Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground XIX

true_shinken · 03-12-2011, 10:20 AM

Welcome, contestants, judges, and guests to Iron Chef XIX. Here in Optimization Colosseum, contestants will endeavor to create an optimized and flavorful character using a specified D&D3.5 prestige class as a "Secret Ingredient".

Contestants: You will need to present your build at at least one of the following points: 5th level, 10th level, 15th, 20th, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build. Feel free to present as many of these as you like, and please give a rundown of the build's abilities and playability at all of the levels you didn't show. The rules are as follows:

Menu: For most challenges, the "special ingredient" will be drawn from Core plus Completes. There will, from time to time, be special challenges that showcase secret ingredients from other books--for example, the XPH.

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. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Also, item familiars are forbidden because I hate 'em.

Cooking Time: Contestants will have until 11:59pm CUT on Monday, March 21st 2011 to create their builds and PM them to the Chairman, true_shinken. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying.

Judging: Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated 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 an automatic loss of one point per flaw in this category. Other things that will cause lost points here are excessive multiclassing, and classes that don't fit the concept - using Cloistered Cleric in a front-line melee fighter, for example, will lose you points.

I am going to have to ask the contestants to PM me about any disagreement with the judges. Under no circumstances is a contestant to defend themselves inside the thread, since it breaks anonymity.

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

NAME OF ENTRY

Level	Class	Base Attack<br>Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
2nd	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
3rd	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
4th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
5th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
6th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
7th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
8th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
9th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
10th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
11th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
12th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
13th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
14th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
15th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
16th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
17th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
18th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
19th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities
20th	New Class Level	+x	+x	+x	+x	Skills	New Feats	New Class Abilities

Code

Spoiler

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

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.

So! Who wants to sign up as a contestant, and who wants to sign up as a judge? Looking for about 5 judges and as many contestants as feel like playing!

This week's special ingredient is:
Complete Adventurer' Dread Pirate!
We will have trophies for 1st through 3rd places, as well as a special trophy for honorable mention. Judges, contestants and guests alike are invited to vote for honorable mention via PM.

Allez optimiser!

Judges
vikingofdoom
Zaq
gbprime
~~Amechra~~ - Best of luck, dude.

Contestants
Amphetryon
The Gilded Duke
OMG Ponies
Waker
Fearan
Cartigan
kestrel404
Private-Prinny
BobVosh
Cieryn
Thurbane
Zonugal
unosarta
Forb
Quirp
Devmaar
aquaticrna
Akal Saris
Xodion

The Builds
Dread Ghost
Jacinta
Four Fingers
Hendrick Van der Decken
Darrigan the Gray Death
Halavin d'Lyrandar
Vincent Alzey d'Lyrandar
Oltur Seadweller
Alria Almaiath

Past Competitions

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

Amphetryon · 03-12-2011, 10:39 AM

Wow, a class with a Leadership-type capstone, with Leadership banned. Interesting. Competing, by the way.

Cartigan · 03-12-2011, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amphetryon

Wow, a class with a Leadership-type capstone, with Leadership banned. Interesting. Competing, by the way.

Maybe you automatically lose if you take the 10th level.

vikingofdoom · 03-12-2011, 11:06 AM

The leadership-like ability merely gives you followers, so I doubt that will affect anything. Really, what are you going to do with around 135 1st level NPCs?

On topic: I'm willing to judge this. I'll hopefully be able to get my hands on Stormwrack. I'll post my judging criteria by Monday.

The Gilded Duke · 03-12-2011, 11:31 AM

Interesting. I see some ways to make this work.
Ill submit a build for it.

OMG PONIES · 03-12-2011, 11:35 AM

Competing.

Waker · 03-12-2011, 11:41 AM

Unless something comes up, I plan on competing. I do wonder what kinda rum drinking scurvy sea-dogs we're gonna see in this competition.

Urpriest · 03-12-2011, 11:47 AM

But...but...but...this is a good class!

Fearan · 03-12-2011, 11:52 AM

Yarrrr! I'm going to compete in this one

T.G. Oskar · 03-12-2011, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by true_shinken

OK. I've decided our next secret ingredient.
It's a class from the Completes that neither gets nor advances casting. It wasn't mentioned as a suggestion here. It's also a class that gains one of my favorite abilities ever at level 4.

