D'you feel lucky? Well? Do ya? Punk?

Quote Originally Posted by Skinner
Skinner
Spoiler
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Spoiler: abilities
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before ability mods
str 16 dex 14 con 16 int 14 wis 8 cha 8
after
str 20 dex 12 con 20 int 12 wis 6 cha 6

increases go to con


Spoiler: breakdown
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LN mind aspect dragonborn water orc totemist 6/witchborn binder 3/justiciar 5/witchborn binder 9


Spoiler: Backstory
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Spoiler: Spool
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Skinner’s traps were full less often with every passing day. It wasn’t especially long ago that he had more hares and squirrels caught in his snares than he knew what to do with.

Now, he was trudging through rivers hoping for the odd morsel of salmon caught swimming upstream. Even these were far less plentiful than they once were.

The nearby settlement across the river had been growing rapidly. The more people came into town, the harder it was to find things to hunt.

Skinner knew eventually he’d have to make his way into town, something he wasn’t looking forward to, but after his traps had sat empty for days, he saw he had little choice.

He left his weapons at home before crossing the river. The last thing he needed to give the men in town a reason to kill him. Besides, the spirits of the departed beasts whose pelts he carried at his hip gave him all the offensive punch he needed.

He approached during the day to ward off accusations of trying to sneak into town as a spy for his tribe and dragged his bare feet across the dusty ground whenever he saw a woman walking alone so they couldn’t claim he was trying to sneak up on anyone. He mentally repeated the rules of going into the human settlement to himself to stay calm: don’t speak until spoken to, don’t look anyone in the eye, no sudden movements.

Skinner pushed the swinging doors to the tavern open and went inside. He sat down on a stool and waited for the innkeeper to come over.

“What’ll it be?” he said before turning around.

“Whiskey, please,” Skinner said and set a handful of seashells on the bar.

When he saw Skinner, his expression changed and he reached for a gun under the bar.

“Listen, pal, I don’t want any trouble,” he said.

Skinner blinked. “Neither do I, pal,” he said slowly in Common.

The innkeeper scowled. “What’s that?” he said with a nod toward the shells.

“Payment,” Skinner said.

“That ain’t money. You got any gold or silver?”

Skinner shook his head. It didn’t look like he’d be able to buy supplies here if they didn’t accept his tribe’s currency.

“Then get out. Can’t you read the sign? No orcs.”

Skinner glanced over to where the innkeeper was pointing. He couldn’t read Common, but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of admitting it. Below the sign, he saw a poster of two men with the same face. He recognized the shape of the word: WANTED and the symbol for money underneath it.

He rose slowly from his stool and tore the poster from the wall.

“If I bring these men back, will this money buy supplies?”

The innkeeper laughed.

“You bring back them dvati boys, you can drink here for free. Reward on their heads’d just about buy up the general store.”

Skinner nodded and backed out.

He had work to do.


Spoiler: Splice
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The sheriff in town was more helpful, telling Skinner the wanted men’s names and their crime, killing a young boy in town.

Skinner touched the pelt of the worg at his hip and let his senses open wide, ready to follow the spoor.

It was quite some time before he found any sign of them, tracks from a pair of horses leading into the woods, probably to give the human authorities the slip. It wasn’t a mistake skinner planned to make.

The arms of the mighty girallon, who he had felled long ago, reached from his sides and helped him climb a nearby tree. The vantage point from the canopy would let him see further than on the ground, and the eyes of soul-captured beasts helped boost his vision further.

His dragon blood had long aided him in his hunts. Now was no exception. He saw a dove flying, its wings beating against the current of the air. It must be fleeing from something on the forest floor.

His muscled arms let him swing from branch to branch without giving himself away. Skinner held his breath and perched on a limb strong enough to hold his weight.

The dove was struck a moment later by a bolt of lightning. Skinner knew it wasn’t from the sky gods above, the sun still shining without a cloud overhead. That and it had come from below, not above.

He blocked out the rustle of pine needles and the whisper of breeze, trying to pinpoint its location.

“Go get him,” one voice said.

“I shot him, you get him,” the same one said as if in response.

“Lazy sumbitch,” the first muttered.

Skinner shaded himself beneath a branch and saw the men below him, perfectly twinned. One lounged by a small campsite, the other picking through the underbrush for the dove’s carcass.

