Iron Chef Challenge Special Edition: Homebrew

[jameswilliamogle]

Death could not keep me from participating in this.

EDIT: But maybe the deadline can... damn... wish I saw this earlier...

[Heliomance]

Meh, screw the entering deadline. As long as the build's in by Friday, it's fine.

[Prime32]

Just realised though, that the build requires retraining and only works at level 20. Eh, even though I can't win anything, I'll send it in an outline anyway.

[Heliomance]

Okay, I've had one entry so far. If I don't get more soon, Akalsaris will be the winner by default!

[Akalsaris]

Heh...I pretty much saw that one coming =P

[sonofzeal]

Come on people, let's get at least one more build in, just to make this thing interesting.... 

[Heliomance]

*sigh*
It seems Akalsaris wins. Would the judges care to give their opinion anyway?

Vadim Valorsong, the Dragonforce.

The sun's light breaks out from behind the cloud and illuminate a man, alone in the dark skies.  Clad in silver plate and riding a pegasus, the man banks in front of the sun, grinning enigmatically at the frost giant jarl and his armies massed below.  Then, with a single swift movement, he hefts his guitar and leaps from the pegasus' back, sailing down hundreds of feet towards the monster.  As he falls, a song of battle and glory erupts from his lips...

And so begins the tale of Vadim Valorsong, the legendary Dragonforce.


Vadim Valorsong, CG Illumian Warblade 14/Bard 2/Disciple of Metal 4

Level-by-level progression: Bard 1/Warblade 3/Bard +1/Disc. of Metal 4/Warblade +11

Highlights:
1. A competent buffer, tank, and damage-dealer at all levels
2. Inspire courage as a 20th level bard at 20th
3. Initiator Level 17 at 20th
4. BAB +18 at 20th
5. Spells as a 4th level bard at CL 6 at 9th-20th
6. Music as a 6th level bard at 9th-20th
7. Massive damage combo starting at 9th level - uses Death from Above along with Battle Jump to deal ~400 damage or more per charge before critical multipliers.  Can charge from above every round at 10th, and pounce on a charge at 13th.
8. Works best as a member of a melee-heavy party in order to benefit most from inspire courage and white raven maneuvers.

Stats: 28 PB
Str: 18 
Dex: 10
Con: 16
Int: 08
Wis: 08
Cha: 08 

Racial traits:
Aeshkrau: +2 to Str checks, +2 to caster level, use strength as casting stat.

Alternative class features:
Warblade: None
Bard:
- Trade Bardic Knowledge for Loresong (Dungeonscape).  Disciple of Metal doesn't improve Bardic Knowledge, so you might as well drop it for something far more metal anyhow.
- Trade Countersong for Spellbreaker Song (CM).  You probably will never use this either, but who knows?

Flaws:
- Any two that will impact your character enough that the GM deems it fair.  I'd go for -2 to ranged attacks and -6 to spot/listen.

Feats:
1st char: Extra Music
1st flaw: Toughness
1st flaw: Song of the Heart
3rd char: Song of the White Raven
6th char:  Weapon Focus (Gibson Guitar - treat as a Minotaur Greathammer from MMIV)
9th char: Battle Jump
11th bonus (Warblade 5): Combat Reflexes
12th char: Power to the Metal!
15th bonus (Warblade 9): Blind-Fight
15th char: Beneath a Metal Sky: Triple Corpse Hammerblow!
18th char: Defensive Sweep
19th bonus (Warblade 13): Improved Initiative

Role: the character is designed as a damage dealer/tank/buffer.  He works best if there is at least 1 or more other melee characters in the party to benefit from his inspire courage and flanking abilities.  Rather than draw out 5 character sheets like I did for the last challenge (believe me - it was a pain in the ASS), I'm just going to give a level-by-level rundown.

Level-by-level rundown:

1st: Just buff people and run around with a longsword and shield in a chain shirt.  Life is cheap at this level, don't sweat it.  Your role here is just to buff people with +2/+2 from inspire courage and song of the heart, do some damage with your 18 strength, and tank with your fancy little 12 hit points.  Lore Song replaces bardic knowledge and is useful as a panic button when you need to make a save or hit something really badly.  Plus, you've got some decent skill points to work with.  Some of those points will be going in UMD, Jump, Perform, and Tumble, but after that anything goes. 

