[3.5e] Building Villains

[WesleyVos]

Playgrounders, here's the situation. I'm running a mid-high op campaign (no Tippyverse stuff, but the power level and optimization levels are definitely above average), and I'm working on building the final boss for each story arc. I'm trying to make each of the bosses high-level servants of their respective deities and focusing heavily on that deity's motif. Additionally, each should be gestalted to fit thematically with their motif. For reference, the party currently consists of a halfling cloistered cleric, human sorceress, necropolitan elf FS conjurer, human DFI bard (force damage), two human crusaders, and ahalf-orc barbarian. I have the first villain done:

Cheir, high priest of Druhimvor (god of lycanthropes): Werebear/Crusader 4 // Cleric 10, domains Destruction and Bestial. Generally uses spells to buff himself and wades into melee. His servants are lycanthropes (werewolves and wererats) and goblin/orc/human mercenaries.

The following villains need to be completed:

Servant of Ushkem (NE god of orcs): The party will be either 9th or 11th level when they face him, though he should have several CR 3-4 bodyguards with him during the fight, so his CR can be knocked down a bit for this. He must be an orc. I definitely want one side of the gestalt to be warblade. The other side should probably focus on buffs, but I'm not sure how best to run it. I thought maybe a Marshal/Bard mix would work.

Assassin of Ineyar (NE god of shadows): Again, the party will be either 9th or 11th level when they face him, and he'll probably have 1-2 other bodyguards with him. Beyond that I want a shadow motif, I think I'd like to run a rogue/fighter // swordsage build, focusing on moving concealed, then sneak attacking from the shadows.

Servant of Polchei (CE god of plagues and disease): Beyond that I want a disease theme, I have no idea where to go with this one. I'll need the big bad and suggestions for servants here.

Servant of Chanalroth (CE god of the undead): The party will be around level 15 at this point. Dread Necromancer might work for one side of the build, or maybe a FS necromancer wizard. Race and templates are up in the air - this should definitely be undead focused.

Favored of Cruryn (CE god of evil dragons): Party Level 16-17. Definitely should be a dragon, probably red, with dragon and draconic servants. However, gestalting a dragon is not going to be easy - any suggestions?

High Priestess of Jezuba'al (CE god of darkness and destruction): Jezuba'al is the biggest bad in the setting, so her high priestess should be something similar. Party level will be 20-21 for this fight. Beyond that, not sure where to go with the build.


Anyone have any suggestions, thoughts, comments, ideas for me? I could really use some help on some of these builds.

Thanks!

[Gildedragon]

For the god of orcs:
Divine or savage bard or rage cleric (rather than barbarian)

For shadow fella:
Dark creature template + swordsage going into shadowlord
On the rogue side take poison use rather than trapfinding, use a fair number of smoke and darkness alchemical items.

Polchei's fella: poisons, as diseases are too slow. Has the capacity to spread disease but in combat it is no good. Lots of different grafts. Cancer Mage is a good class for this fella

Chanalroth: DN is good on one side, probably ought already be undead. Might I suggest mummy or ghost

[WesleyVos]

For the god of orcs:
Divine or savage bard or rage cleric (rather than barbarian)

Savage bard might work well. I'm going more for an orc strategist (hence warblade over barbarian, and heavy use of white raven), so rage cleric might not fit.


For shadow fella:
Dark creature template + swordsage going into shadowlord
On the rogue side take poison use rather than trapfinding, use a fair number of smoke and darkness alchemical items.

Definitely some good ideas here. Yeah, trapfinding doesn't fit at all.


Polchei's fella: poisons, as diseases are too slow. Has the capacity to spread disease but in combat it is no good. Lots of different grafts. Cancer Mage is a good class for this fella

Cancer mage is an excellent idea. Grafts could work very well. Not sure about the poison thing - might fit, but by that level most of the PCs will have easy ways around it. I was thinking this guy would pop in and out, wearing the party down over the days and weeks that they're trying to find him.


Chanalroth: DN is good on one side, probably ought already be undead. Might I suggest mummy or ghost

He'll definitely be undead. Lich, maybe, instead of mummy or ghost. I wonder - would a vampire lich be possible?

[Gildedragon]

Cancer mage is an excellent idea. Grafts could work very well. Not sure about the poison thing - might fit, but by that level most of the PCs will have easy ways around it. I was thinking this guy would pop in and out, wearing the party down over the days and weeks that they're trying to find him.

