Wanted! Villains

[Seth1221]

No exactly villains but we'll get to that.

Currently I'm DMing a big campaign taking place on a mysterious island - the PCs are a group of explorers under comand of a powerful wizard driven by the thirst for knowledge. The team consists of four level 6 PCs:

Human factotum - he already took font of inspiration twice
Warforged Duskblade
Human dragon totem barbarian
Elf ranger/scout (swift hunter)

As you can see all my PCs are roughly tier 3. There are 3 other explorer groups - those are not necessary villains but they will most probably be enemies. The commanders of these groups are a druid trying to perserve the nature of the island, a psion driven by the need of control and domination over everything and a cleric that's basically an ass - a bit of a fascist seeing his point of view as the only one. Just to be clear - the commanders aren't on the island - they only give the orders.

What I need is a cool around tier 3 ideas for the other explorers. Each group shall consist of 4 NPCs. Don't worry about the level - the game will take them to around lvl 20. What I need is an interesting concept for a build. Extra points if you can keep the groups flavor similar to their respective commander.

Books I have:
PHB
PHB2
DMG I and II
XPH
Complete series
Libris Mortis
Book of Vile Darkness
Book of exalted deeds
Dungeonscape
Ebberon setting
Faerun setting
Drow of the underdark
Heroes of Horror
MIC
Spell Compedium
ToB

I think that's all. So, suggestions?

[The_Admiral]

No exactly villains but we'll get to that.

Currently I'm DMing a big campaign taking place on a mysterious island - the PCs are a group of explorers under comand of a powerful wizard driven by the thirst for knowledge. The team consists of four level 6 PCs:

Human factotum - he already took font of inspiration twice
Warforged Duskblade
Human dragon totem barbarian
Elf ranger/scout (swift hunter)

As you can see all my PCs are roughly tier 3. There are 3 other explorer groups - those are not necessary villains but they will most probably be enemies. The commanders of these groups are a druid trying to perserve the nature of the island, a psion driven by the need of control and domination over everything and a cleric that's basically an ass - a bit of a fascist seeing his point of view as the only one. Just to be clear - the commanders aren't on the island - they only give the orders.

What I need is a cool around tier 3 ideas for the other explorers. Each group shall consist of 4 NPCs. Don't worry about the level - the game will take them to around lvl 20. What I need is an interesting concept for a build. Extra points if you can keep the groups flavor similar to their respective commander.

Books I have:
PHB
PHB2
DMG I and II
XPH
Complete series
Libris Mortis
Book of Vile Darkness
Book of exalted deeds
Dungeonscape
Ebberon setting
Faerun setting
Drow of the underdark
Heroes of Horror
MIC
Spell Compedium
ToB

I think that's all. So, suggestions?

First group... I can;t help you.

The second group, base it off Azula's Avatar hunting group. The dynamics should be the same.

For the last group, make it a bog standard adventuring party. S&B Warblade, Blaster caster, Healbot Cleric who is the student of the jerk ass and trapbuster rogue. Focus on the part where they are just regular people stuck with a jerkass boss.

[ClothedInVelvet]

Cleric's Party (good, but they can be snobby and bigoted):
Astral Deva (racial progression from Savage Species)
Lesser Aasimar Cleric/Prestige Paladin 1/Ordained Champion
Pixie Barbarian
It's possible...

If you take Stoneblessed to qualify for Goliath, then take a level of Barbarian with Mountainous Rage, a pixie becomes Large sized when he rages. Also make sure to take Spirit Lion Totem.

Then take War Hulk after that so you can attack everything within reach as an attack action.

Let's see if we can run the numbers... When you go from Small to Large, you gain a +12 Size bonus to Strength. Then crank in the +20 from the War Hulk levels, for a flat +32 to Strength, before any other considerations.

Now you pull your Large Skillful +1 Spiked Chain from your resident bag of holding/haversack. You automatically have a 3/4 BAB when using that weapon, including iteratives. Assuming you don't have a War Chanter cohort bumming around somewhere with Inspire Legion, of course.

So now you pounce, get a FULL attack progression against all opponents within reach (something like 20' now) and proceed to beat down with traditional tactics (power attack/shock trooper/etc).

Do keep in mind that you're still a Pixie, even if you are Large, and have the DR 10/Cold Iron and permanent Greater Invisibility up at all times...


Wild Card

Psion's Party:
4 Gray Elf Psions
Shaper
Kineticist
Egoist
Telepath

Druid's Party:
Centaur Crusader (again, racial progression from Savage Species if necessary)
Drow (possibly a refluffed lesser Aasimar) Cleric/Bone Knight (if Eberron class allowed)
Human Dragonfire Adept (evil, spawn of Tiamat, etc.)
Human Swordsage

[nyarlathotep]

This is moving forward assuming monster books are allowed and the NPCs ignore level adjustment, just taking racial hitdice for ECL. Or if there is an improved monster class version of them so much the better.

The druid's group is a collection of native fey spirits and servants called from the island itself.

Group1

Redcap(MM3 fiendish gnome if you don't have it) lion totem barbarian- Years ago a gnome was born on the battlefield, and at his birth was possessed by spirits of bloodshed and war. The presence of other humanoids drove him to homicidal rage, but when alone these violence impulses frightened him. So in an attempt to live peacefully he traveled to a distant and secluded island. The native animals and spirits did not trigger his rages and so he was able to live in peace, but the presence of explorers has forced him to take up arms to preserve the only home he has left.

