As recounted by one Jurgan the Black, inmate of the Waterdeep Asylum. The patient suffers from an extreme fear of poultry:
I remember it as if it were yesterday, we had heard the tales, but we dismissed them as the ramblings of mad men, or a joke told by country bumpkins that had assumed a life of its own. Never did we imagine there was any truth to it. There are many strange things on the face of Toril, but a creature half-man, half-chicken that eviscerates all those who enter its domain? It seemed ludicrous, but there was an abandoned dwarven settlement in the area, so we set out to investigate the area. There were four of us, friends from when we had served as soliders for the Lord's Alliance. There was Torvald, a wizard of some experience, tall and muscular, the barbarian ancestry he denied was plain to see. He was also younger than most would suspect of a wizard of his power, and he exaggerated his youth with his clean shorn face and long black hair. He always felt it was best for your enemies to underestimate you. There was also Jiana an elven scout, we never knew why she joined the Alliance, or why she signed on with us when her stint was over. Still, we were glad for her company. She had the keen eyes of her people, their good looks too, and moved soundlessly, she was also quite skilled with those twin blades of hers. Rounding out the group was my brother, Korth. He looked like me, about average height with compact and powerful build. Like me he carried a battle axe, they used to call use the twins of terror. If it could be hewn by an axe, the two of us could kill it... Forgive me, not enough time has passed to dull the pain of their passing.
The last light of day was fading, but in the forest night had already come. Despite years of adventuring, I have always been surprised by how quickly night falls in the woods. Torvald had ensorcelled his staff with a light spell that surrounded us with an eerie glow. We wanted to stop and make camp, but it was too dangerous on the path. The trees cast shadows that resembled all matter of demonic creature, animated by a stiff summer breeze. The effect was further enhanced by the rustle of the branches and the howl of wind as it traced its winding path. We needed to find a clearing where we could sense if something was approaching us. As it was a balor could pass five feet from us and we would never know. Even with the mage light, we were making slow progress. We sent Jiana ahead to find a clearing, her elven blood gave her link to the forest that none of us could understand. Minutes passed like hours as we meandered down the path, all of our senses were heightened as we strained for any sense of what surrounded us. I had almost dismissed it, but Korth pressed the issue, we had heard what sounded like a muffled scream come from the path ahead. Quickening our pace, we hurried forth, crashing through the underbrush our axes clearing all the obstacles in our way. After we had progressed about a hundred paces we found the limp form of Jiana, her blades still sheathed. Her body was streaked with blood that flowed from a myriad of small stab wounds that dotted her body. The death blow appeared to be a laceration to her neck that had pierced her carotid artery. We did a quick survey of our surroundings, blood dripped from the trees and the ground was sodden with it but not trace of the attacker could be found. Then Korth plucked something from Jiana's hair, a white feather.
We all turned to each other at once. It was one of those moments of perfect clarity, when everyone was thinking the same thing but it was too terrible to speak. Torvald opened his mouth as if to speak, but we watched in horror as a yellow beak burst through his chest, splashing blood in our faces. He dropped his staff, his hands reaching out for us as he was dragged into the darkness, his face locked in a silent scream. We heard a sucking sound, like a knife being stabbed into a chest, then the body of the mage was thrust back from the darkness to land at our feet.
Korth and I stood back to back, we didn’t dare leave the protection offered by the light of Torvald’s staff, nor did either of us dare to drop our axe or shield to raise the light. We stood transfixed, straining to hear our attacker. At first we heard nothing, just the wind and the branches, then we heard the sound that will haunt me to the end of my days. It was soft at first, barely discernable, but then it started to rise in intensity, “buc, buc, buc, buc, buc.” We couldn’t tell where it was coming from, it was all around us. “Buc! Buc! Buc! Buc! Buc!” it had grown from a whisper to a scream. Just when I felt I couldn’t take it anymore, that I would scream into the darkness, with a mighty, “SQUAWK!” a figure leaped at us from the darkness.
I brought my shield up to guard me and I heard the staccato percussion of something striking it. Looking down I could see legs, human legs bound in orange leather boots. As I pushed the figure back with my shield, I could see it now. It was adorned with feathers and it wore a head dress that looked like the head of a chicken, in either hand it held a blood stained kama, with its blade painted orange to resemble a beak. It was a man, but then it attacked again, and it fought like… a chicken. The kamas struck out like a chicken’s peck, only faster and they seemed to attack from every direction at once. It was all I could do block the onslaught. My brother spun and struck at the form, relieving me from its onslaught. His shield pushed the attacker aside, and his axe arced towards the off balance form. Instead of cleaving through the attacker, the blade passed through as if there was nothing but air. The figure’s kama hooked Korth’s leg and spinning away he pulled my brother to the ground. I raised my axe to charge, but then my eyes met its eyes. In its eyes, I saw my death. Instead of attacking, I turned and ran. By Tempus, I left my brother to die and I ran to save my life.
No, I haven't lost my mind. The name came about from a description about how getting attacked by a kama monk was like being pecked to death by chickens (basically a large number of low damage hits.) Hence I named my kama wielding monk/fighter/Weapon Master the Ferocious Man-Chicken of Doom. With a name like that a story had to follow. I decided to go for a strength based build, so that you would get a fair deal of damage per hit. This should be good for a low to mid-magic setting without devastating critical. In a high magic setting, where your weapon does most of the damage, you're probably better off pumping up DEX instead of STR to get a higher AC. It's a fun build, the large number of attacks pretty much ensure carnage. Even in a hit on a 20 situation, with 10 attacks (haste, flurry) the build should average 1 hit every two rounds.
