Thousand Faced AssassinHeres a gestalt i made for ya, its one of my favorite characters by far. The Thousand Faced Assassin (Inspired by Melona from the anime "Queen's Blade").
A bit of background on Melona:Melona is a demonic 'bunny' goo girl, known in the underworld as the Thousand Faced Assassin. She earned this name due to her ability to mimic her enemies on the battlefield, copying their abilities and appearances perfectly, just so they could be slain by their own hands. She is able to freely shapeshift between different forms and mimic each forms unique abilities, and although they aren't as powerful as their originals, they're still amply effective enough to kill with. Melona is extremely resilient to damage, being made of goo and such, injuries inflicted by a melee weapon, regardless of the power behind the attack, seems to be shrugged off and ignored as any wounds inflicted instantly close up.
The D&D Version:It's not your 'run of the mill' tank, its quite a lot more than that, however it stays true to the tank 'concept' in that it can absorb excessive amounts of damage and keep chuggin along
. Despite its misleading name, its quite capable of fulfilling the group role of 'tank', very adequately so i might add! The chart above does not take into consideration distributed attributes. Needless to say, the build benefits from a high con and high charisma. Strength is unimportant thanks to Polymorph Self and Shapechange, as well as Binder benefits.
This character excels at adapting to, and surviving any situation. With access to binder vestiges, it can pass as a spell caster, it can pass as a thief or rogue, it can pass as a druid or ranger, as well as mimic a large variety of other persona. With its highly adaptable ability set, it can change its appearance to match the role, allowing it to fit in with any scene, a chameleon through and through. And when it finally meets its enemies in combat and slays them, not only does it heal and become stronger for it, but immediately shifts into the enemy it slew, gaining access to all its abilities, hence its name "Thousand Faced Assassin", how about that for throwing enemies a curve ball? Its inherently high HP and solid defensive abilities allow it to act as the group tank without much effort at all. Its inherently high saves, and ability to boost them further both before and mid-combat ensure it can shake off most spells thrown at it.
Defense/Tanking-related Benefits:- Fast Healing 2-5
- +6 Natural Armor
- Polymorph Self (at will) (8HD form limit) - 100% healing whenever desired
- Shapechange (Upon draining an enemy to death)
- Access to Binder Vestiges with a soul binding level of 18th (access to 8th level vestiges)
- +2 to Saves, Skill checks, ability checks, +4 to Con, +4 to Dexterity upon successfully draining an enemy with an attack
- Cha Bonus to AC (while unarmored)
- +10ft movement bonus
- Immunity to Fear, energy drain and negative levels
- Slippery Mind
Offense-related Benefits:- Drain 2 negative levels per successful natural melee attack
- 4 claw attacks to start with, can be expanded upon with binder vestiges (bite attacks, gore attacks etc), feats, and certain spells made permanent.
- Summon Oozes at will to act as additional tanks, distractions, or damage dealers
- Access to 8th level binder vestiges and all their special abilities, easily deal with enemies whom you cant drain
- Pounce, Rake and Rend
- buncha other stuff im probably missing since its late xP
The great thing about this character is it can act as Tank/Meatshield, Damage Dealer (well, not necessarily 'damage' but you get the idea), Sneaker, Crowd Controller, Trapfinder, Party Face, and much more. It can fly, it can teleport, it can shift through walls and shift through people. Hell, it can even blend! This character can be as simple or complicated as the person playing it desires. I understand the player doesn't wish to deal with 'spells' or things similar to them, which is why they can just gloss over the vestiges, pick the ones they wish to use and just stick with that, for the entire game if they so desired. However they will at the very least, always have the -option- (something most characters don't have the luxury of, unless they're built with having options in mind) to change their characters bonuses and abilities when they want, as well as allow them to overcome certain shortcomings and obstacles that tanks will face in the game.
Resources Used:Players Handbook (Fighter, Ranger)
Tome of Magic (Binder)
Magic of Incarnum (Totemist)
Complete Warrior (Swashbuckler)
Dragon Compendium (Battle Dancer)
Book of Vile Darkness (Thrall of Juiblex, Soul Eater)
