Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground XXXIX

[OMG PONIES]

Now that my entry is finally er, finalized, it's time for the mad dash to see if I can format it and submit it by tomorrow night's deadline!

EDIT: Submitted!

[Amphetryon]

And now, it's time for the reveal! Please avoid posting in this thread until I give the all-clear. Thanks.

[Amphetryon]

Made with genuine Shadowsteel.

1. Making Plans

I laughed. “Doctor Mallory? The mad chirurgeon? You’re telling me that Mad Mallory is an assassin?”

Charlene scowled at me. “Yes,” she said darkly, “and if you don’t begin taking this job seriously, he’s going to make short work of you.”

“Sorry,” I said, still snickering. “I just - when you told me we were assigned to eliminate our most dangerous threat yet, I thought perhaps you meant perhaps the Blood of Vol. I didn’t expect us to take on a doctor.”

“Antony Mallory is no simple doctor,” she said. “In truth, he worked in a smithy during the Last War, a smithy long thought to be one of Starrin d’Cannith’s secret workshops. We believe he picked up on some of House Cannith’s forbidden artifice. When the Last War ended, he abandoned the forges and opened shop as a chirurgeon, where he could gain an even closer understanding of the human body.”

“Well, that explains his reputation,” I said, chewing my beard. “No wonder he’s such a poor chirurgeon, if he was trained for a hammer and anvil! What was his goal?”

“We believe he is trying to create a hybrid creature - part human, part warforged,” she said, and I shivered. “In fact, if our detective is as good as he claims to be, Mallory has already completed this procedure once - on himself...”

Antony Mallory, a/k/a AM-1468

Spoiler

Human, Sleeping Tiger Monk 2/Shadowcaster 7/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Soul Eater 1

ANTONY MALLORY

Stats:

Spoiler

Starting Stats (32-point buy): Str 8/Dex 16/Con 14/Int 14/Wis 8/Cha 16

Level boosts: All boosts go to Charisma. Craft or purchase a +4 Headband of Intellect before the highest levels to guarantee the ability to cast your Master Path mysteries. If that is not going to be an option in your campaign, consider instead putting your level boosts into Intelligence.

Mysteries:

Spoiler

Fundamentals (at-will): Black Candle, Arrow of Dusk, Sight Obscured, Umbral Hand, Caul of Shadow, Widened Eyes

Supernatural Mysteries (3/day): Life Fades, Voice of Shadow, Steel Shadows, Congress of Shadows, Flicker (x2)

Spell-like Mysteries (2/day): Bolster (x2), Shadow Vision, Curtain of Shadows, Unveil, Step into Shadow

Spell Mysteries (1/day): Truth Revealed, Dark Soul, Soul Puppet

Level by level mystery progression:

Spoiler

2- Black Candle, Arrow of Dusk, Sight Obscured, Life Fades

3- Voice of Shadow

4- Steel Shadows

6- Umbral Hand, Congress of Shadows

8- Flicker

9- Flicker

10- Bolster

11- Caul of Shadow, Shadow Vision

12- Curtain of Shadow

14- Bolster

15- Unveil

16- Widened Eyes, Step into Shadow

18- Dark Soul

19- Truth Revealed

20- Soul Puppet

Suggested Items:

Spoiler

AM-1468 needs few items beyond his own body to succeed. He can provide many enhancements to his physical form himself, such as enhancing his battlefist with the spell-storing enchantment. However, here are a few additional items that might help.

Stat boosters are always appreciated. In particular, AM-1468 would look toward items that boost his Dexterity, Charisma and Intelligence.

Anything that boosts his stealth is also nice. Essence of the Scout (ECS) is especially handy, giving a +15 competence bonus to each with the greater version for a relatively low cost. If available, a Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis would also not go amiss.

Wands can further increase AM-1468's utility, and should be easily activated via UMD. An embedded wand sheath (ECS) is similarly useful.

Finally, augment crystals (MIC) can also be used on his battlefist to provide situational bonuses. For example, the Lesser Truedeath crystal can aid against incorporeal enemies, while the Fiendslayer crystal can add a dimensional anchor effect to prevent targets from escaping.

USER MANUAL

Spoiler

This leather-bound book is old and heavily stained with what appears to be dried blood. The first dozen pages appear to be some sort of diary of progress, written by noted chirurgeon Antony Mallory. As the pages progress, the entries appear more and more sporadic. The last several pages of this “diary” are scratched out, followed by the words “USER MANUAL” in a heavy, mechanical hand.

Combat Maneuvers

SECTION 1: DEFENSIVE MANEUVERS

1.1 (Teleportation Unit)
1.1.1 - It is highly recommended that the short-range teleportation unit be activated prior to any combat maneuvers. This is set to a neural switch, so that it may be activated immediately and in response to any threats. This unit can remain active for intervals of 2.5 minutes; during this time, the same neural switch can be pressed to immediately teleport a short distance (see section 2.1, Attack Sequences, for more details). Studies indicate that activating this neural switch in response to a threat closing to melee range is effective in stopping the majority of short range attacks, and can be combined with the first attack sequence (sec. 2.1).

1.1.2 - If longer range teleportation is necessary, manually activate the unit. This allows for distances of up to 960 feet, and if desired, you may extend its range to cover any allies or hostages present.

1.1.3 - The same teleporation unit can be used for long-range communication. The range on this device is 15 miles when used in this fashion.

(The Flicker mystery, which is useable six times per day as a (Su) ability, allows for teleportation of up to 35’ each round as an immediate action. This is used both defensively to avoid attacks, and offensively via Sun School. As it is an immediate action, it can be used outside of AM-1468’s turn, meaning he can spend his turn moving and casting as normal, then flicker and attack either before his turn starts again or in response to an attack. He also has access to Step into Shadow twice a day, which acts as dimension door. And if he needs to communicate at long range, Congress of Shadows allows him to send and receive a short message up to 15 miles away.)

1.2 (Recovery)
1.2.1 - The modifications made to the nervous system have resulted in a deadening of the sensation of pain, allowing for a minor resistance to damage. As an unintended but welcome side effect, this eliminates many of the “pressure spots” located throughout the body, providing a line of defense against targeted attacks.

1.2.2 - Activating a power surge greatly increases endurance, lasting 2.3 hours increasing your capacity to take damage by approximately 60% with each use. The power stored allows for four of these surges per day.

1.2.3 - If your temporary store of strength via the power surge is depleted, you may direct power from some of the other units to restore the body itself. This will prevent their use, and should only be used in case of emergency. For typical repairs, an auxiliary method is instead recommended.

1.2.4 - If you or an ally is experiencing negative conditions, temporarily overloading the mental circuits is suggested. This will remove the following conditions (listed in A-alpha order): ability damage / blinded / confused / cursed / dazed / dazzled / deafened / diseased / exhausted / fatigued / immobilized / insanity / nauseated / sickened / stunned / poisoned.

(AM-1468 has several powerful methods of recovery. In addition to damage reduction and improved fortification, he may use the Bolster mystery four times per day, each use granting him a whopping 75 temporary hit points, lasting 140 minutes. He can also channel his higher level mysteries to recover his own HP, or activate wands of repair damage. Finally, the Unveil mystery removes a huge suite of negative conditions on himself or an ally.)

1.3 (Defensive Boosters)
1.3.1 - Traditional armor plating is not recommended, as it interferes with offensive functions. Two shadow-based units have instead been developed. These create armor and shields that protect the user without inhibiting them.

(Steel Shadows gives a +3 armor bonus and a +3 shield bonus, while Caul of Shadow provides a +4 deflection bonus. AM-1468 can Steel Shadows up for 14 hours total with a Rod of Extend, and Caul of Shadows is usable at-will and so can be kept up permanently. Neither of these interfere with AM-1468’s monk abilities.)

1.4 (Stealth and Perception Devices)
1.4.1 - Embedding the scouting unit greatly increases stealth capabilities. To augment these abilities, use your shadow mechanisms to adjust the ambient light available and obscure your position.

1.4.2 - Umbral lenses have been installed, allowing your vision to operate under any lighting condition. If facing an unseen enemy, activate your infrared sensors, which will see through any magical interference.

1.4.3 - Infrared sensors can also be focused to reveal additional information on targets, including surface thoughts, magical auras, fears and loved ones. Use this ability to identify weak spots or obtain hidden information.

(By creating and embedding an Essence of the Scout unit, AM-1468 has exceptionally high scores in Hide and Move Silently. He can also use Sight Obscured at will to add an additional +5, and Black Candle to create either darkness or light. On the perception end of things, umbral sight and widened eyes gives AM-1468 the ability to see under any lighting condition, while Truth Revealed grants him true seeing, which can be focused to duplicate any of the detect spells, including detect thoughts, to discern lies, find out someone’s recent actions, or reveal their greatest love and fear.)

SECTION 2: OFFENSIVE MANEUVERS

2.1 (Attack Sequences)
2.1.1 - Most major attack sequences, including the battlefist (sec. 2.2), are keyed in to activate alongside the teleportation unit. This allows for swift, harrying attacks intended to keep the target off-guard.

2.1.2 - All physical attacks, including the battlefist (sec. 2.2), are designed to debilitate rather than outright damage. The body will maintain a charge of shadow energy, which will weaken targets upon contact.

2.1.3 - It is imperative that targets are constantly kept off guard. As the attack sequence can occur at unexpected intervals, time can otherwise be spent finding otherwise to harry and confuse targets (sec. 2.3).

(Sun School combined with Flicker and Step into Shadow means that each round, AM-1468 can hide, buff himself, lay down battlefield control, or otherwise attack. Then, as an immediate action (usually in response to movement or an attack), he can Flicker and make two attacks. These attacks will deal a relatively small amount of damage, but will carry with them a whole suite of negative effects, including level drain from Soul Eater, contact poison, multiple touch spells, and more.)

2.2 (Battlefist)
2.2.1 - The battlefist is the primary offensive unit. It is constructed entirely of inorganic material, making it less vulnerable than many other units. However, it still carries the same charge of shadow energy that the rest of the body has (sec. 2.1.2).

2.2.2 - The battlefist may powered up with other offensive abilities, as circumstances require. Due to the nature of its construction, it may be powered with up to two such effects at once.

2.2.3 - When dealing with targets with vulnerabilities to them, organic poisons can be applied to the battlefist to debilitate them.

2.2.4 - Auxiliary modifications should be kept at hand to further assist the battlefist’s functionality. These modifications are maintained in crystal form, and designed for easy installation and use.

(AM-1468 has enhanced his battlefist with the spell storing enhancement, a +1 enhancement that AM-1468 can create himself at ECL 15, or that he can pay someone else to add earlier. He can use this to charge up his battlefist with targeted mysteries. At a minimum, his at-will Arrow of Dusk can always be used to add some additional damage. Also, he has several touch-range mysteries, which he can cast in advance and hold the charge. Since his battlefist is both a manufactured weapon (and therefore a legal target for spell storing) and also a natural weapon, striking someone with it can hit them with up to four effects - poison, the stored mystery, the held touch spell, and a negative level from Soul Eater. Finally, AM-1468 carries around weapon crystals to apply as needed to his battlefist.)

2.3 (Other Attacks)
2.3.1 - As containing targets is often paramount, a caging unit has been developed that converts shadow energy into a more stable form, which can be used as a barrier. While this barrier is still permeable, it blocks light and can be used to contain or seal off, causing damage to any who attempt to pierce it.

2.3.2 - It is possible to channel energy to directly impair an enemy’s vision. This can either be used at range or channeled through the battlefist (sec. 2.2). As the eyes are a particularly vulnerable spot on most targets, this is an effective way to weaken stronger enemies. It also can function as a quick escape, as it conceals you from your target’s vision.

