I'M the BBEG! Help!

[Ghotifish]

So my GM and I had an idea- a complete campaign from 1-20 where I end up being the BBEG.

Beyond the fact that I'm aware of this end confrontation, I will be ignorant of the plot line, so I'll still be genuinely playing the game.

I need help with a few things. I want to go Shapeshifting based Druid, so I was thinking about following Master of Many forms and Warshaper, but I could use some help beyond that. I'm not normally an optimizer, but GM wants me to do everything in my power short of pun-pun.

So I'm looking for tips and tricks and cheese. He said I'll probably get 1 of any magical item of my choosing (even artifact) so ideas for that would be nice.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Keld Denar]

If all you want to do is shapeshift, you'll probably be better off with a Simple Ranger chassis rather than druid. Druid gives you some 3rd level spells with a stranded caster level, while Simple Ranger gives you +2 to hit from BAB. From there, head into MoMF2 at LEAST. Once you take those 2 levels, you have a choice. 2 levels of Warshaper would be VERY valuable, but more levels of MoMF are also delicious. A good final build would look like Ranger5/MoMF10/Warshaper4/Nature'sWarrior1, but how you get there is up to you, really.

[gbprime]

Well MMF and Warshaper are not casting classes. If you want them, you're better off going with the Wildshape Ranger variant in UA.

But that gives up casting. And if you're going to be the BBEG until nearly level 20, you want full casting or you don't want to bother at all. At that point, you use Leadership and get a full caster lieutenant.

And if you're getting any item at all... go for something custom. as the BBEG, you need a way to exit stage left after your nefarious deeds. Using a Legacy Item or the Ancestral Relic feat, you could get one that scales as you level up. Starting with Gaseous Form, moving up through Displacement and Ethereal Jaunt, and eventually Greater Teleport.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Wild Shape Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#ranger) tends to work better than Druid for a MoMF build. You get considerably better BAB in the early levels, and you get the Endurance feat prerequisite for free.

Another option would be to play a Divine Minion (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20050209a), which for only a +1 LA gets to use Wild Shape at will as a free action. A Human Divine Minion could get Endurance and Alertness and take Master of Many Forms at level 1.

Note that both Wild Shape Ranger and Divine Minion are limited as to what they can Wild Shape into, but so is a Druid. MoMF expands on your current Wild Shape limitations regardless of what you qualify for it with. At MoMF 1 a Divine Minion could Wild Shape into his specific animal(s), or into any humanoid creature, up to the HD limit. Note that a Divine Minion's HD limit starts at 11, and you get +1 per level of MoMF as per errata. At MoMF 2 (ECL 3!) you could Wild Shape into any Small to Large Giant form of up to 13 HD, such as a Cave Troll (MM3).

Take the feats Aberration Blood and Aberration Wild Shape in Lords of Madness. For your artifact, get something that allows you to use one of the supernatural abilities of each aberration form you take, it allows your character to tap into his otherworldly heritage. With Divine Minion, you'll be able to do the following in a single round:
Wild Shape: Umber Hulk (free action), activate Confusion gaze (free action);
Wild Shape: Beholder (free action), use all of its eye rays (free action);
Wild Shape: Ethergaunt (Fiend Folio) (free action), activate Stupefying Gaze (free action), activate Enslave (standard action);
Wild Shape: Thought Slayer (free action), activate Mind-Consuming Gaze (free action), Ethereal Jaunt to the ethereal plane (free action);
At the start of your next round, Ethereal Jaunt back to the material plane as a move-action and repeat the entire sequence. When it's not your turn you'll be on the ethereal plane with a save-or-die gaze attack active, invisible and nearly impossible to attack. Anything that can see you will be affected by your gaze, and only force effects (Magic Missile, Orb of Force, etc.) or other ethereal creatures can attack you. On your turn, you go back to the material plane, lay waste to everything around you, and jaunt back to the safety of the ethereal plane.

[gbprime]

Another option would be to play a Divine Minion (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20050209a), which for only a +1 LA gets to use Wild Shape at will as a free action. A Human Divine Minion could get Endurance and Alertness and take Master of Many Forms at level 1.

That's brilliant. And evil.

Even just the possibilities at level one! Hobgoblin scout turns to see a hawk diving straight at him, only to see it suddenly turn into a crocodile and chomp his head... :smalleek: :smallcool:

[Ghotifish]

I'm enjoying what I'm reading so far, keep it coming.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

That's brilliant. And evil.

Even just the possibilities at level one! Hobgoblin scout turns to see a hawk diving straight at him, only to see it suddenly turn into a crocodile and chomp his head... :smalleek: :smallcool:

Or, he turns into a bugbear and walks into their camp to strong-arm them into making him leader.

