Villainous Competition, Round 2, Or, Give me something evil! [Archive]

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-24, 09:16 AM

Welcome back everyone, to the second evil villain competition, also known as, Optimize my BBEG!

This was brought about by a different thread by Sam K and Scorponok, saying it would be a good idea to have one of these, so here we are!

Previous one Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?395046-Villainous-Competition-Or-Optimize-my-BBEG!)

We're a little different than most of the optimization threads. We run on CR instead of ECL.

Contestants: You will need to present a write-up of your build with at least one of the following points: 5 CR, 10 CR 15CR, 20 CR, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build, as well as presenting a fully-fleshed out 20 CR build in the table below. Feel free to present as many of these as you like, and please give a rundown of the build's abilities and playability at all of the levels you didn't show. The rules are as follows:

Secret Laboratory: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Elegance below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt or Generic Classes are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Item Familiars and Taint are also banned from the competition. We don’t want to make this too easy, do we?

Plotting Time: Contestants will have until 17:59 CST (23:59 GMT) Wednesday, March 11th to create their builds and PM them to the Supreme Chancellor, Gwachitallemall. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 17:59 CST (23:59 GMT) Wednesday, March 25th to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted.

Judging: Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated on a scale from 1 (very poor) to 5 (exemplary) in each area: Originality, Power, Elegance, Concept.

Concept will be how close the contestants stick to the contest’s concept, based on the judge’s discretion.

Power level is up to you. Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered. As the Iron Chef competition states, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.
Elegance: Fully monstrous builds are allowed, but may be penalized at the judges discretion. All class levels are to be added on as associated class levels, and the race you are using must have at least 4 intelligence. Amount of sources can be penalized, but obscurity of sources should not be penalized. Count the three Core books as one source. Unearthed Arcana can be penalized for elegance if the specific feature seems unnecessary or makes the playing field unfair (In this case, you can give a 0 if it makes the field unfair.)

Presentation: Builds will be posted anonymously, in order to avoid the potential of bias towards a particular competitor. For this reason, please don't put your name in the build, as I'm likely to miss it when reviewing the entries!

Using the table below, the easiest way to use it is to go to the top left of the private message, and click the little a/A icon. It allows you to see what you're writing.
Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry.

CR
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

2nd
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

3rd
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

4th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

5th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

6th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

7th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

8th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

9th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

10th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

11th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

12th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

13th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

14th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

15th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

16th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

17th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

18th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

19th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

20th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

Code immediately below (spoiler).

CR
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

2nd
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

3rd
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

4th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

5th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

6th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

7th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

8th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

9th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

10th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

11th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

12th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

13th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

14th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

15th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

16th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

17th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

18th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

19th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

20th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

You can use the below table for Spells.

Spells per Day/Spells Known
Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th

1st
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

2nd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

3rd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

4th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

5th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

6th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

7th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

8th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

9th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

10th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

11th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

12th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

13th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

14th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

15th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

16th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

17th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

18th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

19th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

20th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Code Immediately Below,
Spells per Day/Spells Known
Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th

1st
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

2nd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

3rd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

4th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

5th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

6th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

7th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

8th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

9th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

10th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

11th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

12th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

13th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

14th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

15th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

16th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

17th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

18th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

19th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

20th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Speculation: Please don’t post or speculate on possible builds until the “reveal, in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines.

So! Who wants to sign up as a contestant, and who wants to sign up as a judge? Looking for as many contestants and judges as feel like playing!

Concept for this 2nd Contest is:
Nature's Revenger!
For this one, the limitation is, no class with heavy armor is allowed! You can trade your heavy armor away, but this may be subject to elegance penalties to judge discretion.
“The world, must, be clean! We must have plants!” (A guy who has taken keeping civilization out of nature to the extreme.)
Leadership is still banned.

We will award 1st through 3rd places, however we will not give an honorable mention, because I couldn't pick one last time from all the awesome builds! If I actually get votes this time, we may add the honorable mention back in.

Tips for submitting your entry, provided by Weaselguy:

- Use capitalization and punctuation, correctly.
- Make good use of Spoilers, for cleanliness.
- Don't forget your sources. If it's something that can be found in the contents section, then book title seems to be fine. Obscure stuff, may want to include page number too.
- DeviantArt has about 9 billion pictures that you can reference, I can almost guarantee you can find one there to fit your character.
- Make good use of tables. In addition to the Build table and the Spells table, I like doing on e for my Ability Scores, just to keep it neat.
- Do a build stub at the top of your Build Table, something like Wizard 2/Fighter 3/Abjurant Champion 5/Eldritch Knight 10

Edit: From this competition onwards, we will be using the Elite Array for ability scores.

Begin your evil plotting.

WeaselGuy

2015-02-24, 09:31 AM

Ok. I actually have an idea for this one, and I also have a character already written up that would fit perfectly the theme of this challenge. My problem is, I don't really know how to factor CR.

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-24, 09:42 AM

Take the monsters CR, add in direct class level to CR. Any templates add CR instead of LA. I think that's pretty much it.

Oxydeur

2015-02-24, 10:45 AM

Does it have to be trees ?
Do we have to stick to forests/jungle or can the BBEG militate for another natural environment such as desert, frostfell, marsh or ocean ?

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-24, 10:49 AM

Nature in general. So any nature theme (Including swamps, etc.) You're keeping civilization out of nature.

Vhaidara

2015-02-24, 10:59 AM

You guys might all be screwed on Power if eggy decides to submit.

I'll judge again.

AirApparent

2015-02-24, 11:15 AM

Ooh I've got an idea for this one!

sakuuya

2015-02-24, 11:56 AM

How does the CR rule interact with monsters that have fractional CR?

AirApparent

2015-02-24, 11:59 AM

Also if a template gives a CR adjustment different from LA, which do we use for the CR, since you said that LA instead adjusts CR?

Example: Half-Dragon has +2 CR, but +3 LA (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/halfDragon.htm)

Vhaidara

2015-02-24, 12:02 PM

I think fractionals just get rounded up to 1, since to my knowledge there are no +fraction templates and you can't go over the amount (19.5 can't advance anymore without going over 20)

Any templates add CR instead of LA.

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-24, 12:04 PM

You use CR adjustment instead of LA for those cases where CR are different than LA. You're building enemies, not PC's.

As for Fractional CR, your first class level increases it to 1. You follow normal CR after that.

Inevitability

2015-02-24, 12:08 PM

An idea has been had! Assuming I actually find time to submit something, you can expect something from me.

sakuuya

2015-02-24, 02:33 PM

As for Fractional CR, your first class level increases it to 1. You follow normal CR after that.

So if I had, say, an Orc Wizard 1 (and that's not about disassociated class levels, which I know aren't a thing here; I just don't want to speculate on anything actually likely :smallwink:), his CR would be 1? And then it'd be a 1-for-1 class level/CR thing, right? So if Orko the Wizardly made it to level 2, he'd be CR 2?

Welp, I'm off to look at CR 1+ monster possibilites, so I don't have to deal with any of this. :smallyuk:

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-24, 02:52 PM

So if I had, say, an Orc Wizard 1 (and that's not about disassociated class levels, which I know aren't a thing here; I just don't want to speculate on anything actually likely :smallwink:), his CR would be 1? And then it'd be a 1-for-1 class level/CR thing, right? So if Orko the Wizardly made it to level 2, he'd be CR 2?

Welp, I'm off to look at CR 1+ monster possibilites, so I don't have to deal with any of this. :smallyuk:

Correct.

Filler

Red Fel

2015-02-24, 03:03 PM

Unless there are any objections, I'll volunteer as judge again.

WeaselGuy

2015-02-24, 03:06 PM

Unless there are any objections, I'll volunteer as judge again.

I'll try to use a better picture this time :smalltongue:

WhamBamSam

2015-02-24, 03:43 PM

Alright, I have a few ideas, and I'm determined to do better this time round. I'll get down to plotting in earnest once I'm out from under this week's workload.

Telonius

2015-02-24, 04:42 PM

I have an idea or two. . . I think I might be able to put a build together.

Thurbane

2015-02-24, 04:57 PM

I'd like to enter this one...as I'm moving house this weekend and am not sure what's happening with the internet, may be difficult though.

fishyfishyfishy

2015-02-24, 10:47 PM

I've got a few ideas for this. Hopefully I can find the time to submit something this time around.

Troacctid

2015-02-24, 11:03 PM

All class levels are to be added on as associated class levels, and the race you are using must have at least 4 intelligence.

You mean 3 intelligence, right?

WhamBamSam

2015-02-25, 12:03 AM

Turns out that one of the classes I wanted to use has heavy armor proficiency, and it doesn't seem there's an elegant way to get rid of it. So I'm down to two ideas now, and one of them is the obvious way to go with one very minor wrinkle.

zergling.exe

2015-02-25, 03:21 AM

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-25, 06:03 AM

You mean 3 intelligence, right?

No, I specifically meant 4. While 3 is the normal minimum amount, 4 allowed me to weed out some of the monsters I -really- did not think were appropriate for this competition.

Inevitability

2015-02-25, 06:34 AM

No, I specifically meant 4. While 3 is the normal minimum amount, 4 allowed me to weed out some of the monsters I -really- did not think were appropriate for this competition.

Examples? Do you mean things like Fiendish/Celestial/Entropic critters or something else?

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-25, 06:48 AM

Tarrasque, was one of the main ones I was thinking of. Although you won't be adding anything onto that one, but it's pretty much impossible to use for the competition. Also an Abyssal Greater Basilisk, as just a regular basilisk wouldn't qualify.

There's very few monsters with int 3, and most of them aren't really the BBEG type. (Tarrasque could be, but he's just a laughable enemy by himself.)

Sian

2015-02-25, 08:45 AM

do the villain you make actually have to be evil, or could he just be an heroic angatonist (or well, neutral angatonist) that are just rabidly against anything more civilized than neolithic cultures?

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-25, 08:54 AM

He's a BBEG. If your BBEG is more Neutral Antagonists, But you can explain why he's a "Nature Revenger", and the PC's would be put against him, without making the PC's look like murderhobos/lawful stupid, go ahead.

Telonius

2015-02-25, 09:26 AM

Well, Idea #1 is out. Great concept, but on reflection it worked much better as a Recurring Nasty than a BBEG. I'll post after the reveal. Still a few ideas on the burner, though; should be something awful.

Jormengand

2015-02-25, 11:04 AM

Having just found this, this seems awesome. I'll have a look at it, and see what I can do. :smallbiggrin:

Sian

2015-02-25, 12:00 PM

... first specific idea how to build my plan is scapped due to feat taxation, second idea might have some oppotunity, even if it might have some issues

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-25, 01:13 PM

I've got an idea for this one! Hopefully I don't slaughter it in the presentation...

Also I've got a bone to pick with banning heavy armor. It seems to not make much sense for just nature oriented. There are many creatures that one may want to emulate that would be best represented with using heavy armor, and plenty of non-metal options available if thats the major problem. Also it blocks clerics, which seem like a great class for nature's revenge.

Not just nature oriented. While just non-metal could work, most non-metal options at the heavy stage are manufactured still. And yes, it does block some clerics of specific domains. Sure you can figure out a way to work around that, however.

A Nature's Revenger, doesn't like any type of manufactured equipment, in my mind. He takes what nature gives him, doesn't waste anything, and finds people who do things like hunting for sport wasteful and frivolous, and takes that out on them.

zergling.exe

2015-02-25, 01:29 PM

Not just nature oriented. While just non-metal could work, most non-metal options at the heavy stage are manufactured still. And yes, it does block some clerics of specific domains. Sure you can figure out a way to work around that, however.

A Nature's Revenger, doesn't like any type of manufactured equipment, in my mind. He takes what nature gives him, doesn't waste anything, and finds people who do things like hunting for sport wasteful and frivolous, and takes that out on them.

That's more reasonable. I wasn't looking into a heavy armor using anyway but nice to know.

amdskitzo

2015-02-25, 01:33 PM

Whats the view on basing a build on a character from popular media? I might have a build based on a character that more or less fits the bill of a Nature Revenger.

I should say, I have two builds, but with what I am thinking, the one based on the character would fair judging better.

Sian

2015-02-25, 01:39 PM

Vhaidara

2015-02-25, 01:50 PM

If you pull too much from media, than it would probably be a penalty to Originality. Since, you know, it isn't original.

Sian

2015-02-25, 02:02 PM

already at the point where i would start out the table, (quick, i know), and have hit a bit of a snag... how to tableize a creature with CR into the existing table ... With LA is was relatively simple, but when depending solely on CR, it doesn't matter, and are rarely the same as RHD (in either direction, most often more RHD than CR) ... anyone got a decent idea how to crack that nut?

The most obivous would probably be to make two seperate tables, one developing the RHD, and then noting how many CR that actually is, and then have another table below that with Class levels, but it feels like there should be a more elegant way of doing it...

amdskitzo

2015-02-25, 02:06 PM

given the previous calls in other contests it depends both on how dedicated to the base you are, and how good you are at emulating it, and how good the build is in a vacuum without depending on the recognizability to pull you through ... still its very much a love it / hate it and I've seen both it being scored high and scored low depending on how classy it was done

If you pull too much from media, than it would probably be a penalty to Originality. Since, you know, it isn't original.

Thanks for the input. If I have time, maybe I'll submit both and see what happens.

Vhaidara

2015-02-25, 02:07 PM

Sian, I would say do a table based on HD, and just add a column for what the CR is at the time.

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-25, 02:09 PM

Let me just fix the table up real quick to do CR instead of Level, and then you can throw out any CR's lower than your minimum CR out of the table.

AvatarVecna

2015-02-25, 02:19 PM

Barring a miracle (that is, me actually submitting a build for once), I'll be judging again.

illyahr

2015-02-25, 03:24 PM

amdskitzo

2015-02-25, 03:50 PM

Vhaidara

2015-02-25, 03:54 PM

Yes, a level 10 dwarf bard is CR 10. Basically, whatever you start with, if you are adding class levels, each level is +1 CR. Yes, it means CR is borked (one that recently came up in a game is that Planetar Angels, CR 16, cast as 17th level Clerics. 17 level Clerics are CR 17)

Jormengand

2015-02-25, 04:11 PM

Jeez, villainy is tiring work. Having a brain meltdown and I'm only halfway through the build.

