Are D&D articles published on WOTC website available to use? They aren't published in any of the allowed books afaik, but they are commonly used and official since they are a WOTC product.
Already answered. Yes. Link to them on the character sheet though.
I would also like to further point out that if you have some nifty combo of abilities, make sure to mention it on your sheet in the 'comments' section. Not all combos are immediately recognizable. In fact, some of the best ones are more subtle, requiring things to be pointed out.
Failing to do so could mean the Judges would not realize the true power of the build, and so score you low on the 'power' section, and perhaps even the 'efficiency' section if it just seems like a cludgy mass of things that don't work together.
For example, my build Takahashi, which was rather infamous in certain areas, had a very interesting combination of skills, feats, class abilities, and equipment which together was an exceedingly cheesy combo. Basically, he rapidly increased his Intimidate skill, took a feat from Drow of the Underdark to make you Cowering when he Intimidates, used a piece of equipment from the same source to make it a Move action to do so, then used the CW Samurai's Mass Staredown ability to do so to every opponent within 30'.
However, looking at the character sheet, you'd see he had optimized his Intimidate check, but may be unaware of how that synergizes with his armor enchantment and the feat... and since we all know how useless Intimidate normally is... score him as pathetically weak, since all he had were levels in CW Samurai.
Preferred submission format is typed out in a PM. Myth weavers is acceptable, as is google docs (!) and anything else that you want to link to Personally, though, I prefer not having to click to another site to view builds.
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Quotebox
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadow_archmagi
You know, I think gods are the exception to the rule that "I built you a shrine" is creepy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotel_papa
I maintain that until I see a movie trailer where Patrick Stewart introduces himself as Mordenkainen, there never was and never will be a D&D movie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dixieboy
I am unable to respond due to the awesomness of seducing a god, sorry
Character names... my old nemesis. The build is done, but I just need the final and most crucial piece of fluff. Can someone point me to an abusable random generator?
Character names... my old nemesis. The build is done, but I just need the final and most crucial piece of fluff. Can someone point me to an abusable random generator?
This may just be me, but I can't find a char sheet or anything to replace one on that link (I'll admit I didn't look particularly hard)... Is there any chance someone could point me a little more directly at where I should be looking?
I've got the basics figured out, and I'm hoping I'll have the time to crank out the rest of it tomorrow evening.
This may just be me, but I can't find a char sheet or anything to replace one on that link (I'll admit I didn't look particularly hard)... Is there any chance someone could point me a little more directly at where I should be looking?
I've got the basics figured out, and I'm hoping I'll have the time to crank out the rest of it tomorrow evening.
Myth-Weavers has an entire section devoted to sheets. Just make a free account, click the Sheets link along the top, and go to town. It's pretty easy, and the sheets are pretty nice.
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Salt shaker provided for your liberal use, as always.
Myth-Weavers has an entire section devoted to sheets. Just make a free account, click the Sheets link along the top, and go to town. It's pretty easy, and the sheets are pretty nice.
I knew there was probably something simple I was missing... I had managed to not see the links at the top... thanks!
PHB
DMG
XPH
Complete Arcane
Complete Mage
Miniatures Handbook
Tome of Magic
Complete Scoundrel
Races of Destiny
Magic Item Compendium
Cy is the illegitimate daughter of a powerful human gang leader. The gang leader got an elven whore pregnant, though he neither knew nor would care if he found out. When the whore gave birth, it was to a girl she named Cy.
Cy (she has no surname) was raised by her mother and would likely have followed her mother's trade but for a twist of fate. Her mother was a distant descendant of a power Fey, and that blood ran strong in Cy. Cy's stunning beauty would have been used up quickly in her mother's profession, and Cy wanted nothing to do with it. She saw how poorly treated her mother was, and she wanted better for herself. Her fey blood manifested itself in eldritch powers that she kept strictly to herself. These powers helped her to talk and lie her way out of dangerous situations. She carved out a comfortable life for herself as a street urchin until her entire world came crashing down.
Spoiler
Cy is a Warlock 1 with the hidden talent feat from the XPH. Her warlock invocation is beguiling influence and her hidden talent is the attraction power. Combined that gives +10 to bluff and diplomacy... at level 1
Cy's mother was killed by the pimp that owned her. She had gotten ill, and the illness had scarred her face and left her at death's door. Rather than keep another mouth to feed (and one that might never work again), the pimp killed Cy's mother. Cy was crushed. She swore that she would have her vengeance, not just on the pimp, but on the entire system that had driven her mother into prostitution.
She then used her powers of persuasion to ingratiate herself into the street gang that her father ran. She rapidly ascended the ranks of the gang until she became a trusted lieutenant to her father. Her first act in leadership of the gang was to trump up an excuse to have the pimp who had killed her mother killed himself.
Spoiler
Cy is a now a Warlock 4/Marshal 1. She has the minor aura: motivate charisma from the marshal level. It helps to augment her thug's intimidate skill as well as her own bluff, diplomacy, and use magic device skills. Warlock 4 also gives deceive item so she can take 10 with use magic device.
Her father came to rely on her due to a combination of her leadership skills and the subtle magical influence that she exerted on him. Cy wanted to learn as much from her father as she could before she killed him. Eventually, she learned how he had gained and maintained his power and influence on the streets. He practiced forbidden magics and bound the power of beings he called vestiges to grant him great power. Her father began to teach her these secrets, but he had only taught her one such vestige when he was killed by a mob whipped up by a local church who sought to destroy corrupt magic users.
Spoiler
Cy is a now a Warlock 4/Marshal 1/Binder 2. She only knows how to bind Naberius. He augments her already impressive diplomacy and bluff skills by allowing her to take 10 with those skills.
Seeing the fate of her father, (though pleased that he was dead) Cy decided she needed to lay low so as not to be swept up by the mob. Additionally, Cy's beauty was becoming a distraction. Everyone knew her as the beautiful daughter of a dead whore and the associate of a dead heretic. So she learned how to disguise herself as an elven man. Most humans thought male elves looked effeminate anyway, so it was a good disguise for her. On the streets, she became known as Ereven, and smooth talking elven man. She didn't seek any more knowledge of binding vestiges, but she kept what she already knew.
Cy (now posing as Ereven) quickly joined another gang and spent her time honing her talents, especially those of disguise. Eventually, she became so talented that she could switch between her Ereven disguise and her standard looks incredibly swiftly.
Spoiler
Cy is a now a Warlock 4/Marshal 1/Binder 2/Mountebank 3. Mountebank augments her bluff skill further with Tongue of th Devil and Alter Ego allows her to create the persona of Ereven. Binding Naberius also allows her to cast disguise self at will.
Cy eventually left the city of her birth, but not until after she saw to the deaths of all those she felt were responsible for her mother's death. She headed for the largest city in the kingdom, eager to make a life for herself with her skills. In the city (also the capital of the kingdom), Cy lived a double life. By day she was Cy the washerwoman, a peasant that no one thought twice about (other than to admire her charms). By night, she became Ereven, an up and coming star in the underworld.
Spoiler
Cy is a now a Warlock 4/Marshal 1/Binder 2/Mountebank 3/Psibond Agent 5. She uses the psibond to insinuate herself into the underworld and kill of those that remind her of her father. With Fey Legacy she gets Dimension Door 1/day as a SLA. If she is in over her head, she can dimension door away and then use Alter Ego or an augmented disguise check to lose her pursuers.
The authorities in the capital were much better than she was used to, and soon "Ereven" was captured by authorities. Knowing she faced a death sentence for practicing forbidden magic, Cy came totally clean to the authorities and offered to work for them in exchange for her life. A combination of her persuasive talents and a very pragmatic police captain led to Cy becoming an agent of the government to destroy very similar criminal enterprises to the ones that killed her mother.
So Cy is now a known agent of the government, but the criminal elements only know of Ereven the Fair as one of them.
Spoiler
Cy is a now a Warlock 4/Marshal 1/Binder 2/Mountebank 3/Psibond Agent 10. She works for the government as Cy and continues in the underworld as Ereven
Build Notes
Spoiler
Level by Level
Spoiler
(1)Warlock 1
Skills: Use Magic Device 4, Bluff 4, Disguise 4, Spellcraft 4
Feats: Hidden Talent: Attraction
Special Abilities: Least Invocation (Beguiling Influence), Eldritch Blast +1d6
(2)Warlock 2
Skills: Use Magic Device 1, Bluff 1, Disguise 1, Spellcraft 1
Feats:
Special Abilities: Least invocation (See the Unseen)
*Capable of taking 10 with these skills
@ additional +2 vs target of psibond
! additional +4 vs target of attraction power
Stats
Spoiler
Str Base 8 (+6 item) = 14
Dex Base 12 (+6 item) = 18
Con Base 14 (+6 item) = 20
Int Base 14 (+6 item) = 20
Wis Base 8 (+6 item) = 14
Cha Base 18 (+6 item)(+5 tome)(+5 level) = 34
Items
Spoiler
I haven't figured out everything...