2nd: With your first warblade level, you get to have fun with maneuvers.  At this point you should upgrade to a greatsword and a breastplate.  If you're doing a lot of outdoor campaigns, I'd invest in a heavy warhorse...a 4HD mount for 400g is a pretty solid investment at low levels.  Maneuvers: Leading the Attack, Steel Wind, Moment of Perfect Mind.  Stance: Leading the Charge.

3rd: Stay in the Leading the Charge stance all the time.  When the fight begins, start singing as a swift action and then run in and hit the opponent with a maneuver (probably Leading the Attack, or Steel Wind to hit two adjacent opponents).  Pick up a Badge of Valor for 1,200g to increase your inspire courage bonus to +3/+3.  New maneuver: Steely Strike!  New ability: Uncanny Dodge!

4th: Nothing much to see here.  Pick up Battle Leader's Charge for some nice tactical maneuverability and damage.

5th: Your last level of bard!  Pump your perform checks up by 4 ranks!  Also, take the Inspirational Boost spell to increase your inspire courage bonus to +4/+4.  The only problem is that you can't use Inspirational Boost and Song of the White Raven in the same round, so the spell is only useful if you sing as a buff before entering a room, for example.

6th: Your first level as a disciple of metal!  Rock on!!  Now you can wear that breastplate all day long, since your bard spells are divine.  6th level is when I usually invest in a vest of resistance and some gauntlets of strength, and maybe a lesser rod of extend spell.

7th: New euphony!  Take Fight Until We Die! New spell!  Take Crabwalk to increase your charging prowess.  This is a good level to buy a few wands of 1st level spells you might want, like CLW.

8th: New cacophony!  Too bad the cacophonies are so lame for this build.  Take Louder than Hell so that at least you can totally cast suggestion on somebody 800 feet away, and so that in a few levels you'll get sonic immunity.  Plus, you can hit things with your guitar if you want to.  I know I want to.  Also, Inspire Courage goes up to +3/+3, or +5/+5 with your amulet and spell.  It will probably be +4/+4  in most cases.

9th: The best level!  Pick up mirror image and alter self for a pair of superb pre-battle buff spells for yourself.  Take Death From Above as your Combat Ability, and simultaneously take Battle Jump as your feat.  Then, since you're already using UE, grab a +1 Valorous Guitar.  Just to top things off, purchase the biggest, baddest flying mount you can afford (or at least fit into a dungeon).  If you bought a baby pegasus, that works for great style points, otherwise I recommend a wartrained dire bat for 550g (or magebred and wartrained for 1,100g).  Lastly, grab Boots of Landing for a cheap 500g to reduce falling damage taken by 2d6.

I think you can see where this is going.

Basically, a fight should start like this:

You: at 9th level with good-average hit points (9/d12, etc) you should have exactly 100 hit points.  Falling damage caps out at 20d6, -2d6 from your new boots (see below) and 1d6 from an easy jump check. 
 
Pegasus: flies up 240 feet (or however high you feel comfortable with...)
Swift: Inspire Courage (+3/+3)
Immediate: add +1/+1 to Inspire Courage with the Badge of Valor
Full-round: jump off your pegasus, soaring in the sky like a free bird...then collide with your opponent with a Battle Leader's Charge, dealing 2d6+1 greatsword +9 strength +4 inspire courage +10 battle leader's charge +6 leading the charge stance +100 damage from Death from above, for 2d6+130 damage.  Then triple that by adding in Battle Jump and the Valorous enhancement, for a total of 6d6+390 damage on a non-critical.  At 9th level with good-average hit points (9 out of a d12, etc) you should have exactly 100 hit points.  Falling damage caps out at 20d6, minus 2d6 from your new boots  and 1d6 from an easy jump check, so you will take about 51 damage.  Then stand up and play a wicked solo.  Now, obviously 400 damage isn't really necessary in most fights at this level, so play it by ear and jump about as far as you trust your limits.

10th: Well, that flying from the sky and causing certain death probably got the PHB chucked at your head, so now it's back to warblade to make sure you can do it every round!  Now your IL is (6/2=3)+4=7, and you can swap out a low-level maneuver and get a new stance! 

Trade out Steely Strike for Rabid Wolf Strike, and take Leaping Dragon Stance as your new stance.  Rabid Wolf Strike is worthless except as a prerequisite, but Leaping Dragon Stance gives a +10 FOOT enhancement to your jump checks and all jumps are considered running jumps, which means that you can jump and initiate Battle Jump just about every round.  It's normally a DC 80 check to jump 10ft straight up into the air, but with the awesome power of METAL you can do it without even making a check.  Just for kicks, go ahead and buy a ring of jumping and a panther mask from the MIC.