Seeing the new thread is up, what kind of ability is shinken's favorite, then? I can only see two, and at least one of them is shared with a base class. Don't really see what interest that might be, unless shinken decided to change his mind on the SI.

Why it is that I see one PrC from a book I cannot disclose that will synergize so brutally with this class, it isn't funny? Also, dealing with that 10th level bonus must be a challenge, though what it seems is that you'll get a main course that will serve a lot of people, but in tiny portions (catering, anyone?) I can see that kind of course work; it's a concept I've seen in at least one restaurant, actually :P

Zaq · 03-12-2011, 12:04 PM

Hmmm. I have to think about this one. I could see myself entering, I could see myself judging, and I could see myself sitting out. I'm leaning towards judging, but don't put me down for anything quite yet.

true_shinken · 03-12-2011, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T.G. Oskar

Seeing the new thread is up, what kind of ability is shinken's favorite, then? I can only see two, and at least one of them is shared with a base class. Don't really see what interest that might be, unless shinken decided to change his mind on the SI.

I was talking about Acrobatic Charge. Love it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Urpriest

But...but...but...this is a good class!

We do those every now and then.

Pyrokineticist, Assassin and Warmind are not bad at all, for example.

Cartigan · 03-12-2011, 01:09 PM

I think I'll trade to create something.

An Enemy Spy · 03-12-2011, 01:11 PM

Is it bad that when I saw Iron Chef, I immediately thought of Darth Chef from that South Park episode?

Zaq · 03-12-2011, 01:28 PM

You know what? Count me in as a judge.

My criteria:

Spoiler

Originality: You pretty much already know what to expect here. Did you surprise me? Did you use a strategy that's very similar to that of anyone else? Perhaps most importantly, if you used a very obvious method of entry (e.g., rogue into assassin, ranger into dark hunter, etc.), what did you do to differentiate yourself? Obviously, if the secret ingredient calls for a certain class feature that only one class gets, I'll be less picky about this, but it's still in your best interest to make yourself stand out a bit. What makes you different from everyone else who takes this prestige class?

Power: For me, this is tied to Use of Secret Ingredient, in that I judge based on (or at least take into consideration) how much the secret ingredient builds on what you've already got. If you were aiming at a high-powered chassis, I'll judge you that way. If you were aiming for something more moderate, I'll judge you that way. Basically, how powerful did you become within the limits your class and role place upon you? How much do you need magic items, and how well do you stand on your own? Note that builds that don't function at both low and high levels (1 to 20 is ideal, but I understand that you might not hit both extremes) will be docked points in this category.

Elegance: Does it flow? Does it work? Can I see how everything fits together? Does each level naturally lead into the next, or are there a lot of "it'll make sense in four levels, trust me" choices? If I were looking at your build one level at a time and had no idea what the whole thing looked like, at each level, to what extent would I say "ah, that choice makes sense"? To what extent would I be able to predict, roughly, what you'll take next? Note that while I am not fond of dips and may penalize for them, they are not an automatic loss of points if you can explain why the dip was truly necessary. (Beware, though, that a dip that delays or doesn't synergize well with your other class features might lose you points in Power, if not here.) Also, I can't speak for the other judges, but I have no problems drawing from as many different books as you need. I'd prefer that you not mix setting-specific stuff if you don't have to, but I tend to be lenient about what is and is not setting-specific. I can't speak for every judge, though, so you might not want to risk it. Finally, see "Editing," below.

Use of Secret Ingredient: What do you do with the secret ingredient that you couldn't have done without it? How does it make you stronger than ten levels in another class would? How do you make taking all the prereqs truly worth it? Is it obvious that your build needs the secret ingredient, or are you only taking it because you have to? Good backstory fluff helps here, but bad backstory fluff will not hurt, because I know that not everyone is good at creative writing (I'm certainly not). Do you use every part of the buffalo, so to speak? I know that very few builds can use ALL of the class features that a given class has to offer, but the more you use, the more favorably I will judge.

