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Myou
2009-09-13, 01:45 PM
Me (yet) again! Hi everyone!

You might have seen a thread a while ago where I was looking for ideas for how Strahd, from the module Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, could kill a paladin NPC in my party. Now I'm hoping you guys can help me rebuild her as a blackguard.

Background:
The party consists of me, a level 7 wizard/homebrew prc//homebrew survivor (I'm able to tank and cast with the best, but can only attack with spells), my friend, a level 7 swordsage//sorcerer/homebrew prc (He does impressive melee damage as well as tanknig nearly as well as me, and he buffs himself to scary degrees when he knows a fight is coming), and Ashlyn, the npc paladin we met at the start of the module. She's a paladin 6 now, and sucks compared to us, but we're very attached to her.

What's going to happen is that Strahd, a wizard vampire, is gonig to target her because of some artifacts she has, fighting our party and killing her before we can stop him, then turning her into a vampire blackguard under his command.

Given that we normally fight enconters 2 over he recommended CR, I want her to be pretty powerful, so that she can challenge us. So what feats should I give her, and how should she be built? And to what level?

jiriku
2009-09-13, 02:01 PM
Below is an excerpt from a vampire knight in a campaign I ran a few years ago. The build is a little different from what you're looking for (no fallen paladin levels), but perhaps you can mine it for good ideas.

The Knight (large stat block)

Valentin Velkov CR 14
male vampire fighter 6/blackguard 2/cavalier 2
LE Medium undead (augmented)
Init +12; Senses darkvision 60 ft; Listen +12, Spot +12
Languages Common, Draconic
------------
AC 33, touch 15, flat-footed 30; dodge
(+10 armor, +8 natural armor, +2 deflection, +3 Dex)
Hit Points 100 (10 HD, corpsecrafter feats); DR 10/silver and magic; fast healing 5
Resists +8 turn resistance (18 HD); resist cold 10, resist electricity 10
Immune undead immunities
Fort +12, Ref +14, Will +13
------------
Speed 30 ft in armor (40 ft unarmored)
Melee bastard sword +19 (1d10+13 plus poison) or
Melee lance +20 (1d8+13 plus energy drain 2 levels) or
Melee spirited charge w/lance +20 (3d8+51 plus energy drain 6 levels) (includes power attack -2) or
(additional 2d8+34 plus energy drain 4 levels on critical)
Melee doom charge w/lance +23 (4d8+84 plus energy drain 8 levels) (includes smite, deadly charge, power attack -3) or
(additional 2d8+42 plus energy drain 4 levels on critical)
Melee slam +18 (1d6+8 plus energy drain 2 levels) or
Melee shattering strike w/sword +25/+20 (1d10+31/19-20) (includes power attack -5 and momentum swing +15) and
Melee sundering cleave w/sword +14/+9 (1d10+28 plus poison/19-20) (includes power attack -5 and momentum swing +15)
Space 5 ft; Reach 5 ft (10 ft with lance)
Base Atk +10; Grp +18
Combat Options power attack, cleave, ride-by attack, improved sunder, advancing blows, sundering cleave, momentum swing, combat reflexes, protect mount, spirited charge, poison use
Special Actions smite 1/day, deadly charge 1/day, children of the night 1/day, dominate (DC 18; CL 12), spider climb, gaseous form
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 2nd)
At will --- detect good
Blackguard Spells (CL 2nd)
1 --- corrupt weapon, strategic charge
Combat Gear 2 doses wyvern poison (DC 19, 2d6 Con/2d6 Con)
------------
SA blood drain, create spawn
Abilities Str 26, Dex 18, Con --, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 18
Feats Improved Toughness, Weapon Focus (lance), Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, Spirited Charge, Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Sunder, Combat Brute, Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes
Skills Bluff +12, Handle Animal +9, Hide +18, Listen +12, Jump +18, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +9, Knowledge (religion) +3, Move Silently +12, Ride +20, Search +9, Sense Motive +10, Spot +12
Possessions mithral full plate +2, +1 cold iron necrotic focus lance, +1 adamantine shatterspike bastard sword, ring of pales (+2 deflection bonus to AC, +2 resistance bonus to saves)


