Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XLVIII

[Venger]

Change must come from within.

Rune Blackwood

Spoiler: Build stub

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Human -> Kalashtar
Lawful neutral. Membership in a heroic organization (cityscape p. 99) and the church of Moradin
Archivist 3/Church Inquisitor 1/Shaper of Form 2

1. Favored
H. Primary Contact
3. Spell Focus Transmutation
D: Great Fortitude
6. Kalashtar Mindlink

Spoiler: Stats

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32 Pointbuy

Str 8
Dex 8
Con 14 + 1 at 4th level
Int 18
Wis 16
Cha 8

Spoiler: Backstory

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Growing up as the fourth son in an aristocrat's family, Rune had more freedom than his elder brothers. From a young age, he was fascinated with learning and making things. The craftspeople on Blackwood's estate did not mind a precocious child following them around and asking questions. The local alchemist even showed young Rune how to make miniature thunderstones, something Rune greatly enjoyed!
He was also fascinated with his father's armor. A dwarvencraft full plate, it shined so bright and looked nothing like other items on the estate. As he grew older, Rune asked to apprentice to the local blacksmith to try to learn to make armor like his father's. While his family did not approve of his choice to focus on manual labor they did not stop him. In his spare time, Rune continued reading voraciously, eventually learning basic magic.

Wanting to help others with his knowledge and magic, Rune joined the Brotherhood of the Fat Grouse, a local organization encompassing several nearby towns and specializing in restorative justice and community support.

Over time, Rune grew restless. The blacksmith taught him all about armorsmithing that he knew and yet Rune was not nearly good enough to replicate dwarven craftsmanship. His magic education also stalled as he already learned all that he could from the estate's library. Learning of this, one of the leaders of the Grouse offered to write a letter of recommendation to a well respected dwarf blacksmith, Gotlin Krakentamer (Primary Contact), that worked in the temple of Moradin in a large dwarven city far in the mountains. Ecstatic at this opportunity, Rune agreed, and with a letter and a scroll of Silverbeard, he set off to the dwarven city. Arriving at the dwarven city, after many adventures, Rune found the dwarven smith and convinced him to take Rune on as an apprentice.

The first thing that Rune learned about crafting like a dwarf is that it involved reciting prayers to Moradin and drawing inspiration from the Dwarffather. Learning the prayers and feeling the metal come alive under his hammer, Rune soon became a dedicated worshiper, accepting Moradin as his god and joining the church as a full member. He also continued his magical education, the temple library proving to be a veritable treasure trove!

One day, Rune overheard some junior priests talking about beards not being holy to Moradin. Deeply distubed, he brought this up to one of the higher ranking priests who investigated this heresy and the heretics were expelled.

Desiring the fortitude of a dwarf to keep working into the night, Rune found a way to use the spell Substitute Domain(Dwarf) to grant himself some dwarven resilience (Great Fortitude).

As Rune slept one night, spirits of form spoke to him. Impressed by his learning and craftsmanship, they offered him the ability to change the forms of both objects and creatures as easily as quicksilver flows and to communicate in any form. He agreed.

Waking up, Rune felt different, the spirits kept their word. He could now link minds with others and communicate without speaking. Touching a table he closed his eyes and imagined a bookshelf. When he opened his eyes, the able was gone and the bookshelf stood there.

It took time and practice, but eventually Rune was able to temporarily transform himself and other living creatures into different forms.

With his new powers of transformation and improved knowledge of armorsmithing, Rune was finally able to craft himself mithral full plate armor of a quality that he was happy with.

His childhood crafting goal complete, Rune focused on using his magic to help his church and his community, going on many incredible adventures.

