Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CXXXII

[The Viscount]

Yo dawg I heard you like totems

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You all hate drow. As I do. And we are allies for now. But don’t let it fool you, I hate you all, pointy-eared. You all are elves. Not only drow abandon me, but all you. I grew up wandering. Bonding one barbarian tribe to another. No one of you helped me. Don’t expect me to welcome you. You just are less bad for me, but if someone betrays our struggle I'll kill them without a second thought.

I use you as my tool against drow. My plan is simple. I'll transform you. I'll give you small part of my wrath. You will become appear like a drow - it works only on elves unfortunately. You all will infiltrate some drow city maybe even Menzoberranzan once and at the right moment we all start to kill nearby drow. Part of you will be revealed and captured - if you not sure you could endure a few hours of torture you should try to die quick. Most of you won’t survive the event, but I promise you - you will kill several drow.

Unholy Fury Berserker Strength Jaguar Totem Wolf Totem Ape Torem Bear Totem Horse Totem Barbarian 5/Elf Soulborn 4/Half-Elf Paragon 1/Kinslayer 10

Spoiler: Abilities

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Abilities	Initial	ASI	Total
STR	14		14
DEX	12		12
CON	14		14
INT	14		14
WIS	10		10
CHA	15	5	20

Spoiler: Levels

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Level	Class	BAB	Fort	Reflex	Will	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Unholy Fury Berserker Strength Jaguar Totem Barbarian 1	1	2	0	0	24: {+4} Climb: 4; {+4} Craft (taxidermy): 4; {+4 CC} Disguise: 2; {+4} Intimidate: 4; {+4} Jump: 4; {+4} Survival: 4;	Drow Legacy1	Berserker strength, illiteracy, unholy fury
2nd	Wolf Totem Barbarian 2	2	3	0	0	6: {+1} Climb: 5; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 5; {+1 CC} Disguise: 2.5; {+1} Intimidate: 5; {+1} Jump: 5; {+1} Survival: 5;	Improved TripB
3rd	Ape Torem Barbarian 3	3	3	1	1	6: {+1} Climb: 6; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 6; {+1 CC} Disguise: 3; {+1} Intimidate: 6; {+1} Jump: 6; {+1} Survival: 6;	Unspeakable Vow3, Power AttackB
4th	Bear Totem Barbarian 4	4	4	1	1	6: {+1} Climb: 7; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 7; {+1 CC} Disguise: 3.5; {+1} Intimidate: 7; {+1} Jump: 7; {+1} Survival: 7;
5th	Horse Totem Barbarian 5	5	4	1	1	6: Climb: 7; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 8; {+1 CC} Disguise: 4; {+1} Intimidate: 8; Jump: 7; {+1} Survival: 8; {+2} Never Outnumbered;	EnduranceB
6th	Elf Soulborn 1	6	6	1	1	4: Climb: 7; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 9; {+1 CC} Disguise: 4.5; {+1} Heal: 1; {+1} Intimidate: 9; Jump: 7; Survival: 8; Never Outnumbered;	Diehard6	Aura, smite opposition 1/day
7th	Elf Soulborn 2	7	7	1	1	4: Climb: 7; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 10; {+1 CC} Disguise: 5; {+1} Heal: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 10; Jump: 7; Survival: 8; Never Outnumbered;		Incarnum defense
8th	Soulborn 3	8	7	2	2	4: Climb: 7; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 11; {+1 CC} Disguise: 5.5; {+1} Heal: 3; {+1} Intimidate: 11; Jump: 7; Survival: 8; Never Outnumbered;	Sapphire SmiteB	Bonus feat
9th	Soulborn 4	9	8	2	2	4: Climb: 7; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 12; Disguise: 5.5; {+2} Heal: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 12; Jump: 7; Survival: 8; Never Outnumbered;	Vow of Vengeance (Elves)9
10th	Half-Elf Paragon 1	9	8	4	2	6: {+4} Bluff: 4; Climb: 7; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 13; {+1 CC} Disguise: 6; Heal: 5; Intimidate: 12; Jump: 7; Survival: 8; Never Outnumbered;	Trophy CollectorB	Bonus feat, divided ancestry, elven vision
11th	Kinslayer 1	10	8	6	4	6: {+1} Bluff: 5; Climb: 7; Craft (taxidermy): 13; {+2} Disguise: 8; Heal: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 13; Jump: 7; Survival: 8; {+2} Second Impression, Never Outnumbered;		Mettle, rage 1/day, surge of hate
12th	Kinslayer 2	11	8	7	5	6: {+3} Bluff: 8; Climb: 7; Craft (taxidermy): 13; {+2} Disguise: 10; Heal: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 14; Jump: 7; Survival: 8; Second Impression, Never Outnumbered;	Bonus Essentia12	Inured to sunlight, smite elves 1/day
13th	Kinslayer 3	12	9	7	5	6: {+1} Bluff: 9; Climb: 7; Craft (taxidermy): 13; {+2} Disguise: 12; Heal: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 15; Jump: 7; Survival: 8; {+2} Assume Quirk, Second Impression, Never Outnumbered;		Elf bane
14th	Kinslayer 4	13	9	8	6	6: {+3} Bluff: 12; Climb: 7; Craft (taxidermy): 13; {+2} Disguise: 14; Heal: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 16; Jump: 7; Survival: 8; Assume Quirk, Second Impression, Never Outnumbered;		Shameful strike
15th	Kinslayer 5	14	9	8	6	6: {+2} Bluff: 14; Climb: 7; Craft (taxidermy): 13; {+2} Disguise: 16; Heal: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 17; Jump: 7; {+1} Sense Motive: 1; Survival: 8; Assume Quirk, Second Impression, Never Outnumbered;	Imperious Command15	Rage 2/day, smite elves 2/day
16th	Kinslayer 6	15	10	9	7	6: {+2} Bluff: 16; Climb: 7; Craft (taxidermy): 13; {+2} Disguise: 18; Heal: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 18; Jump: 7; {+1} Sense Motive: 2; Survival: 8; Assume Quirk, Second Impression, Never Outnumbered;		Deny elf magic
17th	Kinslayer 7	16	10	9	7	6: {+2} Bluff: 18; Climb: 7; Craft (taxidermy): 13; {+2} Disguise: 20; Heal: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 19; Jump: 7; {+1} Sense Motive: 3; Survival: 8; Assume Quirk, Second Impression, Never Outnumbered;		Disguise heritage
18th	Kinslayer 8	17	10	10	8	6: {+2} Bluff: 20; Climb: 7; Craft (taxidermy): 13; {+1} Disguise: 21; Heal: 5; {+2} Intimidate: 21; Jump: 7; {+1} Sense Motive: 4; Survival: 8; Assume Quirk, Second Impression, Never Outnumbered;	Awesome Smite18	Fey bane, smite elves 3/day
19th	Kinslayer 9	18	11	10	8	6: {+2} Bluff: 22; Climb: 7; {+1 CC} Craft (taxidermy): 13.5; {+1} Disguise: 22; Heal: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 22; Jump: 7; {+1} Sense Motive: 5; Survival: 8; Assume Quirk, Second Impression, Never Outnumbered;		Rage 3/day
20th	Kinslayer 10	19	11	11	9	6: {+1} Bluff: 23; Climb: 7; {+3 CC} Craft (taxidermy): 15; {+1} Disguise: 23; Heal: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 23; Jump: 7; Sense Motive: 5; Survival: 8; Assume Quirk, Second Impression, Never Outnumbered;		Lolth's curse, vengeful strike

Spoiler: ECL 1-5

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Skarsh was a poor barbarian at this moment. He is a half-drow and it was a problem. Tribes adopted him, but at some moment he became an outcast and such a pattern has been repeated repeatedly. He was a Jaguar, a Wolf, an Ape, a Bear and a Horse. This couldn’t go on forever and he decided to leave barbarian land.

Spoiler: How am I barbarian of different totems? Is this legal?

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Yes, it's legal.

The choice of a totem must be taken at 1st level, and cannot be changed later except under extreme circumstances (such as the barbarian being adopted by another tribe).

Yeah, I just mention this in story, but:

Deciding that a backstory has not met a fluff prerequisite well enough, or because its method of meeting it is "unrealistic". You may penalize if a fluff prereq is not addressed at all, but not for how well it is addressed.

I think fluff prereq is addressed enough.

For now my character is a front line fighter with some useful feats and triggered by damage Rage-like condition with free smite attack. Good, but nothing very special.

Spoiler: ECL 6-10

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Skarsh went wandering hungry for revenge. It was clear who was responsible for his suffering - his drow parent and through this all drow. Fire of hate burned in his soul and he started to study how to use the power of his soul to become stronger. To direct his rage at drow and elves in general.

Spoiler: How am I an Elf Soulborn while I'm half-elf?

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Drow Blood. For all special abilities and effects, a half-drow is considered a drow.

Drow is an elf, so elven options are open for me. As like SI later.

At this moment my character still is a competent front liner, while his Berserker Strength became less useful. But he obtained another smite source and Sapphire Smite feat to have more attempts.
For the sake of clarity: Sapphire Smite should increase the amount of uses for every rage - they are separate sources of smites. This means Skarsh has an unlimited amount of smites per day - he just needs to take enough damage and to be healed later. And now he started his collection of severed elven ears. This and Soulborn's Fearsome Mask give him significant bonus to Intimidate.

Spoiler: ECL 11-15

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Skarsh started his solo-campaign against the drow. He stalked them in the Underdark caverns, tracked them in surface cities, and killed them everywhere he met them. He became even more furious and violent then was before and only a trail of one-eared bodies left behind him.

First five SI levels. All way good and useful Mettle, useful for my character Surge of Hate (and other anti-elves features) and Rage with bonuses stacking with Berserker strength's bonuses (while it's kinda tricky to activate them simultaneously). Also I have third source of smites now and Shameful Strike is good if you strikes first.

Spoiler: ECL 16-20

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Skarsh "Ear-cutter" started to understand: being solo against the whole race isn't the best way to win and he began recruiting followers. Who does hate drow more than anyone else? Yes, other elves. Skarsh hates all elves, of course, but the idea to force them to kill each other was very seductive. And anyway not every meet elf was ready to join him, even faced with a choice: join or death. Them who refused became feed for Skarsh's hate and new ear for his necklace.

Finish the SI. SR, Disguise heritage means my character could look like any non-drow (and I think non-avariel) elf. With Lolth's Curse later he could also look like any drow, too. More rages, more smites, anti-fey bonus and the main feature - Lolth's Curse. With it my character could give any of his elf or half-elf followers the appearance of a poor-blooded drow. Having almost unlimited amount of smites (thanks to my Berserker strength) he could transform enough followers to make a terror in the average drow city.

Spoiler: Books

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Type	Name	Book	Page
Race	Half-Drow	Races of Faerun	62
Class	Barbarian	PHB	24
Class	Soulborn	Magic of Incarnum	25
Class	Half-Elf Paragon	Unearthed Arcana	39
Prestige Class	Kinslayer	Drow of the Underdark	87
Class variant	Unholy Fury	Exemplars of Evil	22
Class variant	Berserker Strength	PHB II	33
Class variant	Totem Barbarian	Unearthed Arcana	48
Class variant	Elf Soulborn	Magic of Incarnum	45
Feat	Drow Legacy	Drow of the Underdark	220
Feat	Improved Trip	PHB	96
Feat	Unspeakable Vow	Drow of the Underdark	55
Feat	Power Attack	PHB	98
Feat	Endurance	PHB	93
Feat	Diehard	PHB	93
Feat	Sapphire Smite	Magic of Incarnum	40
Feat	Vow of Vengeance	Drow of the Underdark	56
Feat	Trophy Collector	PHB II	83
Feat	Bonus Essentia	Magic of Incarnum	35
Feat	Imperious Command	Drow of the Underdark	50
Feat	Awesome Smite	Complete Champion	55
Skill Tricks	All	Complete Scoundrel	84-90

[The Viscount]

Where there's smoke there's... wait.....

Those Who Fuel The Smokeless Fire Must Not Be Surprised When The Flames Consume Them

Spoiler: Build

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Stub: Mirage Mullah Half-Drow Spirit Shaman 5 / Half-Elf Paragon 2 / Elemental Archon 1 / Kinslayer 8
Alignment: NE
Deity: Kossuth
Languages: Common, Elven, Undercommon, Ignan (eventually all via Tongues)

Ability array: 10 str, 12 dex, 14 con, 12 int, 16 wis, 16 cha
ASIs: CHA at level 4,8,12,16
Template: Str -2, Con -2, Int +2, Wis -2, Cha +6
Final stats: 8 str, 12 dex, 12 con, 14 int, 14 wis, 26 cha

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Spirit Shaman 1	+0	+2	+0	+2	Craft (Alchemy) +4 (4), Diplomacy +4 (4), Knowledge(nature) +4 (4), Listen +2 (2), Spot +2 (2) Survival +4 (4)	Endurance	Spirit Guide (Coyote), Wild Empathy
2nd	Spirit Shaman 2	+1	+3	+0	+3	Craft (Alchemy) +1 (5), Diplomacy +1 (5), Knowledge(nature) +1 (5), Listen 2, Spot +1 (3) Survival +1 (5)	-	Chastise Spirits
3rd	Spirit Shaman 3	+2	+3	+1	+3	Craft (Alchemy) +1 (6), Diplomacy +1 (6), Knowledge(nature) +1 (6), Listen 2, Spot +1 (4) Survival +1 (6)	Unspeakable Vow	Detect Spirits
4th	Spirit Shaman 4	+3	+4	+1	+4	Craft (Alchemy) +1 (7), Diplomacy +1 (7), Knowledge(nature) +1 (7), Listen 2, Spot +1 (5) Survival +1 (7)	-	Blessing of the Spirits
5th	Spirit Shaman 5	+3	+4	+1	+4	Craft (Alchemy) +1 (8), Diplomacy +1 (8), Knowledge(nature) +1 (8), Listen 2, Spot +1 (6), Survival +1 (8)	-	Follow the Guide
6th	Half-Elf Paragon 1	+3	+4	+3	+4	Bluff +2 (2), Craft (Alchemy) 8, Diplomacy +1 (9), Intimidate +2cc (1), Knowledge(nature) 8, Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival 8	Vow of Vengeance (Fey), DiehardB	Bonus Feat, Elven Vision
7th	Half-Elf Paragon 2	+4	+4	+4	+4	Bluff +2 (4), Craft (Alchemy) 8, Diplomacy +1 (10), Intimidate +2cc (2), Knowledge(nature) 8, Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival 8	-	Persuasion
8th	Elemental Archon 1	+4	+6	+4	+6	Bluff 4, Craft (Alchemy) 8, Diplomacy 10, Intimidate +2cc (3), Knowledge(nature) 8, Knowledge (the planes) +1 (1), Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival 8	-	Mephit Underlings
9th	Kinslayer 1	+5	+6	+6	+8	Bluff 4, Craft (Alchemy) 8, Diplomacy 10, Intimidate +5 (8), Knowledge(nature) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival 8)	Imperious Command	Mettle, Rage 1/day, Surge of Hate
10th	Kinslayer 2	+6	+6	+7	+9	Bluff +2 (6), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (9), Diplomacy 10, Intimidate +2 (10), Knowledge(nature) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival 8	-	Inured to Sunlight, Smite Elves 1/day
14th	Mirage Mullah	+6	+6	+7	+9	Bluff 6, Craft (Alchemy) 9, Diplomacy 10, Intimidate 10, Knowledge(nature) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival 8	Unseelie Court Noble KelirB	SLAs, Low-Light Vision, Daylight Weakness, Oasis Dependent
15th	Kinslayer 3	+7	+7	+7	+9	Bluff +1 (7), Craft (Alchemy) 9, Diplomacy 10, Intimidate +2 (12), Knowledge(nature) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival +1 (9), Never Outnumbered Skill Trick +2	-	Elf Bane
16th	Kinslayer 4	+8	+7	+8	+10	Bluff +2 (9), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (10), Diplomacy 10, Intimidate +2 (14), Knowledge(nature) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival +1 (10), Never Outnumbered	Charming the Arrow	Shameful Strike
17th	Kinslayer 5	+9	+7	+8	+10	Bluff +2 (11), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (11), Diplomacy 10, Intimidate +2 (16), Knowledge(nature) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival +1 (11), Never Outnumbered	-	Rage 2/day, Smite Elves 2/day
18th	Kinslayer 6	+10	+8	+9	+11	Bluff +3 (14), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (12), Diplomacy 10, Intimidate +1 (17), Knowledge(nature) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival +1 (12), Never Outnumbered	-	Deny Elf Magic
19th	Kinslayer 7	+11	+8	+9	+11	Bluff +3 (17), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (13), Diplomacy 10, Intimidate +1 (18), Knowledge(nature) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival +1 (13), Never Outnumbered	Intimidating Rage	Disguise Heritage
20th	Kinslayer 8	+12	+8	+10	+12	Bluff +2 (19), Craft (Alchemy) +2 (15), Diplomacy 10, Intimidate +1 (19), Knowledge(nature) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Listen 2, Spot 6, Survival +1 (14), Never Outnumbered	-	Fey Bane, Smite Elves 3/day

Spoiler: Past

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I was eight when my father disappeared.