Advantages
-Good AB. An AB of 42 is pretty good, particularly with the monk attack shedule. -Many Attacks. He has 8 attacks per round while dual wielding, 9 with flurry of blows an 10 with haste. -Fair damage per hit. With epic weapon spec and a 28 STR he does pretty good damage. -Empty Body. Good for a 50% self concealment. -Fairly good crit range and multiplier with a Kama. Thanks to the Weapon Master bonuses, his critical hits are quite nice with a kama. -28 SR. It could be higher, but it helps against low level casters. -Improved Evasion and a good saving throw against reflex spells. -Monk Speed.
Disadvantages
-Mediocre Will and Fortitude Saves. Slippery Mind helps a bit with the will saves, but he should look for items to boost these saves. -Mediocre Hit Points. 400 hit points are kind of low for a melee character. -No trap setting or spell casting ability. If he can't hurt something with his kamas, he has to run.
Ferocious Man-Chicken of Doom
Race Human
Alignment Any Lawful
Base Attribute STR 15 DEX 14 CON 12 WIS 14 INT 14 CHA 8
Final Level Distribution Fighter 6 Monk 18 Weapon Master 16
Attribute Bonuses Levels 8 and 12 go to dexterity Levels 4, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36 and 40 go to strength
Feats Level 1: Dodge, Two-Weapon Fighting Level 2: Weapon Focus (Kama) Level 3: Mobility, Expertise Level 5: Weapon Specialization (Kama) Level 6: Spring Attack Level 9: Whirlwind Attack Level 12: Ambidexterity Level 15: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting Level 18: Blind-Fight Level 21: Improved Critical (Kama) Level 24: Epic Weapon Focus (Kama) Level 26: Epic Prowess Level 27: Great Strength I Level 29: Epic Weapon Specialization (Kama) Level 30: Great Strength II Level 33: Great Strength III, Armor Skin Level 36: Great Strength IV Level 39: Great Strength V
Final Attributes STR 28 DEX 16 CON 12 WIS 14 INT 14 CHA 8
Final Saves (Vs. Spells) Fortitude 23 (27) Reflexes 26 (30) Will 21 (25)
AB and Damage
(No buffs, two normal kamas) 42/39/36/33/30/27 15+1D6 (17-20 x3) 42/39 10+1D6 (17-20 x3)
(+12 to Strength, two +5 keen kamas, haste, flurry of blows) 51/51/48/45/42/39/36/51 26+1D6 (16-20 x2) 51/48 18+1D6 (16-20 x2)
Maximum AB: 70 (68 while dual wielding)
AC
28 (29) (no armor, no buffs) 64 (65) (+12 to DEX, +12 to WIS, +5 bracers of armor, +5 Ring of Protection, +5 Amulet of Natural Armor, +5 boots of the Sun Soul, Robes with Haste)
LOL, I love the story. I can't tell how effective a build is by looking at it on paper but the story is great:) _________________ Chars: Morfin Wili
I have made a similar build, altho with 25 WM levs. AC was a problem with my strength build, and will be your main prob to. How can you have 28 ac naked? 10 base+ 5 dex/wis +2 armor skin +3 monk is all I can see, for a total of 20. How do you get 8 more? Offensively and for style, it is cool. Your AB is 42 with dual wield and flurry?
Edited By Grimnir77 on 07/01/05 19:01
Great write up Mith! That was good entertainment.
Kaliban. _________________ "Where there is life, there is hope." - Grover
I have made a similar build, altho with 25 WM levs. AC was a problem with my strength build, and will be your main prob to. How can you have 28 ac naked? 10 base+ 5 dex/wis +2 armor skin +3 monk is all I can see, for a total of 20. How do you get 8 more? Offensively and for style, it is cool. Your AB is 42 with dual wield and flurry?
+8 AC from 40 ranks in Tumble. _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
I have made a similar build, altho with 25 WM levs. AC was a problem with my strength build, and will be your main prob to. How can you have 28 ac naked? 10 base+ 5 dex/wis +2 armor skin +3 monk is all I can see, for a total of 20. How do you get 8 more? Offensively and for style, it is cool. Your AB is 42 with dual wield and flurry?
Very nice build Mith. And you names it the Ferocious Man-Chicken of Doom. That's even more impressive than the build. You must have very big....pants.
Steve
Edited By Stravinsky00 on 07/01/05 20:59
A general thanks,
In regards to the AC, I found it was okay. You should atleast be able to get an AC that matches the average sword and shield user, probably a bit higher. It won't be as high as a DEX monk, as I pointed out, but this build does better against opponents with DR. Empty body will give you 50% concealment, which can't be dispelled IIRC, so that should block half the attacks against opponents without blind-fight (a quarter of the attacks from enemies with blind-fight). When you consider that this build gets close to twice the number of attacks of most builds, it should do okay. The only problem it would have is against multiple attackers, but you have to weigh a STR build's ability to kill quicker against the extra AC of a DEX build (e.g. if it takes the STR build 1/2 the time to kill his opposition and he gets hit twize as often, both builds perform just as well). Sometimes the best defence is a strong offence. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Well Mith, you continue to set the standard. This name now is now my favorite, followed closely by your Self-Righteous Bastard build. As far as the build goes, I find that it is quite effective. In spite of Finessing, he can still bypass most DR. And a 40AB is purty darn good while dualwielding and flurry. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
