Sultans of Smack

Super AC Man
Originally posted by wmuench

Okay, here he is. Final AC, 142. I don't have time to break it down entirely (such as this is his AC while fighting defensively, while moving through a threatened area, etc.), so here is the situation where he gets this AC:

Fighting a single opponent and moving through that opponent's threatened area, provoking an AoO while fighting defensively. I think that covers it. If you see anything wrong, let me know.

Grey Elf Mnk2/Pal2/Clr3/Psion2/Mystic Wanderer 1/Duelist 10


Base: 10
Ectoplasmic Armor Power Stone: +10 armor
Shield of Prudence Power Stone: +6 insight
Skin of the Hero: +3 luck
Ring of Protection +5: +5 deflection
Monk's Belt: +4 haste
Dexterity 36*: +13 dexterity
Wisdom 32*: +11 wisdom
Intelligence 34*: +12 intelligence
Charisma 32*: +11 sacred
Dodge: +1 dodge
Psionic Dodge: +1 dodge
Enhanced Mobility: +8 dodge
Holy Star scroll/potion: +10 cover
Elaborate Parry: +10 dodge
Fighting Def w/ 5 in Tumble: +3 dodge
Two +5 Defender Weapons: +10 unnamed
Amulet of Natural Armor +5: +5 natural armor
Off-Hand Parry: +2 dodge
Twin Sword Style: +2 armor (stacks)
Expertise: +5 dodge
Total: 142
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* Stats break down as follows:
Dexterity: 18 (base) + 2 (racial) + 5 (levels) +5 (inherent) + 6 (gloves) = 36.
Intelligence: 18 (base) + 2 (racial) +5 (inherent) +6 (headband) + 3 (age) = 34.
Wisdom: 18 (base) + 5 (inherent) + 6 (periapt) + 3 (age) = 32.
Charisma: 18 (base) + 5 (inherent) + 6 (cloak) + 3 (age) = 32.

In order to get the mental aging bonuses without losing physical stats, use a Rod of Security to spend 99% of your time in the demiplane so you don't physically age. This is open to interpretation, however, so if you don't buy it his AC will be 3 less (ONLY 139... ).

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Note 1: If you polymorph into a Green Hag you get a natural armor bonus of +11, but your Dex drops to 12 + items/spells, which makes it imprudent if my calculations are correct. So no polymorphing for this guy... Also, reduce'ing doesn't work because it specifically doesn't change your AC.

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Note 2:
Also, as a note, I don't think that the Bladesong style and the Duelist Int bonus stacks. There are very, very few instances where a stat modifier stacks with itself (I think there's only one, but I can't remember what it is). If it does stack, well, swap out a level of something for a level of Bladesinger for another +12... I mention this because it was brought up last time.
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William R. Muench

Author’s Note: Actually, if you check page #3 of my post, there's an updated version with an AC of 160...

Editor’s Note: With the now available Superior Expertise from Oriental Adventures, even greater armor class is possible.

Psychic Warrior Smackdown
Originally posted by floodland

I thought of this for a 13th lvl psychic warrior.

You can make a mind feeder weapon by yourself (lvl 12, craft psionic arms and armor, psychic vampire, metaphysical weapon).
Combine this with ambidex, 2 weap, 1mproved 2 weap, power attack, psionic weapon and deep impact, weapon focus and improved critical. That’s a total of 9 feats including the craft feat.
You'll need to get the weapon keen enchanted as well for best effect, and preferably a weapon with a good threat range (maybe scimitar).

Thus in a full round attack at 13th level you would get 4 attacks (2 offhand). Polymorph to a giant and use animal affinity or any other way for a decent strength boost. If someone hastes you even better. And for an extension of this add graft weapon and dissolving touch x2.

In case you haven't guessed already you use deep impact on every strike, and against most foes you can put everything from power attack into damage, giving probably ~20hp min damage each hit (can't be bothered to work it out) plus weapon enhancements, psionic weapon, specialization etc.

