Toguro Character (#64/365)
Many years ago, right after 4th Edition was announced, my gaming group decided to have a huge blowout 3.5 game -- absurd power levels, epic story, and the chance to do everything we'd never gotten to do so far. The aim was to make the game last until the new edition came out.
During the pre-game planning, when I was looking for a character idea, my brother and I ended up looking at Magic of Incarnum (which is now one of my favorite books) and we came up with an idea. I don't recall the exact order of events but the idea was centered around the fact you can re-arrange essentia every round, the bonuses the mauling gauntlets provided, and a comparison to the villan Toguro from Yu Yu Hakusho was made which is where the character idea takes its name from.
Lvl 1 Fighter Improved Unarmed Strike, Endurance, Shape Soulmeld, Versatile Unarmed Strike
Lvl 2 Fighter Combo Strike
Lvl 3 Fighter Superior Unarmed Strike
Lvl 4 Incarnate
Lvl 5 Incarnate
Lvl 6 Fighter Open Least Chakra, Martial Study
Lvl 7 Fighter
Lvl 8 Fighter Weapon Focus (Unarmed)
Lvl 9 Incarnate Expanded Soulmeld Capacity
Lvl 10 Incarnate Open Lesser Chakra --> Bonus Essentia
Lvl 11 Fighter
Lvl 12 Fighter Martial Study, Weapon Specialization (Unarmed)
Lvl 13 Fighter
Lvl 14 Incarnate
Lvl 15 Incarnate Melee Weapon Mastery (Bludgeoning)
Lvl 16 Fighter Martial Study
Lvl 17 Fighter
Lvl 18 Fighter Martial Stance, Greater Weapon Focus (Unarmed)
Lvl 19 Incarnate
Lvl 20 Incarnate
I won't go much into the character of Toguro but at least a little information is necessary in order to understand the build. Basically he was a hand to hand fighter who was able to regulate how much of his strength he used very precisely; I use Incarnum to replicate that effect. Specifically, the entire build relies on one soulmeld which is the Mauling Gauntlets; I'll explain more on them in a bit.
The class composition bears mentioning -- I actually could've pulled this off entirely without Incarnate or without any meldshaping classes at all but I like the flexibility Incarnate gives me as well as some of the class abilities; mainly the increased soulmeld capacity so that I can put more essentia into the Mauling Gauntlets specifically. While Soulborn is an interesting class it's really more of a fighter with some neat tricks than anything else -- I'd take just about anything else over Soulborn.
Speaking of classes I'm using a specific fighter variant called the Pugilist which is exactly what it sounds like; it sacrifices some armor for different skills and a few nifty abilities; I think it's a fair trade.
So, at first level -- I'm getting two bonus feats from Pugilist which are Improved Unarmed Strike and Endurance. Of the two Endurance is less useful (at least in a standard build) but Improved Unarmed Strike is necessary for the entire build to work. By the same token, my third feat at first level -- because I'm an Azurin and therefore get a bonus feat -- is Shape Soulmeld for the Mauling Gauntlets. And then, because I'm a first level character I get another feat which is going to Versatile Unarmed Strike. This could actually be anything; I decided to go for that.
Second level -- fighter level 2 so I get a feat which is Combo Strike. It's only available to the Pugilist and what it does is to average the attack bonus for the first two unarmed attacks each round -- I'd probably get more mileage from this if I went the TWF route but I didn't have the feat so oh well. It's basically an investment in the future.
Third level -- My regular feat which is going to be Superior Unarmed Strike. Again, pretty much necessary for the build to function; my damage will scale up with level so I won't be rolling a d4 for damage my whole career.
I don't get another feat until 6th level at which point I get two feats. One for being sixth level and another feat since it's my 4th level of fighter. For the general feat I get Open Least Chakra -- I'll explain the significance of that in a moment. My fighter bonus feat is going to be Martial Study for something in Setting Sun; probably Counter Charge or Mighty Throw.
Okay so what's going on with the Least Chakra right? Well, it lets me bind a soulmeld -- like the Mauling Gauntlets -- to my my hand, crown, or feet chakra; I'm only interested in the hands chakra. Here's the deal, with this feat I can bind the Mauling Gauntlets to my hand chakra. And now I imagine everyone is waiting for my to get to the point about the Mauling Gauntlets. Okay, so the Mauling Gauntlets normally provide a bonus on strength checks like breaking things and grappling; it starts at +2 and increases by another +2 for every point of essentia invested (ie, 1 essentia = +4 bonus; 2 essentia = +6, etc). When the Mauling Gauntlets are bound to my hand chakra that bonus also applies to my unarmed strike damage.