As far as I know, he simply vanished from our lives one night. My mother told me he'd left the tent around midnight and that was the last she'd seen of him. The other nomads had conflicting accounts: some were sure they'd seen him return, others thought they'd seen a figure march off into the desert, and one outlandish tale claimed he'd walked into the middle of camp and just... disappeared. As a child, the particulars of it did not interest me as much as the consequence: I was half an orphan now.

I spend long days in my mother's tent. She was different from the other elves: darker-skinned, paler-haired, averse to heat and sunlight, master of magic. I was her apprentice, of sorts, learning about the spirits that suffused our world: the Jinn, creatures of invisible flame lurking between the winds. Deceitful and inhuman, taking the shape of snakes and scorpions, cursing and blessing as their strange minds saw fit. A few lesser ones were amenable to service; those I drew on in what few spells I learned to master.

I was thirty-four when my father reappeared, seemingly no older than he'd been when I last saw him. Even without my mother's training, I would have known to be suspicious. With it, I knew beyond a doubt that this could not be him. He'd appeared while we were travelling; crested the rim of a jagged rock formation, stared down at us for a handful of moments, and disappeared again. We quickly moved on.

The encounter shook me. The being I'd seen could not have been my father. But had it been his killer? Or had this thing come upon his spirited-away corpse, and taken his face as a brigand may take a roadside corpse's coin? Neither thought was appealing - if my father was dead, as I had accepted by now, then let every part of him remain so.

I begged my mother to let me go after this monster. She refused. I pleaded for days on end - every time her response was the same: I was still too weak. So I stayed behind in the next oasis we visited: trained and prayed to Kossuth Day-Lord, learned ever more of the spirits and their ways.

When my people returned there, nearly two years later, I was ready. My mother relented; she called on her authority to hand-pick a dozen warriors and sent them with me. We set off, returning to that place where we had seen him all that time ago. Nearby, we found the bewitched oasis-lair of the thing that looked like my father. My first spell, empowered by hate, killed it on the spot.

And while I stared at the ravaged body, waiting for the guise to melt away and reveal some inhuman thing beneath, a blow to my head made me lose consciousness.

I awoke bound hands and feet. The elven warriors that had accompanied me stood around me, grim-faced. I began to scream, to demand answers- and received exactly that.

I'd always been raised with the idea that none but my mother communed with jinn, that even her dealings were small and insignificant. How cleverly she'd lied to me, substituting a sheltered childhood for the need to tell actual untruths! This tribe, all of it, existed at the center of a spun web of pacts and deals. Some demanded sacrifice of blood, others of coin. She herself was the product of yet another pact: not that far up her family tree sat something remarkably un-elven, something shadow-cloaked and magic-blooded, which flinched away from the sun as she herself did too.

More distressingly, the thing I killed had, in fact, once been my father. Taken from his bed by his own wife, led to a dark and secluded place, and... not quite killed, not quite destroyed, but changed, a payment to some shadowy court for yet another boon. And my fate would be no different. The pact demanded a human soul in sacrifice - I was close enough. I was left behind, tied-up, in a jinn-cursed place that would subsume my being. I struggled against the ropes for hours; dusk came, then dawn - and then it happened.

The desert came rushing in: hollowing me out, stripping away thoughts and hopes and fears to make room for itself. Fire blazed through my body, adding strange new magics to my familiar ones. Lies and curses crept into my tongue. My body became flawless like carved stone and no less unchanging. The ropes, as an afterthought, simply rotted away - perhaps they were part of the offering.

What disturbed me most, after it all, was how much I was still me. My memories remained. My desires were unchanged. Even the sunlight, painful as it was, did not seem to inhibit me as it had my mother (a gift of Kossuth?). More problematic was the link tethering me to my place of transformation, but I found a way around it. It all left me wondering: had my father been like this when he died? Helpless, bound, yet still himself, still my father, stuck in torment for years on end?

My oath of vengeance was renewed on his body. Towards the jinn, of course, but why stop there? Why retain my rage for jinn, and not for those willing to deal with them? My mother would die. My clan would die. And all others, too, if they did not forswear their service to these cursed beings. And as for those who would not relent, who refused to acknowledge the agonies that jinn visited upon the hapless...

Well, I had a way to make them understand.

Spoiler: Spells

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Spells per Day

Level	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1st	3	3	-	-	-
2nd	4	4	-	-	-
3rd	5	5	3	-	-
4th	6	6	4	-	-
5th	6	7	5	3	-
7th	6	7	6	4	-
8th	6	7	7	5	2
14th	6	7	7	4	2

Typical Spells Retrieved:
0th: Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Read Magic
1st: Cloak of Shade, Longstrider, Wood Wose
2nd: Blood Frenzy, Divine Presence
3rd: Junglerazer
4th: Feathers

Spoiler: Spotlights

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ECL 5
A very straightforward spirit shaman. Craft alchemical stuff (poisons are on the table; a Wood Wose can apply them safely), cast spells, hope your travels bring you in contact with lots of spirits. You're pretty good at Diplomacy also, which is nice. Note that there's a PHBII teamwork benefit (Team Rush) that lets you use your longstrider-enhanced speed to determine the party's overland movement, giving us a reason for Endurance beyond 'eh I guess deserts are rough environments'.

ECL 10
A bit of a shift in focus here. Half-Elf Paragon makes us better at spotting, searching, and social interaction of all stripes. Kinslayer gives us Mettle (very nice with Spirit Shaman letting us get an extra save vs every enchantment spell), an initiative boost vs elves, Smite, and Rage. You've got a respectable +18 intimidate before items, with Divine Presence (CChamp) adding +5, +10, or even +15 to that check (a sacred bonus, strangely), especially against the Good alignments that fey skew towards, and items adding some as well, so for a large portion of combat you'll just be scaring foes into submission with Imperious Command (and Never Outnumbered to taste).

We've got three mephits. Most of the time, they'll be magma mephits, whose 1/day Pyrotechnics will blind everyone except your immune self and which can turn into lava pools to create a defensive moat around you (what happens when you fly over someone and then turn to lava?). They can also use their okayish charisma to Aid Another on your intimidate attempts, fling alchemical stuff from above, or use their liquid form to get through confined spaces.

ECL 15
Mirage Mullah gives us always-on Mage Armor, Tongues for easier diplomancing, save-or-sucks like Blindness/Deafness, Confusion, and Bestow Curse, and utility in Ventriloquism, Illusions, Suggestion, and Charm Person. Along with it, we get a huge charisma boost, which synergizes great with Unseelie Court Noble Kelir (a bonus feat: read our backstory). This, in turn, makes us even more of a social powerhouse than we already are: we can now use our +17 bluff to worsen others' opinions of a target, isolating them socially and leaving them easy prey for us.

Also, we can turn other people into mirage mullahs and have an easier time fighting them while they're weakened by the sun, the constitution penalty, and separation from their oasis.

Speaking of transformation: with Feathers (MotW) we can turn ourselves and up to six allies (say, the 3 other members of a standard party and our three mephits) into small-sized flying creatures (vultures are most thematic, but other birds can also work) for hours on end. This has some advantages outside of noncombat travel, like upping our constitution and thus fortitude, gives us a flying form from where we can still use our SLAs, but most importantly it messes up enemy targeting. No matter how many SLAs you use, foes won't know which of the four identical birds is the source! If you're using Team Rush, the party moves at 80 ft. overland while you're in eagle form, regardless of whether they're transformed themselves or not.

ECL 20
With our charisma so high and our physical stats mediocre at best, we turn to an unexpected source of staying relevant when intimidation isn't relevant: charisma-based archery! Charming the Arrow turns our humble shortbow proficiency into a great way to get our various anti-elf/fey bonuses at range, in addition to being a useful way to deliver poisons and other alchemically crafted nastiness. It's a bit make-do, but for a character whose forte isn't combat, we have a solid array of options.

Intimidating Rage allows us to keep intimidating foes up to 30 feet away. Blood Frenzy (2nd level druid spell) gives us tons of chances to get off a demoralize. The constitution and Will boosts remain useful regardless of our position, the AC penalty is much less rough if we're far from melee. Even the strength bonus has some uses in negating our strength-based damage penalty.

Spoiler: UoSI

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Kinslayer is a weird class! And core to its weirdness is the overspecialization against elves and fey - you can even lose class features for not hunting those vigorously enough! As far as I know, there's no easy way to turn someone into an elf.

But there are ways to turn people into fey. And one such way, Mirage Mullah, is exceptionally well-suited to kinslayer, given how it lets us ignore the Mirage Mullah's light sensitivity. This is actually really hard to do: Daylight Adaptation doesn't work here, Cloak of Dark Power lasts only minutes/level and Shadow Shroud is even worse, Sundark Goggles likewise only affect dazzled. And once we pay the hefty price of being a kinslayer in the first place, it'd be a waste to not keep going and get Fey Bane.

Also note that within desert environments, the people most likely to stumble upon a mysterious oasis are elves. The list of Environmental Racial Variants describes desert elves as nomadic, unlike every other desert race except perhaps goblins. It stands to reason that if random people run into us, they'll be elves. One transformation later, we'll be getting both sets of our bonuses against them - something normal kinslayers can't do unless they happen to run into half-fey elves.

First, let's address the elephant in the room: how do we not get screwed over by Oasis Dependent? Simple: Acorn of Far Travel. What, think there's no oaks in the desert? There are. Cover it with Unguent of Timelessness, too, and you can stay away from your home for years and years.

But we're not quite done yet. Anyone 'carrying' the acorn is considered to be standing in our oasis. Our fey oasis, which explicitly turns people into mirage mullahs if they are there at dawn. Simply give someone possession of the acorn (lead-wrapped if necessary) by a variety of means: embed it in some other useful object, sneak it into their pockets with Mage Hand, Charm them, and before long they should be fey, with reduced HP, a crippling sensitivity to daylight (hey, remember what time of day it now necessarily is), and vulnerability to your anti-fey features. Get the acorn back, and they start taking damage to three different stats, with the DC to resist slowly increasing. Our Will is high enough that we can endure a few hours of ability damage, and if we lose the template we can always get it back via the same trick. The lead-wrapping should also break line of effect and provide dispel protection.

They get SLAs, sure, but we have excellent Will and slippery mind courtesy of Spirit Shaman - and if they're elves, we even have Deny Elf Magic. It's normally the hardest kinslayer feature to showcase, because it requires your foes to be elves and magic users; our tactics at least take care of the second bit.

On top of that, spirit shaman gives us several benefits against spirits-which-includes-all-fey. We can detect them at-will, we can deal 5d6 damage to them in an AoE, and we have continuous Protection from Spirits up. Against the animals that caravans and elves are likely to have with them, we have Wild Empathy (again boosted by our very high charisma). Also note Junglerazer as a very nice way to damage fey at long distances.

The fey oasis section also says that 'the magic of the oasis makes the fey appear to be mortals', implying that normally we don't seem mortal. Indefinite (Su) shapeshifting from Kinslayer is thus a very welcome boon, above and beyond the normal infiltration/impersonation possibilities it offers.

You may wonder how we're making use of Sickening Strike, given that we're not particularly in the business of making melee attacks. The answer is that Sickening Strike isn't a viable combat option anyway: instead, we use it as an out-of-combat debuff. It's a bit unclear whether you can make random touch attacks whenever you please, but you can definitely make random touch attacks to deliver Mage Armor or Tongues. Touch someone to deliver a seemingly harmless spell and no-save debuff all their saves and skill checks (like Sense Motive to resist Bluff, or its Diplomacy checks to resist our Unseelie Court Noble Kelir feat) for most of a minute, giving you a leg up in social interaction with them. It's up to the DM how aware of the debuff a creature is, but at any rate it should hardly immediately draw a blade on you.

And we're not done leveraging kinslayer class features. Elf Bane and Smite Elves are dependent on us encountering elves, but Surge of Hate isn't quite. Instead, it says that it triggers when 'we see elves among our enemies'. If we were to begin a combat against invisible elves, it wouldn't trigger. And conversely, if we do see elves that aren't there, it would! What I'm saying is, use those snazzy Silent Image and Major Image SLAs to create images of enemy elves and give yourself a free +8 initiative bonus. Being primarily an archer and SLA user in combat, going first is way less awkward for us than it'd be for a pounce-less martial, too. As for how that works with smites: just use those to make your melee touch spells more accurate.

We don't take the final two levels of Kinslayer, which I believe is justifiable. The third Rage is a bit unnecessary when we can already rage as much as we have 2nd-level spells, while turning people into mirage mullahs is already a stronger version of Lolth's Curse. Only Vengeful Strike is left by the wayside, but given how we're not a frontline fighter anyway, I don't think it's all that important for our character.

As for our prerequisite feats: I hope our Vows explain themselves, Endurance is useful for a solitary desert-dweller, and Diehard can be very nice at low levels when paired with Beastland Ferocity (SComp) (especially because we can rage to get ourselves in positive HP again). I didn't list the spell because this tactic falls off at higher levels, but it's an use!

Spoiler: Used sources

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Half-Drow: RoF
Mirage Mullah: Sand
Spirit Shaman: CDiv
Half-Elf Paragon: UA
Elemental Archon: F&P

Imperious Command: DotU
Unseelie Court Noble Kelir, Charming the Arrow: Web
Intimidating Rage: CWar
Never Outnumbered: CScound

Acorn of Far Travel: Web

[The Viscount]

Drow love a good backstab

H'Tull Farkgallen
Rogue 5/Assassin 4/ Kinslayer 2/ Assassin 1/ Kinslayer 5/ Rogue 2

Spoiler: Short Backstory

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H'Tull Farkgallen was in the crowd. As he was pushed and jostled, people shushed as the noble began to speak. After studying for a while, he was ready. He uttered a few words, and he disappeared from view. The crowd gasped as the noble lolled over, a scimitar wound in his back.

H'Tull was an orphan, raised in a city of elves. He was hated for nothing more than being drow. However, despite his best efforts, he was filled with hate as well, and that gave birth to a killer. Visited in a dream by Lolth, H'Tull dedicated his life to the death of elves everywhere, using membership in an assassin's guild as a way to find more targets.

