Jerren Ghost Rogue 3/Eidolon6/Life Eater 10/Swordsage 1
    https://thelibertarianalliance.files...08/vg4m6dg.gif

    Spoiler: Background
    Show

    The Cult of Baphomet was no place for the weak. The weak were crushed at the first opportunity to strengthen the rest. As a newling and an as yet proven initiate, I was more ruthless than most. However, being smaller than everyone else made me a constant target. I quickly grew tired of that game, and so I switched things up on my tormentors.

    Volunteering as sacrifice to our Lord, I lay down upon the Alter free of restraints and let the Shaman do their worst upon me. It wasn’t without pain of course, but it was pain in His name. An eternity later and my life-force was finally severed. I was left to roam alone in the vast empty endlessness. But, I had done my research, and now had more power than those who had sought to subjugate me. I could now wound and harm with a mere touch, and I took endless pleasure in tormenting those who had placed themselves above me.

    With no need to sleep, I could awaken them in the night with a caress, ravaging their bodies and souls, and then sinking from view before they could respond. My name became a Curse amongst my enemies who never knew when I would strike, or how.

    Spoiler: Details
    Show

    Flexible Ghost Advancement Variant: can advance class levels and still stay a ghost.
    Path of the Corrupter
    Repulsive Appearance (-6 Bluff/Diplo/Gather Info/Perform/CHA to influence NPC’s) +6 to Intimidate

    Jerren: +2 DEX, -2 STR, Small (+1 Attack/AC, +4 Hide), Speed 20
    +2 Intimidate, Bluff, Move Silent, Listen
    +1 on all saves and +2 morale on saves vs fear
    Always Evil

    Unseelie Fey Template: -2 STR/CON, +2 DEX/CHA,
    Roll d100 for wings type/usability, roll d100 for vision mode
    Autumn Harvest (Su) 1+CHA/day uses, standard action touch attack as targeted dispel magic, CL=HD
    DR by HD: 1-3 none, 4-7 5/cold iron, 8-11 10/cold iron, 12+ 15/cold iron. Iron Vulnerability (Ex) iron/steel touch deals 1 damage, hits deal extra 1d6.
    +4 to Intimidate, Always Evil

    Ghost Template: Become Outsider (Incorporeal) Speed 30, fly (good), CHA to AC (deflection)
    Lowlight Vision, Disembodied Soul (Ex), No Discernable Anatomy (Ex) immune to crit/sneak attack, disease/poison that affects physical body, no need to eat, breathe, sleep. Ectoplasmic Body (Ex) senses are muted, can’t become fatigued/exhausted. Sense Physical Body (Ex), Ghost Weakness (Ex) if hit by sneak/crit from a silver weapon FORT DC 15 or stunned for 1 round. When a ghost is incorporeal it has no STR score. +4 on Hide checks while incorporeal
    14d6+6d8+20 HPs

    Point Buy:
    S 7, D 15, C 14, I 10, W 12, C 17
    Racials:
    S 3, D 19, C 12, I 10, W 12, C 19
    all points to CHA, 24 end

    Spoiler: Build
    Show

    Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
    1st Rogue +0 +0 +2 +0 Bluff 4, Hide 4, Intimidation 4, Know-Rel 4, Listen 4, Move 4, Sense 4, Spot 4 Education SA +1d6, Trapfinding
    2nd Eidolon +1 +0 +2 +2 Intim 5, Know 5 (B)Corrupting Touch -
    3rd Eidolon 2 +2 +0 +2 +3 Intim 6, Know 6 (B)Agony Touch (DEX), Dodge -
    4th Rogue 2 +3 +0 +3 +3 Bluff 5, Hide 6, Initm 7, Know 7, Listen 5, Move 5, Spot 5 - -
    5th Rogue 3 +4 +1 +3 +4 Bluff 6, Hide 7, Intim 8, Know 8, Listen 6, Move 6, Sense 5, Spot 6 - SA +1d6, Spell Sense ACF
    6th Life Eater +4 +3 +5 +6 Bluff 7, Hide 8, Intim 9, Know 9, Sense 6, Listen 7 Shriveling Touch (DEX) Deathwatch, Poison Use
    7th Life Eater 2 +5 +4 +6 +7 Bluff 8, Hide 9, Intim 10, Know 10, Sense 7, Spot 7 - SA +1d6, Death Knell
    8th Life Eater 3 +6 +4 +6 +7 Bluff 9, Hide 10, Intim 11, Sense 8, Spot 8, Listen 8 - Chill Touch
    9th Life Eater 4 +7 +5 +7 +8 Bluff 10, Hide 11, Intim 12, Spot 9, Never Outnumbered Freezing Touch Hide in Plain Sight
    10th Life Eater 5 +7 +5 +7 +8 Bluff 12, Hide 13, Intim 13, Spot 10 - SA +1d6, Wounding SA
    11th Life Eater 6 +8 +6 +8 +9 Bluff 13, Hide 14, Intim 14, Sense 9, Spot 11, Listen 9 - Fatiguing Touch
    12th Life Eater 7 +9 +6 +8 +9 Bluff 14, Hide 15, Intim 15, Sense 10, Spot 12, Listen 10 Enervating Touch Enervation
    13th Life Eater 8 +10 +7 +9 +10 Bluff 15, Hide 16, Intim 16, Sense 11, Spot 13, Listen 11 - SA +1d6, Draining SA
    14th Life Eater 9 +10 +7 +9 +10 Bluff 16, Hide 17, Intim 17, Sense 12, Spot 14, Listen 12 - Destruction
    15th Life Eater 10 +11 +8 +10 +11 Bluff 17, Hide 18, Intim 18, Sense 13, Spot 15, Listen 12 Improved Energy Drain Feed
    16th Eidolon 3 +12 +9 +11+ +11 Hide 19, Intim 19 - -
    17th Eidolon 4 +13 +9 +11 +12 Hide 20, Intim 20 (B)Touch Attack Specialization - Agony Touch (DEX) -
    18th Eidolon 5 +14 +9 +11 +12 Hide 21, Intim 21 Agony Touch - CON -
    19th Eidolon 6 +15 +10 +12 +13 Hide 22, Intim 22 (B)Touch Attack Specialization - Shriveling Touch -
    20th Unarmed Swordsage +15 +10 +14 +15 Hide 23, Intim 23, Listen 14, Sense 15 (B)Weapon Focus - Unarmed Quick to Act +1, Manuevers, Stance

