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Benejeseret
2010-03-05, 12:21 AM
Having recently played through Overlord yet again I am itching to remake an overlord in DnD.

Here is my first attempt, please edit and suggest:


Base Class: A modified Animal Focus Druid Variant as if mixed with Beastmaster

Alignment: Non-Good
Combat: Fighter Rogue
Good Save: Fort, Will
Hit-Die: d8
Armor: Medium and shields (but: living organism killed in its crafting)Padded, Leather, Hide, Shield (wood only)
Weapons: All Simple and Martial WeaponsClub, Dagger, Dart,
Quarterstaff, Scimitar, Short Spear, Sickle, Sling


Skill Points: 4
Swim. Dex: Ride. Con: Concentration. Craft, Know(naturedungeoneering), Spellcraft. Heal, Listen, Profession, Spot, Survival. Diplomacy, Handle Animal. Intimidate, Gather Information (torture?)


Lvl1
Cast Prepared Divine Wisdom-based spells from Druid list but only at 1/2 druid progression.

Spontaneously convert Druid spells into Summon Nature’s Ally Minions spells

Animal Companion Nature Sense Wild Empathy Focused Animal Minions

Lvl 4
Resist Nature's Lures Loss of Empathy (+4 bonus saving throws against enchantments)

Lvl5
Infestation - Your minions take up residence in an abandoned tower/mansion or suitable lair. Treat this as if the Overlord gains a Stronghold, but of low quality and in complete disrepair.

Lvl 6
Brown Boost (minions +3)

Lvl 8
Mistress - The Overlord gains a modified Leadership Feat as a bonus feat. The Mistress companion, once obtained, does not leave the Stronghold and manages her lords affairs from there. She will assist in defense of the Stronghold. In return, the Overlord is considered to have 1.5x the number of normal followers (mostly minions) working for his growing empire.

Lvl 9
Gain Reds (minions -0)

Lvl 10
Infestation (repaired) - The Overlords Dark Domain has been rebuilt by the minions. He is now in possession of a fortified symbol of power and wealth.

Lvl 12
Venon Immunity, Gain Greens (minions -3)

Lvl 15
Gain Blues (minions -6)

Netherworld - The Overlord's Stronghold through ritual and sacrifice tears away from the prime plane to form its own pocket dimension. The Overlord and minions may freely move back and forth - but only to a few set locations on the prime plane.

Lvl 20
Netherworld Domination - The Netherworld Stronghold is now a massive dimension of minion burrows and powerful towers. The Overlord can open gates to and from the Netherworld at whim (as if by Gate, but cannot Call Creatures) to the Netherworld from anywhere and may return from the Netherworld to any place on any plane he wishes.




Spells - Just like Druid in advancement and number. Cannot cast [Good] spells. 1/2 Druid Progression.

Minions - The Overlord gains minions and can control more over time. All minions are treated as Hordes (Horde Template) of an appropriate CR according to Overlord Level

This follows the premise that normal druid advancement generally follows CR 1/2/4/5/7/9 average advancement at lvls 1/4/7/10/13/16 as a guideline (but then we take the focus animal base example and beastmaster into account)

Horde - Template linked here:
http://www.alcarin.com/castle/monsters/horde.php
Note* Luck in Numbers is a Free Action

Browns - Start as a Horde of Minions (goblin warriors) and begins with 3 Browns.
Lvl1(3) Lvl2(5) Lvl3(7) Lvl4(9) Lvl5(11) Lvl6(11 - Elite Array) Lvl7(14) Lvl8(17) Lvl9(17-Fighters) Lvl10(20) Lvl11(23) Lvl12(26) Lvl13(29) Lvl14(32) Lvl15(35) Lvl16(38) Lvl17(41) Lvl18(44 - Lvl2Fighters) Lvl19(47) Lvl20(50)

Reds - At level 9 Overlord gains Reds (Goblin lvl1 Warlocks - modified Blast)
Lvl9(4) Lvl10(6) Lvl11(8) Lvl12(10) Lvl13(12) Lvl14(14) Lvl15(16) Lvl16(16 - Fire Elemental Creature Template) Lvl17(18) Lvl18(20) Lvl19(22) Lvl20(24)
- Brimestone Blast (least) Eldrich Blast does [fire] damage and RefSave to avoid catching fire for 1d4 damage the next round.