On average with a keen scimitar you'll do a critical a little less than 50/50, gaining a minimum of 40pp each time (text for mindfeeder says ALL damage), meaning that you'll get back way more pp than the cost of all the deep impacts and any other buffs. You'll also do a bare minimum of 100hp damage.

The only drawback is the initial outlay of pp, but that’s what crystal capacitors are for, and unless I hear I otherwise I assume that you can charge them with temporary pp gained.
You can do all these at much lower levels, all you need is access to a mindfeeder weapon.

Er sorry that turned into a bit of a rant. I'm sure you'll all correct me if I got this all wrong, and if anyone thinks this is a fun idea then maybe they can do the stats

Teamwork Smackdown
Originally posted by Jairami

3 member 15th level party vs. 3 glabrezu tanari.
Assume party wins init. Party is...

Wiz 8(Transmuter)/Dev 5/Acm 2 with spell power +1/+2, prodigy, focus, greater focus, penetration, greater penetration and twin spell inbetween feats required for his prestige classes.

Pal 9/Tem 2/Cav 4 with his requirement feats for the prestige classes and power attack/power lunge, boots of speed, his Templar specialization with a lance, a +5 lance, and stacked armor of the rhino of any kind.

And a Drd 13/Hie 1 with craft arms/armor and magical artisan feats that provided +4 armor and shield for both the paladin and himself, empower spell, extend spell that he will use to put an extended spikes spell on the paladins lance often times, and a former animal companion, now adventuring awakened cohort dire bear that may or may not have advanced in HD according to the DM's taste in keeping companions/trading up.

Round 1,

Paladin and Druid delay for the Wizard should they beat his init. Wizard casts Mass Haste affecting the himself, the paladin, the druid, and the dire bear. With his extra partial action he casts polymorph other on the paladin who does not choose to resist as he is familiar with this strategy.

The paladin becomes a size large fire giant who now fits much better into the saddle of his huge bulette (really an intelligent paladin mount heavy war horse whom they both have agreed stands a better chance surviving and dispenses more justice polymorphed into this form--and the earring of sustenance they bought him for when he is in this form controls his insatiable appetite). And thankfully, the paladin's armor and lance adjust to his new size.

The druid now comes out of delay and uses his ranged touch hierophant ability to cast a 7th level spell he prepared on the paladin. Empowered Maximized Bull's Strength for a +7 enhancement bonus to strength. This is a smackdown, so I'm not going to make him roll normally to determine the empowered effect but if you like we can just assume he rolled a 4 this one time. The paladin's current strength is 38. With his extra partial action, the druid casts animal growth on his dire bear companion, doubling his HD to 24 or 26 HD depending on the aforementioned stipulation.

The dire bear, now size huge and feeling very beefy with his new stats, size, AC, grapple modifications, and improved base attack, does not charge into the fray because he is awakened and is also very aware of his role in this combat. He delays. If any thing should approach either of the two spell casters his extended reach and improved grab ability combined with his INSANE grapple bonus at this point will allow him to effective defend the casters from one, maybe two of the demons.

Also, if one of the demons should advance, it will only get one attack, where as the bear will have its full attack sequence against a most likely grappled and soon to be pinned opponent.

And now the paladin does the paladin smackdown with divine might, one of his smite evils, one of his deadly charges of the day, and all the other fun stuff on his great lance that the druid cast an extended spikes spell on with all the other things in the paladin smack doing some ungodly amount of damage with a +28 str damage from power lunge, +11 from smite evil, +15 from power attack, +2 specialization, +5 enhancement, +3-+4 depending on money for cloaks of charisma from divine might, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something, for 5d8+325 damage (if he hits, which with a -15 penalty from the full power attack means he hits on a... 3 or better! Nevermind.) which evaporates one of the demons whom he rides by as per the feat using his burst of speed ability to urge his mount even further past the demons where upon they turn and use their extra partial actions to partial charge another demon using another divine might, ---oh yeah, remembered what I forgot, the damage and increased crit range of the spikes spell, am I still forgetting something else? oh well, I don't feel like going back and doing the math so keep in mind it's even more damage than listed above-- deadly charge, and smite evil to do the same damage to another demon.