Oh well.

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-25, 05:08 PM

Didn't see the last one until it was too late to submit a built.

Not one for nature villains, so could I be a judge? I shall strive to put my Bardic Knowledge to good (or, in this case, Evil) use. :smalltongue:

Sure you can. :)

As for the table, you only need to put the CR of your monster, add the CR of your template, then add your class levels, 1 at a time.

illyahr

2015-02-25, 05:19 PM

Sure you can. :)

Hooray! High-fives for everyone. :smallbiggrin:

sakuuya

2015-02-25, 05:36 PM

Hooray! High-fives for everyone. :smallbiggrin:

I'm not sure how I feel about a judge giving out fives to everyone. :smalltongue:

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-25, 05:42 PM

Pretty much the same as the judge giving out 1s to everyone.. doesn't affect the balance over all.

illyahr

2015-02-25, 06:08 PM

I'm not sure how I feel about a judge giving out fives to everyone. :smalltongue:

If all else fails, you at least get that as a consolation prize. :smallbiggrin:

Sian

2015-02-25, 06:16 PM

Aka-chan

2015-02-25, 06:43 PM

Hmm, I'll probably submit something.

sakuuya

2015-02-25, 07:12 PM

while my build is fairly clear, i still can't quite warp my head around how you (Gwen) hope they should be tableized, could you do a example out of some creature with Int 3, so it could maybe be clearer that way?

I think the way it works is that if your build is, say, a Gelatinous Cube Truenamer 17, you'd start the table at CR 3 (because that's a GC's CR) and then add Truenamer levels normally.

Jormengand

2015-02-25, 07:20 PM

I think the way it works is that if your build is, say, a Gelatinous Cube Truenamer 17, you'd start the table at CR 3 (because that's a GC's CR) and then add Truenamer levels normally.

If your build is a gelatinous cube truenamer 17, something, somewhere went horribly wrong.

sakuuya

2015-02-25, 07:24 PM

If your build is a gelatinous cube truenamer 17, something, somewhere went horribly wrong.

I was trying not to speculate on anything anyone would actually do. :smallbiggrin:

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-25, 07:33 PM

CR

Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st

Zombie Fighter 1

+1

+2

+0

+0

A Skill

A Feat B Feat

Class Features, Race Features, anything else you need to put here.

2nd
Fighter 2

+2

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
Feats

3rd
Fighter 3

+3

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

4th
Fighter 4

+4

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
Feats

5th
And ETC.

+5

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

6th
New Class Level
+6/+1

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
Feats

7th
New Class Level
+7

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

8th
New Class Level
+8

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
Feats

9th
New Class Level
+9

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

10th
New Class Level
+10

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
Feats

11th
New Class Level
+11/+6/+1

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats

12th
New Class Level
+12

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
Feats

13th
New Class Level
+13

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

14th
New Class Level
+14

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
Feats

15th
New Class Level
+15

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

16th
New Class Level
+16

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
Feats

17th
New Class Level
+17

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

18th
New Class Level
+18

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
Feats

19th
New Class Level
+19

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

20th
New Class Level
+20

+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
Feats

Here you go- Just a simple way of how to put it together- your first one should be the first time your character has a CR (Your base monster, or class, if you're humanoid and it's 1 hitdice, it can be a class instead of a monster HD.

You don't need to detail your monster's HD in this part, instead you can put it in a lower spot- Zombie HD: 21d12

WhamBamSam

2015-02-25, 09:18 PM

Here you go- Just a simple way of how to put it together- your first one should be the first time your character has a CR (Your base monster, or class, if you're humanoid and it's 1 hitdice, it can be a class instead of a monster HD.

You don't need to detail your monster's HD in this part, instead you can put it in a lower spot- Zombie HD: 21d12That doesn't really answer the question for more complex monsters. Nor, does the Truenamer Cube, really. For a non-speculative example, how about you post what a table for a Gelatinous Cube being advanced by Ooze HD (+1 CR/4 HD) and maybe a template as well as a few class levels. That should avoid speculation, while still covering any possible points of confusion.

Or, I can whip up a table for my beloved Advanced Fiendish Sentry Ooze Gelatinous Cube Wildshape Ranger 5 and you can tell us if it's a reasonable thing to adapt to monsters which are appropriate for the competition.

Jormengand

2015-02-25, 09:26 PM

Well, that took a while.

I'm sure you'll find my entry... interesting. :smalltongue:

sakuuya

2015-02-25, 09:28 PM

Well, that took a while.

I'm sure you'll find my entry... interesting. :smalltongue:

...It's a gelatinous cube truenamer, isn't it? :smallamused:

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-26, 05:47 AM

That doesn't really answer the question for more complex monsters. Nor, does the Truenamer Cube, really. For a non-speculative example, how about you post what a table for a Gelatinous Cube being advanced by Ooze HD (+1 CR/4 HD) and maybe a template as well as a few class levels. That should avoid speculation, while still covering any possible points of confusion.

Or, I can whip up a table for my beloved Advanced Fiendish Sentry Ooze Gelatinous Cube Wildshape Ranger 5 and you can tell us if it's a reasonable thing to adapt to monsters which are appropriate for the competition.

Or we could just throw some undead hitdice on the zombie fighter I made, and see what he becomes.

Jormengand

2015-02-26, 06:29 AM

...It's a gelatinous cube truenamer, isn't it? :smallamused:

However did you guess? :smalltongue:

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-26, 06:58 AM

Alright, here's a more complicated (And completely illegal) build.

CR

Class

Base Attack Bonus

Fort Save

Ref Save

Will Save

Skills

Feats

Class Features

5

Half Dragon- Gelatinous Cube

+3

+1

+1

+1

Skills

Feats

Dragon Hitdice, keep ooze SQ's.

6th

+2 Dragon Hitdice

+5

+4

+4

+4

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

7th

Fighter 1

+6

+6

+4

+4

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

8th

+2 Dragon Hitdice

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

9th

+2 Dragon Hitdice

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

10th

Fighter 2

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

11th

+2 Dragon HD

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

12th

Fighter 3

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

13th

+2 Dragon HD

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

14th

Fighter 4

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

15th

+2 Dragon HD

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

16th

+2 Dragon HD

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

17th

+2 Dragon HD

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

18th

+2 Dragon HD

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

19th

+2 Dragon HD

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

20th

+2 Dragon HD

+x

+x

+x

+x

Skills

Feats

New Class Abilities

Therefore, we have a Half Dragon Gelatinous Cube, with 26d12+4d10.

Does that work, or do I need to make an even more complicated one? The beginning CR is the first CR of your creature, whenever he could first be made.

Sian

2015-02-26, 07:07 AM

actually i think it would be easier to sort by HD of the Creature, listing CR next to it, as (almost) everything runs off HD ... could be tricky if you had for an example a plant (given the theme of this round), then each listing would have 4 hds worth of everything, including 1.33 feats per listing, making it very hard to decipher for a Judge (or for the cooks doing the creation) when they gain feats

so in the case of that Cube, it would be a 30 line table with CR included as a secondary point.

Actually, that makes me think ... if more than 20HD, Epic feats enter the equation ... that could be abused

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-26, 07:12 AM

I don't like the CR being portioned in halves, however, which is what you would get. You would only have 1 feat per listing, you could note what HD you were at, like that character has .66, meaning he would have a feat every other CR or so.

atemu1234

2015-02-26, 07:15 AM

I think I'll enter this one. Seems interesting.

Jormengand

2015-02-26, 08:17 AM

I think I'll enter this one. Seems interesting.

I intend it to be. :smallbiggrin:

sakuuya

2015-02-26, 08:58 AM

Why not just put in another column for HD? The "main" column would be CR 1-20, but if a character's HD differ from that, we can show it in another column. So for instance:

CR
HD
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

5
4
Half Dragon- Gelatinous Cube
+3
+1
+1
+1
Skills
Feats
Dragon Hitdice, keep ooze SQ's.

6th
6
+2 Dragon Hitdice
+5
+4
+4
+4
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

7th
7
Fighter 1
+6
+6
+4
+4
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

8th
8
+2 Dragon Hitdice
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

9th
10
+2 Dragon Hitdice
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

10th
11
Fighter 2
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

11th
13
+2 Dragon HD
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

12th
14
Fighter 3
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

13th
16
+2 Dragon HD
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

14th
17
Fighter 4
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

15th
19
+2 Dragon HD
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

16th
21
+2 Dragon HD
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

17th
23
+2 Dragon HD
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

18th
25
+2 Dragon HD
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

19th
27
+2 Dragon HD
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

20th
29
+2 Dragon HD
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-26, 09:30 AM

atemu1234

2015-02-26, 10:30 AM

That works. I'm really bad at tables, is the problem. XD

Same. If only I could link an MS Word doc.

sakuuya

2015-02-26, 10:38 AM

I'm not gonna pretend like I'm sooo great at tables--the first time I submitted to a build contest, I screwed up my table formatting in a way that made level 10 of my build table disappear--but I've found that adding columns is super-easy with the WYSIWYG view. The HD one was made by clicking on the cell that says CR and then clicking the "add column after" button.

illyahr

2015-02-26, 11:27 AM

That works. I'm really bad at tables, is the problem. XD

Just put a few ranks into Craft (woodworking). I think it has synergy. :smallwink:

Jormengand

2015-02-26, 01:57 PM

Just put a few ranks into Craft (woodworking). I think it has synergy. :smallwink:

Oh you. :smalltongue:

amdskitzo

2015-02-26, 03:44 PM

Jormengand

2015-02-26, 04:25 PM

One more question about the competition. In the OP, its mentioned that Leadership is banned, what about feats/class abilities that are similar to Leadership? I can think of a few off the top of my head that would fit this kind of archetype quite well.

Reply from Iron Chief is that the only ability at all similar to leadership that is allowed is Wild Cohort, which may be the answer here - regardless, best to check with this competition's chair.

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-26, 05:15 PM

Wild cohort is the only one allowed for this competition.

Jormengand

2015-02-26, 06:34 PM

Incidentally, just to check, you have got my entry, right?

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-26, 06:35 PM

Incidentally, just to check, you have got my entry, right?

I have received your entry.

LooseCannoneer

2015-02-26, 06:51 PM

Are we permitted to use another creature not included in the class abilities if we factor in their CR as well? I've got an idea, but I'd need that for it to work.

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-26, 09:06 PM

Are we permitted to use another creature not included in the class abilities if we factor in their CR as well? I've got an idea, but I'd need that for it to work.

I'm not sure I understand. Can you send me a PM?

Aka-chan

2015-02-27, 06:18 PM

I think I've got a general build idea worked out.

Inevitability

2015-02-28, 07:21 AM

The feat [REDACTED] requires [REDACTED] as a patron deity. Could you allow me to ignore that requirement?

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-28, 08:20 AM

Normally, I'd say BBEG's have gods just like PC"s, however, this is a nature themed one, so your god is nature in all of it's glory. If the deities' portfolio includes nature in some form, and does not include a form of civilization, I'd say sure, you can use it.

Sian

2015-02-28, 12:34 PM

I'm not sure I understand. Can you send me a PM?

I think the question was about if you could make an encounter of CR 20, instead of a single opponent with CR 20 ...

Say two opponents of CR 18 each (which given the DMG should equal CR 20)

LooseCannoneer

2015-02-28, 01:29 PM

I think the question was about if you could make an encounter of CR 20, instead of a single opponent with CR 20 ...

Say two opponents of CR 18 each (which given the DMG should equal CR 20)

That's exactly what I mean. For an example unrelated to my concept, it makes no sense that a lord of bears would only be accompanied by one bear. (I apologize if that was your concept.)

Gwachitallemall

2015-02-28, 02:44 PM

DeAnno

2015-03-02, 01:13 AM

For this, is it assumed that all monsters may be advanced by class levels, even those that only have advancement by HD in their entry?

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-02, 05:55 AM

For this, is it assumed that all monsters may be advanced by class levels, even those that only have advancement by HD in their entry?

Correct. And you don't use the level adjustment.

Also, you can't use monsters with less than 4 intelligence.

sakuuya

2015-03-02, 08:36 AM

Correct. And you don't use the level adjustment.

Also, you can't use monsters with less than 4 intelligence.

Why did you choose Int 4 rather than 3? I'm not saying it's bad; I'm just curious.

Sam K

2015-03-02, 08:52 AM

It's a BBEG competition, anyone else is kind of just not included. Like Iron chef, it's assumed you have allies, but you shouldn't be rated on their abilities. So no. Other allies besides class abilities are not allowed.

Keep in mind, though, atleast in the last round some judges let the description of minions influence the concept score. Being able to describe what allies you make use of, how your BBEG fights, and how they can challenge the players can help shore up your concept, even though you don't stat out those allies.

Ofcourse, last rounds concept was very heavy on the minions so it may not be as important in this round, but even if you can't stat them out, minions can still help you.

Red Fel

2015-03-02, 10:07 AM

Ofcourse, last rounds concept was very heavy on the minions so it may not be as important in this round, but even if you can't stat them out, minions can still help you.

This is a good point. In the last round, the theme was Warlord, Commander of Armies. If you couldn't say you had armies, even though the details of those armies didn't contribute to your score, I docked you; if you said you had armies, but couldn't justify what they were doing there, I docked you.

The theme this time is Nature's Revenger. Armies are not a mandatory component of this. Certainly, if you point to them in your BBEG's backstory, it may count towards your fluff quota - or, if they're out of place, it may count against you. That's what taking risks means; you could go big, or you could go home empty-handed. The point is that, as Gwach says, if they're class abilities, you'll obviously want to explain them; beyond that, they're mostly fluff, and could potentially count against you if you're sloppy about it.

One of the hardest things when building a BBEG is sticking to a single concept. Frankly, in a vacuum, I love genre-crossing villains. But that's not what this competition is about; you have to build the villain for this concept, this competition. And that means that the BBEG's allies will probably fall by the wayside, as little more than descriptive fluff.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-02, 11:00 AM

Why did you choose Int 4 rather than 3? I'm not saying it's bad; I'm just curious.

Avoiding some specific monsters at int 3 which are either really bad for this competition, or really good.

sakuuya

2015-03-02, 11:45 AM

Avoiding some specific monsters at int 3 which are either really bad for this competition, or really good.