Forest Troll(MM3 regular troll if you don't have it) crusader- Thog was adopted as a child by a troupe of fairies who taught him the ways of the forest and were a constant source of kindness. When the fairies told him that bad men were coming to take their home away he was more than willing to fight to defend the only family he had ever known.

Petal (MM3 pixie if you don't have it) bard- A fun loving trickster Loki loves pulling pranks on races of all sorts, so he actually welcomes human settlement. What he does not welcome is the deforestation that will likely follow. He views the humanoid races much like children and thinks they simply need to be taught their place in relation to the fey and nature. Is a bit racist in that he believes that humanoids are inherently less intelligent than fey thanks to their short lifespans.

Treant(hitdice hopefully nerfign druid enough to be tier 3 or so) druid- Oldbark is an angry and ancient tree. His only real care is that his heard (the island's jungle or forest) continues to grow. The boss druid is actually concerned that he will eventually lead to an imbalance in the ecosystem due to uncontrolled forest growth encroaching on other biomes, but it too worried about human settlement to turn down his help.


Group2

The second group has less actual personality because they are all to some extent controlled by the psion and serve as a means to extend his control onto others. Each is a different kind of control.

wight rogue/avenging executioner- Controlled though a an item granting clerical magic the wight is a means for the psion to acquire an army. He is the reanimated body of a deranged serial killer who was told to just continue doing what he does best to make as many spawn as possible, all of whom serve the psion.

human psion- A failed attempt at creating a mindseed duplicate of the psion. He is continually trying to impress the head psion much like a child toward an abusive father.

Elan psychic warrior- Gregory was once a young orphan boy who was adopted by the psion and experimented on to create a psionic master race. The conditioning gave the boy purpose and drive to serve his new master. He is likely to disregard almost everything not pertaining directly to their mission as irrelevant, and finds the younger psion's constant attempts to impress their master very annoying.

warforged warblade- Basic emotionless robotic killing machine, mostly there to serve as a roleplaying counterpoint to the party's warforged. The psion's party mostly just treats him as a tool to be used.

[Keegan__D]

What's so special about the island? The druid's group would likely be themed/powered up by it, or something.


Why is the cleric's group there? Are they just there to enforce a d***'s d***ery and stick their d***s in everything? If so, make that the counter-party.
(Factotum) Big dumb barbarian (Race unknown. high Str, low Int) - Illiterate, (really) strong, single-classed barbarian
(Duskblade) Incarnate Construct (Savage Species) Wizard - Show the fighter his "spell-casting" is a joke. Low damage output, focusing on control
(Barbarian) Gnome Bard - Assuming the barb's planning on doing intimidate, fightful presence stuff, a bard can come in and boost morale, and show him what true fear is (illusions)
(Swift Hunter) Not sure...


Why is the Psion's group on the island? More land? Is the wizard sending the party his rival? Power to be seized?
If there's power/land to be seized:
Wizard - Master Specialist (Divination) to Focused Specialist/Unseen Seer
Psion - Blaster, blaster, blaster
Cleric - Heal/buff bot
Ranger - A non-arcane/backup to the diviner.
If it's a rivalry, make this the anti-party
Or go with nyarlathotep's. That's cool.

[Seth1221]

the island is kind of a test to see which of these four commanders is best fit to rule the empire back on the continent. The goal is the same for eveyrone - control over the island, but the means by which they want to sieze it differ - psion goes for the control over local tribes, druid - help of the nature, cleric - force and holier-than-you attitude, wizard - knowledge, artifacts scattered over the island etc.

Thanks for the ideas so far. The pixie sounds tempting...:) And a reminder - I'm looking for tier 3 builds. Please no clerics, druids, wizards etc. - the commanders are tier one, explorers teir around 3 - I want to keep it that way.

[Keegan__D]

Thanks for the ideas so far. The pixie sounds tempting...:) And a reminder - I'm looking for tier 3 builds. Please no clerics, druids, wizards etc. - the commanders are tier one, explorers teir around 3 - I want to keep it that way.

They're NPCs. You control how powerful they are.

[Seth1221]

They're NPCs. You control how powerful they are.

True, but I don't want tier one classes also because of flavor reasons. I'd rather see say... shugenja over cleric etc.

[motoko's ghost]

for the druid group try the wildshape variant ranger with the bow combat style, sniping the characters then wildshaping into a combat form or into a small, speedy form to escape.
For the wizard maybe have a changling bard, using diplomacy and enchantments.

If you have one you dont want the PCs to track down, try the vecna-blooded template.

[JadePhoenix]

Psion group:
Pathfinder Soulknife, very mobile. Get him Combat Slide, Step Up line and Mercurial Strike. Add a few Rogue or Assassin levels for sneak attack and ambush feats. Very sticky and very unconvetional.
Psychic Warrior, obviously. Make him a damage dealer. King of Smack builds are very annoying to play against. Make him an elan and try to keep his saves high. Get as many immunities as you can - Quick Recovery is a must.
Pathfinder Wilder as a blaster.
Ardent or Psion for battlefield control.