Need help designing an undead BBEG using Tome of Battle.

[EisenKreutzer]

I am preparing for a chinese-themed campaign, and I need some help.
This campaign will have no arcane spellcasting, only divine magic and blade magic.

The BBEG is an undead martial arts master, and I'm having trouble finding the right undead template for him. I have been toying with the idea of a Crusader Death Knight, but I'm not sure. I don't really want him to be a vampire, he's more like a lich except he can't make a phylactery and he's not really a spellcaster.

How would you stat up an undead initiator to challenge a mid level party? How about his undead minions?

[Xerlith]

How open for homebrew are you? There are some really nice disciplines dealing with life force out there.

About the build - do you want him to be able to rise the undead mechanically, or are you intending to DM fiat it? What about his style? Light-armored and mobile? Swordsage seems a better choice. If you want him clad in heavy armor and taking hits, then as you said, crusader is the way.

[HammeredWharf]

Template suggestions: greater mummy, necropolitan.

[Darrin]

Probably not what you're looking for, but Person_Man's Blinky the Ninja (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=6304375&postcount=12) did that whole Undead/Shadow Sun Ninja thing. He used ghost, but there's also the "You turn into a vampire" thing from Balance of Light and Dark (Su), and vampires tend to make decent BBEGs.

[Krazzman]

Or maybe refluff the Ruby Knight Vindicator and make him a Evil Cleric/Crusader/Onyx Knight Vindicator.
Give him Undead leadership as well as his cleric side to give him enough minions.

[Seppo87]

Crusaders work best for bosses because they can be built to be resilient and deal average damage, which is the ideal formula for a long lasting battle that feels like it's dangerous but won't let anyone die unless they make poor choices.
Also, Crusaders can buff their minions, giving the challenge potential strategic developments.

[mabriss lethe]

There's aways the Cursed template (or something, I forget exactly what it's called) from Lost Empires of Faerun. You take a hit to mental stats, but become a nigh undestroyable undead. Immune to turn/rebuke/control - If destroyed, you will eventually reform unless the method was something like Disintegrate or a dunk in an acid bath, etc.

[EisenKreutzer]

How open for homebrew are you? There are some really nice disciplines dealing with life force out there.

About the build - do you want him to be able to rise the undead mechanically, or are you intending to DM fiat it? What about his style? Light-armored and mobile? Swordsage seems a better choice. If you want him clad in heavy armor and taking hits, then as you said, crusader is the way.

No homebrew please.

I would prefer to have it make mechanical sense, but I am open to just using fiat if it comes to that. I'm envisioning him as robed in finery, with incredible martial prowess and knowledge. Pretty much a lich, only with blade magic instead of arcane magic.

I was going to just make a swordsage and slap the lich template on him, but then I realised he had to actually make his phylactery. Are there any changes to the lich template I could make besides the phylactery part, to make it more appropriate for an initiator? Are there other templates, like death knight, that might be a better fit?

[Red Fel]

Probably not what you're looking for, but Person_Man's Blinky the Ninja (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=6304375&postcount=12) did that whole Undead/Shadow Sun Ninja thing. He used ghost, but there's also the "You turn into a vampire" thing from Balance of Light and Dark (Su), and vampires tend to make decent BBEGs.

Seconding SSN. Makes for a great epic saga, too. Throughout their quest, the PCs hear about an ancient epic hero, a mighty warrior who balanced light and darkness in his heart, and gave up his life to stop a terrible ancient evil.

And then the PCs find the truth - he didn't just give up his life. He overused his Balance of Light and Dark ability, and vamped out. Now there is an evil vampire with character levels and full SSN who has been plotting the entire time.

Like I said, makes for a great story.

Note also the added plot element this creates - the heroes can try to fight the BBEG, or they can try to free his soul from the Iron City of Dis. Or they might even face some of Dispater's minions on the way, as the infernal might want to protect his "investment."

As for classes, start him off with either Unarmed Swordsage 3 (to get IUS and the maneuver prereqs), X 2/ USS 1 (if X is an IL-class, you have the necessary IL to take the maneuver prereqs) or X 4 / USS 1 (if X is not an IL-class), then go from there into SSN as soon as you have the BAB, then back into X. Also, replace references to "Monk level" in SSN with "Unarmed Swordsage level," because duh.