2.3.3 - Using electrical impulses, it is possible to bypass an enemy’s neural functioning completely, allowing us to control an enemy’s musculature from afar. A limited form of this can be used at range on a number of enemies, although control must be reestablished constantly. A more powerful form can be channeled through the battlefist, which allows complete control over the target for approximately one month.

(There are a number of other powerful attacks AM-1468 has access to, most of which can be channeled through the battlefist. Curtain of Shadows is a shapeable wall, blocking line of sight and dealing 15d6 damage to all who pass through. Shadow Vision gives a -4 penalty to most checks and conceals AM-1468 from his target’s vision. Dark Soul lasts for one round/level and allows AM-1468 to spend a standard action to force an enemy to attack whatever is closest (he prefers to use this from hiding early on). Soul Puppet acts as dominate monster, and can be extended to last for up to a month of complete control.)

2. First Contact

I pushed my way into the chirurgeon’s shop. It was dark, but I could see a low red gleam toward the back. I made my way to it.

“Hello, there,” said a harsh voice. I started. “I apologize for the state of things here. Always so much to do, and so little time to clean up...”

“Where are you?” I was looking all around, but could not see the source of the voice in the dim. “I can’t see anything in here!”

“My apologies,” said the voice. “I work better in the dark, and sometimes it is easy to forget that others do not share my... aptitude... with the shadows. Allow me to remedy the situation.”

With that, the workshop was suddenly illuminated, although I could see no lamp or lantern. The shop was indeed messy, littered with paper and cruel-looking instruments. Jars of specimens lined the back wall. But most gruesome of all was the doctor.

He was wearing a chirurgeon’s frock of a muddy brown color, heavily stained. His face was deeply lined and covered in scars, and his right eye was gone completely, replaced instead with a lens of some sort. The lens glowed a deep red. His right hand had long, spidery fingers, which were currently holding a scalpel over what appeared to be a cat. His left hand was something else entirely - bulky and metallic, and covered in harsh spikes.

“Now, my friend,” he said, still focusing on his cat. “Tell me what ails you, and I will see what I can do.”

“Actually,” I said, “it’s not what, it’s who. I came here because I’d heard you can make people, erm, disappear.”

He looked at me hard, his right eye glinting. “Close the door,” he said, and I did. “Truth be told, I would prefer to never have to take on such work, but my... experiments... can be costly, and a chirurgeon not of House Jorasco is hard pressed to find good, paying work. Now, sit down.”

“Thank you, Doctor Mallory,” I said. I moved a pile of scrolls off a wooden stool and sat.

“I prefer AM-1468 these days. Antony Mallory is so tragically human, don’t you agree? Convential names define a person’s past: ancestry, house, location, religion. I am not who I was ten years ago, and certainly not who I will be in twenty years. The name 1468 reflects my conviction that the year 1468 will be a magical time, a time when such collective identity is no longer necessary.”

“The year 1468?” I was confused. This job was not going at all as planned. “But... that’s ages away! What does that have to do with you?”

“Aye, ages away. Five hundred years after my birth, if you must know. But I fully plan to see that year’s dawn. 1468 is a dream and a goal, a reminder to myself that I shall never die...”
Snapshots

Spoiler

LEVEL 5: Human, Sleeping Tiger Monk 2/Shadowcaster 3

At these levels, AM-1468 plays more like a rogue than anything else. His maxed out stealth skills become even better when combined with Sight Obscured. His primary form of offense is his crossbow, which he uses to deliver poisoned bolts to enemies. He also generally pre-casts Life Fades and holds the charge, so he can strike anyone nearby with an unarmed attack and add on extra damage and fatigue. Steel Shadows and an excellent dexterity keeps his defenses up without compromising his stealth.

LEVEL 10: Human, Sleeping Tiger Monk 2/Shadowcaster 4/Renegade Mastermaker 4

In addition to general utility, including much easier crafting of poisons and several healing abilities, the following five levels completely change AM-1468's tactics.

First of all, his main combo, Flicker + Sun School, comes online. Flicker is like abrupt jaunt on steroids - every round, he can teleport as an immediate action. With Sun School, he can also deliver an attack at the end of that action. The battlefist is also key. Being both a natural and manufactured weapon, he can deliver touch spells with it and also cover use it to deliver poison. So, he holds the charge on a Life Fades, then as an immediate action, he teleports next to someone and strikes them with his battlefist, both poisoning and fatiguing them.

The other big addition here is Bolster. This adds on up to a whopping 50 temporary HP every time he uses it at these levels. That significantly increases his endurance.

LEVEL 15: Human, Sleeping Tiger Monk 2/Shadowcaster 4/Renegade Mastermaker 9

A lot of AM-1468's abilities continue to progress in these levels. He picks up several new defensive abilities, including damage reduction from Renegade Mastermaker and deflection from Caul of Shadow. He can also begin embedding components, including the Essence of the Scout, which he builds himself and uses to boost his stealth potential (alongside Darkstalker, which nabs at level 12). Oh, and he gets more uses of Bolster (which now provides up to 75 temporary HP) and the powerful Unveil, which gets rid of just about any negative effect in the game.

He also gets a couple of new offensive mysteries, but the biggest thing is that he is now a high enough level to enchant his battlefist with the spell-storing enhancement. Now his immediate-action strikes can deliver three effects - poison, a stored mystery, and a held charge from a touch spell.

LEVEL 20: Living Construct, Sleeping Tiger Monk 2/Shadowcaster 7/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Soul Eater 1

Once AM-1468 completes his conversion from human to construct, his power goes up exponentially. His defenses are much better, and he is immune to precision damage and critical hits. He can also coat more than just his battlefist in poison now.

But there are two particularly huge power boosts: Soul Eater and the master level mysteries. Soul Eater lets him add a fourth debuff on his strikes, a negative level. His master mysteries give him an improved divination spell that acts as true seeing, detect thoughts, detect magic, detect alignment and more, all rolled together, plus a dominate monster effect (which can be channeled through his battlefist) and a third mystery that lets him force allies to attack each other.

On the Use of Renegade Mastermaker

Spoiler

Renegade Mastermaker seems like a poor choice for a "caster" style build, as it loses two caster levels. However, it provides many powerful options here, making AM-1468 far stronger than the typical shadowcaster.

The biggest boost is the battlefist. It is unique in counting as both a manufactured and natural weapon, allowing it to be enhanced with augment crystals, enchanted with abilities like spell-storing and coated in poison, while still being able to deliver held touch spells. It also counts as a natural weapon for Soul Eater.

The boost to craft is also much appreciated, giving a +10 bonus to two of AM-1468's key skills.

Self-repair and supporting construction both add two healing abilities that the build otherwise lacks, and they combine well with Bolster to make a surprisingly sturdy skirmisher. Similarly, the damage reduction also boosts endurance.

Embedded components are especially nice for AM-1468 because he cannot wear armor, meaning he does not have access to some of the best Hide/Move Silently boosters in the game (Shadow and Silent Moves armor and their hefty +15 bonus). A greater essence of the scout can be embedded for an equivalent bonus to both checks. Other embedded components are useful (see the Items section), but the essence of the scout is particularly handy.

Finally, Construct Exemplar further boosts both offense and defense - those excellent warforged immunities (which can be used to deliver poison with the Snap Kick that follows up the initial Flicker attack) along with the bonus feat for Improved Fortification. And, even more important, it provides access to the Soul Eater prestige class by changing AM-1468's type to construct.

All of these benefits, alongside a stronger chassis (including a better BAB, better skills and access to UMD), make this more than a fair trade for accepting two fewer master mysteries.

3. Failure

“I hate to be gauche,” said Doctor Mallory, “but I would prefer half of my payment up front. Collections is such a sticky matter, and I would much prefer to avoid it.”

“Of course,” I said. I fumbled in my bag, pretending to search for coin. My heart was pounding as I closed my hands around the dagger. If I could get one shot in, one shot to put him off his guard, I knew I could finish him.

I pulled out the dagger and flung it toward the doctor. I had just enough time to see his smile, and then he vanished, flickering out of existence like a candle.

Just as suddenly, I felt a metal fist thud against my head from somewhere behind me, followed by a hard kick to the back of my knees. I staggered - surely two such blows could not debilitate me so quickly? But I felt my lifeforce draining, as though it was being sucked away.

The metal hand closed around my throat, and the terrible feeling of draining increased. “Naughty, naughty,” the doctor whispered into my ear. “Didn’t I tell you? I shall never die. Now,” he went on, and suddenly I could feel a powerful energy flowing through his fist, and hear his voice in my head, commanding me to obey. “Now, perhaps you ought to tell me who sent you...”

Rules Clarifications:

Spoiler

1. How does AM-1468 qualify for Craft Wondrous Item with only two levels in shadowcaster, or Craft Magic Arms & Armor with only four?

Path Focus (Ebon Whispers) not only boosts the DC of the Ebon Whispers line, it also boosts its caster level. This lets AM-1468 qualify for the feats at the appropriate time.

2. How can AM-1468 qualify for Soul Eater, which requires being a non-humanoid?

3. Are you sure held touch spells can be delivered with a battlefist and alongside stored spells like that?

Yes. The relevant rules from the SRD are as follows:

As the battlefist qualifies as a natural weapon, AM-1468 can make an attack with it, activating the stored spell, and also discharging the held touch spell.

4. Can Flicker really avoid attacks as an immediate action?

Yes and no. Flicker provides immediate action teleportation each round. If this is used to avoid an attack, there is a 50% chance of the attack still being successful. This still prevents a full attack, and gives a decent chance of missing that first hit. However, there are ways to make this work even better. The first is to simply flicker in response to an opponent's movement, rather than in response to an attack. If you flicker outside of their range when they move to close, there isn't even a 50% chance of being hit. The second is to stack on more miss chances. Simply activating your Black Candle mystery, which you use at-will, will give you a 20% miss chance due to concealment on top of your 50% chance. Alternatively, the Shadow Vision mystery gives you complete concealment from a single enemy.

5. Does the Soul Eater's negative level require an action?

The verbiage on Soul Eater's level drain simply says that the touch of the Soul Eater causes level drain. As the Soul Eater appears to be modeled after the draining slams of vampires and similar creatures, this makes sense. However, many DMs will instead rule that this is a separate touch attack to drain a level.

If that is the case, the attack sequence still works, but it must be re-ordered. Instead, make a touch attack to drain a level and discharge any held touch spell. Then, in response to an attack or movement, flicker and hit again, discharging your stored mystery and also hitting them with any injury poison. If this is the case, replacing Snap Kick might be a good idea, since it will not be able to deliver an additional negative level.

