How to build a pair of villains (were-bear and half-fey)

[Sir_Chivalry]

Okay, so one of my players decided to go in the direction I was taking one of the villains (clawlock with fist of the forest and shou disciple), so I decided to reassess their builds. So, here we go.

We have two villains, paired together, who act as the muscle for the big bad and the like. One is a half-fey with mechanical arms (she lost her previous limbs in a near-death experience) and the other is a were-dire polar bear.

Originally it had been a claw-lock for the half-fey and some barbarian levels for the bear, but I'm wondering if that will be interesting to play against for the players?

What have I left out?

Party consists of (if this helps create useful threats)

Ranger/Warblade/Revenant Blade
Wizard/Elven Paragon/Sentinel of Bharrai
Cleric/Deathstalker of Bhaal
Beguiler/Rainbow Servant/Sandshaper
Warlock with Superiour Unarmed Strike and Eldritch Claws
Knight
Ninja
Crusader/Barbarian/Fighter

Currently level 6, these npcs will have their "final fight" at level 12-14

[JeminiZero]

Since there is Warblade in the party, ToB is obviously in play. I would probably give the Were-bear Warblade levels, and in particular Diamond Mind saves, just so he doesn't become a puppet the first time the Beguiler hits him with suggestion.

For the half-fey, the Cha bonus and those SLAs would probably work best on high Cha build, and the Con penalty likely means she should stay off the frontlines (despite being a Clawlock). I would see her more as a caster or minion-mancer despite arm mechanization.

In particular Charm Person AT WILL means she can build up a horde of slaves or something. While the duration won't last the whole day, she can spam it several times per day to keep a particular person under her spell. And she can spam it repeatedly until they fail their saves. And she can spam it across MANY humanoids.

Interestingly, since she has Charm SLA, she can qualify for mindbender, with ANY class that can supply the Arcane caster level requirement (even unconventional ones like Duskblade). So grab that for Telepathy to better coordinate the horde, and maybe add the Mindsight feat.

[Sir_Chivalry]

Since there is Warblade in the party, ToB is obviously in play. I would probably give the Were-bear Warblade levels, and in particular Diamond Mind saves, just so he doesn't become a puppet the first time the Beguiler hits him with suggestion.

For the half-fey, the Cha bonus and those SLAs would probably work best on high Cha build, and the Con penalty likely means she should stay off the frontlines (despite being a Clawlock). I would see her more as a caster or minion-mancer despite arm mechanization.

In particular Charm Person AT WILL means she can build up a horde of slaves or something. While the duration won't last the whole day, she can spam it several times per day to keep a particular person under her spell. And she can spam it repeatedly until they fail their saves. And she can spam it across MANY humanoids.

Interestingly, since she has Charm SLA, she can qualify for mindbender, with ANY class that can supply the Arcane caster level requirement (even unconventional ones like Duskblade). So grab that for Telepathy to better coordinate the horde, and maybe add the Mindsight feat.

And if the half-fey could be any other class? Should she still be a warlock?

I was considering modifying her into a character that uses hidden weapons (weighted cloak, wrist blades, boot blades, spinning sword, sword cane, the like) using feats like Knife Fighter, Flick of the Wrist and Surprise Weapon Mastery and Dance of the Hidden Blades (from this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224178))

[ThiagoMartell]

You said one of your players went in the direction of your clawlock villain, but I don't see any clawlock PC. :smallconfused:

[JeminiZero]

And if the half-fey could be any other class? Should she still be a warlock?

Well, from a strictly power perspective, the answer would be "No, because Sorcerer can also use Cha, and is higher tier". But obviously, building NPCs for sheer raw power isn't always the best way to run game.

I did consider maybe she could be a Dread Necro, combining an army of living AND dead. In this case, her arm replacements are undead grafts rather than mechanical. Just a thought.

[Sir_Chivalry]

You said one of your players went in the direction of your clawlock villain, but I don't see any clawlock PC. :smallconfused:

Corrected, thanks for the catch.

[Uhtred]

I built a werebear wu jen once that totally wrecked my PC's. He was this scrawny little dude who hit them with awful elemental damage spells, mostly earth, metal, and wood, that hurt a lot, since he had Explosive Spell and a home brewed version of the Energy Substitution feat that swapped energy types for Earth, just dealing raw physical damage instead of energy damage. When his spells finally ran out, and yes, vs. five seventh level PC's he solo'd and lasted long enough to run out of spells, that 12 strength score became a 28 when he went into bear hybrid form and ravaged whoever was left with a crystal Greataxe in each hand. Their cleric had to Plane Shift them out.