Character Spotlight - Valenessa, The Masterminding Fiend

[SleepyShadow]

In an effort to contribute to the online community, improved my own character optimization skills, and to hopefully give some build ideas to people out there, I've decided to start a bi-weekly posting of characters outside the normal scope of builds. I will be actively avoiding stand-bys such as Uber-Chargers, Batman Wizards, CoDZillas, and others in favor of more unusual builds that will (hopefully) prove both fun and effective. Naturally, critique is appreciated and welcomed. So, without further adieu, here we go!


Valenessa, Masterminding Fiend

At first, Valenessa was nothing more than a simple succubus. Like all demons, she was wild, chaotic, and destructive. She was quite content to trick mortal men and cause wanton chaos. That all changed when she was abducted and brought to the Nine Layers of Hell by a trio of devils. Asmodeus, the Arch-Duke of Hell, had been conducting experiments to convert demons into devils in an effort to gain the advantage in the Blood War the two sides had been waging for eons of time. At first, the succubus resisted valiantly, but the chemicals and the torture eventually took their toll. No one save Asmodeus knows how long she suffered in the darkness, but eventually her mind had been drastically warped.

The Arch-Duke began to 'instruct' her on order over chaos, remaking her mind to be the perfect companion to the perfect devil: Asmodeus. She was trained in the Arch-Duke's personally created form of martial arts, a style that suited her perfectly: brutal, elegant, intelligent, and dramatic. She had been remade into the perfect successor for the Arch-Duke of Hell, a result even Asmodeus himself had not foreseen.

Now, to honor her patron and to prove that she is his rightful heir, Valenessa has undertaken a scheme that outdoes even the Arch-Duke's most outrageous plans: destroy the very fabric of reality. Though she has only just emerged onto the realm of humans once more, the gears of her intricately woven machinations have already begun to turn ...


Rules: 32 Point Buy, No flaws used.

Books: Core, Savage Species, Complete Warrior, Tome of Battle, Book of Vile Darkness

Optional: Dragon Compendium


Race: Succubus (Using Savage Species for this girl, that way she's playable from level 1)

Starting Stats (Stat After Racial Modifiers): Str 15, Dex 16 (18), Con 14, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8 (14)

End Stats: Str 20 (+2 Racial, +3 Increase), Dex 18, Con 16 (+2 Racial), Int 16 (+6 Racial), Wis 18 (+4 Racial), Cha 22 (+8 Racial)


Level Progression

Succubus 12: No dodging this one. She needs to finish out all twelve levels from Savage Species before she can get into real class levels. However, her survivability is surprisingly good over these levels. Her flight, energy resistances, immunities, and spell resistance all add up to making her far more durable than she would seem at first glance. I recommend using a glaive or some other reach weapon at early levels to minimize personal risk in melee.

Feats: Improved Toughness, Alertness, Improved Natural Attack (Unarmed Strike)

Unarmed Swordsage 1: Valenessa's first real level, and it's certainly a good one. After all, her racial HD count for half toward her total Initiator level, just like any other HD.

Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike) [Bonus Feats]

Soul Eater 1, 2: Here's where things start to get really nasty. Now each of her natural attacks inflict negative levels, and since unarmed strikes can be used with any part of the body she can still use her claw attacks. That's a lot of negative levels.

Feats: Superior Unarmed Strike

Unarmed Swordsage 2: Wisdom to AC, and it's hardly a stretch to argue for the unarmed version getting it while unarmored.

Unarmed Swordsage 3 OR Battle Dancer 1: If the DM will allow the class, a single level into Battle Dancer from Dragon Compendium will take great advantage of Valenessa's naturally high charisma.

Soul Eater 4, 5, 6: Lastly, finishing off her few remaining levels with more Soul Eater will net her some nice buffs every time she inflicts a negative level. Which is extremely often. If feeling cheesy, murder a few dozen cats before going into battle.

Feats: Snap Kick


Well, that's all for now. Please give some critique. Thanks!

[SleepyShadow]

Off to a rough start so far :smallfrown:

[Gotterdammerung]

Meh, I'll feed the bears...

Nice idea man. Keep it up and you will eventually get better at it. Don't give up just because you don't get a good response.

Having said that, As far as a builds go, this one isn't very efficient or creative. There are better builds for soul eater. And even if this was a good soul eater build it doesn't put any effort into solving the tactical problems of a melee character in D&D.

As far as the story is concerned, you have given her a task and motivation that she will be severely hard pressed to complete. And the idea that one of the princes of hell would name a magical experiment his heir is also a little silly. Devil's don't even have heirs. They are more of a "Over my dead body" kind of ruler. I did laugh a little at the idea of an Asmodeus special kung fu fighting style. It made me wonder if the other Devil Princes have secret martial arts.

Anyway, sorry if my critique was a little harsh, but I think honesty is more useful to you. Don't give up though. It's a good idea. Your builds and writing will get better with exposure and practice.

[SleepyShadow]

Thanks for feeding an old bear.

I appreciate your critique, and I'd prefer harsh honesty to sugar coating. You do make a very good point about her back story. I shouldn't have made it quite as specific to my group's campaign setting as I did. The past three adventuring groups have killed (iirc) a total of five demon or devil lords, so we reasoned that the remaining ones would start preparing for the worst :smallbiggrin:

And yes, come to think of it, Devil Kung Fu is horribly laughable. Ah well, serves me right for attempting to do anything at three in the morning.

Having said that, I would still like some advice. I am unfamiliar with the tactical problems of melee characters, so how would I go about offering a solution? Another question I have is what is a better way to use soul eater?

[Gotterdammerung]

Thanks for feeding an old bear.

I appreciate your critique, and I'd prefer harsh honesty to sugar coating. You do make a very good point about her back story. I shouldn't have made it quite as specific to my group's campaign setting as I did. The past three adventuring groups have killed (iirc) a total of five demon or devil lords, so we reasoned that the remaining ones would start preparing for the worst :smallbiggrin:

And yes, come to think of it, Devil Kung Fu is horribly laughable. Ah well, serves me right for attempting to do anything at three in the morning.

Having said that, I would still like some advice. I am unfamiliar with the tactical problems of melee characters, so how would I go about offering a solution? Another question I have is what is a better way to use soul eater?

Look up some guides on Fiend of Possession builds and you will find some ideas for early entry into soul eater. The Succubus levels are ruining your early and mid levels and are generally dead weight even in your later levels. Getting into soul eater without the heavy level adjustment will make your build come into fruition sooner.

Consider looking into Warshaper as a better alternative to gaining a large number of natural attacks to deliver level drain.

Consider taking Improved energy drain and spell drain for your feats (libris morrtis), maybe even Life Drain as well (Libris Mortis).


As for the problems with melee, just read any of the thousands of "I built an anti-spellcaster melee" threads and you will see pages of arguments. But those pages will give you a quick understanding of the tactical disadvantages of melee's in 3.x D and D.

My advice would be to change the story so that your character has definitive allies. Solidarity really hurts melee's.