[Waker]

Guys guys, you're missing the obvious and far more awesome answer to the question.
Step 1: Warforged with Adamantine Body, Wild Shape Ranger 5
Step 2: Take Master of Many Forms for 6 levels
Step 3: Apply the Beastskin property (+2) to your armor.
Step 4: Shapeshift into a Huge Tyrannosaurus Rex with Adamantine Armor.

You Grimlock King.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y47/Omnikar/Grimlock.jpg

You're welcome.

[Keld Denar]

Needs more Landforged Walker...

[Waker]

Why? Landforged Walker is more about being a namby pamby tree hugger.
Whereas the suggestion I made has you transforming into a titan of fangs and metal! How could a tree or cacti ever compare to such might?

[gbprime]

Step 4: Shapeshift into a Huge Tyrannosaurus Rex with Adamantine Armor.

You Grimlock King.

Okay, this thread is officially full of Win now. :cool:

[flabort]

What sort of cheese would you need to apply the Divine Minion template to a Warforged, in less than 5 levels? That would be even better, because you can still take 6 levels of MoMF, and still apply beast skin, and then STILL be Grimlock King, but at an earlier level.

Probably easiest to turn him into an outsider, with some sort of template. He's already humanoid shaped, that would let him qualify. I can't think of any off hand, though, to do that.

[gbprime]

Probably easiest to turn him into an outsider, with some sort of template. He's already humanoid shaped, that would let him qualify. I can't think of any off hand, though, to do that.

Otherworldly background feat from Players Guide to Faerun. Outsider (Native), Darkvision, +2 to Diplomacy (for some reason). But now you're mixing Eberron and Faerun.

[CapnCJ]

What if they rumble you early on? :smalleek:

[Scarlet-Devil]

Leadership would be bloody awesome in this situation: a big bad has to have minions right? Why not start accumulating them now? Just make sure your right-hand man is an uber-pimp too; your DM basically gave you permission not to hold back, and since you're a player too the whole 'is it okay for the BBEG to kill the party' thing is less of an issue; make it you or them.

[bobspldbckwrds]

this is alread so full of win that i only have one thing to add


an awesome moustache! (bottom of article) (http://laswpc.com/waterpolo/3163)

[Dead_Jester]

Heck, you don't need an artifact to get supernatural abilities, there is already a very nice feat in SS called Assume Supernatural Abilities :smallwink:

Then you notice that beholders threat the eye stalks as a single supernatural ability...

And if your going ranger, might as well make it Mystic Ranger with SotAO. For low level casting, it's essentially a perfect gish.

[Runestar]

Don't druids get shapechange at lv17?

Oh, and planar shephard. :smallbiggrin:

[Saint GoH]

I second the Leadership ability. Make your handy dandy lil cohort a Muckdweller Bard, and have him sit on your shoulder and buff you via Dragonfire inspiration.

[flabort]

So, in summary, what's our build so far?

Well, far as I can tell, it's this:

Warforged Divine Minion LA +1/WS Ranger 3/MoMF 6
Flaw: Adamantine Body
Flaw: Otherworldly background
WS Ranger 1st (2nd): Alertness
WS Ranger 3rd (4th): Endurance(B), free feat
MoMF 3rd (7th): free feat Leadership
MoMF 6th (10th): free feat

Your wild shaping as a 14th level druid by the time you enter MoMF. after we enter MoMF, I'm lost (although I'm... guessing it's 20th by the end), but by adding the Beastskin property to our armor, as waker said, and becoming a Huge T-Rex, we can become Grimlock king a whole level earlier, with a much higher wild shape.
Wait... only 10th level, and wild shaping as a 20th level druid?! Boy, are we getting into some cheese here.

edit: Hmm. ninja. added leadership. does nothing for the build's cheese, but whatever. Also, If I'm wrong, and adimantium doesn't have to be 1st level, we've got another free feet.

[gbprime]

But it's cheese that doesn't work without a lenient DM. Adamantine and Mithril bodies both specify that druids with either cannot use spells, supernatural abilities, or spell like abilties. Now unless you have a DM that says a Wildshape Ranger who gains Wild Shape as per druid can ignore the restrictions placed on a druid by that feat, it's a no go. Ask first.

[The Rabbler]

But it's cheese that doesn't work without a lenient DM. Adamantine and Mithril bodies both specify that druids with either cannot use spells, supernatural abilities, or spell like abilties. Now unless you have a DM that says a Wildshape Ranger who gains Wild Shape as per druid can ignore the restrictions placed on a druid by that feat, it's a no go. Ask first.

isn't there a deity somewhere who specifically allows druids to wear metal armor? The name sounded Faerunian to me. I remember it being used to argue for warforged druids using adamantine body.

