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Balor01
2010-08-22, 02:08 PM
Hi guys,

I am making a sort-of-a-joke character (barbarian) who I have constructed a bit after Guts from Berserk. Point is, that PCs in my campaign did some seriously evil deeds and I want to make them laugh first, make them worried second and downright "strangle" as the end of campaign. (It is a dark end, but also a dark campaign).
The dealer of the end is a small boy named Guts whose' sister PCs killed (flaying, amputations, sacrificing are all their type of work) and this kid wants Berserk-like revenge. Meaning, charging the enemies and smiting them until not a single one stands. He will first appear as lvl 1 char, then after a few sessions as lvl 2, then three ... until he will exceed party's' CR so much, he will make full TPK and thus, end a campaign.
Now, my PCs are smart. They will beat the guy to a pulp (he will stabilize, heal and follow them, only to gain some more lvls re-track them and re-charge them) After they kill him, he will reappear, until they are all dead (being LE and NE, that's not really a problem) but I think that after a while, the PCs will decide to put an end to ongoing menace, by decapitating him, burning his body, etc ...
I would like some nice ideas how to sweep him away "in the very last moment". You know, like those cliches, when the hero falls off a cliff and lives, etc. I was also thinking regeneration, but decapitation and burning or imprisonment might do the trick.

So - any ideas, how to make sure our guy is swept out of harms way several times? He could be a ghost, I guess but that's hardly awesome.

It is also low-lvl campaign.

SurlySeraph
2010-08-22, 02:40 PM
Giving him Toughness and Troll-Blooded (http://www.realmshelps.org/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Troll_Blooded) as his initial feats will make him hard to kill. Being a Crusader (Tome of Battle class) with Stone Power would help, and gaining a Half-Golem template (as discussed here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-128573.html)) will make him more dangerous and more of a pain in the ass to kill.

As for making sure he survives, that's what DM fiat is for. The spell that would kill him knocks him off a cliff. Some wizard found him severely burned by the side of the road after the PCs are through with him and turned him into a half-golem. Whatever you say happens.

Also, making him have a final appearance as a ghost would be fairly awesome. Though if he was brought back as an evil undead to help your players out, they might like that even better.

MightyTim
2010-08-22, 02:41 PM
Sounds like what you need is to carefully pick the situations where he'll appear and ensure that they're encounters that the PCs don't have enough time/luxury to fully defeat him if you want him to live to fight another day.

Off the top of my head:

If the PCs are giving chase to someone important and he shows up and delays them, staying around to beat a random NPC into the ground shouldn't be high on their priority list.

Maybe once he shows up during a large-scale encounter and in the heat of battle, the PC's shift focus to some of the other NPCs they're fighting and loose sight of him (giving a chance for a hasty retreat).

Having a recurring 'villain' NPC is a fun idea, but don't run it into the ground. After the third time he gets beaten to a pulp by your characters, the novelty is going to wear off. What you can do, however, is make some of his appearances be behind the scenes. They don't all have to be: He shows up, they fight him, he loses, but by a smaller margin than before, and runs away. Sounds like you're running a pretty dark campaign, but if the PCs have any family or friends that they want to protect, just have this guy show up and hurt/kill those close to the PCs. Something like this turns a NPC from 'annoyance' to 'antagonist' pretty quickly, and depending on the competence of the people you have him kill could help chart his own growth in strength without trying to find another deus ex machina to keep him from being finished off in a fair fight.

herrhauptmann
2010-08-22, 03:11 PM
What level is the party? If they're too high a level, then level 1 Guts would die and go straight to -20HP after a single hit, let alone a full round attack.

I'd also suggest against using the name 'Guts'. Japanese language manga, with an english word for a name, isn't too bad. But english language story with an english word for aname, on the otherhand is a bit odd. It'd be like having a story about a runner named 'Feet'.
Perhaps the word 'guts' translated into a different language.

Balor01
2010-08-23, 04:26 AM
Party is lvl 4, but will probably grow to lvl 6.

TheAzrael
2010-08-23, 10:02 AM
he has made a deal with a greater being in order to have his revenge. this deal lets him resurect at a cost ( pick something to fit your idea of Guts). There is a spell from the pact domain that has this effect at a cost of 1 con me thinks buts its been a while. also nice template to add is mineral warrior, feral. lastly since he will be fighting them alone frenzy berserker sounds just right.... if you manage to reach the point where as long as frenzy last you cant die from damage that would be very frightening and guts like but more likely you wont be able to reach that level.

Reis Tahlen
2010-08-23, 11:51 AM
I would do the reverse: make Guts very, VERY powerfull at the beginning, and arrange for the PCs, not him, to survive (thanks to their wits, luck, deus ex machina, etc...), and slowly decrease his "power level" until the end, were the epic battle takes place.

I did this with another campaign: one of the PC killed a woman, whose child became berserk-mad and sook revenge upon the party.

First encounter was: "Hey, I remember you! You're the momma's boy who... What are you doing?! Leave me!! NO STOP IT DOESN'T BEND THAT WAY!!!! OH GOD NOW IT DOES!!!", and survived trough deus ex machina.

Second encounter, they saw him, he saws them, and it was a beautiful chase troughout the city, and they escaped with a pretty brilliant plan, and near death injuries.

Third encounter, he was in the background, but sheer terror was all that was in my PCs' mind.

And so on, and so on... until the final epic battle, with super-powerfull PCs, versus ubber-powerfull NPC.

And the most beautiful thing? They won the battle, but due to circumstances, they'll be never sure the guy is dead.

Of course, he wasn't, but that is another story.

Prime32
2010-08-23, 12:30 PM
Giving him Toughness and Troll-Blooded (http://www.realmshelps.org/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Troll_Blooded) as his initial feats will make him hard to kill. Being a Crusader (Tome of Battle class) with Stone Power would help, and gaining a Half-Golem template (as discussed here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-128573.html)) will make him more dangerous and more of a pain in the ass to kill.For Troll-Blooded, make sure he has some way to ignore fatigue. Like warforged race or this feat (http://www.realmshelps.org/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Tireless).