    Feats:
    1- Education - All Knowledges as class skills, and +1 to 2 (Rel and any other)
    2- Corrupting Touch: (29) touch attack for 1d4 dmg
    3- Agony Touch: REQ Corrupting Touch, CHA 11(28) choose 1 physical ability score (Dex), when you touch a creature deal 1d4 temp dmg
    3- Dodge
    6- Shriveling Touch: REQ Corrupting Touch/Agony Touch for same score, CHA 13 (38) touch attack permanently drains 1d4 points (DEX)
    9- Freezing Touch: REQ Corrupting Touch (33) touch attack deals 1d6 cold
    12- Enervating Touch: REQ Corrupting Touch, CHA 15 (31) touch attack deals a negative level, 24 hrs later, DC 10+1/2HD+CHA, failure removes a level permanently
    15- Improved Energy Drain - whenever you bestow a negative level, gain +1 to skills/ability checks/attacks/saves for 1 hour
    17- Touch Attack Specialization – Agony Touch +2 Damage
    18- Agony Touch (CON) – choose 1 physical ability score (CON), when you touch a creature deal 1d4 temp dmg
    19- Touch Attack Specialization – Shriveling Touch: +2 Damage
    Stance/Maneuvers:
    Spoiler
    Show

    Depending on which school of thought you believe in, we either qualify for 5th lvl stances/maneuvers at 20th, or you get a 1st level stance for IL 10, and still qualify for 5th Maneuvers. Clearly, Assassin’s Stance for 2d6 extra SA is best here, but if not then we’ll take the Blood in the Water Stance (TC 1) Crits equal +1 attack/damage for 1 min and stacks w/ itself. Or, the Hunter’s Sense Stance (TC 1) to gain Scent because a ghost w/ Scent is hilarious. However, anything chosen out of Setting Sun/Shadow Hand would require some rework to qualify for the stance since most of them require 1 maneuver from that school known. The stance chose if not Assassin's is irrelevant to gameplay.


    SETTING SUN
    1- Counter Charge (71)- opposed DEX check at +4 if smaller than target, succeed and can move target 2 squares and charge fails, fail and target gets extra +2 to charge attack

    4- Comet Throw (71)– as part of melee touch attack, resolve as trip attempt w/o provoking AoO at +4 to DEX, success means you can throw target 10 feet and it lands prone and takes 4d6, extra range for better success.

    5- Mirrored Pursuit (73) – when opponent moves, use this to move directly next to them w/o provoking AoO

    SHADOW HAND
    3- Shadow Garrote (78) – 60ft ranged touch 5d6 and fort DC 13+WIS or become flat footed until next turn

    3- Strength Draining Strike (80) – As part of melee attack, deal 4 pts STR damage, FORT DC 13+WIS for half.

    5- Bloodletting Strike (76) – as part of melee attack, deal 4 pts CON damage, FORT DC 15+WIS for half


    Spoiler: Breakdown
    Show

    5- A roguish ghost with a few uses of dex draining attacks. 2d6 sneak and a minor ac boost vs spells. Best thing at this rank is you are incorporeal at a level that most things can’t affect you.

    10- Halfway into Life Eater, 4d6 sneak. 3/day chill touch, but endless freezing Touches and HiPS tacked on to a maxed hide (along w/ the +8 bonus from racials) for more sneaky sneaks. A Ghost – Touched Gauntlet would allow for poison use provided you could dip your gauntlet into it, but otherwise Poison is the only aspect of the SI we’re not using. 10 uses per day now of both Agony and Shriveling for temporary and permanent DEX drain.

    Fun point to argue. Life Eater’s Sneak Attack entry specifically states: “…the life eater’s attack deals extra damage”. As a ghost, using Agony or Shriveling, the only damage we’re doing is ability damage, meaning you should be able to apply at least the Life Eater’s SA bonus to that ability damage, if not all your SA “..this extra damage stacks with any extra sneak attack damage”. So while you only have 10 agony and shriveling attacks at this point, each one should be doing 1d4+4d6 DEX damage, likely dropping 1 opponent to the floor per attack. Does then Wounding Sneak deal 1 DEX/round/SA, or 1 normal damage?

    Chill Touch would then do extra damage in the SA as well as its 1 STR damage.

    15- Done w/ the SI, 1/day Enervation as an SLA, but endless Enervating Touches. Fatiguing Touch for more STR/DEX fun 1/day, along w/ Destruction 1/day and Feed. Arguably Feed grants a +5 to CON over time, so now our CON would be 17, and at this point add 60 HPs to the build, but that’s subjective to gameplay of course. As a ghost, imagine yourself as Lord Voldemort sucking the life from a Unicorn! SA up to 5d6 now. Improved Energy Drain also gives us a bonus anytime we gift someone w/ a negative level.

    20- 4 more ranks in Eidolon brings 2 more bonus Ghost Feats, which we use to bump our Agony/Shriveling (DEX) attacks by 2 damage meaning each is now doing 3-6 + 5d6 SA at 20 uses a day (or 4-6 depending on when you apply the damage, before the save or after?). Also picking up 20 uses of CON drain/day. The last rank in Swordsage gets you another +1 to attacks, +1 to Init, and a pile of up to 5th lvl Maneuvers. The stance is open, although there are suggestions. If Assassin’s Stance is ruled legal, that’s 7d6 sneak.

    All of the Ghost feat attacks grant you weapon finesse to your attacks, so it isn’t needed to be taken in the build. They all also double any damage (even Ability damage or level loss) on a confirmed crit. At the very unlikely event that you ran out of Agony/Shriveling attacks, you could always plink an opponent to death w/ 1d4+5-7d6 SA’s w/ corrupting touch or 1d6+SA cold freezing attacks, or enervate them into oblivion. Plus, they’re all touch attacks, which bypass Armor.

    I chose DEX over STR or CON for Agony/Shriveling as it affects Initiative, REF saves and AC. STR would only really target an opponent’s Hit chance/damage of which we’re mostly unafraid of, and CON would only affect FORT and Hit Points. We do pick up CON later to help flush out the FORT saves our maneuvers will force, meaning you can now affect all 3 physical scores to drop someone to 0 in one hit. Now targeting also the FORT save means that Destruction has a better chance of succeeding as well.

    Sweet spots: 3, 12, and every level from 15 on.