Remember also that Shadow Hand is an awesome undead discipline, not just because of the hidey-bits, but also because of skills like Shadow Garrotte and the Long Asian-Sounding Name Means Real Ultimate Power Perfect Murder Technique. (Seriously, who names these?)

[Shining Wrath]

I suggest you look at the Master of Nine PrC. In Tome of Battle, if you are the ultimate weapon master, then you are a MoN. Or, really, a level 20 Warblade - but fluff wise, Master of Nine.

I suggest a Master of Nine who became a ghost because ... well, whatever works in your story. Perhaps he was betrayed by a student and can't rest easily until the betrayal is avenged. BUT ... what he calls "betrayal", your PCs and most other people will call "standing up for yourself" or "putting basic morality ahead of loyalty to your teacher". That is, just because the ghost feels betrayed doesn't mean justice is on his side - you do want a BBEG here. Or he died defending his home and became evil due to a psychotic desire for revenge. As I said, whatever works.

Use Warblade as the base class, add the 6th discipline using Martial Study to get into Master of Nine. At ECL 20 (15 WB + 5 MoN) you'll know 19 maneuvers, ready 11, and know 5 stances. BAB = 18. A guy who can use ToB maneuvers and then fade into the wall while he uses Adaptive Style to get exactly the maneuvers he needs back is not someone to take lightly.

[EisenKreutzer]

Master of Nine is an excellent idea, but ghost won't work. I need him to be a corporeal, intelligent undead, preferably something along the lines of a lich.

The idea is that he is an ancient master who was so afraid of death that he gave away his life force and embraced undeath so he could go on mastering the Sublime Way. It's basically the story of a lich, seen through the lense of the Tome of Battle.

[Snowbluff]

How about 6 levels of Warlock for their undead invocation (which can be used to make zombies and skellies, or to raise them for a short duration in-combat)? Some cheese to enter Jade Pheonix Mage (with the evil adaptation) without spellcasting to progress Cleric and Warlock, and you'd be good.

Warlock2/Crusader3/JPM7

Precocious Apprentice as a feat.

Even if he dies, he's destined to reincarnate as an Ebon Pheonix Mage, so he can be recurring even after death.

For an undead template, Swordwraith. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040202a) DR, Turn Resistance, and Str damage on hit.

[John Longarrow]

Ghoul Template can be really fun. Totally fits an "I'm EVIL BECAUSE" type villan.

For build, Warblade with 4 levels of Sword Sage sprinkled in for Wisdom to AC and Damage. Also opens up Shadow Hand for Dex to Damage. This lets you have a relatively low STR villian who can hit/hurt with the best of them while dancing around sword blows.

[Kioras]

Corpse Creature or Bone Creature from Book of Vile Darkness.

Corpse Creature is a sentinent, small +4 str -2dex modifier, with a nat AC boost, no negatives zombie type. It keeps all other types, subtyes and abilities.

Bone Creature is similiar, +4dex, nat AC bonus, cold immunity skeleton. It keeps all other types, subtyes and abilities.

For more fun, go ahead and spell stich him, to give him some more variety.

[Shining Wrath]

Master of Nine is an excellent idea, but ghost won't work. I need him to be a corporeal, intelligent undead, preferably something along the lines of a lich.

The idea is that he is an ancient master who was so afraid of death that he gave away his life force and embraced undeath so he could go on mastering the Sublime Way. It's basically the story of a lich, seen through the lense of the Tome of Battle.

The problem with lich, though, is that you need access to serious magic (usually your own) in order to obtain lich status. And that means lots of levels going into something other than initiator; you've got to be a gish, and a pretty seriously high ECL one to be both a MoN and a high-level caster.

Therefore - when the lich went through the creation ritual someone else was the spell caster. He had a patron or close friend who was a high-level wizard and aided him in his quest for perfect weapons mastery. The friend or patron was probably extremely evil; per RAW, the lich ritual is "unspeakably evil", so helping someone go through it is not a good or neutral act.