Glabrezu's run away. But that wouldn't be fun so the obviously feebleminded glabrezu's move to engage. Either the paladin so he can't keep charging like that or the casters defended by the size huge 24-26 HD dire bear because we all know casters are more deadly than fighters.

One of the towering 15ft tall glabrezu's with his always on True Seeing finds the human paladin and normal warhorse super imposed on the fire giant/bulette humorous and tries to dispel them as he has dispel magic at will and he doesn't want to take 400 points of damage. Unfortunately he is making a +10 dispel check against a DC of 29 meaning he needs 19 or better on his d20. Let's assume he fails so we can continue the fun.

The other one teleports without error behind the transmuter outside of the bear's threatened area so he can show the wizard what 15 feet of four armed demon goodness can do to a wizard in melee.

Round 2,

The wizard tumbles out of the glabrezu's reach and springs the second part of his genius on the demon. A twinned cone of cold enlarged for free for 30d6 damage that he resists 20 points of making him take only around 70-80 points of cold damage. The wizard could have disintegrated him at DC 33 or so requiring a nat 20 or die instantly, but that would have been too easy and left him with no one to stand terrified of what he does with his extra partial action.

With his extra partial action he polymorphs the huge 24-26 hd dire bear into an adult or mature adult gold dragon. (Disclaimer: PO is a 4th level spell and thus has a 15 die cap to it. See subsequent post for other options.)

The druid rather than cast ranged harm then flame strike to destroy the shivering glabrezu uses his extra partial action to cast greater magic fang on his friend the dragon and then begins casting summon huge air elemental as if this battle isn't already over.

The dragon five foot steps over to the glabrezu and with his now even more enhanced reach proceeds to do a full round attack on him that leaves him a quivering pile of finely sliced goo.

The paladin's mount uses its extra partial action to move its normal speed away from the glabrezu that tried to dispel them. It stamps its foot, and we fade out with the paladin lowering his lance as he closes upon the last remaining demon, the druid is deep in his summoning magicks, and the mage is toying with the idea of summoning more demons just so the bad guys might stand a chance.

End.

Jairami

Druidic Smackdown
Originally posted by Jairami

Another one for the archives...
Druidic Smackdown

Let's see if I can crack the minimum 200 points of damage in a round requirement for smackdown admittance...

We'll start with our usual 16th level character, a human druid 15/heirophant 1. Our druid is out scouting as an innocuous tiny owl when he spots a 4 gargantuan purple worms, driven from their feeding grounds apparently and utterly destroying the delicate Balance of life in the area.

Landing concealed by the thick foliage of a tree, the druid assumes his own natural form and begins casting Call Lightning while keeping an eye on the worms.

Soon after he finishes his casting and begins casting his most powerful summoning spell (Summon Nature's Ally VIII) opting for more less-powerful creatures as opposed to one powerful creature. (He summons 1d4+1 dire bears and ends up getting a 3 for 4 total dire bears.)

The bears immediately begin heading towards the nearest threat, the purple worms. Before they can close the distance, the druid again begins casting, this time Animal Growth. The four bears all double in size becoming 40 feet long and 48,000 lbs of roaring muscle.

Animal Growth'd Dire Bear
HD: 24d8+72 (180 hp)
AC: 19 (-2 size, +1 Dex, +10 Natural)
Attacks: 2 claws +30 melee (2d6+14), bite +25 melee (2d10+7)
SA: Improved Grab
SQ: Scent
Saves: Fort +22, Ref +17, Will +17
Abilities: Str 39, Dex 13, Con 23, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10

But just to make sure, and not without a smirk of irony, the druid tree strides from his perch to a tree in between the bears and the worms. As they pass, of all things, he casts Bear's Heart--granting them 37 temporary hit points and 4 strength each.

From that point on, he can become an owl again and rain down 10' radius 10d10 bolts of lightning from 1000' away for the next two hours or so.. But with each of his summoned bears doing 65 damage a round for a total of 260 (Yay! Broke 200!) each round.. His 10d10 lightning bolts and 15d6 Flame Strikes are unnecessary.

Layeth the Smack Down!