Sources:

Spoiler

Tome of Magic:
Shadowcaster (class), all its mysteries, Path Focus & Extend Mystery feats

SRD/Unearthed Arcana:
Sleeping Tiger monk variant

Book of Vile Darkness:
Soul Eater (class)

Magic of Eberron:
Renegade Mastermaker (class)

Complete Warrior:
Sun School feat

Lords of Madness:
Darkstalker feat

Drow of the Underdark:
Master of Poisons feat

Eberron Campaign Setting
Improved Fortification feat, essence of the scout

[Amphetryon]

"Thank you very much, o Mr. Roboto, for helping me escape when I needed to" - Styx

Originally Posted by Kilroy

"""
d'Cannith, Kilroy
Korvaire
Cyre

Analysis:
1. Problem Restatement: To rebuild myself to retake Cyre, by
- Learning how this darn Dragonmark works (I'll get it eventually.)
- Pestering someone so that I can be trained to train with the scouts
- Rebuilding myself as a Warforged (that mist only works on living things, right?)
- Make some friends (optional)
2. Outputs:
- TO world
- - Kilroy d'Cannith, badass metal man (adv)
3. Inputs:
- FROM parents
- - Marena d'Cannith, mother (aristocrat)
- - Pietr d'Cannith, father (aristocrat)
- FROM sources
- - Surgical Resonance Device (SRD)
- - Master Ovar Estraven (MoE)
- - Dr. Ravan Alcaster (Dra)
- - The expeditious conversion surgery (ECS)
"""

def build(level)

Spoiler

Kilroy d'Cannith

Human Human Paragon 3/Cyre Scout 6/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Cyre Scout +1

Ability Scores (32 PB)

Str: 10 (10 PB)
Dex: 12 (12 PB)
Con: 12 (12 PB)
Int: 26 (18 PB, +5 levels, +1 Mark of the 12 Moons, +2 Human Paragon)
Wis: 12 (12 PB)
Cha: 10 (10 PB)

Return levelContent

def methods(level)
if level == 0

details=

Spoiler

"At this point, our friend is not too tough, though he is truly the paragon of humanity! He has the ability to use Minor Creation as a standard action once per day (dump some Black Lotus Extract on that bully's head, if you would kindly), can heal Warforged with uncanny skill (he has a +10 bonus to his Craft check at this level, before Masterwork tools, and can fix up a Warforged in 2 hours instead of 8, so he can work on healing any Warforged in the party several times, which is nice.)
However, he's none too good in close combat, so it might be a good idea to stay away from people who can hit you around this point."

elif level <= 5

details=

Spoiler

"At this point, he's rocking a 22 Intelligence, a +16 Craft check bonus, a CL 3 for his Minor Creation and Stick SLAs, and can expend uses of his SLAs to forgo food and drink for 12 hours, which is nice if he's got a long project. He also gets Blindfight, perfect for fighting someone while reading your book (not really, but that can only be, what, a 20% concealment chance? Rolling double with that is just peachy.) He still isn't Mr. Tough Guy in a fight, but he gets some nice Infusions, which can really buff up whatever he's using to beat a man up. He also gets a +class level to Survival checks. Still, none too impressive at this point."

elif level <= 10

details=

Spoiler

"At this point, our good friend is just starting to sink bits of metal into his flesh; his bonus to craft checks is going to start ramping soon, but right now it's just +22 without items to ramp that up. Fortunately, he has Craft Wondrous Items now, so he can spend some time crafting some +skill items, which are useful things! He has access to 2nd level Infusions, meaning that he can not only add Personal Weapon Enhancement to his spiffy new BATTLEFIST!, but can also add +4 to any of his ability scores, as well as using the good old skill enhancement to buff his Craft."

He also has some neat stuff from Cyre Scout, namely that he can expend an SLA use before going to bed to only have to sleep for 2 hours to be treated as being fully rested (still needs to relax for the rest of the 8 hours to get back his Infusions, so it ain't too much of a boost), which means that he can spend more time fixin' up his warforged friends! He also gets Detect Magic at his Dragonmark CL 6/day, he automatically knows if he's going the wrong way, and can stop for 1d4 hours to find which way he's going (he obviously has a compass shoved into his skull), and, of course, is immune to the Fatigued condition, and only becomes Fatigued by effects that would Exhaust him. He can keep trucking for days, almost as if he were a machine..."

elif level <= 15

details=

Spoiler

"Hell yeah! Our friend now heals Warforged for his Craft Check -5 instead of -15; might not sound too impressive, compared to his other tinkers on himself, but he has a +33 to his Craft checks buck naked, so that's taking 2 hours to heal his Warforged pals for 29-48 HP, which is enough to top them up on HP (as a back-up, really); other than that, his BATTLEFIST! is now a +2 weapon, and he can use 3rd level Infusions at CL 10 (and can expend daily uses of to heal Infusion level*d6 HP as a full-round action, for some out of combat healing). At this point, he can use some of his neat Infusions, such as Power Surge, to power up a wand, so that he can buff with practically any spell of up to 4th level that he damn well pleases (with a +18 to his UMD checks, he kinda has problems failing to use a wand.), and then wade in and attack with his enchanted BATTLEFIST! (thank you, Craft Magic Arms and Armor!). On top of that, he has DR 1/Adamantine, which is kind of weak, but is a nice sign that his surgeries are starting to pump him up, and the ability to heal from Repair spells (he cries a bit that he didn't gain it through his Dragonmark. Still, there are always wands...)

On the Dragonmark side, he now has the Lesser Dragonmark, so he can use Major Creation as a standard action twice a day, and he can use Quick Potion, which essentially allows him to make Oils and Potions of his different Infusions 2/day, that lasts for 12 hours, meaning that he can load up some potions of, say, Greater Magic Item (you like having a free +3 item? Use this.), or Shield of Faith, or something like that. Simply smashing."

elif level <= 20

details=

Spoiler

"He's are now the modern man, with parts made in JapanKhorvaire. You know his squishy HP? NOT ANYMORE! He crafts Warforged Components, and shoves them into his skin, giving him a +1 to his HP. Yummy. He can't attach anything that would replace his BATTLEFIST!, which, since it is a +3 weapon that probably has all sort of awesomeness thrown on top, is no real loss. He also gets full healing from Repair spells, a Craft modifier of +43 when naked, a Caster level of 14, access to 4th level Infusions (mmm, Legion's Shield of Faith), his DR has increased, and he is generally the badass dude... Oh, and he jumped into a vat of molten adamantine, so he now is coated in the stuff, giving him a permanent +8 to AC and DR 4/Adamantine! NICENESS!

He also now has a Greater Dragonmark, which fetches him 40' of blindsight for 4 hours if he expends his 1/day use of FABRICATE AS A STANDARD ACTION! HIS MACHINE NATURE HAS GRANTED HIM THE ABILITY TO CRAFT ANY ARMOR AS A STANDARD ACTION! Brilliant! And, since Craft isn't Trained Only, he effectively has a +18 mod in every other craft skill, which let's him craft most mundane objects in a Standard action.

Since he now doesn't need to sleep (or eat, and has a nice set of immunities (though not to sneak attacks and crits..., sadly)) anymore, and now heals Warforged for his craft check +5, he's now spending the night healing his Warforged bro between 49-68 HP over the course of two hourse, which is nice "natural healing".

All in all, he's a pretty nice addition to the party, as long as no-one is optimizing out the wazoo."

else:

Spoiler

print("That's not in range, fool!")

Return details

def Main()
level=int(input("Enter the level you want to know about: "))
stuff1=build(level)
stuff2=methods(level)
print(levelContent)
print(details)

Main()

[Amphetryon]

You should see the prototype, Laurel.

Originally Posted by Hardy

Hardy
NG Human, Cloistered Cleric 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Psychic Theurge 3/Renegade Mastermaker 10

Backstory

Spoiler

This backstory is pretty dark and features some graphic violence at the end, so I wanted to put up a warning before reading. I have cleared it with some mods so it should not be in breach of any forum rules, and I have tried to keep it sensible as I wanted it to be powerful but not ridiculous. The aim of this is to raise awareness of mental health issues, and the lengths to which it can drive people when they are ignored or not taken seriously.

Spoiler

Wiping sweat and soot from his brow, Hardy stoked the furnace again, watching the coals start to glow red-hot. His eyes were wet, but not from the smoke that billowed around the ceiling of his stuffy workshop. He pushed the coals aimlessly around some more and left the stoker in the furnace to get hot, turning back to the knife on the bench behind him. The blade shone, the light of the furnace visible in reflection, after he had sharpened it up. It had been a butcher's knife once upon a time, thick and heavy, turned blunt from years of use when it was donated to Hardy in his early smithing days. "You can have this to practice with, young Thomas," the old butcher had said, "it's no good to me anymore." Hardy could still see the expression on the woman's face, the pity for his apparent madness and the hope that his new hobby would make him better. She hadn't used his new name, none of them did. Thomas, they called him, the name his parents had given him. A human name.

"I'm a Valenar!" cried Elizabeth, as they ran around the garden, wrapping her cloak around her face so only her eyes were showing. The other children laughed and ran away as she chased them on her pretend horse that doubled as a broom.
"Well I'm a Karnathi skeleton! Wooooooo!" shouted James, lurching after her in his best undead impression, having never actually witnessed the horrifying speed of the Karnathi legions in action.
"I'm a warforged!" said Thomas from beneath his small wooden helmet. The others rolled their eyes at him.
"You're always a warforged," said Elizabeth, "why don't you try something else for a change."
"Well, you're always a human!" he snapped back. They looked at each other with incomprehension, then carried on running around, ignoring him.
"Thomas!" came a cry from the house. "Come inside, and take that ridiculous helmet off right this minute..."

Hardy's reflection in the knife wobbled and bounced, as it moved in his shaking hand. Tears welled up but he forced them back, forced himself to concentrate. The procedure would be complex and difficult, and he could not afford to be distracted, which was much easier said than done. He took a few deep breaths, waited for his hand to stop shaking, and started sharpening the blade some more. The edge was already much better than it had been when Hardy had been given it, but the sharper it was the less it would hurt. He grinned at that thought, a dark and haunted smile like that of a criminal approaching the executioner's block. As if sharpening the blade a little more would lessen the pain at all - he had twenty-two years of agony to do that for him. What were a few hours of physical pain, compared to a lifetime of mental and emotional torture?

He put the knife back down, his hands steady once more, and turned to the creation on his workbench. It was an intricately built hand, crafted mostly from the black metal adamantium with leather and wooden bindings to hold the different pieces together. Small lengths of steel cable provided the articulation - he had yet to figure out how the magic of the hands of other warforged would work with his current system of muscles and tendons, so for now he would simply connect the metal ones to his own. It was a work of art, the pinnacle of the work he had put into his smithing. His family had been positive at first, encouraging him to take up an apprenticeship to one of the big smithing shops, but as they had feared his work always turned towards the warforged. As minor nobles they would have jumped at any other chance to have a child accepted into a dragonmarked House, but not this time. House Cannith were interested in his talents from a very young age, but they were refused, and Hardy was forbidden from talking to them.

"He's twelve now, for Aureon's sake, he should have grown out of this nonsense."
"He's sick, give him a chance, please."
Thomas sat in the shadows at the top of the stairs, looking down into the entrance hall at his parents arguing. He always had trouble sleeping, but their raised voices had drawn him out of his room.
"We can't just keep ignoring it and pretending everything's fine," his father said, "the Cannith representatives are asking awkward questions, and the other Families already suspect something is wrong."
"We'll get another doctor in, they'll be able to help," his mother replied, "maybe one of the Jorasco healers will have a better idea of what's wrong."
"It has to be soon, and quiet, or we'll be the laughing stock of the Families..."
"This is our son we're talking about! Surely you care about him getting better?"
He liked his mother more than his father. His mother cared, even if she didn't understand. She wanted him to be okay, but she was still caught up in the idea that there was something physically wrong with him.
His father just didn't care.
"What are you doing out of bed? You should be asleep," shouted his mother, spotting him at the top of the stairs.
"Warforged don't need to sleep," he shouted back. His father's reply woke his siblings, and he ran back to his room to hide.