    Spoiler: Sources
    Show

    Book of Vile Darkness: Jerren 15
    Complete Mage: Spell Sense 35
    Dragon Compendium: Unseelie Fey 222
    Ghostwalk: Flexible Advancement 12, Education 31, Ghost 163, Ghost Feats 28-39, Eidolon 16
    Libris Mortis: Improved Energy Drain 27
    Tome of Battle: Swordsage 15, Maneuvers/Stances
    http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/artic...fr/pg20020911b Life Eater


    In a completely open game, the Races of Ansalom: Dragonlance – Nightstalker base class is perfect as an entry into Life Eater, but in IC it’s not legal sadly.
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    The only person in the past two pages who has known what (s)he has been talking about is Heliomance.
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    I just don't want to have long romantic conversations or any sort of drama with my computer, okay? It knows what kind of porn I watch. I don't want to mess that up by allowing it to judge any of my choices in romance.

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    Entry number 4!

    Quote Originally Posted by Qua'Tro
    Qua'Tro the Bladestorm
    Spoiler: Background
    Show

    Qua'Tro had been found outside the city of Fairhaven while he was still very young. He was found by a middle aged university professor called Karl Avenheim that happily seized this opportunity to prove that nurture, not nature, was the most important factor in how someone turned out by raising the child of the bloodthirsty mantis folk as noble scholar.

    The professor ended up rather disappointed. though Qua'Tro was quite willing and able to learn, his desire to show his superiority in martial matters trumped Karl's desire to turn him into a scholar, and once fully grown he left the professor's care to join a mercenary company. This company was sent to deal with a group of raiding minotaurs in the hinterlands. Upon seeing the utter ineffectiveness of his compatriots against the savagery of the great beasts, Qua'Tro promptly switched sides as he saw his own desire for martial perfection reflected in the rage-filled eyes of the minotaurs.

    Qua'Tro's time with the Minotaurs got cut short as a group of actual adventurers was send in to deal with them and the herd got promptly slaughtered. Qua'Tro wasn'ta t the camp when it happened, as a vague horned figure in his dreams had warned him to leave. Qua'Tro's education had covered the religious significance of prophetic dreams, so he happily followed the instructions of his new god as his patron led him to ever greater deeds of savagery and slaughter.


    Spoiler: Stub
    Show

    CE (non-psionic) Thri-Keen fighter 1/barbarian 1/ninja 2/life eater 10/sword-sage 1/ninja+2
    Ability scores
    Base Racial Level 4 Level 8 Level 12 Level 16 total
    STR 10 +2 - - - - 12
    DEX 16 +4 +1 +1 - - 22
    CON 14 - - - - - 14
    INT 14 -2 - - - - 12
    WIS 14 +2 - - +1 +1 18
    CHA 10 -4 - - - - -6


    Spoiler: Build table
    Show

    Note: the non-psionicThri-keen from 'shining south' has two HD and 1 LA. The starting stats of the Thri-keen are given on the 'level 3' row of the table. Note that because of the LA, standard feats are gained one level alter in the table than they otherwise would be.
    Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
    1st - - - - - - - -
    2nd - - - - - - - -
    3rd Thri-keen +2 +0 +3 +3 hide 5, spot 5, knowledge (religion) 5 education(religion and nature) -
    4th Fighter 1 +3 +2 +3 +3 intimidate 3, hide 5, spot 5, knowledge (religion) 5 multiweapon fighting, weapon finesse(fighter bonus) Hit-and-run ACF
    5th Barbarian 1 +4 +4 +3 +3 intimidate 7, hide 5, spot 5, knowledge (religion) 6 - whirling frenzy 1/day, pounce (from spirit lion totem ACF)
    6th Ninja 1 +4 +4 +5 +3 intimidate 7, hide 6, spot 5, knowledge (religion) 7, bluff 5 - ki power, sudden strike (+1d6), trapfinding, AC bonus
    7th Ninja 2 +5 +4 +6 +3 intimidate 7, hide 7, spot 5, knowledge (religion) 8, bluff 5, move silently 5 dodge ghost step(invisible)
    8th life eater 1 +5 +6 +8 +5 intimidate 7, hide 10, spot 5, knowledge (religion) 8, bluff 5, move silently 9 - deathwatch, poison use
    9th life eater 2 +6 +7 +9 +6 intimidate 11, hide 11, spot 5, knowledge (religion) 8, bluff 5, move silently 11 - sneak attack +1d6, death knell
    10th life eater 3 +7 +7 +9 +6 intimidate 12, hide 12, spot 9, knowledge (religion) 8, bluff 5, move silently 12 multidexterity chill touch
    11th Life eater 4 +8 +8 +10 +7 intimidate 13, hide 13, spot 13, knowledge (religion) 8, bluff 5, move silently 13 - hide in plain sight
    12th life eater 5 +8 +8 +10 +7 intimidate 14, hide 14, spot 14, knowledge (religion) 11, bluff 5, move silently 14 - sneak attack +2d6, wounding sneak attack
    13th life eater 6 +9 +9 +11 +8 intimidate 15, hide 15, spot 15, knowledge (religion) 14, bluff 5, move silently 15 improved multiweapon fighting fatiguing touch
    14th life eater 7 +10 +9 +11 +8 intimidate 16, hide 16, spot 16, knowledge (religion) 16, bluff 5, move silently 16, balance 1 - Enervation
    15th Life eater 8 +11 +10 +12 +9 intimidate 17, hide 17, spot 17, knowledge (religion) 17, bluff 5, move silently 17, balance 3 - sneak attack +3d6, draining sneak attack
    16th Life eater 9 +11 +10 +12 +9 intimidate 18, hide 18, spot 18, knowledge (religion) 18, bluff 5, move silently 18, balance 5 expanded ki pool Destruction
    17th life eater 10 +12 +11 +13 +10 intimidate 19, hide 19, spot 19, knowledge (religion) 19, bluff 5, move silently 19, balance 5, skill trick: nimble charge - Feed
    18th Sword sage 1 +12 +11 +15 +12 intimidate 20, hide 20, spot 20(CC), knowledge (religion) 20, bluff 5, move silently 20, balance 6, skill trick: nimble charge - quick to act +1, discipline focus (weapon focus)(shadow hand)
    19th ninja 3 +13 +12 +15 +13 intimidate 21(CC), hide 21, spot 21, knowledge (religion) 21, bluff 5, move silently 21, balance 7, skill trick: nimble charge shadow blade sudden strike(+2d6), poison use
    20th ninja 4 +14 +12 +16 +14 intimidate 22(CC), hide 22, spot 22, knowledge (religion) 22, bluff 5, move silently 22, balance 8, skill trick: nimble charge - great leap


    Spoiler: Stance and Maneuvers
    Show

    Stance:
    island of Blades

    Maneuvers(those with a star are typically prepared):
    cloak of deception*
    distracting ember*
    burning blade*
    wolf fang strike
    sudden leap
    dancing mongoose*




    Spoiler: level-by-level breakdown and some numbers
    Show

    ECL 5
    At ECL 5 Qua'Tro is a fairly simple melee-beatstick. Your combat trick is to charge someone, stab them four times for damage, and the bite them for some more damage. Simple and probably at least somewhat effective. Ranks in intimidate give you something to do outside of combat. The level of barbarian also let's you rage once, and the whirling frenzy acf gives you an extra attack while raging.

