Talk:Scimerang Slinger (3.5e Optimized Character Build)

Power Attack & Strength Damage

Remember that PA and high str don't help much with TWF and Master Thrower respectively, since Weak Spot (which lets you do touch attacks) stops you from adding str damage to every attack, and Power Attack only gives a 1:1 bonus on main hand attacks, and no benefit on off-hand attacks when TWF. Also, Distracting Ember has to be within 30' of you and disappears in one round, so it's not the most reliable of powers. Lastly, you're going through Iron Heart powers like crazy--how much damage does this do, taking into account how often you need to refresh your maneuvers? --Ghostwheel 19:43, June 8, 2010 (UTC)

Power Attack and Strength 15 are prerequisites for Roundabout Kick. Distracting Ember doesn't even last an entire round, it only lasts for your turn. I didn't even consider using the Iron Heart powers with martial throw (one of them is ineligible, the other gives +4 to one attack, -4 AC) they are just prerequisites for Bloodstorm Blade and fodder for Blade Storm. Assuming we start with Strongheart Halfling and 15 dex, Dump a stat point into dex, get gloves of dexterity +4, at level 9 our dex is 22 for a +6 bonus, so our standard attack inside 10' is 16 = 7 +6 (dex) +1 (size) +1 (halfling) +1 (point blank). We hit a 25 AC foe about half the time, and an AC 15 ember on everything but a natural one. We summon an ember next to a foe, and toss our scimitar at it, ricocheting off with booomerang ricochet to hit the foe next to it. 37% of the time we accomplish nothing, 2% of the time we get a +1 bonus, 17% we hit once, 3% we hit once and get a +1 bonus, 2% we hit twice (or once and crit once), 4% we hit twice and get a +1 bonus, and 1% we get +2, 3% of the time we hit thrice, getting a +1 bonus, and 1% we get a +2. We hit four times 3% of the time, getting a +1-3 bonus 1% each. We hit 5 times 2% of the time, gaining a +2-3 bonus, and likewise with 6. We hit 7 times about 2% of the time, getting a +3 or +4 bonus. That covers the first 78% of the results. The 80% mark is 9 hits with 3 bonuses and 85% is 15 hits with 7 bonuses. At 88%, so one 8th of the time, we hit 20+ times garnering 8+ bonuses with anywhere between 1 and 22 attacks still to be made in the same round. (I terminated my rollout at 20 hits). The truncated average is 5 attacks left to make, 19 hits and crits made, and a +10 bonus acquired. That's round one. The finite tail diverges, and so our round one attack diverges., but this isn't important in actual play. On round two we make a somewhat weak normal throw and recharge distracting ember as a swift action, then we repeat on round 3, this time with more bonuses. Once we hit level 12 things get really crazy because we don't need to overcome the foe's AC before exploding and have slightly increased opportunities to roll well, and thus do so much more of the time. -Cedges 23:23, June 8, 2010 (UTC)

Incomplete

Please remove the incomplete rating. There is more than enough synergy here. At level 9, for every attack you make, you are granted extra attacks with the following probabilities:

• 6/20 Critical threat on Ember from Lightning Mace
• 6/20*19/20 Critical hit on Ember from Roundabout Kick

You also get criticals off of your enemies, struck with a -2 ricochet from Boomerang Ricochet. There's only 19/20 chance to make this attack due to natural ones vs the ember.

• 19/20*(portion of your 6 crit range that hits at -2)/20 Critical threat on foe from Lightning Mace.
• 19/20*(portion of your 6 crit range that hits at -2)/20*(chance to hit foe) Critical hit on foe from Roundabout Kick.

If a foe has 10 more AC than your attack, these last two become

• 19/20*6/20 Critical threat on foe from Lightning Mace.
• 19/20*6/20*1/2 Critical hit on foe from Roundabout Kick.

The total of those four is 20.25/20. On average, when you make 20 attacks against an average foe at your level, you are granted 20.25 FREE attacks. When you make those 20.25 FREE attacks you are granted another 20.5 FREE attacks on average, which grant another 20.76 FREE attacks on average, which when you make them grant another 21.02 FREE attacks. Your average damage is already infinite, or to be more technically accurate, it has diverged. Although your mean damage is limitless, your median damage isn't (yet), and there is a fairly large probability that your attack sequence will be finite, but some of the finite sequences are quite damaging, and, with Blood in the Water, hitting the enemies becomes easier and more damaging with every critical you make.

The next 3 levels focus on overcoming the most obvious counter while increasing the chance that your attacks sequence will diverge by giving more opportunities for critical hits on a critical threat. At that point the build is fairly complete, and the remainder is just its logical conclusion. The next four levels make your attacks hit on touch attacks, which pretty much guarantees critical threats and confirmations on natural rolls of 15 or more. You are still at the mercy of your natural die rolls, needing to get at least a couple 15s or better before winning. To overcome this you make more attacks by using the full round attack action, by investing in feats or using maneuvers that increase attacks per round, or by using the Bloodstorm's full-round abilities. -Cedges 00:31, June 9, 2010 (UTC)

You can't actually threaten a critical on the ember, seeing as it's an elemental and thus is immune to crits. It procs neither Lightning Maces nor Blood in the Water. --Ghostwheel 00:39, June 9, 2010 (UTC)