Spoiler: Abilities

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Str 18 Dex 15 Con 10 Wis 8 Int 14 Cha 9
Increases Cha>Str>Str>Str>Str

Spoiler: Levels

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Drow Rogue	+0	+0	+2	+0	Disguise 4, Sleight of Hand 4, Tumble 4, Move Silently 4, Hide 4, Craft (Poisonmaking) 4, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 2, Bluff 4, Balance 4, Jump 4	Endurance	Sneak Attack +1d6, Poison Use
2nd	Rogue	+1	+0	+3	+0	Disguise 5, Sleight of Hand 5, Tumble 5, Move Silently 5, Hide 5, Craft (Poisonmaking) 4, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 2, Bluff 5, Balance 5, Jump 5, Open Lock 2	-	Evasion
3rd	Rogue	+2	+1	+3	+1	Disguise 6, Sleight of Hand 6, Tumble 6, Move Silently 6, Hide 6, Craft (Poisonmaking) 6, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 2, Bluff 6, Balance 6, Jump 6, Open Lock 2	-	Sneak Attack +2d6
4th	Rogue	+3	+1	+4	+1	Disguise 7, Sleight of Hand 7, Tumble 7, Move Silently 7, Hide 7, Craft (Poisonmaking) 7, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 3, Bluff 7, Balance 7, Jump 6, Open Lock 2	-	Uncanny Dodge
5th	Rogue	+3	+1	+4	+1	Disguise 8, Sleight of Hand 8, Tumble 8, Move Silently 8, Hide 8, Craft (Poisonmaking) 8, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 3, Bluff 8, Balance 8, Jump 6, Open Lock 4	-	Sneak Attack +3d6
6th	Assassin	+3	+1	+6	+1	Disguise 9, Sleight of Hand 8, Tumble 9, Move Silently 9, Hide 8, Craft (Poisonmaking) 8, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 3, Bluff 9, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4	Unspeakable Vow	Sneak Attack +4d6, Death Attack, Poison Use, Spells
7th	Assassin	+4	+1	+7	+1	Disguise 10, Sleight of Hand 10, Tumble 10, Move Silently 10, Hide 8, Craft (Poisonmaking) 9, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 3, Bluff 9, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4	-	+1 save against poison, Improved Uncanny Dodge
8th	Assassin	+5	+2	+7	+2	Disguise 11, Sleight of Hand 11, Tumble 11, Move Silently 11, Hide 8, Craft (Poisonmaking) 11, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 3, Bluff 9, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4	-	Sneak Attack +5d6
9th	Assassin	+5	+2	+8	+2	Disguise 12, Sleight of Hand 12, Tumble 12, Move Silently 12, Hide 9, Craft (Poisonmaking) 12, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 3, Bluff 9, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4	Vow of Vengeance (Elf)	+2 save against poison
10th	Kinslayer	+6	+2	+9	+4	Disguise 13, Sleight of Hand 13, Tumble 13, Move Silently 13, Hide 9, Craft (Poisonmaking) 13, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 3, Bluff 10, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4	-	Mettle, Rage 1/day, Surge of Hate
11th	Kinslayer	+7	+2	+10	+5	Disguise 13, Sleight of Hand 13, Tumble 13, Move Silently 13, Hide 9, Craft (Poisonmaking) 13, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 3, Bluff 10, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4, Acrobatic Backstab, Mosquito Bite, Second Impression	-	Inured to Sunlight, Smite Elves
12th	Assassin	+7	+2	+10	+5	Disguise 15, Sleight of Hand 15, Tumble 13, Move Silently 13, Hide 9, Craft (Poisonmaking) 13, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 4, Bluff 10, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4, Acrobatic Backstab, Mosquito Bite, Second Impression	Quick Attack	Improved Uncanny Dodge, Sneak Attack +6d6
13th	Kinslayer	+8	+3	+10	+5	Disguise 16, Sleight of Hand 15, Tumble 13, Move Silently 14, Hide 9, Craft (Poisonmaking) 13, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 4, Bluff 10, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4, Acrobatic Backstab, Mosquito Bite, Second Impression, Sudden Draw, Hidden Blade	-	Elf Bane
14th	Kinslayer	+9	+3	+11	+6	Disguise 16, Sleight of Hand 15, Tumble 13, Move Silently 14, Hide 13, Craft (Poisonmaking) 15, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 4, Bluff 10, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4, Acrobatic Backstab, Mosquito Bite, Second Impression, Sudden Draw, Hidden Blade	-	Shameful Strike
15th	Kinslayer	+10	+3	+11	+6	Disguise 18, Sleight of Hand 16, Tumble 13, Move Silently 14, Hide 13, Craft (Poisonmaking) 18, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 4, Bluff 10, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4, Acrobatic Backstab, Mosquito Bite, Second Impression, Sudden Draw, Hidden Blade	Two Weapon Fighting	Rage 2/day, Smite Elves 2/day
16th	Kinslayer	+11	+3	+12	+7	Disguise 19, Sleight of Hand 19, Tumble 13, Move Silently 14, Hide 13, Craft (Poisonmaking) 18, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 4, Bluff 12, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4, Acrobatic Backstab, Mosquito Bite, Second Impression, Sudden Draw, Hidden Blade	-	Deny Elf Magic
17th	Kinslayer	+12	+3	+12	+7	Disguise 19, Sleight of Hand 19, Tumble 13, Move Silently 14, Hide 13, Craft (Poisonmaking) 18, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 4, Bluff 12, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4, Acrobatic Backstab, Mosquito Bite, Second Impression, Sudden Draw, Hidden Blade	-	Disguise Heritage
18th	Rogue	+13	+4	+13	+8	Disguise 21, Sleight of Hand 21, Tumble 13, Move Silently 18, Hide 13, Craft (Poisonmaking) 18, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 4, Bluff 12, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4, Acrobatic Backstab, Mosquito Bite, Second Impression, Sudden Draw, Hidden Blade	Combat Reflexes	-
19th	Rogue	+14	+4	+14	+8	Disguise 22, Sleight of Hand 22, Tumble 13, Move Silently 18, Hide 13, Craft (Poisonmaking) 22, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Bluff 12, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4, Acrobatic Backstab, Mosquito Bite, Second Impression, Sudden Draw, Hidden Blade	-	Sneak Attack +7d6
20th	Rogue	+15	+4	+15	+8	Disguise 23, Sleight of Hand 23, Tumble 13, Move Silently 23, Hide 13, Craft (Poisonmaking) 23, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Bluff 14, Balance 8, Jump 8, Open Lock 4, Acrobatic Backstab, Mosquito Bite, Second Impression, Sudden Draw, Hidden Blade	-	Improved Uncanny Dodge

Spoiler: Spells

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Spells per Day

Level	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6th	-	0+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7th	-	1+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8th	-	2+1	0+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9th	-	3+1	1+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10th	-	3+1	1+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11th	3+1	1+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12th	-	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13th	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
14th	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15th	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
16th	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
17th	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
18th	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
19th	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20th	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Spells Known

Level	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6th	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7th	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8th	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
14th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
15th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
16th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
17th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
18th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
19th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
20th	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Spoiler: Snapshots

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Spoiler: Level 5

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At level 5 H'Tull is mostly focused on hitting things really hard with his rapier after springing out from a hiding place, or sneaking in dressed as someone else.

Spoiler: Level 10

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At level 10, H'Tull is really starting to rev up, using more and more sneaky tactics with the combination of invisibility and death attack

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Spoiler: Level 15

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At level 15, H'Tull has levels in Kinslayer, which helps with combat against elves and not much else. But, there's another level in Assassin, along with some feat tricks meant for stealth, so that's nice.

Spoiler: Level 20

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And finally, level 20. H'Tull has a really weird capstone in the form of his third Improved Uncanny Dodge, but has some cool skills nonetheless.

Spoiler: Sources

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Lesser Drow: Player's Guide to Faerun
Rogue, Endurance, Diehard, Two-Weapon Fighting, Combat Reflexes: Player's Handbook Version 3.5
Assassin: Dungeon Master's Guide Version 3.5
Drow Rogue, Kinslayer, Unspeakable Vow, Vow of Vengeance: Drow of the Underdark
Skill Tricks: Complete Scoundrel

[The Viscount]

Here I thought Venger was the only person who liked using Ilmater

Servaas, the Harmtaker



"The wicked flee when no man pursueth."

Spoiler: Backstory

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Pain.

The agonizing sensation of a body knitting itself back into existence, as experienced from within. Nerves growing like creepers, exposed to the drafty air in places where flesh and skin had not yet caught up. Gritty cartilage solidifying into bones, ready to serve as trellises for the spreading tissue. Nails and hair piercing flawless skin in countless places. Elsewhere, tissue discoloring and sinking, imitating scars old enough to count as just another bodily feature. A chest cavity sealing itself, a wet diaphragm straining to capacity for the first time. Newly formed lungs expanding, pulling air through a raw windpipe, past stinging lips. Eyelids slamming open, revealing unfocused blue eyes barely condensed out of protein slurry. A heart's first beat, a torturous moment as dry arteries filled and expan-

"There, there. It's okay, there's no danger."

A touch, soft but firm. A blurry shape, the sensation of a coarse blanket. The smell of blood, so strong that it could only be coming from within his nose.

His eyes finally managed to agree on a single image. He was in a cramped room - dirt floor, log walls, no furniture but for the bench he was lying on. A single door and a single window, both closed, which he was thankful for: the light streaming in through the cracks was enough to sting his eyes already. He was on the surface, then?

And the source of the voice: an old man, dressed in brown, head shaven, kneeling besides the table. His hands were, of all things, glittery; some sort of shiny dust clinging to them. And something about him was familiar, but...

"Please remain calm and don't try to get up - your body is still weak. Resurrection takes a toll."

Wait, resurre-

"It has been eleven months since your death. I apologize for that delay, but my order is of slight means, and diamonds are expensive. As for the where: about a hundred miles east and three up, relative to the place where you died. We have both enjoyed a great deal of luck, despite appearances."

His death? The word loosed a burst of memories - a prisoner, a superior's command, a lifetime of obedience clashing with a burst of empathy. A desperate attempt at securing his charge's freedom, carrying his frail form - and a crossbow bolt entering his own skull, right before they reached their goal.

"Now, if you simply wish to leave here, we will see what we can do to return you to the Underdark. But I suspect your final actions in life were more than a bout of temporary madness. In which case... Ilmater's faith would be glad to educate you in its ways, no matter how long the road."

He was quiet, still mulling over memories now distanced by death. He'd been a protector. That was the word that came to him, when trying to sum up his former life. A protector of cruel priestesses, of stuck-up mage brats, of slave traders and torturers... but a protector nonetheless. He'd sworn himself to a wicked god, but he'd done it to better guard his charges. That was why the order to take a life had been so hard on him: it'd been the first time he'd had to kill someone who wasn't trying to kill anyone else in turn.

"That's the thing, right? Build a society on cruelty and betrayal, and you don't just foster evil: you leave no cause to do good for. How to shelter the innocent in a place where only the guilty survive? Why cure the sick, when their healed hands will reach for whips and crossbows? For each one who gets a chance to do good, a thousand die unredeemed."

He mulled it over for a moment, found truth in the words. But then a much more practical question appeared in his mind.

"How..." his tight throat croaked out. "How did you get me here? My corpse?"

A knowing smile presaged the response.

"We don't. It's still down there. Destroyed, or perhaps not: you know how your people treat the bodies of traitors better than do I."

"Th- *cough* Then how...?"

"Well," began the healer. "Ilmater works in mysterious ways. When I emerged from that underground river, soaked and breathless but free and alive, I found that somehow, impossibly, a single drop of blood still clung to my robe... it truly is hard not to call such a thing a sign of the gods. A single drop is all a resurrection needs, after all. Your willingness to shed your blood for an innocent man quite literally saved you."

Spoiler: Build

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LE -> LG Lesser Drow Knight 6 / Martyred Champion of Ilmater 4 / Kinslayer 10

Stats (after racial adjustments): 15 strength, 10 dexterity, 14 constitution, 12 intelligence, 8 wisdom, 16 charisma.
ASIs: +2 CHA, +3 STR
Languages: Common, Undercommon, Elven, Goblin

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Knight 1	+1	+0	+0	+2	Intimidate +4 (4), Knowledge (Religion) +4cc (2), Ride +4 (4)	(Unspeakable Vow)	Fighting Challenge +1, Knight's Challenge, Knight's Code
2nd	Knight 2	+2	+0	+0	+3	Intimidate +1 (5), Knowledge (Religion) +1cc (2.5), Ride +1 (5)	Mounted CombatB	Shield Block +1
3rd	Knight 3	+3	+1	+1	+3	Intimidate +1 (6), Knowledge (Religion) +1cc (3), Ride +1 (6)	(Vow of Vengeance (Elves))	Bulwark of Defense
4th	Knight 4	+4	+1	+1	+4	Intimidate +1 (7), Knowledge (Religion) +1cc (3.5), Ride +1 (7)	-	Armor Mastery (Medium), Test of Mettle
5th	Knight 5	+5	+1	+1	+4	Intimidate +1 (8), Knowledge (Religion) +1cc (4), Ride +1 (8)	EnduranceB	Vigilant Defender
6th	Knight 6	+6	+2	+2	+5	Handle Animal +1 (1), Intimidate +1 (9), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride +1 (9)	Nimbus of Light	Shield Ally
7th	Martyred Champion of Ilmater 1	+6	+2	+4	+5	Handle Animal 1, Intimidate 9, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride +1 (10), Spellcraft +2 (2)	DiehardB	Unarmed Strike 1d6
8th	MCoI 2	+7	+2	+5	+5	Handle Animal 1, Intimidate 9, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride +1 (11), Spellcraft +2 (4)	Tempting FateB	Fear Immunity
9th	Kinslayer 1	+8	+2	+7	+7	Disguise +2 (2), Handle Animal 1, Intimidate +3 (12), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride 11, Spellcraft 4	Extra Rage	Mettle, Rage 1/day, Surge of Hate
10th	Kinslayer 2	+9	+2	+8	+8	Disguise +2 (4), Handle Animal 1, Intimidate +1 (13), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride 11, Spellcraft 4, Spot +2 (2)	-	Inured to Sunlight, Smite Elves 1/day
11th	Kinslayer 3	+10	+3	+8	+8	Disguise +2 (6), Handle Animal 1, Intimidate +1 (14), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride 11, Spellcraft 4, Spot +2 (4)	-	Elf Bane
12th	Kinslayer 4	+11	+3	+9	+9	Disguise +1 (7), Handle Animal 1, Intimidate +1 (15), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride 11, Spellcraft 4, Spot +1 (5), Assume Quirk Skill Trick +2	Intimidating Rage	Shameful Strike
13th	Kinslayer 5	+12	+3	+9	+9	Disguise +2 (9), Handle Animal 1, Intimidate +1 (16), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride 11, Spellcraft 4, Spot +2 (7), Assume Quirk Skill Trick	-	Rage 2/day, Smite Elves 2/day
14th	MCoI 3	+13	+4	+9	+10	Disguise 9, Handle Animal 1, Intimidate 16, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride +3 (14), Spellcraft 4, Spot 7, Assume Quirk Skill Trick	-	Greater Endurance
15th	MCoI 4	+14	+4	+10	+10	Disguise 9, Handle Animal 1, Intimidate 16, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride +3 (17), Spellcraft 4, Spot 7, Assume Quirk Skill Trick	Righteous Wrath, Good KarmaB	Divine Grace, Unarmed Strike 1d8
16th	Kinslayer 6	+15	+5	+11	+11	Disguise +1 (10), Handle Animal 1, Intimidate +3 (19), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride 17, Spellcraft 4, Spot +1 (8), Assume Quirk Skill Trick	-	Deny Elf Magic
17th	Kinslayer 7	+16	+5	+11	+11	Disguise 10, Handle Animal 1, Intimidate +1 (20), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride 17, Spellcraft 4, Spot +4 (12), Assume Quirk Skill Trick	-	Disguise Heritage
18th	Kinslayer 8	+17	+5	+12	+12	Disguise 10, Handle Animal 1, Intimidate +1 (21), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride 17, Spellcraft 4, Spot +2 (14), Assume Quirk Skill Trick, Spot The Weak Point Skill Trick +2	Unbelievable Luck	Fey Bane, Smite Elves 3/day
19th	Kinslayer 9	+18	+6	+12	+12	Disguise 10, Handle Animal 1, Intimidate +1 (22), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride 17, Spellcraft 4, Spot +2 (16), Assume Quirk Skill Trick, Spot The Weak Point Skill Trick, Clarity of Vision Skill Trick +2	-	Rage 3/day
20th	Kinslayer 10	+19	+6	+13	+13	Disguise 10, Handle Animal 1, Intimidate +1 (23), Knowledge (Religion) 4, Ride 17, Spellcraft 4, Spot +4 (20), Assume Quirk Skill Trick, Spot The Weak Point Skill Trick, Clarity of Vision Skill Trick	-	Lolth's Curse, Vengeful Strike

Spoiler: Another's Backstory

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The dead drow priestess hadn't been alone. An acolyte, young, almost a child still, had been with her, had watched in mute horror as her mistress had been slain. He'd hoped this would be easy, then; extended a gloved hand... only for her to bury a hidden dagger in his sword arm.

It hurt. But he'd accepted it might happen.

Now, the pair circled each other: he with shield readied, she preparing her next move. Brave - he did have to admit that. Even with the injury, he could probably take her out in a single hit. But if he'd wanted to, he'd have done it already.

Instead, he spoke.

"Mercy only goes so far. No god, not even Blessed Ilmater, would begrudge me if I killed one trying to kill me. No church hierarch would admonish me, no friend curse my name. The most tempting sin is never recognized as such. But I, of course, was once where you are - and it's not easy to declare your former self worthy of death."

Another lunge, another sidestep. The barest hint of confusion starting to appear on the acolyte's face.

"A more brutish man, having come to the same conclusion, might simply knock you out. But then what? Leave you here, you'd be back to your old ways in a day. Tie you up and take you along - leaving aside how I'd manage - and what? I keep you as my prisoner for long enough, and you'll magically swear to change your ways?"

A clash of metal on metal - the shield unharmed, the sword now pitted.

