Piedmon_Sama
2009-07-09, 02:21 PM
That's right Raku, I know you browse this board. Go no further. O_O
~~~
So the party in my low-magic, high-tech-meets-schizo-history campaign setting just reached 10th level. The time has come to set the wheels in motion for my final story arc, or at least the last I can think of--by the time this story ends, the PCs will have thwarted the birth of an Evil God, saved the main pantheon, defeated the Forces of Cosmic Law/Balance, and won the undying gratitude and fame of all known kingdoms. If, you know, they don't get wiped out.
And now it's time to move things towards that end, with the introduction of my ultimate villain. This will take some explaining, but I'll try to be succinct... actually, having just written it all, I'll put it in spoilers and say you can read it if you want, or you can just look down and help me stat out this guy.
Backstory: The largest civilization in this campaign is the Luxan Empire, strongly based on Julio-Claudian Rome and centered around the city of Luxor. Their major neighbors include the "Client Kingdoms," (sort of like protectorates with a large degree of autonomy) of Arcadonia (think Castillan troubadour culture in the frozen north) and Wahfferpache (actually more than a dozen independent kingdoms/enclaves, think Beowulf-era nordic countries with pre-Roman German elements). The two most important independent factions are the Gnomish Republic (which appeared 100 years ago and shot this setting out of the Middle Ages into a Steampunk milleu) and Hyksete (ancient Egypt), both have good relations with the Empire and the only work for the Legions these days is "monster hunting" (particularly on the border of the Dwarfguard Mountains where wild Trolls and other giantkin roam).
In both the Empire and Hyksete, people worship The Nine Divines ( http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Nine_Divines) (although the portrayals and importance of gods vary; the Luxans practice Emperor-Worship in the godhead of "Talos Augustus," the Hyksetians replace Talos with the "Living God" their own Pharaoh). I've never played Elder Scrolls and I would have preferred to stick with real mythology over these gods, but my most active player was insistent. And we had a Monk trained by Pai-Mei, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Bill) a Demi-God of Martial Arts in this setting, so I was like "whatever."
There are, however, other gods and not all of them belong to foreign cultures. The players have run into the Cult of Mithras (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraic_cult) among some Legionnares, for one example. Dionysus and Orpheus (who is Wotan to the Wahfferpacheans) are also running around, though they haven't come into the story yet. For the most part these gods are content to have only their small cults, but there are some gods no mortal wise or sane would bend his knee to.
Among these is Orcus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orcus), not quite the Demon Prince of Undead and not quite the actual Italian god, but some melding of the two that I made up. Here's the thing: just as the Nine aren't the only pantheon of deities around, they're not really all-powerful (just very powerful); deities can be defeated and even "slain"---usually when two cultures meet in battle in this setting, their deities are up on high clashing in the heavens, too. The annihilation of a culture means the annihilation of its gods. Well, that happened to Orcus, who was one of the prime seats (thrones, if you will) of the underworld and ruled the undead, worshipped by ghouls and vampires and served by numberless ghosts and skeletal legions and the like in what is present-day Hyksete. The Nine kicked his ass millennia back when the first Luxans were still figuring out how to tie a loincloth, BUT
Orcus' worship survived among the Corpse-Kings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopping_vampire) of the Far East, who propitiated his worship as the guardian at the gates of death and insurer of their vile immortality. Millennia passed and the Cult of Orcus crept back into the west with unnoticeable slowness; among the Elves, who live long but would wish to live forever, it took some root and from there spread back into the Nines' own realm. His small cult consists of a handful of Necromancers and their hangers-on, who wish to revive Orcus to his full power and create a world where they will be an immortal ruling caste over the numberless servile undead. This kind of supernatural pyramid scheme has attracted the Emperor's own nephew and the youngest Consul to serve before the Luxan Senate, born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, adopted Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Nero.