You can have arbitrarily strong poisons (infused with magic even) that mimic the effects of a disease but sped up.
Say the shakes:
DC: 13 as a disease, but let's up it by 5 as a poison
Primary: -1d4 dex
Secondary: -1d4 dex
The damage is halving the actual damage of the disease. An option would be have the 'poison' damage be different (-1 to attack and AC rolls on account of the shaking) and then the (halved) disease damage as the secondary effect. Then every day thereafter treat the disease as normal (-1d8 dex, DC 13)



He'll definitely be undead. Lich, maybe, instead of mummy or ghost. I wonder - would a vampire lich be possible?

dunno. Why not just say yes. Vampire+lich might be a bit OP for the party at that point.

Q: Jezubal's darkness shtick seems a bit close to the shadows of Ineyar. Any chance she could have a more distinctive thing... like madness? Then you get all the cool far-realms beasties to play with.

Suggestion for the Lycanthrope fella: pandemonic silver weapons.

[WesleyVos]

Shadow-guy is more assassin focused - sneak around, do some damage, but more stay out of sight. Jezuba'al is darkness + destruction - more of the evil, suffocating, dread darkness.

Madness could be a possibility for an additional villain - it wouldn't be hard to add one to the storyline. That could be fun, actually.

[Gildedragon]

Ah I see.

Crucyn:
A typhoon dragon (oa) has decent mental stats at 19 HD and is Evil.
wu-jen with a wind bent might be a cool way to go

or a monsters of faerun Deep Dragon

add the loredrake archetype and maybe one or two dragon psychoses and you are halfway to a pretty powerful villain.

-----

Jezzie's minion:

Take a killer gnome base on one side (maybe with something other than gnome) and fear effects on the other. Illusions that wreck fear and dread. Shifting overpowering darkness...

[WesleyVos]

Ah I see.

Crucyn:
A typhoon dragon (oa) has decent mental stats at 19 HD and is Evil.
wu-jen with a wind bent might be a cool way to go

or a monsters of faerun Deep Dragon

add the loredrake archetype and maybe one or two dragon psychoses and you are halfway to a pretty powerful villain.

I'll have to look into the Deep Dragon idea - that one would work really well.


-----

Jezzie's minion:

Take a killer gnome base on one side (maybe with something other than gnome) and fear effects on the other. Illusions that wreck fear and dread. Shifting overpowering darkness...

That could work pretty well. It would certainly be interesting, to say the least.

Any other suggestions? Ideas? Thoughts? Comments?

[Trasilor]

Any other suggestions? Ideas? Thoughts? Comments?

How are you addressing Economy of Action?

7 PCs vs 1 villain is problematic b/c the villain gets 1 move to the party's 7.

CR 4-5 bodyguards vs lvl 10 characters are a speed bump, not a bodyguard.

If I were the villain, I would do one of three things:

1) burn through minions to deplete party resources.
2) Build contingencies for when the party eventually 'kills me"
3) Try to play both sides of the conflict

[WesleyVos]

How are you addressing Economy of Action?

7 PCs vs 1 villain is problematic b/c the villain gets 1 move to the party's 7.

Yeah, I know. The villain is going to be the main feature, but between environment and bodyguards (My CRs were a bit low earlier, and actually a bunch of CR 1's can do a lot, even against a high level party - see Tucker's Kobolds).


CR 4-5 bodyguards vs lvl 10 characters are a speed bump, not a bodyguard.

The CR was a bit low, admittedly.


If I were the villain, I would do one of three things:

1) burn through minions to deplete party resources.

Definitely happening. Each of these fights should be fairly drawn out, with the party having to fight through waves of minions just to get to the boss. In addition, I'll be throwing speed bumps and probably even challenges in during the fight itself. Environment will be a factor as well.


2) Build contingencies for when the party eventually 'kills me"

There will be some of this, when it fits, certainly.


3) Try to play both sides of the conflict

Most of the time, probably not an option. There will be some of these who do that, but mostly by the time the party gets to them sides will be clearly drawn.

[TheDarkDM]

What's your stance on gestalt PRCs? Because a Cleric / Nightcloak (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20040522a) // Wizard / Shadowcaster / Noctumancer could work for your Big Bad.

