class combo for ultralithid bbeg

[Elvenoutrider]

First, a bit of background for my campaign. In my campaign world, mind flayers have turned the planet into what is essentially a farm for sentients. Almost their entire race is in stasis on the moon. They rest while the races of the world grow and develop technology based on magic, focusing their civilization around a few cities built above crystals that amplify magic. As soon as the world hits a certain population, the Mind flayers are awakened and board their ships to invade the planet and harvest sentient brains and bio mass.They are summoned by a ritual activated by one of their own that they leave behind to monitor the planet. The pcs world will be invaded when they have reached a steampunk level of technology

One of the vanguards they left this time is an ultralithid that was born from implanting the illithid tadpole into a doppleganger. This illithid combines the intellect and psionics of a mind flayer with the resourcefulness and shape changing power of a doppleganger.

This enemy will be a recurring but unseen villain throughout the game. They will finally face him aboard the bridge of his ship when they are between 15th and 18th level. They will think that he is the final boss when they are facing him.

My question is, what class combination could I give him that would augment his abilities the best. Most of the bosses in my campaigns are gestalt enemies so this is a viable option here.

I can pull sources from pathfinder, 3.5, or even third party if they fit well (I am gm after all)

For those who don't know, and Ultralithid is an Illithid with upgraded psionic powers and an extra two tentacles. Ideally I would like a combo that exploits his number of attacks to make him a melee beast, and a second class that boosts his psychic powers. Fellow playgrounders, do any of you know any classes or prestige classes that I should look at?

[Roguenewb]

I like that you made Mass Effect: the D20 campaign.

Beyond that, for actual help....hmmm. His INT is hilariously high right? And gestalt? How about:

Ultrathid/Doppelganger/however much psion you want to equal ECL 19//Factotum 19.

The factotum capstone would allow for some cool stuff where you he does anything he wants, and the INT synergy is badass. He'll be able to heal himself, use his mind abilities, and get extra standard actions. Seems good to me.

[Yorrin]

I'd probably play him as a Warblade|Psion. Use the Psionics primarily for buffing and to fill up your swift actions unless it makes more tactical sense for him to toss out some sort of mind blasting. Warblades get the Tiger Claw and Diamond Mind disciplines- both of which I think fit well with this character. Tiger Claw will take advantage of your many natural attacks, and Diamond Mind just feels right for a cerebral foe like this.

Plus Int synergy is almost as tasty as the brains of your pathetic cattle foes.

[Urpriest]

What sort of doppleganger powers is it getting?

To Roguenewb: not ECL, CR.

With six natural attacks and Int synergy, I might go for Warblade (possibly with Factotum 8 for the Standard Actions, since those are pretty sweet regardless). Use Stormguard Warrior to give enough bonus damage for that mess of tentacles to be useful. The Psionic side has to be Telepath to stack with the racial manifesting.

[Elvenoutrider]

Huh, this is really similar to mass effect, I was actually inspired by reading war of the worlds. I may have to change a few things.

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

Where can I find the stormguard warrior class?

[Waker]

A mix of doppelganger and mind flayer eh? Well, grab a hold of the constant Detect Thoughts ability that the doppelganger has (DC 17), alter the shapechange ability to say small, medium or large-sized humanoids, and include the little bonus to disguise and bluff. Slap all that on the Ulitharid.
Classes to consider for the gestalt:
12 RHD, leaving you with 3-6 class levels to play with, unless you want him to be even higher CRed.
Warblade- As everyone pointed out, great maneuvers, Int-synergy, HD, BAB and more. Nothing wrong with this class.
Psion (Telepath)- Further emphasizing your Psionic powers. Something of a no-brainer.
Mindspy (CWar)- Not the most amazing PrC, but the ability to instantly know exactly what the players are thinking, gain a bonus to AC/Attacks equal to Cha/Int (remove the class cap) isn't horrible. Combined with the racial bonuses to bluff/disguise that a doppelganger gets and taking the Mindsight feat, this guy will always be able to get the drop on the party.
Warshaper (CWar)- If you were looking to up your shapechanging powers. Immunity to criticals, fast healing, an untyped bonus to Str/Con, increased reach and more. Fun and requires no investment of feats or skills.

You could also consider adapting a class to suit your needs more. Like changing Jade Phoenix Mage to Jade Phoenix Mentalist! That way it could progress maneuvers and psionics.
Feats:
Supernatural Transformation (Mind Blast) (SS)- Your mind blast become Su, ignoring SR and not provoking AoOs.
Mindsight (LoM)- With a range of 200ft, the party will have some difficulty sneaking up on you.
Quick Change (SS)- Reduces the time to change your shape to a move action or free action if you took all of Warshaper. Party will have trouble keeping tabs on you.

[Urpriest]

Where can I find the stormguard warrior class?

Ah, sorry for being unclear. It's a tactical feat in Tome of Battle, one of the benefits is letting you make touch attacks instead of your normal attacks in order to get a large damage bonus in the next round per touch attack that hits. Generally good on Warblades.

[Spuddles]

Huh, this is really similar to mass effect

Mass Effect ripped off 100 years of sci-fi; don't worry if there are similarities. Farming sentients for food is old had. There's a Twilight Zone about it, black and white and everything. "To Serve Man"- it's a cookbook.


As per the thread, I would make him factotum//telepath. Warblade is a waste of actions, especially vs. a level 18 party. Doesn't really bring anything to the table.

[Andorax]

For additional inspiration...see the series on DVD of Stargate: Atlantis.

What you've described is also pretty nearly exactly the way the Wraith are portrayed.

In the plot of the series...


