Chaos vs Order

[Duke Arioch]

A quick question: If you have an option to pick only one of these, which one would you pick:
Aura of Chaos: Stance—Reroll and add maximum damage dice.
Aura of Perfect Order: Stance—Treat d20 result as 11.

Source: Bo9S, lvl 6 devoted spirit stances.

Background: Related to a shadow phoenix build I posted here some time ago (phoenix nightcrawler from warlock information compilation)

chaotic neutral changeling
swordsage1/warlock6/swordsage1/telflammar shadowlord4/jade phoenix mage8, skills maxed are concentration, hide, move silently and UMD (for which she already has take 10 from warlock).

I know chaos would make more sense for chaotic character, but law could be explained (shadow phoenix, although chaotic by nature, realizes that some tasks require her to battle her nature and maintain control over it).

Your thoughts, pls.

P.S. Won't be used in a game... just silly free time optimization for fun

 

[Dandu]

Are 1d2 weapons allowed?

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

You can't have both.

And I'd pick Order, because the chaos stance has no settings between "meh" and "game-breaking."

 

[Duke Arioch]

Are 1d2 weapons allowed?

I see what you did there

 

[kitcik]

Order

Auto-saves are cool for a melee character.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I see what you did there

I don't see it, explain!

 

[kitcik]

I don't see it, explain!

1d2 weapons would roll max a lot and could keep re-rolling for a lot of damage.

However, you'd need a LOT of attacks to get the expected damage of a 1d2 weapon to be better than, say, a 2d6 weapon, or even a 1d8 weapon.

For instance on 4 hits:
1 1 2 2 reroll two 1 2 reroll one 2 reroll one 1 --> 12 total
3 4 5 6 (average damage from d8s, assume hit no maxes) --> 18 total
so 4 hits isn't close to enough

With a 2d6 weapon I am betting it would take more hits per round than is reasonably possible for a 1d2 weapon to be better.

Now, a 2d4 weapon might be pretty wicked with this ability.


On the other hand, it is late and maybe my logic skills are poor...

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Oh... so every time you happen to roll the maximum, you roll again?

...yeah, I'd choose order.

 

[Dandu]

I don't see it, explain!

1d2 Crusader.

You need to be at least 12th level to do this, so it's not as bad some tricks.

Crusader 11/Cleric 1. You need to be Chaotic and have the Luck domain, so Kord or Olidamarra are good choices for deities.

Aura of Chaos (Devoted Spirit 6)
Stance [Chaos]
While you are in this stance, whenever you roll the maximum result on a damage die, you may roll that die again and add the result to your damage.

This is, of course, not a huge damage boost. It's optimal to use a d3, and even then you're only adding about one point per die on average.

Imbued Healing (Luck)
Feat (Complete Champion)
Whenever you cast a Conjuration (Healing) spell, for a number of minutes equal to the level of the spell, you may treat any damage die that was rolled as a 1 as a 2.

Again, a small boost. This works best with the d2, adding 0.5 damage per die. Now watch what happens when we mix them...

Roll a d2:
Result: 2 -> Aura of Chaos triggers -> Roll another d2
Result: 1 -> Imbued Healing means treat this as 2 -> Aura of Chaos triggers -> Roll another d2

End result: Roll infinite d2s. Each of them gets a 2, for damage equal to the cardinality of the natural numbers. Whatever you hit, it's staying down.

Do this to the Tarrasque. No need for Wish or Miracle; infinity less forty is infinity, so it's in a coma until the end of time.

- Tome of Optimization entry #14

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Once again, for good measure:

And I'd pick Order, because the chaos stance has no settings between "meh" and "game-breaking."