"So instead: I'll tell you to get out. Go far away from these people who'd use you for wicked ends. Pray to a kinder god, and heal in his name. Travel, and think, and realize how simple it is to be good when evil is no longer all around you. And NEVER, EVER, THINK OF COMING BACK"

The last words were a roar, accompanied by a rough shove and a bright aura flaring to life. The acolyte instantly responded, twisting and shrinking - her wide-eyed form darted down a dark passage, out of the building, further still. A fellow priest would find her, in time - provide aid and guidance, though he himself was obviously no good for that now.

Five hundred sixty-three, part of him recalled. Five hundred sixty-four now; some dark elves, some evil surfacers, some stranger beings still. Exiled, adrift, at last able to turn to good. He wondered how many had managed - he never tried to find out.

Oh Ilmater, who shelters the fleeing and oppressed! Oh Ilmater, rack-broken lord, whose burdens are so great already! Forgive your servant, for adding one more soul in need of your blessings! Crying Ilmater, who governs succor and mercy both: when forced to pick between those virtues, which must be put aside?

Spoiler: Spotlights

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Alignment and feats: use it or lose it?
We start off as Vile LE (for reasons of enthusiastically worshipping evil powers and abiding environmental evil more than any particular act), but shift to LN shortly after reaching 3rd-level. The events of our backstory, combined with a shift to Exalted LG, occur around level 5.

The elephant in the room: what happens to our vile feats?

Vile feats say "Only intelligent characters of an evil alignment can use vile feats" (BoVD), and "vile feats are available to intelligent creatures of evil alignment" (Elder Evils). Vow of Vengeance talks about how you "lose the benefit of this feat", but the fact that you can regain that benefit kinda requires the rest of the feat to stick around.

In other words, our redeemed evil character continues to walk around with benefit-less vile feats: indeed, unable to get rid of them.

Is qualifying for a PrC part of a feat's benefit? I'd argue not: 'benefit' is a defined term that refers to a very particular section of the feat, not to the feat in its entirety - widen the definition to any positive consequence of possessing the feat, and something like Vow of Vengeance breaks. After all, if you lose the benefit, and if we define 'benefit' to cover even 'regaining this feat after you unintentionally broke it', then losing the feat makes you lose the clause intended to apply when you've lost the feat. Huh? It should be clear, then, that 'benefit' must be interpreted in the strict sense, that incidental positive consequences still apply, and that our unusable vile feats qualify us for PrCs.

ECL 5
Straight knight is good at one thing: tanking. Buy a horse, ride it into a chokepoint, and block nearby foes as they try to get to the casters. Use Test of Mettle to draw foes towards you, use Vigilant Defender and Bulwark of Defense so nobody gets past, and hit stuff while the rogue deals damage and the casters launch spells. With low levels so swingy, it's always nice to have someone who makes sure the wizard doesn't get crit into the negatives.

ECL 10
A great defensive tool in Shield Ally, some anti-drow (or anti-evil elf) features in Smite Elves and Surge of Hate, and 1/day Rage as an offensive tool, which is actually kinda hard to get on a Lawful character. We've got two lawful-only classes, so kinslayer came in handy there. Diehard and Tempting Fate go great together: after barely surviving death, you can have your mount carry you to safety or down a potion, instead of getting CDG'd next turn.

Nimbus of Light + Inured to Sunlight is very fun while fighting other drow: blink on and off every turn to no-save blind everyone near you. Note how Nimbus of Light is also helpful in convincing Good people instantly that you can be trusted, just in case they hate drow (as many of your allies likely will). No tragic hated-by-both-sides Driz'zt backstory here!

ECL 15
Divine Grace goes great with mettle and our charisma focus, adding +4 to all our saves. Good Karma gives us yet another tanking option. Note that all this damage redirection helps keep our mount save too. We get Elf Bane, a bigger unarmed strike, another rage, another smite...

But let's look at our main trick. Here's a breakdown:
-Ride horse adjacent to evil foe
-Enter Rage
-Make a single attack with Shameful Strike, if they're an elf feel free to smite here
-Attack hits, automatically sickening the target and forcing a penalized save vs shaken via Righteous Wrath.
-Make free action demoralization attempt via Intimidating Rage (with foe now at a -4 penalty), potentially escalating fear to Frightened.
-If demoralization is unsuccessful, try again next turn.

So in a single round, we at best send a foe fleeing and at worst damage him, debuff him, and leave him subject to all our knight class features. But wait, there's more:

We send them fleeing forever.

Heroes of Horror on page 61 explains that when two fear effects escalate, the highest duration applies. Demoralize has a duration of 'until you stop raging'. Righteous Wrath has a duration of... 'until you withdraw or are killed or incapacitated'.

Well, we're not going to withdraw, though we might allow a foe to do so. We aren't going to be incapacitated easily: our saves are great, we've got magical sleep immunity, we remain conscious in the negatives thanks to Diehard, and we don't need to sleep. And likewise, we have a bunch of tricks to avoid death, from great AC and defenses to Tempting Fate.

It's up to the DM how 'flees from the source of its fear as best it can' works, but to me it suggests a personal judgement, not a supernatural awareness of what caused the fear effect. So if you do this while successfully disguised as someone else, the victim will presumably try to avoid that person. Elves, who don't sleep and don't strictly need to trance, will literally flee for the rest of their lives - anyone else can presumably take breaks for necessary rest. When fighting drow, who've got high-level clerics baked into their social structure, being able to render someone harmless without killing them is quite useful!

Note how good Shameful Strike is for us! Being on a horse puts us in the unique situation of having a full-round action available but being unable to make full attacks, so Shameful Strike doesn't have to compete with those. Furthermore, the debuff applies to not one but two rolls the target must make that very same turn, and the relatively low damage doesn't matter if a successful combo takes the foe out of the fight entirely. We don't even mind missing that much, because Righteous Wrath applies on the first attack that hits - better to miss and do it right next turn than to have hit a normal attack and saw the target make the save.

ECL 20
Finishing out Kinslayer gives us our fifth rage, our third smite, bonuses against fey (devious glouras come to mind), the ability to resist elf spells (spells that we can easily redirect to ourselves), and the ability to change shape (which is great with our fear combo, letting us make people scared of any arbitrary elf - we have +24 disguise and can thus always escape detection by a 15 wis elf without spot ranks). Lolth's Curse extends our Nimbus of Light instablind combo to random elves we fight, and Vengeful Strike has lots of chances to trigger with how easily we can redirect damage to ourselves. We also double our luck rerolls and get +2 to our lowest save while we have one remaining, which is nice.

Note how we get extra benefit from Vengeful Strike when using it with our fear combo: we ideally only hit a foe once, so a bonus that applies only to our first attack each turn is better than it'd normally be. Kinslayer has a bit of a single-attack subtheme, and I feel like we pick that up very elegantly.

With Spot the Weak Point, our combo gets an additional option: we can observe a slow foe from our horse, quickly close the distance, and get to make our key attack as a touch attack, completely offsetting the -4 to-hit.

Spoiler: Sources

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Lesser Drow, Martyred Champion of Ilmater - PGtF
Knight - PHBII

Nimbus of Light, Righteous Wrath - BoED
Tempting Fate, Good Karma, Unbelievable Luck, Skill Tricks - Complete Scoundrel
Extra Rage, Intimidating Rage - CWar

[The Viscount]

Yo dawg I heard you like heightened emotional states in combat

Atred

Spoiler: Preview

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Alignment : CE
Race : Deepwyrm Half-Drow
Level 1 : Unspeakable Vow, Track (Ranger Bonus)
Level 2 : Two-Weapon Fighting (Ranger Bonus)
Level 3 : Vow of Vengeance, Endurance (Ranger Bonus)
Level 4 : Die Hard (Half-Elf Bonus)
Level 6 : Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff)
Level 9 : Eilservs School
Level 12 : Power Attack
Level 15 : Favored Power Attack
Level 18 : Leap Attack

Point Buy at level 1
STR 16
DEX 14
CON 16
INT 8
WIS 8
CHA 14

Level 4 to 20 in Str

Spoiler: The Story

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Atred was born into a life of slavery among his own people, the Drow. He had the gall to be a half-blood and his kin made him pay the highest price for his impurity. From a young age, he was forced to serve his cruel masters, enduring constant abuse and humiliation. But Atred was not content to live out his days in servitude. As he grew older, a fire began to burn within him, a desire for vengeance and freedom.
One fateful night, Atred made his move. He broke free from his chains and slaughtered his oppressors in a fit of rage. With blood on his hands and a newfound sense of purpose, he vowed to rid the world of every Drow he laid eyes upon.

He escaped to the surface and lived a life of a fugitive, forever destined to be an outlaw in his home. In the wild, he grew even more feral which only added fuel to his hatred for his kin.
After a while, executing the few drows he found wandering on the surface just didn’t sathe his thirst for their blood anymore. Atred traveled back to the Underdark and started leaving a trail of death and destruction in his wake. Stories of the Kinslayer, a Drow who turned against his own kind, spread like wildfire among the dark elves. Atred became a feared and hated figure, a symbol of rebellion and defiance. He even became the monster parents would use to force their children to behave while the ones in servitude would silently pray for his arrival when they found the courage to do so.

The legend has it that, his hatred grew so powerful it could alter reality itself ; at first merely seeing drows would make him hate them instantly but in the end hating people would make them drows

Spoiler: The Build

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Reflex Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Elf Ranger 1	1	2	2	0	Hide (+4) 4; Intimidate (+4 CC) 2; Jump (+4) 4; Know (Nature) (+4) 4; Move Silently (+4) 4; Survival (+4) 4; Spellcraft (+4 CC) 2;	Unspeakable Vow, Track (Ranger Bonus)	Elf Favored Enemy, Track, Wild Empathy
2nd	Ranger 2	2	3	3	0	Hide (+1) 5; Intimidate 2; Jump (+1) 5; Know (Nature) (+1) 5; Move Silently (+1) 5; Survival (+1) 5; Spellcraft 2;	Two-Weapon Fighting (Ranger Bonus)	Combat Style
3rd	Ranger 3	3	3	3	1	Hide (+1) 6; Intimidate 2; Jump (+1) 6; Know (Nature) (+1) 6; Move Silently (+1) 6; Survival (+1) 6; Spellcraft 2;	Vow of Vengeance, Endurance (Ranger Bonus)	Endurance
4th	Half-Elf Paragon 1	3	3	5	1	Hide (+1) 7; Intimidate 2; Jump 6; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently 6; Survival (+2 CC) 7; Spellcraft 2;	Die Hard (Half-Elf Bonus)	Bonus Feat, Divided Ancestry, Elven Vision
5th	Kinslayer 1	4	3	7	3	Hide (+1) 8; Intimidate 2; Jump 6; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 7; Survival (+1) 8; Spellcraft 2;		Mettle, Rage, Surge of Hate
6th	Wildrunner 1	5	5	9	3	Hide (+1) 9; Intimidate 2; Jump (+1) 7; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 8; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;	Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff)	Fast Movement, Trackless Step
7th	Wildrunner 2	6	6	10	3	Hide (+1) 10; Intimidate 2; Jump (+1) 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 9; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;		Primal Scream, Scent
8th	Wildrunner 3	7	6	10	4	Hide (+1) 11; Intimidate (+1) 3; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 10; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;		Endure Elements
9th	Wildrunner 4	8	7	11	4	Hide (+1) 12; Intimidate (+1) 4; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 11; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;	Eilservs School	Primal Scream (enemies shaken)
10th	Wildrunner 5	9	7	11	4	Hide (+1) 13; Intimidate (+1) 5; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 12; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;		Hide in Plain Sight
11th	Wildrunner 6	10	8	12	5	Hide (+1) 14; Intimidate (+1) 6; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 13; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;		Primal Scream (pounce)
12th	Kinslayer 2	11	8	13	6	Hide (+1) 15; Intimidate (+1) 7; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 14; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;	Power Attack	Inured to Sunlight, Smite Elves (1/d)
13th	Kinslayer 3	12	9	13	6	Hide (+1) 16; Intimidate (+1) 8; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 15; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;		Elf Bane
14th	Kinslayer 4	13	9	14	7	Hide (+1) 17; Intimidate (+1) 9; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 16; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;		Shameful Strike
15th	Kinslayer 5	14	9	14	7	Hide (+1) 18; Intimidate (+1) 10; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 17; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;	Favored Power Attack	Rage (2/d), Smite elves 2/d
16th	Kinslayer 6	15	10	15	8	Hide (+1) 19; Intimidate (+1) 11; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 18; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;		Deny Elf Magic
17th	Kinslayer 7	16	10	15	8	Hide (+1) 20; Intimidate (+1) 12; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 19; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;		Disguise Heritage
18th	Kinslayer 8	17	10	16	9	Hide (+1) 21; Intimidate (+1) 13; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 20; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;	Leap Attack	Fey Bane, Smite Elves 3/d
19th	Kinslayer 9	18	11	16	9	Hide (+1) 22; Intimidate (+1) 14; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 21; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;		Rage 3/d
20th	Kinslayer 10	19	11	17	10	Hide (+1) 23; Intimidate (+1) 15; Jump 8; Know (Nature) 6; Move Silently (+1) 22; Survival 8; Spellcraft 2;		Lolth Curse, Vengeful Strike

Spoiler: Level Breakdown

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Level 1 – 5
Ranger is a front loaded frame for any martial build ; full bab, martial proficiencies and 2 good saves. The Elf Ranger sub level at level 1 is a good trade-off for us - losing 2hp for 2 skill points and +1 to damage to a wider range of enemies since “Servants of Lolth” include monstrous spiders, drows and driders. What’s more, the Favored Enemy skills are better for us with Hide and Move Silently instead of Bluff and Sense Motive.
By Ranger 3 we have TWF (for which we don’t have to meet the prereq) and Endurance as a bonus feat.
The Half-Elf Paragon dip grants us a bonus feat we need to get Die Hard and we’re ready to enter Kinslayer one level early compared to most PrCs.
Mettle is always welcomed as is Rage (especially on a full BAB, TWF character) and Surge of Hate gives us an edge in combat vs Elves (which drows are). We have the Track feat in conjecture with Survival ranks which should let us plan our moves more often than not and Deepwyrm Half-Drow lets us Disguise Self as a drow to be more inconspicuous while scouting a nearby camp for instance.

Level 5 – 10
This early entry into Kinslayer lets us go to Wildrunner for extra oomph. Another full Bab, 2 good saves PrC that grants us Fast Movement, Scent and Endure Elements as goodies but most importantly, Hide in Plain Sight and Primal Scream. The former needs no introduction while the latter comes with different abilities. First, due to the way Kinslayer’s Rage ability is worded, we can have up to 6+Con+Cha per day uses of Rage or 3+Cha uses of Primal Scream and 3+Con of Rage. Furthermore we can stack both for a +6 to Str and Dex, +4 to Con and an extra Bite attack. Second Primal Scream evolves as we gain levels in WIldrunner. The first improvement can make enemies shaken (which will help setting up and then stack with the Sicken state Shameful Blow will add later).
Meanwhile the build’s main schtick comes into play : Eilservs School is a Style feat that needs a magic staff to work. A staff of Detect magic is 1500 gp (if you craft it to need 2 charges to cast the spell) and, in our hands, it becomes a +5-to-damage weapon on both ends of the staff. Adding on the +3 to damage of Favored Enemy and the +2 from Vow of Vengeance (Elves) of course, that’s a +10 to any hit we make ; not bad. (Adding Collision to both ends of a double weapon would cost over 36k gp so we’re looking at less than 1/20th of the price here).
By our race we’re naturally inured to sunlight which gives us an edge over the drows we want to kill so badly. For instance, when you’re ready to engage, you uncover a permanencied rock with Daylight on it and go to town on your now blinded enemies. This “Lights On” technique has multiple uses we’ll see down the line.

Level 10 - 15
Finishing Wildrunner, we get Pounce.
Leaning more into the SI, Elfbane is a welcomed addition to our line of additional damage which Power Attack and Favored Power Attack improve even more ; we have the benefits of a two-handed weapon wrt Power Attack while fighting with a double weapon. If you decide to hit with both hands, the benefit from Power Attack is x3 !
As said before, Shameful Strike benefits from an eventual shaken status thanks to shaken+sicken, lowering the saves and attacks. The “Lights On” strategy adds another -1 to saves.
Deny Elf Magic will happen pretty often since we are tracking drows whose favored classes are Cleric and Wizard.
Adding Smite Elves on our off-hand attack counters the penalty of TWF since our Cha mod is +2 (and the +“Kinslayer level” to damage is great too).