The PCs actually inadvertantly triggered an early cycle of "culling" the humans of the Pegasus galaxy by killing off the Wraith queen who was left behind to monitor things, and who's death triggered the failsafe that told all of the Wraith to wake up.

Could make for a very interesting way to launch into that arc of your campaign with a lesser Illithid foe.

Also, if it fits with what you're into, you might look at some of the old Spelljammer material, which fits nicely for transporting whole shiploads of Illithid from the moon to various points on the planet.

[Elvenoutrider]

Huh I may have to push Stargate up my list of series to watch.

I believe I have decided on a rough Idea of what to do with my boss. Simply, I'm going to pick and choose a few class abilities from the warshaper, and mindspy class, then give him the benefits of a psion at a power level that rivals the pcs, backed up with a ton of magic items to deck out his now 8 natural attacks per round at 10 foot range.

I run games for advanced players who like a challenge. By this point in the campaign I will be surprised if my pcs havn't found a way to make themselves immune to most of the Mind Flayer's powers before this fight.

Thank you all for pointing me in the right direction. INcidentally if anyone has any suggestions I'm still open to hearing them

[Andorax]

Just to be clear, Elvenoutrider...you want Stargate: Atlantis, not Stargate. Stargate (Stargate: SG1 properly) is in our galaxy, and the main BBEG is the XPH's Puppetter...not going to help with what you're doing.

[killianh]

how about soul drinker or mortal bane from the BoVD? some StP Erudite levels gestalted with the PrC's would probably be a good fit as well

[Spuddles]

You need to be able to rival the PCs action economy to pose a reasonable threat. One way is with advanced alarm systems or persisted spells/powers. That way he can come pre-buffed.

Synchronicity, control body (on yourself) anticipatory strike, hustle, schism, psionic lion's charge, linked power all give ways to pay power points and get more actions.

Also check out some of the neat psionic tricks. A few I like:

psi cyrstal + share pain + share vigor = 10*lvl bonus HP.

Psicrystal can also be a reservoir of bonus feats, with feat leech.

Manifest astral construct around yourself- it breaks LoE. Use Burrowing Power to pew pew through it. This could even allow your boss to "level up" or power up or whatever ****ty jrpg monsters do- after you break his astral construct down (or series of astral construct that he has layered himself in), you have to fight his final form.

That would actually be kinda neat- a giant monstrous quadrepedal ectoplasmic creature that you destroy parts of, and once you remove all the bits, a horrid tentacled brain devouring beast opens up with a psi blast.

[Waker]

Another direction that you could take this is separating the party and taking advantage of this guy's mind reading and shapeshifting powers. Make puzzle/traps that require someone hitting a lever or holding down a pressure plate in one place while someone does something else in another place. Once the party gets moved apart, you could copy one party member and attempt some subterfuge.
Obviously this plan would work better if you can get the aid of the copied player, like having them "play their character" when they are just acting as the villain for a bit.

[Venger]

check illithid body tamer from underdark. *the* illithid melee class. if your party's scary optimised, illithid savant from savage species is an option (only if don't op too hard or the game will be over)

[Elvenoutrider]

Wow the body tamer looks like its exactly what Im looking for on the martial side. Thanks.

[FMArthur]

Illithid Savant is kind of stupid on PCs, but it is basically the pinnacle for BBEG classes. Them being sentience harvesters, the illithid race as you designed it is in a prime position to actually be using the class to its intended potential; it just fits so well.

If you really want to, you can have them meticulously build one illithid's power to abuse the even greater potential of the class, which is the ability to use one Acquire Class Feature to gain another Illithid Savant 7's two uses of Acquire Class Feature, repeatedly. From there they could cherry-pick a variety of incredible abilities, although you should probably cut things like Beholder Mage out of the equation (that is sort of the ultimate ultimate power if that's what you want, however. It would take pooled resources to buy the eyestalk grafts for him to use Beholder Mage features, which is within his means. Beholder Mage is a monstrously overpowered class that casts its spells as free actions among other things). That would probably merit a campaign just to stop such a being from acquiring such powers, since they're not very easy to actually get even for a boss.

Illithids sacrificing themselves in this way to become part of one ascendant mind flayer is actually reminiscent of the race's relationship with elder brains. It's positively easy to make an interesting story with that if you ask me. But you're probably not building the Illithid Messiah here, so that's just a backburner option depending on how drastically the PCs drive the campaign off the rails. :smallwink:

[Venger]

Wow the body tamer looks like its exactly what Im looking for on the martial side. Thanks.

you're quite welcome.

again, as FMArthur said, if you use illithid savant at all (I don't know how powerful or optimised your party is) don't overdo it or the party will lose pretty hard.

for reference stuff if you're looking to lords of madness or underdark for more stuff about your BBEG, it's spelled: ulitharid (I also mentally read it as ultraillithid, because that's kind of what they are, just to help if you're trying to google stuff)

one idea if you're going to go ToB is giving him assassins stance with some other SA class (or give him SA from illithid savant) to deliver melee SAs from a terrifying distance away:

ulitharid base reach: 10
body tamer boosts: 10
tentacle extensions from underdark: 5
extend tentacles (explicitly permanciable as per savage species) 5

total threatened area: 30 ft. you could make a meaty AoO build with that kind of reach. people would be screwed if they even got close to him.

[Waker]

One last suggestion for your squidhead to consider. Have you looked at the Dungeon Lord from Dungeonscape? Your monster knows everything about his dungeon, can teleport around with ease, scry and ignore all the bad stuff. Plus any minions in the dungeon get a boost as long as he's alive.