And his mount

Fiendish Wyvern Mount CR 10
LE Huge dragon (augmented, extraplanar)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft, low-light vision, scent; Listen +13, Spot +16
Languages Draconic
------------
AC 19; touch 8, flat-footed 19; DR 5/silver; protect mount +20 1/round
(-2 Size, +11 natural armor)
SR 14
Hit Points 81 (9HD)
Resist cold 10, fire 10
Immune sleep, paralysis
Fort +10, Ref +6, Will +7
------------
Speed 20 ft; fly 60 ft (poor)
Melee sting +16 (1d8+4 plus poison) or
Melee talon +16 (3d6+4) or
Melee charging smite with talon +18 (3d6+13) or
Melee bite +16 (3d8+4) or
Melee sting +16 (1d8+9 plus poison) and bite +14 (3d8+9) and 2 wings +14 (2d6+4) and 2 talons +14 (3d6+9)
Space 15 ft; Reach 10 ft
Base Atk +9; Grp +26
Combat Actions improved grab, smite 1/day
------------
SA improved grab, poison, smite
Abilities Str 28, Dex 10, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 9
Feats Ability Focus (poison), Alertness, Flyby Attack, Improved Toughness, Multiattack
Skills Hide +4, Listen +13, Move Silently +12, Spot +16
------------
Improved Grab (Ex) To use this ability, a wyvern must hit with its talons. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and stings.
Poison (Ex) Injury, Fortitude DC 19, initial and secondary damage 2d6 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Smite (Ex) Once per day the wyvern can make a normal melee attack and deal +9 damage.


Mounted or dismounted, he's an unholy terror. He can put out enough damage to drop a PC in one round, several times per encounter. Tip: use the doom charge on the cleric, to get all that pesky turning and healing out of commission. Precast corrupt weapon on the sword and use strategic charge to get at the clothies, where you can use power attack to maximum effectiveness against their poor AC and hp totals. If attacked by strong melee fighters, sunder their weapons using the adamantine shatterspike bastard sword in a two-handed grip, use sundering cleave to smack them for a righteous amount of damage in the same action, then give an evil laugh and go back to butchering the clothies.

The first time my players ran into this guy, he dropped two of them in two rounds and then casually walked off. The next time they saw him, he doom charged the cleric and the rest of them dimension door-ed out and ran for the hills.

I didn't have Dungeonscape when I made this guy, but now that I do, Dungeoncrasher would be the perfect ACF for his fighter levels, since it combos nicely with Combat Brute.

Myou
2009-09-13, 02:45 PM
Below is an excerpt from a vampire knight in a campaign I ran a few years ago. The build is a little different from what you're looking for (no fallen paladin levels), but perhaps you can mine it for good ideas.

The Knight (large stat block)

Valentin Velkov CR 14
male vampire fighter 6/blackguard 2/cavalier 2
LE Medium undead (augmented)
Init +12; Senses darkvision 60 ft; Listen +12, Spot +12
Languages Common, Draconic
------------
AC 33, touch 15, flat-footed 30; dodge
(+10 armor, +8 natural armor, +2 deflection, +3 Dex)
Hit Points 100 (10 HD, corpsecrafter feats); DR 10/silver and magic; fast healing 5
Resists +8 turn resistance (18 HD); resist cold 10, resist electricity 10
Immune undead immunities
Fort +12, Ref +14, Will +13
------------
Speed 30 ft in armor (40 ft unarmored)
Melee bastard sword +19 (1d10+13 plus poison) or
Melee lance +20 (1d8+13 plus energy drain 2 levels) or
Melee spirited charge w/lance +20 (3d8+51 plus energy drain 6 levels) (includes power attack -2) or
(additional 2d8+34 plus energy drain 4 levels on critical)
Melee doom charge w/lance +23 (4d8+84 plus energy drain 8 levels) (includes smite, deadly charge, power attack -3) or
(additional 2d8+42 plus energy drain 4 levels on critical)
Melee slam +18 (1d6+8 plus energy drain 2 levels) or
Melee shattering strike w/sword +25/+20 (1d10+31/19-20) (includes power attack -5 and momentum swing +15) and
Melee sundering cleave w/sword +14/+9 (1d10+28 plus poison/19-20) (includes power attack -5 and momentum swing +15)
Space 5 ft; Reach 5 ft (10 ft with lance)
Base Atk +10; Grp +18
Combat Options power attack, cleave, ride-by attack, improved sunder, advancing blows, sundering cleave, momentum swing, combat reflexes, protect mount, spirited charge, poison use
Special Actions smite 1/day, deadly charge 1/day, children of the night 1/day, dominate (DC 18; CL 12), spider climb, gaseous form
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 2nd)
At will --- detect good
Blackguard Spells (CL 2nd)
1 --- corrupt weapon, strategic charge
Combat Gear 2 doses wyvern poison (DC 19, 2d6 Con/2d6 Con)
------------
SA blood drain, create spawn
Abilities Str 26, Dex 18, Con --, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 18
Feats Improved Toughness, Weapon Focus (lance), Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, Spirited Charge, Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Sunder, Combat Brute, Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes
Skills Bluff +12, Handle Animal +9, Hide +18, Listen +12, Jump +18, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +9, Knowledge (religion) +3, Move Silently +12, Ride +20, Search +9, Sense Motive +10, Spot +12
Possessions mithral full plate +2, +1 cold iron necrotic focus lance, +1 adamantine shatterspike bastard sword, ring of pales (+2 deflection bonus to AC, +2 resistance bonus to saves)