The one at the camp breathed a spark of flame onto a pile of wood.

Skinner recognized dragon blood when he saw it. He bit his tongue. Men like this brought shame to them all. It was no wonder they were regarded as dangerous animals.

Despite his instinct to pounce, he knew his odds were better with surprise on his side. He reached to the pack on his back, unspooled a few coils of rope and got to work.


Spoiler: Split
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Lee woke up first, like he usually did. He gave Lo a nudge in the ribs.

“You get the wood,” Lee said.

“Why I gotta do it?” Lo whined.

“I did it yesterday, now get,” Lee said and shooed him off.

Lo stretched and rubbed the crust of sleep from his eyes. They were far enough away from town no one should find them as long as they kept lying low.

A few dead limbs sat piled under a tree, so he stooped to pick them up.

Something landed on his neck. Probably a few deadfall leaves. Lo scooped up the branches and tilted his head to shake them off. He took a step back to the camp ground but found himself caught. Lo turned to check his shirt to see if it was stuck to the tree with sap.

Lo’s feet were lifted off the ground, something tightening around his neck. He belched out a gout of flame as a reflex, but it did nothing to loosen the noose around his neck. He kicked at the air and scratched at the cord with his claws.

Red and black swam around the edges of his vision. He tried to cry out for his twin, but had no breath. He opened his mouth and called lightning from the dragon blood inside him. The peal of thunder got Lee running.

Lee looked up at the branch above him. Someone pulling on the noose, no doubt. He stopped in his tracks to assess the situation.

“Stop it! You’re killing him!” Lee shouted. He fired a bolt of lightning at the hangman above.

There was no smell of burning flesh afterwards, but it did cause him to drop his rope. Lo got to his feet and set the tree on fire, trying to smoke him out, whatever he was.

Lee told him without opening his mouth their aggressor was an orc with four arms. Lo returned the telepathic message, saying he couldn’t talk, but could still breathe.

He pointed up the tree where he saw motion. Between the two of them, they had it blazing heavily in short order.

Lee said to wait for him to fall so he couldn’t sneak up on them. Lo stood back to back with his twin.

The orc appeared off to their side, stepping out from a hole in the air, his bare chest covered with the pelt of a blink dog that looked as though it was growing from his very skin.

He leapt upon Lo and crushed him tight with his lower arms, pulling his wrists and ankles together until something cracked.

Lee told him in his head he wouldn’t breathe in case he burned him. Lo held still.

The orc above called a pair of blue manacles into existence around Lee’s wrists. He opened his jaws, but nothing came out of his mouth.

The orc dropped him across back of one of the horses they’d stolen. He got on Lee’s himself and tied his cuffs to the saddle horn with a length of rope.

Lee told him not to fight. He didn’t argue.


Skinner dropped his quarries off with the sheriff and collected his reward. He furnished himself with the things he needed to continue collecting bounties: a horse of his own, gear, and provisions for the road. As he suspected, there was another poster waiting for him when he got back.

He tipped the hat he’d gotten himself and went to the inn with what remained of his reward. He tossed the wanted poster of the dvati on the counter, an X drawn across their twinned faces.

The innkeeper turned to him with surprise.

Skinner smiled and took a seat.

“Whiskey, please.”