Spoiler: Build

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Level	Class	BAB	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills**	Feats	Class Features
1st	Archivist	+0	+2	+0	+2	Concentration 4, Craft (Alchemy) 4, Craft (Armorsmithing) 5, Diplomacy 4*, Know(Arc) 4, Know (Dung) 1, Know (Local) 1, Know(Nat) 1, Know(Planes) 1, Know(Rel) 4, Search 4 , Spellcraft 4	Favored, Primary Contact (+1 Craft Armorsmithing) (Human)*, Scribe Scroll(Bonus)	Dark knowledge (tactics) 3/day
2nd	Archivist	+1	+3	+0	+3	Concentration 5(+1), Craft (Alchemy) 5(+1), Craft (Armorsmithing) 6(+1), Diplomacy 5(+1), Know(Arc) 5(+1), Know (Dung) 1, Know (Local) 1, Know(Nat) 2(+1), Know(Planes) 1, Know(Rel) 5(+1), Search 5(+1) , Spellcraft 5(+1)		Lore mastery (+2 Decipher Script and Know(Rel))
3rd	Archivist	+1	+3	+1	+3	Concentration 6(+1), Craft (Alchemy) 6(+1), Craft (Armorsmithing) 7(+1), Diplomacy 6(+1), Know(Arc) 6(+1), Know (Dung) 2(+1), Know (Local) 1, Know(Nat) 2, Know(Planes) 1, Know(Rel) 6(+1), Search 6(+1) , Spellcraft 6(+1)	Spell Focus(Transmutation)	Dark knowledge 4/day
4th	Church Inquisitor	+1	+3	+1	+5	Concentration 7(+1), Craft (Alchemy) 6, Craft (Armorsmithing) 8(+2CC), Diplomacy 7(+1), Know(Arc) 7(+1), Know (Dung) 2, Know (Local) 1, Know(Nat) 2, Know(Planes) 2(+1), Know(Rel) 7(+1), Search 7(+1), Spellcraft 7(+1)		Detect evil, Inquisition domain
5th	Shaper of Form	+1	+5	+1	+7	Concentration 8(+1), Craft (Alchemy) 8(+2), Craft (Armorsmithing) 8(+1) (lose feat bonus), Know(Arc) 8(+1), Know (Dung) 2, Know (Local) 1, Know(Nat) 2, Know(Planes) 2, Know(Rel) 7, Search 7, Spellcraft 8(+1)		Like begets like, modify self (Kalashtar)
6th	Shaper of Form	+2	+6	+1	+8	Concentration 9(+1), Craft (Alchemy) 9(+1), Craft (Armorsmithing) 9(+1), Disable Device 1(+1), Know(Arc) 9(+1), Know (Dung) 2, Know (Local) 1, Know(Nat) 2, Know(Planes) 2, Know(Rel) 7, Search 7, Spellcraft 9(+1)	Kalashtar Mindlink	Fortify item, polymorph (1/day),

* Crossed out feat and skills are lost when the race changes from Human to Kalashtar
** Skill rank from Primary Contact is included in list of skills

Epic
1. Metamorphic Transfer
2. Great Fortitude
3. Sudden Extend
4. Sudden Maximize
5. Sudden Silent
6. Sudden Still
7. Sudden Empower
8. Quicken Spell
9. Sudden Quicken
10. Metamorphic Transfer (again)

Spoiler: Spells

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Archivists can learn a TON of spells, and their availability is somewhat DM dependent (outside of the few cleric spells learned at level up).
Because of this, I will only list spells I think are either important to the build or that I find interesting.

Caster level 5.

1. Enlarge Person - Helpful for combat AND affecting larger objects with Like begets like [Transformation Domain (Races of Eberron) or Strength Domain]
1. Silverbeard (SpC) - Important for storyline reasons
1. Sleep - Good early spell[Adept/Dream Domain(SpC)]

2. Alter Self - More shapechanging [Transformation Domain (Races of Eberron)]
2. Close Wounds(SpC) - Swift action healing is important
2. Guidance of the Avatar(Web) - +20 to any skill!
2. Substitute Domain(CC) - Required to get Great Fortitude from Dwarf Domain
2. Zone of truth - Required for Church Inquisitor

3. Blade Storm(SpC) - 1. Turn into a Grell(Lords of Madness) 2. Pick up 10 Silverspears 3 (Lords of Madness). Attack EACH opponent in melee 10 times.
3. Evard's Black Tentacles - Nifty battlefield control! [Blackwater Domain (Storm)]
3. Devil's Ego (FC2) - Primarily used to turn into an outsider for Polymorph and Alter Self* [Diabolic domain(FC2)]
3. Freedom of Movement - Nentyar Hunter (Unapproachable East)

*Devil's Ego + Alter Self into Dwarf Ancestor (MM4) = +18 Natural Armor. Great and fitting form!