[Gildedragon]

For action economy: have traps and area effects for home turf

For the necromancer a good start would be: black sand, in an unhallowed desecrated area, and undead with destruction-retribution and other death throes abilities. they die, they explode, damaging the PCs and healing other nearby undead. Also incorporeal undead makes the battle much tougher (which is why I recommend a ghost type creature for the villain)

for disease fella:
Ghouls and Vargouilles are probably good minions
the PCs ought have been damaged by diseases (base in the middle of a swamp, filth fever to be contracted unless they take precautions against it; also: leeches)
note on disease: for this sort of thing, you gotta keep track of resources like food and water and making camp.

[WesleyVos]

Gestalting PRCs is fine. And I really like the Nightcloak PRC. That is an excellent idea for the build.

And good suggestions on environments, Guigarci. I'll definitely be using some of those.

[TheDarkDM]

For the necromancer a good start would be: black sand, in an unhallowed desecrated area, and undead with destruction-retribution and other death throes abilities. they die, they explode, damaging the PCs and healing other nearby undead. Also incorporeal undead makes the battle much tougher (which is why I recommend a ghost type creature for the villain)

I'm going to offer a different perspective on the Necromancer - however, keep in mind that I consider the control undead pool a class feature of the Dread Necromancer, and thus think the Necromancer should be the only source of XP in this.

By 15th level, most of the default incorporeal undead have ceased to be a threat, so we're looking at high CR controlled or allied undead, which is going to add to the xp reward. As such, I suggest keeping these down to one or two potent incorporeal undead, say a pair of Dread Wraiths hiding in the Necromancer's shadow. As to the Necromancer himself (going to assume male pronouns here), I'd actually recommend against making him undead. That's just begging for an optimized Turn Undead and a lucky roll, and IC it doesn't make a whole lot of sense given the fluff of the Dread Necromancer. When they face this guy, he's going to be a level or two from liching up as his capstone, so I'd say wait. Necrotic Cyst is one of my favorite necromantic feats, so I'd give him that, especially because he should be high enough level to get the really potent level 8 buff. But minions should be your main focus. A Dread Minionmancer can be a fearsome thing, especially if you optimize it. If this guy is hovering around level 17 or 18, he's going to have a couple hundred HD of undead to play with, and he should focus on big, scary undead rather than cannon fodder. Why use twenty human warrior 1 skeletons when you can have one Adult Black Dragon Skeleton (using the Dragon Skeleton template from Draconomicon is just gravy at that point)? Give him a couple of your preferred dragons, some giant skeletons, maybe a hydra or two. If memory served Dragon Zombies keep their breath weapons, so maybe have him riding one of those. And here's the most important part - have them all be Awakened. It's a trivial XP expenditure to justify, and all his minions now have the feats they had in life, their skills, their Ex abilities, and enough intelligence to act tactically. For added nastiness, have the Necromancer take Leadership and give him a Bard cohort with the Libris Mortis feat that allows bardic music to affect undead. Then give the Bard dragonfire inspiration. Now you have a single Level 17 - 18 opponent who actually beats the party in action economy and can engage them all at one time. Fill his gestalt with a decent offensive option, and he'll be a nightmare.

*edit*
And if you do choose to make him undead and want something truly unpleasant, consider Vampire Lord (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20021018a).

[WesleyVos]

I'm going to offer a different perspective on the Necromancer - however, keep in mind that I consider the control undead pool a class feature of the Dread Necromancer, and thus think the Necromancer should be the only source of XP in this.

By 15th level, most of the default incorporeal undead have ceased to be a threat, so we're looking at high CR controlled or allied undead, which is going to add to the xp reward. As such, I suggest keeping these down to one or two potent incorporeal undead, say a pair of Dread Wraiths hiding in the Necromancer's shadow. As to the Necromancer himself (going to assume male pronouns here), I'd actually recommend against making him undead. That's just begging for an optimized Turn Undead and a lucky roll, and IC it doesn't make a whole lot of sense given the fluff of the Dread Necromancer. When they face this guy, he's going to be a level or two from liching up as his capstone, so I'd say wait. Necrotic Cyst is one of my favorite necromantic feats, so I'd give him that, especially because he should be high enough level to get the really potent level 8 buff. But minions should be your main focus. A Dread Minionmancer can be a fearsome thing, especially if you optimize it. If this guy is hovering around level 17 or 18, he's going to have a couple hundred HD of undead to play with, and he should focus on big, scary undead rather than cannon fodder. Why use twenty human warrior 1 skeletons when you can have one Adult Black Dragon Skeleton (using the Dragon Skeleton template from Draconomicon is just gravy at that point)? Give him a couple of your preferred dragons, some giant skeletons, maybe a hydra or two. If memory served Dragon Zombies keep their breath weapons, so maybe have him riding one of those. And here's the most important part - have them all be Awakened. It's a trivial XP expenditure to justify, and all his minions now have the feats they had in life, their skills, their Ex abilities, and enough intelligence to act tactically. For added nastiness, have the Necromancer take Leadership and give him a Bard cohort with the Libris Mortis feat that allows bardic music to affect undead. Then give the Bard dragonfire inspiration. Now you have a single Level 17 - 18 opponent who actually beats the party in action economy and can engage them all at one time. Fill his gestalt with a decent offensive option, and he'll be a nightmare.