Essential:
Tome of Influence and Leadership +5
Belt of Magnificence +6
Cloak of Resistance +5
Hat of Disguise
Would be nice:
Greater Chasuble of Fell Power
Ring of Invisibility
Saves
Spoiler
Fort: +10 base +5 con +5 resist +1 insight=+21
Refl: +11 base +4 dex +5 resist +1 insight=+21
Will: +13 base +2 will +5 resist +1 insight=+21
The insight bonus comes from pact augmentation
Special Abilities
Spoiler
Attraction DC 23 - 8 pp
Dimension Door CL 20 - 1/day
Summon Nature's Ally V CL20 - 1/day
Confusion CL 20 - 1/day
Beguiling Influence - at will
Hideous Blow - at will
See the Unseen - at will
4d6 sneak attack
2d6 eldritch blast
Alter Self - at will (Alter Ego only)
Bind Naberius:
Disguise Self - at will
Command - once per five rounds
Take 10 on Bluff and Diplomacy
Can make rushed diplomacy checks at no penalty
Heal 1 point of ability damage per round
Heal 1 point of ability drain per hour
Strengths:
Amazing Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, and UMD
Alter Ego to completely change what she looks like
Dominate virtually at will through the psibond DC 31
Average:
Decent Saves
Decent HP
Weakness:
Poor in physical combat
Poor AC
__________________
Quotebox
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadow_archmagi
You know, I think gods are the exception to the rule that "I built you a shrine" is creepy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotel_papa
I maintain that until I see a movie trailer where Patrick Stewart introduces himself as Mordenkainen, there never was and never will be a D&D movie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dixieboy
I am unable to respond due to the awesomness of seducing a god, sorry
(Note: all stats are including Marshal bonusses and Paimon bound)
Lirea, the Dark Dancer
Female Changeling NE Marshal 2/Binder/ 3/Master of Masks 1/Psibond Agent 10/Cloaked Dancer 4
Medium Humanoid Hit Dice: 5d8+15d6+100 (194hp) Initiative: +9 Speed: 30ft Armor Class: 29 Touch: 19 Flat-footed: 17 Base Attack: +13/+8 Attack: +24 melee (1d6 19-20/x2, +1 deadly precision, ghost touch, mindcrusher short sword) Full Attack: +24/19 melee (1d6 19-20/x2, +1 deadly precision, ghost touch, mindcrusher short sword) Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft Special Qualities: Persona Masks (Su, Assassin, Faceless), Psibond (Su DC 33, forced sense link, nudge, empathy, suggestion, false sensory input, dominate), Lingering Psibond (Ex), Double Psibond (Su), Enchanting Dance (Su, DC 27, beguiling dance, wearying dance), Minor Aura (Ex, motivate charisma +11), Major Aura (Ex, motivate attack +1), Soul Binding (Su, 1 vestige), Minor Shape Change (Su), Weapon Finesse (short sword and rapier only), Uncanny Dodge Special Attacks: Sneak Attack +4d6, Surprise Strike +2d6, Craven +20, Deadly Precision, Staggering Strike, Dance of Death (Su), Whirlwind Attack Saves: Fort +20, Ref +28, Will +17 Abilities: Str 10, Dex 28, Con 20, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 32 Skills: Bluff +47, Concentration +13, Diplomacy +49, Disguise +46, Gather Information +32, Hide +29, Intimidate +30, Move Silently +28, Perform (act) +30, Perform (dance) +49, Sense Motive +18, Sleight of Hand + 16, Tumble +36, Use Psionic Device +23 Feats: City Slicker (1st), Improved Binding (3rd), Wild Talent (6th), Force of Personality (9th), Craven (12th), Deadly Precision (15th), Staggering Strike (18th) Languages Spoken: Common, Elven, Giant, Infernal Noteworthy Possessions: Tome of Leadership and Influence +5, Manual of Quickness of Action +4, Cloak of Charisma +6 and Resistance +5, Gloves of Dexterity +6, Amulet of Health +6 and Natural Armour +5, Veil of Allure (Sandstorm, +2 to saves vs enchantment spells, +2 to DC of all Cha based Su abilities)
After the roaring applause for another of his songs, Vennie the bard raised his hand to signal the tavern to stop. "Thank you, thank you," the gnome's voice was raspy, but enchanting. He plucked a soft tune on his lute when he continued talking.
"It's story time again, now let's see what I can shake out of this old, addled head for you." The crowd laughed a nervous kind of laugh, as usually happens when an entertainer fails to deliver a decent joke. "Alright, have you ever heard of Lirea
the Dark Dancer? She is quite a legend down in the lowlands. Some say she is nothing but a story, others claim they have felt her icy touch in the back of their brains. Me? I don't know her, but I like her style.
You see, Lirea can be considered one of the most succesful assassins of our time. She goes about her job with so much grace, so much guile that most cannot even remember her visit, should they live to tell the tale." The crowd was hanging on his every lips now.
"I have pieced this story together from various odds and ends, tales of survivers, she has become something of a fascination of mine. A muse if you will." He continued to pluck a few random notes from his lute, despite the apparant randomness, the music in the background integrated perfectly with his voice. On another plane, it could be considered jazzy.
Goal:
Spoiler
While I love psionics and skillmonkeys, I feel this class does not have enough of either. It does not share any synergy with other psionic classes or even abilities and the skillmonkey part of the class is nothing but 6 skills/level and a good skillset.
The flavor of the class is nice though and is pretty much the only thing good about the class.
Now, I'm going to pretend any of the Tier 1/2 classes don't exist and that there are no means to get the same abilities PsiBond Agent gives.
And so, as a personal challenge I will try to enter the class using no psionics and none of the standard monkey classes. I feel any classes invested into psionics will be nothing but a waste and I'd like to showcase other, more original means of entry.
Class Considerations
Spoiler
Marshal: This little gem from the Miniatures Handbook is famous for one thing: adding CHA to just about anything. Besides this, the class is strictly meh, until you look at its skill list: bluff, intimidate, diplomacy, sense motive, speak language, all knowledge skills and perform. This class is secretly the arcane-less bard!
Binder: While I mentioned I didn't want any psionics or skillmonkeying, I feel this class might be somewhere on the edge. I have contemplated not using it, but it fits well thematically and the bonusses derived from it are great. Basically the only thing Lirea will end up using is Paimon.
Master of Masks: A thematic fit and that's reason enough to take the class. I'm not a fan of one-level dips and if I could, I would've added more levels. I couldn't find anymore room though. Assassin mask is where it's all at. 1d6 Sneak attack fulfills are requirement to enter Psibond Agent. Now, this sneak attack is only granted when wearing the mask, which means Psibond Agent's abilities only work when the mask is on as well. I this this is a very cool idea.
Later on, the requirement will be fulfilled by Psibond Agent's own sneak attack dice (makes your head spin, doesn't it?)
Psibond Agent: Ah, the secret ingredient. As I mentioned, the class has cool fluff, but the crunch isn't powerful enough to support it. As such, I was 'forced' to have two primary ways of attack. The sneaky way of the Psibond Agent and the direct approach, using the last class in the build.
Cloaked Dancer: I was leafing through PrCs for the challenge and I fel in love with this class. It's so cool! The dance can daze an entire room and you're able to dance and sneak attack targets as you like. My first build used the Cloaked Dancer's SA dice to enter Psibond Agent, but that slowed the build down too much.
Early Life
"It was said that Lirea was born a gypsy girl. No one knows her true heritage, whether she's an elf, a sly gnomish lass or a typical human cat, no one can tell." The words swirled through the run-down tavern, enchanting its audience. "She had quite a forceful personality, even as a mere child. If she wanted something, she made sure she got it. This apparantly caused some friction with the rest of the gypsies, but she had the luck of being the daughter of one of the more esteemed dancers in the caravan.
Her mother was famous in the lowlands for her skills, when she started to dance spectators stopped thinking, at least with their head if you know what I mean." Vennie chuckled a little, someone in the crowd whistled in a raunchy way.
"As she grew up, Lirea quickly followed in her mother's footsteps. It was said though, that she was not nearly as good as her mother's, which inspired lots of anger and jealousy in the little girl. I have been told that at no older than fourteen years of age, the girl had been cast out from the group, shunned for a dangerous crime.
The crime you ask? Well, no one can say for sure, but rumour has it she sold her soul to the devil, or some deamon or something sinister. The creature had promised her skill and beauty to best her mother."