    ECL 6-8
    Two levels in ninja give you the sneaky skills necessary to get into life eater. They also allow you to turn invisible 4 times per day, which allows you to set up your sneak attacks rather easily.
    You should probably have a chat with your DM about saving up the poison Thri-keen naturally create for later use with your 'poison use' skill.

    ECL 9-14
    During these levels, you develop in a rather decent scout wiht hide in plain sight and decent sneaking skills. You also pick up a bunch of SLA's, most of which are worse than just stabbing someone a whole bunch of times given the riders you get on your sneak attacks.

    ECL 15 (sweet spot)
    This is the level where all the stuff finally starts coming together. Untill now you where a decent scout and sneak-attack blender, but with the addition of the negative level rider you suddenly become very dangerous. At this point, a full-attack routine consists of 9 attacks (2 main-hand attacks, 6 off-hand attacks and a bite) so you'll be dropping a bunch of negative levels whenever you attacks. Even if it doesn't kill your victim in a single round, it'll make them a lot less relevant for the combat given the significant penalties the stacking negative levels would inflict.

    ECL 16-20
    The destruction SLA gives you a nice ranged option once per day, or a finisher against someone that you've already given a bunch of negative levels. Your save DC's might not be very high, but if someone's already taking a -10 penalty you might just get lucky. Feed gives you a bit more Con for survivability, which is nice.
    The level in sword-sage gives you a bunch more toys, including a once-per-combat invisibility which should reduce the drain on your uses of invisibility from ninja, a once-per combat flanking buddy, a once-per-combat damage boost in the form of burning blade (which would be significant given the amount of attacks you get per round) and a once-per-combat additional 2 attacks, for those situations where someone really needs stabbing about a dozen times.
    The last two levels of ninja give you an additional use of ghost step and 1d6 more sudden strike, which is not bad, but nothing to write home about.

    Spoiler: Numbers
    Show

    HP:48+2d8+1d10+1d12+14d6(118 average)
    AC:23(Dex+wis+natural AC)
    full attack routine:+18/+18/+18/+18/+13/+13/+13/+13/+8 and a bite at +13. The main attack routine with shortswords would deal 6d6+13 damage each to a flatfooted target, as well as a negative level and an additional point of damage on the next turn. The bite deals 1d4+5d6+7 damage to a flatfooted target, with the same riders as the weapon attacks.
    ghost step uses: 9/day





    Spoiler: Sources
    Show

    shining south: thri-keen
    complete champion:spirit lion totem barbarian acf
    complete scoundrel: expanded ki pool
    savage species: improved multi-weapon fighting
    monster manual: multi-weapon fighting
    complete adventurer: ninja
    tome of battle: swordsage, shadow blade, stances and maneuvers
    monster manual: multidexterity, multiweapon fighting
    eberron campaign setting: education


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    Quote Originally Posted by Kalirren View Post
    The only person in the past two pages who has known what (s)he has been talking about is Heliomance.
    Quote Originally Posted by golentan View Post
    I just don't want to have long romantic conversations or any sort of drama with my computer, okay? It knows what kind of porn I watch. I don't want to mess that up by allowing it to judge any of my choices in romance.

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    Default Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCIX

    Entry number 5!

    Quote Originally Posted by The Huntsman

    The Hunstman
    CE Silverbrow Human, Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 4/Life Eater 10

    Dad? Dad? Ye- I’m- Not a “crazed bowman,” dad. I’m an assassin! ...Well, the difference being one is a job, and the other’s mental sickness!
    --The Hunstman

    Snipin’s a good job, mate! It’s challengin’ work, outta doors. Guarantee yeh’ll not go hungry, cuz at the end of the day, as long as there’s two people left on the planet, someone is gonna want someone dead.

    Feelings? Look, mate, yeh know who has a lotta feelings? Blokes what bludgeon their party mates to death with a standard issue ten-foot pole. Professionals have standards: Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

    Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
    1st Ranger 1 +1 +2 +2 +0 Hide 4 ranks, move silently 4 ranks, disguise 4 ranks, sense motive 2 rankscc, bluff 2 rankscc, intimidate 2 rankscc, spellcraft 2 rankscc, knowledge (local) 4 ranks Urban TrackingB, Able Learner, Darkstalker Favored enemy (humanoid - human), Urban Tracking, celestial slayer
    2nd Ranger 2 +2 +3 +3 +0 Hide 5 ranks (+1), move silently 5 ranks (+1), disguise 5 ranks (+1), knowledge (local) 5 ranks (+1), knowledge (religion) 1 rank, knowledge (nature) 1 rank, sense motive 2 ranks Rapid ShotB Combat style
    3rd Fighter 1 +3 +5 +3 +0 Hide 6 ranks (+1), move silently 6 ranks (+1), disguise 6 ranks (+1), bluff 3 ranks (+1) Point Blank ShotB, Knowledge Devotion Bonus feat, hit-and-run fighter
    4th Fighter 2 +4 +6 +3 +0 Hide 7 ranks (+1), disguise 7 ranks (+1), sense motive 3 ranks (+1), spellcraft 3 ranks (+1) Precise ShotB Bonus feat
    5th Fighter 3 +5 +6 +4 +1 Disguise 8 ranks (+1), sense motive 4 ranks (+1), spellcraft 4 ranks (+1), bluff 4 ranks (+1) Skill Focus (intimidate)B Zhentarim fighter - skill focus
    6th Fighter 4 +6/+1 +7 +4 +1 Bluff 8 ranks (+4) Manyshot, Greater ManyshotB Bonus feat
    7th Chameleon 1 +6/+1 +7 +4 +1 Hide 8 ranks (+1), move silently 7 ranks (+1), intimidate 4 ranks (+2), knowledge (religion) 3 ranks (+2) Aptitude focus 1/day (+2)
    8th Chameleon 2 +7/+2 +7 +4 +1 Hide 9 ranks (+1), move silently 8 ranks (+1), intimidate 6 ranks (+2), knowledge (religion) 5 ranks (+2) Bonus feat
    9th Chameleon 3 +8/+3 +8 +5 +2 Hide 10 ranks (+1), move silently 9 ranks (+1), intimidate 7 ranks (+1), knowledge (religion) 8 ranks (+3) Expeditious Dodge Mimic class feature 1/day
    10th Life Eater 1 +8/+3 +10 +7 +4 Hide 13 ranks (+3), move silently 13 ranks (+4), knowledge (dungeoneering) 1 rank Death watch, poison use
    11th Life Eater 2 +9/+4 +11 +8 +5 Hide 14 ranks (+1), move silently 14 ranks (+1), knowledge (the planes) 1 rank, knowledge (arcana) 1 rank, intimidate 11 ranks (+4) Sneak attack +1d6, death knell
    12th Life Eater 3 +10/+5 +11 +8 +5 Hide 15 ranks (+1), move silently 15 ranks (+1), intimidate 15 ranks (+4), bluff 10 ranks (+2) Shadow Striker Chill touch
    13th Life Eater 4 +11/+6/+1 +12 +9 +6 Hide 16 ranks (+1), move silently 16 ranks (+1), intimidate 16 ranks (+1), bluff 15 ranks (+5) Hide in plain sight
    14th Life Eater 5 +11/+6/+1 +12 +9 +6 Hide 17 ranks (+1), move silently 17 ranks (+1), intimidate 17 ranks (+1), bluff 17 ranks (+2), knowledge (religion) 11 ranks (+3) Sneak attack +2d6, wounding sneak attack
    15th Life Eater 6 +12/+7/+2 +13 +9 +7 Hide 18 ranks (+1), move silently 18 ranks (+1), intimidate 18 ranks (+1), bluff 18 ranks (+1), knowledge (religion) 15 ranks (+4) Improved Precise Shot Fatiguing touch
    16th Life Eater 7 +13/+8/+3 +13 +9 +7 Hide 19 ranks (+1), move silently 19 ranks (+1), intimidate 19 ranks (+1), bluff 19 ranks (+1), knowledge (religion) 19 ranks (+4) Enervation
    17th Life Eater 8 +14/+9/+4 +14 +10 +8 Hide 20 ranks (+1), move silently 20 ranks (+1), intimidate 20 ranks (+1), bluff 20 ranks (+1), knowledge (religion) 20 ranks (+1), disguise 11 ranks (+3) Sneak attack +3d6, draining sneak attack
    18th Life Eater 9 +14/+9/+4 +14 +10 +8 Hide 21 ranks (+1), move silently 21 ranks (+1), intimidate 21 ranks (+1), bluff 21 ranks (+1), knowledge (religion) 21 ranks (+1), disguise 14 ranks (+3) Able Sniper Destruction
    19th Life Eater 10 +15/+10/+5 +15 +11 +9 Hide 22 ranks (+1), move silently 22 ranks (+1), intimidate 22 ranks (+1), bluff 22 ranks (+1), knowledge (religion) 22 ranks (+1), disguise 17 ranks (+3) Feed
    20th Chameleon 4 +16/+11/+6/+1 +15 +11 +9 Hide 23 ranks (+1), move silently 23 ranks (+1), intimidate 23 ranks (+1), bluff 23 ranks (+1), knowledge (religion) 23 ranks (+1), disguise 18 ranks (+1) Ability boon +2
    cccross-class skill, purchased at double cost (only applies at first level; after this point, cross-class skills no longer need to be purchased at double cost due to Able Learner)
    BBonus feat


    Spoiler: Alternate Class Features
    Show

    Alternate Class Features:
    • Ranger - Urban Tracking (replaces Track)
    • Ranger - Skilled City Dweller (replace knowledge (nature) with knowledge (local))
    • Ranger - Celestial Slayer (lose wild empathy, animal companion and woodland stride for bonuses against [Good] creatures and spells)
    • Fighter - Hit-and-run fighter (lose heavy armor and tower shield proficiency for bonus to initiative and damage bonus against flat-footed foes)
    • Fighter - Zhentarim fighter (modified skill list and gain Skill Focus (intimidate) at level 3)



    Spoiler: Additional Build Details
    Show

    Spoiler: Stats
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    32 point buy:
    Str 12/Dex 16/Con 12/Int 14/Wis 14/Cha 10

    Boost Dexterity at every available level. With items, prioritize Dexterity first, then Wisdom (you’ll want at minimum to go up to 16 for a bonus 3rd level chameleon spell). Strength and Con can be boosted by Life Eater class abilities, so they are less essential to boost than on a typical build, but aren’t bad choices as well.


    Spoiler: Chameleon Spellcasting
    Show

    Spells per Day (does not include bonus spells due to specialization or high Int bonus)
    Level 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
    7th 4 2 0 - - - -
    8th 4 3 1 - - - -
    9th 4 3 2 0 - - -
    10th 4 3 2 0 - - -
    11th 4 3 2 0 - - -
    12th 4 3 2 0 - - -
    13th 4 3 2 0 - - -
    14th 4 3 2 0 - - -
    15th 4 3 2 0 - - -
    16th 4 3 2 0 - - -
    17th 4 3 2 0 - - -
    18th 4 3 2 0 - - -
    19th 4 3 2 0 - - -
    20th 4 4 3 1 - - -




    Spoiler: Suggested items
    Show

    You’re an archer, so equip yourself like one. In particular, you’ll want to boost Dexterity as high as possible, focus on light or medium armor with the highest possible Dexterity bonus to benefit and the shadow and silent moves properties, and work hard on your bow.

    Remember that your chameleon levels and floating feat allow you to craft things yourself. You’ll only have a CL of 6 for a good chunk of your career, but that can be boosted to hit what you need. For example, if you want to get to CL 10 for improved shadow armor, all you need to do is use your death knell SLA, then cast infernal threnody (off the divine bard spell list) and adept spirit. This gets even easier once you can afford a prayer bead of karma. This will go a long way to ensuring you always have the gear you need.

    Speaking of crafting things on your downtime, spells like divine insight and magecraft can help you competently make poisons or alchemical items in your downtime (which you can make even more potent by using your floating feat on Poison Expert). Having a decent variety of poisons is always handy, and I also highly recommend crafting a good store of trollbane in case you encounter any foes with regeneration.