Eighth Level -- I'm a 6th level fighter so I pick up Weapon Focus. This is one of those feats that could be anything and I felt lazy.
Ninth level -- standard character feat and I get Expanded Soulmeld Capacity. This lets me increase the amount of essentia I can invest into a soulmeld. Obviously I'm going to pick the Mauling Gauntlets though my choice can change each day.
10th level -- I normally wouldn't call this out but at this level I'm retraining Open Least Chakra into Bonus Essentia. By now my Incarnate levels have given me the ability to bind the Mauling Gauntlets to my hand chakra so I can pick up Bonus Essentia for another 2 points to my essentia pool and as an incarnum user the more essentia I have the better I am.
12th level is another double feat level; I'm an 8th level fighter and a 12th level character. For my regular feat I'm grabbing Weapon Specialization for unarmed strike (more damage is good) and then with my fighter bonus feat I'm getting Martial Study for Setting Sun again; probably getting Devestating Throw.
15th level I pick Melee Weapon Mastery for Bludgeoning Weapons to increase my attack and damage bonuses.
16th level I've got 10 levels in fighter so I get another bonus feat which'll be Martial Study for Setting Sun again getting either Comet Throw or Strike of the Broken Shield; either of them are really good.
18th level is my last level of fighter and I get a bonus feat for the fact I'm a 12th level fighter plus I get a feat for being an 18th level character. I picked up Martial Stance for Setting Sun; probably going to get Shifting Defense for my stance. And for my general feat I'm going to get Greater Weapon Focus for my unarmed attacks.
Now, one of the things about this build that's important to note is that very few of the feats are "required" in order to make it work -- in fact only 3 are. Improved Unarmed Strike, Shape Soulmeld, and Expanded Essentia Capacity. Everything else is personal choice; even Open Least Chakra. If you're willing to wait that feat is entirely unnecessarily.
So; the list:
Standard Builds
Alarian Thrakos, Aiel Homage, Archer Mage, Arisias, Assasin Homage, Athlete Balthas Kasra, Bardic Dervish, Blessed Hunter, Cerberus Ranger, Cyro-Concept, Draco-Blade, Dragonmage, Dragoon, Dwarven Thane, Ebin, Elemental Berserker, Force Mage, Goblin Cook, Graeme, Grappler, Halberdier, Hunter of Man, Lady Irae, Lucky Adventurer, Magekiller, Master of Chains, Missile Mage, Mounted Archer, Melee-ist Fighter, Meta-Mage, Naruma, Slashing Killer, Spellsmiter, "Standard Fighter", Stormlord Cleric, Storm Mage, Trapper, Vartyr Kellisk, Vykes, Warlock/Soulknife, Whirlwind
Gestalt Builds:
Alikin Forgeborn, Anarok Tor, Arazil Ra'Dauthi, Arch Druid of Cair Moloch, Arhmis Diei, Armored Tank, Bloodspine Master, Captain America, Direfrost Mage, Disarmer, Dread Pirate Roberts, Duskblade Vindicator, Dusk Commando, Earthbender Sorcerer, Eddie the Pierce Sniper, Edward Mallory, Eldritch Fistfighter, Elias the Stormwalker, Fangborn Martial Artist, Flash Character, Fortress Sorcerer, Gideon of Incarnum, Graul the Ice Fisted, Highlander Build, Incarnate Dragon, Joshua Numenor, Kalix of Black Iron, Knob, Kobold Pick Fighter, Kurth, Leon Thrakos, Liam Ironarm, Lucian Thrakos, Marsarlis #113th, Merek Stonebreaker, Mind Reader, Multiterrain Shocktrooper, Nature Mage, Njal the Warbringer, Original Gideon Concept, Pyronic Knight, Randal Bernard, Ravenclaw Bard, Runecaster Dwarf, Seige Engineer, Shadow Hunter, Tarman Vorse, Tero Dach, Toguro Character, Toran Zane, Tri-Weapon Fighter, Uber Dervish, Ubertrooper, Urlic Vantir, Voice of the Forgotten, Voice of Gruumsh, Warblade/Lurk Concept Char, William Corshek, Wordspeaker
During the pre-game planning, when I was looking for a character idea, my brother and I ended up looking at Magic of Incarnum (which is now one of my favorite books) and we came up with an idea. I don't recall the exact order of events but the idea was centered around the fact you can re-arrange essentia every round, the bonuses the mauling gauntlets provided, and a comparison to the villan Toguro from Yu Yu Hakusho was made which is where the character idea takes its name from.
