[ToB] An Evil Crusader

[Welknair]

I want to have a pair of Crusaders in my game which are polar opposites. Given the fluff and whatnot, this should be possible. The Lawful Good Crusader is pretty easy to deal with - Mostly maneuvers from Devoted Spirit with a dabble in Stone Dragon for tanking and a bit in White Raven for aiding your allies. However, there seems to be a lack of Crusader abilities that are really evil. There are the set of upper-level Devoted Spirit Maneuvers that are based on the points on the Alignment Compass, but that's not much. It would actually be nice to be able to replace Devoted Spirit with Tiger Claw - something a bit more ferocious. Though admittedly no discipline is "Evil", Tiger Claw seems the best out of them to fill that roll. So my question is threefold: 1. Is it okay that I replace one of my NPC's disciplines to make him a better character for my story? 2. Will having him use Tiger Claw make him sufficiently offset from the Devoted Spirit-centric Crusader? 3. I haven't read through all of the Age of Warriors Disciplines, though I'm already using the Oncoming Storm for an Assassin of mine. Do you know of any homebrew disciplines that would better fit this individual?

Note: I am the DM of previously mentioned game. Not sure why a player would want to make a pair of opposing characters for a game... :smallconfused:

[The-Mage-King]

I want to have a pair of Crusaders in my game which are polar opposites. Given the fluff and whatnot, this should be possible. The Lawful Good Crusader is pretty easy to deal with - Mostly maneuvers from Devoted Spirit with a dabble in Stone Dragon for tanking and a bit in White Raven for aiding your allies. However, there seems to be a lack of Crusader abilities that are really evil. There are the set of upper-level Devoted Spirit Maneuvers that are based on the points on the Alignment Compass, but that's not much. It would actually be nice to be able to replace Devoted Spirit with Tiger Claw - something a bit more ferocious. Though admittedly no discipline is "Evil", Tiger Claw seems the best out of them to fill that roll. So my question is threefold: 1. Is it okay that I replace one of my NPC's disciplines to make him a better character for my story? 2. Will having him use Tiger Claw make him sufficiently offset from the Devoted Spirit-centric Crusader? 3. I haven't read through all of the Age of Warriors Disciplines, though I'm already using the Oncoming Storm for an Assassin of mine. Do you know of any homebrew disciplines that would better fit this individual?

Hey, if you're the DM, it's your call if you replace a discipline with another. If not, it's your DM's call.



Anyway, have a looksee at Infinite Torment (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102215).

[Ganurath]

Devoted Spirit isn't neccesarily nice. The lower level Healing Strikes can be entirely selfish, and the style also has decent damage boosters like Foehammer and Divine Surge. Additionally, Stone Dragon can be a great style for an evil Crusader, splattering good mooks in a single strike of the two-handed bludgeoning weapon, knocking down walls to make way toward the cowerin villagers...

Tiger Claw doesn't really fit the Crusader's fluff, even as a replacement. It's very heavily acrobatic and nimble, while the Crusader is very much an unbreakable bastion. If you really want to make a replacement, I recommend Diamond Mind (Well-Intented Extremist) or Iron Heart (a natural for the goblinoid Crusader.)

Homebrew ones... I can't remember the name, but there was one keyed to Intimidate that required hosting a demonic parasite.

[Welknair]

Hmm. You have a point there. Okay, I'm going to do what I can to draw up an Evil Crusader using the base three Crusader Disciplines, with an emphasis on beating your opponent to a pulp and generally being an unstoppable engine of destruction... Okay, thanks for the help guys.

[mabriss lethe]

just by refluffing the healing maneuvers and stances as being a bit on the vampiric style will go a long way towards making the crusader seem more evil. Give him access to some evil toys (maybe use/day items of Sadism and Masochism -Book of Vile Darkness) and give his armor a heavy metal looking paint job. taaadaaaa! EVIL crusader.

[navar100]

It's not like a Crusader is forced to take the healing strikes. Besides, healing is not inherently Good. An Evil Crusader would still want to heal himself for self preservation. Foe Hammer can be used to bypass goody-two-shoes with DR/Evil.

[The_Snark]

People have already pointed out the various ways that the base three Crusader domains have been interpreted as evil: Devoted Spirit scourges your enemies and rewards you for inflicting pain, Stone Dragon is about implacable brute force, and even White Raven has a few nasty tricks (the charging maneuvers, Tactics of the Wolf, and White Raven Hammer are particularly easy to justify as sheer viciousness rather than skill as a commander).

If you're looking for homebrew to differentiate him mechanically, though, the Dread Crown (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76218) and Black Heron (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100874) disciplines are both pretty solid.

[Ganurath]

Black Heron! That's the style I was thinking of in my previous post. I couldn't remember the name for the life of me.

[Shpadoinkle]

The devoted spirit stuff can be refluffed slightly to make it more "evil." Just off the top of my head... (plus some things from White Raven and Stone Dragon for good measure)

Bolstering Voice (WR) - You don't fear the things that go bump in the night, because you ARE one of the things that go bump in the night.

Iron Guard's Glare (DS) - Your foes might fear you, but they fear the wrath they might incur from hurting your friends more.

Foehammer (DS) - You summon fiendish energy to tear through an enemy's defenses.

As mabriss lethe mentioned, you can also refluff the maneuvers and stances that heal HP as some kind of vampiric effect, or seeing the despair and fear of your enemies as you tear through their defenses invigorates you, or something like that.

Actually, looking at the Devoted Spirit stuff, a lot of it doesn't need refluffing to fit an evil crusader.