Jairami

The Energizer Bunny
Originally posted by Jairami

Psychic Warrior Strat

16th Lvl Human Psychic Warrior

16 hr duration powers in effect in order--

Polymorph Self: Fire Giant
Shield of Prudence: +6 insight bonus to AC
Ectoplasmic Armor: +10 armor bonus to AC
Claws of the Vampire: Heal damage equivalent to damage dealt
Improved Biofeedback: Take (2x STR mod) of damage done to you as subdual damage
Animal Affinity: Further boost new form's natural STR and CON by 1d4+1 each (2 manifestations)

3 hour duration powers to have up at all times in known dangerous places--

Inertial Barrier: Damage Reduction 10/+5

Magical/Psionic Pertinent Equipment

Belt of Giant Strength +6 (put on after polymorphing and after animal affinity [As clarified by the Sage, animal affinity is not an Enhancement bonus so it stacks])

Boots of Speed (for extra attacks and the ability to close the distance and still full attack)

Cloak of Displacement (Useful, see below)

Vest of Resistance +5 (To help you not get charmed and start smashing your allies)

And a lot of other stuff you can pick and choose at with the money left over.

Feats:

Improved Unarmed Strike

Improved Grapple (Optional, OA): Allows you to hit an opponent, cause damage, then initiate a grapple as a free action provoking no AofO

Earth's Embrace (Optional, OA): Should you successfully pin your opponent while grappling, you can cause critical unarmed damage automatically (however, you must hold yourself immobile as well to do this)

Power Attack, Expertise, Improved Trip

Knockdown: Every time you cause 10 points of damage (so every time you cause damage in this instance), you force an opposed strength check or your opponent is knocked prone, giving you a +4 on subsequent attacks and requiring him to stand up next round.

And there are many more feats such as the psionic fist/unavoidable strike chain in the Psionics Handbook that allows a normal attack to be resolved as if it were a touch attack by spending 5 power points per attack. I'll get to why that is good in a second.

So this character with around 40 STR (Fire Giant Strength + 1d4+1 animal affinity + 6 belt) for most of the day ((possibly up to 47 if he rolls max and takes a moment to use Expansion [which grows him to 100% bigger, 8x heavier, and +5 enlargement bonus to strength], and lets not start on fortified [result times 1.25 like empower, metapsionic] or overpowered [result times 2 like double empower, metapsionic] animal affinities)), has a couple of things going for him. First off, he's got 32 AC [fire giant natural, -size, -dex, +psionic powers in effect listed above that have hr/lvl durations]--and no matter what AC you hit you've got a 50% chance you missed anyways because of the cloak. Second he's got Damage Reduction 10/+5 [from inertial barrier], so figure most of the time he'll be taking 10 damage off every blow that does land on him. After that, 30-36 more points will be subdual damage due to his biofeedback [twice his strength modification of +15 to +18 due to improved biofeedback]. So a lot of damage to him is going to be superficial at best even if it does hit him. And then the kicker, with those claws healing him as he attacks he heals normal damage and subdual damage with every attack. Add to that his grapple modification of +31 to +34 and you've got one serious unarmed fighter... Grab someone, pin them, and tear them into little pieces with your vampiric claws. Mages hate you, Fighters can't use their big weapons, etc.

With improved grapple that part is even easier, and with auto-crits in earth's embrace that's deadly. Additionally you can take the unavoidable blow chain to make your attacks work as touch attacks and negate armor bonuses and natural armor and power attack your entire base attack into your blows. And your opposed strength checks every time you do 10 points (snicker) or more of damage to use the Knockdown feat are going to be pretty much unmatched by anything short of a Titan. So tack on another +4 to your attacks that you can use for power attack.

And all the while you are regenerating at the tremendous rate you are doing damage, this alone might keep you going until Elminster moves to DarkSun, but to make matters worse, you have uncharted damage reduction abilities. Truly a juggernaut.

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Cheers!