Greens - at level 12 Overlord gains Greens (Goblin Arachinoid Template Rogues)
Lvl12(2) Lvl13(3) Lvl14(4) Lvl15(5) Lcl16(6) Lvl17(7) Lvl18(8) Lvl19(9) Lvl20(10)

Blues - At level 15 Overlord gains Blues (Goblin

JoshuaZ
2010-03-05, 12:38 AM
Do you need a base class for this?

A psychic warrior with levels in thrallherd might replicate it. Or maybe just take leadership and customize the followers appropriately? A warblade with leadership seems like a decent approximation.

Realms of Chaos
2010-03-05, 12:48 AM
Nah, he's been playing that Overlords video-game. Normal human and elf companions aren't enough for him.

He wants specialized demon companions that each have some sort of strength or weakness that he can summon in any combination to deal with situations without getting his own hands dirty. At least that's what I understand of the video game (but I only know of it from Zero Punctuation so my info may not be accurate).

That said, why base this class on a druid? Your aims seem better suited by creating a class that creates minions rather than one that gets 9th level spells. You really don't need both built into a single base class.

JoshuaZ
2010-03-05, 12:55 AM
Nah, he's been playing that Overlords video-game. Normal human and elf companions aren't enough for him.

He wants specialized demon companions that each have some sort of strength or weakness that he can summon in any combination to deal with situations without getting his own hands dirty. At least that's what I understand of the video game (but I only know of it from Zero Punctuation so my info may not be accurate).

That said, why base this class on a druid? Your aims seem better suited by creating a class that creates minions rather than one that gets 9th level spells. You really don't need both built into a single base class.

Ok. Maybe take a variant then of the Ultimate Conjurer (http://www.liquidmateria.info/wiki/Ultimate_Conjurer) and put more emphasis on summoning nasties? Knock out the familiar related stuff, remove arcane spell-failure, add proficiencies with armor and the like, and replace the Familiar ability with something else? Maybe fighter bonus feats?

Edit: It looks like you have less actual combat yourself and primarily minions in which case Ultimate Conjurer should work very well.

The Tygre
2010-03-05, 12:57 AM
Indeed. You'd be better off taking a crack at an original class. I'd like it. :smallsmile:

Benejeseret
2010-03-05, 11:55 AM
I'll throw down some of my assumptions/reasoning and see if I sway anyone:

1. I started with a base template to work from as this is my first homebrew - makes it easier to structure and balance if tweaking and refluffing rather then righting from scratch

2. I strongly considered Leadership but have that up as I wanted the main focus of the concept available right from lvl1. I might rework a variant leadership into the base character

3. Why Druid? Well, if you completely ignore all druid fluff it looks something like this:

a. weapon/armour = Overlord is not a total slacker in melee and he does wear armour so some level of gish required (druid or cleric suites)

b. Minions = I wanted something permanent, not 60 second blips, so a variant companion comes to mind. Familiars are generally too weak so this left me with druid as a base comparison as it gives an easy CR by Lvl baseline

c. Spells = the Overlord has them. But, he is not a ZOMGBBQ!!! type of caster...he just has some spells of mediocre combat effectiveness.

d. Shapeshifting? = No. So a druid variant like Focused Animal from Dragon Magazine is great as it makes the companion/minions the focus and drops shifting entirely.

e. A focused animal druid10/beastmaster10 (if 10/10) ends up with 1/2 casting, and FOUR companions the main set as if a druid lvl of 25 roughly equal to CR ~13-15 for the main, CR ~9 for the second, third CR ~7, fourth CR ~5.

This so naturally fits the four minion types from Overlord that I felt it calling to me.

I have updated the post above