This...this is nasty. I love it.

[TheDarkDM]

This...this is nasty. I love it.

I may have taken a Dread Necromancer from level 3 to level 28 while focusing on minions. :smalltongue:

Also, see my edit.


Cancer mage is an excellent idea. Grafts could work very well. Not sure about the poison thing - might fit, but by that level most of the PCs will have easy ways around it. I was thinking this guy would pop in and out, wearing the party down over the days and weeks that they're trying to find him.

You could make the Cancer Mage a Swarm Shifter.

[WesleyVos]

I may have taken a Dread Necromancer from level 3 to level 28 while focusing on minions. :smalltongue:

Also, see my edit.



You could make the Cancer Mage a Swarm Shifter.

Ooh, I like this idea. That's excellent. Possibly even have the Cancer Mage and the Dread Necromancer working together. The first kills victims (by disease or, when necessary, other methods) while the second raises them.

EDIT: For the Necromancer, I'm thinking a Vampire Dread Necromancer // Sorcerer 2/Master Vampire 3/Favored Soul 3/Other buffing/defensive class X. That would give him vampire thralls as well as DN minions.

[TheDarkDM]

Well then, why not go the full gothic and have the Cancer Mage running the hospital in [Major City of Choice] as a cover, transporting the corpses to the Necromancer's secret base in the catacombs beneath the city?

*edit*
I don't think you want to put the +8 LA on the Dread Necromancer side, as you want the eighth level casting. Meanwhile, it looks like the other side is mostly smatterings of additional dips (Battle Dancer, by the way, is a pretty good DN choice) to round out defenses, so it can afford the LA. Master Vampire is a fun choice, though.

[WesleyVos]

Well then, why not go the full gothic and have the Cancer Mage running the hospital in [Major City of Choice] as a cover, transporting the corpses to the Necromancer's secret base in the catacombs beneath the city?

*edit*
I don't think you want to put the +8 LA on the Dread Necromancer side, as you want the eighth level casting. Meanwhile, it looks like the other side is mostly smatterings of additional dips (Battle Dancer, by the way, is a pretty good DN choice) to round out defenses, so it can afford the LA. Master Vampire is a fun choice, though.

And I really like this idea.

As for the build, I'll have to look into Battle Dancer. Could be fun. Any other suggestions?

I also have another build that is needed. The party failed to stop a summoning ritual, so I need to build an aspect of a lycanthrope god. It has taken possession of the body of the werebear cleric // crusader. I'm homebrewing that, as the god of lycanthropes, he can, as a swift action, once per 1d3 rounds, call one fiendish brown bear, 1d3 fiendish black bears, 2d3 fiendish wolves, 2d6 fiendish dire rats, or 1d3 rat swarms to fight for him. Beyond this, though, I haven't been able to come up with the rest of the build. It should be the final encounter for this story arc. 6-member party is level 7, and I want this to burn through all or almost all of their resources and probably a party member or two or three as well. The gestalt werebear cleric // crusader (CR 10) plus 4 CR 4 clerics and two werewolves, got the sorceress down to her last HP but didn't do much to the rest of the party. Some Dex drain from shivering touch on the bard and the crusader, and one summoned-allip-Wisdom-drain on the crusader.

Suggestions on this one?

[Promises Kept]

And I really like this idea.

As for the build, I'll have to look into Battle Dancer. Could be fun. Any other suggestions?