Jairami
Secretary of Smack
(and closet contributor)

Paladin Shield Smack
Originally posted by reapersaurus

Here's a breakdown of a revised version of the Paladin Shield Smack:

Human Paladin 10
Feats: Power Attack, Divine Might(DotF), Improved Shield Bash(DotF), Shield Charge(DotF), Power Lunge (S&F)
Magic Items:
Rhino Hide Armor (5,165), Belt of Giant Str (+4) (16,000), +1 Shield of Bashing & Command (+4 effective) (16,000), Boots of Striding and Springing (2,500), Cloak of Charisma (+2) (4,000) = 43,000 and change.

Explanations and damage:
After 4th and 8th level powerups, Str is 20.
With Belt of Giant Strength, Str is 24 (+7 bonus to damage)
With Cloak of Charisma +2, and Shield of Command (DotF, grants +4 "competence bonus" to Charisma), Charisma is 24.
+1 Shield of Bashing (large, wooden) is a 1d8 weapon, +2 total damage when charging. (DMG, page 181)
I could argue that if you put shield spikes (PHB, pg 106) on this shield, it would be a 1d10 weapon, but then there might be criticism when your 10th level Cleric friend casts Spikes (DotF) on it (+2 to hit, +10 to damage, lasts 10 hours).

Damage is:
1d8 + 10 (Power Attack) + 7 (Divine Might, lasts 7 rounds) + 10 (Spikes) + 2 (enhancement bonus from shield) + <7 Str bonus X 2.5 (power lunged, 2-handed) = 17>
This is 1d8 + 46.

Multipliers:
Rhino Hide armor (x 2)
Shield Bash (x 2, that's x3 total)

So that's 3d8 + 138, or 152 average damage.

Does that win?

Oh - if the Pally smites, of course, that's 182 damage in one attack, and he'll keep doing the 152 for 6 more rounds.
He can do that routine 10 times per day (not including smite).

And after he works up a lather, this paladin is hopping on his Half Celestial/Half-Unicorn (flying) 8 HD (100 H.P.), AC 26 mount.

Kord Incarnate
Originally posted by reapersaurus

Use the Mighty Contender of Kord PrC from Dragon 283 (Brb1/Cleric6/Mighty Contender 10)
24 STR half-orc
+8 Half-Dragon template (at cost of 3 levels)
+4 while raged
+4 Rage spell (DotF)
+2 Mighty Contender level ups
+4 level ups each 4 levels
+4 Righteous Might
+4 Two Arms of Nyr
+5 Manual of Gainful Exercise
+24 from the Surge of Power 10th level Contender ability: grant an enhancement bonus to STR equal to 1.5 times your combined cleric and contender levels for 1d4+1 rounds
= 83 STR (for 1d4+1 rounds)

Shuriken Smackdown
Originally posted by reapersaurus

I’d like to thank my sensei, Carpe DM, for the inspiration for this smackdown.
In addition, Caliban, for his excellent, ongoing rules support.
I have it broken down, level-by-level, if anyone’s interested, but for now I’ll just hit the highlights and the applicable feats, spells, and magic items that contribute to this combo I’ve been working on.
The idea of the character is a guardian of his church, using shuriken to defend his religion’s activities from ravagers.
But we all know it’s mostly a powergaming exercise
The best religion for this character is probably Lliira or Tymora, but I have precious little info on either. Both have favored weapon of shuriken. Aiming for Charm and War domains.
Race is a specific group of StrongHeart Halflings that have Fighter as their preferred multiclass.

Classes: Ranger 1/Fighter 4/Cleric 1/Templar 2/Divine Champion 5/Templar 7
That’s the order he’d take the classes in; total of Templar 9

The unique thing about this combo , I think, is that is uses very low magic, in fact NO magic weapons, and it really only needs 13 levels to pull it off. The last 7 levels of Templar are just dressing (2 attribute bonuses and 3 more damage for Divine Favor)

Attributes: Anything, just a 14 INT and an 18 CHA.
Feats: Ambidexterity, “Multi-Shot” (substitute for 2 Weapon Fighting for ranged weapons), “Improved Multi-Shot”, Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Improved Rapid Shot, Quick Draw, Exotic WP: Shuriken, Weapon Focus: Shuriken, Weapon Spec: Shuriken, Power Attack, Divine Might, and Endurance (only for entrance to Templar).
6 of those feats are obtained through the classes.