Fair 'nuff. Did you get my entry?

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-02, 05:20 PM

Fair 'nuff. Did you get my entry?

I did get your entry.

Doctor Awkward

2015-03-02, 05:56 PM

Phew, finally done.
That took a lot longer to adjust than I thought it would.

Can't wait to see the other entries.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-04, 09:29 AM

1 week left. Good amount of entries so far.

Drrakerr

2015-03-04, 09:55 AM

This may just be my first entry on these boards, and oh boy... Shes a beauty.

Telonius

2015-03-04, 03:53 PM

Phew, finally done.
That took a lot longer to adjust than I thought it would.

Can't wait to see the other entries.

Mine is taking a lot longer than expected too. Build is all done, just the write-up (and finding the picture) to go.

sakuuya

2015-03-04, 04:01 PM

Mine is taking a lot longer than expected too. Build is all done, just the write-up (and finding the picture) to go.

Ugh, finding the picture. The trouble with a competition that allows monstrous entries is that the less "standard" a character's race is, the harder it is to find pictures of that race that are not (a) mostly naked, (b) clearly fetish art, or (c) both. Elves? Sure, as pretty much whatever class you want. Drow? Hmm, these are all getting pretty bondage-y. Driders? Apparently part of Loth's curse is the inability to wear shirts.

Doctor Awkward

2015-03-04, 06:07 PM

The trouble with a competition that allows monstrous entries is that the less "standard" a character's race is, the harder it is to find pictures of that race that are not (a) mostly naked, (b) clearly fetish art, or (c) both. Elves? Sure, as pretty much whatever class you want. Drow? Hmm, these are all getting pretty bondage-y. Driders? Apparently part of Loth's curse is the inability to wear shirts.

lol!

I actually started with the picture. And it was the second one at that. The first one I found that I really liked I ended up not being able to build the concept I wanted to fit this contest. I went back to browsing and browsing and browsing and then finally found one and said, "....yes. This one I like. I can make this evil."

sakuuya

2015-03-04, 07:21 PM

lol!

I actually started with the picture. And it was the second one at that. The first one I found that I really liked I ended up not being able to build the concept I wanted to fit this contest. I went back to browsing and browsing and browsing and then finally found one and said, "....yes. This one I like. I can make this evil."

Are you able to share your first one, or are you keeping it in your back pocket for another competition?

AvatarVecna

2015-03-04, 07:57 PM

Are you able to share your first one, or are you keeping it in your back pocket for another competition?

If they're cool with sharing, I'm fine with them sharing it...but I'd prefer it waited until the builds are officially revealed before they do so. Makes things go smoother, you know?

Red Fel

2015-03-04, 08:06 PM

If they're cool with sharing, I'm fine with them sharing it...but I'd prefer it waited until the builds are officially revealed before they do so. Makes things go smoother, you know?

Agreed. You might share things via PMs, but please keep it out of the public thread - we don't want to bias the judges, now do we?

Vhaidara

2015-03-04, 08:06 PM

Agreed. You might share things via PMs, but please keep it out of the public thread - we don't want to bias the judges, now do we?

No, of course not

sakuuya

2015-03-04, 08:09 PM

I meant the one he wasn't using, guys. He said he considered Picture 1, then discarded it in favor of Picture 2. I was asking about Picture 1. I don't think "a picture that has nothing to do with your build" counts as speculation.

...Unless someone else is using the same pic, which would be hilarious.

Vhaidara

2015-03-04, 08:14 PM

The problem is that it still might give a clue as to what he did go with.

AvatarVecna

2015-03-04, 08:27 PM

Someone might be building something along the lines of the first picture. If (for example) during last round, someone had said "I rejected this for not working right" and then posted a picture of Aquaman, we could assume they were looking into making an aquatic warlord...which might inspire us to build our own, or to abandon our own if we think they just realized it sucked quicker than we did.

Overall, I think it's just best for anything that's been connected to a possible build to not be revealed until all entries are finalized. That's all.

sakuuya

2015-03-04, 08:44 PM

Doctor Awkward

2015-03-04, 09:40 PM

That's not... oh....

Nah I don't mind sharing it, the first pic and the one I ended up using are completely different concepts.

But I can respect the wishes of people that would rather I waited.

AvatarVecna

2015-03-04, 11:52 PM

I think you guys are being too paranoid, but fine. I'm sorry. As an apology, please accept this picture of Aquaman.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/20/captureaq.jpg

Okay, actually, I'd really like it if I influenced someone to make a character based on that pic.

I especially like the part where, after Aquaman sings a song about "Heart is the most important power", he almost instantaneously tells the guy he was singing to that he should still avoid fighting in super-battles, since he has no real powers. Oh Aquaman...

EDIT: Challenge accepted...just not for this contest. Perhaps a later one...

WeaselGuy

2015-03-05, 02:19 AM

Ok, I *think* I've finally come up with an idea to enter here, and I'm pretty sure (hoping so, at least) that it's a relatively unique approach to this challenge. I'll have to wait until I get back to my room tonight to settle on the race and actually tabulate the specifications though.

edit: Question - How do we go about reverse engineering racial ability modifiers, if a monster we want to use does not have that wonderful little "For Player Characters" entry? Do we subtract 10 from each of their even ability scores (and 11 from each of their odd ones?), and then add the 32 point buy elite array stats onto those, or do we just use the scores presented in their monster entry?

edit2: When calculating feats, I know that you get feats based on racial hit die (i.e. if you use a monster with 3 RHD, you get 2 feats). But, when I start adding in class levels, would I get my next feat at the 1st class level, or when my HD hits 6 (i.e. RHD 3/Class 1 = 3 feats, or RHD 3/Class 3 = 3 feats)?

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-05, 06:25 AM

To answer both of your questions Weasel, you'd subtract 10 from evens and 11 from odds.

And for the second question, your hitdice total is what you count feats off of.

sakuuya

2015-03-05, 11:35 AM

Does the 4 Int rule apply exclusively to races, or does it factor in race+template? Relatedly, how should we handle templates that increase in CR as the creature increases in HD?

illyahr

2015-03-05, 11:41 AM

edit2: When calculating feats, I know that you get feats based on racial hit die (i.e. if you use a monster with 3 RHD, you get 2 feats). But, when I start adding in class levels, would I get my next feat at the 1st class level, or when my HD hits 6 (i.e. RHD 3/Class 1 = 3 feats, or RHD 3/Class 3 = 3 feats)?

Second one. 3 RHD + 3 Class levels = 6 HD. 6 HD = 3 feats

Jormengand

2015-03-05, 12:04 PM

Can I send you new info to append to to the entry (for example if I want to add a new section) or should I just send you a whole new thing?

sakuuya

2015-03-05, 12:08 PM

In my experience, a whole new entry is easier, because then the Chancellor doesn't have to fiddle with it, and you can make sure it ends up how you want it.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-05, 02:41 PM

In my experience, a whole new entry is easier, because then the Chancellor doesn't have to fiddle with it, and you can make sure it ends up how you want it.

Correct. I'd like new entries instead of edits.

As far as creature, to stay consistent with a ruling I did through PM, the base creature, before changing ability scores through any means, must have an int of 4+.

Edit: as for CR templates increasing with HD, I imagine it is retroactive, so you would add the extra cr each time you hit a spot where it would increase.

Jormengand

2015-03-05, 04:01 PM

Just realised I did the thing I thought I left out anyway. All good!

WeaselGuy

2015-03-06, 02:51 PM

Whelp, mine's submitted. Totally didn't use the first build that I had in mind when I posted at the beginning of this thread. If I have time on Sunday, I might take his spreadsheet and turn it into a build submission, but that remains to be seen. I'm pretty happy with this submission though. Best of luck to all the other contestants either way!

Telonius

2015-03-06, 08:57 PM

All right, mine's done. Hooray for something to do on snow days! :smallbiggrin:

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-09, 06:44 AM

I've gotten around 7 entries so far, I have 3 I haven't read yet, so if it says unconfirmed on a pm receipt it's prolly sitting in my inbox.

Wednesday is the last day so get them in! :)

Sam K

2015-03-10, 08:58 AM

We shall see if I have time to complete mine.

Sian

2015-03-10, 04:01 PM

Don't have time to finish my build ... bought Europa Universalis 4 last Saturday (28th) when it was on sale, and have put 40h into it allready, neatly soaking up all my free time.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-10, 05:18 PM

I've had a lot more problems with EU4 than EU3.. I liked EU3. EU4 has been.. more of a disappointment.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 06:21 AM

12 hours left, any last minute entries?

AvatarVecna

2015-03-11, 06:38 AM

As has usually been the case, my standards were higher than my ability to optimize. I'll be judging once more, and I'll be sharing my basic build idea after the reveal.

JyP

2015-03-11, 07:13 AM

12 hours left, any last minute entries?
crap, I have seen this thread too late - as I have created an NPC / companion for evil PCs in The World's Largest Dungeon which is spot on !

so the same for me, I'll be sharing my basic build idea after the reveal :)

sakuuya

2015-03-11, 09:01 AM

Is the reveal at 18:00 CST or 18:00 CDT? Stupid daylight savings time, switching in the middle of a round, grumble mumble.

WeaselGuy

2015-03-11, 09:06 AM

Is the reveal at 18:00 CST or 18:00 CDT? Stupid daylight savings time, switching in the middle of a round, grumble mumble.

Not to be a smartass, but... my advice (and what I did) would be to take the time Gwachitallemall posted "12 hours until the reveal" and add 12 hours to that.

For me, out here in Kuwait, Big G posted that at 14:21 local time. So, adding 12 hours, I deduce the reveal will be at around 02:00 local time.

sakuuya

2015-03-11, 09:25 AM

Not to be a smartass, but... my advice (and what I did) would be to take the time Gwachitallemall posted "12 hours until the reveal" and add 12 hours to that.

For me, out here in Kuwait, Big G posted that at 14:21 local time. So, adding 12 hours, I deduce the reveal will be at around 02:00 local time.

Yep, and that's 18:00 CDT, which is not what the first post said, so I figured clarification would be good.

WeaselGuy

2015-03-11, 09:34 AM

Yeah, I hear ya there. I almost screwed myself over on another build a few weeks ago, cause I thought the clock was set in EST, when it was set to GMT. I thought I had about 7 hours more to work on my build than I really did, and ended up rushing to get it in on time. For that very reason, I prefer going by # of hours left, instead of contest ends at XX:XX time.

Again, I wasn't trying to be a jerk, and I apologize if I came off that way, it's just been one of those days out here in the sandbox :smallannoyed:

sakuuya

2015-03-11, 09:42 AM

Nah, no worries. I didn't make it clear in my original post that I'd read the Supreme Chancellor's timing announcement. Also, dang, I'm sorry that the reveal is at 02:00 for you.

illyahr

2015-03-11, 10:25 AM

Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with. :smallsmile:

Livius

2015-03-11, 10:56 AM

12 hours left, any last minute entries?

Did you get mine?

Telonius

2015-03-11, 10:59 AM

Did you get mine?

Better check that out for me, too - received all right?

WhamBamSam

2015-03-11, 11:40 AM

12 hours left, any last minute entries?As with last round, I've been procrastinating too much. I've got fluff and most of my table stuff done, so it's not impossible I'll get an entry in, but I might just sit on this one rather than submit another rush job, especially as I have real life obligations for the last 3 hours of submission time.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 12:00 PM

6 hours from right now.

I've received both of the people whose asked submissions, as well as two corrections.

Sam K

2015-03-11, 01:16 PM

Internet ate my entry yesterday. I'll try to re-make it though.

WhamBamSam

2015-03-11, 01:37 PM

Yeah... Procrastination's going to get the better of me this round. Ah well, some of the tables may be of some use in the future, and my idea did give me some new thoughts on optimizing a couple of things.

Jormengand

2015-03-11, 01:41 PM

Internet ate my entry yesterday. I'll try to re-make it though.

Gotta go fast. :smalltongue:

Sam K

2015-03-11, 04:26 PM

Gotta go fast. :smalltongue:

There's no time like Just-In-Time!

Entry submitted!

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 05:53 PM

Alright. I'm home. Starting to get everything together, but I will post another note when I'm posting everything, so feel free to post right now.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 06:04 PM

Reveals incoming! Don't post until I'm done please.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 06:06 PM

Hmm.. Guess we start early with some naming.

Melissa, the Huntress
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2015/038/0/8/archer_by_esmira-d8h2fjr.jpg
CN(E) Female Illumian Ranger 10/Truenamer 10
"My name is Melissa Karcannan. I was born to a noble family which taught me all about what I should do to be a proper lady. Pah! Have they never seen the lionesses hunting their prey? Have they not seen the mosquitoes who drink the blood of the living or the worker bees who spend time doing something with their lives? My natural place is with my bow in my hand, hunting for my living. Our natural place lies not in the walls of your phony cities, but in the wildfire that sweeps across nations, bringing them to the heel of nature.

But I cannot tell you what your place is - instead, I shall tell the whole world, and the world will respond in kind. Khar'le whi'ok'shi'khaal quo'ra ha'na!"

Suddenly, the Huntress leapt from the tree, spinning as she fell, and launched four arrows straight into Mycah's chest. The paladin recoiled; two of them had pierced his chain mail. Johannes made to cast a spell, but the sorcerer was suddenly beset by an aggressive wolf. Kaylee raised her bow, and - not nearly as fast to shoot as the truenamer - fired twice at her, missing both as the arrows veered off course at the last second. Despite being beset by a wolf, Johannes smiled as Donovan threw himself at Melissa, who took a moment to babble another string of what was seemingly gibberish, holding the assassin in place.

Mycah raised their sword and swung violently at the wolf, knocking the beast off their comrade. Johannes got up with a look on his eyes that spoke of murder, and Kaylee - having realised her arrows were useless - drew a slim elven longsword from its sheath before charging headlong at the Huntress. The ranger tried to dodge, but the sword struck her with full force. The Huntress smiled as the sword bounced off her tough skin.

Against Johannes, she was not as lucky - a blast of flame struck her full in the face, burning her severely, and while Johannes swore as he missed the second, the damage was done. Melissa snarled, and tripped Kaylee before screaming in truespeak at the wolf, who rose and turned tail. She then did the same, woman and beast both disappearing into the undergrowth.