Hardy's grip tightened on his creation, the metal hand forming a fist, mimicking the flesh one around it. He breathed deeply a few more times and put the hand down, checking he had everything he needed. The furnace was nice and hot now, the basin of water bubbling gently on top. His tools, both smithing and surgical, were clean and sharp, laid out ready on the bench. He picked them up one at a time and held them in the furnace for a short time as an extra precaution against infection. This was it, the time was finally here, the moment he'd been working towards for years. He hadn't even had much trouble in recent months, he had been so caught up in his work that people had mostly been leaving him alone or assuming that he was doing okay. He hadn't seen his parents for over a year, for fear that they would somehow learn what he was planning and try to stop him.
Tears hit the furnace and sizzled, turned to steam almost instantly by the heat. Hardy wiped his eyes with the cleaner one of his apron's sleeves - the right one, as it hadn't been rolled up - and picked up the big meat cleaver. He placed the blade on the charcoal line he had drawn across his wrist, feeling the cold blade on his skin. His expression was calm and focused as he lifted the knife, and content as he brought firmly it down again.

Level Progression

Spoiler

Spells & Powers

Spoiler

Base Cleric Spells per Day (excluding domain spell)

Key cleric spells to prepare:
1 - Divine Favor (scaling luck bonus to attack & damage and persistable), Shield of Faith (scaling deflection AC bonus)
2 - Eagle's Splendor (two more Turn attempts)
3 - Bestow Curse (nasty if they fail), Dispel Magic (obvious), Magic Vestment (scales and lasts hours, good if you don't want to rely on gear)
4 - Divine Power (full BAB, Str bonus and persistable!), Greater Magic Weapon (as Magic Vestments, but for weapons)
5 - Flame Strike, Slay Living (good offensive spells), Righteous Might (become large, persistable)
6 - Blade Barrier (useful all-rounder), Greater Dispel Magic, Heal (you can't cast it spontaneously as it doesn't have 'Cure' in it)
7 - Destruction (10d6 damage if you fail the save), Holy Word/Dictum (great for crowds of mooks)

Powers & Power Points per Day

Additional Information

Spoiler

Attributes:
STR 15 (16 at level 4)
DEX 10
CON 12
INT 10
WIS 16 (20 at level 20)
CHA 14

God = Onatar (from the Sovereign Host)
Domains = Artifice and Warforged (Knowledge domain swapped for devotion feat

Level Highlights

Spoiler

Up to Level 10:
There is no hiding Hardy's weakness early on - before he enters Renegade Mastermaker he can't get to Divine Power, so instead will be relying on spells to damage and persisting lower-level buffs like Divine Favor and Shield of Faith. AC shouldn't be a problem, so touch spells like the Inflicts should be fine to use, and picking up a wand (or Wondrous Item?) of some offensive cleric spell like Sound Burst as a default should work.

Beyond Level 10:
Levels 11 and 12 are where the build comes together. The Battlefist at level 11 works with Psionic Fist to deal plenty of damage, and level 12 brings both Power Attack and Divine Power which Hardy will burn his turn attempts on persisting every morning. Full BAB, a good Strength score, PA and Psionic Lion's Charge turns him into a melee combatant to be feared, and he is still gaining mid-level cleric spells too. More levels bring more damage, attacks and spells, and at level 14 he gets Righteous Might for more Strength and reach.

Level 20:
By level 20 Hardy has enough cleric casting to split his turn attempts between persisting both Divine Power and Righteous Might - something like a Ring of Counterspells set up to protect against Dispel Magic would be very important to keep this up. His new Psiforged Body feat lets him stock up on power points for when he needs them, and now he is a Living Construct he can cast his Warforged domain spell Lesser Construct Essence on himself, granting him construct traits like moderate fortification and immunity to nonlethal damage and stunning. Deflective Armor at level 18 also means his Touch AC should catch up with his regular AC, useful against rays and the like.

Notes

Spoiler

There were a number of decisions in this build I made putting the story above the power of the character, starting with the domains. It made no sense for Hardy to be worshipping anyone other than the god of smiths Onatar (except possibly the Lord of Blades!), so I couldn't pick up the Travel domain but I worked around that instead. The Artifice and Warforged domains still have some nice and useful spells in them, and depending on how lenient your DM is, you might be able to use the Rebuke Construct attempts for more Divine Metamagic.

The trip into psionics was a combination of getting some kind of Pounce ability and Deflective Armor, some more backstory support (Conceal Thoughts and Sustenance are purely fluff choices) and a more unusual use of the free Warforged feat at the cap. Hardy will be restricted in the number of PPs he has, but Psiforged Body should help counter that a little by storing some of them up for later use. Low caster/manifester level for both cleric and psychic warrior is a problem, and the first feats I would recommend for flaws would be Practiced Spellcaster and Practiced Manifester (for more PPs).

Finally, the late entry into Renegade Mastermaker was purely to go with the story too. He put a lot of work into that first step, the addition of the Battlefist (which is obviously the point at which the story is set), so it seemed a little out of character to have that happening as soon as possible. Some sensible re-arranging of the class order would let you get to some of the higher level cleric spells sooner and leave you less weak early on, if you wanted to put power gain ahead of the character development.

Sources

Spoiler

Complete Arcane - Persistent Spell feat
Complete Divine - Divine Metamagic feat
Complete Champion - Knowledge Devotion feat
Races of Stone - Heavy Armor Optimization feat, Deflective Armor feat
Magic of Eberron - Renegade Mastermaker, Psiforged Body feat
Faiths of Eberron - Warforged domain
Unearthed Arcana - Cloistered Cleric variant
The Mind's Eye - Psychic Theurge

[Amphetryon]

You know "From many, one?" He's the reverse.

Originally Posted by Hezekiah

Hezekiah d'Cannith, Right Hand of the Becoming God
Human Monk 1/Wu Jen 9/Renegade Mastermaker 10
"Bone shall break and flesh may fail, but the 'Forged shall flourish forever!" -Hezekiah 1:25

The Schematic (Hezekiah 1:1-20)

Spoiler

The Tale of the Hand (Hezekiah 1:21-44)

Spoiler

Hear ye the voice of the Becoming:
"The land had been my home, but now we mourn for it--its name echoes no longer.
The land had housed a Forge, but now we mourn for it--its fire burns no longer.
The land had birthed a people, but now they rust in it--their plating shines no longer."

For seven moons, I sat and mourned. The lingering effects of war clung to my skin, pulling it in all directions. My arm melted from its bones, and they too became brittle. I cursed the Sovereign Host and pleaded for death, but it did not come. Instead, the Becoming God whispered:

"Bone shall break and flesh may fail, but the 'Forged shall flourish forever!"

At that time, some of the warforged Brothers and sisters living in the land took me into their temple. I lived among them and lived as them: I did not sleep except when my body demanded it of me. I did not use my feeble arm, but only touched things with my left hand. I trained with it exclusively, and it became strong. Realizing my potential as a warrior had faded since the Last War, I instead learned the ways of the magicians and their love of metal.

Eventually, I learned that I was nothing more than a Forged in a feeble human frame. I began working to correct what the land had done, and with the help of the Becoming God, I built myself a proper body as the one we strive to build for him. I could never have stopped at the arm, as other parts would soon begin to fail. Instead, I have become as He will become.

Hear ye the voice of the Becoming:
"My servants are those who build,
But he would would build me a frame must fortify his own.
As a creation can not be completed without its Creator,
The Becoming God is built by his servants.
The land is rebuilt by its people,
And they shall be rebuilt in it."
Selah.

The Way of Becoming (Hezekiah 2:1-12)

Spoiler

• Levels 1-5: Unarmed Strikes and buff spells trade places back and forth. Alter Self comes into play as needed.
• Levels 6-10: We enter the Secret Ingredient and create our Battlefist...Decisive Dragonmark Fist continues to be a decent damage dealer. The Secret Ingredient is superior to wu-jen progression as it provides better HD, increased BAB, a good Fort save along with our good Will save, and some unique class abilities. Most importantly, though, it delays our 9th level spell secret as long as possible...more on that below.
• Levels 11-15: Our main schtick is fully fueled at level 15, and our spell list explodes with Warforged spells. We start growing to giant size, hammering folks with Quickened True Strike Decisive Dragonmark Fists. Practiced Spellcaster comes into play to offset the only downside of our Secret Ingredient and monk level: the lost caster levels.
• Levels 16-20: We tuck back into wu jen for level 9, which nets us a spell secret at 20th level. Conveniently, we're also picking up 9th level spells at this point. Now every time we cast Time Stop, it's Extended for free. Thanks, Renegade Mastermaker, for allowing my little wu jen to stop time like a BOSS!

The Fruit of the Forge (Hezekiah 2:13-31)

Spoiler

• Battlefist: Though the mastermaker is an average BAB class, the enhancements provided to the battlefist make it feel more like a full BAB class by giving you a +10 to hit over its levels (+7 BAB and +3 battlefist). However, the biggest boon is that we can treat the battlefist as either manufactured or natural, much like an unarmed strike. The text specifies that it replaces your hand, so it seems you can make unarmed strikes with your battlefist. This is very good for the monk in us, as Dragonmark Fist allows us to spend an action point to deal maximum damage with an unarmed strike. Furthermore, Decisive Strike allows us to deal DOUBLE damage with an unarmed strike as a full-round action. Coupled together, we can deal double our maximum damage with one big attack. Throw on a Quickened True Strike to make sure your decisive Dragonmark Fist hits, and we're in business. However, our usual damage isn't extraordinary, so we'll pop off Giant size. By the end of the build, we're swinging a Colossal battlefist around. Our damage for that is 6d6 (according to this table)+ 3 battlefist+up to 5 Knowledge Devotion + up to 11d4 Shocking Fist + up to 11 Power Attack + 17 STR. When we're talking about doubling and maximizing that damage, it's only one attack per round, but it can deal 232 damage at the cost of one action point. Speaking of that pesky "one attack per round" dilemma...did I mention that we also have Body Outside Body? So there are really FOUR colossal battlefists swinging around the field with impressive reach for a total of 928 damage.
• Craft Master: Craft (armormaking) is not only useful for, you know, making armor, but it can be used to repair warforged characters (like we become at level 19). Cannith Forgecraft allows us to make this repair in 2 hours instead of 8, and the +10 bonus from Craft Master means we'll be healing significantly more HP than we would be without it. In addition, we can reroll one Craft check per week if we're really unpleased with the result of one of our checks to repair ourselves or make some swag for folks.
• Self-repair: At first, I thought this feature was kind of a stinker. It's a full-round action, it costs you a spell, and the amount healed didn't seem that spectacular. The best I could think of was using it to burn any unused spells at the end of the day for a decent nightcap. However, then I realized that my Body Outside Body clones have my class levels. The text of the spell says they can't cast spells, but doesn't mention anything about burning them to use a Supernatural ability. Not only can my clones use dragonmark abilities on themselves (thus quadrupling my number of uses), but they should be able to burn spells to heal.
• Supporting Construction: Getting Repair spells on the list was basically a requirement to use this class feature, since I didn't want to rest on my Mark of Making limited uses. The warforged domain (found in Faiths of Eberron) provides some repair spells as well as a handful of other goodies that only work on Warforged. Once we reach 10th level, this becomes very good news for us.
• Damage Reduction: DR 2/adamantine is great, but sometimes you just need more. Luckily, once we become a warforged we have spells on our list like Iron Construct and Stone Construct that can boost this through the roof. However, discerning readers will say that the spells overlap with this feature, instead of adding to it. To them, I float this suggestion: if flaws are allowed by your DM, take Spell Focus (Transmutation) as well as Toughening Transmutation. Voila, scaling DR that functions in addition to this class feature! The wu jen spell list is packed with transmutation spells, and some of them (Time Stop and Giant Size, particularly) become our bread and butter.
• Embed Component: So you can make and embed your own warforged components, eh? And they give you extra HP, eh? I've heard a lot of talk around this here Internet about making a bunch of super-cheap items into components for the bonus HP. For Hezekiah, this cheesy tactic could actually save his life, as each Body Outside Body clone that dies deals 10 points of damage...the bonus HP from components is always welcome. Either way you slice it, these items provide some interesting possibilities. The most interesting point is that it specifically calls out docents and artifact items as available to you...ask your DM if this means you can start crafting artifacts.
• Construct exemplar: So you become a warforged. Big deal, right? I mean, you get a bonus warforged feat, so that's pretty cool--us and our Body Outside Body clones will be spamming the heck out of Shocking Fist, since it seems like it doubles when we use Decisive Strike and gets maximized with our Dragonmark Fist (after all, it's part of the attack, whereas things like the Duskblade's Arcane Channeling specify that they are factored in after the attack damage is resolved normally). We also get full use of the Craft skill to repair ourselves (boosted by Cannith Forgecraft) and the ability to use our other Warforged domain spells on ourselves). But what do we gain that we wouldn't have from simply starting as a warforged? Well, we get the human bonus feat and extra skill points (which always come in handy when we're fueling Knowledge Devotion). The dragonmark is our big thing, though--without it we can't snag Cannith Forgecraft, so repairing ourself would take all night...no time to rest and regain spells. Also, we wouldn't be able to take Dragonmark Fist for MAX DAMAGE. Basically, being human and warforged at once is necessary to our schtick.