Spoiler
Level 1:
Lirea starts her career as a Marshal. She takes City Slicker as her 1st level feat, giving her access to a couple of skills required later on.
For her minor aura she chooses Motivate Charisma, which should provide a nice bonus to social skills throughout her career.
Lirea starts with 24 skill points. She puts 1 point in Speak Language to learn Infernal. Disguise, Gather Information, Bluff, Perform (act) and Sense Motive get 4 points, Intimidate gets 3.
Level 2:
Lirea will take her first level of Binder. She gains 4 skill points and puts them in the following: Bluff, Disguise, Gather Information, Intimidate.
Level 3:
+1 Binder, skills are Bluff, Disguise, Gather Information, Diplomacy. She takes Improved Binding as her second feat. This will grant her access to Paimon next level.
Level 4:
+1 Binder, skills are the same as level 3. Lirea gains a huge leap in power by binding Paimon. This will be her preferred vestige for the rest of her career.
Level 5:
+1 Marshal. Lirea chooses Motivate Attack as her Major Aura, effectively giving her Weapon Focus (yay?). She gains 6 skill points and places them as follows: Bluff, Disguise, Perform (act) (4 points).
She is all set now to move into PrCs.
Transformation
"Now, this was not the end of our little girl, no, 'twas just the beginning. They say she did not quit her dealings with this creature when she was cast out. On the contrary, I have heard tales she was actually in love with this abomination. She felt so much for the creature she would even betray her own kin to grow closer to him.
Reports from the lowlands army suggest that the gypsy camp had been torched to the ground, every man, woman and child had been gutted and stringed up in a grotesque mockery of some kind of symbol, the name Paimon was etched in blood.
Whatever happened next is unknown, but for some reason she saw it fit to hire out her services and her life as an assassin had started. She would enter her targets house as a guest, usually as an entertainer. Tales have been told of the third act of her show, a horrific act where she would wear a vicious mask of leather and metal. When wearing the mask, some of the spectators would start to act differently, suggestive to her dark dance.
I have gathered many reports and most of them state the guest of honour, be it a nobleman, a king or a wealthy merchant was killed by someone close to them.
And thus the legend of Lirea was born, the Dark Dancer who would seduce loved ones to kill those closest to them."
Spoiler
Level 6:
Lirea takes her first (and only) level in Master of Masks. She gains 6 skill points, putting 1 in Gather Information, the remaining 5 go into Perform (dance). She will craft 2 masks, Faceless and the Assassin.
For her feat, Lirea takes Wild Talent. She now meets all the prereqs for Psibond Agent next level.
Level 7:
Lirea enters the secret ingredient, Psibond Agent. From now on, things will change. She gains the Psibond ability, while weak at the start, this will be Lirea's token ability later on.
For now, Lirea gains 8 skill points, she will place them as follows: Hide 5, Perform (dance) 3.
Level 8:
+1 Psibond Agent. Lirea's Psibond upgrades to Nudge, a powerful ability giving her all kinds of options. Mostly, she'll use them to get close to her victims (having staff open doors, using that strange looking bottle to cook with instead of using regular herbs, etc. Skills are places as follows: Perform (dance) 2, Sleight of Hand 5, Use Psionic Device 1.
Level 9:
Lirea takes a level in the last class of her build, Cloaked Dancer. While the entry requirements are pretty steep in this build (no use for Hide or Sleight of Hand, and why would a character in the center of attention need hide?), the benefits outweigh the price.
She gains Force of Personality at 9th level, a fluffy skill and shores up her somewhat weak Will save.
She gains 8 skill points this level, without any neccesary prereqs Lirea is free to put them in useful skills now.
She'll arrange them as follows:
Perform (dance) 2, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 2
Level 10:
+1 Cloaked Dancer. Lirea gains a new cool ability in Surprise Strike, which allows her to perform an Enchanting Dance while sneak attacking a target. From now on, she is not forced to wear the Assassin mask anymore to gain the Psibond Agent's abilities.
Skills are distributed as follows:
Perform (dance) 1, Bluff 1, Diplomacy 6
Level 11:
+1 Psibond Agent. Lirea gains another die of Sneak Attack. Skill Points: Perform (dance) 1, Bluff 1, Diplomacy 4, Concentration 2.
Level 12:
+1 Psibond Agent. Skills: Perform (dance) 1, Bluff 1, Diplomacy 1, Concentration 2, Sense Motive 4.
For her feat, Lirea will take Craven. This powerful feat gives her a massive bonus to Sneak Attack. Which is especially useful as she can only make one strike at a time using Enchanting Dance. I do however feel that taking one powerful feat from an obscure splatbook from a high-powered setting isn't exactly fair. To reduce cheese, this feat can easily be replaced by something else, but power will drop.
Her Psibond Agent level gives her Empathy, further increasing her social skills vs her psilinked targets. Detecting surface emotions also helps detect the people most likely to betray Lirea's target.
Level 13:
+1 Psibond Agent. Skills: Perform (dance) 1, Bluff 1, Diplomacy 1, Concentration 2, Move Silently 4. She gains Lingering Psibond, which will allow her to easily switch between her covert (Psibond Agent) and overt (Cloaked Dancer) roles.
Level 14:
+1 Psibond Agent. Skills: Perform (dance) 1, Bluff 1, Diplomacy 1, Concentration 2, Tumble 4. Extra sneak attack goodness at this level, as well as Psibond Suggestion! This little gem finally allows Lirea to exert some direct control over her psilinked targets.
Level 15:
+1 Psibond Agent. Skills: Perform (dance) 1, Bluff 1, Diplomacy 1, Tumble 6. Double Psibond is a nice ability allowing her to control up to two psibonded targets. Double the chances of betrayal and control!
At this level Lirea will take Deadly Precision as her feat, allowing better odds on the SA dice.
Level 16:
+1 Psibond Agent. Skills: Perform (dance) 1, Bluff 1, Diplomacy 1, Tumble 6. False Sensory Input is good for blinding the mark as well as getting past guards and relatives.
Level 18:
+1 Psibond Agent. Skills: Perform (dance) 1, Bluff 1, Diplomacy 1, Tumble 1, Disguise 2, Gather Information 2. She takes Staggering Strike as her last feat. This powerful feat gives her some good chances to double up on another sneak attack. Her last Psibond Agent level gives her an hour-long Dominate on her targets. This is good as it means she won't be the one to score the killing blow anymore, instead she'll have someone close to the mark deliver it.
Level 19:
+1 Cloaked Dancer. Skills: Skills: Perform (dance) 1, Bluff 1, Diplomacy 1, Tumble 1, Sense Motive 4. Wearying Dance allows Lirea to fatigue her enemies, pretty nifty.
Level 20:
+1 Cloaked Dancer. Skills: Skills: Perform (dance) 1, Bluff 1, Diplomacy 1, Tumble 1, Sense Motive 4. Lirea gets another die of Sneak Attack bringing it up to 5d6 (6d6 with assassin mask), which is pretty acceptable.
Lirea's Strategy
Spoiler
Lirea has two main combat styles, a covert one and an overt one. When someone tries to buy her services she will first use her high social skills to extract as much payment from the client as possible. Then, a party will be arranged in honour of the target by the client, with Lirea as entertainer.
Once at the event, Lirea will pick the brains of the guests using her psibonds. She will then find the ones most likely to betray the target. Most of her covert work will be done offstage. Using her domination power she will attempt to force one of the guests to kill the target. Should this fail, Lirea herself will come into action.
She will take the stage again for her final act, the dance. She activates her enchanting dance and enthralls the entire audience, weakening guards and making sure no one is able to move (enchanting dance dazes spectators), then she will use her surprise strike to deliver a devastating sneak attack on her victim, who should remain dazed. If all goes well, her spectators will stay enthralled and she is able to kill her target without any problems. If she requires help, there are plenty of guests to dominate.
If all else fails, Lirea has freaking high, optimized social skills. She'd probably be able to talk the most optimistic person in the world to kill himself. Her massive disguise modifier ensure no one knows how Lirea really looks.
Note that Lirea has no skill at all in opening locks or bypassing traps. Should she find a need to do this, she will simply make a psibond to get someone else to do it.
__________________
Quotebox
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadow_archmagi
You know, I think gods are the exception to the rule that "I built you a shrine" is creepy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotel_papa
I maintain that until I see a movie trailer where Patrick Stewart introduces himself as Mordenkainen, there never was and never will be a D&D movie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dixieboy
I am unable to respond due to the awesomness of seducing a god, sorry
Lord of the underworld, leader of the Rogue, please put your hands together for
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hugo Clopin
Hugo Clopin, King of the Court of Miracles!