I also have another build that is needed. The party failed to stop a summoning ritual, so I need to build an aspect of a lycanthrope god. It has taken possession of the body of the werebear cleric // crusader. I'm homebrewing that, as the god of lycanthropes, he can, as a swift action, once per 1d3 rounds, call one fiendish brown bear, 1d3 fiendish black bears, 2d3 fiendish wolves, 2d6 fiendish dire rats, or 1d3 rat swarms to fight for him. Beyond this, though, I haven't been able to come up with the rest of the build. It should be the final encounter for this story arc. 6-member party is level 7, and I want this to burn through all or almost all of their resources and probably a party member or two or three as well. The gestalt werebear cleric // crusader (CR 10) plus 4 CR 4 clerics and two werewolves, got the sorceress down to her last HP but didn't do much to the rest of the party. Some Dex drain from shivering touch on the bard and the crusader, and one summoned-allip-Wisdom-drain on the crusader.

Suggestions on this one?

If you're feeling particularly cruel, go all-out and have the cleric be a full Proxy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineMinions.htm#proxies) of your lycanthrope god. I don't know if you've statted him out, but the SDA's available are just plain brutal. I'd advise avoiding letting him use any of the instant-kills or Alter Reality, though. If you're hoping to give them a chance without fiat, you could homebrew a "lesser" version of this, by giving him Abomination Traits. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm) A summoning ability is included in the Abomination traits, so you have that covered. Perhaps for the unique ability, he can have a limited version of Shapechange (allowing transformation into any animal or magical beast, fluffed as his Lycanthropy transcending barriers of species), making him able to adapt to the party's tactics. And for spell-like abilities, give him a useful selection of spells from the Domains of your god of lycanthropy. The defensive boosts he gains are non-trivial, though, so it may be difficult for the party to meaningfully damage him. You may want to dial back the DR, Fast Healing, and Natural Armor to keep it in line with your party's stats.

[Peelee]

For Chanalroth, a miniboss I recently built for a campaign might serve you well. You'd have to make some adjustments, since you're aiming for a gestalt build, but I'm pretty damn proud of him. Short version: vampire monk/sorc with absolute melee denial. Planned to have his battle in a basement-type area, with a liberal amount of pillars at non-linear placements, just to make ranged attacks as tricky as possible. To help against magic, (my players are more melee-focused in this campaign) few more sorc spell levels would let him dimension door to a mage, hit with Antimagic Field, and feast.

Spoiler has all my notes on him. Like, literally, all my notes. You don't have to look up anything, everything he can possibly do is there, it's just a wall of text. Question marks denote I'm unsure/considering multiple options.
Monk level 14, and a vampire! Ooooooh!
Add 1 Sorcerer level. Also Human.
1 feat start. 1 Bonus feat human. 3 Bonus feats monk. 2 feats for 2 flaws = 7 feats levelled.

Monk Free Feats/Abilities:
Improved Unarmed Strike
Evasion
Improved Evasion
Monk Bonus Feats:
Improved Grapple
Deflect Arrows
Improved Trip
Vampire Bonus Feats:
Alertness
Combat Reflexes
Dodge
Improved Initiative
Lightning Reflexes

Chosen Feats:
Combat Expertise
Knock Down (Sword and Fist, p.7)
Dirty Fighting (Sword and Fist, p. 6)
Defensive Throw (Complete Warrior, p. 94)
Prone Attack (Complete Warrior, p.94)
Karmic Strike (Complete Warrior, p.94)
Scorpion's Grasp (Sandstorm, p. 54)


Flaws: Shaky (-2 to Ranged Attack rolls)
Pathetic (-2 to Con, pre-vampirization)
Cheesy as hell, but don't care.

PLAYER'S HANDBOOK

Combat Expertise [General]
Benefit: You may make a number of additional attacks of opportunity equal to your Dexterity bonus. With this feat, you may also make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed.

SWORD AND FIST

Dirty Fighting [General]
You know the brutal and effective fighting tactics of the streets and back alleys.
Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +2.
Benefit: Make a melee attack roll normally. If successful, you inflict an additional +1d4 points of damage. This feat requires the full attack action.
Knock-Down [General]
Your mighty blows can knock foes off their feet.
Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +2, Improved Trip, Str 15+.
Benefit: Whenever you deal 10 or more points of damage to your opponent in melee, you make a trip attack as a free action against the same target.