Mycah smiled as they went to heal Johannes' wounds. "Victory again," they said, as laid their hands on their comrade. Donovan, however, snarled even as he was released from his bonds. "Mycah, you idiot, you call that a victory? You're half dead, and Johannes just fired off one of his second most powerful spells. What was the one the wolf fizzled?" he asked accusingly. "That spell was, or would have been, Fly" was the sorcerer's response.

Kaylee took over from Donovan, having caught on. "So Johan just used two of his best spells, you're going to use all of your spells just to close your wounds, and she also broke two of my arrows. Not, I suppose, that that matters since you're so kindly carrying four of hers, but that's not the point." Mycah looked a little sheepish as they plucked the arrows out before healing themself. "So you're saying she's wearing us down?"
"Yes," opined Donovan. "That's not normal magic. I'm going to take a good guess and say that she can do that all day if she wants to," he continued, not knowing how close he was to the truth.

Kaylee say down to think. It was a bad move; the next thing she knew, a mysteriously unburned illumian stepped out of the woods and fired four arrows into her beautiful elven neck. The last thing that she heard before falling unconscious was Mycah shouting something, followed by Melissa smugly intoning "You have no place in this world. Go back to your cities; they'll burn soon enough."
The idea of Melissa is that she would be roughly 50/50 truenamer and ranger, leaving her with her full compliment of attacks (Who thought it was a good idea to give truenamer medium base attack bonus? Ehh, not complaining) and also being able to use her swift actions on quickened utterances - which of course she can also use to make herself attack even faster.

Fluff-wise, Melissa just hates organised society, roles in society, and people screwing with her "Natural world." She feels the need to remind the world of how to be natural by telling it using truespeak.
Melissa is probably neutral-going-chaotic neutral-going-evil, which allows a slightly sympathetic big bad if necessary, or allowing the DM to brush over the issue if not. Melissa could be played as anything up to neutral good without breaking too far from her concept, but she really resides somewhere east-by-south-east of neutral.
I guess Melissa could have been an elf, but trading CON for DEX (or for STR, in the case of a wood elf) isn't that favourable an exchange, and making her an elf would just have been enforcing the hippy elf stereotype. That said, human is often considered boring and overused, so why not make it something other than normal human? Someone obsessive and using words to fight, that sounds a lot like an Illumian (RoD) with the Uur (for truenamer) and Naen (For... well, honestly initiative checks, but reflex saves can't hurt) sigils. Krau might have been an idea to bump the caster level up to 12 for both classes, but honestly, very little of what she can do scales from caster level anyway.
This is a problem, but I figure it's all right. INT has to take the 15, for truespeak purposes. WIS should be at least 12, CON shouldn't be the 9 and ought to be fairly high, DEX needs to be high, STR shouldn't be too low and should probably be odd because odd STR scores actually do something, and CHA can be safely dumped if Melissa chooses save: none utterances. This leaves me with little choice but to:

INT 15 DEX 14 WIS 13 CON 12 STR 11 CHA 9.

Well, that sucks. Did you know that truenamers have a deep-seated loathing for the elite array? Anyway, this seems to be basically locking us into ranged fighting style, or possibly finessing it up? We shall see.
Unfortunately, spell-like abilities are exempt from share spells, otherwise setting a Knight's Pussance'd bear at someone and temporally twisting it to attack faster would be hilarious. As is, if you want to do that, you'll be waiting for a 17th-level class feature you'll never get. Since feats to make your companion better than that of a fifth-level druid don't actually exist, Melissa takes a wolverine as her animal companion and revels in its 28 (Plus 6 more when raging) hit points as soon as she can swap out her wolf, at the very least granting her a creature that can take a fireball to the face in its stride. Being able to buff the wolverine is a little helpful too. But honestly, it's there to soak up a round of attacks or be sent after some commoners to divert PCs attention, not to do more than a little to help in combat.

While we're on the subject of companions, the Item Familiar ban hits Melissa hard in the face, denying her 23 points of truespeak bonus. Hence pulling out all the stops to buff it up a little.
This is difficult. We need to spread out 10 levels each of ranger and truenamer in a way that doesn't suck. Well, here goes nothing:

Skills will be written as the base value for the skill before the illumian sigils or statistic bonuses. Similarly, saves are actually higher by 1 except reflex saves which are higher by 3 at 1st and 4 at each other level. All stat bonuses for leveling are to INT. The table does not list iterative attacks, but it should be easy to work them out. Bonus feats are written as feats, not class features. These are utterances gained at this level.

All sources are ToM or PHB. If it's not on the SRD, it's from Tome of Magic.

Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st
Ranger 1
+1
+2
+2
+0
Concentration 4, Hide 4, Move Silently 4, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 4, Spot 4, Truespeak 4
Truename Training, Track
FE: Humans, Wild Empathy

2nd
Ranger 2
+2
+3
+3
+0
Concentration 5, Hide 5, Move Silently 5, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 5, Spot 5, Truespeak 5
Rapid Shot
Combat Style: Archery

3rd
Ranger 2/Truenamer 1
+2
+3
+3
+2
Concentration 6, Hide 5, Move Silently 5, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 6 (Religion) 1, Spot 5, Truespeak 6
Skill Focus: Truespeak
Known Personal Truename, Word of Nurturing

4th
Ranger 2/Truenamer 2
+3
+3
+3
+3
Concentration 7, Hide 5, Move Silently 5, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 7 (Religion) 3, Spot 5, Truespeak 7
Extra Evil
Knowledge Focus: Nature, Inertia Surge

5th
Ranger 3/Truenamer 2
+4
+3
+3
+4
Concentration 8, Hide 7, Move Silently 6, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 8 (Religion) 3, Spot 6, Truespeak 8
Endurance
Evil Laugh

6th
Ranger 3/Truenamer 3
+5
+4
+4
+4
Concentration 9, Hide 7, Move Silently 6, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 9 (Religion) 5, Spot 6, Truespeak 9
Extend Utterance
Archer's Eye

7th
Ranger 4/Truenamer 3
+6
+5
+5
+4
Concentration 10, Hide 8, Move Silently 8, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 10 (Religion) 5, Spot 7, Truespeak 10
Improved Evil Laugh
Animal companion: Wolf

8th
Ranger 5/Truenamer 3
+7
+5
+5
+4
Concentration 11, Hide 9, Move Silently 9, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 11 (Religion) 5, Spot 9, Truespeak 11
Extra Buttkicking
FE: Elves

9th
Ranger 5/Truenamer 4
+8
+5
+5
+5
Concentration 12, Hide 9, Move Silently 9, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 12 (Religion) 7, Spot 9, Truespeak 12
Quicken Utterance
Temporal Twist, Fortify Armour

10th
Ranger 5/Truenamer 5
+8
+5
+5
+5
Concentration 13, Hide 9, Move Silently 9, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 13 (Religion) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 13
Evilify utterance
Silent Caster

11th
Ranger 5/Truenamer 6
+9
+6
+6
+6
Concentration 14, Hide 9, Move Silently 9, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 14 (Religion) 11, Spot 9, Truespeak 14
Truename Research
Speed of the Zephyr

12th
Ranger 6/Truenamer 6
+10
+7
+7
+7
Concentration 15, Hide 11, Move Silently 11, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 15 (Religion) 11, Spot 10, Truespeak 15
Manyshot, Utterance of the Perfected Map
Fog from the Void

13th
Ranger 7/Truenamer 6
+11
+7
+7
+7
Concentration 16, Hide 13, Move Silently 12, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 16 (Religion) 11, Spot 12, Truespeak 16
Extra Noscoping
Woodland Stride

14th
Ranger 7/Truenamer 7
+12
+7
+7
+7
Concentration 17, Hide 13, Move Silently 12, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 17 (Religion) 14, Spot 12, Truespeak 17
Shoot Anything
Knowledge Focus: Nature, Seek the Sky, Analyse Item

15th
Ranger 7/Truenamer 8
+13
+7
+7
+8
Concentration 18, Hide 13, Move Silently 12, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 18 (Religion) 17, Spot 12, Truespeak 18
Point Blank Shot, Recitation of the Sanguine State
Energy Negation, Shield of the Landscape

16th
Ranger 8/Truenamer 8
+14
+8
+8
+8
Concentration 19, Hide 14, Move Silently 14, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 19 (Religion) 17, Spot 14, Truespeak 19
Greater Kill Everything
Swift tracker, Animal companion: Wolverine

17th
Ranger 8/Truenamer 9
+14
+9
+9
+8
Concentration 20, Hide 14, Move Silently 14, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 20 (Religion) 20, Spot 14, Truespeak 20
ManyMuchShot
See the named, Vision Sharpened

18th
Ranger 8/Truenamer 10
+15
+9
+9
+9
Concentration 21, Hide 14, Move Silently 14, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 21 (Religion) 21 (The Planes) 2, Spot 14, Truespeak 21
Improved Initiative
Knowledge Focus: Nature, Spell Rebirth

19th
Ranger 9/Truenamer 10
+16
+9
+9
+10
Concentration 22, Hide 16, Move Silently 16, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 22 (Religion) 21 (The Planes) 2, Spot 15, Truespeak 22
Improved awesomeness
Evasion

20th
Ranger 10/Truenamer 10
+17
+10
+10
+10
Concentration 23, Hide 18, Move Silently 18, Knowledge (Dungeoneering; Geography; Nature) 23 (Religion) 10, Spot 17, Truespeak 23
Eschew Capstones
Favoured Enemy: Dwarves

Melissa needs to have a bow. That much is clear. Beyond that, custom items of competence to truespeak help if that flies; if (Greater) Amulets of the Silver Tongue don't fly then there's a problem - there's no reason they shouldn't be available if a truenamer is. Masterwork items of truespeak are RAW-legal but slightly odd, but whatever.

Apart from that, Amulets of Natural Armour (Robes of the silver tongue are a thing) make thematic sense and help you not get your butt handed to you by a dude with a sword. Fending off spellcasters is harder, but a cloak of resistance and judicious use of energy negation can help in this matter.

Leather armour so that she can use Fortify Armour on it - plus armour bonus is always handy - is probably a good idea.
You have a 1st-level spell at 7th level, another at 12th, and a 2nd-level at 20th. You don't really care about any of these spells; entangle isn't terrible, charm animal or speak with animals can be helpful, SNA gives you another chump blocker. It's telling that the wolf that you can get with SNA I is the exact same as your animal companion. By the time you have 2nd-level spells they're mainly terrible, but SNA II can, you guessed it, give you a chump blocker that's the exact same as your wolverine animal companion. Spike Growth is nice for annoying people, but not amazing - if you put your token five 20 ft squares in just the right place, you can just about deal 20d4 damage to a particularly idiotic charger who can't fly.

Snare isn't amazingly useful, but I just want to point out that it can literally make a trap out of a thong. Their wording, not mine.

Because you probably want something else in your amulet slot, periapts of wisdom to get more spells are probably out, but you can use a ring of spell storing to more-than-double your spells for one day at the cost of not being able to cast them the day before.
Level 5: In the natural order, I should not have these wounds. And you, you should not be alive.

You've dropped a whopping one point of Base Attack Bonus from your truenamer levels, have NI out of combat healing, and you can duplicate a fourth-level spell with one of your utterances. Next level, the reversed version will become very useful when extended. Your ability to fire off two arrows at one guy isn't any better than any other ranger, but, well, it gets better. Your Evil Laugh ability is also pretty useful.

Level 10: Your meddling has disrupted the flow of time... allow me to restore it.

Hoo boy. You can now be dropping four attacks through a wall while critical and sneak immune - drop a quickened Temporal Twist on yourself each round and you're loving it. Oh, and save or silence is fun too.

You also have a wolf who can go up and hit things, but whatever. It's mainly fun for the free trips and annoying spellcasters to death.

Level 13: If it weren't for your cities blocking its path, this area would be full of a thick fog. Let me add it in for you.

If you drop a quickened Temporal Twist on yourself before attacking (it has to be before, which makes no sense but that's the truenamer for you) then you can make all but one of your full compliment of attacks - you get the last at 19th level. Specifically, you can get a total of 6 attacks (3 from BaB, 1 from rapid shot, 1 from Speed weapon property if you have it, and one from temporal twist if you use it before making the attack from speed). Eat your heart out, TWF. Each one is making elves cry and humans scream, and better still, you have Fog from the Void, which you just got last level. Why did you get it? Because you can duplicate a Solid Fog, and then fire through it at no penalty. Thanks, archer's eye!

Level 15: I believe that you should be on fire, by all rights. And I don't think I really ought to be poisoned; let's fix that, shall we?

I'm going to go on record and say that Reversed Energy Negation is one of the most horrifically evil utterances ever invented. Possible to access - and extend - by level 7, it does 10d6 damage basic, 20d6 when extended. The fact that it's over 5-10 rounds just makes mortalbane schenanigans even more horrific. So go ahead and slap 20d6 points of anything-but-sonic damage on someone as a swift action. You can take free actions while moving (otherwise you couldn't talk or drop anything while running), and you can take a swift action while moving. Your opponents are going to get annoyed at you running past every minute and dropping 20d6 points of damage on one of them. Law of Sequence is supposed to prevent you from duplicating it, but you can get around that if you feel like cheesing it up.

Level 20: That spell isn't meant to be there. Allow me to remove it... oh, no, that one was meant to be there. Don't worry, I'll put it back for you.

You're currently making 7 attacks that tear humans to pieces, especially at short ranges, and can also turn invisible at will. You can still heal yourself pretty effectively, by the way - not in combat, mind, but fast healing 1 will get you most of your hit points back in a few minutes even if you're knocking on the grim reaper's door. And honestly, if you're taking damage, something's wrong.

So you're invisible, in cover, in total concealment, and capable of dispelling and un-dispelling anything you like. You're also immune to sneak attacks and critical hits. And you're making 7 attacks dealing about 1d8+10 damage each, each round, as well as your opponents burning to death.
Let me tell you something, Melissa. You ain't the toughest of the bunch, and you ain't the strongest, and you ain't the quickest either, though I'll grant you're quick. And you sure as sunrise won't be talking your way out of any difficult situations. But what you are? What you are is smart. Make it count.