(Yeah, yeah, I just saw Hunchback of Notre Dame, Aladdin, and Peter Pan all in the same week, so I've been dying to make a real trickster build)
Hugo Clopin, NE Strongheart Halfling Beguiler 5/Mindbender 1/Psionic Assassin 1/Psibond Agent 10/Magical Trickster 3
By levels:
Hugo Clopin, NE Strongheart Halfling Beguiler 5/Mindbender 1/Psionic Assassin 1/Psibond Agent 3/Magical Trickster 3/Psibond Agent +7
Books used:
Spoiler
Complete Scoundrel: Psibond Agent, Magical Trickster, Skill Tricks
C. Mage: Fey Heritage, Fey Power, Fey Legacy
C. Arcane: Mindbender, Practiced Spellcaster, Chain Spell
FRCS: Strongheart Halfling
PHB II: Beguiler
Secrets of Sarlona: Psionic Assassin
Lords of Madness: Mindsight, Darkstalker
Lords of Darkness: Craven
What is this build designed to do?
This is a character designed to be the party's "face", scout, and battlefield controller. As secondary roles, he can also buff the party and deal damage, possibly defeating foes through death attacks or poison damage rather than just HP damage. He would also be appropriate for a solo game or as a recurring NPC opponent that harries the PCs periodically.
I love using poisons in D&D, and for some time now I've wanted to make a character who mentally controlled his opponents into drinking poisoned wine. This build uses Beguiler as a base and a dip into Mindbender, along with 3 classes that I've never actually seen used (or combined): Psibond Agent, Magical Trickster, and Psionic Assassin.
Beguiler provides a strong caster model for the Psibond Agent and gives a perfect selection of trickster spells. Mindbender is a quick dip for telepathy and Mindsight, which both mesh with the Psibond Agent's flavor and purpose. Psionic Assassin is used for the power points and sneak attack it provides, but it also provides the Death Attack and poison use that I love so dearly. Psibond Agent is a high skills class that gives at-will "controller" and scout options, supplementing the limited/day Beguiler spells nicely. Magical Trickster boosts the skills role by adding several new skill tricks and by giving the character multiple uses of Swift Concentration and other skill tricks per combat.
What is this build not doing?
This build stops at 4th level spells in return for at-will control options with the Psibond, a usable Death Attack, and a variety of skill tricks. It's not a high damage build (though 12d6+60 or so at 20th is quite respectable!), and it's not a pure battlefield control build either. Rather, it's a character designed to fill several niches well.
Sample flavor:
Hugo Clopin is known as a halfling scout who hires on for the first few levels of Undermountain. Few know his other life: that of Victor Clopin, the King of the Court of Miracles. Born with a hint of fey blood, Clopin is a deadly assassin and mind-reader who subtly controls his minions from underneath the streets of Waterdeep. It's said that Clopin hears everything that takes place under the Temple of Mystra, and the truth is not far off, for he can attach his mind and senses to his minions at will, even controlling their actions and thoughts. Unseen, unknowable, Clopin is a spider weaving a dark web in his Courts. He adventures frequently to find new companions and to challenge himself, for what good is a king without minions?
Sample character history:
Spoiler
Clopin began his career as a traveling entertainer with a band of halflings. [Beguiler 1] Gradually his focus on enchantments and other mind-affecting spells led him to pursue telepathic magics[Mindbender], which in turn led to psionic powers and darker pursuits [Psionic Assassin]. As his psionic and magical powers matured, so did his mastery over more mundane skills, until Clopin was notorious throughout Waterdeep for his skills in each field. [Psibond Agent, Magical Trickster]
Party roles:
Spoiler
Scout and trap-finder: For observation, you have high ranks in Spot, Search, and Disable Device and trap-finding as a class skill, as well as 100ft telepathy and Mindsight from 6th level on, so you automatically sense all thinking creatures within that radius. You can spontaneously cast Locate Creature, Arcane Sight, Clairvoyance/Clairaudience, See Invisibility, and Detect Secret Doors. You can also "hitch a ride" by using your Psibond on a passer-by or animal to scout from a distance.
Stealth: You have very high ranks in Hide and Move Silently, plus you're a small race with racial bonuses, and can spontaneously cast alter self, invisibility, and greater invisibility. You also have Darkstalker from 3rd level, so you're immune to blindsense, blindsight, tremorsense, and darkvision.
Party face: You have high ranks in bluff and diplomacy, a decent Charisma, Glibness for +30 to bluff, skill tricks to replace blown Diplomacy checks with a Bluff check, ranks in Disguise along with Disguise Self and Alter Self, and of course Charm Monster, Suggestion, and Dominate.
Battlefield control: You can spontaneously cast Sleep, Color Spray, Glitterdust, Deep Slumber, Slow, Hold Person, and Solid Fog. You have an at-will Psibond that will allow you to do Suggestion and False Sensory Input (make an opponent's ally look like a foe, make a tree look like a dragon, etc.), and later even Dominate.
Buffs: You have Teleport 1/day, Mage Armor, Haste, all the invisibility spells, and freedom of movement, as well as any buffs from a 1/day Summon Nature's Ally V. You've got UMD for any other buffs you want to give.
Death attack: You have Death Attack from assassin - especially effective on creatures who are unconscious or helpless from Sleep, Color Spray, Deep Slumber, Hold Person, and other spells on your list. You can make and use poisons: Drow Poison is only 30g to make and can knock a target unconscious. You also have Suggestion at will from Psibond (I suggest you take a little nap) and later Dominate. With a little planning, you can kill quite a lot of people quite easily.
Damage: You have sneak attack from psionic assassin and psibond agent, along with Craven. At 20th level, that's 3 attacks for Weapon Dama+3d6+20 each - enough to contribute nicely to party damage. You've got UMD to use sneak attack on undead, plants, and constructs, or simply to UMD some magical damaging spells. And of course you can mentally control opponents to deal damage for you.
Racials: +2 Dex/-2 Str, Small, +1 Feat, +2 to Jump, Climb, Listen, Move Silently, +2 vs. Fear, +1 on thrown weapon attacks
Skills at 1st: 6+3=9
Bluff 4R, Concentration 4R, Diplomacy 4R, Gather Info 4R, Hide 4R, Move Silently 4R, Sense Motive 4R, Spot 4R, Search 1R, Disable Device 1R, Open Lock 1R, Use Magic Device 1R
Skills: Obviously your skills will depend on whether the campaign is a social one, a dungeon crawl, or some mix of the two. Since Mindbender, Assassin, and Psibond Agent all have skills requirements, some skills are set in stone: 4 ranks in Intimidate, Sense Motive, Diplomacy, and Bluff by 6th; 4 ranks in Disguise and 8 ranks in Hide and Move Silently by 7th; and 8 ranks in Gather Information by 8th level. At the end of the build I've presented a skills progression that I would use for a "Standard" game that's 70% dungeon crawl and 30% social. Skill tricks mentioned will be using that build as a baseline.
Level-by-level breakdown:
1st level: Beguiler 1
You're pretty well established in your niche of "scout, party face, and battlefield control" starting from the very beginning.
You have 5 cantrips and 4 spells per day, cast spontaneously from a nice thematic list. For beginning your mind-slave collection, there's Charm Person. For combat, there's Color Spray, Sleep, Hypnotism, and Silent Image. For scouting there's Detect Secret Doors and Detect Magic. For being the party face there's Charm Person, Hypnotism, Disguise Self and Comprehend Languages. Charm Person + Hypnotism on an indifferent person = fanatical ally for 2d4 rounds.
For feats you have two themed feats that fit well: you'll have +3 to saves against enchantments (there's nothing more embarrassing than the enchanter getting enchanted!), and +1 to enchantment CL and DCs.
Tactics:
Buff round: You should be hiding whenever possible to catch an opponent flat-footed.
R1: If you can catch your opponents flat-footed in a surprise round, I'd open with the light crossbow (+5 to hit, 1d6 19-20 x2). Sleep or Hypnotism is great in your first normal round; Color Spray is also good but I hate to get in close to opponents. Against opponents immune to mind-affecting, Silent Image still works, as does shooting them with a crossbow.
Second level, same as the first! Cloaked casting is a very nice gimme: +1 to spell DCs when your opponent would be denied his dexterity bonus. Just another reason to try and hide all the time. Synergy bonuses kick in here as well.
Equipment: I'd purchase skill boosters for every skill that you can justify, some scrolls of useful 1st level spells to UMD, a heavy crossbow, and a masterwork light crossbow. The heavy crossbow is for initiating fights and long distance shots, otherwise use the light crossbow.
3rd level: Beguiler 3
Spoiler
A good level! You get Darkstalker, an awesome feat that means when you're hiding, you're hidden from blindsense, blindsight, tremorsense, and scent unless they make the appropriate spot or listen check (instead of them automatically spotting you!). For 2,000g, you also get the Ring of the Darkhidden and add darkvision to this list.