COMPLETE WARRIOR

Defensive Throw [General]
You can use your opponent’s weight, strength, and momen- tum against her, deflecting her attack and throwing her to the ground.
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Trip, Improved Unarmed Strike.
Benefit: If the opponent you have chosen to use your Dodge feat against attacks you and misses, you can make an immediate trip attack against that opponent. This attempt counts against your allowed attacks of opportunity in the round.
Karmic Strike [General]
You have learned to strike when your opponent is most vulnerable - when your opponent strikes you.
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Combat Expertise, Dodge
Benefit: You can make an attack of opportunity against an opponent who hits you in melee. On your action, you choose to take a -4 penalty to your Armor Class in exchange for the ability to make an attack of opportunity against any creature who succeeds in making a melee attack or melee touch attack against you. The opponent who hit you must be in your threatened square, and this does not grant you more attacks of opportunity than you are allowed in a round. You specify on your turn that you are activating this feat, and the change to your Armor Class and your ability to make these special attacks of opportunity last until your next turn.
Prone Attack [General]
You can attack from a prone position without penalty.
Prerequisites: Dex 15, Lightning Reflexes, base attack bonus +2.
Benefit: You can make an attack from the prone position and take no penalty on your attack roll. If your attack roll is successful, you may regain your feet immediately as a free action. Opponents gain no bonus on melee attacks against you while you are prone.

SANDSTORM

Scorpion's Grasp [General]
Like the scorpion, you can grab and hold your prey.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple.
Benefit: If your attack with an unarmed strike or a light or one-handed melee weapon hits, the strike deals normal damage and you can attempt to start a grapple as a free action; no initial touch attack is required. If you succeed in starting the grapple, you must drop your one-handed weapon, but if you started the grapple with a light weapon, you can use it in each round to make an attack against the creature you are grappling without taking the normal –4 penalty on the attack roll. If you initiated the grapple while armed, however, you cannot make additional grapple checks to deal damage during the round in which you use this feat. You have the option to conduct the grapple normally, or you may hold a creature one or more sizes smaller than you with your off hand. If you choose to do the latter, you take a –20 penalty on grapple checks against that creature and you cannot deal damage with your grapple checks, but you are not considered grappled yourself. You don’t lose your Dexterity bonus to AC, you still threaten an area, and you can use remaining attacks against other opponents. While maintaining this latter type of hold, you can move normally (possibly carrying your opponent away), provided you can drag the opponent’s weight.

MAGIC ITEMS

Head:
Face:
Throat: Amulet of Wordtwisting (MIC p.71)
Shoulders: Cloak of Battle (MIC p. 87) $22
Torso: Impervious Vestment? (MIC 112) +5 AC, $34
Arms: Armbands of Might (MIC p.72)
Left Hand: Gloves of the Titan's Grip? (MIC 107) +8 grapple
Right Hand: Ring of Entropic Deflection? (MIC p.123) if move 10ft, 20% miss chance; double speed, 50%
Waist: Belt of Battle (MIC p. 73)
Legs:
Feet:

Monk Abilities:

AC Bonus (Ex)
When unarmored and unencumbered, the monk adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC. In addition, a monk gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every five monk levels thereafter (+2 at 10th, +3 at 15th, and +4 at 20th level). These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the monk is flat-footed. She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load.

Flurry of Blows (Ex)
When unarmored, a monk may strike with a flurry of blows at the expense of accuracy. When doing so, she may make one extra attack in a round at her highest base attack bonus, but this attack takes a -2 penalty, as does each other attack made that round. The resulting modified base attack bonuses are shown in the Flurry of Blows Attack Bonus column on Table: The Monk. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the monk might make before her next action. When a monk reaches 5th level, the penalty lessens to -1, and at 9th level it disappears. A monk must use a full attack action to strike with a flurry of blows.

When using flurry of blows, a monk may attack only with unarmed strikes or with special monk weapons (kama,nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, and siangham). She may attack with unarmed strikes and special monk weapons interchangeably as desired. When using weapons as part of a flurry of blows, a monk applies her Strength bonus (not Str bonus × 1½ or ×½) to her damage rolls for all successful attacks, whether she wields a weapon in one or both hands. The monk can’t use any weapon other than a special monk weapon as part of a flurry of blows.

In the case of the quarterstaff, each end counts as a separate weapon for the purpose of using the flurry of blows ability. Even though the quarterstaff requires two hands to use, a monk may still intersperse unarmed strikes with quarterstaff strikes, assuming that she has enough attacks in her flurry of blows routine to do so.

Greater Flurry
When a monk reaches 11th level, her flurry of blows ability improves. In addition to the standard single extra attack she gets from flurry of blows, she gets a second extra attack at her full base attack bonus.

At 1st level, a monk gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. A monk’s attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk may even make unarmed strikes with her hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed. A monk may thus apply her full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all her unarmed strikes.

Usually a monk’s unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but she can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on her attack roll. She has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.