It just so happens that Orcus' strength waxes with the Dog Star, which will be in ascendancy at a given time this year. In the wastelands of Hyksete lie the ruins of a once-magnificent temple, 5,000 years old, dedicated by the foul rites of Orcus' worship and still guarded by a ghoulish cadre of undead. The human branch of the cult, by now under the charismatic Nero's virtual leadership, learned of these ruins and discovered an ancient artifact among the rubble: a sword somehow perfectly preserved through the millennia, with enchantments as powerful as they were vile and anathemic to life. From communing with fiendish voices, the Cultists learned the sword was a tool: deep beneath the Hyksetian Temple lay a chamber of pure black granite, into which a passage admitted the light of only the Dog Star at its greatest ascendency. Filled with the pure light of that star, the chamber would be readied, and the sword would focus a ritual that would restore Orcus to his full power and potency, not in the heavens but on the earth itself.
Unbeknownst to the fanatic cultists, Nero has no intention of reviving Orcus. From what he understands, the ritual could be just as easily turned to give birth to a new god. Oh, he knows even better than his debauched and dead granddad Tiberas or his now-senile and doddering uncle Claudius how the Godhead of Talos and the Imperial Cult is more myth than man. He doesn't buy that bit about the Undying Spirit passing from one Imperator to the next, even as heir to the Imperium. Nero would much rather do it himself, be reborn as an immortal god in the here and now, and remake this earth with an artist's touch.
Nero is well aware that the mechanisms of his downfall are even now in motion. He can mask his evil to mortals, but not to the gods, and the cleric of Zenithaar Alphonse Arcanus (this is my friend's PC) and his companions have been chosen by Zenithaar and the nine to destroy this evil and save the world. Nero was told this himself by an oracle of the gods (before he killed her to hide the evidence), and, knowing that Arcanus is predestined to stop him, he's been sending assassins after the party for months now (in-game and out).
Now it's time to meet Nero for real. The party just completed a mission across the world on behalf of Zenithaar, saving a city from the Kuo-Toa and their cthonic deity, and now Zenithaar will whisk them back to the villa of Alphonse's father in the mid-northern province of Gallicia (Al himself is, basically, a Romanized gaul). There, Alphonse's brother Emmanual (a junior senator in Luxor and a personal friend of Consul Nero) is getting married to the daughter of a prominent local family. Nero will be best man and prominent, as he always is, in the festivities. And of course, he is taking the opportunity to make yet another move on Alphonse's life: he's hired a Wizard named Moses Magnor (level 7, armed with some higher-level scrolls) to pose as the evening's entertainment and assassinate Alphonse using a luminous assassin. This will, of course, not work as planned and in the ensuing battle Nero will get scarce rather than reveal himself.
With all that said, here's Nero:
Nero, v. 1.0 - Human Fighter 10/Rogue 3, CR 13; HD: 10d10+3d6+33 (124 HP); Init: +3; Spd: 30 ft. (6 sqrs); AC: 27 (+2 armor, +3 dex, +9 class +2 dodge) Touch 24 FF 12; BaB/Grp: +12/+5, +14; Attacks: Black Sword +17 melee (1d8+5+2d6+1 Con 15-20/x2 slash), or MW pistol (hidden) +15 ranged 30 ft. (1d10 x3 pierce) or MW Cane Sword (hidden) +14 melee (1d6+2 18-20/x2 slash) or Iron Rickenbacker +14 melee (1d10+3 x2 bludg.); Full Attack: Black Sword +17/+10 melee (1d8+7+2d6+1 Con 15-20/x2 slash); S/R: 5 ft/5 ft; SA: Sneak Attack +2d6; SQ: Evasion, Detect Traps, Trapsense +1, DR 2/- from armor; Svs: Fort +9 Ref +8 Will +4; Abilities: Str 15, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 17
Traits, Flaws, Skills & Feats: Absent-Minded [Trait], Cautious [Trait], Coward [Flaw], Unobservant [Flaw], Dodge, Weapon Focus [Spatha], Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Improved Feint, Mobility, Improved Trip, Weapon Specialization [Spatha], Spring Attack, Einhander [Tactical], Improved Critical [Spatha], Acrobatic Strike, Elusive Target [Tactical], Combat Panache [Tactical]
Tumble +19, Jump +12, Intimidate +11, Bluff +19, Knowledge [Religion] +8, Knowledge [Nobility & Royalty] +8, Knowledge [Geography] +5, Knowledge [History] +5, Ride +13, Handle Animal +8, Diplomacy +16, Perform +13, Perform [Break It Down] +8, [Sleight of Hand +10, Appraise +4
[b]Gear: The Black Sword, Cane Sword, MW Mithril Breastplate, Iron Rickenbacker, Berzerker Powder
The Black Sword: +2 Keen Unholy Longsword of Wounding (total value: +6)
Berzerker Powder: Ground from a rare mushroom grown only in the towering mountains that cut primitive Wahfferpache off from the Empire proper. When snorted, this powder grants +8 Str, +8 Con, -2 Dex and a feeling of euphoric invincibility. Lasts a number of rounds equal to 3 plus the user's (improved) con score, deals the user 2 damage/round. Can utilize any feat except Combat Expertise, and no skills involving prolonged concentration. Nero will snort a pinch of this stuff when he's finally mad and desperate enough to dispense with his usual dancing, combat-expertised shenannigans and rant about his godhood and his dead mother at length while swinging wildly.