Level 15 - 20
Let’s go more into depth about what Eilservs School can bring to the table.
Staves are spell-trigger items meaning we can have any staff with any Ranger spell. Being able to hit with a full attack (+2 from charging thanks to Pounce) while casting a spell is pretty handy. All the more so if the spell is Swift Haste for instance. Other goodies include Freedom of Movement, Mark of the Hunter (very nice vs our favored enemies) but the king of spells for us is Hunter’s Eye. Thanks to our race, we have a CL = character level. Which means by level 9 we already get 3d6 Sneak Attack (6d6 by CL18). Sure we lose 1 damage per hit (since we eat off charges) but the trade-off is really good and it’s a swift action to activate if you happen to hit the enemy twice. Wrt having them flat-footed, Surge of Hate gives us +10 to Init and Primal Scream adds another +3 for a +15 total and that’s before items.
Hide in Plain Sight is yet another easy way to set up flat-footed opponents and the “Lights-On” strategy shines (lol) here again because you can freely sneak attack blinded opponents when you pounce on them.
Leap Attack combined with a two-handed use of our staff and Favored Power Attack lets us take up to -19 to hit for a +76 to damage from PA (not taking into account Smite Elves, Elfbane, the +3 from Favored Enemy and the +5 from a fully charged staff)
Finally, Lolth’s Curse sees some mileage in this build since 1) we have more Rage attempts thanks to Wildrunner and 2) every bit of this build is dedicated to whooping drows ; making them drows is really a big bonus for us.

Spoiler: Equipment

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Gloves of the Balanced Hand can grant us the Improved Two-Weapon Fighting feat (while dumping Dex) which is another attack to our mix (meaning more chances to trigger Eilservs School)
A ring of Evasion over our great Ref save is the final touch to what Mettle already provides !
A custom staff with Mark of the Hunter, Hunter’s Eye, Freedom of Movement and Haste, swift will have everything they need.
Going to Heward’s Hall (CS) (5 000 gp) can grant us a permanent Item Creation feat. We want Craft Staff of course to be able to create our own staves once the ones we use are depleted. (Our CL is equal to our character level thanks to our race).

Spoiler: Notes & Discussions

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Crafting Staves has some neat options developed in this article which will make us save a lot of money on staves we only use for their bonuses.

Spoiler: Sources

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SRD - Ranger, TWF, Half-Elf Paragon
CW - Favored Power Attack
CAd - Leap Attack
DotU - Kinslayer, Eilservs School
DrM - Deepwyrm Half-Drow
RotW - Wildrunner, Elf Ranger

[The Viscount]

Wouldn't want that meat to go to waste

Queyven Dyrr, The Eater of Elves

LE Half-Drow Decisive Strike Monk of the Passive Way 2/Hit-and-Run Fighter 1/Celestial Slayer Ranger 3/Kinslayer 1 - 3/Bear Warrior 1/Warshaper 3/Kinslayer 4 - 10

Spoiler: A Doomed Expedition

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Magdove Evenbirth looked around the darkened cavern nervously. There was something strangely ominous about this part of the Underdark. The Grey Elf wizard was not fond of the Underdark at the best of times. Her companions seemed equally nervous as they moved through the cavern eyes adjusting to the darkness, illuminated only by the faint luminescence of the mushrooms around them.

"What was that... it sounded like a bear?" Kelren Dawndew, the Painted Elf druid said suddenly, the tautness in his voice apparent. He stepped forward nervously gripping his gnarled oak staff tightly, the growl that echoed through the cave did indeed sound like a bear. It was maddeningly difficult to hear the direction from whence that vile sound had come.

"Don't be silly bears aren't native to this part of the Underdark..." Magdove began.

"What about the Eater of the Elves..." Kelren began but he was cut off by a raised hand from their third companion, Herfir Moonheel, the Eternal Blade.

"That's only a myth... now be quiet there's something..." and suddenly something soft and wet fell into Magdove's hands. She looked down in horror to see that it was the head of Herfir Moonheel. She began to scream as a creature stepped into view. It was a bear, hideous and dark. But it stood on two legs like a man, and in it's paws a wicked polearm dripped the blood of her friend. She wanted to ready a spell, to cast something, but the panic and terror seized her. And just as she found the words to begin to cast, the weapon in the bear's hands snaked out and caught her, throwing her to the ground before delivering a massive blow.

As Magdove lay there dying the creature stood over her... looking down at her with a maw full of blood. The eyes... the glowing red eyes... they weren't the eyes of a bear... But the eyes of a Drow. That was the last thing in Magdove's head, the hate filled eyes of the ancient enemy of her people, the hate Drow eyes out of place in a monstrous bear head.

Spoiler: The Eater of the Elves

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Quevven Dyrr,'s mother was obsessed with the Queen of Spiders far before he was ever born. Seeking her favor, trying to curry it. Unfortunately she wasn't a female of the Drow, but a human woman. And as such she found it difficult to curry the favor of the Drow Goddess with whom she was deeply obsessed. A chance meeting with a male Drow while under the effects of an Alter Self spell resulted in Queyven's birth. He was doomed from the start. A child that would never be accepted into the Drow, to a mother who would never raise him as anything else. His life was strictly bound up in his mother's worship of Lolth from the time he was a child. However she found it more difficult to care for him as time went by. Sending him to live with an order of Drowish monks dedicated to slaying Elves. There it was the Quevyen's hatred of both Drow and Elves was solidified as he was treated terribly. But he excelled, learning the ways of the monastic order. Growing ever more powerful and skilled.

He began to train as a hunter of Elves, learning the ways of a ranger, the ways of combat. Carefully completing missions for this remote order of Drow. Of course, greater Drow society was also looming in the background. And what his mother had done was forbidden. Half-Drow were abominations. And soon enough while he was visiting his mother they were attacked, she was killed and he was left for dead. Then recovering from his near death experience he found that he had rage against his kin. Rage against the Elves that he had been taught since he was a child and rage against the Drow for what they had done to his mother.

He travelled deep into the Underdark and what happened there remains a mystery. It is said that Quevyen communed with a strange bear spirit. A spirit of vengeance and hatred. His blinding rage and desire for revenge pushing him to ever further lengths. It is said that he lived more as an animal than an Elf. When he grew angry he became a violent and terrifying bear, slaying his Drowish Kin and any Elves he found, isolated and enraged he is the Eater of the Elves. A nightmare out of Elvish Legend. A shadow that even the Drow Fear.

Spoiler: Kinslayer Analysis and Build Theory

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So the subject of this particular build challenge is the Kinslayer, an interesting class with some pretty rough requirements. It requires four feats, three of which are almost entirely useless. In exchange for that we get rage (without any advancements outside of more rages). Smite Elf, Shameful Strike and a Vengeful Strike (at 10th level). We also get a few nice defensive buffs like Mettle, Deny Elf Magic. And some boosts to damage against Fey and Elves. Surge of Hatred gives us some nice boost to initiative as well.

We also get a few minor random ribbon features like Disguise Self and the Curse of Lolth.

The obvious path to optimizing is to take a class focused on Rage or that would benefit from the increase in rages-per-day. But while that is a relatively easy thing to optimize I feel like we should look into ways to get mileage out of the other features. And that leads us to perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Kinslayer, while it grants rage, it has no alignment requirement beyond being evil (a requirement for the Vile Feats you need to enter the Prestige Class). Which means that we can combine Monk Features like Decisive Strike to improve our smiting. Which would then combine well with a character focused on attacks of opportunity. That’s the plan here.

Spoiler: Stats

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Abilities	Initial	Race / Template	4th	8th	12th	16th	20th
STR	16		17 (+1)	18 (+1)	19 (+1)	20 (+1)	21 (+1)
DEX	14
CON	14
INT	8
WIS	14
CHA	12

Spoiler: Level Advancement Table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Reflex Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Decisive Strike Monk 1, Passive Way Style	0	2	2	2	Spot 4 Ranks (4), Listen 4 Ranks (4), Intimidate 2 Ranks (4)	Unspeakable Vow, Combat Expertise (Monk Bonus)	Bonus Feat, Decisive Strike (Replaces Flurry of Blows), Unarmed Strike
2nd	Decisive Strike Monk 2, Passive Way Style	1	3	3	3	Spot 5 Ranks (1), Listen 5 Ranks (1), Balance 1 Rank (1)	Improved Trip (Monk Bonus)	Bonus Feat, Evasion
3rd	Drow Fighter 1	2	5	3	3	Intimidate 3 Ranks (1)	Combat Reflexes (Fighter Bonus), Vow of Vengeance	Bonus Feat
4th	Celestial Slayer Ranger 1	3	7	5	3	Spot 7 Ranks (2), Listen 7 Ranks (2), Survival 1 Rank (1)		Favored Enemy - Humanoid (Elves), Track, Spell Resistance, Bonus to Criticals aganst enemies with good Subtype.
5th	Celestial Slayer Ranger 2	4	8	6	3	Spot 8 Ranks (1), Listen 8 Ranks (1), Intimidate 4 Ranks (2), Survival 2 Ranks (1)	Two Weapon Fighting	Combat Style (Two Weapon Fighting)
6th	Celestial Slayer Ranger 3	5	8	6	4	Spot 9 Ranks (1), Listen 9 Ranks (1), Intimidate 5 Ranks (2), Survival 3 Ranks (1)	Endurance (Ranger Bonus), Diehard	Endurance (Bonus Feat)
7th	Kinslayer 1	6	8	8	6	Spot 10 Ranks (1), Listen 10 Ranks (1), Intimidate 6 Ranks (1)		Mettle, Rage 1/day, Surge of Hate
8th	Kinslayer 2	7	8	9	7	Spot 11 Ranks (1), Listen 11 Ranks (1), Intimidate 7 Ranks (1)		Inured to Sunlight, Smite Elves 1/day
9th	Kinslayer 3	7	10	9	7	Spot 12 Ranks (1), Listen 12 Ranks (1), Intimidate 8 Ranks (1)	Power Attack	Elf Bane
10th	Bear Warrior 1	8	12	9	7	Intimidate 9 Ranks (1)		Bear Form (Black)
11th	Warshaper 1	9	13	9	7	Balance 2 Ranks (1)		Morphic Immunities, Morphic Weapons
12th	Warshaper 2	10	13	10	8	Balance 3 Ranks (1)	Extra Rage	Morphic Body
13th	Warshaper 3	11	14	10	8	Balance 4 Ranks (1)		Morphic Reach
14th	Kinslayer 4	12	14	11	9	Spot 13 Ranks (1), Balance 5 Ranks (2)		Shameful Strike
15th	Kinslayer 5	13	14	11	9	Spot 14 Ranks (1), Intimidate 10 Ranks (1), Listen 13 Ranks (1)	Favored Power Attack	Rage 4/day Smite Elves 2/day
16th	Kinslayer 6	14	15	12	10	Spot 15 Ranks (1), Intimidate 11 Ranks (1), Listen 14 Ranks (1)		Deny Elf Magic
17th	Kinslayer 7	15	15	12	10	Spot 16 Ranks (1), Intimidate 12 Ranks (1), Listen 15 Ranks (1)		Disguise Heritage
18th	Kinslayer 8	16	15	13	11	Spot 17 Ranks (1), Intimidate 13 Ranks (1), Listen 16 Ranks (1)	Extra Smiting	Fey Bane, Smite Elves 5/day
19th	Kinslayer 9	17	16	13	11	Spot 18 Ranks (1), Intimidate 14 Ranks (1), Listen 17 Ranks (1)		Rage 5/day
20th	Kinslayer 10	18	16	14	12	Spot 19 Ranks (1), Intimidate 15 Ranks (1), Listen 18 Ranks (1)		Lolth's Curse, Vengeful Strike

Spoiler: Level Breakdown

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Spoiler: Levels 1 - 5

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We begin our career as a Half-Drow, while this is potentially slightly less optimal we need to have the open Favored Class in order to not suffer an XP penalty later on. We take Unspeakable Vow with our first level feat and gain combat Expertise as a Monk through our Passive Way Style ACF. We also trade away Flurry of Blows for Decisive Strike, a big part of the sauce for this build.

At level two we take our second level of monk, taking Improved Trip, which is going to help our AoO build shenanigans, so at this point we can then combine improved trip with Decisive Strike for fairly significant early damage. We also gain Evasion, which isn't the coolest but eventually we wind up with both Evasion and Mettle which is a pretty fun combination.

At third level we take our first step away from Monk, taking a level of Hit-And-Run fighter, since we aren't wearing heavy armor anyways this ACF just makes sense for us. We replace our heavy armor proficiency with an initiative bonus and Dexterity to damage against flat-footed creatures. We also take the Vow of Vengeance feat, which gives us a profane damage bonus against Elves. This works well with our Decisive Strike as well. Doubling that damage bonus.

We then move into Celestial Slayer Ranger. this Ranger variation gives us Spell Resistance against [Good] Spells and some bonuses to confirming crits against Good typed creatures. We take Favored Enemy Humanoid (Elves), which combines well with our Decisive Strike, since we're making extra attacks by tripping and AoO use this essentially should double our FE bonus most of the time. With our Vow of Vengeance when we perform a Decisive Strike against an Elf we will do 8 additional damage to them. And that will apply to every AoO we make that round as well.

At fifth level we take our second level of Ranger, gaining Two-Weapon Fighting, this isn't likely to come up very often. But it is free stuff for us.

So at fifth level we're a fairly competent AoO build, attacking with an unarmed strike or Monk Weapon to start, then potentially using a reach weapon for our AoOs and doing double damage. We are particularly good at fighting Elves, which makes sense and if we're playing this Prestige Class we should be fighting Elves a lot.

Spoiler: Levels 6 - 10

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At 6th level we take our final level of Ranger, gaining Endurance and taking the Diehard feat (our last two prerequisites for the SI.) Not much changes at this level but we have now qualified for our Secret Ingredient.

At 7th level we take our first level of Kinslayer, which is a very frontloaded class. We gain the ability to rage once per day, a bonus to initiative when fighting Elves which should stack with our Hit-And-Run fighter bonus. We also gain Mettle, which I think is slightly overrated as Fort and Will save partials are not that common, but it is still a good defensive bonus.

At 8th level, we gain the ability to Smite Elves. Which is potentially superior to the ability to Smite Evil since we're likely to be able to identify Elves with a reasonable degree of success. Additionally this is the reason we took Decisive Strike Monk, later on we will have roughly the same power in a smite that a 20th level Paladin would have. And roughly the same number of Smites. We can use these in combination with our opportunity attacks to do significant damage.

At 9th level, we gain Elf Bane, which slightly improves our damage and to-hit against Elves. And it does play well with our strategy of doubling damage and gaining more attacks out of turn. It also plays well with Decisive Strike.

At 10th level, we move out of Kinslayer and take a level of Bear Warrior. Bear Warrior allows us to transform into a bear during Rage. This increases our strength bonus from +4 to +8, this is significant because our bonuses would not increase at any point taking Kinslayer. Additionally, while the bear's natural weapons are not that impressive. We can likely still use manufactured weapons, and most of our damage isn't from weapon dice anyways.

I know that you're saying "Chef Natural Weapons Don't Work With Decisive Strike", and while that is true we can still make unarmed attacks while we're a bear, and then use natural weapons or unarmed strikes at our discretion.

The other significant advantage of Bear Form is that it increases our Dexterity giving us an additional potential attack of opportunity. On the whole this is a very significant improvement to our Raging feature and it combines well with all of the other features that we have to use here. And also we're a Drowish bear that eats Elves this is a really fun way to play this character.

Spoiler: Levels 11-15

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At level 11, we take a level of Warshaper, this improves our Bear Form allowing us to create natural weapons, which we probably won't be doing that often as we'll be using Decisive Strike. But it also makes us immune to critical hits while raging which is great for us.

At level 12, we take Extra Rage, allowing us to Rage three times a day. We also get Morphic Body from Warshaper. Increasing our Strength bonus while raging to +12 and our Constitution Bonus to +8. A Barbarian at the same level can rage one more time per day than we can and has half of the Strength bonus that we currently have and 2 less Constitution. They also don't gain any dexterity. So we're dong pretty well for ourselves in the rage department.

At 13th level, we gain Morphic Reach, which is really good for our polearm wielding bear. It also allows us to make unarmed strikes at range. This is a pretty incredible level for our character.

At 14th level, we go back to Kinslayer, where we'll finish out. We gain Shameful Strike, which we don't get that much use out of. It lets us take a full round action to potentially sicken an opponent without a save. This is probably a feature that could be optimized around and I hope that we see at least one build that does that. For us, it conflicts with our main focus and therefore isn't really that useful for us.