Secondly, you get your first and only Advanced Learning, and take Shock and Awe from the Spell Compendium! Shock and Awe is only castable during the surprise round, which is yet another reason why you should be scouting ahead of the group and initiating combat. It has no save, and reduces your opponents' initiative by -10. That is a BIG number, and will likely mean that your entire party will go before the opponents get a chance to act.
Tactics:
R0/Buff: Move ahead of the party and start the fight. You should have +12 to Hide and +10 to Move Silently with just a +2 competence item for each (a very dark cloak and doeskin slippers).
R1/Surprise: Shock and Awe! No save, hit up to 4 opponents with -10 to init
R2/1st normal round: Start casting Sleep (DC 15) or move + Color Spray.
Equipment: Ring of the Darkhidden, 2K, and a wand of Shock and Awe.
4th level: Beguiler 4
Spoiler
Yay for second level spells! Glitterdust becomes your main combat spell, while Invisibility becomes your go-to spell for scouting. Knock means you don't need more points in Open Lock, while Silence is like a spellcasters' death sentence, and Mirror Image becomes your 1-round buff spell. Alter Self is useful for bonus natural armor from races like the troglodyte, and also for races with hide bonuses or to help with infiltrating an area.
Tactics: As above, except that Glitterdust is going to get cast quite frequently and might even be a good opener, while if you have time to buff you should cast Mirror Image.
Equipment: Let's buff defenses this level: Mithril Chain Shirt, Mithril Buckler, and a Vest of Resistance +1 if you can afford them.
5th level: Beguiler 5
Free Silent Spell is nice as it qualifies you for Magical Trickster, and now you can cast while remaining hidden or while silenced. I'd use it very sparingly, however.
Equipment: Stock up on some cheap utility items: Healing Belt (750g), Armband of Elusive Action (800g, avoid 1 AOO a day), and an anklet of translocation (2/day teleport 10ft) for 1,400g.
6th level: Beguiler 5/Mindbender 1
Spoiler
Telepathy, mindsight, and 6th level spells. What's not to love? Telepathy: talk to people within 100ft in their heads. Possibly takes a standard action to use (it's supernatural). Mindsight feat: you automatically sense thinking creatures within 100ft of you as if you had blindsense, as well as their creature type and intelligence. It's about as broken as it sounds.
6th level spells: Arcane Sight, Nondetection, Invisibility Sphere, and Clairvoyance/Clairaudience all dramatically help with scouting and stealth. Deep Slumber will be your go-to spell next level when you want to kill something with Death Attack. Haste will be good from here until 20th as a party buff. Dispel Magic is alright against traps, but your CL is about to dive. Hold Person is nice but needs a better duration. Glibness and Suggestion are a solid help for the party face role.
Woohoo death attack! While tempting, you probably shouldn't be using this to start a fight, because it requires you hitting somebody in melee. Instead, you should be making foes helpless or unconscious (Hold Person, Deep Slumber), and then doing a DC 15 Death Attack coupled with a Coup de Grace.
Psionic Assassin also gets a single power, which will be Control Light, allowing you to darken areas around you. Who knows, it might be useful? More importantly, you have power points and 1d6 SA, so you qualify for Psibond Agent.
Finally, you get poison use. Poisons are nice things. Very nice things. Use them to knock opponents unconscious (drow poison and others), to lower saves against your spells, and to weaken foes' attacks. Handily, Psionic Minor Creation is only 1st level, so it's pretty easy to use a dorje of it with UPD - and with a success, you've got a cubic foot of your choice of plant-based poisons that lasts for an hour.
Plant and mineral based poisons for Minor & Major Creation:
Craft DC 15?: Stun Gas (Underdark). *DC 12, Stun effect.
Craft DC 15: Bloodroot (DMG). *DC 12, deals 0/1d4 Con +1d3 Wis
Craft DC 15: Sleeping Vine (A&E): DC 13, slowed/1d4 Dex
Craft DC 15: Good-Bye Kiss (C. Scoundrel) (Exhaustion/Exhaustion, Fatigued on a successful save)
Craft DC 15: Drow Poison (DMG) (Unconsciousness/Unconsciousness) *Noted as being distilled from fungi and roots in C. Scoundrel
Craft DC 17: Psychotropic Rot (DoTU): DC 15 ingested, deals 1d4 Wis/3d8 Hp.
Craft DC 20: Vapid Leaf Extract (A&E): DC 16, Dazed/2d6 Int.
Craft DC 20: Malyss Root paste (DMG). *DC 16, deals 1/2d4 Dex damage.
Craft DC 20: Sassone leaf residue (DMG): DC 16, deals 2d12 damage/1d6 Con.
Craft DC 21: Cave Terror (Underdark). *DC 20, Confusion effect.
Craft DC 25: Terinav Root (DMG). *DC 20, deals 1d6/2d6 Dex.
Craft DC 28: Darklight Brew (Injury, DoTU): DC 23, Deals an initial 2d6 Con and 1d6 Strength damage, and blindness as a secondary effect! *Can be crafted with Major Creation.
Craft DC 35: Black Lotus Extract (DMG). *DC 20, deals 3d6/3d6 Con.
Craft DC 45?: Greensickness (Dungeonscape, MMIII). *DC 33, deals 2d6 Str + 1d4 Con/2d6 Str + 1d4 Con. **Confirmed that this is plant-based - it's from the Plague Brush in MMIII, an extraplanar house-sized tumbleweed of death. Craft DC given is an estimate.
Equipment: Eyes of the Eagle (+5 to search) for 2,500g, Heavy Scythe (for Coup de Grace death attacks), Dorje of Psionic Creation, Minor
I've got to pack for a big trip tomorrow, so I'll have to cut these write-ups short. At 9th your new feat gives a lot of fey-themed flexibility with Confusion, Teleport, and Summon Nature's Ally V. Summon 1d3 unicorns for a lot of fun.
The Psibond: First off, this is not something you'll want to use in combat yet. Right now it's useful for subtly scouting an area by "hitching a ride" with somebody's senses - UMD a wand of animal messenger, for example, and scout with the sparrow as it flies to your target. You can also use it to subtly influence somebody's reactions as well - possibly convincing a guard to turn around early, or even to start an argument or convince somebody to spill their secrets.
The psibond has a range of 100 feet, which matches perfectly with your 100" telepathy and Mindsight: so as soon as you telepathically sense somebody, you can try to get inside their minds and see through their eyes, even if they are in the inn across the street. The "Swift Concentration" skill trick allows you to maintain concentration on the psibond as a swift action, so you can take other decent actions while using it. Swift Concentration is also useful for your beguiler illusion spells and for rainbow pattern or even Control Light from psionic assassin.
Skill tricks from 7th to 10th:
Conceal Spellcasting: You hide your spellcasting with a Sleight of Hand check so opponents can't tell you're casting a spell!
Social Recovery: if you blow a Diplomacy check, you can try a bluff check at -10 to make up for it!
Swift Concentration: you can maintain concentration on spells and other effects as a swift action. Terrific for this build!
Equipment: Be sure to grab a Veil of Allure from the Spell Compendium for a very cheap +2 DC to supernatural abilities (like your Psibond!) and enchantments.
Magical Trickster and Practiced Spellcaster brings the beguiler caster level up to 8 (12 effective caster level, 13 for enchantments), opening up several other good spells (see below). It also provides more skill tricks and allows the character to spend a spell slot to regain the use of a skill trick - useful for using psibond along with swift concentration more than once in an encounter!
Since with Magical Trickster your spell DCs go up by 1 whenever you use a skill trick, you should use skill tricks right before casting whenever possible. For example, Conceal Spellcasting and False Theurgy will both provide this free spell DC boost, or you can drop prone and then use Back on Your Feet to gain the bonus DC. If you time them in the right order, you could get +3 or +4 to the DC of a spell by going absolutely nuts with your skill tricks. Also, you can use Chain Spell 1/day without increasing the spell level, which opens a lot of options with spells like Hold Person or Greater Invisibility.
The Craven feat, meanwhile, gives a big boost to damage - every sneak attack now deals weapon +2d6+15 damage, as much damage as a standard 13th level rogue without Craven would normally deal.
Finally, Psibond Agent gives a free minor party face bonus while using your psibond on the person, and the psibond lingers another round after you stop concentrating. It's still not worth using in combat for another level though.
Spells: Black Tentacles, Greater Mirror Image, and Greater Invisibility are my favorites here. Charm Monster, Confusion, Solid Fog, and Freedom of Movement are all excellent as well, while Rainbow Pattern and Locate Creature have their uses. This is probably the best level for beguiler casting, pound for pound.