Spoiler: build
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Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Totemist 1 +0 +2 +2 +0 know (religion) 4 (2), search 4 (2), sm 4, survival 4 (2), use rope 4 (2) Alertness Wild empathy, illiteracy
2nd Totemist 2 +1 +3 +3 +0 tumble 5 Totem chakra bind (+1 capacity)
3rd Totemist 3 +2 +3 +3 +1 know (religion) 2 (3), search 2 (3), tumble 1 (6) Track Totem’s protection
4th Totemist 4 +3 +4 +4 +1 gather info 4, tumble 1 (7)
5th Totemist 5 +3 +4 +4 +1 gather info 1 (5), know (religion) 2 (4), search 2 (4) Chakra binds (crown, feet, hands)
6th Totemist 6 +4 +5 +5 +2 spot 3, tumble 2 (9) shape soulmeld (mauling gauntlets) Totem chakra bind (+1 meldshaper level)
7th Witchborn Binder 1 +4 +5 +5 +4 search 1 (5), spot 1 (4), survival 3 (5) Detect magic, meldshield, royal purse 1/level
8th Witchborn Binder 2 +5 +5 +5 +5 spot 3 (7), tumble 2 (11) Dispelling orb, essentia +1
9th Witchborn Binder 3 +6/+1 +6 +6 +5 spot 4 (11), tumble 1 (12) Skill focus (gather info)
10th Justiciar 1 +7/+2 +6 +6 +7 listen 2, spot 2 (13), tumble 1 (13) Bring 'em back alive, nonlethal strike +1d6
11th Justiciar 2 +8/+3 +6 +6 +8 listen 2 (4), spot 1 (14), tumble 1 (14) Improved grapple, crippling strike
12th Justiciar 3 +9/+4 +7 +7 +8 use rope 5 (7) Open Lesser Chakra (shoulder) Exotic Weapon Proficiency (manacles), street savvy +2
13th Justiciar 4 +10/+5 +7 +7 +9 use rope 5 (12) Nonlethal strike +2d6
14th Justiciar 5 +11/+6/+1 +7 +7 +9 use rope 5 (17) Hog-tie
15th Witchborn Binder 4 +12/+7/+2 +7 +7 +10 clarity of vision, spot 2 (16), use rope 1 (18) Scorpion’s grasp Mage shackles
16th Witchborn Binder 5 +12/+7/+2 +7 +7 +10 spot the weak point, spot 2 (18), use rope 1 (19)
17th Witchborn Binder 6 +13/+8/+3 +8 +8 +11 listen 2 (6), spot 2 (20), use rope 1 (20) Word of abrogation, essentia +1
18th Witchborn Binder 7 +14/+9/+4 +8 +8 +11 listen 3 (9), spot 1 (21) 4, use rope 1 (21) Open Greater Chakra (throat)
19th Witchborn Binder 8 +15/+10/+5 +8 +8 +12 listen 3 (12), spot 1 (22), use rope 1 (22) Spiritflay
20th Witchborn Binder 9 +15/+10/+5 +9 +9 +12 listen 3 (15), spot 1 (23), use rope 1 (23)


Spoiler: playtips
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Spoiler: lvl 5
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You’re a straight totemist for right now. Enjoy your big, fat, juicy str and con and rip peoples’ faces off. Your con is high enough to make your save DCs pretty respectable, so things that aren’t ordinarily viable, like basilisk mask’s totem effect to petrify, or lammasu mantle’s totem effect for fire breath. DC 15+essentia isn’t too shabby at this level and the save will scale pretty well as you level up.

Track, one of the feats needed for the SI, can be supplemented by the use of the hunter’s circlet, which gives scent. Tracking your quarry is a bit easier, and you get scent to help pinpoint enemies.

Your dragonborn mind aspect starts pulling its weight immediately, giving darkvision 30 so you don’t need the basilisk mask on all the time, same with its 30 ft llv, which saves a bind later on on the great raptor mask.

Mind is here since totemist already gives a handful of breath weapons of different energy types via several different melds such as the behir gorget, ankheg breastplate, and dragonfire mask, and grants flight through the pegasus cloak once you get access to the shoulder chakra later on (the same level your wings give you full-fledged flight) or the dragon mantle which lets you fly as early as level 2.

The dragonborn template gives you access to all the cool draconic melds from dragon magic that I’ve been mentioning.

Skilled city-dweller lets you swap out ride (since you aren’t focused on mounted combat) for tumble, which anyone can use, especially you since later on many of your witchborn binder abilities provoke AoOs.


Spoiler: lvl 10
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Congratulations, you’ve entered the SI and made a pit stop in justiciar along the way.

Since witchborn binder is focused on taking his quarries in one piece with its abilities focused on capturing, rather than killing people, he needs a little help being able to deal nonlethal damage without a penalty, something the secret ingredient itself does not give you.

Justciar’s flavorfully named “bring ‘em back alive” class feature, lets you do just that with any melee weapon, so you can bring totemist’s many claws to bear, such as those derived from the girallon arms or the landshark boots, likely one of your standby totem binds at this level. This way, you’ll be able to put them down without killing them.

Detect magic will let you sniff out the most likely targets for your dispelling orb.

Your dispelling orb can be spammed to knock out enemy buffs to soften them up for the combat to come and make them a little easier to deal with.

Justiciar’s nonlethal strike also helps you rack up more (nonlethal) precision damage on top of all your natural attacks from totemist. Girallon arms is probably what you’ll be using the most often.