You're almost certainly going to be outclassed physically and magically. You can't hold a candle to ninth level casting or shake a stick at full-BAB max-STR raging lion's charging orc psychic warrior barbarians on griffons dual-wielding lances with headlong rush and spirited charge, but what you do have is the ability to be the biggest jerk the world has ever seen.

You are basically the living incarnation of what it means to be Tucker's kobolds (http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/). You do not win straight-up fights; you screw with the enemy, wearing them down bit by bit and reveling in the fact that you near-enough don't run out of utterances because you can keep on hitting the slightly-increasing DCs each time, and you wear them down mentally, sending them to make attacks in locations that you aren't in, and generally wearing down their hit points and spell slots. Sending them a few miles off course, trapping them if you're in some kind of dungeon or cave, and so forth... that's what you're there for. That's what you do.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 06:07 PM

Sand.. it gets everywhere, doesn't it?

Marduk-bel-Iziri
Purifier of the Sands
http://www.gonadan.com/dnd/marrutact.jpg

LE Dry Lich Marrutact Cloistered Cleric of Azul 5/Walker in the Waste 10

This tall, gaunt humanoid wears sand-brown robes and a voluminous hood that fails to hide its jackal-like visage. Wielding a staff intricately carved to resemble a slender double helix, the creature commands respect with its mere presence.

Marduk-bel-Iziri was a cell leader for a small crèche of fellow Marruspawn, leading through a combination of birthright and sheer mental capacity. Smarter, wiser, and more charismatic by far than his brethren, Marduk also possesses a formidable collection of Arcane spells. He fearlessly defended his territory through tactical use of his cell members, and sacrifices captured slaves to his god Azul in ceremonial rituals designed to bring forth the Lord of Rain’s blessing.

After meeting with a particularly capable group of adventurers, Marduk seeks solace and recovery in the depths of the waste. During his time here, he ponders the nature of his religion, and whole-heartedly devotes himself to prayer, cloistering himself deep within one of the numerous abandoned pyramids that dot the landscape.

After emerging from his studies, he has come to the realization that the Waste claims all it touches, and is the purest form of Nature. The desert salt cleans all that it touches, and the unrelenting sun cures the world’s ailments. It isn’t long before he meets others that share his ideology, and Marduk is soon inducted into the Dusty Coven, joining the ranks of Walkers in the Waste.

Marduk-bel-Iziri now claims dominion over a stretch of the Waste that borders a stretch of grasslands to the east, and the nomads that live there find themselves constantly battling the encroaching sands that Marduk carries in his wake.

While accompanied by a retinue of Sand Golems and Salt Mummies, he also has his own formidable Clerical abilities to supplement his fearsome presence in combat.

Attribute
Base
Racial
From Level
Total
Dry Lich
Final

Strength
12
0
0
12
2
14

Dexterity
14
+2
0
16
0
16

Constitution
8
+2
0
10
-
-

Intelligence
15
+8
+2
25
0
25

Wisdom
10
+8
0
18
4
22

Charisma
16
+6
+3
22
2
24

Increases at 4 and 8 go to Intelligence, 12, 15 and 18 go to Charisma. At CR 20 (Level 10 of Walker in the Waste), the Dry Lich template is added, increasing Strength by 2, Wisdom by 4, and Charisma by 2, and removing Constitution.

CR
HD
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

5
7d8
Marrutact
+7
+3
+6
+9
Concentration 10, Decipher Script 10, Hide 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 10, Knowledge (History) 10, Knowledge (Geography) 10, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 10, Spellcraft 10
Heat Endurance, Extend Spell, Persistent Spell
Discriminating Hearing, Resistance to Desiccation, Resistance to Fire, Low Light Vision, Howl of Healing, Spells (as CL 5 Wizard), Spell Resistance 16

6
8
Cloistered Cleric 1
+7
+5
+6
+11
Concentration 11, Decipher Script 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 11, Knowledge (History) 11, Knowledge (Geography) 11, Knowledge (Religion) 10, Knowledge (Nature) 11, Spellcraft 11
Knowledge Devotion
Lore, Knowledge Domain, Turn/Rebuke Undead

7
9
Cloistered Cleric 2
+8
+6
+6
+12
Concentration 12, Decipher Script 12, Knowledge (Arcana) 12, Knowledge (History) 12, Knowledge (Geography) 12, Knowledge (Religion) 12, Knowledge (Nature) 12, Spellcraft 12, Survival 2.5
Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell)
-

8
10
Cloistered Cleric 3
+8
+6
+7
+12
Concentration 13, Decipher Script 13, Knowledge (Arcana) 13, Knowledge (History) 13, Knowledge (Geography) 13, Knowledge (Religion) 13, Knowledge (Nature) 13, Spellcraft 13, Survival 5
-
-

9
11
Cloistered Cleric 4
+9
+7
+7
+12
Concentration 14, Decipher Script 14, Knowledge (Arcana) 14, Knowledge (History) 14, Knowledge (Geography) 14, Knowledge (Religion) 14, Knowledge (Nature) 14, Spellcraft 14, Survival 7.5
-
-

10
12
Cloistered Cleric 5
+9
+7
+7
+13
Concentration 15, Decipher Script 15, Knowledge (Arcana) 15, Knowledge (History) 15, Knowledge (Geography) 15, Knowledge (Religion) 15, Knowledge (Nature) 15, Spellcraft 15, Survival 10
Extra Turning
-

11
13
Walker in the Waste 1
+9
+7
+7
+15
Concentration 16, Decipher Script 16, Intimidate 2, Knowledge (Arcana) 16, Knowledge (Geography) 16, Knowledge (Nature) 16, Spellcraft 16, Survival 11
-
Desiccating Touch 1d6, Improved Heat Endurance

12
14
Walker in the Waste 2
+10
+7
+7
+16
Concentration 17, Decipher Script 17, Intimidate 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 17, Knowledge (Geography) 17, Knowledge (Nature) 17, Spellcraft 17, Survival 12
-
The Wasting

13
15
Walker in the Waste 3
+10
+8
+8
+16
Concentration 18, Decipher Script 18, Intimidate +, Knowledge (Arcana) 18, Knowledge (Geography) 18, Knowledge (Nature) 18, Spellcraft 18, Survival 13
Intimidating Strike
Desiccating Touch 2d6, Local Drought

14
16
Walker in the Waste 4
+11
+8
+8
+17
Concentration 19, Decipher Script 19, Intimidate 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 19, Knowledge (Geography) 19, Knowledge (Nature) 19, Spellcraft 19, Survival 14
-
Withered Toughness

15
17
Walker in the Waste 5
+11
+8
+8
+17
Concentration 20, Decipher Script 20, Intimidate 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 20, Knowledge (Geography) 20, Knowledge (Nature) 20, Spellcraft 20, Survival 15
-
Dessicating Touch 3d6, Pillar of Salt

16
18
Walker in the Waste 6
+12
+9
+9
+18
Concentration 21, Decipher Script 21, Intimidate 12, Knowledge (Arcana) 21, Knowledge (Geography) 21, Knowledge (Nature) 21, Spellcraft 21, Survival 16
Imperious Command
Create Sand Golem

17
19
Walker in the Waste 7
+12
+9
+9
+18
Concentration 22, Decipher Script 22, Intimidate 14, Knowledge (Arcana) 22, Knowledge (Geography) 22, Knowledge (Nature) 22, Spellcraft 22, Survival 17
-
Desiccating Touch 4d6

18
20
Walker in the Waste 8
+13
+9
+9
+19
Concentration 23, Decipher Script 23, Intimidate 16, Knowledge (Arcana) 23, Knowledge (Geography) 23, Knowledge (Nature) 23, Spellcraft 23, Survival 18
-
Create Salt Mummy

19
21
Walker in the Waste 9
+13
+10
+10
+19
Concentration 24, Decipher Script 24, Intimidate 18, Knowledge (Arcana) 24, Knowledge (Geography) 24, Knowledge (Nature) 24, Spellcraft 24, Survival 19
Craft Magic Arms & Armor
Desiccating Touch 5d6, Greater Drought

20
22
Walker in the Waste 10
+14
+10
+10
+20
Concentration 25, Decipher Script 25, Hide 10, Intimidate 20, Knowledge (Arcana) 25, Knowledge (History) 15, Knowledge (Geography) 25, Knowledge (Religion) 15, Knowledge (Nature) 25, Spellcraft 25, Survival 20
-
Dry Lich

Marduk-bel-Iziri has a collection of both Arcane and Divine Spells, as represented below.

Arcane Spells per day

Level
0th
1st
2nd
3rd

1
3
3
-
-

2
4
4
-
-

3
4
4
3
-

4
4
4
4
-

5
4
4
4
3

Divine Spells per day
Domains: Thirst and Evil

Level
0th
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th

6
3
3+1
-
-
-
-
-
-

7
4
4+1
-
-
-
-
-
-

8
4
4+1
3+1
-
-
-
-
-

9
5
5+1
4+1
-
-
-
-
-

10
5
5+1
4+1
3+1
-
-
-
-

11
5
5+1
4+1
3+1
-
-
-
-

12
5
5+1
5+1
4+1
-
-
-
-

13
6
6+1
6+1
5+1
2+1
-
-
-

14
6
6+1
6+1
5+1
3+1
-
-
-

15
6
6+1
6+1
5+1
3+1
2+1
-
-

16
6
6+1
6+1
5+1
4+1
3+1
-
-

17
6
7+1
6+1
6+1
4+1
3+1
2+1
-

18
6
7+1
6+1
6+1
4+1
4+1
3+1
-

19
6
7+1
7+1
6+1
5+1
4+1
3+1
1+1

20
6
7+1
7+1
6+1
5+1
4+1
3+1
1+1

Casting increased at every level of Walker in the Waste except for 1 and 10 (CR 11 & 20, respectively).

Size and Type: The creature’s type changes to undead. Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged.
Hit Dice: Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12s.
Attack: A dry lich retains the desiccating touch of the base creature. If the base creature can use weapons, a dry lich retains this ability. A creature with natural weapons retains those weapons. A dry lich fighting without weapons uses either its desiccating touch or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A dry lich armed with a weapon uses its touch or its weapon, as it desires.
Full Attack: A dry lich fighting without weapons uses either its desiccating touch attack (see above) or its natural weapons (if it has any). If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack along with a desiccating touch as a natural secondary attack, provided it has a way to make that attack (either a free hand or a natural weapon that it can use as a secondary attack).
Damage: A dry lich without natural weapons has a desiccating touch attack that deals 5d6 points of desiccation damage (or 5d8 points to plants and elementals of the water subtype) to living creatures; a Fortitude save (DC 15 + dry lich’s Wis Modifier) halves the damage. A dry lich with natural weapons can use its desiccating touch attack or its natural weapons as it prefers. If it chooses the latter, it deals an extra 5d6 points of desiccation damage on one natural weapon attack.
Special Attacks: A dry lich retains all the base creature’s special attacks and gains those described below. Save DCs are equal to 10 + ½ dry lich’s HD + Cha modifier unless otherwise specified.
Aura of Despair (Su): A dry lich is surrounded by a terrible sense of age, loss, and death. Any creature within a 60-foot radius must secceed on a Will save or be shaken for 1d4 rounds. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by the same dry lich’s aura of despair for 24 hours.
Constitution Drain (Su): Any living creature a dry lich hits with its touch attack must succeed on a Fortitude save or take 1d6 points of Constitution drain. With each successful drain, the dry lich gains 5 temporary hit points.
Special Qualities: A dry lich retains all the base creature’s special qualities and gains those described below;
Turn Resistance (Ex): A dry lich has +6 turn resistance.
Damage Reduction (Su): A dry lich’s salt-cured flesh is leathery and touch, giving it damage reduction 10/bludgeoning and magic.
Fast Healing (Ex): A dry lich recovers 2 points of damage each round as long as it is in an arid environment. A humid climate, water-based effecs such as a fog cloud spell, or immersion in water prevent fast healing.
Immunities (Ex): Dry liches had immunity to dehydration, heat, polymorph (though they can use polymorph effects on themselves), and mind-affecting spells and abilities.
Unholy Toughness (Ex): A dry lich gains a bonus to its hit points equal to its Charisma bonus (minimum +1) times its Hit Dice.
Water Weakness: All water deals damage to a dry lich as if it were holy water.
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +2, Wis +4, Cha +2. As an undead creature, a dry lich has no Constitution score.
Skills: Dry liches have a +8 racial bonus on Hide, Intimidate, Listen, Move Silently, Search, and Spot checks. Otherwise same as the base creature.
Environment: Any deserts.
Organization:Solitary or patrol (1 dry lich, plus 1-2 salt mummies and 2-4 sand golems).
Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +3.
Treasure: Standard coins; standard goods; double items.
Alighment: Any nongood.
Advancement: By character class.
Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature +5.

CR 5 – At this point in Marduk’s life, he has just become a cell leader in charge of a pair of Marrusaults and 4 Marrulurks. If encountered by PCs, Marduk defends his cell and their territory by deploying his cell against the PCs, directing the Marrusaults to charge the enemy, and having the Marrulurks move in to a flanking position to capitalize on their innate Sneak Attack abilities. During this time, Marduk remains in the rear casting Arcane spells to hinder his foes.
CR 6-10 – If in the event that Marduk’s cell is defeated by the PCs, Marduk uses any means necessary to escape into the Wastelands. In the intervening time between next encountering the PCs, Marduk gives himself over to worshipping his chosen deity, Azul, Lord of Rain. Dedicating himself to the study of religion in solitude, Marduk is unlikely to be encountered again until after this level range.
CR 11-15 – Having forsaken civilization in favor of the purity found in the unforgiving Wastelands, Marduk has been accepted into the Dusty Conclave as a Walker in the Waste, and now patrols the Wastelands in an effort to keep encroaching civilization at bay. He also uses this time to investigate the ancient ruins that litter the waste, searching for hidden lore and artifacts. If encountered by PCs at this level range, he can be a formidable opponent, able to fight with both Arcane and Divine magic, and also able to buff himself into a capable melee opponent.
Sweet Spot – CR 15 – CR 15 would be Marduk’s sweet spot, at this point he can Persist both Divine Power and Righteous Might, growing him up to large size and giving him an increased attack modifier. By using his Arcane spells to modify the terrain to his liking, he is able to delay entering combat until he can target the enemy spellcaster with his Flesh to Salt ability. After this, he wades into battle, interspersing blows from his staff with his Desiccating Touch ability. In addition to all of this, his Intimidating Strike and Imperious Command abilities should inflict a healthy amount of fear in his enemies to stack the odds further in Marduk’s favor.
CR 20 – Now a Dry Lich, and accompanied by a retinue of Sand Golems and Salt Mummies, Marduk-bel-Iziri is indeed a force to be reckoned with. He has ascended to the highest levels of the Dusty Conclave, and actively works to push civilization back and to increase the reach of the Wastelands. He is convinced now more so than ever that the desert is the purest form of Nature and life itself. You either have the strength to survive in the harshest of lands, or the moving sands claim your life. Natural selection working at its finest.