Skill tricks:
False Theurgy: Make somebody think your spell is another one! Hilarious with illusions, of course.
Back on your feet: Stand from prone as an immediate action with no AOO's.
Extreme Leap: Go another +10 feet with a successful jump check.
Spot the Weak Point: Make a Spot check to make your next attack a touch attack. Combine this with hiding, sneak attack, a nasty poison, and Death Attack for a nasty surprise.
At the later levels, the Psibond actually becomes worthwhile in combat. Suggestion has near-endless uses, especially combined with the Psibond's nudge. False Sensory Input can be priceless - use it to convince an opponent that his ally is actually an enemy, or that the tree is a green dragon, or that the copper coin you're offering him is in fact a ruby.
In fact, I'd almost say that False Sensory Input is the real capstone to the class - completely reorganizing somebody's senses with your mindsight and psilink from 100 feet away as a swift action? Who wouldn't want that as an at will ability? And then as a capstone: Dominate! It was a long road, but Dominate Monster is a fun effect, especially at will.
I listed two possible feats for 18th - at this level the "best" feat is really game-dependent. I love Improved Initiative, but every game is different.
Skill tricks: Clarity of Vision - you see so well that you can spot invisible people with enough effort!
Tactics: Really, at 20th there are probably too many options to list. You should have a small army of dominated, charmed, and diplomanced allies serving you. With a few magic items and your own skills, you should be hidden nearly all the time, and disguised when you're not hidden. While hiding you telepathically sense opponents, see through their eyes, and dominate them without them ever noticing you. Or you could summon evard's black tentacles and solid fog on them. Or Use Magic Device/Use Psionic Device and do any of the tricks that a high level spellcaster or psion would do, like Time Stop and Shapechange. And if you really want to get your hands dirty - well, that's what stealth, death attack, poisons, and 4d6+20 sneak attack is for.
Also of note:
With LA Buyback: An Empty Vessel Human would give lots of power points for +1 LA, while the Dark template would give Hide in Plain Sight. Both would be absolutely killer options for a game with LA buyback.
With flaws: adding on Fey Skin and Improved Initiative at 1st would be good choices.
With traits: +2 Init/-1 AC would be very helpful.
__________________
Quotebox
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadow_archmagi
You know, I think gods are the exception to the rule that "I built you a shrine" is creepy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotel_papa
I maintain that until I see a movie trailer where Patrick Stewart introduces himself as Mordenkainen, there never was and never will be a D&D movie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dixieboy
I am unable to respond due to the awesomness of seducing a god, sorry
Character Concept: I will not lie, Shneeky’s Joker Bard was a large part of the inspiration for this build. I couldn’t quite take in all of the rules for psionics quickly enough, so I went with an arcane casting entry. This is what I got.
What does this build do? Simply put, you are there to make everyone else look more effective than they actually are. With telepathy, you are incredibly hard to catch off guard, and can act as the party tactician, keeping everyone updated with information. You serve as the face of the party, using your incredible social aptitude to get what you want, when you want it, from the person you want to give it to you. Entire conflicts can be avoided if you can talk your way out of it, or you can just control the enemies. You are the puppetmaster, so start pulling the strings.
What does this build not do? In a word: Fight. This build is meant for social interaction. If a monster needs to be killed, you need to convince someone else to kill it for you. But when you can make a guy think his claymore is a flyswatter and that there’s a poisonous mosquito on his buddy's neck, who needs other powers?
Skills: Keep Bluff, Diplomacy, Concentration, Sense Motive, Perform [Oratory], and Use Magic Device maxed, invest lightly in Spellcraft, Sleight of Hand, and Knowledge skills, and keep a couple of points aside for skill tricks.
Skill Tricks: Swift Concentration, Listen to This, Conceal Spellcasting, Assume Quirk, and Social Recovery are all worthwhile investments.
Pretty much the same as a straight Bard, but with the ability to steal 1st level spells instead of more bardic music. Buff your pawns… er, I mean party, with music while Charming enemies into a more suitable role. Make use of Combined Talent.
Spells known: 6 0th(3/day), 3 1st(2/day), 2 2nd(0/day)
Important Gear: A Hat of Disguise never hurt anyone, and a Heward’s Handy Haversack is good for keeping track of your spoils.
10th Level:
Spoiler
Now things start getting interesting. Glibness is a godsend. Telepathic abilities built up over the past few levels allow the Agent to locate, communicate with, and use the senses of any intelligent creature within 100 feet. Very good for roleplaying. If any of your pawns have spellcasting abilities, you can take spells of up to 4th level. Can use suggestion and bluff in a single check. Use the Mindbender level for learning skill tricks. I suggest Swift Concentration and Conceal Spellcasting.
Spells Known: 6 0th(3/day), 4 1st(3/day), 4 2nd(3/day), 3 3rd(1/day)
Important Gear: You should have a Cloak of Charisma by now, preferably +4. Pick up a Charisma boosting Ioun Stone if you can. Every +1 helps. A Robe of Arcane Might makes your Enchantments that much harder to resist.
15th Level:
Spoiler
Sweet, sweet Domination at last! It has been far too long in coming, but that is behind us now. You are a smooth operator, able to catch anyone in any lie, and fire your own right back. Your Psibond abilities are starting to flourish, allowing you to influence your puppets undetected. Make sure you switch out Combined Talent for Improvisation. It becomes the superior choice.
Spells Known: 6 0th(3/day), 4 1st(3/day), 4 2nd(3/day), 4 3rd(2/day), 2 4th(0/day)
Important Gear: If your Cloak isn’t a +6 by now, that needs to be fixed immediately. A Ring of Spell Storing can keep those important spells for when you need them the most, and can be charged by any other caster you may have with you. You should have all of the basics to never be caught off guard, like a Belt of Battle, Boots of Teleportation, the whole nine yards. If there’s anything you don’t want to do, it’s end up on the front lines. You have people for that.
20th Level:
Spoiler
Everything is finally in place. You have full caster level, you can take up to 6th level spells from your pawns, and you can have 2 of them! Anyone within 100 feet has a pretty good chance of furthering your plans. You don’t act yourself, you command others. Effects like Mind Blank can put a damper on your day, but that just means you need to get more creative. Take control of one of their allies, use a bystander, take a Greater Dispel from a pawn, any chink in the mental armor will do.
Spells Known: All listed. 3/day 0th, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 1/day 4th.
Important Gear: You should have a Tome of Leadership and Influence boost your Charisma some more, for an adjusted score of 36. That makes your DC mod for spells a 23, and the save against your Psibond is a 31 and Domination’s save is a 27. You should definitely keep some sort of immunity to mind detection, like a Concealing Third Eye, or a boost to your save DCs, like a Veil of Allure. The rest of your obscene amount of wealth can be spent on other things, like wands and other magic devices.
FLUFF
Spoiler
Lárus was born to human and kalashtar parents. He had dormant psionic abilities, but they weren’t as powerful as those of a full kalashtar, so they were of no use to him. From a young age, he found that he had an uncanny ability to manipulate people. They gravitated towards him, you see, and they were usually fairly amenable to doing what he wanted them to do. Tired of seeing people hang on his every word, Lárus left his home to pursue the path of a bard, travelling the world, meeting new people, and performing for others instead of the other way around.
Spoiler
At this point he is a straight Bard 5. His manipulative abilities are almost about to fully reveal themselves, and soon he won’t be bound by the chains of spoken language.
Lárus had always known about his kalashtar heritage, but he didn’t think it would ever have any impact on his life because of his human mother. Then, one day, it happened. After a performance, one of the audience members, a drunken half-orc, started heckling. Dismissing the idiot in the comfort of his own thoughts, Lárus was shocked to find out that the half-orc had heard him. His telepathy had started to bud at precisely the wrong moment. He barely escaped the ensuing fight with his life, but he reveled in his newfound skill, one that would hold a large place in his future. After the brawl, he was barred from his regular venue, so Lárus joined a small adventuring party, using his newfound telepathy to guide them through treacherous caves as the party front man. On a particularly dangerous mission, Lárus heard screams of horror from his fighter companion in the next room. After searching frantically for his friend’s mind, Amos found that he was now looking at the threat that was staring down the face of his axe-wielding buddy. Some quick direction was all it took for the foe to be felled, but Amos had just discovered a new power, and one that he could put to good use.
Spoiler
The build is now at Bard 7/Psibond Agent 1/Spellthief 1/Mindbender 1. He’s finally started to settle into the class that will define the rest of his advancement, and his telepathic might will only get stronger.