At 15th level, we take Favored Power Attack, which lets us do even more damage to our hated Elf enemies, notably this works really well with our opportunity attack game plan. While Unarmed Strikes don't play terribly well here, we can use weapons as a bear, and use our right to Bear Arms to do a lot of damage to Elves. Especially dealing double damage. This level we also gain a second smite and can Rage four times per day.

Spoiler: Build Spotlight - 12th Level

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While there are many points before this where our build is developing and should be very playable. 12th level is I think the best point for our build to really showcase itself. We are a polearm wielding bear with an extra 5' of reach, tripping enemies and using opportunity attacks with power attack and decisive strike to deal significant damage to enemies.

At this point we also don't need to particularly careful with raging, since we now have three a day, which should be quite sufficient. The combination of Warshaper and Bear Warrior elevates the Rage that we're getting from the Secret Ingredient to be really potent in the Kitchen. And while we're still developing our smiting, we're smiting as a sixth level Paladin, which isn't that great yet, but it's still pretty good. Eventually we will smite as a 20th level Paladin, assuming we use Decisive Strike.

The notable thing is that we've been functioning as the tripping Kinslayer since level 4. Each level we've moved up has only improved our abilities in this area. I really enjoyed designing this build because it doesn't really feel like there's any particular lull in progression the characters continue to improve at it's main function the entire time.

Spoiler: Levels 16 - 20

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At 16th level, we gain Deny Elf Magic, which is nice but not particularly meaningful we continue our shenanigans from earlier, our play pattern is not meaningfully affected by that change.

17th level we gain Disguise Heritage, which is completely a ribbon feature and therefore doesn't affect anything.

At 18th level, we gain Fey Bane, which lets us do extra damage to Fey, although we're not really that great at fighting Fey, but what we do get is one additional smite per day, and then we take the feat Extra Smiting, bringing our total smites to five per day. We're smiting at the same damage as a 16th level Paladin. Or +16 damage on a successful smite when using Decisive Strike.

At 19th level we gain our fifth rage per day. We're quite at Smiting and Raging now, I feel that we've really pulled into an Elf Killing monster at this point.

At 20th level we gain something completely meaningless, we can paint Elves in Blackface. We also gain Vengeful Strike which is very nice. Essentially it gives a +4 to hit and +4 damage on the first hit against a creature who damaged us. Since we're doing the whole Decisive Strike thing that is +8 damage in addition to everything else. That's just a nice little damage boost. Honestly I'm really enjoying how well Decisive Strike played with all the class features from Kinslayer.

Spoiler: Sources

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Classes and Alternate Class Features:

Decisive Strike - Complete Champion
Passive Way Fighting Style - Unearthed Arcana
Hit-and-Run Fighter - Drow of the Underdark
Celestial Slayer Ranger - Exemplars of Evil
Kinslayer - Drow of the Underdark (Prime Ingredient)
Bear Warrior - Complete Warrior
Warshaper - Complete Warrior

Feats:
Unspeakable Vow - Drow of the Underdark
Vow of Vengeance - Drow of the Underdark
Extra Rage - Complete Warrior
Favored Power Attack - Complete Warrior
Extra Smiting - Complete Warrior

[The Viscount]

And here's the Chair's non-entry! Don't judge this one.

The Mugwump
NE Changeling Rogue 1/Savant 2/Dragonfire Adept 4/Ruathar 3/Kinslayer 10

Stats

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Str 14 (increases here)
Dex 10
Con 16
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 16

Backstory

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Many eons ago, in the time before time, it is said that the birds and the beasts went to war. As is so often the case, the reason for the war has not been maintained. Perhaps the birds thought themselves beyond the beasts and did not tender them sufficient respect. Perhaps the beasts were jealous of the birds and their jealousy drove them to hate. Perhaps their gods came to blows, and their subjects naturally followed the whims of their masters. Regardless, they came to ferocious, bloody war. The two sides were very closely matched, and advantages gained in one campaign were quickly reversed in another. The curious figure of Bat rose in prominence at this time. The beasts had few warriors who could rise to heights beyond the trees, and Bat could fly as well as the birds. When the birds began gaining a consistent advantage, this very thing was on Bat’s lips when parlaying with the court of the birds.
“Just like you, my home is in the air,” Bat said. “The beasts do not understand the joys of flight as we do. This is a battle between land and air; it is only natural I should be on your side.”
So it came to pass that Bat sided with the birds against the beasts. When the war was finally ended, neither the birds nor the beasts had a decisive victory. None can tell you if either side gained anything in all the fighting. Certainly, both sides lost a great deal. When Bat arrived in the court of birds after peace was brokered, the birds were not welcoming hosts. They remembered grudgingly how Bat had fought against them in the early days, and to tell the truth they never really considered Bat to be one of them. Fleeing for safety, Bat returned to the court of beasts. They, of course, remembered bitterly how Bat had abandoned them to fly with their enemy in the hopes of sharing in the spoils of victory. Bat was shunned by all, banished to the dark caves, emerging only under cover of night to eat in an approximation of safety. Perhaps one day one side will forgive Bat. Owl certainly won’t forget.

This is, of course, ridiculous. A story made post-hoc to pretend that a creature “deserves” its lot in life. There are similar sorts of stories told about the Drow, how their goddess fell to evil or betrayed her closest ally or turned from the light, and how this somehow means her only followers must bear her punishment forever.
Do I pity the Drow? No. I respect them, certainly. They are masters of their domain down in the darkness, even more so than the surface elves are in the forest. Besides, the Drow have no stomach for pity. They would think it mocking were you to try to explain.
I pity Bat of the fable, even if that creature never truly existed. Bat was an enterprising individual who saw opportunity and pounced. Had the war never ended, Bat could have kept moving with the winds of fate, shifting as the tide to always come out on top. I certainly plan to ride the wave as long as I can.

Build

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Changeling Feat Rogue 1	+0	+0	+2	+0	Bluff 4, Balance 4, Diplomacy 4, Disguise 4, Intimidate 4, Jump 4, Knowledge (the Planes) 4, Sense Motive 4, Tumble 4, Use Magic Device 4	(B)Martial Study (Douse the Flames), Racial Emulation	Fighter Bonus Feat, Social Intuition
2nd	Savant 1	+0	+0	+2	+2	Bluff 5, Balance 5, Jump 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 5, Sense Motive 5, Tumble 5		Academic Lore, Skill Assistance (Disguise) 5 feet, Trapfinding
3rd	Savant 2	+1	+0	+2	+3	Bluff 6, Intimidate 5, Knowledge (the Planes) 6, Tumble 6, Use Magic Device 6	(B)Endurance, Unspeakable Vow	Talent Lore
4th	Dragonfire Adept 1	+1	+2	+2	+5	Bluff 7, Knowledge (the Planes) 7, Speak Language (Undercommon), Use Magic Device 7	(B)Dragontouched	Dragontouched, Breath Weapon 1d6, Least Invocations (See the Unseen)
5th	Dragonfire Adept 2	+2	+3	+2	+6	Bluff 8, Knowledge (the Planes) 8, Speak Language (Elven), Use Magic Device 8		Breath Effect (Lightning Breath), Scales +2
6th	Dragonfire Adept 3	+2	+3	+3	+6	Bluff 9, Knowledge (the Planes) 9, Speak Language (Drow Sign Language), Use Magic Device 9	Diehard	Breath Weapon 2d6, Least Invocation (Beguiling Influence)
7th	Dragonfire Adept 4	+4	+4	+3	+7	Bluff 10, Intimidate 7, Use Magic Device 10		Dragonkin
8th	Ruathar 1	+4	+4	+5	+9	Diplomacy 6, Sense Motive 7	(B)Martial Weapon Proficiency (Longsword)	Word of Friendship, Gift of the Elves (Longsword), Breath Weapon 3d6
9th	Ruathar 2	+5	+4	+6	+10	Diplomacy 8, Sense Motive 9	Vow of Vengeance (Elf)	Low-Light Vision, Elfwise, Lesser Invocations (Draconic Flight)
10th	Ruathar 3	+6/+1	+5	+6	+10	Diplomacy 10, Sense Motive 11		Star Blessing, Arvandor’s Grace, Breath Weapon 4d6
11th	Kinslayer 1	+7/+2	+5	+8	+12	Bluff 14		Mettle, Rage 1/day, Surge of Hate
12th	Kinslayer 2	+8/+3	+5	+9	+13	Bluff 15, Disguise 7	Planar Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment [Hunger Domain])	Inured to Sunlight, Smite Elves 1/day
13th	Kinslayer 3	+9/+4	+6	+9	+13	Bluff 16, Disguise 10		Elf Bane
14th	Kinslayer 4	+10/+5	+6	+10	+14	Bluff 17, Disguise 13		Shameful Strike
15th	Kinslayer 5	+11/+6/+1	+6	+10	+14	Bluff 18, Disguise 16	Furious Inhalation	Rage 2/day, Smite Elves 2/day
16th	Kinslayer 6	+12/+7/+2	+7	+11	+15	Bluff 19, Disguise 19		Deny Elf Magic
17th	Kinslayer 7	+13/+8/+3	+7	+11	+15	Bluff 20, Disguise 20, Intimidate 9		Disguise Heritage
18th	Kinslayer 8	+14/+9/+4	+7	+12	+16	Bluff 21, Disguise 21, Intimidate 11	Martial Study (White Raven Tactics)	Fey Bane, Smite Elves 3/day
19th	Kinslayer 9	+15/+10/+5	+8	+12	+16	Bluff 22, Disguise 22, Intimidate 13		Rage 3/day
20th	Kinslayer 10	+16/+11/+6/+1	+8	+13	+17	Bluff 23, Disguise 23, Intimidate 15		Lolth’s Curse, Vengeful Strike

Level 5

Spoiler

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The core idea here is a character playing both sides against each other, taking advantage of the fact that anti-elf features work against Drow. Any round we have a race-restricted ingredient someone has to make a Racial Emulation Changeling entry, and I’m happy to be that person this round. Beginning levels are a little messy from a few different things stacking on each other.
First, my setup allowed for a 1 level dip in Changeling Rogue, a substitution level so good that I seriously consider it any time I have a Changeling character. Taking 10 on so many social skills is invaluable for this kind of character, and 10 skill points is huge at level 1. We trade away trapfinding, but we get that right back in a level. I’m not doing anything with the 1d6 of sneak attack, so I’m trading it away for a fighter bonus feat. Unfortunately, it can’t be used on any of the prerequisites, so I’m taking martial study. I’m aware of the discussion about not being able to select a legal maneuver at first level, but since this isn’t a scored entry, I don’t care.
From there, 4 prerequisite feats and Racial Emulation means we’re going to need a bonus feat in order to finish the class. The simplest and fastest way I have to get an unrestricted feat for free was Savant (Viscount shoehorning Savant into a build, take a drink). Know that I wanted deeply to take able learner, but I couldn’t fit it in.
I knew I wanted to take some levels in Ruathar, and I didn’t want to waste the casting advancement it gave. Dragonfire Adept provides an interesting sort of casting; we can pick only long duration invocations so we don’t have to worry about raging preventing our casting. Its primary weapon is a breath weapon, providing an advantage over eldritch blast or eldritch glaive, which are still spell-like abilities. See the unseen by my reading does have a duration as see invisibility, which is still long enough to easily keep refreshed before combat happens and you rage. The invocation has a bonus in that it grants darkvision for 24 hours, which allows you to more easily blend in as a Drow.

Level 10

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More dragonfire adept adds beguiling influence to stack even more bonuses onto social skills. The section on prestige classes that advance dragonfire adept says that it increases breath weapon damage and new invocations. I’m assuming this also means unlocking new categories of invocations. It does not mention breath effects, so I’m assuming we stick with the one we have from levels. I went with lightning because resistance is less common, but cold damage is also a valid choice since cold vulnerability is more common.
Ruathar, among the easiest classes to qualify for, goes here in the build to represent allying with surface elves, at least on the surface. Proficiency with longsword is nice, since we already had bows from rogue, and the SI curiously doesn’t even say that it doesn’t add any proficiencies (none of the PrCs in Drow of the Underdark have this line). At 4d6, your breath weapon represents a viable option in combat, especially since you can fire it every round. On the invocation front, beguiling influence stacks even more bonus onto social skills for 24 hours, and Draconic Flight provides a flight speed with good maneuverability and an all-day duration.

Level 15

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Now let’s look at the SI. Boy, what a stinker. Full base attack, with good reflex and will saves? Why? You’d think you’d get good fortitude to make use of mettle, but what do I know? Anyway, your anti-elf features work equally well against Drow, so you fight equally well on either side of the war. Remember your boosted Constitution increases the save for your breath weapon from dragonfire adept. Synergy!
For feats, time for a little confession. Furious inhalation is a feat that compels me, much like savage grapple. I look at it very frequently, but it has a number of prerequisites with no obvious “intended” way to fulfill them. I was shocked to find during the building process that I got dragonblood subtype and breath weapon from dragonfire adept, which couple with rage from the SI meant I only needed a bite attack. Fortunately, I had an open feat slot, so I could spend it on Catalogues of Enlightenment as a Planar Touchstone. I’m not interested in the limited-use higher-order power, so we can focus on the always-on lower-order power which is the granted ability of any one domain. Here I’ve chosen the Hunger domain granted by Doresain, demigod of ghouls. This means we have a bite attack, which can now be used in combat charged up with bonus fire or electric damage. When adding in the bonus damage from elf bane and Strength, its more damage than you’d deal with breath weapon alone, and can be used as part of a full attack.

Level 20

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Finishing up the SI. We managed to get Fey bane works against Wildrunners of 9th level or higher, which is the closest thing I can think of for a reason for it to be here. It’s not entirely clear to me whether both it and elf bane would apply, but I’d certainly like to hope so. We managed to get 4 attacks on a full attack, just barely. That’s 5 if we add in the bite, so you can deal some real damage when raging. Disguise heritage is a curious ability here, in that it just references disguise self, which gives an untyped bonus. Changeling’s racial ability also references disguise self, but specifies it provides a circumstance bonus. It’s not strictly needed to stack the two, but if you can it becomes immensely difficult to see who you actually are.
Given the bonus fighter feat spent on a maneuver, we can capitalize on it with our last feat slot. Unfortunately, all the highest level maneuvers available require too many maneuvers as prerequisites. Fortunately, we can take White Raven Tactics, which is a fantastic maneuver. I’m aware that there’s some unofficial FAQ saying you can’t use it on yourself to get a second turn during an encounter, but I think it worth bringing up at a table to see what the DM thinks. If nothing else, still an immensely valuable maneuver for helping teammates.

Sources

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Changeling: Eberron Campaign Setting
Changeling Rogue, Racial Emulation: Races of Eberron
Feat Rogue: Unearthed Arcana
Savant: Dragon Compendium
Dragonfire Adept, Dragontouched, Draconic Invocations: Dragon Magic
Ruathar: Races of the Wild
Martial Study, Douse the Flames, White Raven Tactics: Tome of Battle
Unspeakable Vow, Vow of Vengeance: Drow of the Underdark
Planar Touchstone, Catalogues of Enlightenment: Planar Handbook
Hunger Domain: Libris Mortis
Furious Inhalation: Races of the Dragon
Rogue, Endurance, Diehard: Player’s Handbook

[The Viscount]

That's our entries for the round! Judges, over to you!

[Paragon]

Some really cool build right there, wp guys !

[Inevitability]

Do I spot a Silverwing reference, Viscount? My local library had those books when I was a kid!

Anyway, after some initial apprehension I quite enjoyed building for this round! My builds were built around some pretty surface-level interactions, but in both cases I realized some deeper combos woven in there as I fleshed them out, and I'm happy to see my ideas weren't so obvious others would duplicate them (all builds seem to be doing pretty different things, in fact). I'd love something with easier entry requirements next round, but kinslayer is unique even if it's not good and I felt like it had just enough merit for the right kind of build.


A few ideas of mine that didn't make it:

I realized Endurance could be obtained with a single-level dip via Death's Chosen (Libris Mortis) and had half a thought to spin some lore around Kiaransalee, but none of my other ideas could spare a level to make it work.

My most ridiculous idea was to use Savage Species' over-LAd mess of a Wraith template to synergize with this class specifically: you negate your crippling daylight weakness, Shameful Strike is fine if you're making a single touch attack per round, Smite is considerably more powerful if it adds to constitution rather than regular damage, the shapeshifting would cover up incorporealness as well as drowness... Of course, doing so would make Rage near-useless, which was very ugly.