And his mount

Fiendish Wyvern Mount CR 10
LE Huge dragon (augmented, extraplanar)
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft, low-light vision, scent; Listen +13, Spot +16
Languages Draconic
------------
AC 19; touch 8, flat-footed 19; DR 5/silver; protect mount +20 1/round
(-2 Size, +11 natural armor)
SR 14
Hit Points 81 (9HD)
Resist cold 10, fire 10
Immune sleep, paralysis
Fort +10, Ref +6, Will +7
------------
Speed 20 ft; fly 60 ft (poor)
Melee sting +16 (1d8+4 plus poison) or
Melee talon +16 (3d6+4) or
Melee charging smite with talon +18 (3d6+13) or
Melee bite +16 (3d8+4) or
Melee sting +16 (1d8+9 plus poison) and bite +14 (3d8+9) and 2 wings +14 (2d6+4) and 2 talons +14 (3d6+9)
Space 15 ft; Reach 10 ft
Base Atk +9; Grp +26
Combat Actions improved grab, smite 1/day
------------
SA improved grab, poison, smite
Abilities Str 28, Dex 10, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 9
Feats Ability Focus (poison), Alertness, Flyby Attack, Improved Toughness, Multiattack
Skills Hide +4, Listen +13, Move Silently +12, Spot +16
------------
Improved Grab (Ex) To use this ability, a wyvern must hit with its talons. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and stings.
Poison (Ex) Injury, Fortitude DC 19, initial and secondary damage 2d6 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Smite (Ex) Once per day the wyvern can make a normal melee attack and deal +9 damage.


Mounted or dismounted, he's an unholy terror. He can put out enough damage to drop a PC in one round, several times per encounter. Tip: use the doom charge on the cleric, to get all that pesky turning and healing out of commission. Precast corrupt weapon on the sword and use strategic charge to get at the clothies, where you can use power attack to maximum effectiveness against their poor AC and hp totals. If attacked by strong melee fighters, sunder their weapons using the adamantine shatterspike bastard sword in a two-handed grip, use sundering cleave to smack them for a righteous amount of damage in the same action, then give an evil laugh and go back to butchering the clothies.

The first time my players ran into this guy, he dropped two of them in two rounds and then casually walked off. The next time they saw him, he doom charged the cleric and the rest of them dimension door-ed out and ran for the hills.

I didn't have Dungeonscape when I made this guy, but now that I do, Dungeoncrasher would be the perfect ACF for his fighter levels, since it combos nicely with Combat Brute.

Thanks for such great detail!

Mounted combat isn't an option, since she'll be attacking the players in a claustrophobic castle, but this gives me a good idea of what to try to do. :3

As a new DM I suck at making melee characters.

jiriku
2009-09-13, 03:03 PM
Hmm, a blackguard mount won't be useful indoors. There are some good ACF's for paladin in Complete Champion and PHB 2 that let you trade the mount for a variety of other special abilities. I think you could very reasonably take one of those at blackguard 5 instead of the fiendish servant. Underdark Knight (CC) grants fast movement, earth glide, and dimension door. Smiting Charge (PHB2) triples the bonus damage on a smite when charging, and conserves the smite if you whiff the attack roll.

Myou
2009-09-13, 03:23 PM
Hmm, a blackguard mount won't be useful indoors. There are some good ACF's for paladin in Complete Champion and PHB 2 that let you trade the mount for a variety of other special abilities. I think you could very reasonably take one of those at blackguard 5 instead of the fiendish servant. Underdark Knight (CC) grants fast movement, earth glide, and dimension door. Smiting Charge (PHB2) triples the bonus damage on a smite when charging, and conserves the smite if you whiff the attack roll.

Oooh, excellent! Thanks!