The Canon

Spoiler

• PHB
• Dragonmarked
• Eberron Campaign Setting
• Magic of Eberron
• Players Guide to Eberron
• Complete Divine

[Amphetryon]

This Father is one mean mother.

Originally Posted by Father Aldwin

Father Aldwin

The Build

Spoiler

LN Human Cleric 3/Church Inquisitor 3/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Contemplative 1/Church Inquisitor +3
Point Buy: Str 10/Dex 8/Con 14/Int 10/Wis 18/Cha 14
Initial Stats: Str 10/Dex 8/Con 14/Int 10/Wis 18/Cha 14
Final Stats: Str 10/Dex 8/Con 14/Int 10/Wis 23/Cha 14


Spells

Spoiler

Spells per day*
*Add +1 to all spell slots aside from 0lvl to account for domain spells.
Note: Does not account for spells gained from high Wis modifier.

The Story

Spoiler

File C-93: Father Aldwin

The following is the compilation of documents the Foundation possesses concerning the man known as Father Aldwin. It is to be included in all briefing material concerning the Church of the Broken God. Irrelevant information has been omitted from each document.

The following is the earliest available documentation on Father Aldwin. At the time of writing, Aldwin was apparently a lower ranking member in the church hierarchy, since he was a member, rather than the leader, of the team encountered by Agent R███. Moreover, it appears that at this time Father Aldwin was still entirely human, with no traces of 217 infection.

Personal Log of Agent R███

I probably won't survive this. It actually gives me a sense of peace, to write it down like that. I hope this log might help whoever else has to deal with them.

We were attacked by the Church of the Broken God. I recognized them and tried to stop them. I've spent two weeks in this place, and felt kind of attached to the locals, especially B████. Well, I guess I'll see him shortly.

The leader was "D███." Wore a green army jacket. He killed the tribe's warriors with a machete. Ungodly fast. Another was covered in robes, but it looked like he had some metal plating on underneath. I think they called him "Osmon." There was a lucky guy, Aldwin, and two others. They didn't have guns, so they looked like hikers, up until they started attacking. I tried to take them out with the AR, but couldn't get a shot off. Lack of training, I guess.

The warriors were fighting the others, so I tried to take out Aldwin, but I couldn't pull the trigger. The safety was off; I still don't understand it. But while I checked it I got stabbed in the gut. Then more.

They took the skip. Argued about burning the village, Aldwin and D███. Decided not to, so I got to live long enough to activate the [REDACTED] and write this note. Good luck to you.

A man with a green army jacket was found several weeks later, apparently bludgeoned to death, near a known Church of the Broken God dwelling. It is inferred that some sort of division occured in the church that resulted in "D███'s" death.

Spoiler

This build is playable from level 1. Since The Broken God isn't part of the D&D pantheon, Aldwin "selects two domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities," in this case careful prior-planning and support of all things machine, especially warforged, who he sees as beloved images of his god.

Thanks to turning attempts from the Warforged domain and a high charisma score, Aldwin has more than enough turning attempts persist a spell a day (I like Bless, myself, but see if your DM will let you get away with Lesser Vigor). This makes him a supremely good buffer, in addition to a secondary tank.

By level 3, he discovers a corrupt sect within his church, and at level 4 begins working as a Church Inquisitor. This grants the situationally-useful Inquisition domain, and more importantly Immunity to Charms, and later Pierce Illusions. Being able to craft a slew of wondrous items doesn't hurt either. And of course, he's great in a party with warforged.

By level 5, he has 3rd-level spells and picks up Collector of Stories so he can easily identify undead, constructs, dragons, and magical beasts.

Although Father Aldwin was seen observed in several other instances related to the acquisition of anomalous objects, the incident on ██/██/████ distinguished him as a dangerous opponent of the Foundation. Mobile Task Force Beta-4 conducted a raid a location known to house the Church of the Broken God. The following footage is taken from that event, recorded by a hidden camera on Agent L█████'s helmet.

Surveillance Log x███, Date █-██-████

14:57 In a stone hallway, Beta-4 encounters a robed figure, later identified as Aldwin. Agent Ross's gun is leveled at the figure, who raises his hands in surrender. One of the hands appears to have been replaced with a metal gauntlet.

---

Audio Log s███-█ Date: █-██-████

<Aldwin> Who-

<Ross> Get on the ground!

<Aldwin> Ok, don't shoot-

<Ross> Hands behind your head! [Aldwin complies, and is handcuffed by Agents Bradley and L█████. Agent L█████ attempts to remove the gauntlet without success, and barely fits the manacle around it.]

<Ross> Where are the relics?!

<Aldwin> Please don't shoot! I'll tell you, just don't shoot!

<Ross> Tell us!

<Aldwin> At the end of the hall! The room at the end of the hall!

<Ross> Follow us! Bradley, guard him.

---

[REDACTED]

15:01 In the hallway, Aldwin slips out of his manacles and grabs Agent Bradley, who fires point blank. Aldwin is unfazed, and snaps Agent Bradley's neck.

[REDACTED]

---

Someone shouts "Father Aldwin! Are you ok?"

<Aldwin> Yes, I'm fine. Keep the jailors trapped. They must not be allowed to steal the holy pieces of God!

<Darns> There aren't supposed to be this many!

[REDACTED]

<Ross> Conserve ammo, keep them out of this room. Darns, throw a tox!

<Aldwin> Osmond!

---

15:03 Agent Darns lobs a ██ neurotoxin grenade into the hallway. A muscular automaton jumps on the grenade. Approximately 10 church members lie wounded or dead on the floor.

---

[REDACTED]

<Alwin> Collapse the hallway.

<Darns> No!

<Ross> Go!

There is an explosion and the sound of moving earth.

---

[REDACTED]

15:07 At the top of the stairs, Agent L█████ sees three automatic weapons pointed at him, and an unarmed Aldwin.

---

<Aldwin> Do not be afraid. Drop the holy relics and you may leave in peace.

<L█████> Oh yeah? And how's that?

<Aldwin> I have a message for your superiors. You may deliver it, or die here.

<L█████> Talk, I'll listen.

<Aldwin> Our lord has blessed us with extraordinary knowledge. We knew you were coming. Consider that the next time before you decide to attack us in our homes. You will not win. We will restore our god.

<L█████> That it?

<Aldwin> Yes. Keep your gun if you wish. These men are under my protection, and you will not harm-

Another explosion is heard, then gunshots.

---

15:09 Agent L█████ throws a grenade and sprints for the exit.

Father Aldwin displayed numerous anomalous properties during this incident, notably being able to withstand assault rifle bullets and a grenade from point blank range, neither of which can be accounted for with normal body armor.

Spoiler

It takes a level longer than wizards, but at level 7 Aldwin starts the SI; taking a break from being a church inquisitor to make himself more like his god. At level 7, he gets a fist that's useful for both unarmed attacks and Heavy Metal concerts, then at level 8 he puts that Craft Magical Arms feat to good use on his knockin' 1d8+Str (which is high thanks to Divine Power) Battlefist.

Self Repair gives him something to do with his domain slots when he's not planning or buffing/healing his warforged allies.

Supporting Construction synergizes with the Warforged domain, allowing him to heal himself better than with Self Repair once he gets Total Repair at level 17.

At level 9, he picks up Quicken spell and starts cashing in on the action economy, and at level 10, in addition to 5th level spells, he gets the incredibly powerful damage reduction that makes him slightly more resistant to both damage and poison.

Agent J████ was the sole surviving member of Mobile Armed Task Force 12 after a raid conducted by Aldwin and one ally, in which possession of SCP-271 was lost.

Interview Log c████, Date: ██-█-████

<O5-█>: What did the intruders look like?

<Agent J████>: Like something out of a fantasy book. One had green skin with bird wings and a trumpet. One of them looked like he was made of rocks. And one of them was a ghost or something.

<O5-█>: What do you mean by a ghost?

<Agent J████>: It was transparent, couldn't see him clearly. But it looked like he was riding a horse, and he had a huge lance. And he had the [DATA EXPUNGED], so we knew he was with the Church. And Aldwin-

<O5-█>: You confirmed it was the member known as "Father Aldwin"?

<Agent J████>: Yeah, I mean, yes. Visual confirmation. He looked like he was [REDACTED] from 217 infection. It wasn't like the video though, he looked, I don't know, like an angel, but all metal. He got really bright when we put the searchlight on him, hard to see.

<O5-█>: I see. Did you experience any other hallucinatory phenomena?

<Agent J████>: What? No! Everything else looked like normal, like it was supposed to. It was just those four... things.

<O5-█>: I see. What happened next?

<Agent J████>: They attacked. It was insane, the ghost-thing was killing us and we couldn't touch him. The bird guy blew his trumpet and half of us were paralyzed, just like that. The golem was smashing things left and right. And Aldwin was unstoppable. Like bullets didn't even matter to him. I couldn't move, was stuck watching from the tower while they slaughtered the our team. When they finished, he took the skip and disappeared.

Spoiler

At level 12, Aldwin picks up DMM Quicken and starts breaking the action economy over his knee with his extra turning attempts, since by now he can afford nightsticks.

Then at 13 he finishes Swift Concentration to make extra use everything from Bridge of Sound to Implosion, and gets the abusable (see "Extra Cheese") Embed Component.

Finally, at 15 he picks up some awesome 7th level spells, including an extra Dictum from the Inquisition domain. He also takes Practiced Spellcaster for a nice +2 CL on that Dictum.

After the previous incident, it was several months before Father Aldwin reappeared. He did so inside the containment area of SCP-172 in Site-██, before mounting a single-person assault on the rest of the facility. Due to collateral damage during Aldwin's break in, almost all video and audio logs were damaged, leaving only the following, presumably due to his lack of activity in the area.

Audio Log c████-█ Date: █-██-████

<Aldwin> Grandfather, I'm overjoyed to see you.

<SCP-172> You don't have to call me that you know.

[data corrupt]

<Aldwin> I have come to liberate [data corrupt] The unbelievers cannot stop us now. I have finally become powerful enough to [data corrupt]

[data corrupt]

<SCP-172> I will stay. I wish you well.

Father Aldwin apparently left at this point. SCP-172 has proven reluctant to discuss the the exchange, except to say that he did not share Father Aldwin's ideals.

