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View Full Version : [E6/PF/3.x] -Emergency Help!- BBEG Lich Build



WeeFreeMen
2010-08-14, 01:14 AM
Evening all!
To put it simply, I am running a spur of the moment campaign and I need a BBEG FAST!!

I am building every other aspect of the campaign, however, Id love to see the board show some of their stuff and to this honor I give to thee, my BBEG.

He MUST!
-be undead commander based (think OotS, Necro)
-Must be E6
-Must use Core+Completes+PF
-HES GESTALT!! (I was thinking Cleric 6//Something)

He has 12 feats to play around with.
We can also use other books like Libris mortis if need be.

If more info be needed I will fill in the gaps, sorry to breeze thru this. In a bit of a rush ;]

Thanks all for your help in advance! :D

Mongoose87
2010-08-14, 01:26 AM
How do you guys do LA?

Rixx
2010-08-14, 01:29 AM
There's no level adjustment in Pathfinder - templates (such as Lich) just have a CR adjustment.

WeeFreeMen
2010-08-14, 01:51 AM
As of E6, all base races are Human. Save some Dwarfs for the sake of Dwarfiness.

As for our group, we aren't so picky. Templates I don't care about so long as it fits into the 6. Keep in mind tho.. I don't want Cheddar.. mild opt-fu is ok.

WinWin
2010-08-14, 02:18 AM
Spellstiched Necropolitan Human Cleric/Dread Necromancer. Take the corpsecrafter line of feats and have him sit back and buff minions while they fight the PC's. Spell Compenium and LM has some thematic spells.

Craft Wonderous Items would allow for some spellstiched minions.

Undead leadership would give a large supply of mooks to control in addition to the turn/CL limit. Some mooks might just be Intelligent Spellstiched Necropolitan commoners, others could be ghouls and the like.

Be wary of adding too many incorporeals to his available minions unless the PC's have means to deal with them.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-08-14, 03:16 AM
I'd go Dread Necromancer 6// Swordsage 6, trade his Dread Necro martial weapon proficiency for Improved Unarmed Strike to get Ascetic Mage from Complete Adventurer. That will allow him to wear light armor and still cast spells, and he'll get his Cha bonus to AC which should be his only important stat. Give him Versatile Spellcaster, which will allow him to use two spell slots to cast any spell he knows of one level higher. This means he could even use two 3rd-level spell slots to cast a 4th level spell like Animate Dead. Arcane Disciple for the Evil domain will give him Desecrate, a very necessary spell, and he could use Versatile Spellcaster to cast Unholy Blight. I'd also give him Combat Reflexes and Hold the Line (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#holdTheLine) for use with his paralyzing touch. Be sure to give him Craft Wondrous Item to have created his phylactery. Give him a Cloak of Turn Resistance with +6 Charisma added to it as per MIC. Swordsage maneuvers and stances should focus on Shadow Hand and Diamond Mind, and be sure to get Mind Over Body. Weapon Finesse would also probably be a good choice for him.

Consider creating an E6 capstone feat for Dread Necromancers which grants the Familiar and Undead Mastery class features. Also consider the Corpsecrafter line of spells in Libris Mortis, particularly Destruction Retribution so his throw-away minions will serve a greater purpose. Be sure to apply the benefits of that line of feats as well as Desecrate with an evil alter present and Undead Mastery to his own stats, as he did turn himself into a lich after all. His Familiar should be a Ghostly Visage, which will always be possessing him and will manifest over his face in combat to use its paralyzing gaze, plus it can use its action every round to focus the gaze on someone to make them save again or be paralyzed.

For his items, consider the following: Phylactery of Undead Turning (adapted for rebuking, also doubles as a decoy for his actual phylactery), Scepter of the Netherworld, Mace of the Dark Children, Rod of Defiance (purely for using Rebuke to gain control of powerful minions, it will never be active with living enemies present), Talisman of Undead Mastery, and Circlet of Persuasion (turning checks are Cha-based checks). Note that unless any of the PCs are undead, these items will have little impact on combat apart from Bolster Undead. He'll probably only bolster himself and his most valued lieutenants anyway, none of which you want going down in a single turn anyway. If any PCs have the Sun domain and a similar collection of items their battle with him may only last a single round.

He should have plenty of animated minions, especially if he has Destruction Retribution. His lair should include sand or loose dirt or fallen leaves covering the ground, with low HD zombies hiding beneath. When the PCs approach his minions crawl out, surrounding them. Any Cleric in the party is sure to turn them, which causes them to explode and deal damage to the characters while healing those that didn't get turned. They could also be lurking on ledges and balconies high up, and jump down to surround the PCs, incurring a few meaningless dice of falling damage. Flying zombies also work, such as birds and bats. He could have also use his Rebuke Undead ability to command unique and powerful undead creatures he wouldn't have been able to create himself. Depending on how many of which of the above items you gave him, he could have some very powerful creatures under his control.