Player's Handbook - Skills, Feats, Spells, Evil & Knowledge Domains
Player's Handbook II - Intimidating Strike
Drow of the Underdark - Imperious Command
DMG - Elite Array
Unearthed Arcana - Cloistered Cleric
Complete Divine - Divine Metamagic, Knowledge Devotion
Sandstorm - Walker in the Waste, Marrutact, Dry Lich, Thirst Domain, Spells, Azul

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 06:08 PM

Machine cult, go!

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/t/robot-android-woman-butterfly-nature-technology-background-34946203.jpg

Cullet

Warforged Totemist 17/Reforged 3

Field Report to House Cannith
Subject: Experimental Warforged Production Report
Warforged Designation: 546987-A34B2q SLS “Slash”
Status: Online
Dear Sirs,
I am ready to label our latest project a tentative success. Our “Slash” model has come online, and is ready to begin her duties in clearing the jungle of all flora and fauna. Per your specification, she has been fitted with a reinforced jaw to aid in combat and help destroy various underbrush she may encounter. Brellik, our Totemist collaborator, assures me that her chakras are functioning normally. I must once again express my concern that exposing a Warforged to these so-called “soulmelds” may introduce undesired psychological elements – not the least of which, is the certainty that she does in fact possess a soul. I am also concerned that Brellik may not be completely on board with the project. Are you certain that he has been fully vetted? I will monitor the situation closely and report back as necessary…

Str 15
Dex 8
Con 14->16
Int 10
Wis 12->10
Cha 13->11

Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st
Totemist 1
+0
+2
+2
+0
Craft (Woodcutter) (4)
Know Nature (4)
Sense Motive (2)
Survival(4)
Jaws of Death
Wild Empathy, Illiteracy

2nd
Totemist 2
+1
+3
+3
+0
Craft (5)
Know Nature (5)
Sense Motive (2.5)
Survival(5)
-
Totem Chakra Bind (+1 capacity)

3rd
Totemist 3
+2
+3
+3
+1
Craft (6)
Know Nature (6)
Sense Motive (3)
Survival(6)
Cobalt Charge
Totem’s Protection

4th
Totemist 4
+3
+4
+4
+1
Craft (7)
Know Nature (7)
Sense Motive (3.5)
Survival(7)
-
+1 Con (level-up)

5th
Totemist 5
+3
+4
+4
+1
Craft (8)
Know Nature (8)
Sense Motive (4)
Survival(8)
-
Chakra Binds (Crown, feet, hands)

6th
Reforged 1
+3
+4
+4
+3
Bluff(1)
Diplomacy(1)
Gather Information(1)
Sense Motive(5)

Expanded Soulmeld Capacity
Extroverted, Natural Healing

7th
Reforged 2
+4
+4
+4
+4
Bluff(2)
Diplomacy(2)
Gather Information(2)
Sense Motive(6)
-
Reforged Insight, Magical Healing

8th
Reforged 3
+5
+5
+5
+4
Bluff(3)
Diplomacy(3)
Gather Information(3)
Sense Motive(7)
Unarmored Body (b)
Embrace Emotion, Final Reforging. +1 Con

9th
Totemist 6
+6
+6
+6
+5
Know(Arcana)(1)
Know(Nature)(9)
Know(Planes)(1)
Spellcraft(1)

Second Slam
Totem Chakra Bind (+1 meldshaper level)

10th
Totemist 7
+7
+6
+6
+5
Know(Arcana)(2)
Know(Nature)(10)
Know(Planes)(2)
Spellcraft(2)
-
-

11th
Totemist 8
+8
+7
+7
+5
Know(Arcana)(3)
Know(Nature)(11)
Know(Planes)(3)
Spellcraft(3)
-
Rebind Totem Soulmeld (1/day)

12th
Totemist 9
+8
+7
+7
+6
Know(Arcana)(4)
Know(Nature)(12)
Know(Planes)(4)
Spellcraft(4)
Multiattack
Chakra Binds (arms, brow, shoulders). +1 Str

13th
Totemist 10
+9
+8
+8
+6
Know(Arcana)(5)
Know(Nature)(13)
Know(Planes)(5)
Spellcraft(5)
-
-

14th
Totemist 11
+10
+8
+8
+6
Know(Arcana)(6)
Know(Nature)(14)
Know(Planes)(6)
Spellcraft(6)
-
Totem Chakra bind (double bind)

15th
Totemist 12
+11
+9
+9
+7
Know(Arcana)(7)
Know(Nature)(15)
Know(Planes)(7)
Spellcraft(7)
Double Chakra (Totem)
Rebind Totem soulmeld (2/day)

16th
Totemist 13
+11
+9
+9
+7
Know(Arcana)(8)
Know(Nature)(16)
Know(Planes)(8)
Spellcraft(8)
-
+1 Con

17th
Totemist 14
+12
+10
+10
+7
Know(Arcana)(9)
Know(Nature)(17)
Know(Planes)(9)
Spellcraft(9)
-
Chakra binds (throat, waist)

18th
Totemist 15
+13
+10
+10
+8
Know(Arcana)(10)
Know(Nature)(18)
Know(Planes)(10)
Spellcraft(10)
Shape Soulmeld (Enigma Helm)
Totem Chakra bind (+2 capacity)

19th
Totemist 16
+14
+11
+11
+8
Know(Arcana)(11)
Know(Nature)(19)
Know(Planes)(11)
Spellcraft(11)
-
Rebind Totem soulmeld (3/day)

20th
Totemist 17
+14
+11
+11
+8
Know(Arcana)(12)
Know(Nature)(20)
Know(Planes)(12)
Spellcraft(12)
-
Chakra Bind (heart). +1 Con

At this point, Slash is just on the cusp of making her break with her creators. She has been trained by Brellik over the course of several years. He intends to use her to fight off the loggers and defend the jungle. She has developed somewhat unusually for a Totemist, her first-level feat being occupied with Jaws of Death, and her third being Cobalt Charge. Her soulmelds give her some flexibility, but she’s somewhat hurt by the lower base attack bonus. Still, with the Sphinx Claws soulmeld bound to your Hand chakra, you have a small load of natural attacks on a pounce, possibly enhanced by Cobalt Charge. (Rules ambiguity: it’s not completely clear if your bite attack gained by Jaws of Death counts as a “manufactured” weapon for the purposes of Sphinx Claws.)

Slash is no more. When her employers tried to oust her mentor Brellik, she turned on them; alas, too late for Brellik. His dying words were a curse on the ones who made her. This was the final straw that set her on the path to forsaking her own identity. Now, she has been reforged as the villainous Cullet. She sees her creation as the final step of destruction ordered by a morally bankrupt civilization, and is dedicated to seeing it return to nature – by force. She may appear as a leader of a small band of Warforged seeking to learn from her mastery of the Chakras. Upon becoming a Reforged, she re-selected her Warforged feat (Jaws of Death). While the levels of Reforged will make her less powerful than a full level-20 Totemist, they’re central to her development as a villainous extremist. Still, her Reforged levels will improve the Morale bonus given by her Totem Avatar soulmeld. A second slam attack, combined with extra attacks granted by her Totemist soulmelds and various essential investment, will make her a dangerous opponent in melee. As a Reforged, you no longer have penalties to healing, as normal Warforged do.

I would also consider this the “sweet spot,” when the last key features of the build come online.

Cullet has now come into her own as a villain. Her prowess in battle has gained her serious notoriety. She may well appear as part (or leader) of an organization dedicated to destroying not just the loggers, but all civilization. She now has Double Chakra, double bind (obtained at level 14), and the ability to rebind her Totem soulmeld twice a day. You have a large number of natural attacks from soulmelds, Jaws of Death, and Extra Slam. Multiattack (gained at 12) gives a big boost to all of her natural attacks. Sphinx Claws is still applicable.

Cullet is now a world-renowned threat, and head of a violent group of extremists. She is a bit more careful, since her activities have gained her powerful enemies. She keeps herself safe from basic divinations by using the Enigma Helm soulmeld (obtained by a feat). Level 20 gives her a “capstone” of binding a soulmeld to her Heart chakra. At this level, she would surround herself with spellcasters (possibly evil Druids) and others who share her worldview. She is not capable of taking on an entire party on her own, and she knows this. A combat encounter including Cullet should involve several other high-level lieutenants and minions (likely druids, rangers, or other nature-friendly characters like Totemists, Barbarians, or others).

Crown: Frost Helm, Enigma Helm (when available)
Feet: Landshark Boots
Hands: Sphinx Claws (bound)
Totem: Totem Avatar (bound), Girallon Arms (bound)
Shoulders: Totem Avatar (bound)
Throat: Ankheg Breastplate
Waist: Wormtail Belt
Heart: Dread Carapace

Warforged (Race): Eberron Campaign Setting
Reforged (PrC), Jaws of Death (Feat), Second Slam (Feat), Unarmored Body (Feat): Races of Eberron
Totemist (Class), Cobalt Charge (Feat), Double Chakra (Feat), Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (Feat), Shape Soulmeld (Feat): Magic of Incarnum

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 06:10 PM

Trees trees trees. It's like we chose a concept themed around nature. Wait.. did we? Woops.

Triana, the Husk of Hate

http://i.imgur.com/XJ5mhlt.png

Greenbound Hate-Lost Illumian (hoonvaul) Cloistered Cleric 17

Elite array:
8+10 Str
10+2 Dex
12+8 Con
13-6 Int
15+1+1+1+1 Wis
14+4 Cha

CR
HD
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1
1d6
Cloistered (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#clericVariantCloistere dCleric) Cleric (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/cleric.htm) 1
+0
+2
+0
+2
Concentration 4, Craft (Alchemy) 4, Heal 4,
Knowledge (Geography) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Profession (Herbalist) 4, Spellcraft 4
Improved Initiative (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#improvedInitiative)
Domains (Plant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spellLists/clericDomains.htm#plantDomain), Good (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spellLists/clericDomains.htm#goodDomain), Knowledge (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spellLists/clericDomains.htm#knowledgeDomain)), lore (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#clericVariantCloistere dCleric), turn/rebuke undead (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/cleric.htm#turnorRebukeUndead), 1st level spells

2
2d6
Cloistered Cleric 2
+1
+3
+0
+3
Concentration 5, Craft (Alchemy) 5, Heal 5, Knowledge (Geography) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Profession (Herbalist) 5, Spellcraft 5
-
-

3
3d6
Cloistered Cleric 3
+1
+3
+1
+3
Concentration 6, Craft (Alchemy) 6, Heal 6, Knowledge (Geography) 6, Knowledge (Nature) 6, Profession (Herbalist) 6, Spellcraft 6
Brew Potion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#brewPotion)
2nd level spells

4
4d6
Cloistered Cleric 4
+2
+4
+1
+4
Concentration 7, Craft (Alchemy) 7, Heal 7, Knowledge (Geography) 7, Knowledge (Nature) 7, Profession (Herbalist) 7, Spellcraft 7
-
+1 Wis

5
5d6
Cloistered Cleric 5
+2
+4
+1
+4
Concentration 8, Craft (Alchemy) 8, Heal 8, Knowledge (Geography) 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Profession (Herbalist) 8, Spellcraft 8
-
3rd level spells

8
5d8
Apply the Greenbound (+2 CR) and Lost (+1 CR) templates
+2
+4
+1
+4
-
-
Change alignment to Chaotic Evil, change Good domain to Hatred domain; +10 Str, +8 Con, +4 Cha, +2 Dex, -6 Int; natural armor +9; base land speed +10; bile of hatred; twisted mind; plant type (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#plantType); slam attack 1d6; spell-like abilities (at will--entangle (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/entangle.htm), pass without trace (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/passWithoutTrace.htm), speak with plants (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/speakWithPlants.htm); 1/day--wall of thorns (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/wallOfThorns.htm)); damage reduction 10/slashing and magic; fast healing 3; grapple bonus +4; resistance to cold and electricity 10; tremorsense 60 feet; Hide and Move Silently +16

9
5d8+1d6
Cloistered Cleric 6
+3
+5
+2
+5
Concentration 9, Knowledge (Geography) 9, Knowledge (Nature) 9, Spellcraft 9
Improved Turning (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#improvedTurning)
-

10
5d8+2d6
Cloistered Cleric 7
+3
+5
+2
+5
Concentration 10, Knowledge (Geography) 10, Knowledge (Nature) 10, Spellcraft 10
-
4th level spells

11
5d8+3d6
Cloistered Cleric 8
+4
+6
+2
+6
Concentration 11, Knowledge (Geography) 11, Knowledge (Nature) 11, Spellcraft 11
-
+1 Wis

12
5d8+4d6
Cloistered Cleric 9
+4
+6
+3
+6
Concentration 12, Knowledge (Geography) 12, Knowledge (Nature) 12, Spellcraft 12
Ability Focus (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsterFeats.htm#abilityFocus) (Entangle)
5th level spells

13
5d8+5d6
Cloistered Cleric 10
+5
+7
+3
+7
Concentration 13, Knowledge (Geography) 13, Knowledge (Nature) 13, Spellcraft 13
-
-

14
5d8+6d6
Cloistered Cleric 11
+5
+7
+3
+7
Concentration 14, Knowledge (Geography) 14, Knowledge (Nature) 14, Spellcraft 14
-
6th level spells

15
5d8+7d6
Cloistered Cleric 12
+6
+8
+4
+8
Concentration 15, Knowledge (Geography) 15, Knowledge (Nature) 15, Spellcraft 15
Quicken Spell-Like Ability (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsterFeats.htm#quickenSpellLikeAbility) (Entangle)
+1 Wis

16
5d8+8d6
Cloistered Cleric 13
+6
+8
+4
+8
Concentration 16, Knowledge (Geography) 16, Knowledge (Nature) 16, Spellcraft 16
-
7th level spells

17
5d8+9d6
Cloistered Cleric 14
+7
+9
+4
+9
Concentration 17, Knowledge (Geography) 17, Knowledge (Nature) 17, Spellcraft 17
-
-

18
5d8+10d6
Cloistered Cleric 15
+7
+9
+5
+9
Concentration 18, Knowledge (Geography) 18, Knowledge (Nature) 18, Spellcraft 18
Craft Contingent Spell
8th level spells

19
5d8+11d6
Cloistered Cleric 16
+8
+10
+5
+10
Concentration 19, Knowledge (Geography) 19, Knowledge (Nature) 19, Spellcraft 19
-
+1 Wis

20
5d8+12d6
Cloistered Cleric 17
+8
+10
+5
+10
Concentration 20, Knowledge (Geography) 20, Knowledge (Nature) 20, Spellcraft 20
-
9th level spells

Final skills: Concentration 20, Craft (Alchemy) 8, Heal 8, Knowledge (Geography) 20, Knowledge (Nature) 20, Profession (Herbalist) 8, Spellcraft 20
When the PCs first meet Triana, she's not a villain at all. She's the town apothecary. She sells potions, alchemical items, and medicinal herbs. She's friendly and helpful, and she's well-respected in the community for her skills as a healer. She's also an inquisitive mind, and often goes out on research expeditions to find new rare herbs, leaving the shop in the care of Alice, her capable apprentice.