As shocked as he was with his power, he enjoyed the thought of being able to use the minds and talents of others. He wasn’t stopping there, however. He wanted to be able to use his power to its full potential. As his power developed, he became more and more adept in his manipulation. Entire battles were won by simply intercepting the enemies’ thoughts and steering them away from violence. No one could say no to him. He was a smooth talker, able to convince anyone of anything, whether it was a discount at a shop or surrendering their weapons. After a certain point, he obtained the ability he coveted most: complete and total control of a person.
Spoiler
The build has reached the first real sweet spot at Bard 9/Psibond Agent 4/Spellthief 1/Mindbender 1. The Domination came late, but it’s not like most Wizards even have Dominate in the first place. Still, getting Dominate at the same level that wizards get Mind Blank is a bit disappointing. Oh well. Everything falls into place at level 19, but this is close enough to feel satisfying.
Lárus soon hit the height of his power. He could control the minds of two people at once, going so far as to manipulate their very senses if it suited his lies. He had become so adept with his telepathy that he could implant thoughts directly into someone’s head, like he was always able to with his music. His friends were safe from his control, but they were a happy few. He had become the perfect vigilante, controlling coup d’états from behind the scenes, replacing corrupt government officials with honest men, and finding both groups with perfect accuracy. One of these days, he would take control of things himself, but until that day he was perfectly content with strolling the countryside, playing his music at the local tavern.
Spoiler
Everything finally comes together at Bard 10/Psibond Agent 8/Spellthief 1/Mindbender 1. Out to 100 feet, he can communicate with anything that has a language, use their senses, falsify said senses, implant suggestions both mundane and magical, and sense their emotions. Full caster level, up to 4th level spells, can take up to 6th level spells with a sneak attack. If carried into epic levels, the last two levels of Psibond Agent allow him to dominate anyone, and eight more bard levels would give him improved spell-casting.
Final Build
Spoiler
Lárus
Male Human Bard 10/Spellthief 1/Mindbender 1/Psibond Agent 8
CG Medium Humanoid (Human) Init. +5 Languages: Common, Quori, Draconic AC 15; Touch 11; Flat-Footed 14 HP 18d6+1d4+46 (112) Saves: Fort +9 Ref+14 Will+26 Speed 30 ft (6 squares) Atk Options Sneak Attack +3d6, Steal Spell (6th, max 12 levels) Special Actions: Psibond (DC 31) (sense link, nudge, empathy, suggestion [DC 26], false sensory input), Bardic Music, Bardic Knowledge Bard Spells Known (3/7/6/6/5 per day, DC mod 23):
0th: Detect Magic, Message, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Mage Hand, Light
1st: Charm Person, Silent Image, Improvisation, Feather Fall
2nd: Invisibility, Sonorous Hum, Detect Thoughts, Enthrall
3rd: Glibness, Dispel Magic, Charm Monster, Sculpt Sound
4th: Dominate Person, Ruin Delver’s Fortune, Modify Memory
Abilities: 8 Str, 12 Dex, 14 Con, 14 Int, 8 Wis, 36 Cha
Gear: Cloak of Charisma +6, Tome of Leadership and Influence +5 (used), Ioun Stone (+2 Cha), Robe of Arcane might, other suggested gear listed in level progression.
SQ: Telepathy, Trapfinding, Lingering Psibond, Double Psibond
Final Notes:
Spoiler
With a strong case of SAD in terms of Charisma, Diplomancy is a viable tactic, unbalanced as it may be.
At low levels, make full use of Combined Talent. Remember, Speak Language is a skill. Your party will basically share one giant pool of known languages to a small extent. It’s great for passing off messages.
For the Ring of Spell Storing, I would suggest keeping Ruin Delver’s Fortune and Feather Fall stored at all times. You never know when you’ll need those. Alternatively, if you steal a spell that you want to keep for later, then just put it in the ring. If you have the cash, a Ring of Greater Spell Storing is a good investment at later levels.
False Sensory input is good in general. No save, no detection, can foil tremorsense, foil true seeing, and it can even screw with scent. True seeing takes a bit more effort, but it could be worked around by making your buddy look like a cloud of smoke. Depending on your DM, you might even be able to make your enemy feel searing, unbearable pain from a touch.
By RAW, you can have more than one Psibond at a time. With Swift Concentration, Lingering Psibond, and Double Psibond, you can maintain up to 4 Psibonds at a time and still use the abilities. 2 Double Psibonds only demand your concentration every other turn each. With Swift Concentration, maintaining said concentration takes a swift action, allowing you to do other things. If you want to use an ability, you just use a standard action to concentrate that turn instead.
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Quotebox
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadow_archmagi
You know, I think gods are the exception to the rule that "I built you a shrine" is creepy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotel_papa
I maintain that until I see a movie trailer where Patrick Stewart introduces himself as Mordenkainen, there never was and never will be a D&D movie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dixieboy
I am unable to respond due to the awesomness of seducing a god, sorry
She's just the average woman on the street. She's that one, as well.And that one. Last but not least, may I present:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alyx Karmen
This entry assumes the Eberron Campaign Setting. The only element of Eberron used in the game mechanics is the race (Changeling). The rest, such as city and country names, is flavor. Alyx Karmen was born on the streets of Sharn to a lower middle-class family. Graced with exceptional interpersonal skills, Alyx quickly learned that she could use her natural talents along with some more mundane trickery to fool many people into allowing her wherever she wanted to go. Naturally, this lead her into the life of a spy, working at first for various criminal organizations in Sharn until she was caught by the Sharn Watch. Recognizing the usefulness of her talents, they offered her immunity for her past indiscretions, as well as an impressive income, if she would work with the Watch. Since Alyx had been working as, essentially, a mercenary for the criminal world, she had no problems with this arrangment. Ever since, Alyx has been enhancing her skills and tricks, and is now one of the best spies in Khorvaire, although few outside of the leadership of Sharn know of her exploits.
Alyx has 3 cover identities currently in use:
- Devrim, the butcher's apprentice: Devrim is a young man who work part-time in a butcher's shop called Sal's Meats just south of Cliffside. Devrim often runs errands for his master Trystan throughout the city.
- Sandrine Poornima, a member of the minor noble house of Poornima in Aundair: Sandrine serves as the family ambassador to Sharn. While only a minor noble house in Aundair, Sandrine has quite the reputation as a gracious guest (and host, from time to time) and is often given invitations to many of the events of the elite in Sharn.
- Latifah Kaede, a special investigator for the Sharn Watch: Latifah is known to be an expert in tracking down those who don't wish to be found. This is the only cover identity known to the city officials of Sharn, and is only called upon by the city when no other investigators will do, due to the high rate Latifah charges (beyond what she receives for being on retainer for the city).
Alyx uses these identities, and others that are used as one-time disguises for short-term missions, to provide herself with an enormous amount of leeway within and near the city of Sharn. She uses her mental influence from her training as a Psybond Agent to limit the amount others remember of her (it's much harder for people to identify you when the 3 prime witnesses all saw different people in front of them).
Over time using her skills, Alyx has developed the ability to recover elegantly from a blunder in her words or actions [represented by skill tricks].
Playing Alyx: Alyx is designed to be an ideal character for an investigative campaign, with the ability to get into and out of anywhere she wants without a hassle. While she may be seen, no one minds her being there if she's just one of the guards at the compound, for example. She avoids combat if at all possible, since she does not have much combat prowess to speak of.
Other gear: Alyx relies primarily on her Minor Change Shape racial ability for her disguises, but has acquired a large number of items, both magical and mundane, that enhance her cover identities and persuasive abilities [Charisma and skills]. As such, there are very few items that are legitimately "required" and so much of her wealth is available to be assigned as necessary for the campaign and what is available. Alyx focuses on her deceptive abilities when picking her gear, and so any armor or weapons she has are likely to be easily disguised - Glamered armor, and some way to shrink or otherwise hide her weapons (such as a Glove of Storing).
Psybond Agent abilities: Alyx uses these abilities primarily to enhance her spying ability - altering her appearance to 1-2 of the guards (using the False Sensory Input ability) makes it hard to identify her later; Nudge and, if necessary, Suggestion allow Alyx to give her victims that extra nudge (pun very intended) needed to buy her story; Empathy has obvious uses when your primary weapons are Bluff and Diplomacy; and Forced Sense Link means that Alyx can limit where she needs to go by doing her spying through her Psibonded victim (using Nudge and False Sensory Input if necessary to examine something more closely).
Spymaster abilities: These are fairly straightforward for a character who uses disguises heavily, so I won't belabor the point here beyond reminding any potential users of the power of Nystul's Magic Aura for this type of character.