During the attack, Site ██ sustained massive damage, resulting in loss of containment of over ██ SCPs, of which only ██ have been recovered, and the death or disappearance of ███ D-class, ██ researchers, and ██ agents, including █ mobile task forces. It is theorized that Father Aldwin took several of the missing SCPs with him. In addition, he somehow prevented the detonation of the on-site nuclear weapon.

In Review: Father Aldwin is extremely dangerous, and should not be engaged except by highly trained personnel with the proper equipment. Due to his motivation, goals, ability to obtain information, ability to enact complex plans, and growing list of anomalous properties, he has been classified as a P1-level threat.

Spoiler

Level 20 and Persistent 9th level spells! But first we have to get there. Level 16 gives the awesome capstone, Construct Exemplar, which in addition to its other bonuses, allows Aldwin to cast his other Warforged domain spells on himself, like turning himself into a full construct, or better yet an Iron Construct. He also picks up Adamantine Body (take that Wizard-entry RMMs) because he can simply craft fortify his armor later with the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat.

Having completed his desire to turn himself into a machine, Aldwin takes time to meditate on his god, as represented by a level in the contemplative class. Continuing the theme of selecting domains to represent his spiritual inclinations and abilities, Aldwin takes the Alteration domain, which grants him access to some of the most powerful spells in the D&D universe, including, eventually, Shapechange, and a +1 CL when casting them.

After attuning to his god, Aldwin resumes his duties as Church Inquisitor, both seeking out pieces of the Broken God to put back together, and routing heresy from the church. He picks up Craft Contingent Spell to aid him in his mission, because you never know when you're going to need Protection from Sonic Energy, and goes to town.

It took a while, but he finally becomes immune to Dominate Monster at about the same time enemies start casting it. In addition, he snags Time Stop, Shapechange, and the situationally-useful Imprisonment from the Wizard spell list, and even gets Summon Warforged Champion, in case he didn't have enough buddies to buff and sick on enemies.

Finally, at level 20, he gets Force Shapechange, allowing him to win a shapechanging war with another spellcaster, followed by him repairing the Broken God and winning the game. Or unleashing an insane monstrosity on the world, depending how your DM plays it. Either way, he succeeds.

The best spot for this build is probably level 20, when he can cast any number of buffs, both cheesy and non, and then wade into combat with a magic two-handed weapon, shapechanged into a creature with a bunch of powerful attacks, or straight up unarmed with the battlefist. Here are some of the highlights:
Persistent Spells:

• Shapechange
• Greater Visage of the Deity
• Veil of Undeath
• Holy Aura
• Lion's Roar
• Shield of Archons
• Holy Transformation
• Holy Star
• Spiritual Guardian
• Vigorous Circle
• Anti Life Shell
• Iron Construct
• Lesser Telepathic Bond
• Righteous Wrath of the Faithful
• Righteous Might
• True Seeing
• Greater Construct Energy Ward
• Halo of Vengeance
• Detect Scrying
• Freedom of Movement
• Divine Power
• Counter Attack
• Planar Tolerance
• Recitation
• Blessing of the Righteous
• Death Ward
• Detect Thoughts
• Vengeful Shield
• Divine Retaliation
• Footsteps of Divine
• Invisibility Purge
• Cloud of Knives
• Interfaith Blessing
• Balor Nimbus
• Elation
• Lesser Construct Essence
• Crystal of Reflection
  
• Deathwatch
• Bless
• Blessed Aim
• Comprehend Languages
• Detect Alignment
• Strength of Mind
• Greater Enhance Magical Flow
• Detect Magic
• Read Magic

Etc.

Spoiler

Adaptations:

Spoiler

• Fractional BAB gives +1 point of BAB, faster Fort and Ref progression, and +1 point of Will.
• Cloistered Cleric is superior to straight cleric if starting at level 7 (when you have Divine Power) or later, and, if flaws are allowed, you can take Able Learner and swap Inquisition domain for Knowledge Devotion.
• The last four feats (and RMM bonus feat) can be traded for gish feats, if you want to go that route (particularly useful in conjunction with the previous point). Take Power Attack, Battle Jump, Improved Bull Rush and Shock Trooper, and persist a few spells (eg. Miracle-Lion's Charge, Miracle-Bite of the Werebear, and Divine Power) to deal 300 damage per round with the Battlefist alone.
• If you want to be more finding-things oriented, you can swap the last 3 levels of Church Inquisitor for Divine Oracle by swapping Practiced Spellcaster for Skill Focus(Know:Religion). It grants Divination and Scrying at a lower level, plus Foresight, in addition to +3 total CL on divinations and the nifty Divination Enhancement.
• The RMM class levels can be moved back as far as level 11 if eg. you want immunity to compulsions earlier. Doing so means it takes longer to become a warforged and work that synergy with Warforged domain and, fluffwise, this character ideally wants to become a machine as soon as possible.
• If you decide to worship the Sovereign Host for awhile, you can drop the last four levels of Church Inquisitor in favor of Sovereign Speaker. This works especially as an easy way for a gish to get the Animal/Law/Strength/Travel devotion feats.

Extra-Cheese Options:

Spoiler

• Add Initiate of Mystra or Extraordinary Spell Aim in place of Practiced Spellcaster or Craft Contingent Spell to walk around casting spells in an AMF.
• Change race to Dragonborn Incarnate Construct Saint Warforged (it even fits perfectly well with the theme, except maybe the dragonborn part), or even Dragonborn Saint Human if you can buy off the LA+2. The former requires moving DMM:Persistent Spell to the 9th level feat slot, which may be worth the trade, considering that at level 17 you become immune to most forms of damage.
• ECS pg. 268 says that any magic item can be made as a warforged component. Blessed Bandages are 10gp each, ergo you can spend 1/10 of your level 20 WBL for 7,600 HP (or all of it for 76,000).

Sources

Spoiler

Core, Eberron Campaign Setting, Faiths of Eberron, Magic of Eberron, Spell Compendium, Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Complete Divine, Complete Arcane

[Amphetryon]

Nothing to see here, folks; it's just a robot dragon. Wait, what?

Originally Posted by Kiryu

Born from the depths of the sea...
Remade in Bahamut's form...
Rebuilt in the forges of Cannith...

...this is KIRYU !



Kiryu, dragonborn (heart aspect) darfellan duskblade 6/suel arcanamach 4/renegade mastermaker 10

Spoiler

Lawful Good
Str 16/Dex 6/Con 16/Int 12/Wis 12/Cha 16 (after racial mods)

All stat boosts go to Charisma

(The Skilled City Dweller ACF is used to swap Ride with Tumble as a duskblade class skill.)

KIRYU

Duskblade Spells

Spoiler

Duskblade Spells per Day

Duskblade Spells Known:
0: Acid splash, touch of fatigue, ray of frost
1: Shocking grasp, ray of enfeeblement, swift expeditious retreat, resist energy
2: Dimension hop, swift fly

Suel Arcanamach Spells

Spoiler

Suel Arcanamach Spells per Day/Spells Known


Suel Arcanamach Spells Known:
1: Nerveskitter, protection from evil, silent image, shield
2: Wraithstrike, heroics, dispelling touch, chain of eyes
3: Haste, greater mighty wallop, girallon’s blessing
4: Greater mirror image, polymorph, blinding breath
5: Lightning leap, dispelling breath

He Came From the Depths: The Rise of Kiryu

Spoiler

The enemy came from the depths of the Bitter Sea to make war on Khorvaire.

The great beast's origins are still shrouded in mystery, but most believe it to be an ancient sea creature from forgotten ages, corrupted by the influence of the Dragon Below. It seemed to be attracted to the Khyber dragonshards that powered the rails and airships of Khorvaire. It rose from the depths, and it laid waste to the small cities dotting the northern coast, robbing them of their Khyber shards. Retaliation proved impossible, as the beast would retreat to deep caverns and trenches hidden far below the Bitter Sea, where none could follow.

It was here that Kiryu Sea-slayer, hunter among the proud darfellan people, came to know the great beast. He watched helplessly, time and time again, as the great beast would murder his people. And he swore to slay it, once and for all.

As the beast seemed to be a creature of the Dragon Below, Kiryu swore himself to the dragon above, the Platinum Dragon. In Bahamut's form he remade himself, so that he may one day slay the great beast.

Kiryu knew that a beast feeding off the shards of Khyber could only be opposed by similar magics. And when he rose in his new dragon-form, he set himself a new task - to collect the dragonshards of Syberis. He constructed a great helm, and used the Syberis shards he found to power his new form.

But he did not stop there. Realizing the strength this new helm gave him, he began rebuilding his form even further. His scales became armor plating. His eyes became piercing lenses. His fists became powerful claws. Soon he grew, more machine than man, into a creature capable of taking on the great beast.

And on that day, he strode into the Bitter Sea...

Kiryu's Arsenal

Spoiler

The Drake-Helm

The first item that Kiryu built was the Drake-Helm, a helmet that allowed him to harness the power of Syberis dragonshards.

The Drake-Helm is found in the Explorer's Handbook. Kiryu crafts his first Drake-Helm at level 4, and upgrades every four levels. This item acts as a receptacle for Syberis dragonshards. He can then attune those Syberis dragonshards to give him additional spells known as a duskblade and suel arcanamach.

He is constantly traveling and looking for new Syberis dragonshards to attune. These significantly expand his spell list. He can power up duskblade spells to add to his suel arcanamach spell list, allowing him to use his increased caster level and extended spellstrength on them. He can also add spells from other spell lists, either via scroll or by having the spell provided by another caster.

The Battlefist

Like the Drake-Helm, Kiryu has built his battlefist himself, and enchants it as early as possible. His renegade mastermaker levels provide it with an excellent enhancement bonus on their own, so he simply adds on extra properties.

Kiryu has a couple of advantages when adding enhancements to his battlefist - the heroics spell, and his Drake-Helm. His Drake-Helm gives him access to spells he ordinarily would not have, so that he can add enhancements like holy (which ordinarily requires the holy smite spell). Heroics gives him feats that he needs to add in additional effects, such as the Martial Study feat so that he may create martial discipline weapons.

Breath of the Dragon

The mighty breath of Bahamut rains down destruction on the enemies of the Platinum Dragon. In addition to being area effect damage of whatever type is necessary, Kiryu adds a number of rider effects to his breath. Entangling Exhalation is a powerful debuff, and Blinding Breath and Dispelling Breath both give him ways to further augment his breath as a swift action. Dispelling Breath in particular is a powerful debuff, with a higher cap than dispel magic and effecting a huge area.

Snapshot

Spoiler

LEVEL 15: Duskblade 6/suel arcanamach 1/renegade mastermaker 8

At this level, Kiryu has a base attack just three points below a full fighter, second level duskblade spells and fourth level suel arcanamach spells. He has a breath weapon that can do energy damage of any major type for 6d8 damage, which also entangles and can blind. He can channel spells such as dispelling touch, chain of eyes and dimension hop.

In melee, his greater mighty wallop'd battlefist is his primary offense. He buffs himself with haste and wraithstrike and goes to town. His defenses are excellent, with damage reduction and Minor Shapeshift allowing him to absorb 17 hit points of damage every round without even touching his HP total.

Sources

Spoiler

Duskblade: PHB2
Suel Arcanamach, Practiced Spellcaster: Complete Arcane
Dragonborn of Bahamut, Versatile Spellcaster, Entangling Exhalation: Races of the Dragon
Darfellan: Stormwrack
Drake-Helm: Explorer's Handbook
Martial Discipline Weapons: Tome of Battle
Minor Shapeshift: Complete Mage

For spell sources, see the Spell Compendium, Races of the Dragon, Player's Handbook 2 and Complete Mage.