Magic Items:
+1 Chain Shirt of Command (DotF, +4 competence bonus to CHA), ~9,100 gp
Boots of Speed 8,000 gp
Bracers of Throwing (same as Bracers of Archery, except for thrown items : +1 competence bonus to damage), 5,100 gp

Damage:
Shuriken: 1 point, can throw 3 in a attack (at same target).
+1 from Point-Blank Shot
Weapon Spec (+2)
Divine Favor spell (+4 luck) 1 minute duration
Divine Wrath (Divine Champion level 5 ability, +3 attack, damage, and saves for CHA bonus rounds)
Divine Might (+ CHA bonus: 18 base CHA + 5 levelups + 5 average from Empowered Eagle’s Splendor, + 4 from Charm domain ability (1 min), +4 from Command armor = 36 = +13 bonus)
Emotion spell (+2 morale)
+1 from Ranger favored enemy (might as well)
Bracers of Throwing (+1 competence)

= 28 damage per shuriken.

# of attacks:
4 from BAB @ 20th level of +19/+14/+9/+4
1 from Rapid Shot
1 from Multi-Shot (2 weapon fighting)
1 from Improved Multi-Shot (Impr. 2 weapon fighting)
1 from Boots of Speed

= 8 attacks

Totals:
28 damage X 3 shuriken = 84 damage each attack
84 damage per attack x 8 attacks = 672 damage per round!

There are 24 shurikens thrown, BTW...

Now for the part I’m not sure of, but since posters have said that shuriken were DESIGNED to deliver poison, just coat those 24 puppies in Sassone leaf residue (DMG page 80) and do 2d12 hp initial damage and 1d6 CON secondary damage PER SHURIKEN.

So….. 28 damage per shuriken + 2d12 (average is 13) would be 41 x 3 shuriken/attack x 8 attacks =
.
.
.
984 hp damage per round!

The neat thing is he can keep doing this for awhile at that level (1 minute), only slightly tapers down after that, and is only slightly dependant on magic.

Fleet Runner of Ehlonna Smackdown
Originally posted by Black Arrow

[subcaption - "Blessed of Gruumsh meets his match"; AKA "Where's Tiamat" smackdown]
In honor of Carpe DM's inspiring smackdown series, here's my humble contribution, based on variants of the paladin smackdown... Suggestions are welcome. Seems more like the psychic warrior massacre series than a traditional 200 point smackdown though....

For flair, this character can combine both the mounted paladin-ish smackdown (i.e. using heavy lance) with the dungeon crawling shield bashing paladin-ish smackdown. Haste is assumed (and is a free action class skill as a 9th lvl fleet runner of ehlonna). Needed: a mount with modified boots (err, horseshoes?) of speed for haste (or mass haste cast by mage; character could probably also be polymorphed into a centaur to get the 'mounted charge' ability solo if desired...).

[A parallel smackdown would involve a warrior-type who focuses on bashing with two shields as weapons [no mount required] - replace hospitaler with cleric; perhaps slip in two levels of psychic warrior for extra feats. ;-) One could also go the route of a wood elf 1st ranger/9th cleric/10th fleet runner if desired for additional archery and self-reliant clerical prowess...(with Elf & War domains for Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus(Long Composite Bow), True Strike, Cat's Grace).]

Human 1st ranger/2nd fighter/2nd barbarian/3rd hospitaler[DOTF]/8th fleet runner of Ehlonna (Dragon #283)

Feats Needed:
Mounted Combat (1 - human)
Ride-by Attack (1 - free)
Spirited Charge (2 - fighter)
Power Attack (3 - fighter)
Dodge (3 - free)
Run (6 - free)
Mobility (8 - hospitaler)
Improved Shield Bash (9 - free)
Improved Two Weapon Fighting (12 - free)
Shield Charge (15 - free)
[Power Lunge (18 - free)
Divine Might (18 - hospitaler)]

Str 18 (+4 stat increase +4 girdle = 26), Cha 18 (+4 cloak +4 shield = 26)