Special—Format and Editing:

Spoiler

Please, please make your build easy to read. Don't make me guess or have to remember which skills you took in-class and which skills you took cross-class. Don't just tell me that you have a +35 in Craft: Underwater Basketweaving. Tell me somewhere that you got a bonus from your race, a bonus from your ACF, and a synergy bonus from Profession: Underwater Basketweaver. Explain to me where your cool combos come in and how they work together. Sure, I'll get most of them on my own, but you don't want to risk me missing something you thought of, do you? If you have spells/maneuvers/soulmelds/etc., explain which are your favorites for general situations and why. If you use racial substitution levels or alternative class features, explain what they do and why you took them. As a rule, you're not going to go wrong by explaining why you took just about everything you did. "Letting the work stand on its own" is for poets, not Iron Chef Optimizers. In general, the more you explain and the less you gloss over, the happier I'm going to be. You thought of all these cool things and noteworthy angles, and it's important to me that I understand your thought process as best as I can. I don't want to end up scratching my head and saying "why the hell did they take Blessed of Tem-Et-Nu?" while you're giggling in anticipation of how awesome Blessed of Tem-Et-Nu is going to make you and how it's going to wow the judges. Oh, and failure to cite your sources WILL result in a loss of points.

Furthermore, and this is different from most other judges, I'm going to be just a little picky about spelling and grammar. No, stop that face. It'll be OK. I'm not gonna dock you for a single typo (though if you consistently misspell a word, then we might have problems) or a small grammatical slip-up. I'm not your English teacher. I do, however, notice these things, and I will take off points if anything sends me into a grammar rage and has me instinctively reaching for my red pen. For example, one build a few sessions back used the word "whom" in the backstory over and over and over when they really needed to use the word "who." Using "who" when you mean "whom" is one thing, but using "whom" when you mean "who" tells me that you're trying something you don't understand. That's the sort of thing that will have me shaving off a quarter-point here and a quarter-point there, usually in Elegance. Basically, don't try any grammatical tricks you don't understand, try to keep it easy to read, and stay the hell away from comma splices, and we'll both be happy.

Now, I understand that English isn't everyone's first language. If you're not a native speaker and what I'm saying scares you, feel free to PM our chairman and ask him to privately tell me that. (You could put it in the build itself, but I certainly understand if you don't want to make a big deal about it). As a rule, just keep it simple and you'll be fine. I'm not here to judge you on your grammar. I'm just warning you that I won't be happy if your grammar interferes with me reading your build. I honestly don't expect this to come up. I just don't want anyone to be surprised if it does.

One last thing: please pay attention to the wording of your feats and class features. I already see one trap that I predict at least one person will fall into, and I'll feel really bad if I have to take off points for "sorry, it just doesn't work that way." If you feel that there's anything that's borderline, or that you're pretty sure most reasonable GMs would allow but isn't quite supported by the wording, mention it in the Variants section where you talk about those flaws that you totally wished you could take if the meanie-face ICOC rules didn't prevent doing so. (Yes, I'll read the Variants section. It'll take a lot to actually change a score, but you might get a half-point out of it if there's something phenomenal in there.)

Good luck, everyone!

kestrel404 · 03-12-2011, 01:48 PM

I was thinking that I wanted to try my hand as a judge, but I'm starting a new job right after the reveal and I'm probably going to be working a lot of extra hours right out of the gate. Maybe next time.

But I'm definitely going to compete.

Private-Prinny · 03-12-2011, 02:59 PM

I swear to Pelor, as soon as I saw this class, I had a full 20-level build that uses every aspect here. Unfortunately, I think it may be exceedingly obvious. I'll make my obvious build first, and then see if I can come up with something more out of left field.

BobVosh · 03-12-2011, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Private-Prinny

I swear to Pelor, as soon as I saw this class, I had a full 20-level build that uses every aspect here. Unfortunately, I think it may be exceedingly obvious. I'll make my obvious build first, and then see if I can come up with something more out of left field.

Unfortunately the sun only illuminates what is in plain sight, so Pelor is a poor choice :P Can I interest you in the word of Kord? Dashing, bold, Kord truly embodies this ingredient, and much more besides!

I'm going to enter as a contestant for once instead of creepily watching silently.

gbprime · 03-12-2011, 07:53 PM

It's time to give back to the community... mark me down as a judge for this one. Yarrr.

My Judging Criteria

Spoiler

Originality - Surprise me. I want to see something out of the ordinary, be it Race, Class, PrC, feat combo, or backstory. If there's a simple and straightforward way to get a prerequisite or ability, find some other way. If there isn't another way to get it, then give it a unique spin or synergy. (Please note that Originality is relative. It may very well be original to use a specific race, unless multiple builds in the contest also used the same thing... which will tend to lower the score for all of them.)

