Drunken Master lockdown build

[Kaliban]

For the lolz, I decided to try and make a Drunken Master lockdown build. The basic idea would be passive way monk 6/crusader 2 (for thicket of blades)/unarmed swordsage 2 (maybe)/ drunken master 10. He would wield a 100 ft ladder (or what have you) letting him trip and aoo almost anything on the battlefield. Suggestions? How underpowered/okay would this be in a minimal optimization setting?

[StreamOfTheSky]

Try wielding Troll Gut Rope instead, it has like 300 ft length and would be far lighter than a 100 ft ladder.

Why are you taking all 10 levels of the PrC, all it's really adding to this build is the ability to improvise reach weapons, that's level 4.  And the only other feature of the class that's actually good, Stagger, is at level 2.  So it should be a 4-level class for you.  I would suggest getting one of those Swordsage levels in before entering DM if you're taking any at all; Desert Wind Dodge is a much better feat than Dodge and will count as it for entering DM.

I also don't think a whole 6 levels of Monk and the 2/3 bad feats of Passive Way are worth it just for another +4 to trip.  I think the ideal build would have you manage to combine a 1-2 level Monk dip with a  level dip in Barbarian for Pounce (Lion Spirit Totem) and Imp. Trip (Wolf Totem) and Whirling Frenzy.  Either by switching alignment to be an "Ex-Monk" or doing a chaotic monk variant, or something.

Lockdown is feat intensive, so using up to 4 levels of Martial Rogue to boost your feats (and skill points) can be a big help.  If you go with Changeling, you can get even *more* skill points at Rogue 1 (which you'd want to be your 1st level for the x4) and then later enter Warshaper for even more reach and overall awesome class features.

[Kaliban]

Try wielding Troll Gut Rope instead, it has like 300 ft length and would be far lighter than a 100 ft ladder.

Those are all good ideas, this build is really sub-optimal as is mostly because I came up with off the top of my head without doing any research. What book is troll gut rope from? Also is it possible to get multiple totems as a barbarian?

[StreamOfTheSky]

Try wielding Troll Gut Rope instead, it has like 300 ft length and would be far lighter than a 100 ft ladder.

Those are all good ideas, this build is really sub-optimal as is mostly because I came up with off the top of my head without doing any research. What book is troll gut rope from? Also is it possible to get multiple totems as a barbarian?

It's from Magic Item Compendium, in the "Tools" section.  It's not that expensive and 1/day for up to 12 hours it expands from 50 ft to 300 or so ft long.  I'd just be worried about sundering and the fact it's not a magic weapon for DR and such, though an ally with Greater Magic Weapon can help on both fronts, as does having multiple copies of the item.

You should be able to take different totems as long as none of the replaced abilities overlap, which precludes most combinations.  Also, technically they're different alt. class features.  One group in UA is "Totems" and the other group in C.Champion are "Spirit Totems."

[Raineh Daze]

Also, unlike a ladder,  you can actually fit a rope in a short corridor.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Also, unlike a ladder,  you can actually fit a rope in a short corridor.

Well, between extendable metal ladders and the cheap Hideaway weapon property in MIC to shrink a weapon down two size categories and back again as swift actions, you could probably make a ladder portable.

[Raineh Daze]

Or you could use a rope and save the hassle.

[Kaliban]

If anyone is interested here is the completed build, feel free to point out any mistakes I made or problems you see. This character may see use as a npc in our campaign, so for thematic reasons he needs to be some sort of undead locked in at CR15/13th level character or below. Also needs to have some drunken master which unfortunately means there are quite a few wasted feats.
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Male Curst Lesser Zenythri Fighter 1/Passive Way Monk 1 / Lion Spirit Wolf Totem Barbarian 2/Crusader 2/Drunken Master 4
Strength 25, Dexterity 24, Constitution 15 [undead], Intelligence 12, Wisdom 14, Charisma 16
Total Hit Points: 82
Speed: 30 feet
Armor Class: 24 = 10 +7 [dexterity] +2 [wisdom] +1 [DM] + 1[monk] + 3 [natural armor] (+3 on target of choice)
Touch AC: 21
Flat-footed: 18
SR: 22
Fast Healing: 1
Energy Resistance: Electricity 5, Fire [immune], Sonic 5, Cold [immune]

Weapon of choice: 300 foot adamantine hideaway chain
Damage: 1d8 +10 [strength * 1.5] +1d4 with improvised weapon
Trip bonus: +11

I've got Thicket of Blades from Crusader, Combat Reflexes, Stand Still, Robilar's Gambit so anything within 300 feet of me can't move unless it wants to deal with an aoo and free trip attempt. If it's large enough to defeat the trip I can use Stand Still to keep it in place. Caster's provoke anytime they cast and I should be able to trip most of them since they'll have dex or str on the lower end. If not I'm still attacking their concentration. Not high damage but it should create a nasty cycle of trip, get up, trip, etc. Anything large gets frozen in place if it can't make a min 22/ max 32 fort save. And if the area is large enough I can stop most things or at least get free attacks on anything before it can get to me. Magical flying could be a problem but I still get the aoo and with SR22 I'll have a decent chance of negating quite a few magical attacks. Big guys that get through will still get an aoo every time they attack. Grappling could be a problem so I bumped escape artist. Thoughts?