A monk’s unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.

A monk also deals more damage with her unarmed strikes than a normal person would, as shown on Table: The Monk. The unarmed damage on Table: The Monk is for Medium monks. A Small monk deals less damage than the amount given there with her unarmed attacks, while a Large monk deals more damage; see Table: Small or Large Monk Unarmed Damage.

Bonus Feat
At 1st level, a monk may select either Improved Grapple orStunning Fist as a bonus feat. At 2nd level, she may select eitherCombat Reflexes or Deflect Arrows as a bonus feat. At 6th level, she may select either Improved Disarm or Improved Trip as a bonus feat. A monk need not have any of the prerequisites normally required for these feats to select them.

Evasion (Ex)
At 2nd level or higher if a monk makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if a monk is wearing light armor or no armor. Ahelpless monk does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Fast Movement (Ex)
At 3rd level, a monk gains an enhancement bonus to her speed, as shown on Table: The Monk. A monk in armor or carrying a medium or heavy load loses this extra speed.

Still Mind (Ex)
A monk of 3rd level or higher gains a +2 bonus on saving throwsagainst spells and effects from the school of enchantment.

Ki Strike (Su)
At 4th level, a monk’s unarmed attacks are empowered with ki. Her unarmed attacks are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. Ki strike improves with the character’s monk level. At 10th level, her unarmed attacks are also treated as lawful weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. At 16th level, her unarmed attacks are treated as adamantineweapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and bypassing hardness.

Slow Fall (Ex)
At 4th level or higher, a monk within arm’s reach of a wall can use it to slow her descent. When first using this ability, she takes damage as if the fall were 20 feet shorter than it actually is. The monk’s ability to slow her fall (that is, to reduce the effective distance of the fall when next to a wall) improves with her monk level until at 20th level she can use a nearby wall to slow her descent and fall any distance without harm.

Purity of Body (Ex)
At 5th level, a monk gains immunity to all diseases except for supernatural and magical diseases.

Wholeness of Body (Su)
At 7th level or higher, a monk can heal her own wounds. She can heal a number of hit points of damage equal to twice her current monk level each day, and she can spread this healing out among several uses.

Improved Evasion (Ex)
At 9th level, a monk’s evasion ability improves. She still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, but henceforth she takes only half damage on a failed save. Ahelpless monk does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

Diamond Body (Su)
At 11th level, a monk gains immunity to poisons of all kinds.

Abundant Step (Su)
At 12th level or higher, a monk can slip magically between spaces, as if using the spell dimension door, once per day. Her caster level for this effect is one-half her monk level (rounded down).

Diamond Soul (Ex)
At 13th level, a monk gains spell resistance equal to her current monk level + 10. In order to affect the monk with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the monk’s spell resistance.

[WesleyVos]

If you're feeling particularly cruel, go all-out and have the cleric be a full Proxy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineMinions.htm#proxies) of your lycanthrope god. I don't know if you've statted him out, but the SDA's available are just plain brutal. I'd advise avoiding letting him use any of the instant-kills or Alter Reality, though. If you're hoping to give them a chance without fiat, you could homebrew a "lesser" version of this, by giving him Abomination Traits. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm) A summoning ability is included in the Abomination traits, so you have that covered. Perhaps for the unique ability, he can have a limited version of Shapechange (allowing transformation into any animal or magical beast, fluffed as his Lycanthropy transcending barriers of species), making him able to adapt to the party's tactics. And for spell-like abilities, give him a useful selection of spells from the Domains of your god of lycanthropy. The defensive boosts he gains are non-trivial, though, so it may be difficult for the party to meaningfully damage him. You may want to dial back the DR, Fast Healing, and Natural Armor to keep it in line with your party's stats.

This is awesome. I'm definitely including abomination traits. I think a Proxy might be a bit much at this point in the campaign, and I'll probably have to decrease some of the traits to make him able to be hit. But the abomination stuff is perfect.


For Chanalroth, a miniboss I recently built for a campaign might serve you well. You'd have to make some adjustments, since you're aiming for a gestalt build, but I'm pretty damn proud of him. Short version: vampire monk/sorc with absolute melee denial. Planned to have his battle in a basement-type area, with a liberal amount of pillars at non-linear placements, just to make ranged attacks as tricky as possible. To help against magic, (my players are more melee-focused in this campaign) few more sorc spell levels would let him dimension door to a mage, hit with Antimagic Field, and feast.