[Amphetryon]

Look out! It's a. . . I have no idea, really.

Originally Posted by Gregor Samsa

Abilities

Spoiler

str 8 you're a shapechanger, dump this
dex 12 so you don't go last during the low levels when you don't have alter self up.
con 14 shape changing magic doesn't give you more health, and you have d4s for much of your career. you need all the help you can get
int 18 you're a wizard, get spells. put points here.
wis 14 prereq for assume supernatural ability, and if you have 13, may as well go for 14
cha 8 dump. beholder's AMF doesn't have a save, so you don't care

Class breakdown[spoiler]
CN Changeling wizard 5/renegade mastermaker 3/ master transmogrifist 2/ RM 10/ archmage 3

Gregor Samsa

Spells per day

Spoiler

The Transformation

Spoiler

Gregor Samsa was no stranger to strange and unpleasant dreams. He had an enviable position at Morgrave university, and knew there were those who coveted his job as head of the literature department.

He knew that competition in the academic world was cutthroat, but never expected how much so until the morning of November the seventeenth.

He awoke at his desk, as he did many mornings, his face lifting a few lines of ink from a book that lay sprawled in front of him. Samsa felt the sticky residue of the ink on his face and went into his adjoined washroom to clean himself before his first class of the day.

Samsa didn't give it much thought when he saw a strange gray figure staring him back in the mirror. Perhaps a rorrim had taken down a few of the protective seals he surrounded his living quarters with. No matter, it would be a simple thing to recast the spells that kept his morning ablutions a private affair.

As he took the wand from the small holder on the sink, nestled close to his toothbrush, he was taken as the thing in the mirror moved to match him. He knew on some level, that he was looking at his own reflection now, but couldn't fully comprehend it.

The doughy, indistinct features were those of a changeling, no doubt, but he had not been a changeling when he had laid himself down to bed the night before. Changelings were not allowed to teach at Morgrave anymore, not after what had happened with the last professor to hold Samsa's position. Supposedly it made the temptation to abuse their power too great, allowed them to blend into crowds of students too easily. Samsa hadn't agreed with this racist claptrap, of course, but he'd kept his mouth shut. After all, if the professor before him hadn't been excised, he wouldn't have his current position.

He took a deep swallow and held his breath, staring at himself in the mirror. How did changelings do this, again? He knew it was some form of muscular action. He flexed his forehead, the calming furrow his brow usually took when he was deep in thought (which was much of the time) etching itself back onto his face. This provoked him to smile, his teeth growing more defined, the crinkles in the corners of his eyes becoming more apparent as he remembered every last sag, fold, and crease of his weathered face. Before long, he was back to looking like himself.

He donned his cap to cover his bald spot, no longer able to be hidden by a combover and came to a realization.

"Why should I look like myself? Why can't I look better?" He looked at the motions of his mouth in the mirror, thin lips flapping around crooked, yellowed teeth. He gave a dazzling smile to the mirror and watched as his teeth fell into rank and file like a company of karnathi soldiers, rapidly fading to the bleached-bone white of their armor as he conjured the image in his mind.

"Fascinating," he mused to himself. If anyone asked, he'd say he treated himself to a minor bit of cosmetic polymorphing. It was common enough, though in the past he hadn't really gone for it due to the cost.

He arrived in class on time, having corrected the stoop in his back that came with age, and repairing the rubbery cartilage in his knee from an old injury from his time in the war. Quite the contrary from his usual, shuffling self, he was walking now with a distinct spring in his step.

"Good morning, class!" he boomed, the rasp in his voice from years of smoking too much fine, imported tobacco noticeably absent. The students looked at him with a somewhat renewed fervor. It was so nice to see them paying attention.

As his lesson went on, he felt inspired by the youth around him, finding more and more energy as the lecture continued, giving an impassioned filibuster towards the end and wishing them the happiest of weekends with a joy he couldn't remember having felt in quite some time.

The students began to file out as the alarm spell went off, right on schedule. Samsa began to pack his things when an attractive young elf tapped him on the shoulder.

"Professor Samsa?" It was Nayra, one of his best students. Though even with that in mind, she was more invested than he'd ever seen her before.

"What can I do for you, miss Gossamer?"

"Well, forgive me if this sounds too forward, but I was wondering if you were going to the lecture later on at the planetarium."

Samsa had been twice that week, and had seen Nayra there both times, but had an inkling that she wasn't asking because she wanted to hear the lecture again.

"I don't believe so," he said, the lies slipping off his moist, youthful tongue with an ease he had never known.

"Do you think you'll be there tonight? I wanted to go with someone, but my friends aren't interested."

"Their loss, I'm sure. Shall we meet there?"

"I was thinking you could pick me up before. We could go to that new restaurant, the Empty Plate. I hear the chef manifests false sensory input and makes you taste whatever you like, no calories at all."

"It's a date," he said. He swallowed as soon as he had. It was only an expression. Yes, that's all it was.

Nayra nodded and left without another word. He could swear he'd seen a rosy tinge in her cheek. Samsa couldn't remember the last time he'd inspired a blush. He wasn't sure he had.

He walked back through the halls to his office. There was time for a little more work before his next class. He sat down and heard the alarm chime. It was noon, and thus socially acceptable to steel his nerves with a little elven goldenwine. He would need it if he were to remain calm with Nayra later. As he set the glass down, he caught a glimmer of something he was sure could not be in the still surface. It was his face, yes, but it was his face as he'd been when he was still a young man. Samsa felt sick and quaffed the glass quickly. He went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, and it was as he feared. The exuberance he had inspired with a more youthful demeanor had made him reflexively become more youthful It was creating a feedback loop. How long had he looked like this? He hoped not long enough to get anyone asking questions.

The chime of a sending rang in his head.

"You have a collect call from (Gossamer, Nayra) Do you wish to accept?
"Yes, I'll accept the charges."
"Professor, do you think it would be possible to meet at the restaurant? I'm not sure you should come by my house in your present condition. My father may not approve."
Councilman Gossamer was an angry man, and had provided the bulk of the steam to get changelings out of the university in the first place. It wouldn't do to have him nosing around.
"Yes, that would be fine, but please, call me Gregor."
"I'll see you at eight then. Gregor."

Gregor stood and looked in the closet for something presentable to wear, but found nothing but tweed. He would have to buy some new clothes. He checked his watch and saw that he was a bit short on time. There was a wand for the purpose in his desk drawer.

"Fashion district," he murmured with a wave. He took a step forward as soon as he was there, in case he materialized in someone else. It was a simple matter of finding a shop likely to impress Nayra, and a simpler one still to find everything was quite out of his pay grade. He went to the cloakroom and shrugged his cloak back on to be on his way.

A gentleman grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. Samsa's breath caught in his throat.

"Can I help you, sir?"
"You've just been given my cloak. understandable, we are the same size."

Samsa looked him up and down. They were at that. He gave a polite nod and stood outside the entrance of the shop, eavesdropping with careful precision.

His new acquaintance was returning "shortly" to pick up some clothes. As soon as he'd departed the shop with a doff of his cap, Samsa whirled around and reentered, wearing the man's face. Keeping his cloak drawn around him, no one would notice his clothes had changed.

He barely said anything to the clerk and walked out with a new suit of clothes. People were slow to find what they weren't looking for.

He met Nayra at the restaurant, finding plenty of time to change, and they shared a sinfully large imaginary meal together, sharing the dream of buttercream frosting and thick beef gravy and everything in between. The lecture was the same as last time, but Samsa barely heard a word of it, preoccupied on the feel of Nayra's slender hand resting in his.

He couldn't see her home, of course, but it didn't matter, things were still looking up. He couldn't imagine why an enemy would want to do this to him, make him a changeling, but he was making it his own.

He got back to his office and saw a letter on his desk. He opened it with a flick of his wrist, growing a shifter's bestial claw on a whim rather than drag a letter opener out of a drawer.

It was a notice of termination, on the grounds of racial impurity. It bore Councilman's seal at the bottom, and Samsa knew he didn't have much time. He grabbed a valise and began jamming it with wands. He didn't have anything to hurt anyone in here, just a few spells to clean clothes and hop to town.

he was about to say the word to spirit himself away when Councilman Gossamer appeared in front of him, a gnarled, reddish wand in his hand.

"goodbye, changeling." Fire sprayed from it and tore Samsa to bits.

The next time he woke, he felt cold, metallic. He moved a hand and found it was war forged in nature. His colleague in the engineering department looked in at him through a set of iron bars.

"We managed to save you, but I couldn't do much for your sentence. it's still life, though I don't know how long that will be exactly. There is another changeling in your block. I'm sorry, Samsa."

Samsa couldn't make his steel throat talk.

The changeling in the next cell looked over with a sneer.

"Samsa. Do you know how it feels? Do you feel there is justice in the world?"

Samsa turned to his side and saw his predecessor. He could not speak, just shake his head.

"Then it is as it should be."

lvl advice

Spoiler

5: you are wizard, use alter self to taste

10: manifest senses lets you see invisibility, make use of it

15: abuse AMF, there is no save.

20: use supernatural transformation to beat dispellers

Sources

Spoiler

PHB2:immediate magic
core: Wizard, archmage, skill focus, spell focus, eschew materials, CWI, craft arms and armor, beholder
underdark: kuo-toa leviathan
MM2: spellweaver
Complete arcane: master transmogrifist
magic of eberron: renegade master maker
savage species: assume supernatural ability, supernatural transformation

[Amphetryon]

That's the last of them, folks! On your mark, get set, JUDGE!

[Piggy Knowles]

Wow, I'm surprised there weren't more entries! A lot of fun things here.

I had a couple of build thoughts involving the artificer, but I thought it would mean too much of a hit to originality, being the most obvious lead-in. My favorite was an artificer/renegade mastermaker/fleshwarper, but even though I got as far as a build write-up, I ended up abandoning the build... I was having a lot of trouble getting the pre-reqs down, and I knew I'd get hammered both in originality (for artificer) and in elegance (because of some fairly cheesy graft options).

I'm also super surprised no one decided to do a ranged battlefist option, which was my very first thought. I don't know why, but I sort of expected to see at least one of those... I'm sort of sad that I didn't go that route now!

[OMG PONIES]

Interesting builds all around. Amusingly enough, one of the other entries this round was almost identical to one of my earlier ideas.

[Venger]

Originally Posted by Piggy Knowles

Wow, I'm surprised there weren't more entries! A lot of fun things here.

I had a couple of build thoughts involving the artificer, but I thought it would mean too much of a hit to originality, being the most obvious lead-in. My favorite was an artificer/renegade mastermaker/fleshwarper, but even though I got as far as a build write-up, I ended up abandoning the build... I was having a lot of trouble getting the pre-reqs down, and I knew I'd get hammered both in originality (for artificer) and in elegance (because of some fairly cheesy graft options).

I'm also super surprised no one decided to do a ranged battlefist option, which was my very first thought. I don't know why, but I sort of expected to see at least one of those... I'm sort of sad that I didn't go that route now!

I was sure that this competition would be littered with fleshwarpers, so I didn't do one either.

it's part of the process for iron chef I do every time that I just call vizzinniing for obvious reasons. I often go through this exercise when it comes to "obvious" spices to compliment the SI.

I was sure there'd be no artificers though, too obvious and too much bookkeeping, plus dependent on items, which is never good for scores.

[ThiagoMartell]

I gave up when I noticed Artificer is actually good with his class, being able to use his construct-only infusions on himself (and they come fairly late, too), while all other classes simply had better options elsewhere.