Lvl 1 Fighter Improved Unarmed Strike, Endurance, Shape Soulmeld, Versatile Unarmed Strike
Lvl 2 Fighter Combo Strike
Lvl 3 Fighter Superior Unarmed Strike
Lvl 4 Incarnate
Lvl 5 Incarnate
Lvl 6 Fighter Open Least Chakra, Martial Study
Lvl 7 Fighter
Lvl 8 Fighter Weapon Focus (Unarmed)
Lvl 9 Incarnate Expanded Soulmeld Capacity
Lvl 10 Incarnate Open Lesser Chakra --> Bonus Essentia
Lvl 11 Fighter
Lvl 12 Fighter Martial Study, Weapon Specialization (Unarmed)
Lvl 13 Fighter
Lvl 14 Incarnate
Lvl 15 Incarnate Melee Weapon Mastery (Bludgeoning)
Lvl 16 Fighter Martial Study
Lvl 17 Fighter
Lvl 18 Fighter Martial Stance, Greater Weapon Focus (Unarmed)
Lvl 19 Incarnate
Lvl 20 Incarnate
I won't go much into the character of Toguro but at least a little information is necessary in order to understand the build. Basically he was a hand to hand fighter who was able to regulate how much of his strength he used very precisely; I use Incarnum to replicate that effect. Specifically, the entire build relies on one soulmeld which is the Mauling Gauntlets; I'll explain more on them in a bit.
The class composition bears mentioning -- I actually could've pulled this off entirely without Incarnate or without any meldshaping classes at all but I like the flexibility Incarnate gives me as well as some of the class abilities; mainly the increased soulmeld capacity so that I can put more essentia into the Mauling Gauntlets specifically. While Soulborn is an interesting class it's really more of a fighter with some neat tricks than anything else -- I'd take just about anything else over Soulborn.
Speaking of classes I'm using a specific fighter variant called the Pugilist which is exactly what it sounds like; it sacrifices some armor for different skills and a few nifty abilities; I think it's a fair trade.
So, at first level -- I'm getting two bonus feats from Pugilist which are Improved Unarmed Strike and Endurance. Of the two Endurance is less useful (at least in a standard build) but Improved Unarmed Strike is necessary for the entire build to work. By the same token, my third feat at first level -- because I'm an Azurin and therefore get a bonus feat -- is Shape Soulmeld for the Mauling Gauntlets. And then, because I'm a first level character I get another feat which is going to Versatile Unarmed Strike. This could actually be anything; I decided to go for that.
Second level -- fighter level 2 so I get a feat which is Combo Strike. It's only available to the Pugilist and what it does is to average the attack bonus for the first two unarmed attacks each round -- I'd probably get more mileage from this if I went the TWF route but I didn't have the feat so oh well. It's basically an investment in the future.
Third level -- My regular feat which is going to be Superior Unarmed Strike. Again, pretty much necessary for the build to function; my damage will scale up with level so I won't be rolling a d4 for damage my whole career.
I don't get another feat until 6th level at which point I get two feats. One for being sixth level and another feat since it's my 4th level of fighter. For the general feat I get Open Least Chakra -- I'll explain the significance of that in a moment. My fighter bonus feat is going to be Martial Study for something in Setting Sun; probably Counter Charge or Mighty Throw.
Okay so what's going on with the Least Chakra right? Well, it lets me bind a soulmeld -- like the Mauling Gauntlets -- to my my hand, crown, or feet chakra; I'm only interested in the hands chakra. Here's the deal, with this feat I can bind the Mauling Gauntlets to my hand chakra. And now I imagine everyone is waiting for my to get to the point about the Mauling Gauntlets. Okay, so the Mauling Gauntlets normally provide a bonus on strength checks like breaking things and grappling; it starts at +2 and increases by another +2 for every point of essentia invested (ie, 1 essentia = +4 bonus; 2 essentia = +6, etc). When the Mauling Gauntlets are bound to my hand chakra that bonus also applies to my unarmed strike damage.