Spoiler: lvl 15
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Among the goodies witchborn binder gives you is use rope, which is a frustratingly difficult skill to get access to. Once you get some breathing room, you’re able to max out ranks and get your mod crazy high.

Opening the shoulder chakra lets you bind the pegasus cloak, providing more agile flight than the dragon mantle.

It gives you a variety of new abilities to lay groundwork for witchborn binder. Justiciar gives improved grapple and this, in tandem with mauling gauntlets’ hand bind (which also gives improved unarmed strike) qualifies you for scorpion’s grasp.

When you hit with an unarmed strike (like via mauling gauntlets) or a light weapon (like all your natural attacks) then you deal normal damage and get to start a grapple as a free action without making a touch attack.

If using a natural weapon, you can make an attack against your target without the -4 penalty to attacks.

It even gives you the highly enviable monster ability to take a -20 to your grapple check vs an enemy 1 or more sizes smaller than you to not be considered grappled, letting you do cool stuff like threaten, not lose dex to AC, and attack other opponents, even move if you can carry your opponent which, given your str and the fact you’ll be picking on small creatures, shouldn’t be too hard to drag.

How viable is taking -20 to grapple though?

surprisingly, it’s a pretty good idea:

your essentia cap at lvl 15 is 3, 4 for melds on your totem chakra.

assuming 4 in girallon arms and 2 on mauling gauntlets, you’ll have 10 from girallon arms and 6 from mauling gauntlets for a total of 16.

add on your BA (12 at this stage) for 28

your naked str mod is a +5 (plus whatever you’ll be able to afford from an item. you don’t use your waist chakra for binds in this build, so feel free to nab a belt of +str) but I won’t take it into account here. that’s +33

and then a +4 from justiciar’s improved grapple:

total: +37 to grapple.

against small enemies, they’ll take a -4, so that’s an effective mod of 41 against them. even taking the -20 penalty, they need to beat a 21 which for caster types may be just short of mathematically impossible.

feel free to use this tactic when the numbers are in your favor. in other circumstances, grapple the old fashioned way and tear enemies to bits with your numerous natural attacks.

One other way justiciar bolsters witchborn binder’s abilities is its oddball exotic weapon proficiency (manacles) bonus feat.

Mage shackles are extremely versatile since unlike normal manacles, they can neither be damaged nor broken. To get rid of them, a target needs to unshape them as a soulmeld, or make a DC 35 escape artist check. No one puts that many ranks in escape artist.

That alone is pretty cool, but where it really comes into its own is in tandem with justiciar’s hog-tie ability.

When you pin an enemy in a grapple (trivial with your juicy mod) you can immedately hog-tie them if you have your manacles in hand (no problem with mage shackles since they’re never far away. you should always be holding a pair since they last 24 hours. and with girallon arms, you can maul enemies with your monster arms and use one human one to hold the mage shackles (and bonk with them)

When you hog-tie, make a use rope check vs their grapple or escape artist to hog-tie. If they beat it, then you keep on grappling (and you’ll probably win) if they lose, they’re bound and helpless, so you can kick them in the head and turn them in for the bounty. The strength check given for justiciar is moot for mage shackles since they can’t be broken or even damaged!

Justiciar also gives the highly useful crippling strike, which activates every time you deal precision damage, dishing out 1 str damage per hit, making it even harder for enemies to beat your grapple.


Spoiler: lvl20
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You’re at the finish line now. word of abrogation’s up, as is spiritflay. Your throat chakra’s open, allowing you some more options for breath weapon as mentioned earlier in addition to other status effects such as the fatigue effect from the brass mane.

Word of abrogation can help lock down enemy spell casters. Make sure you sweep a potential danger zone with your detect magic ability to know likely targets.

Spiritflay lets you bring your huge con score to bear (now a naked 25 before items) to juice the save, making it count more.

As far as positives go, you nab another meld and bind, offering some more flexibility, so keep doing what you’re doing and enjoy it, your numbers only improve.

Spoiler: sources
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magic of incarnum: totemist, shape soulmeld, open lesser chakra, open greater chakra,
complete warrior: justiciar
SRD: alertness, skill focus, track, water orc
races of the dragon: dragonborn
sandstorm: scorpion’s grasp
cityscape web enhancement: skilled city dweller
dragon magic: draconic melds