[Piggy Knowles]

...and, for fun, here are the entries:

#	Entry	Race	Class
1	Antony Mallory	Human	Sleeping Tiger Monk 2/Shadowcaster 7/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Soul Eater 1
2	Kilroy	Human	Human Paragon 3/Cyre Scout 7/Renegade Mastermaker 10
3	Hardy	Human	Cloistered Cleric 3/Psychic Warrior 4/Psychic Theurge 3/Renegade Mastermaker 10
4	Hezekiah d'Cannith	Human	Monk 1/Wu Jen 9/Renegade Mastermaker 10
5	Father Aldwin	Human	Cleric 3/Church Inquisitor 6/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Contemplative 1
6	Kiryu	Dragonborn Darfellan	Duskblade 6/Suel Arcanamach 4/Renegade Mastermaker 10
7	Gregor Samsa	Changeling	Wizard 5/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Master Transmogrifist 2/Archmage 3

(And again I am reminded that I spend way too much time reading Iron Chef entries... at this point I'm pretty sure who the authors of five out of seven builds are, just because the style of certain contestants has grown so familiar to me...)

EDIT: And, since my brain is still riffing on RMM build ideas...

Gold Dwarf, Incarnate 2/Artificer 3/Ironsoul Forgemaster 5/Renegade Mastermaker 10

Crafts weapons and armor (including enhancing the battlefist) at a caster level of 28. Gets fifth-level infusions (including all of the tasty construct-only fourth level infusions) and at least two chakra binds, or more with feats.

[Amechra]

I try to not read that hard into them, for that reason exactly.

Oh, and my planned build that would make you hurt me?

Phrenic Incarnate Warforged Swashbuckler (Arcane Stunt) 7/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Reforged 3

I literally have no reason to take the SI, and the last 3 levels actually remove all the benefits of the class except for battlefist, DR 2/-, and that ability to sacrifice spell-slots (that I don't have) to heal myself.

I have no casting to advance, I'm not good at anything, and... yeah.

I was aiming at the minimum possible UoSI score possible.

My feats would have included something to give me Detect Magic 1/Day, so I could take Sense Quintessence.

Because Thoon is Thoon!

[Amphetryon]

Note from Hardy:

I'd used italics to indicate that the 2nd and 5th blocks in the backstory were flashbacks, forgetting that they would be lost in the quoteblock. Would you be able to add some extra lines or something to try and show that they are meant to be separate to the rest, so people don't get confused?

[Madara]

Can I get specification on which source is used for what on Kilroy?
I can't figure out what the dragon is used for....(I'm assuming its dragon compendium?)

I'll worry about getting started later. For now, a general overview is interesting. I think there aren't any really similar builds.

[Amechra]

I think Dra stands for Dragonmarked...

[Vknight]

Well lets Judge

AM-1468

Spoiler

Originality: 4.5 turning a normally caster or what many would assume a caster class into a teleporting martial artist that eats souls.

Power: 3.5 Not that powerful but does his job well and makes for a interesting character

Elegance: 4, It blends well, not to much multi-classing

Secret Ingredient: 4.25, all part of the flavor in this case so well used with the character and adds to his combo

Kilroy

Spoiler

Originality: 1.75, I didn't see anything that was clever or well original

Power: 3.9, Great use of Craft checks and other uses for it

Elegance: 3.5, Not the best but not bad by any stretch

Secret Ingredient: 2, I don't know what you were with Kilroy and he doesn't seem fun

Hardy

Spoiler

Originality: 4.25, Psionic + Divine into a guy becoming a warforged slowly

Power: 3.25, Right not very powerful. He is a good contender and decent work

Elegance: 3, the very same reason you have such a great originality is why you only get a 3 here.

Secret Ingredient: 3.75, Late entry is made up for with working in abilities from the class and other classes into the full character

Hezekiah

Spoiler

Originality: 4, I had something clever to say here but the point is Terminator

Power: 3.5, Free extended time stop along with other benefits

Elegance: 2.25, grabbing that last level of Wu Jen for said Time Stop and monk for free Improved Unarmed Strike

Secret Ingredient: 4.25 Great use of the class with said Unarmed Strike to make a character whose punches pack a little extra

Father Aldwin

Spoiler

Originality: 3.75, Techno priest so awesome, and loving the theme. Guns are meh

Power: 4, This makes a terror of a man-machine thing

Elegance: 4.5, great use of a religious theme as a techno priest.

Secret Ingredient: 4.5, TECHNO PRIEST! This is one of the things I wanted to see in this challenge.

Kiryu

Spoiler

Originality: 4.75, Mecha Godzilla + Iron Man + Eberron Win

Power: 4.5, Various ways to fight foes and more skill towards versatility

Elegnace: 4.1, Duskblade has a great versatility and casting which works well with this class and the other choices.

Secret Ingredient: 4.25, Mecha Godzilla along with great reasons to take the class for the character

Gregor Samsa

Spoiler

Originality: 3.75, Interesting choice a non-rouge changeling

Power: 3, Disappointing but better then expected

Elegance: 2, The classes don't fit well

Secret Ingredient: 1.75, Secret Ingredient seems stale and just thrown it

[Kelb_Panthera]

I honestly kinda half-expected at least one entry to try to get into the SI asap so they could finish up with warforged juggernaut; going for the from a fleshy into a full-on robot schtick. Ah well.

[Thurbane]

I was going to try for a Mechanatrix build, but then I realized it wouldn't be legal, since they are Outsiders, not humanoids. Then I thought about a Lesser Planetouched Mechanatrix, but that would involve mixing FR and Eberron material...

[Amphetryon]

Note from Gregor Samsa:

part of my features for RM 10 got clipped. being an arcane spellcaster, I took unarmored body as my bonus warforged feat. no real effect, just doesn't take away what I have

[God Imperror]

I considered building an artificer 8 / Renegade Mastermaker 10 / Cannith Wand Adept 2

Going with load of wand feats, and using the warforged turning to get wand bonding (which is a [warforged] feat).

At the end I didn't take that route because artificer was the obvious entry for the renegade, I feared it was going to be quite unoriginal and it wouldn't be able to compete with 9th level spells.

[Darrin]

Originally Posted by Kelb_Panthera

I honestly kinda half-expected at least one entry to try to get into the SI asap so they could finish up with warforged juggernaut; going for the from a fleshy into a full-on robot schtick. Ah well.

I had several build ideas which did exactly that:

Wizard 5/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Warforged Charger 5 was the simplest, but wound up being way too weak as a wizard (only 7th level spells), way too fragile to use a battlefist in melee, and too lousy of a charger/bull rusher to justify Warforged Charger. That and there was no easy way to reduce the 35% Arcane Spell Failure from Adamantine Body.

Duskblade 2/Ranger 3/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Warforged Charger 5 (using the Frostblood Half-Orc trick to get Craft Arms & Armor at ECL 5, and Practiced Spellcaster to qualify for the caster level) was a bit stronger, better BAB and better HP, 3rd level Duskblade spells, and Battle Caster x2 solves the ASF problem. But there weren't enough feat slots left to do anything interesting with the battlefist, and I wasn't sure I wanted to push the judges on TWFing greatsword + offhand battlefist.

Duskblade 3/Human Paragon 2/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Warforged Charger 5 was a bit more promising, +2 caster levels and one more bonus feat than the last build, and I had the inklings of a backstory, but I couldn't figure out how to get any decent damage output with the battlefist on a charge.

The most promising build:

Warlock 3/Human Paragon 2/Renegade Mastermaker 10/Warforged Charger 5.

I even had a name for him: Tohoni Stahark, A.K.A. "Iron Man". 6d6 eldritch blast, flying, and one greater invocation. I even thought I might have a trick with getting iterative slams with the battlefist, but then I reread Hideous Blow, and it was indeed a Hideous Blow to my build (good gawd, has any invocation destroyed so much hope and joy in the world?). I tried to salvage it with Eldritch Glaive, but by my reading, that didn't allow offhand attacks, so the battlefist became nearly useless... and most of the class features of Renegade Mastermaker revolve around it, so why would I take 10 levels of that over 10 more levels of Warlock?

Ah well. I may throw my hat in as a judge, although I've never done it before, and I'm worried I'd make a mess of it.

I'm a bit astounded there were no Ur-Priest 2's in there somewhere. But then I myself discarded that idea as "too easy".

[rockdeworld]

Originally Posted by Piggy Knowles

at this point I'm pretty sure who the authors of five out of seven builds are, just because the style of certain contestants has grown so familiar to me...

*cue new standards for submission guidelines*

I've got ideas for 2 of the 7 myself, just based on reading the questions earlier in the thread. For that reason, I was thinking we ought to PM questions to the chairman, rather than post them here.

Originally Posted by Amechra

Oh, and my planned build that would make you hurt me?

<snip>

I was aiming at the minimum possible UoSI score possible.

That, sir, is classy. Anyone can make a bad PrC entry. You have done it with some style.

Originally Posted by Darrin

Ah well. I may throw my hat in as a judge, although I've never done it before, and I'm worried I'd make a mess of it.

I'm a bit astounded there were no Ur-Priest 2's in there somewhere. But then I myself discarded that idea as "too easy".

Good, so now we have 3 judges, is that right?

Mmm, and now you're making me think Able Learner Factotum 1/Warblade 5/RMM 1/Ur-Priest 2/RMM +9/something, and I just finished putting all that work into the build I submitted!

[Piggy Knowles]

Originally Posted by Kelb_Panthera

I honestly kinda half-expected at least one entry to try to get into the SI asap so they could finish up with warforged juggernaut; going for the from a fleshy into a full-on robot schtick. Ah well.

I thought about it, and also about Spellcarved Soldier, but abandoned both pretty quickly because I was sure someone else would go that route. Anyhow, I didn't have a full build idea for either...

And Amechra, that build does hurt... but I love it! Can there be a "shooting the moon" option in IC contests?

[Dusk Eclipse]

The build I was planning to enter was Lesser Aasimar Ranger 1/Duskblade 2/Paladin 2/ Cyran Avenger 1/Suel Arcanamach 1/ Renegade Mastermaker 10/ Cyran Avenger +3. But in the end I couldn't make all the pre-requisites work and I didn't had time to start from scratch, though I did toy with an artificer 5/Renegade Mastermaker 10/ Cyran Avenger 5.

[Amechra]

Just out of curiosity, did Vknight post his judging criteria?

Because it looks to me like he scored everything on just how he felt about the fluff.

[Venger]

Originally Posted by Amechra

Just out of curiosity, did Vknight post his judging criteria?

Because it looks to me like he scored everything on just how he felt about the fluff.

to avoid another green star adept, let's go ahead and resolve disputes about judging through PMs. here are his criteria, so you can compare them to the end result:

Originally Posted by Vknight

*snip*

Spoiler

Overall
-I'll be starting with 3 in each. Depending on various factors it will go up or down
-I do enjoy backstories and other things of that nature which adds flesh to stats. They turn some numbers into a NPC in a future campaign.

Originality
How different is it compared to the other entries
How does it use the abilities granted in a unique or interesting way
Is the fluff coherent, does the character make any sort of sense

Power
How does it fair at each 5 level bracket. Is the build valid early. Can it hold its own late in the game.
How effective at buffs, and general combat is the character.
Can he go it alone, and how well would he mesh with a party

Elegance
Does anything feel tacked on. Does it make sense for character progression.
Is there an overuse of multiclassing, strange progression through classes.
How well does it all blend into a build. Does it make a straight line or a curving road

Use of Secret Ingredient
When do you get into the class.
How well incorporated it is into the full build
Is it underused, used poorly, not the major focus, or just not fun.