Eighth Level -- I'm a 6th level fighter so I pick up Weapon Focus. This is one of those feats that could be anything and I felt lazy.
Ninth level -- standard character feat and I get Expanded Soulmeld Capacity. This lets me increase the amount of essentia I can invest into a soulmeld. Obviously I'm going to pick the Mauling Gauntlets though my choice can change each day.
10th level -- I normally wouldn't call this out but at this level I'm retraining Open Least Chakra into Bonus Essentia. By now my Incarnate levels have given me the ability to bind the Mauling Gauntlets to my hand chakra so I can pick up Bonus Essentia for another 2 points to my essentia pool and as an incarnum user the more essentia I have the better I am.
12th level is another double feat level; I'm an 8th level fighter and a 12th level character. For my regular feat I'm grabbing Weapon Specialization for unarmed strike (more damage is good) and then with my fighter bonus feat I'm getting Martial Study for Setting Sun again; probably getting Devestating Throw.
15th level I pick Melee Weapon Mastery for Bludgeoning Weapons to increase my attack and damage bonuses.
16th level I've got 10 levels in fighter so I get another bonus feat which'll be Martial Study for Setting Sun again getting either Comet Throw or Strike of the Broken Shield; either of them are really good.
18th level is my last level of fighter and I get a bonus feat for the fact I'm a 12th level fighter plus I get a feat for being an 18th level character. I picked up Martial Stance for Setting Sun; probably going to get Shifting Defense for my stance. And for my general feat I'm going to get Greater Weapon Focus for my unarmed attacks.
Now, one of the things about this build that's important to note is that very few of the feats are "required" in order to make it work -- in fact only 3 are. Improved Unarmed Strike, Shape Soulmeld, and Expanded Essentia Capacity. Everything else is personal choice; even Open Least Chakra. If you're willing to wait that feat is entirely unnecessarily.
So; the list:
Standard Builds
Alarian Thrakos, Aiel Homage, Archer Mage, Arisias, Assasin Homage, Athlete Balthas Kasra, Bardic Dervish, Blessed Hunter, Cerberus Ranger, Cyro-Concept, Draco-Blade, Dragonmage, Dragoon, Dwarven Thane, Ebin, Elemental Berserker, Force Mage, Goblin Cook, Graeme, Grappler, Halberdier, Hunter of Man, Lady Irae, Lucky Adventurer, Magekiller, Master of Chains, Missile Mage, Mounted Archer, Melee-ist Fighter, Meta-Mage, Naruma, Slashing Killer, Spellsmiter, "Standard Fighter", Stormlord Cleric, Storm Mage, Trapper, Vartyr Kellisk, Vykes, Warlock/Soulknife, Whirlwind
Gestalt Builds:
Alikin Forgeborn, Anarok Tor, Arazil Ra'Dauthi, Arch Druid of Cair Moloch, Arhmis Diei, Armored Tank, Bloodspine Master, Captain America, Direfrost Mage, Disarmer, Dread Pirate Roberts, Duskblade Vindicator, Dusk Commando, Earthbender Sorcerer, Eddie the Pierce Sniper, Edward Mallory, Eldritch Fistfighter, Elias the Stormwalker, Fangborn Martial Artist, Flash Character, Fortress Sorcerer, Gideon of Incarnum, Graul the Ice Fisted, Highlander Build, Incarnate Dragon, Joshua Numenor, Kalix of Black Iron, Knob, Kobold Pick Fighter, Kurth, Leon Thrakos, Liam Ironarm, Lucian Thrakos, Marsarlis #113th, Merek Stonebreaker, Mind Reader, Multiterrain Shocktrooper, Nature Mage, Njal the Warbringer, Original Gideon Concept, Pyronic Knight, Randal Bernard, Ravenclaw Bard, Runecaster Dwarf, Seige Engineer, Shadow Hunter, Tarman Vorse, Tero Dach, Toguro Character, Toran Zane, Tri-Weapon Fighter, Uber Dervish, Ubertrooper, Urlic Vantir, Voice of the Forgotten, Voice of Gruumsh, Warblade/Lurk Concept Char, William Corshek, Wordspeaker