    For your bow, I recommend an elvencraft composite longbow with multiple wand chambers, so that you can keep wands of common spells and activate them without dropping your bow. As far as enhancements, the splitting enhancement from Champions of Ruin is pricey at +3 but literally doubles your potential damage output, so it’s hard to go wrong. Collision is another great option. As an archer, though, you benefit from the ability to swap out arrows as the situation demands. Rather than spending lots of money on your bow itself, you can keep seeking arrows and force arrows and magebane arrows and brilliant energy arrows, and pull them out as needed.

    The only other item I really recommend is the collar of umbral metamorphosis. While you have a superior version of hide in plain sight already, it still provides darkvision, a speed boost, cold resistance and a very nice racial bonus to hide and move silently. Definitely worth the price.

    Spoiler: Level by level
    Show

    1 Ranger1- You won’t be particularly skilled at regular tracking or Urban Tracking, but the Urban variety is a better fit for you as a city dweller, and will at least carry some synergy with your knowledge (local). Down the road you’ll be able to use this to track just fine via spells like divine insight. More interesting is your celestial slayer ACF, which trades out your underwhelming wild empathy for SR against good spells/SLAs and a sizable bonus to confirming crits against creatures with the [Good] subtype. Your main focus, though, is stealth: Darkstalker means that you’re decent at stealth right from the get-go; no point mucking about with trying to sneak past the guards and getting your cover blown by something as simple as a CR ⅓ guard dog. Also, I know everyone and their mother takes arcane hunter with rangers, but you’re Chaotic Evil and so you break the mold: go ahead and enjoy the fact that you can actually pick humans as your favored enemy.

    2. Ranger2- Rapid Shot without the requirements alongside your Dex means you’re a pretty decent archer at this point.

    3. Ranger 2/Fighter 1- The hit-and-run fighter variant from DotU is key here, making your archery way more potent. You weren’t using heavy armor or shields anyhow, so it’s basically free, and now you get a bonus to Init and your Dex as bonus damage against flat-footed enemies within 30’. You also have PBS here, which is generally a filler feat meant to gatekeep future archery stuff, but is actually not too bad at this level when every +1 helps. If you win initiative against your foe, firing off a couple of arrows dealing hit-and-run and PBS damage is actually pretty decent, especially since it doesn’t require you to be suicidal and run headlong into danger like most chargers. Add on Knowledge Devotion, which guarantees at least another +1 to attack and damage once you drop a skill rank into all the relevant knowledge skills, and you’re actually doing pretty good damage-wise.

    4. Ranger 2/Fighter 2- Precise Shot is a necessary evil; otherwise you’re forced to target enemies on the fringes of combat or eat big penalties. Luckily it also opens up the splitting enhancement and Improved Precise Shot down the road, so it’s all worth it.

    5. Ranger 2/Fighter 3- Intimidation is never a bad tool to have in your belt, and you get Skill Focus (intimidate) for free as a Zhentarim fighter, so enjoy. More important is that Zhentarim fighters get bluff as a class skill, which is a necessity for your various PrCs. By the end of your career you’ll actually have quite good bluff, intimidate and disguise checks despite the middling Charisma, letting you play as the party face a bit if necessary.

    6. Ranger 2/Fighter 4- And now you can grab both Manyshot and the Greater version. This will be your main way of moving and attacking. Because you’ll soon want to always have your swift action free for spells such as sniper’s shot, guided shot or grave strike, the most common method of attacking multiple times while still retaining the ability to move (Travel Devotion) isn’t actually useful here. Instead, you’ll focus on using Greater Manyshot, which allows you to eventually take up to 4 attacks (or 8 with a splitting bow) while still retaining your move action.

    And why is staying on the move so important? Well, tactically staying on the move is always very nice, allowing you to use terrain to your advantage to keep foes away, eliminate clusters of allies that otherwise encourage area attacks, force enemies to split up, etc. Most importantly, though, don’t forget that hide checks aren’t their own action but rather are combined with movement. Now, in general there are a few things keeping this from being relevant at this level. The first is that you can’t hide without concealment or cover, or while being observed. The second is that you take a big honking -20 penalty for hiding on the same turn that you attack. It’s OK, you’ll get past both of these issues soon enough.

    7. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 1- Enter chameleon, with its incredibly flexible casting. The ranger spell list in particular is a doozy, giving you everything from camouflage (a +10 bonus to hide checks on a long duration spell that stacks with shadow armor!) to longstrider (combine with your Dex focus, Expeditious Dodge and Greater Manyshot to keep a surprisingly high AC up as you dance around) to guided shot (concealment? cover? not your problem, mate). It gets even better once you get access to sneak attack, with spells like sniper’s shot or grave strike to bypass many of sneak attack’s usual limitations.

    8. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 2- The second level of chameleon comes online, giving you more spells and a free bonus floating feat. On days when you expect combat, there are some neat options. I like Ranged Pin if you know you’re fighting humanoid foes; you aren’t a dedicated grappler but it takes a standard action for your enemy to unpin themselves. Able Sniper is another good one (though it’ll get a lot better in a couple of levels, when you get HiPS).

    Outside of combat, though, it’s all about crafting. In particular you’ll want wands of low level ranger spells so that you don’t need to burn through all your spell slots keeping camouflage and the like up, and you’ll want to enchant your armor with shadow and silent moves as quickly as possible. Both of those are easy to do with your chameleon spell access, and thanks to SLAs like feather fall, you have a caster level with which to qualify for the feats. You’ll also eventually want to add on the splitting enhancement to your bow, though that’s a bit pricey at this level even if you’re crafting it yourself. Or speaking of crafting, take the Poison Expert feat to boost the DCs on any poisons you craft (using divine insight and magecraft to power said crafting). Or take Extra Spell and start building an arcane spellbook. The world is your oyster.

    9. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 3- Mimic class feature isn’t nearly as good as aptitude focus, but immediate action evasion is always nice, especially since one common way of dealing with enemies you can’t find is to carpet-bomb the area with AoE spells. A much bigger deal is access to 3rd-level spells off any divine list, which means (among other things) spells like arrow storm and find the gap. Expeditious Dodge alongside Greater Manyshot and the longstrider spell (or an item that boosts movement) is a nice way of keeping your AC up while attacking.