Items (could be more powerful...):
Shield of Command (+4 Ch) & Bashing w/SPIKES cast by 10th lvl cleric
Rhino hide armor
heavy lance
Paladin holy sword scroll (readable with hospitaler Glory domain) or Vibrant purple ioun stone with holy sword
girdle of giant strength (+4 St)
cloak of charisma (+4 Ch)


Tactic:

Let's bring the character to 18th level by adding 2 more levels of hospitaler, for two more feats and a BAB of +16. In one round, charge [as a partial action] and charge for the regular action (pushing opponent back 5' away from you with the improved shield bash at the end of the first charge action, combined with a free hasted 5' step backward to prepare to charge the opponent again, if there's anything left;-). Get twelve *charge* attacks while you're at it. Repeatable every round. This is based on the 8th level Fleet runner's Leopard's pounce, namely, "at 8th level, a fleet runner can make a full attack at the end of a charge. This is an extraordinary ability." So at the end of the hasted charge action, the character smacks with 4 lance attacks and 2 SPIKED shield attacks. REPEAT. Since the full attack takes place during a charge action, the resultant attacks gain the myriad of charge bonuses/multipliers, namely:

(best case) holy sworded lance: Dmg: 1d8 +16(pwr atk) +<8(St)*2(pwr lunge) = 16> +8(Ch - divine might) +5(enhancement bonus) = (1d8 + 45) *5 (holy sworded*2(v.evil), rhino effect*2, spirited charge*3), or 5d8+225 = 247 damage (avg). [*3 critical could bring this to 346 damage.]

shield of bashing: Dmg: 1d8 +16(pwr atk) +<8(St)*2(pwr lunge) = 16> +8(Ch - divine might) +10(SPIKES spell by 10th lvl cleric) +1(enhancement bonus) = (1d8 + 51) *3 (rhino effect and shield charge), or 3d8+153 = 166 damage (avg). [plus possible *2 critical bringing it to 221 damage (avg)].

Total avg dmg/round assuming 8 lance hits and 4 shield hits..... a whopping 2640 points of damage!!!!! Enough to take Tiamat out to lunch after she wastes an AoO on the blind kobold you send in first;-)

I forgot to include the barbarian rage bonuses among other things. Actually, by replacing the 2 levels of barbarian with 2 levels of psychic warrior, I could add the psionic weapon and deep impact feats. Coupled with a ton of 5pt crystal capacitators, every attack could be a touch attach (the 'perfect' great wyrm-slaughter tactic), which would almost guarantee hitting anything and being able to take the full power attack bonus.

Iaijutsu Smackdown
Originally posted by Black Arrow

After a much enjoyed break, I decided it was high time to get back to business of Smackdown Productions...here's another product inspired by the vision of Smackdown's gifted acting CEO, CarpeDM; much appreciated secretary of smack, Jairami; and the rest of the talented staff...
I picked up a copy of Oriental Adventures recently; found food for thought for a novel smackdown twist, incorporating the Singh Rager's 'pounce' (think 'Fleetrunner of Ehlonna') with the iaijutsu focus skill. With iaijutsu, speed is everything; there is no time to drink a potion, activate a magic item, etc...opponents MUST be flat-footed.

So without further ado...

Human 1st ranger/6th fighter/4th singh rager/5th iaijutsu master

Suggested/Required Feats:
Power Attack-Iaijutsu (bonus ancestral feat)
Quickdraw (1st)
Improved Initiative (1st fighter)
Weapon Focus(katana) (2nd fighter)
Iron Will(3rd)
Weapon Specialization(katana) (4th fighter)
Ki Shout (6th)
Exotic Weapon(katana) (6th fighter)
Improved Two Weapon Fighting (9th)
Expert Tactician (12th)
Skill Focus(Iaijutsu Focus) (4th iaijutsu master)
Improved Critical(katana) (15th)

Let's say the character started at first level with a great Dexterity (16), top Charisma (18), and good Strength (14). Increased Charisma to 22 at levels 4, 8, 12, & 16. Character's initiative bonus here is +13 - likely to outgun pretty much anyone.

