Iron Chef Optimization Challenge In The Playground XXVII

Amphetryon · 11-27-2011, 07:44 PM

Welcome, contestants, judges, and guests to Iron Chef XXVI. 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. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt 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 GMT on Monday, December 12th, 2011 to create their builds and PM them to the Chairman, Amphetryon. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 11:59PM GMT on Friday, December 30th, 2011 to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted. (Judges are getting a couple of extra days due to the holidays). If you do not have access to the current challenge's Secret Ingredient, please do not volunteer to judge this round.

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. Please note the following change: a legal source's relative obscurity should not be considered as penalizing Elegance, excepting the aforementioned issues with Unearthed Arcana. Using too many sources may be an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion, but a book's relative obscurity may not.

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 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 as many contestants and judges as feel like playing!

This week's special ingredient is:
Complete Arcane's Mindbender!
We will have trophies for 1st through 3rd places, as well as a special trophy for honorable mention. The honorable mention prize is given to the most daring or unexpected build. Judges, contestants and guests alike are invited to vote for honorable mention via PM.

Allez optimiser!

Contestants
Fearan
Hunter_Killer
Dumbledore_lives
TheGeckoKing
Piggy_Knowles
Z3ro
Amechra
Venger
RedWarrior0
Wings_of_Peace
dextercorvia
DonutBoy12321
nedz
Zaq
Narsis
Gotterdammerung
Grey McBannert
Tyndmyr
Diefje
Tono
Sgt. Cookie
gbprime
TerrickTerran
OMG_PONIES

Judges

The Builds

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
Iron Chef XIX: Dread Pirate
Iron Chef XX: Incandescent Champion
Iron Chef XXI: Ghostwalker
Iron Chef XXII: Dervish
Iron Chef XXIII: Divine Crusader
Iron Chef XXIV: Tactical Soldier
Iron Chef XXV: Scion of Tem-Et-Nu
Iron Chef XXVI: Shadowdancer

Fearan · 11-27-2011, 07:49 PM

Wow, the dip guy. Ok, put me up as a contestant.

Hunter Killer · 11-27-2011, 07:49 PM

I'm in. Contestant again. I'm going to win this one this time.

Dumbledore lives · 11-27-2011, 07:51 PM

All right I'll try, but it's going to be kind of difficult with the thrall, I guess it would be best not to stat out one, but to outline what kind of thrall you want.

TheGeckoKing · 11-27-2011, 07:51 PM

Oh good grief. A half-caster I can't throw Ur-Priest at

. Well, I guess you can put me in as a contestant, even though I really have no idea.

Zipding · 11-27-2011, 07:56 PM

This will definitely be interesting. Like I said in the previous Challenge, I won't participate, but I will take a stab at judging.

Amphetryon · 11-27-2011, 07:59 PM

I highlighted a change in rules above, but it bears repeating:

While I'm chairing (at least), Obscurity is not to be considered a factor in Elegance.

Piggy Knowles · 11-27-2011, 07:59 PM

Oh man, I already have a build in mind. Let's see if this can come together, but there's a lot of good stuff to eke out of Mindbender!

Z3ro · 11-27-2011, 08:06 PM

I may compete with this one, but I was looking for a clarification:

We're not looking to stat out any thralls, right? Leadership is banned for good reason, and you could pull a lot of shenanigans with a thrall, so I'm assuming we're leaving it out for similar reasons, correct?

Amphetryon · 11-27-2011, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z3ro

I may compete with this one, but I was looking for a clarification:

We're not looking to stat out any thralls, right? Leadership is banned for good reason, and you could pull a lot of shenanigans with a thrall, so I'm assuming we're leaving it out for similar reasons, correct?

For our purposes, I'm perfectly fine with folks explaining the 'party role' that any "thralls" subjected to Eternal Charm fill, but ask that their character sheets be left blank, so to speak. If you're using Eternal Charm to get a trapmonkey, for example, say so, but don't go so far as Spellthief 1/Beguiler 6/Unseen Seer 5/XXX 8 or whatever.

The Gilded Duke · 11-27-2011, 08:22 PM

Hmm... You know what?
I'll judge this time. Will post criteria in a bit.

Originality
Did you find any new use of the prestige class? Did you combine it with a base class / other prestige classes in an interesting way. Going with something strange, only to be strange will not give a bonus to originality.