    10. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 3/Life Eater 1- The SI comes online, giving poison use and always-on deathwatch. Archers are great with poison, since they can apply it to their arrows before combat and can use a variety of poisons that they choose based on what type will be most effective. Considering that you can make poison yourself fairly easily during your downtime thanks to the divine insight and magecraft spells (don’t you just love chameleons?), this is definitely nice. And deathwatch is huge, instantly letting you know whether anyone is hiding within range (if you get pings for creatures that you can’t see, welp, something’s hiding) and if anything is a type that might otherwise be immune to precision damage. As it’s a cone-based emanation, you can even use it as radar, sweeping it back and forth to determine the location of hidden foes - at which point all it takes is one use of faerie fire or glitterdust and bing, no more hiding.

    11. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 3/Life Eater 2- Sneak attack on a volley archer is always great. Go ahead and nab Craven with your floating feat as your top combat option. Pop a swift invisibility or target foes whose initiative hasn’t rolled around yet and fire off three attacks, each dealing 1d8+1d6+12+Dex+Str, plus Knowledge Devotion, plus any bonuses from your magic bow, plus Favored Enemy, plus poison… it starts to add up fast. If you need to stay mobile, you can instead use Greater Manyshot.

    As for death knell, don’t think of this one as a combat spell. Instead think of it as a quick and cheap way to boost your CL before you start crafting, or before you cast an hours/level buff spell for the day.

    12. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 3/Life Eater 3- You’re not a melee brute, but chill touch gives you a way of dealing with enemies who get really up close and personal. Shadow Striker is a tactical feat that on its surface seems like it would be better suited for melee, but actually has some very nice options for you. Evade notice and ghost strike both give you some ways to get out of melee if someone does end up closing with you (and ghost strike also provides an additional way for you to active sneak attack), but in particular you’re interested in the second option, fade away. This says that when you attack with a standard action (which Greater Manyshot is) and then make a Hide check as part of your move action, you get a +5 bonus to this check. You’ll still need some form of cover or concealment to hide, and can’t hide if you’re being observed, but that’s about to change very soon...

    13. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 3/Life Eater 4- Hide in plain sight! This is the ability you’ve been waiting for. This is the absolute best version of HiPS, letting you hide while being fully observed and without requiring any sort of concealment. Combined with Shadow Striker, your attack routine is complete. Keep camouflage up and stay hidden. Come out of hiding to make a sneak-boosted Greater Manyshot attack to fire off three arrows, applying sneak and poison and Knowledge Devotion and Craven and hit-and-run fighter damage and all that good stuff. If necessary, pop a guided shot to bypass concealment or sniper’s shot to extend your range or grave strike to make sure you can hit undead. Then take your move action, and use the action to go into hiding again as you move. You take a -20 penalty to your hide check, but just from camouflage and Shadow Striker and improved shadow armor (well within your WBL at ECL 13, especially if you craft it yourself) alone, you have a +25 bonus on this check, which more than makes up for the difference. As a bonus, even if your enemy does have a way to locate you (with, say, Mindsight), you can also activate Expeditious Dodge by moving (though keep in mind that you do take an additional -5 penalty to hide if you move at more than half speed).

    14. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 3/Life Eater 5- A bump to sneak attack damage, and your sneak attacks now bleed extra damage each round. Ouch.

    15. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 3/Life Eater 6- Fatiguing touch is a cute little debuff that’s especially nice to secretly deliver to anything that relies on charge damage, as fatigue prevents running or charging; thanks to the spectral hand spell, you can deliver it from 30’ away. You also pick up Improved Precise Shot here, which eliminates any concealment less than total. Concealment’s a big deal, since it blocks precision damage, so this is fantastic. While you could already use guided shot to do this, Improved Precise Shot is always on and frees up your swift action for other spells. In fact, since you ignore concealment while attacking, go crazy and pop large area spells that apply concealment across the board such as darkness (there are better spells, but this one has the advantage of being something you can pre-cast on an object before combat and pull out as necessary). Your foes will have a miss chance against you, while you can attack with impunity thanks to Improved Precise Shot.

    16. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 3/Life Eater 7- Enervation is another excellent debuff, and this one doesn’t need any spectral hand shenanigans to be delivered at range.

    17. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 3/Life Eater 8- An extra die of sneak damage is great. You know what’s even better? The fact that your sneak attacks now also dish out a negative level! The fact that you can do this at range with multiple attacks and while remaining completely hidden, and can do it against almost every foe, makes this especially deadly.

    18. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 3/Life Eater 9- If damage and negative levels isn’t handling things fast enough, why not just, you know, kill them? Destruction is one of the better SoD spells, since it still deals good damage even on a successful save and bypasses common resurrection magic.

    Able Sniper also comes online at this level, giving you another +4 to hide after you make an attack. So let’s add it all up: the camouflage spell, Able Sniper and Shadow Striker effectively give you a +19 to your hide check following an attack, almost completely eliminating the -20 penalty you take for hiding while attacking. With level appropriate gear (just greater shadow armor and a collar of umbral metamorphosis provide a very nice +23 bonus that stacks with your other boosts) and your max ranks and Dex focus, you should now have a bonus in the neighborhood of +43 to your hide check at this level even after taking the -20 penalty for attacking. Consider that the CR 23 solar, one of the most difficult enemies to hide from in the entire Monster Manual, “only” has a +32 to their spot check. They can roll a natural 20 on their spot check and you, a lowly ECL 18 archer, still have a 50% chance of evading their sight.

    19. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 3/Life Eater 10- Feed is just such a cool ability, letting you chow down on your fallen foes and steal their lifeforce in the process. It’s also very nice for shoring up that MAD that archers always fall prey to. Considering how expensive a +5 tome is, this ability isn’t just cool, it’s also literally worth its weight in gold.

    20. Ranger 2/Fighter 4/Chameleon 4/Life Eater 10- Ability boon gives you a +2 to any ability score; how about Dex? Your hide checks after attacking should now be somewhere in the neighborhood of +47 (or +58 on turns where you aren’t attacking).