NOTES: This character uses the variant rules Armor as DR and a class bonus to AC (the class bonus stacks with the armor's reduced value). We don't use alignment in my campaign; instead aligned spells and items affect whoever your Patron Deity declares his enemy at the moment (so Nero's sword will do its extra damage against neutral party members, even).
Another note on the lack of magical gear: Nero and Alphonse Arcanus are the only characters in this campaign who wield magical weapons. Everyone else has masterwork materials at best. Alphonse received his weapon at level 3 as a +1 Warhammer, and over time it's scaled into a +2 Holy Warhammer. Nero's weapon scales likewise, so when he finally faces them it should be +3 and have one more cool ability.
What I feel like I need help with, primarily, is feat selection. I want Nero to basically be an irritating opponent who can move out of threatened squares with almost virtual impunity, trip and embarrass his enemies (who would be expecting an effete aristocrat), and come in from behind for a devastating backstab when they least expect it. I don't think he needs a high AB with his wide crit threat, so I don't mind sacrificing it to achieve this. Lastly, I'd like advice on the Berzerker Powder I homebrewed---I want it to lie in wait as Nero's last dramatic trump card, when the PCs have finally got him cornered and low on HP or made him fail to reach the Black Chamber of Orcus in time. Any suggestions/build advice is greatly appreciated, TIA.
~~~
So the party in my low-magic, high-tech-meets-schizo-history campaign setting just reached 10th level. The time has come to set the wheels in motion for my final story arc, or at least the last I can think of--by the time this story ends, the PCs will have thwarted the birth of an Evil God, saved the main pantheon, defeated the Forces of Cosmic Law/Balance, and won the undying gratitude and fame of all known kingdoms. If, you know, they don't get wiped out.
And now it's time to move things towards that end, with the introduction of my ultimate villain. This will take some explaining, but I'll try to be succinct... actually, having just written it all, I'll put it in spoilers and say you can read it if you want, or you can just look down and help me stat out this guy.
Backstory: The largest civilization in this campaign is the Luxan Empire, strongly based on Julio-Claudian Rome and centered around the city of Luxor. Their major neighbors include the "Client Kingdoms," (sort of like protectorates with a large degree of autonomy) of Arcadonia (think Castillan troubadour culture in the frozen north) and Wahfferpache (actually more than a dozen independent kingdoms/enclaves, think Beowulf-era nordic countries with pre-Roman German elements). The two most important independent factions are the Gnomish Republic (which appeared 100 years ago and shot this setting out of the Middle Ages into a Steampunk milleu) and Hyksete (ancient Egypt), both have good relations with the Empire and the only work for the Legions these days is "monster hunting" (particularly on the border of the Dwarfguard Mountains where wild Trolls and other giantkin roam).
In both the Empire and Hyksete, people worship The Nine Divines ( http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Nine_Divines) (although the portrayals and importance of gods vary; the Luxans practice Emperor-Worship in the godhead of "Talos Augustus," the Hyksetians replace Talos with the "Living God" their own Pharaoh). I've never played Elder Scrolls and I would have preferred to stick with real mythology over these gods, but my most active player was insistent. And we had a Monk trained by Pai-Mei, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_Bill) a Demi-God of Martial Arts in this setting, so I was like "whatever."