Author's notes: When I first read this class, it was the False Sensory Input ability that first caught my eye. As such, I was influenced fairly early to make a spy-type character for this challenge. Based on that, the capstone ability of Psybond Agent was less interesting to the concept than the capstone ability of the Spymaster class from Complete Adventurer (a class which is fairly obviously designed for this type of character). From there, it was a fairly straightforward process to build this into the character presented here. While I would have liked to present Alyx at a variety of levels (5, 10, and 15 being the obvious choices), I was pressured for time this week and was therefore only able to produce a character sheet for her at level 20. Thank you for reading!
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Quotebox
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadow_archmagi
You know, I think gods are the exception to the rule that "I built you a shrine" is creepy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotel_papa
I maintain that until I see a movie trailer where Patrick Stewart introduces himself as Mordenkainen, there never was and never will be a D&D movie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dixieboy
I am unable to respond due to the awesomness of seducing a god, sorry
Last edited by Heliomance : 04-02-2010 at 03:45 PM.
Ok, we've got five builds here. I'll get to rating shortly, and will probably be done this evening or tomorrow sometime. What's my deadline for rating, and how should I announce the scores? Publicly?
As a note, to those five that entered, I am very impressed with the complexity and skill these characters are formed with. They all have something that made me go "oooh, clever!" on first glance, meaning you can all expect good scores from me.
__________________
Salt shaker provided for your liberal use, as always.
Deadline for rating is whenever it's collectively decided that it doesn't look like any more judges are gonna show, or when all judges have given a verdict :P
And yes, post the results publicly.
__________________
Quotebox
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by shadow_archmagi
You know, I think gods are the exception to the rule that "I built you a shrine" is creepy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotel_papa
I maintain that until I see a movie trailer where Patrick Stewart introduces himself as Mordenkainen, there never was and never will be a D&D movie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dixieboy
I am unable to respond due to the awesomness of seducing a god, sorry
Wow, that's a lot to read
Even so - are these 5 builds all we got out of the 26 people who signed up? Just want to know before I start posting results.
__________________ I used to be Chaotic Good, but my job is turning me Lawful Evil.
Well, at least I qualify for Blackguard now...
Cy, the Half-Elf Agent
Originality: 4. The backstory is heavily detailed and very well put. Your build works out great as well, and is creative with your use of Warlock and Mountebank, both of which I didn't connect with Psibond Agent at all.
Power: 3.5. Now, this is because poor Cy basically gets rolled in actual combat. Cy's arena is outside of actual battle, but you can't stay out of it forever, meaning Cy will eventually be tied down and slaughtered by a superior opponent. Given, you will hopefully have thralls, but that doesn't always happen. This is a common theme with many of these entries: lack of decent things to do in combat (no, UMD does not count entirely).
Elegance: 5. Cy is absolutely excellently executed. The build is polished and smooth, the fluff is clean, the build is almost the definition of elegance in optimization. The only flaw I see is the use of Psibond Agent (see below).
Use of Secret Ingredient: 3. Now, don't get me wrong, I really liked your build. However, you entered Psibond at level 10. While it IS dominant in the build, it's still a late entry, meaning I'm fairly disappointed.
Final Verdict: 3.875, round up to 4 or so. Cy is a solid build I'd be happy to play in a social-heavy level 11+ game. For the late game, it really comes into its own, and it's a good way to showcase Psibond Agent.
Lirea, the Dark Dancer
Originality: 4.5. Like Cy, Lirea is really a fun and interesting build. The idea of making a Paimon-focused Psibond Agent really appeals to me in a lot of ways, and I feel you should be commended for making something that has some real combat potential. Further, your use of Cloaked Dancer was clever. I rarely see (or even think about) that PrC, and this is a good use of it.
Power: 4. I personally like Lirea's power level. It's in the range I shoot for myself, with some op'd stuff across the board, while not ignoring other areas. You aren't as skilled in the social skills as some of the other entries, but I think that you are still solid enough to do anything you need to, which is a good mark. Breadth with power, that's a good place to be.
Elegance: 3.5. This build is not as elegant as I'd like. The fluff feels a little tacked on and forced (though the last bit, with the assassinations, is clever), and the use of two levels of Marshal seems a bit like a waste.
Use of Secret Ingredient: 5. You hit Psibond on schedule at 7, and I LOVE THAT. I means I can be a PsiAgent ASAP, which says to me you said "hey, PsiAg is the main focus, let's get into it ASAP!" I like that.
Final Verdict: 4.25. Lirea is a great build, using one of my favorite classes as a key piece of the build (Binder), has an excellent use of PsiAg, and is well rounded. I would be happy to play this build.
Hugo Clopin, King of the Court of Miracles!
Originality: 3. This is much more of a typical build like I was expecting (and hoping not to see). I do like the use of Magical Trickster on the end, but I generally feel that the build itself is kinda bleh.
Power: 4. Hugo is powerful. 4th level spells, PsiAg with good DCs, lots of tricks. Nothing to complain about here.
Elegance: 4. The build, while expected, is still very slick and well done. Lots of thought was put into tactics, build order, feat selection, and similar things. It is a textbook case of optimization not inhibiting tactics and elegance. In fact, I might be saving Hugo to show friends what a strong build SHOULD look like.
Use of Secret Ingredient: 4. You hit it at 7, and make great use of it. That's really good, but I was hoping to see an earlier entry (see Lirea for a great entry). However, it's still solid.
Final Verdict: 3.75. Hugo is a good build, strong tactics, but plays it safe. It's a standard "safe" build, one I'd recommend to a less-adventurous player. I'd also suggest it to a DM who was less willing to admit more adventurous material, such as the Binder or something more exotic.
Lárus, The Puppetmaster
Originality: 3.5. I wasn't really expecting a Bard build, but then again, looking back on it, PsiAg really does reward Bards. It's not really the most creative build ever (being simple to make and being fairly obvious in hindsight), but it works well enough I guess. The fluff is better than I was expecting, and feels sorta like you wrote it, then worked out a character, which I like.
Power: 3. Larus is a bard, with psychic powers. Not sure how that COULD go wrong, and it obviously didn't. However, there are other, better, things to do with your build than take ten levels of Bard, and it hurts your power.
Elegance: 2.5. Bard 10 is ugly and feels very brute-forced. I was hoping to see something more smooth and streamlined, especially when Bard 10 doesn't really GIVE you anything. Further, the build doesn't really come together until level FIFTEEN (in your own words), which is really disappointing. I was hoping for something that would be playable sooner. Before then, he's a bard sure, but still, nothing notable.
Use of Secret Ingredient: 3. You get your first level of PsiAg at level 10, which is again, disappointing. I like early entries so I can play as the Secret Ingredient ASAP.
Final Verdict: 3. Larus is a solid entry, but Bard 10 REALLY tanks it in so many ways. The use of PsiAg wasn't really revolutionary, and Larus doesn't pack the punch that some of the others have. Overall, a good entry to the contest, but I was hoping for something more... revolutionary, I guess.
Alyx Karmen
Originality: 3.5. I was expecting a Rogue-entry. However, I wasn't expecting Spymaster. That's a fairly interesting twist. However, Rogue 5 is kinda boring. It works though, I'll give you that.
Power: 3. Given that you didn't bother to complete your gear, which is disappointing, I can't really judge this amazingly well (gear has a HUGE impact on power). I'd ballpark that you're going to be a good social character, and useless elsewhere. Just like Cy, I mark down for that, since it means you'll die if you get cornered without an out.
Elegance: 3.5. Rogue 5 is a good entry, but I feel like more could have been done to capitalize on PsiAg than Rogue offers. However, you get .5 for using Spymaster at all (brave, brave soul that you are).
Use of Secret Ingredient: 2. You didn't even finish the class. That feels very much like a lack of caring, which is sad to me.
Final Verdict: 3. Alyx has some good ideas, and the fluff/tactics section is very detailed, which says to me that you had some great ideas, and didn't finish for lack of time. That, while regrettable, is understandable. However, and this is a HUGE pet peeve, you didn't bother to post your character into the PM, and made me click through to Myth-Weavers. That's... aggravating. I can't mark you down for it, since you were permitted to do so, but it annoys me.
Final Winner (in my eyes): Lirea, the Dark Dancer. Lirea is a great case of broad-spectrum optimization with a few heavy focused areas, and she can still play nice with the party. The build was smooth, the fluff was decent enough, and the use of PsiAg was creative and fresh. Overall, I really liked Lirea, and feel the maker (you know who you are) should be commended. Course, that's just me.
Final Judging Notes: No matter what I may have said above, I'd like to point out that each of you made something great. You had limited time, were making something for the PUBLIC to judge, and still came through and made something. Even if I didn't like it or said something you disagreed with, I'd hope that you understand that I appreciate the effort and time you gave to this contest. I hope to see more from each of you in the contests Heliomance will undoubtably run in the future.
__________________
Salt shaker provided for your liberal use, as always.
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Re: Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge II
thanks!
Now, time to pack for NYC!