Polymorph SLA 1/day
Caster level for the SLA is not specified, so I assume it's equal to HD (6)

Spoiler: Mechanics and level breakdown

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1. Rune has access to some of the best level 1 spells such as Sleep/Entangle. Dark Knowledge + ranks in all monster identifying skills is nice too. Medium armor helps stay alive, but as most level 1 casters, staying away from the front line is likely optimal.
3. Second level spells are great, especially if you have access to Adept spells for Scorching Ray/Invisibility/Mirror Image/See Invisibility. Alter Self allows for early form changing.
4. Church Inquisitor adds Detect Evil at will, which can be useful. While the Inquisition Domain granted power can be very useful later (Dispel as a 9th level caster? In E6?) for now it gets swapped for Dwarf Domain to meet the prerequisite for Shaper of Form which helps Runes saves too.
5. Race changes to Kalashtar which makes Rune lose a feat (Primary Contact). However you no longer need it as you can self-qualify by putting a skill point into Craft(Armorsmithing). Since Kalashtar are pretty much humans with a diluted outsider influence, Rune's base appearance doesn't even have to change much.
Like begets like is a VERY good ability. Enlarge Person allows Rune to change any object up to large size, and the ability to increase value is VERY easy to abuse (gems?)

Spoiler: Primary Contact loss

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As Rune focuses on adventuring rather than making armor, it fits to downgrade the relationship with Gotlin Krakentamer to a regular contact, rather than a primary one.

6. Sadly a lost caster level, however, Rune gets Polymorph! In E6! Amazing utility right out of the box! Kalashtar Mindlink feat boosts the manifester level of Mindlink PLA to 6 (and also makes it usable more often)

Epic.
With Rune having manifester level 6, Metamorphic transfer is obvious to get supernatural abilities of forms taken with Polymorph.
Next Great Fortitude is taken as a feat to avoid having to use Substitute Domain.
Next Rune takes the whole feat chain to get Sudden Quicken. Normally, this is not the best idea, however, E6 epic feats gives the character many more feats to work with, and the capstone ability is a SLA which sudden feats explicitly work with. Rune now has access to things like Empowered + Maximized Lightning Bolt (Adept) for some serious blasting or Still + Silent spells to cast in a grapple. Of course ultimately, a quickened (possibly extended) Polymorph is a real kicker!
Second instance of Metamorphic transfer allows getting two Supernatural abilities at a time. This is only relevant for a few forms, but still nice to have.

Spoiler: Using Polymorph with Metamorphic Transfer

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Spoiler: Polymorph types

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Aberration ✔
Animal ✔
Construct ✖
Dragon ✔
Elemental ✖
Fey ✔
Giant ✔
Humanoid ✔
Magical Beast ✔
Monstrous Humanoid ✔
Ooze ✔
Outsider * Only when using Devil's Ego (FC2)
Plant ✔
Undead ✖
Vermin ✔

Creature	Abilities
Choker	quickness - Extra actions
Gauth	Eye rays - Multiple different spells
Blink Dog	Blink, Dimension Door as _Free_ actions
Ethereal Filcher/Phase Spider	Ethereal Jaunt
Formian Taskmaster(Outsider)	Dominate Monster
Nightmare (Outsider)	astral projection, etherealness
Movanic Deva (Outsider) [Fiend Folio]	Change Shape, Heavenly Deflection, Protective Aura: double-strength magic circle against evil + minor globe of invulnerability
Myrlochar (Outsider)[Monsters of Faurun]	Hit Point Drain - Permanently drain HP (infinite HP?)

Spoiler: Sources

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Cityscape: Favored, Primary Contact
Complete Arcane: Sudden * Feats
Complete Divine: Church Inquisitor, Inquisition Domain
Dragon Compendium: Shaper of Form
Expanded Psionics Handbook: Metamorphic Transfer
Heroes of Horror: Archivist
Races of Eberron: Kalashtar
Secrets of Sarlona: Kalashtar Mindlink
Spell Compendium: Dwarf Domain
https://web.archive.org/web/20210126...sb/sb20010504a : Guidance of the Avatar