Jump check at this level: 10 base +6 strength +10 ring +2 synergy +13 ranks +4 Run feat (panther mask) = +35 for a 45 on a 10, or another 10 feet straight up for 20 feet total.  That's enough to get +10 to damage from Death from Above on a medium creature, and to trigger Battle Jump on a medium or large opponent.  It's not exactly soaring down from your pegasus of death, but doing it won't kill you in 2 rounds either, and it requires a lot less open air to perform.

11th: Take Iron Heart Surge.  You also get Combar Reflexes, so it's a good time to find a nice reach weapon.

12th: Switch out Leading the Attack for White Raven Tactics.  Now you can make sure that your allies get to do everything they want to do, when you want them to do it.  Plus you pick up Power to the Metal!  This gives you sonic resistance, reduces your falling damage from Death from Above by another 4d6 (and gives +4 to attacks from 20ft or more), and now Fight Until We Die! includes a +4 save against compulsions.  Good stuff.

13th: Take Pouncing Charge.  Now you can full-attack on a charge just like a 1st level barbarian!  Only the first attack using Death from Above will gain the damage bonus, but it's not like you care - you just want to hit the other guy another 2 times!

14th: Inspire Courage goes up by 1 to +4/+4, or +6/+6 with both the amulet and inspirational boost. Switch Steely Wind for Order Forged from Chaos. 

15th: OK, so this level gets a bunch of new abilities.  You add in blind-fighting, plus great cleave with a bludgeoning weapon from Triple Corpse Hammerblow! (like your guitar maybe - make it mimic a Greathammer from the MMIV?).  Also, you grab a new maneuver: War Leader's Charge, for when you're worried about taking AOO's en route to your victim.  New stance: Press the Advantage.  Not a terrific one, but good if you want extra mobility, especially to deny full-attacks to an opponent without a reach weapon. 

16th: switch out Battle Master's Charge for Clarion Call.  Clarion Call is best in combination with Order Forged from Chaos or White Raven Tactics - grant your allies their actions so that they can move into position, then hit your opponent with Clarion Call and if he dies, everyone gets free attacks!

17th: Take Scything Blade.  This is a boost that's like a mini-cleave, and can help set up a wave of cleave attacks pretty quickly.  Combined with a pouncing charge from 200 feet over somebody's head, it can get pretty ridiculous.

18th: switch out Steel Wind for Lightning Throw.  Lightning Throw is just plain a lot of fun at this level.  Also, Defensive Sweep forces your opponents to pay attention to you, which is just what every tank wants.  If you're not the party tank, take Power Attack or something here.

19th: new maneuver: White Raven Hammer.  A no-save stun and a bagful of d6's are here to save the day!

20th: switch out War Leader's Charge for War Master's Charge, Inspire Courage goes up to +5/+5, or +7/+7 with both the amulet and inspirational boost.

Final stuff:

Maneuvers:
White Raven
Leading the Charge stance
White Raven Tactics
Order Forged from Chaos
Clarion Call
White Raven Hammer
War Master's Charge


Iron Heart
Iron Heart Surge
Scything Blade
Lightning Throw

Tiger Claw
Leaping Dragon stance
Rabid Wolf Strike
Pouncing Charge

Diamond Mind
Moment of Perfect Mind

Spells: (3/2/1 per day before strength)
0-level:
- You get 6, but I don't care what they are.  They will still suck.

1st:
- Crabwalk (+4 to attack on a charge, no penalty to AC)
- Inspirational Boost (+1 to Inspire Courage)
- Critical Strike (1 round: +1d6 dmg, keen, +4 to confirm)

2nd:
- Mirror Image
- Alter Self

Euphonies:
- Fight Until We Die!

Cacophonies:
- Louder than Hell!

Combat abilities:
- Death from Above!
- Triple Corpse Hammerblow!

[Tshern]

I am fairly sure the STR score only effects the bonus spells you receive. And don't the sigils give only +1 bonuses?

[sonofzeal]

Mmmmm....

*puts on Judge hat*

Functional.  Nice variant on the ubercharger concept, achieves great power at its peak (level 9) and builds on it nicely at higher levels.  But except for the High Pony Death Leap, you've got a whole lot more Warblade/ubercharger going on there, and not very much Disciple of Metal.  While the High Pony Death Leap is undoubtedly "metal", it's not distinctively "Disciple of Metal" - and this is saying something, because the class is pretty darn distinctive as far as PrCs go.  You took a combat style that gets ludicrously high numbers already, and made the numbers a bit more ludicrous, but I don't really see anything new going on here.  Still.... awesome visual, nice punch, reasonably playable character with a nice situational trick (High Pony Death Leap) that the whole party could assist in setting up and making an opening for in order to dispatch some plot-monster.