An idea I had pretty early was to use Knight of the Lily from Dragonlance Campaign Setting. It gives Diehard at level 3, and the entry feat (Honor Bound) gives a bonus on saves to avoid breaking any vow we swear... arguably triggering whenever we're fighting elves thanks to our Vow of Vengeance and synergizing with Mettle to boot. The class gave Sneak Attack and some intimidate synergy as well, plus armor proficiencies if we didn't have those yet. Drow not actually existing in Dragonlance made me apprehensive to use it, though.

Noticing some prerequisite overlap, I thought about going Tattooed Monk 3 to get Diehard for free, along with the White Mask tattoo to cement an infiltrator role a bit better. I might've gone Deepwyrm Half-Drow and worked Disciple of the Eye in there for intimidation synergy, figuring that a humanoid fighting humanoids will often face lower-HD foes.

Still on a monk kick, I realized that being able to rage while lawful made a monk/kinslayer build a perfect fit for Frostrager, which requires IUS and Frozen Berserker for entry. The fluff would've been a tongue-in-cheek tale of a christmas elf rebelling against santa, only to be betrayed and cast out, causing him to swear vengeance on that jolly old archfey and all his minions. This was probably closest to becoming an actual submission, if only because I loved the flavor so much. I might work it out some more, just for fun.

Another idea was to just stack anti-elf bonuses, taking levels in Corrupt Avenger, Scar Enforcer, Foe Hunter, and of course Ranger to be the most over-specialized bonus stack ever.

And the last idea I had was to use Sohei, get Weapon Focus + Deflect Arrows (elves are archers, not?) + Diehard for free in the first 3 levels, then get Sohei casting advanced to the point where it yielded Shield Other to help trigger Vengeful Strike. However, it was only really worth it if I needed Weapon Focus somewhere, and unfortunately that didn't turn out to be the case.

[loky1109]

Fan fact: you actually could enter Kinslayer at 2nd level with two flaws. I thought about full (not lesser) drow monk1/kinslayer 10/ranger 1/foe hunter 6. But it looks too boring for me.

[Inevitability]

Thinking about it again... you know what we saw surprisingly little of? Elder Evil worship - if there's ever been a PrC that calls for it, it's this one. I'm not disappointed, just surprised.

[The Viscount]

I don't know that I've read the Silverwing books. I was just pulling from the base Aesop fable for the story. Here's something funny: In the early phases of the cooking process I considered adding a title like "Bishop of the Great Game" to indicate a sort of inflated sense of self and an allegiance to one of the dragons playing Xorvintaal, as putting an agent in the middle of a long-running war seemed like exactly the sort of convoluted mysterious thing they would do. I decided against it because I liked the punch of the descriptive word alone, thinking I'd work it in to the story at some point. When it came time to write the story, I completely forgot that aspect and only remembered after posting the reveal.

As for elder evil devotion, while it certainly is popular, the feats required for Kinslayer weren't reprinted in Elder Evils, so it would be an uphill battle trying to argue you can take Vile feats that aren't on the table.

[AMFV]

Anyway, after some initial apprehension I quite enjoyed building for this round! My builds were built around some pretty surface-level interactions, but in both cases I realized some deeper combos woven in there as I fleshed them out, and I'm happy to see my ideas weren't so obvious others would duplicate them (all builds seem to be doing pretty different things, in fact). I'd love something with easier entry requirements next round, but kinslayer is unique even if it's not good and I felt like it had just enough merit for the right kind of build.

Yeah, I was really surprised that nobody repeated the same gimmick. I was definitely expecting that people would and I had a strong feeling that somebody would do the exact gimmick that I used. But I think it turned out pretty decently. All the builds were fairly interesting. I think I actually have a pretty good shot at this one. But given the quality of work that everybody put in that's definitely not a lock.

I was really surprised that we didn't see a Frenzied Berserker... I was really expecting that. Drow Kinslayer going mad and murdering people is really on-brand and it's a great way to get mileage out of rage that doesn't actually ever improve. I'm also surprised that nobody did anything with stacking Sickening Strike and things that induce Nauseated. Although maybe there's no actual way to make that work. A lot few martial initiators than you'd have expected for a pretty martial focused class as well. But really cool builds.

[Paragon]

Is anyone up for judging this round ? :)

[Inevitability]

Do we have a judge?



Anyway, so that this post has actual content, here's that santa-hating elf-slayer I thought about submitting:

Spoiler

Show

LE Half-Drow Decisive Strike Overwhelming Attack Invisible Fist Monk 2 / Half-Elf Paragon 1 / Human Paragon 2 / Kinslayer 4 / Frostrager 5 / Kinslayer +6

Feats:
1: Unspeakable Vow
1B: Improved Unarmed Strike
1B: Power Attack
2B: Improved Bull Rush
3: Vow of Vengeance
3B: Endurance
5B: Diehard
6: Darkstalker
9: Frozen Berserker
12: Shock Trooper
15: Snap Kick
18: Cometary Collision

The basic idea here is that you can be a monk/frostrager without having to get ex-monk as the usual barbarian dip would mandate. You end up with +17 BAB, bonus cold damage and a good unarmed die, cold immunity, and a decent flavorful link between Diehard and the frostrager entry requirement. Hide is a class skill during Frostrager levels thanks to human paragon, making the build an alright scout.

You can make a single unarmed attack, get a second one via Snap Kick, get another one via One-Two Punch, and then finish up with Rend, which means that you can kinda move + full attack every round (or deal double damage with Decisive Strike) and do the whole Shock Trooper ubercharging thing (with Invisible Fist covering the defense drop) without being reliant on pounce. Having this many attacks also makes Vow of Vengeance much better, Frostrager + Monk gives good fortitude saves for Mettle, Surge of Hate is nice when you can just charge t1, Smite Elves synergizes with Decisive Attack for double damage, Elf and Fey Bane benefit from our large number of reliable attacks per round, Shameful Strike is more justifiable because we give up less than half our damage by using it (as opposed to a normal full attacker who misses out on 3 out of 4 hits). Vengeful Strike dovetails with Cometary Collision, where you charge someone for a bunch of damage and then force them to attack you, boosting all of next turn's hits by +8 damage.

Of course, the build didn't really have uses for Disguise Heritage, Deny Elf Magic, or Lolth's Curse - I could maybe have spun some tale about polar days being 6 months long but my heart really wasn't in it.

[loky1109]

I totally forgot about the table!

#	Name	Alignment / Race	Class Levels	Chef	Total	Place
1	Skarsh	CE Half-Drow	Unholy Fury Berserker Strength Jaguar Totem Wolf Totem Ape Torem Bear Totem Horse Totem Barbarian 5/Elf Soulborn 4/Half-Elf Paragon 1/Kinslayer 10
2	Those Who Fuel The Smokeless Fire Must Not Be Surprised When The Flames Consume Them	NE Mirage Mullah Half-Drow	Spirit Shaman 5/Half-Elf Paragon 2/Elemental Archon 1/Kinslayer 8
3	H'Tull Farkgallen	?E Lesser Drow	Drow Rogue 7/Assassin 5/ Kinslayer 7
4	Servaas, the Harmtaker	LE→LG Lesser Drow	Knight 6/Martyred Champion of Ilmater 4/Kinslayer 10
5	Atred	CE Deepwyrm Half-Drow	Elf Ranger 3/Half-Elf Paragon 1/Kinslayer 10/Wildrunner 6
6	Queyven Dyrr, The Eater of Elves	LE Half-Drow	Decisive Strike Passive Way Monk 2/Hit-and-Run Fighter 1/Celestial Slayer Ranger 3/Kinslayer 10/Bear Warrior 1
7	The Mugwump	NE Changeling	Changeling Feat Rogue 1/Savant 2/Dragonfire Adept 4/Ruathar 3/Kinslayer 10

[H_H_F_F]

So, I wasn't able to finish my submission due to a personal tragedy striking while I was still working on it, but I'll post what I had in case anyone finds it interesting. The entry is incomplete, and I wanted to revamp the skills and completely change the tactical breakdown for Pavel to something that offered more clarity. It's also still unsourced, and Dmitri's progression remains nearly completely unwritten.

But there you go, anyway.

Okay, I'm not going to play coy, and get straight to the point. I don’t usually do that, but I feel like in the case of a dual submission, hiding "the reveal" in the appropriate stage of advancement is less interesting, so I'll just explain everything upfront.

This dual submission is about inured to sunlight. Mettle is awesome and I appreciate having it greatly. The hodgepodge of other features this class offers are… I mean, I guess you could do something with them?

But inured to sunlight is special. It's not "you get a +1/1d6 against elves". It's not a numerical bonus. It's special.

Because it doesn't limit itself to the actual issues drow have with light, it's blanket protection. It's [Ex], it's permanent, it's absolute. There is nothing else like it in the game.

you no longer suffer from the detrimental effects of bright light, such as sunlight or the daylight spell.

Which makes it protect you from other detrimental effects sunlight has on you, unrelated to being drow. Like, vampirism.

Yep.

This is the one and only blanket protection from sunlight available to PC vampires in the entirety of 3.5. So, naturally, this is what the builds are going to be about, rather than trying to optimize a +1 insight bonus to attack against creatures of the fey type, a full-action attack to impose the least bothersome condition in the game, or a smite attack against elves that only works on evil ones.

Now, if one is to go for vampirism, one has several options and alternative features one can choose from. The big one, however, is going straight for the template class – which is what both these characters will be doing, for two reasons:

First, Because Template Classes are classes, which means their features can be gained by Uncanny Trickster and Legacy Champion, thus avoiding the loss of HD that taking a template would usually necessitate. Being a full vampire while still ending up with 18 or 19 HD is certainly preferable to ending up with 12.

Second, because specific trumps general. This template class's undeath feature is very explicit and elaborate – and besides giving you the undead type and everything usually associated with it, it grants you something that is most decidedly NOT usually associated with it. Observe:

He no longer has a Constitution score, and he loses any Constitution bonus or penalty on hit points, saving throws, or skills that he may previously have had. He uses either his Charisma modifier or his Constitution modifier (+0), whichever is better, for all skills, save DCs, and OTHER QUANTITIES that previously incorporated his Constitution modifier.

Now, usually, undead just get to add their Cha to their Concentration checks, as well as complying with the general rule that Cha is used to calculate save DCs for abilities the creature doesn't have. But this? This? This is some pathfinder **** right here. Fortitude saves, class features, freakin' bonus HP. All other quantities.

This makes this template class, in conjunction with Uncanny Trickster and Legacy Champion, an extremely potent character base. The main issue would be the vampire's greatest vulnerability, sunlight – which, as discussed, kinslayer is the one and only way in the entirety of the game to solve completely.

So, without further ado:

The Brothers Drakulov

The Brothers Drakulov were born to a non-noble drow woman deep in the underdark. Dmitri, the elder, started his life shamed and mocked, because of the gills on his neck. Despite his deformity, he was deemed permissible to live, as it was thought that he could be useful for exploring the dark, cold lakes of the underdark. He was made an outsider, but was allowed to live at the perimeter of drow society up to his adolescence. The birth of his half-brother Pavel changed everything – not only was the baby deformed in the same way as his older brother, but he was also clearly half-human, his blood tainted by his mother's shameful actions. The mother and the boys were banished forever, and she raised them with an eternal hatred for all other drow – and indeed, all of elf-kind.

The boys, at the outskirts of underdark society, grew into ruthless predators. Their hate eventually allowed them to climb to the outside world, were they found new weapons to take the fight to the drow and the rest of elfkind. They went through a dark ritual, and transformed themselves into true killers, predacious creatures of pure hate and blood. One of Light and one of Shadow, these beings bring the fight to all drow and elves, killing them – or worse, turning them into unwilling pawns in the desolation of their peoples.

Pavel Drakulov, Light-Bound Hunter of The Blinding Sun

Spoiler: The Basics

Show

Pavel Drakulov, CE Shaky Vulnerable male amphibious deepwyrm half-drow vampire. Skilled City Dweller Paladin of Slaughter 4 / Kinslayer 2 / Battle Dancer 1 / Uncanny Trickster 3 / Vampire 1 / Legacy Champion (Dymondheart) 6 / Hexblade 2 / Fist of the Forest 1.

Modifier	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
Base	14	8	12	14	8	18
Amphibious	"	6	"	"	"	"
HD 4	"	"	"	"	"	19
HD 8	"	"	"	"	"	20
ECL 9 [Vampire]	"	"	10	"	"	"
ECL 10 [Vampire]	16	"	"	"	"	"
ECL 11 [Vampire]	"	8	"	"	"	22
ECL 13 [Vampire]	18	"	"	"	"	"
HD 12 (ECL 13)	"	"	"	"	"	23
ECL 14 [Vampire]	"	"	"	"	10	"
ECL 15 [Vampire]	20	"	"	16	"	"
ECL 16 [Vampire]	"	10	--	"	"	"
ECL 17 [Vampire]	"	"	"	"	"	25
HD 16 (ECL 17)	Str 20	Dex 10	Con --	Int 16	Wis 10	Cha 26

Spoiler: table

Show

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Reflex Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Paladin of Slaughter 1	1	2	0	0	intimidate 4, knowledge (religion) 4, sense motive 4, tumble 4	Endurance, Diehard [F], Unspeakable Vow [F]	Aura of evil, detect good, smite good, skilled city dweller (ride->tumble)
2nd	Paladin of Slaughter 2	2	3	0	0	Intimidate 4, knowledge (religion) 5, sense motive 4, tumble 5, Tumbling Crawl	-	Divine grace, deadly touch
3rd	Paladin of Slaughter 3	3	3	1	1	Intimidate 5, knowledge (religion) 5, sense motive 5, tumble 5, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories	Vow Of Vengance (elves)	Debilitating aura, divine health
4th	Kinslayer 1	4	3	3	3	Intimidate 6, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 3, sense motive 7, tumble 5, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories	-	Mettle, rage, surge of hate
5th	Paladin of Slaughter 4	5	4	3	3	Intimidate 8, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 3, sense motive 7, tumble 5, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered	Power Attack [Holy Warrior]	Rebuke undead, bonus feat
6th	Kinslayer 2	6	4	4	4	Intimidate 8, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 8, sense motive 8, tumble 5, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered	Sun Devotion	Inured to sunlight, smite elves
7th	Battle Dancer 1	6	4	6	4	Intimidate 8, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 8, sense motive 8, tumble 9, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand	Improved Unarmed Strike [B]	AC bonus, unarmed strike
8th	Uncanny Trickster 1	6	4	8	4	Bluff 5, disguise 5, intimidate 8, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 8, sense motive 8, tumble 9, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression	-	Bonus trick, favorite trick (Nimble Stand)
9th	Vampire Template Class 1	7	4	8	4	Bluff 5, disguise 5, intimidate 8, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 8, sense motive 8, tumble 9, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression	Alertness [B], Dodge [B]	Spoiler: vampire abilities Show blood drain (lesser), resistances (lesser), spider climb
10th	Uncanny Trickster 2	8	4	9	4	Bluff 7, disguise 5, intimidate 8, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 8, sense motive 8, speak language (elven), tumble 12, use magic device 3, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression, Back On Your Feet	Divine Might, Improved Initiative [B], Lightning Reflexes [B]	Bonus trick, favorite trick (Back on your feet), Spoiler: vampire abilities Show blood drain (moderate), fortification (light), vampire skills +2
11th	Uncanny Trickster 3	9	5	9	5	Bluff 8, diplomacy 5, disguise 5, intimidate 8, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 8, sense motive 8, speak language (elven), tumble 12, use magic device 7, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression, Back On Your Feet, Social Recovery	Least Legacy: Dymondheart [B]	Bonus trick, favorite trick (Tumbling Crawl), tricky defense, Spoiler: vampire abilities Show coffin sanctuary (lesser), dominate (lesser), gaseous form (lesser), resistances (greater), slam
12th	Legacy Champion 1	9	5	9	7	Bluff 8, diplomacy 5, disguise 5, intimidate 8, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 14, sense motive 8, speak language (elven), tumble 12, use magic device 7, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression, Back On Your Feet, Social Recovery	Lesser Legacy: Dymondheart [B]	Reduced ritual cost (lesser), bond of lore
13th	Legacy Champion 2	10	5	9	8	Bluff 8, diplomacy 5, disguise 5, intimidate 8, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 14, sense motive 8, speak language (elven), tumble 12, use magic device 13, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression, Back On Your Feet, Social Recovery	Animal Devotion	Replace least legacy ability (shed bolts -> elf compass), Spoiler: vampire abilities Show alternate form (lesser), blood drain (greater), dominate (moderate), natural armor +2, vampire aversions, vampire skills +4
14th	Legacy Champion 3	11	6	10	8	Bluff 8, diplomacy 8, disguise 5, intimidate 8, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 14, sense motive 8, speak language (elven), tumble 12, use magic device 16, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression, Back On Your Feet, Social Recovery	-	Extra least legacy ability use (deflect attack), Spoiler: vampire abilities Show children of the night (lesser), coffin sanctuary (greater) , damage reduction 5/silver and magic, dominate (greater), fortification (moderate), gaseous form (moderate), sunlight & water vulnerability (lesser)
15th	Legacy Champion 4	12	6	10	9	Bluff 10, diplomacy 10, disguise 5, intimidate 10, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 14, sense motive 8, speak language (elven), tumble 12, use magic device 17, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression, Back On Your Feet, Social Recovery	Quicken Legacy (daylight) [B]	Spoiler: vampire abilities Show Fast healing 1, natural armor +2, vampire skills +6
16th	Legacy Champion 5	12	6	10	9	Bluff 10, diplomacy 10, disguise 5, intimidate 10, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 18, sense motive 8, speak language (elven), survival 2, tumble 12, use magic device 18, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression, Back On Your Feet, Social Recovery	Improved Turn Resistance	Replace lesser legacy ability (green flame -> cunning), Spoiler: vampire abilities Show children of the night (greater), create spawn (lesser), dominate (superior), energy drain (lesser), gaseous form (greater), sunlight & water vulnerability (greater), undeath
17th	Legacy Champion 6	13	7	11	10	Bluff 10, diplomacy 10, disguise 5, handle animal 4, intimidate 10, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 18, sense motive 8, speak language (elven), survival 4, tumble 12, use magic device 19, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression, Back On Your Feet, Social Recovery	Combat Reflexes [B]	Extra lesser legacy ability use (daylight), Spoiler: vampire abilities Show alternate form (greater), create spawn (greater), damage reduction 10/silver and magic, energy drain (greater), fast healing 5, natural armor +2, turn resistance +4, vampire skills +8
18th	Hexblade 1	14	7	11	12	Bluff 10, diplomacy 15, disguise 5, handle animal 4, intimidate 10, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 18, sense motive 8, speak language (elven), survival 4, tumble 12, use magic device 19, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression, Back On Your Feet, Social Recovery	Greater Legacy: Dymondheart [B]	Hexblade's curse
19th	Hexblade 2	15	7	11	13	Bluff 10, diplomacy 20, disguise 5, handle animal 4, intimidate 10, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 18, sense motive 8, speak language (elven), survival 4, tumble 12, use magic device 19, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression, Back On Your Feet, Social Recovery	Great Fortitude	Arcane resistance
20th	Fist of the Forest 1	16	9	13	13	Bluff 10, diplomacy 20, disguise 5, handle animal 4, intimidate 17, knowledge (religion) 5, Knowledge (history) 18, sense motive 8, speak language (elven), survival 4, tumble 12, use magic device 19, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, Nimble Stand, Second Impression, Back On Your Feet, Social Recovery	-	AC bonus, feral trance 1/day, fast movement, primal living, unarmed damage