There are, however, other gods and not all of them belong to foreign cultures. The players have run into the Cult of Mithras (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraic_cult) among some Legionnares, for one example. Dionysus and Orpheus (who is Wotan to the Wahfferpacheans) are also running around, though they haven't come into the story yet. For the most part these gods are content to have only their small cults, but there are some gods no mortal wise or sane would bend his knee to.
Among these is Orcus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orcus), not quite the Demon Prince of Undead and not quite the actual Italian god, but some melding of the two that I made up. Here's the thing: just as the Nine aren't the only pantheon of deities around, they're not really all-powerful (just very powerful); deities can be defeated and even "slain"---usually when two cultures meet in battle in this setting, their deities are up on high clashing in the heavens, too. The annihilation of a culture means the annihilation of its gods. Well, that happened to Orcus, who was one of the prime seats (thrones, if you will) of the underworld and ruled the undead, worshipped by ghouls and vampires and served by numberless ghosts and skeletal legions and the like in what is present-day Hyksete. The Nine kicked his ass millennia back when the first Luxans were still figuring out how to tie a loincloth, BUT
Orcus' worship survived among the Corpse-Kings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopping_vampire) of the Far East, who propitiated his worship as the guardian at the gates of death and insurer of their vile immortality. Millennia passed and the Cult of Orcus crept back into the west with unnoticeable slowness; among the Elves, who live long but would wish to live forever, it took some root and from there spread back into the Nines' own realm. His small cult consists of a handful of Necromancers and their hangers-on, who wish to revive Orcus to his full power and create a world where they will be an immortal ruling caste over the numberless servile undead. This kind of supernatural pyramid scheme has attracted the Emperor's own nephew and the youngest Consul to serve before the Luxan Senate, born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, adopted Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Nero.
It just so happens that Orcus' strength waxes with the Dog Star, which will be in ascendancy at a given time this year. In the wastelands of Hyksete lie the ruins of a once-magnificent temple, 5,000 years old, dedicated by the foul rites of Orcus' worship and still guarded by a ghoulish cadre of undead. The human branch of the cult, by now under the charismatic Nero's virtual leadership, learned of these ruins and discovered an ancient artifact among the rubble: a sword somehow perfectly preserved through the millennia, with enchantments as powerful as they were vile and anathemic to life. From communing with fiendish voices, the Cultists learned the sword was a tool: deep beneath the Hyksetian Temple lay a chamber of pure black granite, into which a passage admitted the light of only the Dog Star at its greatest ascendency. Filled with the pure light of that star, the chamber would be readied, and the sword would focus a ritual that would restore Orcus to his full power and potency, not in the heavens but on the earth itself.
Unbeknownst to the fanatic cultists, Nero has no intention of reviving Orcus. From what he understands, the ritual could be just as easily turned to give birth to a new god. Oh, he knows even better than his debauched and dead granddad Tiberas or his now-senile and doddering uncle Claudius how the Godhead of Talos and the Imperial Cult is more myth than man. He doesn't buy that bit about the Undying Spirit passing from one Imperator to the next, even as heir to the Imperium. Nero would much rather do it himself, be reborn as an immortal god in the here and now, and remake this earth with an artist's touch.
Nero is well aware that the mechanisms of his downfall are even now in motion. He can mask his evil to mortals, but not to the gods, and the cleric of Zenithaar Alphonse Arcanus (this is my friend's PC) and his companions have been chosen by Zenithaar and the nine to destroy this evil and save the world. Nero was told this himself by an oracle of the gods (before he killed her to hide the evidence), and, knowing that Arcanus is predestined to stop him, he's been sending assassins after the party for months now (in-game and out).
Now it's time to meet Nero for real. The party just completed a mission across the world on behalf of Zenithaar, saving a city from the Kuo-Toa and their cthonic deity, and now Zenithaar will whisk them back to the villa of Alphonse's father in the mid-northern province of Gallicia (Al himself is, basically, a Romanized gaul). There, Alphonse's brother Emmanual (a junior senator in Luxor and a personal friend of Consul Nero) is getting married to the daughter of a prominent local family. Nero will be best man and prominent, as he always is, in the festivities. And of course, he is taking the opportunity to make yet another move on Alphonse's life: he's hired a Wizard named Moses Magnor (level 7, armed with some higher-level scrolls) to pose as the evening's entertainment and assassinate Alphonse using a luminous assassin. This will, of course, not work as planned and in the ensuing battle Nero will get scarce rather than reveal himself.