    Spoiler: Stealth and Precision Damage
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    As a stealth- and precision damage-focused character, I wanted to take a bit to talk about how to beat most anti-stealth defenses:

    HOW TO BEAT COMMON ANTI-SNEAK ATTACK AND ANTI-STEALTH DEFENSES:
    • Alternate senses (tremorsense, blindsight, scent, etc.): Darkstalker allows you to make hide checks against all of these.
    • Concealment: Guided shot is a swift action and ignores the AC bonus for cover and the miss chance for anything less than total concealment, making it your go-to option until Improved Precise Shot comes online. If you do run into total concealment, you can use your at-will deathwatch ability as radar to get a decent idea of where your enemy is and then use faerie fire or glitterdust (available as a divine spell via divine bard) to completely negate most common sources.
    • Type-based immunities: You can immediately identify if an enemy is a construct or undead via your at-will deathwatch and have access to grave strike, vine strike and golem strike via your chameleon spells to bypass most type-based immunities to precision damage.
    • Mindsight: Honestly not as oppressive to deal with as you’d think. First of all, if you are hidden from view, you will still have total concealment even if your opponent has the Mindsight feat. It will not prevent you from using precision damage. Second, Mindsight typically has a range of 60’-100’, based on the telepathy ability that powers it. If you wish to remain undetected, simply stay out of this range; sniper’s shot will allow you to hang out at the edge of your composite longbow’s range increment and still qualify for sneak attack (though unfortunately this will mean giving up your hit-and-run damage).
    • Fortification: Extremely difficult to bypass completely, though luckily this is less common than other defenses. Fortification effects are most commonly found on armor or on items such as the Gemstone of Fortification. Your best bet if you find that your opponent is somehow still resisting your sneak attack despite all of the above is to use a dispel to attempt to suppress any magic items for 1d4 rounds. Alternately, if you have a good idea of what item is providing the bonus (learn to recognize what a Gemstone of Fortification looks like!), grab a few serpentstongue arrows and sunder the heck out of it.



    Spoiler: On the Eating of Life
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    I put this build together after noticing that the Life Eater’s wounding and draining sneak attacks did not require melee hits. These properties are really rare for ranged attackers, and so I decided to see if I could build an archer that benefited from the Life Eater’s abilities. I wanted something that could effectively benefit from hide in plain sight as well, since mundane stealth, when done well, is incredibly hard to bypass.

    All in all the class turned out to be a great fit for an evil stealth-focused archer, even better than I’d expected. I’m pretty happy with the final outcome, and this is something I’d absolutely play in a campaign (assuming the Chaotic Evil didn’t turn off my party mates).

    As for the Life Eater’s specific abilities and how this build makes the best of them:

    • Entry requirements: Life Eater’s skill requirements were a bit of a bear, but with Knowledge Devotion to put those knowledge ranks to good use, a stealth focus, and a secondary class with shared requirements for the social skills, they aren’t so bad. Dodge gets replaced by the superior Expeditious Dodge; the build has a couple of ways of collecting speed boosts (longstrider at low levels, and if you obtain a collar of umbral metamorphosis, that provides a speed boost as well), and its fighting style is naturally mobile. Also, being chaotic evil opened up some neat ranger options, such as taking your own type as a favored enemy and the celestial slayer ACF.
    • Skills: Skills get a bit dicey for you in the low levels (hard to avoid when you have four levels of fighter on a build with hefty skill requirements), but the Life Eater’s excellent skill points allow you to easily make up the difference and catch up with all your relevant skills.
    • Deathwatch: Constant deathwatch without requiring an action? Heck yeah, I like that! In particular, you’ll use it in two ways: as a way to identify undead foes or constructs so that you can use the appropriate spell, and as radar: sweep it back and forth to get a general idea of where foes are hiding, then use faerie fire or glitterdust to expose them.
    • Poison use: Archers in general love poison use, since they can apply their poison to their arrows in advance and don’t need to waste time in combat or blow a feat. It’s even better because you can craft poisons yourself quite competently thanks to your Chameleon spells (magecraft/divine insight) and floating feat (used for Poison Expert, or even for something like Animal Devotion or Wild Cohort to obtain a source of poison).
    • Sneak attack: Obviously a huge part of this build. By combining it with Greater Manyshot, hide in plain sight and a number of ways to reduce the penalty for hiding and attacking, you have a number of reliable ways to both stay mobile and activate SA. Damage is further boosted via Craven, which you take with your floating feat on any days you expect combat.
    • Death knell: Primarily used for the caster level boost, which can allow you to craft items such as improved shadow armor that would otherwise require too high a CL.
    • Chill touch: Your main way of dealing with foes that get up close and personal. You have a decent BAB but a middling Strength score, so being able to attack foes that approach to melee range as a touch attack is definitely nice, and even though melee isn’t your main schtick, Shadow Striker has some decent melee options.
    • Hide in plain sight: Another really key part of this build.
    • Wounding sneak attack: An extra point of bleeding damage every round really adds up when you start talking about firing off multiple shots a round.
    • Fatiguing touch: This applies fatigue but is Will negates, rather than Fort negates, making it a great way to shut down uberchargers. You don’t love getting into melee (though your stealth means you can if you have to), but you DO have access to the spectral hand spell to deliver this from afar.
    • Enervation: You’re really good at ranged attacks, including rays, and this is a great way to soften foes up for your draining sneak attacks.
    • Draining sneak attack: Literally the inspiration for this build. The fact that this is not melee-only makes it unique, and lets you fire off volleys of arrows that apply negative levels in addition to things like poison and damage.
    • Destruction: OK, I’ll admit that you don’t do anything special with destruction beyond… you know… using it. It’s still destruction, so it’ll definitely come in handy.
    • Feed: Not only does this ability save you a bundle on the otherwise super expensive Manual of Gainful Exercise or whatever it’s called, it also is a great way to the BBGG doesn’t keep coming back after you kill her.



    Spoiler: Sources
    Show

    • Ranger, Fighter, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Precise Shot, Skill Focus, Manyshot, Greater Manyshot, Improved Precise Shot: SRD
    • Skilled city dweller, Urban Tracking ranger: Cityscape web enhancement
    • Celestial slayer ACF: Exemplars of Evil
    • Hit-and-run fighter ACF: Drow of the Underdark
    • Zhentarim fighter ACF: Champions of Valor web enhancement
    • Chameleon: Races of Destiny
    • Able Sniper, Expeditious Dodge: Races of the Wild
    • Shadow Striker: PHB2
    • Darkstalker: Lords of Madness
    • Silverbrow Human: Dragon Magic



    Ah my Gods, yeh’ve been shot! Didja get a good look at the handsome cad who did it? No? Well, keep lookin’, mate.

    Where’d I getcha that time? The liver? The kidney? I’m losin’ track. Runnin’ outta places to put holes in yeh. If your strategy is to build me confidence, it’s workin’.

    Oh, yeh want me to stop? Hate to break it to yeh, but your own team paid me to do that. And hey, as a bonus, I get t’eat for free when yeh’re done bleedin’ out all over the city streets.

    I toldja snipin’ was a good job!
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