To make Triana more memorable in her first appearance, I recommend having her send the players on a short quest to find a rare potion ingredient in the forest. (She'd get it herself, but she has to stay and tend to one of her sick patients.)

Triana's patron deity before her change can be any Good-aligned nature god in your setting. Alternately, she can be a Cleric of an ideal, venerating nature itself as a force for good.
While the PCs were off on another quest, Triana went on an expedition of her own...but it's been over two months now and she still hasn't returned. Alice, who, as usual, has been running the shop in Triana's absence, is worried, and implores the PCs to go on a rescue mission. She explains that Triana went to the Lost Woods, a notoriously spooky place from which few have ever returned.

Players who use Gather Information can discover more information about the Lost Woods.
DC 10: "Hoo boy...I heard of that place. Notoriously spooky. There's a curse over the whole forest. Nobody who goes in comes out again."
DC 15: "They say nobody ever comes out of the Lost Woods, but then again, nobody ever really goes in there either. It's dangerous. I had an uncle who knew a guy who made it out. He was stark-raving loony, though. Even if you escape, the place changes you."
DC 20: "They say a man once ventured into the Lost Woods. He made it out just fine, or so it seemed. But he had some magic disease, right, and he started shouting about how he hated everyone. Went on a rampage, he did. Strangled his own wife and kids and ran off back into the forest. Horrible tragedy."
DC 25: "I heard about that guy too! After he killed his family, the guards tried to chase him down, but their weapons were useless against him. The only thing that worked was one guard's magic sword, which cut him up well enough, but instead of blood, he bled tree sap! Then the wound closed up right there and then, and he vomited up some nasty goop that melted the flesh right off the poor guard's bones, then ran off! The forest turned him into some kind of horrible plant monster fueled by hate."
Triana, it turns out, has succumbed to the curse of the Lost Woods--a Lost Site, fueled by hatred, that can transform unwary travelers into shells of their former selves.

Creatures entering a lost site are exposed to a disease that is functionally similar to mindfire (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#disease) (see page 292 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide) and must make a successful DC 12 Fortitude save to avoid contracting this illness. After a 1-day incubation period, infected creatures take 1d4 points of Intelligence damage. Once per day thereafter, infected characters must succeed on another saving throw or take the same damage. Unlike mindfire, the victim must make three successful Fortitude saves in a row (rather than just two) to recover from this illness. Leaving the lost site has no effect on the progress of the illness.

If an infected creature takes 6 or more points of Intelligence damage while within the bounds of a lost site, the creature immediately gains the lost template described on page 183.
This particular Lost Site also has the additional side effect of transforming its victims into plants, granting them the Greenbound template.

Anyway, Triana has now gained both the Lost and the Greenbound templates, and, overcome by hate, has turned evil, abandoned her previous faith, and now worships the forest itself, exchanging her Good domain for the Hatred domain. But she's more than just a victim. Her Plant domain granted ability allows her to rebuke and command plants. Furthermore, as an Illumian with the vaul sigil, she gets +2 to all Charisma checks, including turning checks, and with the hoon sigil added on, she can expend some of her spells to gain an additional bonus to turning checks and turning damage rolls. And now that she's Greenbound, she has an extra +4 to Charisma, further boosting her rebuking. Oh, and she's picked up the Improved Turning feat, too. Bottom line? She's now the commander of a small army of Hate Monsters.

If the players attempt to track Triana, they will be foiled by her new pass without trace spell-like ability. They'll have to search the forest the hard way. (And it will be hard, because she's been casting plant growth (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/plantGrowth.htm) every day to thicken the foliage.) Naturally, of course, chances are, she'll find them before they find her. Triana will try to remain hidden if possible, using her new +16 racial bonus to Hide, casting debuffs and battlefield control while her plant minions attack. If she's spotted, she'll try and escape under the cover of obscuring mist (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/obscuringMist.htm) and entangle, with wall of thorns as a last resort. She also has freedom of movement to help her out if needed. Her goal is to elude the intruders, and prevent them from leaving the forest if possible--the hope is that they will succumb to the forest's curse so that she can add them to her army. If the players manage to corner her, she'll try to entangle them, then fight back with her bile of hatred acid breath and spontaneous inflict spells. She has a bunch of resistances and immunities from the plant type and the Greenbound template, which should make her tough to bring down even in a fair fight.
If the players fail to defeat Triana, or if they choose not to attempt to rescue her, she will eventually start sending out raiding parties to attack nearby villages. (Why? Because she HATES them. She hates everyone. HATE HATE HATE GRAAAAH!) Her plant monsters will shamble into town, impervious to harm from normal weapons, and start smashing whatever they can. They may also attempt to take prisoners back to the forest to convert into new recruits. (This should get the PCs' attention.) If the villagers fight back and manage to drive the plants away, she'll send more, and with better buffs this time--for example, if the villagers try and burn the monsters with fire, she'll give the next wave fire resistance.

Triana is now capable of casting 7th level spells, making for a much more challenging encounter. She'll begin a fight by ensnaring the party in a quickened entangle, then casting animate plants (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/animatePlants.htm) and siccing some trees on them. As before, she'll stick to a support role in the actual fight, but now the minions she calls will be more powerful and more numerous, and the support spells she casts will be higher-level. If there are spellcasters in the party, she may ready dispel magic or greater dispel magic as a counterspell. She also has the option of playing the fight more aggressively with ranged direct damage spells like the mass inflict line.
If the players face Triana at an even higher level, the key word for her is preparation. She's had a long time to grow her plant empire. The Lost Woods will be guarded by a massive army of shambling mounds courtesy of shambler (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/shambler.htm), cast once a day, every day, with a 7-month duration. The woods will also be filled with all sorts of nasty traps intended to capture and disable any interlopers so that the curse has time to transform them. Triana herself will have set up all manner of contingencies with Craft Contingent Spell, making her (hopefully) a nightmare to fight against. Also, she has 9th level spells, so that's a thing. Have her be buffed to the gills, slinging overpowered magic while an army of plant minions obeys her every command.
Triana is a Cleric because the Plant domain provides a strong mechanism to allow her to lead an army of plants. Also, I find that just having domains is, generally, a nice way to reinforce the character's themes. But the concept is not tied to that particular class--the character could also work as a Druid, using the command plants (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/commandPlants.htm) spell. I opted for Cleric because I felt adding wild shape and an animal companion would pull focus away from the plant theme. If you prefer the Druid route, I recommend replacing Improved Turning with Greenbound Summoning, from Lost Empires of Faerun, and, after Triana's transformation, have her animal companion die and let her trade the class feature away to become a Druidic Avenger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#druidVariantDruidicAve nger). (The Rage ability is more thematically appropriate for a monster fueled by hatred anyway.)
The transformation is not reversible. But you're the DM. If you want a more optimistic adventure, you could make it reversible. If that's what you want to do, I recommend placing an artifact in the center of the Lost Woods. The corrupted magic of this artifact is the source of the curse. It emanates waves of nauseating energy tainted by the hatred of its creator toward all of civilization.

Destroying the artifact will not reverse the physical effects of the curse completely, but it will undo most of the magic and restore the sanity of the afflicted. In other words, it removes both the Lost and Greenbound templates, but subjects retain the Plant type--that part of the metamorphosis is permanent.

If Triana is high enough level, she will place a forbiddance (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/forbiddance.htm) on the artifact to prevent this course of events.

Consider this option if one of the PCs succumbs to the curse and the other party members want to save them.
Complete Arcane: Craft Contingent Spell (p77)
Lost Empires of Faerun: Greenbound template (p173)
Magic of Incarnum: Lost template (p181), Lost site (p204)
Races of Destiny: Illumian race (p53)
Spell Compendium: Hatred domain (p275)
Unearthed Arcana: Cloistered Cleric (SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#clericVariantCloistere dCleric))

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 06:13 PM

Protect yourself! Nature is back, with a vengeance!

The bane of the civilized world...

Lorna, the Mother's Wrath
"Nature has provided you with everything: plants and animals that you consume for food, wood to build your shelters and to burn to stave off the cold. And you have taken without giving one whit in return. You spoil her lands, poison her waters, and clutter her skies with monuments to your own glory. She will tolerate it no more. Your confederates will be culled, your cities will fall to ruin, and all who stand in her way will be swept aside as leaves in the wind."

Chaotic Evil Greenbound Nymph Druid 12
Medium Plant (Augmented Fey), Str 14, Dex 18, Con 20, Int 18, Wis 21, Cha 25
1 level bump in Charisma, 3 into Wisdom

(Stats before adjustments: Str 8, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 13)

http://i.imgur.com/BcNtBAO.jpg
Source: http://ravenscar45.deviantart.com

When outsiders intrude upon the forest, nymphs are generally disposed towards letting them be. After ensuring they mean no harm, the fey often prefer to watch from a distance, rather than involve themselves in the mortals affairs.

Lorna was not most nymphs.

Depending upon whom you ask, Lorna’s fascination with the mortal races was either a boon or a curse. Blessed by nature with equal parts ability, cunning, and pride, Lorna felt supremely confident in her choice to take a more active approach in her protection of the forest. She proved such an elusive nuisance to the nearby kingdom, that the Duke sought the help of a mercenary band to negotiate a truce, or failing that, drive her away. Lorna greeted these new arrivals with the usual pomp and flair that she accorded all her new guests.

It proved to be a terrible mistake. The leader of the mercenary band was a cruel and vicious ranger, who took a special delight in making her existence a nightmare. When they laughed at her attempts to negotiate, she attacked them, only to be overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. She fled, but was pursued mercilessly through her forest home. The mercenaries began to treat it like a game, injuring her to the brink of death, and then creating an “opening” for her to escape. They would set traps baited with helpless injured animals, their cries of agony tearing at Lorna’s soul. She fled from her home forest glades to a neighboring kingdom, only to be set upon by yet another group of outsiders. Maddened with grief, took refuge in a series of caves at the foothills of a nearby mountain, using every bit of magic she could muster to stave off her pursuers.

It was there, huddled in the darkness, that she first heard the voice. It spoke to her in soothing tones, slowly allaying her fears. It said it was the voice of the Mother Seed. It had watched the mortals horrible mistreatment of her. It consoled her. It told her that her experience was not unique, and that the mortals were growing more violent with each passing season. Their claim over nature also grew as more and more forests were cleared to make way for farmlands to feed the ever-growing population of their cities. It told her that a culling was necessary, before the damage was irreversible.

Most terrible of all, it taught her how to hate.

Lorna soon realized that she had been chosen to be the herald of nature’s rebirth. The Mother Seed could scour the planet of the mortal infestation, but it would need her help to do so. She emerged from that cave a twisted agent of destruction, and would stop at nothing to undo the damage the lesser races had caused.

The first place the party is likely to encounter her, is immediately after she has fled from kingdom borders she once called home. Her pursuers gave up the chase when she crossed into the next territory. The party is contacted by a local druid grove to investigate strange disturbances in the forests. Lorna’s manic state of mind is having a similar effect on the fauna surrounding her, and travelers have reported wild animals attacking without provocation.

At this level, the fight will be tough. It will be very, very tough. In order to balance her against a party of level 5 characters, she should have expended at least some of her druid spells for the day in her efforts to elude the mercenaries, and she should also be down some hit points. If the party is sufficiently unprepared, also consider keeping her Blinding Beauty turned off for the encounter, on account of her physical and mental exhaustion. Her ability scores should also be adjusted as follows: Str 8, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 18, Wis 22, Cha 21, since she has not yet acquired the greenbound template. Aside from SNA, solid options for offense at this level include Call Lightning, Spiritjaws, with Bite of the Wereboar or Primal Form for engaging in melee.

Her fragile state of mind will not permit negotiations, and she will attack anyone who approaches her. Regardless of how combat proceeds, once the party becomes incapacitated, or it becomes clear she cannot defeat them, she should flee into the forest. If necessary, don’t hesitate to utilize her Dimension Door SLA, and any remaining battlefield control spells to assist in her escape.

Around this point the party is called upon to investigate a series of bizarre kidnappings. People are going missing from their houses in the middle of the night, and guards are slain in the street, apparently the victims of animal attacks. Lorna has been ordered to bring her victims to the cave, so that their bodies can provide nourishment for the Mother Seed. An investigation will uncover the fact that all of the victims thus far are members of the mercenary band that chased Lorna from the kingdom, and their respective families. The encounter should happen at night, as the party pursues her in the wake of her latest abduction.

This level is the turning point: the moment when the party will realize something is terribly wrong. The last time they saw her she was in nearly mad with terror. Now she is composed, calm, and positively drips with sinister purpose. Even if the party doesn’t remember Lorna, she will remember them, and offer them one chance to leave before she attacks them with the full range of her abilities.