At level 6 he can command 3 HD creatures. Every +2 to his level is another +1 HD any given minion could have. For example, with a Phylactery of Undead Rebuking (+4 levels) he'd be considered 10th level, for minions of up to 5 HD. Improved Turning with a Scepter of the Netherworld is another +4 levels combined. Talisman of Undead Mastery is another +4 levels 1/day, which is as often as he'd go looking for minions to control. All of those combined is an effective level of 18 for rebuking undead, so he could command creatures of up to 9 HD. With a Rod of Defiance creatures are treated as 4 HD lower for turn/rebuke checks, so he could have creatures of up to 13 HD under his control. The Mace of the Dark Children and Circlet of Persuasion are only there for actual rebuking, which he probably won't do anyway so it likely won't matter. Note that he can have only as many HD of undead under his control via Rebuke Undead as he has levels, which is up to you whether to count only his actual levels or his effective level for Rebuking, and whether or not to count Turn Resistance against this limit. Ideally he'd be considered 18th level and turn resistance wouldn't count.

For his Rebuked minions, I'd give him a Bloneclaw (MM3, 10 HD), a Vampire Spawn (4 HD), and a Goliath Fighter 4 Tainted Minion (HoH, 4 HD). None of these would gain the benefits of any of his Corpsecrafter feats or Undead Mastery class feature, though any could have arisen within a Desecrate spell with an evil altar present. The Goliath Fighter 4 should have Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Knockback (RoS), Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, and Knock-Down (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown), with the Dungeoncrasher ACF from Dungeonscape, and remember he gets two bonus feats for his taint (HoH p67). He should be using a two-handed weapon, I'd make it something bludgeoning, and every time he hits his target will likely get knocked prone and driven back into an obstacle for extra damage. They'll have to spend a move action to get up and another move action to get back into melee, wasting their turn. He should try to knock everyone to within reach of the Boneclaw so it gets to AoO them for moving, and threat of another AoO will discourage them from getting back up. The Vampire Spawn should stand near the lich and use its Domination ability on anyone within range as often as possible. Anyone nearby who's attacking it or the lich who has shaken off domination attempts should be flanked by the vampire and a dominated minion and attacked by its level draining slam. After a few negative levels it should try to dominate them again, or the lich can paralyze them.

As for the lich, he should first drop a Desecrate, hopefully prior to combat, and then focus on debuffing the opponents as hard as he can. Blindness on anyone lightly armored and/or wearing a spell component pouch, Ray of Enfeeblement and Ray of Exhaustion on anyone swinging a two-handed weapon, Summon Swarm on opponents with holy symbols, Unholy Blight on as many as he can hit, etc. He can also use Summon Undead to get additional meat shields, best to get bugbear zombies or owlbear skeletons or ogre zombies. His familiar would be focusing its gaze attack on anyone who gets near, and he could use his paralyzing touch on whoever gets close enough. His lieutenants should focus on keeping foes away from him and keeping them separated. There should be plenty of his exploding zombies present, and have more show up a few at a time periodically.

This is a very, very brutal encounter. PCs will have to be powerful and extremely resourceful just to survive. If there are fewer than six characters in the party I'd have some NPCs go with them, but nobody who's capable of stealing the show.

WeeFreeMen
2010-08-14, 12:14 PM
~ Stuff ~


Thank you sir, you have saved the day.

true_shinken
2010-08-14, 01:21 PM
I'd go Dread Necromancer 6// Swordsage 6, trade his Dread Necro martial weapon proficiency for Improved Unarmed Strike to get Ascetic Mage from Complete Adventurer.

Wait, what? You can't do that. Everyone is proficient with their own unarmed strikes, for starters. Dread Necromancer grants proficiency in a martial weapon. Improved Unarmed Strike is a separate feat, you'd have to take it normally.

hamishspence
2010-08-14, 01:46 PM
Wait, what? You can't do that. Everyone is proficient with their own unarmed strikes, for starters.

They are? In which case, why all the complaints about monks not being proficient with unarmed strikes?

true_shinken
2010-08-14, 02:02 PM
They are? In which case, why all the complaints about monks not being proficient with unarmed strikes?
That's the whole point, really. Improved Unarmed Strike does not grant proficiency in unarmed strikes.
The proposed build however is proficient with simple weapons therefore is proficient with unarmed strikes.

Glimbur
2010-08-14, 02:26 PM
Wait, what? You can't do that. Everyone is proficient with their own unarmed strikes, for starters. Dread Necromancer grants proficiency in a martial weapon. Improved Unarmed Strike is a separate feat, you'd have to take it normally.

You could just go Unarmed Swordsage instead. Dread Necro gets you the lost light armor proficiency.

true_shinken
2010-08-16, 09:13 AM
You could just go Unarmed Swordsage instead. Dread Necro gets you the lost light armor proficiency.

Yeah, that would work.