Spoiler has all my notes on him. Like, literally, all my notes. You don't have to look up anything, everything he can possibly do is there, it's just a wall of text. Question marks denote I'm unsure/considering multiple options.

Interesting idea. I'll have to work with it a bit, see what I can do with it, but it sounds pretty decent. Might have this guy as a bodyguard and make the minionmancer the BBG.

[Doc_Maynot]

Favored of Cruryn (CE god of evil dragons): Party Level 16-17. Definitely should be a dragon, probably red, with dragon and draconic servants. However, gestalting a dragon is not going to be easy - any suggestions?

Red Heritage Dragonwrought Kobold (Still a dragon, just not necessarily a true one) Favored Soul? // Dragonblood Sorcerer

Have them expect this big nasty red dragon (Probably through myths and hearsay about them), the casters will get their shivvering touches ready and... Tiny little red guy is there to ruin their day. Oh, and his leadership granted army of Tucker's Kobolds which guarded the place. Which Kobolds are known to be dragon servants.

[Peelee]

Interesting idea. I'll have to work with it a bit, see what I can do with it, but it sounds pretty decent. Might have this guy as a bodyguard and make the minionmancer the BBG.

Totally doable. The initial reason I gave him a sorc level was for Benign Transportation, for use on conjunction with the vampiric gaze, so anyone with low will save would be attacked by his own teammates during the fight at some point. That same spell would work very effectively from a bodyguard standpoint as well. I'm debating making him a Vampire Lord, but they got rid of too many weaknesses, so I'm on the fence. If you like him, I'd be honored if you totally steal him. Alter you see fit.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Orc: Some kind of initimidation/fear build, obligatory Fear Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809.0). Something like Zhentarim Soldier (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060327a) (reflavored) Fighter 9// Savage Bard 8/ Dragon Devotee 1, with Inspire Awe and Haunting Melody instead of Inspire Courage and Suggestion, plus Imperious Command in DotU and the Never Outnumbered skill trick.

Shadow: A Shadurakul from the Fiend Folio (Canomorph alphabetically) is basically a Shadow Mastiff (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shadowMastiff.htm) that can take humanoid form, sort of like a Lycanthrope. I've suggested its use before (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?251305-Building-a-Rogue-Encounter#14) and you can probably put most of that on a gestalt character. A few Shadows would be fitting minions, and they should always fight from partially within a wall/floor to benefit from cover.

Disease: (Cloistered) Cleric with the Pestilence and Slime domains or possibly Archivist and/or Wizard or Sorcerer, minions are Living Spells (MM3) based on Contagion, Contagious Touch, Infestation of Maggots, etc. and he should have an item or have spellcasting to keep the area filled with a Breath of the Jungle spell effect. All of those that aren't in the PHB are in SC, if he gets arcane spellcasting Contagious Fog is a superb choice considering oozes have Blindsight. He should try to inflict Fatigue/Exhaustion on opponents and consider using Fell Weaken from LM. Maybe throw in Spawn of Kyuss minions from MM2 as well.

Undead: Dread Necro//Paladin of Slaughter 2/ Fighter 2/ Cobra-Strike Chaos Monk 2/ Blackguard 3/ Mystic Wanderer 1/ Arcane Duelist 2/ etc., with Ascetic Mage. That adds his Cha to saves twice and to AC three times, and he should have Corpsecrafter and Destruction Retribution in LM along with Arcane Disciple: Evil for Fell Energy Desecrate. All things considered his created undead minions will get +10 HP per HD and will blow up when destroyed dealing negative energy damage to nearby opponents and healing nearby undead.

Dragon: For a gestalt dragon you want to use Sorcerer, Abjurant Champion, Divine Oracle, Paragnostic Apostle, etc. and I'd probably add +1 CR per spell level added if he doesn't gain additional HD. A Rage Drake (MM3) would be a useful minion for grabbing and effectively neutralizing an opponent, preferably a spellcaster, but definitely use multiple minions.

Destruction: Cleric for sure. A Greater Metamagic Rod or DMM with Chain Spell and Destruction (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/destruction.htm) would be fitting at this level, and keep in mind that the DC will not be reduced for secondary targets because the spell deals damage. A Greater Metamagic Rod of Quicken plus the Swift Concentration skill trick with Implosion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/implosion.htm) is also extremely fitting. I realize this is unbelievably dangerous for the PCs, but a 20th/epic BBEG who serves a god of destruction should prefer to use these types of effects.