Also, for flavor and an abundance of cheese, I second the notion of planar shepherd. Pick a plane, have that plane be your motif, gain amazing powers from that plane, ?????????, profit.

EDIT: planar shepherd handbook here (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19871574/The_Planar_Shepherd_Handbook)

EDIT2: the Faerun goddess is named Mielikki. Not sure what book she's from and it does run the risk of mixing Ebberon and Faerun, but the giant metal T-Rex demands it.

EDIT3: also, let's not forget the druid spell venomfire for piles of aged cheddar.

[gbprime]

Reposted from other thread. Mielikki druids can wear light and medium metal armor. (FRCS pg 23) So that makes Mithril Body a go, but not Adamantine.

That's one step closer to Grimlock. What else we got? :smallcool:

[NichG]

If you're going to end up being the BBEG, you'll want to hide your true power from the party. Basically, pick some central motif you'll reveal, and then put the real cheese in the freezer until the reveal. Even better is if you basically play it like 'I'm just a plain old Druid' or something, but occasionally when its really life or death, you pull out some trick you had up your sleeve that a plain druid wouldn't have. That'll get the party thinking, and when there's finally the reveal they won't say 'huh, thats random!', they'll say '*%@# I should have known!'.

Even if you were just playing a straight wizard or something, you could liberally focus on, say, evocations for most of the game while secretly building up a collection of all the potent options from all schools. So when it comes down to the final battle you pull out the Orbs, Icebergs, etc and suddenly jump in power to a respectable challenge for the party.

This also helps make it so that you don't end up overshadowing the rest of the party during the majority of the game before the final arc, but so that you can make a good showing when it comes down to the wire.

[Waker]

I don't really see the issue with the armor wearing interfering with Wild Shape. Of course Druids have that restriction, but that applies to all of their abilities, not just Wild Shape. Rangers on the other hand are already warriors for nature who have no spiritual oaths prohibiting them from anything. The only thing that may come up is that Rangers can't wear heavier armor and get the access to their Weapon style feats, which the Wild Shaping is replacing.

[mikethepoor]

If you're looking for some minions, you might want to look at the Thrallherd psionic PrC. Gives you two cohorts at level 10, 8/10 manifesting and all the same followers as Leadership. Doesn't stack with Leadership itself, but still worth looking at.

[flabort]

Then again, why specificly adimantium? wouldn't mithril No. Blasphemy. Bad Flabort.

[Zaydos]

But it's cheese that doesn't work without a lenient DM. Adamantine and Mithril bodies both specify that druids with either cannot use spells, supernatural abilities, or spell like abilties. Now unless you have a DM that says a Wildshape Ranger who gains Wild Shape as per druid can ignore the restrictions placed on a druid by that feat, it's a no go. Ask first.

But that's not part of the Wild Shape ability that is part of druid's vows. RAW and RAI wildshape ranger can wear whatever armor they want. At that point we aren't talking lenient DM allowing it, we're talking super restrictive DM not by which point we are also mixing Faerun and Eberron so that would be out.

One thing, though, Heavy Armor Proficiency; rangers don't get it (light and medium only). Neither do Outsiders. So you might want to think about taking the proficiency feat.

[Waker]

One thing, though, Heavy Armor Proficiency; rangers don't get it (light and medium only). Neither do Outsiders. So you might want to think about taking the proficiency feat.
By that same token a Warforged Sorcerer or Wizard would be hit with an armor non-proficiency on top of arcane spell failure. I think the RAI would be that for the purposes of bonuses and penalties you are considered to be wearing armor, but you are not actually wearing armor. Very zen-like.

Warforged characters with this feat do not gain the benefit of any class feature prohibited to a character wearing heavy armor.
This is worth pointing out though. If the DM rules that the Wild Shape follows the same restrictions as the Combat Style feats, you'll have to settle for Mithril.

[Ghotifish]

I've decided to go with the Divine Minion/Master of Many Forms route.

I've tried to convince the GM to give me an item that would give me access to supernatural abilities. Does anyone know any feats that would allow that?

[Lhurgyof]

I've decided to go with the Divine Minion/Master of Many Forms route.

I've tried to convince the GM to give me an item that would give me access to supernatural abilities. Does anyone know any feats that would allow that?

Take the Assume Supernatural Ability feat out of the Savage Species.

[Vknight]

Well sorry got nothing.
Sorry can't be more help except that armor spikes ontop of the admantium body if your Dm will alow it.