Maybe the lich was the servant and bodyguard of the legendary Necromancer of Great Badness Soregums, known for his halitosis, and when Soregums was finally destroyed the lich escaped because his phylactery was well-hidden. Now he's back and his desire is to avenge Soregums (or even bring him back somehow).

Soregums left behind magic doo-dads which enable a non-caster to UMD undead creation. Our lich buddy, then, is using the doo-dads to create minions. That's how you get an initiator who can create undead.

These doo-dads are NOT going to fall into the hands of the PCs. Think long and hard about the magical protections upon them placed by Soregums, whose ECL was high enough that the PCs can't possibly overcome them. You want to ensure that PC cleverness doesn't overcome your protections, so have a lot of layers and have them written down on something you can show the players if they feel cheated.

[EisenKreutzer]

Thats a good idea, but unfortunately arcane magic does not exist in this campaign world.

I'm leaning towards just using GM fiat and saying he discovered an ancient scroll detailing a long forgotten technique that allows him to shed his life force and become a lich, then just making a Swordsage 7 / Master of Nine 5 character and applying the lich template to him, ignoring the spellcasting requirements. Maybe an ancient artifact, a weapon of some kind perhaps, serves as the focus for the ritual and his phylactery once the ritual is completed.

[Rubik]

That's a good idea, but unfortunately arcane magic does not exist in this campaign world.Psionics fits well with the idea of Chi and Asian philosophical and meditative techniques, and it'd be very, very easy to convert the jade phoenix mage to advance psionics. There are even psionic feats in ToB to use with it. Combine with a bit of incarnum, and you have him combining mind, body, and soul to produce the consummate warrior, able to fight on any level he chooses. Depending on the feats, soulmelds, powers, and maneuvers he takes, he can be entirely self-sufficient, and able to buff himself to the nines by abusing the action economy.

[edit] You can even use legacy champion to advance JPM in order to give him a powerful psionic/incarnum/initiator weapon.

[Kuulvheysoon]

I believe that your best options would be tve Swordwraith or the Curst, both mentioned upthread somewhere.

[Shining Wrath]

Thats a good idea, but unfortunately arcane magic does not exist in this campaign world.

I'm leaning towards just using GM fiat and saying he discovered an ancient scroll detailing a long forgotten technique that allows him to shed his life force and become a lich, then just making a Swordsage 7 / Master of Nine 5 character and applying the lich template to him, ignoring the spellcasting requirements. Maybe an ancient artifact, a weapon of some kind perhaps, serves as the focus for the ritual and his phylactery once the ritual is completed.

It is possible to perform the lich ritual using divine magic, so instead of a necromancer your lich served a cleric of an evil death god - whichever god would want there to be more undead - and he became a lich as an offering of his life to the death god. His patron is now dead and the lich has stepped into his role as BBEG with lots of undead minions.

And yes, a legacy weapon that is the focus for his clerical spell-like abilities sounds flavorful. Not only is it his phylactery, it turns those he slays with it into undead. That's how he's able to keep his supply of minions well stocked. Need some wights? Set your magic weapon to "Wight" and go slaughter a few farms worth of innocents.

[EisenKreutzer]

It is possible to perform the lich ritual using divine magic, so instead of a necromancer your lich served a cleric of an evil death god - whichever god would want there to be more undead - and he became a lich as an offering of his life to the death god. His patron is now dead and the lich has stepped into his role as BBEG with lots of undead minions.

And yes, a legacy weapon that is the focus for his clerical spell-like abilities sounds flavorful. Not only is it his phylactery, it turns those he slays with it into undead. That's how he's able to keep his supply of minions well stocked. Need some wights? Set your magic weapon to "Wight" and go slaughter a few farms worth of innocents.

I think this is it, actually. Thanks for the input, you've all been awesome!

[Fouredged Sword]

Vampire Lord Crusader / Master of the Nine.

[mabriss lethe]

If you aren't adverse to Pathfinder material, the Graveknight (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/graveknight-cr-2) template would be perfect. It's essentially a lich template for non-casters where your phylactery is your armor. Pretty much the entire fluff of it is that you're just too mean to die.