Also has an adamantine katana (+2 non-magical enhancement bonus) and adamantine wakizashi (+1 non-magical enhancement bonus)...perhaps a bandoleer with a dozen masterwork daggers as well...

Also assume the character has 19 ranks of the Iaijutsu Focus skill (+27) and 19 ranks Tumbling (+22).

Tactic: During surprise round (if available) partial charge flat-footed opponents while initiating "Lion's fury" (think lawful Barbarian rage). Character whips out katana with both hands, flies into a rage, charge attacks with the katana, quickdraws a wakizashi (or possibly daggers), and finishes attacking with both weapons. Here are the stats for a "Lion's Pounce" charge.

BAB: +21/+21(expert tact)/+20(offhand)/+16/+15(offhand)/+11/+6

Dmg: 5*[(d10(katana)+4(Str)+2(enhancement)+2(specialization)+6d6+36(iaijutsu 37.5 avg skill check)+1d6+6(Power Attack-Iaijutsu)] + 2*[(d6(wakizashi)+2(half Str)+1(enhancement)+7d6+42(combined avg iaijutsu bonus)]

TOTAL = 5* (80=avg katana dmg) + 2* (73=avg wakizashi dmg) +2(half Str bonus for first two-handed atk with katana) = 548 dmg(avg) possible per charge attack action, assuming each attack hits.

*Note: this does not factor in probable additional dmg from critical hits (on a 17-20 w/katana, a 19-20 w/wakizashi).

After surprise round, assuming initiative(+13) is won, take a full-round attack option to mop up anything left in the vicinity, or use tumble(+22) to plow through (if necessary) and charge another group of opponents to repeat devastating attack (1,096 total dmg(avg) possible including previous surprise round, before opponents can blink).

Also note that average katana dmg and wakizashi dmg drops to 13.5pts/hit and 6.5pts/hit respectively after round 1, so make the first hits count!

In review, the iaijutsu focus skill operates "if you attack a flat-footed opponent immediately after drawing a melee weapon"(OA p.58). The combat section further clarifies what is meant by "immediately" - "You can use your iaijutsu focus bonus damage in normal combat too, but only when you attack a flat-footed opponent and you draw your weapon in the same round you strike"(OA p.82). So in summary, any attack made by a weapon in the round you drew it receives the bonus damage against a flat-footed opponent.


Best thing about singh rager and iaijutsu master is that none of their abilities are denoted "(Su)" or "(Sp)". This character would make a great champion of a prince or emperor...especially if confined to an anti-magic field or dead magic zone. Better yet, this smackdown is fully effective against monsters that are immune to sneak attacks and critical hits.

If you wanted to make this attack routine even more lethal, give this king's champion a +4 inherent bonus to Charisma (from multiple miracle or wish spells). A 26 Cha would provide the champion with a +15 initiative and +29 Iaijutsu Focus skill - this would increase average damage of the above smackdown by +14 dmg per hit, and half the time (on average) would add another 1d6+8 per successful hit due to an additional iaijutsu focus dice; if all fourteen hits were successful the additional damage would be [((+14)*14(atks)) + (11.5(avg dmg)*7(atks))] = 224 additional dmg(avg) [or 1320 avg dmg possible] over two charge actions.

Also note that if you give the king's bodyguard 3 additional levels of singh rager (bringing him to 19th lvl), in addition to another feat, he gains the ability to cause fear as a free action during a full attack action with 'roaring strike', and the ability to initiate haste ('swiftness of the lioness') as a free action (= one extra partial charge during surprise round and one extra partial charge during the regular round against flatfooted opponents, or double the effective number of iaijutsu attacks [2640 avg dmg possible here].

So next time the characters try to thwart the DM's sinister plot by sneaking in and killing the evil tyrant (in his magic-proof chamber), let the king's LE champion ambush (surprise action) the party, slicing through a rice paper screen near the king's throne, charge, and double 'pounce' the unsuspecting players...after rolling up new characters they'll think twice before blatantly trying to destroy a well-prepared storyline/plot by attacking the archenemy in his stronghold