Spoiler: progression

Show

ECL 5:

Pavel is the illegitimate half-drow younger brother of the Drakulov pair. Rage and die-hard keep him up in combat, and his excellent Cha goes to his saves, which are complimented by his access to mettle. As a holy warrior paladin, he doesn't have access to spells – but generally manages himself well in combat. Power attack, smites, rage, and his debilitating aura all help make up for his mediocre strength.

At this stage in his life, he and his brothers have already emigrated to the surface, and are fighting to accustom themselves to the terrible light of the sun, hiding within large cities. While Dmitri does so with determined grit, his heart filled with hatred to the sun, Pavel feels only awe and admiration at the sun's pure destructive power, and yearns to leave the city for the overworld's wilderness.

ECL 10:

Pavel and Dmitri have gone through the unholy ritual of predation, and have started their way down the vampiric path. Pavel's defenses are now decent even when unarmored, thanks to being a battle dancer. Divine might and sun devotion help him utilize his rebuke attempts for combat – and he's a lethal counter-vampire, being the only vampire in the world to happily wield true sunlight in his hands. He feels a deep connection to the sun and to the deadly predators who proudly hunt under its light. Pavel can walk on walls, deal constitution drain, and has light fortification. His mediocre strength is starting to pick up, and more will soon follow.

Pavel is on the chase after rumors of a sun-sword, a sword of living wood marked with the insignia of the morning sun and imbued with solar power.

ECL 16:

Pavel finds the sun-sword Dymondheart, and forges a strong connection with it. Through this connection, he deepens his understanding and admiration of the inherent violence of the natural world, and finds himself joining forces with certain extremely radical sects of the Guardians of the Green. His particular attunement to Dymondheart allows him to locate any elf within 30 ft of him, aside from the normal capabalities of the sword. A longsword suits Pavel well – he can either use it one-handed and slam with the other, or power attack with two hands and bite through Animal Devotion – the complimentary continuation of his devotion to the violent destructive power of nature, and another use for his many uses per day of rebuke undead.

More importantlhy, through these levels Pavel keeps increasing his vampiric prowess – and at ECL 16, he gains its unique form of undeath, allowing him to add his +6 in Cha (before items) to his HP per level, his fortitude save, and so on. Pavel makes for an incredibly tanky opponent, is unharmed by sunlight or flowing water (he and his brothers have a swim speed as amphibious creatures), and enjoys nearly the full offensive capabilities of a vampire, being only 1 HD below his ECL. Pavel immediately takes improved turn resistance, to make sure that he's not turned, commanded, or destroyed. Having become undead, he can now heal himself with his deadly touch.

ECL 20:

Pavel completes his transformation, becoming almost more beast than man. He's incredibly charming and has excellent face skills (+8 from vampirism to bluff, by the way) and pumped out UMD, but he's also dedicated to completely primal living.

Two levels in hexblade leverage his +8 Cha modifier (before items!) to add on to his divine grace and mettle, as well as to the +5 to all saves from Dymondheart, to make him nigh-invulnerable, on top of his very high HP – 19 HD of D12s+Cha. Another quantity that he'd now add constitution to is his unarmored AC – the bonus from Fist of the Forest is drawn from his Cha due to his unique form of undeath.

Full vampire capabilities, with DCs pumped by his extremely high Charisma, on an incredibly tanky chassis that's invulnerable to the normal weaknesses of vampires. An extremely potent face, with a high-dc domination ability, and powerful combat abilities that are perfectly suited to fight against drow. Pavel can haunt the surface world as well as the underdark, bringing the wrath of the sun to drow and elves alike.

Dmitri Drakulov, Devouring Shadow of the Blinded Sun

Spoiler: The Basics

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Pavel Drakulov, CE shaky feeble male amphibious lesser-drow Shadow Walker Vampire. Psychic Warrior 4 / Kinslayer 2 / Scaled Horror 2 / Uncanny Trickster 3 / Vampire 1 / Legacy Champion (Cledoriath's Clarion) 6 / Master Vampire 1.

Modifier	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
Base	16	8	8	16	14	14
Racial	"	10	6	"	"	"
Amphibious	"	8	"	"	"	"
HD 4	17	"	"	"	"	"
Shadow Walker	"	10	4	"	"	"
ECL 9 [Vampire]	"	"	2	"	"	"
ECL 10 [Vampire]	19	"	"	"	"	"
HD 8 (ECL 10)	20	"	"	"	"	"
ECL 11 [Vampire]	"	12	"	"	"	16
ECL 14 [Vampire]	22	"	"	"	"	"
HD 12 (ECL 14)	23	"	"	"	"	"
ECL 15 [Vampire]	"	"	"	"	16	"
ECL 16 [Vampire]	25	"	"	18	"	"
ECL 17 [Vampire]	"	14	--	"	"	"
ECL 18 [Vampire]	"	"	"	"	"	18
HD 16 (ECL 18)	Str 26	Dex 14	Con --	Int 18	Wis 16	Cha 18

Spoiler: table

Show

Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Reflex Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Psychic Warrior 1	0	2	0	0	Hide 2, Intimidate 2, Knowledge (History) 2, Move Silently 2, Tumble 4	Endurance, Diehard [F], Unspeakable Vow [F], Linked Power [P]	Compression, skilled city dweller (ride->tumble)
2nd	Psychic Warrior 2	1	3	0	0	Hide 4, Intimidate 2, Knowledge (History) 2, Move Silently 2, Tumble 5, Tumbling Crawl	Martial Study: Clinging Shadow Strike [p]	Grip of Iron
3rd	Psychic Warrior 3	2	3	1	1	Hide 5, Intimidate 3, Knowledge (History) 3, Move Silently 2, Tumble 5, Tumbling Crawl	Vow Of Vengance	Expansion
4th	Kinslayer 1	3	3	3	3	Hide 5, Intimidate 7, Knowledge (History) 5, Move Silently 2, Survival 1 Tumble 5, Tumbling Crawl	-	Mettle, rage, surge of hate
5th	Psychic Warrior 4	4	4	3	3	Hide 5, Intimidate 7, Knowledge (History) 5, Move Silently 2, Survival 1, Tumble 8, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories	-	Hustle
6th	Kinslayer 2	5	4	4	4	Hide 5, Intimidate 8, Knowledge (History) 5, Move Silently 6, Survival 1, Tumble 8, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered	Darkstalker	Inured to sunlight, smite elves
7th	Scaled Horror 1	5	6	4	4	Hide 8, Intimidate 8, Knowledge (History) 5, Move Silently 8, Survival 1, Tumble 8, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand	-	Light Blindness, +4 to hide, Spell Like Abilities
8th	Shadow Walker Template	5	6	4	4	Hide 8, Intimidate 8, Knowledge (History) 5, Move Silently 8, Survival 1, Tumble 8, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand	-	Light Blindness, +4 to hide, Spell Like Abilities
9th	Uncanny Trickster 1	5	6	6	4	Hide 10, Intimidate 8, Knowledge (History) 5, Move Silently 8, Spot 9, Survival 1, Tumble 8, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out	Alertness [B], Dodge [B]	Bonus trick, favorite trick (Never Outnumbered)
10th	Vampire Template Class 1	5	6	6	4	Hide 10, Intimidate 8, Knowledge (History) 5, Move Silently 8, Spot 9, Survival 1, Tumble 8, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out	Improved Initiative [B], Lightning Reflexes [B]	Spoiler: vampire abilities Show blood drain (lesser), resistances (lesser), spider climb
11th	Uncanny Trickster 2	6	6	7	4	Hide 12, Intimidate 12, Knowledge (History) 5, Move Silently 8, Perform (Dance) 5, Spot 9, Survival 1, Tumble 8, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out, Shrouded Dance	Imperious Command	Bonus trick, favorite trick (Shrouded Dance), Spoiler: vampire abilities Show blood drain (moderate), fortification (light), vampire skills +2
12th	Uncanny Trickster 3	7	7	7	5	Hide 13, Intimidate 12, Knowledge (History) 5, Move Silently 13, Perform (Dance) 5, Spot 12, Survival 2, Tumble 8, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out, Shrouded Dance, Clarity of Vision	Least Legacy: Cledoriath's Clarion[B]	Bonus trick, favorite trick (Clarity of VIsion), tricky defense, Spoiler: vampire abilities Show coffin sanctuary (lesser), dominate (lesser), gaseous form (lesser), resistances (greater), slam
13th	Legacy Champion 1	7	7	7	7	Hide 13, Intimidate 12, Knowledge (History) 12, Move Silently 13, Perform (Dance) 5, Spot 12, Survival 2, Tumble 8, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out, Shrouded Dance, Clarity of Vision	Lesser Legacy: Cledoriath's Clarion [B]	Reduced ritual cost (lesser), bond of lore
14th	Legacy Champion 2	8	7	7	8	Hide 15, Intimidate 15, Knowledge (History) 12, Move Silently 15, Perform (Dance) 5, Spot 12, Survival 2, Tumble 8, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out, Shrouded Dance, Clarity of Vision	Practiced Manifester	Replace least legacy ability (fell blast -> least extend power), Spoiler: vampire abilities Show alternate form (lesser), blood drain (greater), dominate (moderate), natural armor +2, vampire aversions, vampire skills +4
15th	Legacy Champion 3	9	8	8	8	Hide 16, Intimidate 16, Knowledge (History) 12, Move Silently 16, Perform (Dance) 5, Spot 16, Survival 2, Tumble 8, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out, Shrouded Dance, Clarity of Vision	-	Extra least legacy ability use (Summon least ally), Spoiler: vampire abilities Show children of the night (lesser), coffin sanctuary (greater) , damage reduction 5/silver and magic, dominate (greater), fortification (moderate), gaseous form (moderate), sunlight & water vulnerability (lesser)
16th	Legacy Champion 4	10	8	8	9	Hide 17, Intimidate 17, Knowledge (History) 12, Move Silently 17, Perform (Dance) 5, Spot 16, Survival 2, Tumble 8, Use Magic Device 5, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out, Shrouded Dance, Clarity of Vision	Bonus Legacy Feat [B]	Spoiler: vampire abilities Show Fast healing 1, natural armor +2, vampire skills +6
17th	Legacy Champion 5	10	8	8	9	Hide 17, Intimidate 17, Knowledge (History) 15, Move Silently 17, Perform (Dance) 5, Spot 16, Survival 2, Tumble 8, Use Magic Device 10, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out, Shrouded Dance, Clarity of Vision	Improved Turn Resistance	Replace lesser legacy ability (Note of openning -> glitterdust), Spoiler: vampire abilities Show children of the night (greater), create spawn (lesser), dominate (superior), energy drain (lesser), gaseous form (greater), sunlight & water vulnerability (greater), undeath
18th	Legacy Champion 6	11	9	9	10	Hide 17, Intimidate 17, Knowledge (History) 15, Move Silently 17, Perform (Dance) 5, Spot 16, Survival 2, Tumble 8, Use Magic Device 18, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out, Shrouded Dance, Clarity of Vision	Combat Reflexes [B]	Extra lesser legacy ability use (summon lesser ally), Spoiler: vampire abilities Show alternate form (greater), create spawn (greater), damage reduction 10/silver and magic, energy drain (greater), fast healing 5, natural armor +2, turn resistance +4, vampire skills +8
19th	Master Vampire 1	11	11	9	12	Hide 20, Intimidate 20, Knowledge (History) 15, Move Silently 17, Perform (Dance) 5, Spot 18, Survival 2, Tumble 8, Use Magic Device 18, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out, Shrouded Dance, Clarity of Vision	Greater Legacy: Cledoriath's Clarion [B]	More spawn, turn resistance
20th	Scaled Horror 2	12	12	9	12	Hide 21, Intimidate 20, Knowledge (History) 15, Move Silently 21, Perform (Dance) 5, Spot 21, Survival 2, Tumble 8, Use Magic Device 18, Tumbling Crawl, Collector of Stories, Never Outnumbered, nimble stand, Point It Out, Shrouded Dance, Clarity of Vision	Intimidating Rage	Freedom of Movement

Spoiler: Progression

Show

[b]Disclaimer: Pavel was very playable from level 1 onwards. Dmitri isn't as much. The progression will go through his abilities as they develop, but this build would make much more sense to use in an actual game that starts at level 17 or above, rather than a 1-20 campaign.

ECL 5:

Dmitri, the older of the two brothers, is a full drow (though not from a noble family, but from the lesser kind). He's a psychic warrior, with access to some sneaking which is supplemented by his compression power, to stay in the shadow and avoid too much attention. In combat scenarios, access to linked power allows him to add expansion on top of hustle or grip of iron, to maintain a strong action economy.

With his brother, he's getting used to the surface world. While his brother looks at the sun with awe and wonder, as an ultimate manifestation of natural violence, Dmitri sees it as an enemy to be conquered and overcome. He hates the sun, the light, with every fiber of his being. The only good thing about the surface world, to him, is that many of its denizens hate the drow just as much as he does – and the enemy of the enemy could be an ally.

ECL 10:

Lots of changes – ending with the same dark ritual as his older brother, but

Anything not annotated in-text can be found in the SRD.

[Inevitability]

H_H_F_F, my sympathies for the personal matters - I wish you strength in these difficult times.

And on the topic of your build... I'm glad you shared your stub, because it's genius: the idea to advance a template class with legacy champion, the use of legacy weapons in themselves, the way you read Undeath... The idea to do something with Inured to Sunlight had occurred to me (as I mentioned, I played with the idea of the wraith template), but this is much better. I like the themed pair as well!