Power
Can your build contribute to (or outshine) a group? Is your build effective against appropriate CR enemies? Is your build effective against higher CR enemies? Can you handle a variety of enemies (Undead, Oozes, Incorporeal Creatures etc) Do you have a variety of tools and tactics available? When in doubt, big numbers are good. Please explain tactics.

Elegance
To be honest, I hate this category. Dipping will not be penalized. Class Variants will not be penalized. Qualifying with items and spells will be. Not meeting qualifications will be. "Shopping Lists" will not be penalized, however remember wealth by level. Try not to mix setting material. Ways to gain points in this category? Using resources well together. (Class A complements Class B and works with Feat C)

Use of Secret Ingredient
Do you qualify for the secret ingredient? Do you take all the levels? Do you use all of the abilities? Do you use the abilities in new ways? Is the secret ingredient a good choice for your build?

Amechra · 11-27-2011, 08:24 PM

I'm in.

And it shall be GLORIOUS!

Venger · 11-27-2011, 08:28 PM

I'm in!

I've always wanted an excuse to use mindbender for more than a one level dip and now I'll have some.

RedWarrior0 · 11-27-2011, 08:28 PM

You know, I've kind of wanted to do one of these... Might do it.

DonutBoy12321 · 11-27-2011, 08:37 PM

Sweet! My suggestion was accepted!
I guess I'll be participating, then. This will be great fun.

Wings of Peace · 11-27-2011, 08:39 PM

Count me in for this one.

dextercorvia · 11-27-2011, 08:39 PM

I'll have to think about this one. I'm sure I can come up with something.

DonutBoy12321 · 11-27-2011, 08:55 PM

Stupid question... Is the "Adaption" section of PrCs okay to use for this challenge?

Venger · 11-27-2011, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonutBoy12321

Stupid question... Is the "Adaption" section of PrCs okay to use for this challenge?

I think that ought to be fine, it'll mean more variety amongst contestants. what's the chairman say? psionics are yes or no?

Amphetryon · 11-27-2011, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonutBoy12321

Stupid question... Is the "Adaption" section of PrCs okay to use for this challenge?

The Adaptation is fundamentally an entirely different class, so I'm going to say no, just the standard version, please. As it is, there are multiple ways to enter.

Z3ro · 11-27-2011, 09:20 PM

Alright, I've got an idea. I'm in.

Venger · 11-27-2011, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amphetryon

The Adaptation is fundamentally an entirely different class, so I'm going to say no, just the standard version, please. As it is, there are multiple ways to enter.

okeydoke. thanks for the prompt response before I could get too far into my psionic build

DonutBoy12321 · 11-27-2011, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amphetryon

The Adaptation is fundamentally an entirely different class, so I'm going to say no, just the standard version, please. As it is, there are multiple ways to enter.

Okay... Now to find a non-psionics build.

nedz · 11-27-2011, 09:28 PM

I'm in, provided that I have time - which might be tricky since I'm about to move house.

Zipding · 11-27-2011, 10:29 PM

I'll post my criteria for judging tomorrow, when the interest increases and we get more contestants.

Akto · 11-27-2011, 10:39 PM

Quick Question about this class, as i am a bit confused (might be because i'm tired, it's 5 in the morning here in Denmark and havn't gotten to bed yet =P ) But does this class both give you the ability to permanently dominate 1 monster, aswell as charming 3 pr. day?

Venger · 11-27-2011, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akto

Quick Question about this class, as i am a bit confused (might be because i'm tired, it's 5 in the morning here in Denmark and havn't gotten to bed yet =P ) But does this class both give you the ability to permanently dominate 1 monster, aswell as charming 3 pr. day?

Yes. (styrofoam packing peanuts, crumpled up newspapers, commercials)

DonutBoy12321 · 11-27-2011, 11:04 PM

To clarify: Dragon Compendium is or is not allowed?

Amphetryon · 11-27-2011, 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonutBoy12321

To clarify: Dragon Compendium is or is not allowed?

Dragon Compendium is allowed.

Akto · 11-27-2011, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Venger

Yes. (styrofoam packing peanuts, crumpled up newspapers, commercials)

Thank you... =) and i have a feeling there is a joke hiden there, but my tired mind is in no way able to get the pun (pun)