Final words: good playability, good power, mediocre originality, mediocre use of the ingredient.

Final score: 7/10

[Akalsaris]

I am fairly sure the STR score only effects the bonus spells you receive. And don't the sigils give only +1 bonuses?

Yeah, so the saves would be crap, not that any require saves.  The sigils give +1 at 1st level, and +2 at 2nd level, if I recall correctly.

Mmmmm....

*puts on Judge hat*

Functional.  Nice variant on the ubercharger concept, achieves great power at its peak (level 9) and builds on it nicely at higher levels.  But except for the High Pony Death Leap, you've got a whole lot more Warblade/ubercharger going on there, and not very much Disciple of Metal.  While the High Pony Death Leap is undoubtedly "metal", it's not distinctively "Disciple of Metal" - and this is saying something, because the class is pretty darn distinctive as far as PrCs go.  You took a combat style that gets ludicrously high numbers already, and made the numbers a bit more ludicrous, but I don't really see anything new going on here.  Still.... awesome visual, nice punch, reasonably playable character with a nice situational trick (High Pony Death Leap) that the whole party could assist in setting up and making an opening for in order to dispatch some plot-monster.

Final words: good playability, good power, mediocre originality, mediocre use of the ingredient.

Final score: 7/10

Eh, fair enough...it's hard to fit more disciple of metal in there since even though it's all awesome, there aren't many unifying mechanics behind the PrC.  It basically gets a lot of kick-ass abilities that generally don't work with each other a whole lot.  So I took my favorite of the abilities and then combined it with my favorite base class   For what it's worth, I really, really want to play this character someday, because it fits my style of play pretty well.  So the exercise was fun for me even if it isn't "metal" enough for the challenge.

ps. I just saw Watchmen, and I totally want to make my next Cthulhu or cyberpunk character be based on the Comedian.  I'd do Rorschach, but my swift hunter already does the batman-growl, so it really wouldn't work.

[sonofzeal]

ps. I just saw Watchmen, and I totally want to make my next Cthulhu or cyberpunk character be based on the Comedian.  I'd do Rorschach, but my swift hunter already does the batman-growl, so it really wouldn't work.

You're locked in here with me!



...erm, yeah.  Carry on....

[Akalsaris]

ps. I just saw Watchmen, and I totally want to make my next Cthulhu or cyberpunk character be based on the Comedian.  I'd do Rorschach, but my swift hunter already does the batman-growl, so it really wouldn't work.

You're locked in here with me!



...erm, yeah.  Carry on....

Give me back my face!

[Heliomance]

Two nothing. Your move.

[Prime32]

Incidentally, here's the basics of what I was thinking.

Before looking, see if you can guess what it is
[spoiler=Hint: It's a warforged]Mic Sounders the 13th


Warforged scout (greater titan bloodline) Bard 2/Monk 1/Tattoed monk 1/Disciple of metal 8/War chanter 5

Chameleon tattoo (System change!) - turn into a 4th-level astral construct
Combat ability: Battery, Hail and Kill
Euphonies: Fight Until We Die, Metal Magic
Cacophanies: Symphony of Destruction (bloodlines turn it up to 11), Some Kind of Monster

Skills: Autohypnosis (max ranks) - lets him memorise sounds
Feats: Endurance, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike, Practiced Spellcaster (bard), Skill Focus (Perform [Heavy Metal]), Melodic Casting, Toughness
Equipment: Medium +1 Axe-keytar, 5ft Carpet of flying, Microphone of Pain (Pipes of pain), Pipes of Sounding

Disc P: Combine songs - Fight Until We Die/Inspire Courage/Metal Magic (any two)
Disc M: Countersong/Hold person
Disc X: Symphony of Destruction
Disc F: Some Kind of Monster
Instruments of Destruction lets you apply weapon-related abilites to instruments - this means playing Gargantuan instruments as well as wielding Gargantuan weapons.

Mic Sounders was so METAL that they had to seal him into a cute form to suppress his power, or he could destroy the world. Even then, seepage from his immense METAL meant that this form was never annoying. He fights the Zonders - do not be fooled, despite reproducing through Zonder "Metal", they are most definitely enemies of METAL.[/spoiler]