Power - What is this build capable of cranking out? My criteria are based on the high side of a moderate power level, something any experienced DM could handle in their game. (See my past entries if you want examples.) If you exceed that power level, you get more points. Fail to exceed it, you get less. But if you exceed it TOO FAR, to the point that this build needs no other party members or renders other party members useless by comparison... well you won't lose points, but you won't get too many bonus ones either. (More power than a DM can handle is actually a BAD thing, IMO.)

Elegance - The classic hero in comic and myth is a capable fellow, does one thing amazingly well, and has one or more glaring weaknesses or tragic flaws. The more of that I see, the higher your score will be. I want to see powers and abilities fit into a seamless concept, not cherry picked to get extra dice or bonuses. (A good back story may help here.) If you need to dip into a class to get an ability, consider staying in it for longer than just a dip to fuel that concept. (Please note that elegance may come into direct conflict with power and/or originality, and it may not be possible for your concept to get high scores in all three. You live with these choices as tradeoffs.)

Use of Secret Ingredient - This one should be pretty obvious, so I'll list out a few specific things to keep in mind. Why did you pick this PrC? What does it do for you that you couldn't have done better by avoiding it? Did you use all 10 PrC levels? Did you get into the PrC so late that it's abilities were nearly obsolete when you gained them? Did you synergize or supercharge those abilities?

Scoring - Since we're going on a scale of 1-5 here, I'll be using 3.0 for each category as the default score. To that I'll add by the quarter point for good stuff and subtract by the quarter point for bad stuff. A dead average build should be around a 12 and the builds that go under 9 or over 15 should be rare. Y'know... in theory.

Growin · 03-12-2011, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vikingofdoom

Really, what are you going to do with around 135 1st level NPCs?

Mwhahahaha

Cartigan · 03-12-2011, 09:24 PM

If I could do math, this would be a lot easier.

ShneekeyTheLost · 03-12-2011, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vikingofdoom

The leadership-like ability merely gives you followers, so I doubt that will affect anything. Really, what are you going to do with around 135 1st level NPCs?

With minimal effort, I could whip up a build which would give each of those 135 1st level NPC's a +19 BAB (including iteratives), +14d6 Sonic damage on every hit, and +14 morale bonus to attack and damage.

And that's only the *least* broken thing I could do with them...

In fact, I did, in a previous Iron Chef optimization challenge. I just didn't submit him since the build was glaringly obvious for that particular secret ingredient.

dextercorvia · 03-12-2011, 10:49 PM

I'll spend a day or two kicking around a build idea. If I can't figure anything out, I might offer to judge again.

T.G. Oskar · 03-12-2011, 11:43 PM

Wow...how odd it is when you do a build in pretty much half a day! It's mostly a mental practice, but who knows, maybe I'll submit it. Though, that depends; the combination seems way too obvious, and Originality might suffer a bit (and quite a bit, I may add).

Though, I fear that the build makes better use of the other class than the SI, so it might be better to remain as a mental exercise; still, it was done pretty easily. The story, though, is one that could be interesting.

Urgh, to compete or not; that, is the question...

Cieyrin · 03-13-2011, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T.G. Oskar

Urgh, to compete or not; that, is the question...

Not a question when you already know the answer. You know what you must do...

I have a crazy idea that puts a spin on one of my favorite character types that actually plays fairly nice with this, so maybe I'll finally see about crafting an entry if it pans out right. Unlike IC IX, when I didn't get my Sharklord together beyond the planning phase. Maybe I'll manage to get past that point this time...

tldr: Call me a contestant and you should to, Oskar

Zonugal · 03-13-2011, 12:23 AM

I think I'll try to put something together, although this upcoming week is finals week at my university so...

unosarta · 03-13-2011, 01:58 AM

I sort of came up with a build on a whim, almost done with it.

Sign me up as a contestant.

Akal Saris · 03-13-2011, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Growin

Mwhahahaha

My thoughts exactly =P

Tam_OConnor · 03-13-2011, 02:48 AM

I think I'll just be watching. Unless of course, we wind up short of judges.

Forb · 03-13-2011, 03:46 AM

I would love to get in on this.

Edit: As a contestant.