[Kaliban]

Also here are the items I'm using:

Monk's Belt – 13,000 gold
Belt of Magnificence +2 – 25,000 gold
300 foot adamantine hideaway chain *2 – 25,000 gold
Gloves of Dexterity +4 – 16,000 gold
Eye of Obyrith [homebrew true seeing] – 10,000 gold
Dust of Dispersion * 5 – 2,500 gold

Can't spend anymore

[StreamOfTheSky]

Holy crap.... assuming adamantine weighs as much as steel, and going by the 10 ft of chain being 2 lbs in the equipment section.... each of your chains weighs SIXTY pounds!   
Distributed across 300 ft of length, so the center of gravity / fulcrum point is....way the hell away from you.

I mean...casters do way more ridiculous stuff, but....don't be surprised if a DM balks at this.  Or your players do, if you're the DM.  What are all his feats, though?  You only mention some of them.

You should get some psionic tattoos of expansion (Augmented to ML 3 so they last 3 minutes instead of 1 round at ML 1); going large is worth another +5 to trip between size and +2 str.
As for gear, you overpay an awful lot.  Monk's belt is super not worth it, especially if you have an actual monk level.  Belt of Magnificence is more expensive than just buying all the +2 items individually if you even truly need all 6 (how's an undead have Con, anyway?) and you're then paying 16 k for Dex +4 despite already having dex +2...  Remember, MIC says you can apply the +2/4/6 Stat items to other magical items w/o paying 1.5x as much.  Just get the +2's you actually need.
Why are the chains so expensive?  Regular chain is already stupidly overpriced at 30 gp for 10 ft (compare to spiked chain).  300 ft should be 30x that, or 900 gp.  Adamantine is a flat +3000 gp cost to add to a weapon.  They should cost 3900 gp each, then another...2000? for Hideaway.  I assume they have some enhancements or something?

[Kaliban]

Holy crap.... assuming adamantine weighs as much as steel, and going by the 10 ft of chain being 2 lbs in the equipment section.... each of your chains weighs SIXTY pounds!   
Distributed across 300 ft of length, so the center of gravity / fulcrum point is....way the hell away from you.

I mean...casters do way more ridiculous stuff, but....don't be surprised if a DM balks at this.  Or your players do, if you're the DM.  What are all his feats, though?  You only mention some of them.

Hahaha I agree it's ridiculous but my DM seemed okay with the weight, probably because we're nearing the end of this campaign and I suspect the final battle is going to be a nightmare. Besides I plan for him to use only one chain at a time two handed, should help relieve some of that problem. The other feats are Improved Trip (barbarian), whirling rage (barbarian), pounce (barbarian), improved unarmed strike (monk), combat expertise (monk), greater fortitude, dodge (fighter), plus two flaws (shaky and the homebrewed flaw alcoholic).

You should get some psionic tattoos of expansion (Augmented to ML 3 so they last 3 minutes instead of 1 round at ML 1); going large is worth another +5 to trip between size and +2 str.

Good idea!

As for gear, you overpay an awful lot.  Monk's belt is super not worth it, especially if you have an actual monk level.  Belt of Magnificence is more expensive than just buying all the +2 items individually if you even truly need all 6 (how's an undead have Con, anyway?) and you're then paying 16 k for Dex +4 despite already having dex +2...  Remember, MIC says you can apply the +2/4/6 Stat items to other magical items w/o paying 1.5x as much.  Just get the +2's you actually need.

I was using the Monk's Belt to boost my unarmed damage. I guess the move from 1d6 to 1d8 probably isn't worth it when I could bump strength or AC with that money. That's a good point about the Belt of Magnificence. The con part of that was handy because the template to undead was applied after creation, so he still got the con boost during leveling. We're roleplaying that this guy was friends with one of our PC characters and both were killed. The PC was brought back by the god Nerull as a death knight bent on exacting vengeance but this guy was forced to serve his killer. He'll pull a Vader and turn against his master in the climatic battle.

Why are the chains so expensive?  Regular chain is already stupidly overpriced at 30 gp for 10 ft (compare to spiked chain).  300 ft should be 30x that, or 900 gp.  Adamantine is a flat +3000 gp cost to add to a weapon.  They should cost 3900 gp each, then another...2000? for Hideaway.  I assume they have some enhancements or something?

I probably miscalculated but I got the price for the hideaway property from here: http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/magweapdesc.pl?power=Hideaway&src=mweapontype. I should double check the price in whatever book its from.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Yeah, Hideaway is much cheaper than that in MIC, which is the more recent book.  It's around 2000 gp now, I think.

Also, that version doesn't specify the action to use, while in MIC it is explicitly a swift.

EDIT: Also don't see the need for two of them.  No one's gonna sunder your adamantine weapon.  And disarm can be countered by a cheap locked gauntlet.  Lock it in, use hideaway to wrap the now small chain around your fist so you look badass all the time, when you re-enlarge it, it'll naturally loosen from your hand due to growing in size and fall to the floor, ready for use.

[Kaliban]

True, true and I am always a fan of looking badass. Thanks for all your help! 

[nijineko]

what? not putting hideaway on the monk?