With all that said, here's Nero:
Nero, v. 1.0 - Human Fighter 10/Rogue 3, CR 13; HD: 10d10+3d6+33 (124 HP); Init: +3; Spd: 30 ft. (6 sqrs); AC: 27 (+2 armor, +3 dex, +9 class +2 dodge) Touch 24 FF 12; BaB/Grp: +12/+5, +14; Attacks: Black Sword +17 melee (1d8+5+2d6+1 Con 15-20/x2 slash), or MW pistol (hidden) +15 ranged 30 ft. (1d10 x3 pierce) or MW Cane Sword (hidden) +14 melee (1d6+2 18-20/x2 slash) or Iron Rickenbacker +14 melee (1d10+3 x2 bludg.); Full Attack: Black Sword +17/+10 melee (1d8+7+2d6+1 Con 15-20/x2 slash); S/R: 5 ft/5 ft; SA: Sneak Attack +2d6; SQ: Evasion, Detect Traps, Trapsense +1, DR 2/- from armor; Svs: Fort +9 Ref +8 Will +4; Abilities: Str 15, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 17
Traits, Flaws, Skills & Feats: Absent-Minded [Trait], Cautious [Trait], Coward [Flaw], Unobservant [Flaw], Dodge, Weapon Focus [Spatha], Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Improved Feint, Mobility, Improved Trip, Weapon Specialization [Spatha], Spring Attack, Einhander [Tactical], Improved Critical [Spatha], Acrobatic Strike, Elusive Target [Tactical], Combat Panache [Tactical]
Tumble +19, Jump +12, Intimidate +11, Bluff +19, Knowledge [Religion] +8, Knowledge [Nobility & Royalty] +8, Knowledge [Geography] +5, Knowledge [History] +5, Ride +13, Handle Animal +8, Diplomacy +16, Perform +13, Perform [Break It Down] +8, [Sleight of Hand +10, Appraise +4
[b]Gear: The Black Sword, Cane Sword, MW Mithril Breastplate, Iron Rickenbacker, Berzerker Powder
The Black Sword: +2 Keen Unholy Longsword of Wounding (total value: +6)
Berzerker Powder: Ground from a rare mushroom grown only in the towering mountains that cut primitive Wahfferpache off from the Empire proper. When snorted, this powder grants +8 Str, +8 Con, -2 Dex and a feeling of euphoric invincibility. Lasts a number of rounds equal to 3 plus the user's (improved) con score, deals the user 2 damage/round. Can utilize any feat except Combat Expertise, and no skills involving prolonged concentration. Nero will snort a pinch of this stuff when he's finally mad and desperate enough to dispense with his usual dancing, combat-expertised shenannigans and rant about his godhood and his dead mother at length while swinging wildly.
NOTES: This character uses the variant rules Armor as DR and a class bonus to AC (the class bonus stacks with the armor's reduced value). We don't use alignment in my campaign; instead aligned spells and items affect whoever your Patron Deity declares his enemy at the moment (so Nero's sword will do its extra damage against neutral party members, even).
Another note on the lack of magical gear: Nero and Alphonse Arcanus are the only characters in this campaign who wield magical weapons. Everyone else has masterwork materials at best. Alphonse received his weapon at level 3 as a +1 Warhammer, and over time it's scaled into a +2 Holy Warhammer. Nero's weapon scales likewise, so when he finally faces them it should be +3 and have one more cool ability.
What I feel like I need help with, primarily, is feat selection. I want Nero to basically be an irritating opponent who can move out of threatened squares with almost virtual impunity, trip and embarrass his enemies (who would be expecting an effete aristocrat), and come in from behind for a devastating backstab when they least expect it. I don't think he needs a high AB with his wide crit threat, so I don't mind sacrificing it to achieve this. Lastly, I'd like advice on the Berzerker Powder I homebrewed---I want it to lie in wait as Nero's last dramatic trump card, when the PCs have finally got him cornered and low on HP or made him fail to reach the Black Chamber of Orcus in time. Any suggestions/build advice is greatly appreciated, TIA.