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View Full Version : the death metal bard BBEG. (3.5)



heymejack
2010-09-19, 10:57 PM
my group has always thought of bards as lame/weak. now I'm DMing, and my instinct is to turn their preconceptions against them, and kill them with a bad___ evil bard. today I was at work and the cooks were listening to some hard, hard metal, and inspiration struck: the death metal bard.

she plays a magically amplified instrument (intelligent lute or violin, permanent shout for amplifcation?) she raises the dead (dread necromancer, pale master, dirgesinger?) she is beautiful, evil, and not to be trifled with. and she's taking over.

i've looked around a little, and the best ideas seem to come from Eldariel in this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152344) thread. kudos, friend, but that was a little while ago, and i'm starting a new one here.

I want a evil woman whose beautiful music strikes fear deep in the hearts of her enemies and inspires the dead to disobey the laws of nature and rise from their graves to destroy the living. i want her to be so beautiful (and diplomatic) that the benevolent king of a lawful good nation throws himself at her feet and begs for the opportunity to have his armies fight her battles. she is selfish, and greedy, and wants nothing more than for every living, sentient being on the planet to bow at her feet, even if she has to kill every single one of them to make it happen. and she plays/sings so beautifully that everyone within hearing distance is either enraptured or falls to the ground and begs for for mercy from their worst nightmares, which are only real in their minds.

build ideas?

PinkysBrain
2010-09-19, 11:06 PM
For Spellcasting bard builds only spell choice matters really, but there is one non spellcasting bard build which is okay ...

Bard 5/Dirge Singer 5/Seeker of the Song 10

heymejack
2010-09-19, 11:08 PM
never heard of seeker of the song, what's that from?

Mikeavelli
2010-09-19, 11:09 PM
Consider giving her levels of Exemplar (From Complete Adventurer) which allows you to use any other skill in place of Diplomacy, then twink out Performance so every use of it diplomances NPC's into being fanatically loyal to her.

Of course, you can just use DM fiat to do the same thing, or normal diplomacy, but this is for mechanical suggestions.

If you want her to overlap with seductress, you can have many of her allies be her children. I once ran a memorable adventure that featured antagonistic half-everything-they've-got-a-template-for-and-a-few-they-don't NPC's, and kept hinting and suggesting and the Players never "got it" until they met the BBEG and they realized this one guy was the father of all those things.

The look on my players faces was priceless, especially since they'd faced things like Half-golems and Half-Illithid...

----

Bonus metal points if you feature Dethklok as Death Metal Bards, too.

PinkysBrain
2010-09-19, 11:14 PM
never heard of seeker of the song, what's that from?
Complete Arcane, it basically just progresses songs (with some extra song attack options). Because Dirge Singer will kill your spellcasting progression any way it's a nice companion.

heymejack
2010-09-19, 11:33 PM
not sure how i feel about killing my spell progression.

can she still have an army of undead without spell progression?

i do, however, want her to be more bard than cleric or whatever it is, so it can't be bard1/otherstuff19. is there a way to keep it bardy without sacrificing toooo much spellcasting?

oh wait, sublime chord. plus, fluffyness: all her spells are cast through song. sorc/spontaneous casting?.

Nanoblack
2010-09-19, 11:47 PM
Definitely go dirgesinger and maybe take leadership so you can have bandmates. As for the amplified sound? Use an illusion spell, any that says it can have a volume of up to whatever will do. Dirgesinger really covers all of your other bases, seeker of the song is just a bonus.

Ryu_Bonkosi
2010-09-19, 11:55 PM
I recommend Virtuoso. There are two versions, one in Complete Adventurer and one here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20011207).

JaxGaret
2010-09-20, 12:44 AM
Check this thread out:

Badass BBEG Bard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72882)

The White Knight
2010-09-20, 07:38 AM
If you want to beat some Bardic Respect into your players, I'd be cautious of adding some powerful custom magic item to the mix.

Alternatively, you could just show them this picture (credit (http://noah-kh.deviantart.com/)):
http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs5/i/2004/281/c/5/_bride_of_lucifer__by_noah_kh.jpg

KitTheOdd
2010-09-20, 07:46 AM
One idea, which may or may not work for you, is to play a changeling and take the 1st level rogue substitution level (Races of Eberron).

The social skill benefits would be great, and the changeling race might be a nice touch for the seductress aspect.

"You like blonds?" *poof*
"You like redheads?" *poof*
"You like bearded dwarf women?" *poof*

Lhurgyof
2010-09-20, 07:54 AM
Human Bard named Yngwie Malmsteen. Maxed out perform, uses his guitar as a weapon. (Make sure it's flaming)

And find some spell that melts faces, so he can do face-melting solos. xD

Or, if a singer, Ronnie James Dio. :smallbiggrin:

Edit:
Bonus metal points if you feature Dethklok as Death Metal Bards, too.

I played Skwisgaar once.

Shenanigans
2010-09-20, 02:50 PM
IIRC, there's a pretty sharp bard that's kind of like this in the Anauroch:The Empire of Shade Adventure. I think it's CR16 or something, but I remember it being an undead friendly (maybe even undead) bardish villain. It might be helpful to take a look at if you have access to the book.

Talon Sky
2010-09-20, 04:13 PM
I played Skwisgaar once.

Yous DMs alloweds half-god templates? Thats is so brutal. ;p

Optimator
2010-09-20, 04:15 PM
The last big campaign I ran had a Lich Bard 5 Dirgesinger 5 Stormsinger 9 as the BBEG. Worked fantastically. He flew around invisibly while buffing undead ninjas and debuffing the party, and whenever a living enemy dropped he'd revive them. The thunderbolts were pretty potent as well.

Thurbane
2010-09-20, 09:23 PM
I made a thread a while back about how to get into Prestige Bard with Dread Necromancer...may be useful: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161031