Since the last time they met, Lorna has acquired the greenbound template, and at least her first level in druid, and thus is accompanied by an animal companion, which should be either a wolf or a riding dog. She’ll make full use of her Blinding Beauty this time around, along with 11th level druid casting, and the abilities provided by her template. The companion should have animal growth pre-cast on it along with whatever other buffs you feel are appropriate. Lorna's defenses are supplemented by plant traits, which provide immunity to critical hits precision damage, as well as immunity to mind-affecting, poison, sleep, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning.

In terms of attacking, Quill Blast is a particularly nasty opener at this point, and she should otherwise focus on limiting the mobility of her enemies. She should target obvious spellcasters with her Stunning Glance, and direct her animal companion and summons to run interference with melee characters that elude her battlefield control. Other useful spells include Arc of Lightning (A No SR Conjuration spell), Vortex of Teeth, and of course Flame Strike. If you feel the party can handle it, advancing her two more druid levels will get her the Natural Bond feat, and bring her companion out of the range of mook clearing spells (like Cloudkill). She has no real interest in conflict, and at the first opportunity will take her latest victim and flee. She will again use her Dimension Door ability if she is in danger of being killed, or if her animal companion is slain. leaving her victim behind. That should be enough to stave off pursuit, but if necessary she will also use Tree Stride, Entangle, or Wall of Thorns to cover her escape.

Since their previous encounter, Lorna has been spending her time building up a cult of followers, worshipping the Mother Seed as the physical embodiment of nature, which began by finding and seducing suitable elven cleric who revered nature as an ideal. The cult advocates abandoning the trappings of civilization and returning to the natural world. She then sends recruiters to ply cities and street corners, warning of a coming natural resurgence, and that only those who prove themselves worthy will be saved. It gains popularity amongst doomsayers and members of all species who seek a stronger connection to the natural world. Those who prove themselves worthwhile servants are afflicted with the Greenbound template and made into agents of the order, while the rest are sacrificed as nourishment. Should the party begin to investigate the disappearances surrounding this cult, Lorna will directly intervene by turning the might of nature against the Duke of the kingdom that hired her tormentors, hoping to draw their attention away from the Mother Seeds location. The encounter can either be a large scale battle, with an alliance of cultists, fey, and plants against the cities defenders, or as simple as a horde of animals turned loose upon the city at Lorna’s direction, with the party being tasked to locate and stop her.

If Lorna’s animal companion was slain in the last encounter, consider replacing it with a fleshraker dinosaur (no need to be overly polite to your players at this point in their careers). Her tactics remain much the same as they always have, except now she has the advantage of wild shape available to her. As usual, she will flee from the battle if she is overwhelmed, either with Dimension Door or Word of Recall, and withdraw her forces from the city. The party will probably be at least slightly inclined to pursue her at this point. Let them. She will happily lead them on a merry chase, crisscrossing back and forth across the wilds. The longer she can delay them, the more time the Mother Seed will have to prepare.

At the most dramatically appropriate moment, the Mother Seed sprouts. It explodes out from the foothills near the mountain, writhing into the shape of an enormous, horribly malformed tree, which rises hundreds of feet into the air until the mountain is nearly in it’s shadow. The trunk is slick and soft to the touch, the branches are gnarled and covered with long sinewy vines, and even the leaves look alien and discolored. Lorna returns to this location immediately, all but daring the party to come after her. They are strong and will provide good nourishment, and could possibly make worthy servants once they are suitably… altered.

The final encounter should take place in the upper boughs, near the top of the tree. Anyone without some means of flight will face constant danger of plummeting to the ground. At this point, she has all of her previous abilities, including the spellcasting of an 18th level druid. Her Blinding Beauty ability now comes with a nasty surprise for anyone who has been keeping out of range thus far, in the form of the Widen Supernatural Ability feat. With a 60 ft radius, it shouldn’t be difficult to position herself in order to catch the entire party in it for at least that round. To really ramp up the difficulty, make judicious use of the Earthbind spell, located in Monster Manual V, to keep the party within range of the tree, and thus effects from plant growth and entangle. Swift Concentration is useful for calling an Elemental Monolith and then tossing another spell in the next round. Nature's Avatar is an excellent buff for her companion. Other good spells to consider are Stormrage, Bite of the Werebear, Fire Seeds, and of course Shapechange. into a This is her last stand, and she will fight here until destroyed.

Q: What was the basic goal?
A: I wanted to enhance a nature focused monster without sacrificing any of its mechanical effectiveness. Nymph was the first (and later, the only) creature I found that had any form of innate divine spellcasting on top a solid chassis. The bonuses to Armor Class provided by the Greenbound template and from Unearthly Grace, along with her 30 ft aura, makes her a very difficult and dangerous target to engage in melee combat, and her bonus to saving throws lets her shrug spells that allow a save. Her ability to threaten a stun as an at-will ability also helps to even the odds against a superior number of opponents. Her innate spellcasting of course stacks with that provided by the druid class, making it both an optimal and flavorful choice for advancement.

Q: So why the summoning focus?
A: The biggest problem faced with a single enemy encounter is drowning in the action economy. If the players are taking four or five actions for every one action the DM takes, the baddies will most certainly lose through sheer attrition alone. Focusing on summoning helps to alleviate that problem. If nothing else, they provide distractions that the party must deal with while she prepares an even nastier spell. Casting Speak with Animals gives her better control over her allies at all levels, allowing for flanks, focus fire, and other far more tactical instruction than, “Attack closest” or “Defend me.”

Q: What’s up with her monstrous HD skills and feats? Those don’t look normal…
A: Indeed. The Monster Manual tells us that monster racial hit dice have class skills just like classes do, and that they should be assigned as whatever you feel is appropriate for the creature.
In order to figure out a nymph’s class skills, we go to their skill list and subtract all ability score bonuses, then all racial modifiers, and finally remove any synergy bonuses they might have. This leaves the nymph with Concentration, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, Heal, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Sense Motive, and Spot at 9 ranks each. Since Fey get 6 + Int mod (3) skills per HD, this follows that these are a nymph’s class skills, each maxed out. Now that we know what they are, we can move points out of things that will never get used, and put them as much more suitable cross-class ranks.
Rebuilding in this manner also allows us to tailor her feats to something more appropriate for her focus, as she is most certainly an exceptional specimen for her species. The Monster Manual again tells us that any feats marked with a superscript ‘B’ are racial bonus feats, and cannot be changed. Since we don’t see that, all three of her feats are a result of her fey hit dice, and can be changed to anything that she qualifies for.

Q: How does Rapid Spell affect her Summon Nature’s Ally spells?
A: The Player’s Handbook, pg 88 tells us that you may apply metamagic feats to a spell that has been spontaneously converted, and that it follows the same rules as sorcerers and bards. Normally, this would be the end of things, however Rapid Spell has an exception built into it specifically for spontaneous casting. I believe that the correct interpretation is that you spontaneously cast Summon Nature’s Ally and apply Rapid Spell to it, which reduces it to a standard action, and then the rule for applying spontaneous metamagic kicks in, which brings the casting time up to a full-round action. That should be more than sufficient, as it allows your summons to act in the round you call them.
A looser interpretation would allow you to spontaneously cast as a standard action, but if the action economy is that big of a deal, you always have the option of preparing just preparing Rapid SNA’s in the appropriate spell slots. As the DM, you have the advantage of knowing the party, and tailoring the number of prepared SNA’s to suit your needs.

Q: Why not apply templates to her animal companion too?
A: I have a general rule that I won’t do anything at my table that I’m not comfortable making available to the players. Despite the reasonable arguments in favor of it, I don’t believe the specific wording in the PHB permits a player to apply templates to their animal companion. Since I wouldn’t allow it, I won’t do it here either. She has more than enough spells to buff her companion with as it is.

Q: What sort of magic gear should she use?
A: To a low optimized party, she already presents a decent challenge. If you are going to equip her, the only magic item that I would say is required is a Ring of the Beast from Complete Champion, pg. 141. It allows you to treat any Summon Nature’s Ally spell you cast as one level higher. Thus you could prepare (or sacrifice) a 5th level slot to cast a Rapid SNA IV, which would then be increased by the ring to SNA V, essentially applying the metamagic for free. Another excellent item is the Wild Shape Amulet (Magic of Faerun) which increases her effective druid level by 4 for determining Wild Shaping forms. At level 12, this would grant her access to Elemental forms. Other good items include the Mantle of the Beast, that allows her to Wild Shape as a swift action (at which point you might as well consider an Armor of the Beast too, and pick up the set bonuses), a Monk’s Belt for additional defenses, or a Belt of Battle to decrease the gap between the party’s actions and her own. Naturally wisdom or charisma increasing items would be helpful, but you are dealing with a fairly competent party, they probably aren’t necessary.

However, some of this gear will also necessitate a Wilding Clasp, from the Magic Item Compendium in order to keep vital pieces functioning when she changes forms.

CR
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

6th
Nymph
+3
+2
+5
+5
Bluff (9)4, Concentration 9, Handle Animal 9, Heal 1, Hide 9, Knowledge (nature) (8)4, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft (8)4, Spot 9, Swim 8(R)
Spell Focus (Conjuration), Augment Summoning, Rapid Spell
Blinding Beauty (Su), Stunning Glance (Su), Unearthly Grace (Su), Wild Empathy (Ex)

9th
Druid 1
+3
+4
+5
+7
Bluff 1, Concentration 1, Knowlege (nature) 1, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 4
-
Animal Companion, Nature Sense, Greenbound template

10th
Druid 2
+4
+5
+5
+8
Concentration 1, Diplomacy 4, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 2
-
Woodland Stride

11th
Druid 3
+5
+6
+6
+9
Concentration 1, Diplmocay 2, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 1, Skill trick: Swift Concentration

Natural Bond
Trackless Step

12th
Druid 4
+6/+1
+7
+6
+10
Concentration 1, Diplmocay 4, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 1
-
Resist Nature's Lure

13th
Druid 5
+6
+8
+6
+11
Concentration 1, Diplmocay 4, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 1
-
Wild Shape (1/day)

14th
Druid 6
+7
+9
+7
+12
Concentration 1, Diplmocay 1, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 2, Hide 2
Natural Spell
Wild Shape (2/day)

15th
Druid 7
+8
+9
+7
+12
Concentration 1, Diplmocay 1, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 1, Hide 2, Move Silently 1
-
Wild Shape (3/day)

16th
Druid 8
+9
+10
+7
+13
Concentration 1, Diplmocay 1, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 1, Hide 2, Move Silently 1
-
Wild Shape (Large)

17th
Druid 9
+9
+10
+8
+13
Concentration 1, Diplmocay 1, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 1, Hide 2, Move Silently 1
Quicken Spell
Venom Immunity

18th
Druid 10
+10
+11
+8
+14
Concentration 1, Diplmocay 1, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 1, Hide 2, Move Silently 1
-
Wild Shape (4/day)

19th
Druid 11
+11/+6/+1
+11
+8
+14
Concentration 1, Diplmocay 1, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 1, Hide 2, Move Silently 1
-
Wild Shape (Tiny)

20th
Druid 12
+12
+12
+9
+14
Concentration 1, Diplmocay 1, Listen 1, Spot 1, Spellcraft 1, Hide 2, Move Silently 1
Widen Supernatural Ability
Wild Shape (Plant)

[tr]
Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th

6th
5
5
5
3
-
-
-
-
-
-

7th
6
6
5
3
2
-
-
-
-
-

8th
6
6
5
4
2
-
-
-
-
-

9th
6
6
6
4
3
2
-
-
-
-

10th
6
6
6
4
4
3
-
-
-
-

11th
6
7
6
5
4
3
2
-
-
-

12th
6
7
6
6
4
4
3
-
-
-

13th
6
7
7
6
5
4
3
2
-
-

14th
6
7
7
6
5
4
4
3
-
-

15th
6
7
7
7
5
5
4
3
1
-

16th
6
7
7
7
5
5
4
4
2
-

17th
6
7
7
7
6
5
5
4
2
1

18th
6
7
7
7
6
5
5
4
3
2

[tr]

Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual- base class, creature, some feats, and potential equipment.
Lost Empires of Faerun- Greenbound template
Complete Divine- Rapid Spell feat
Complete Adventurer- Natural Bond feat
Spell Compendium- many useful spells
Tome of Magic- Widen Supernatural Ability feat
Complete Scoundrel- skill tricks
Complete Champion- useful equipment
Magic of Faerun- Wild Shape Amulet
Monster Manual III- potential Animal Companion
Monster Manual V- Earthbind spell
Magic Item Compendium- even more equipment

Lorna, the Mother’s Wrath
CR 20
HP: 18d8+126 (207); fast healing 3; DR 10/magic and slashing, DR 10/cold iron
Chaotic Evil Medium Plant (Augmented Fey)
Initiative: +4; Senses: Low-light vision; tremorsense 60 ft.; Listen +31, Spot +31
Languages: Common Sylvan, and Druidic
AC: 42, touch 36, flat-footed 28
Immune: plant immunities (mind-affecting, poison, sleep, paralysis, polymorph, critical hits, stunning)
Resist: cold 10, electricity 10
Fort: +31 Ref: +25 Will: +36 (+4 vs Fey SLA)
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), swim 20 ft; woodland stride, freedom of movement
Melee: Slam +16 (1d6+2/20 x2), treat as magical and cold iron for overcoming DR
Base Attack: +12, Grapple: +8
Attack Options: Stunning Glance, Widen Supernatural Ability (Blinding Beauty)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 18th):
At will--entangle (DC 23), pass without trace, speak with plants
1/day--wall of thorns (DC 27), dimension door
Druid Spells (CL 18th, Save DC 20 + spell level):
9th--Summon Elemental Monolith, Nature’s Avatar, Shapechange
8th--Rapid Summon Monster VII, Stormrage, Word of Recall, Earthquake
7th--True Seeing, Quickened Greater Magic Fang, Master Earth, Heal, Creeping Doom
6th--Rapid Summon Monster V, Bite of the Werebear, Mass Bull’s Strength, Fire Seeds, Greater Dispel Magic, Superior Resistance
5th--Animal Growth (2), Protection from Energy, Death Ward, Quill Blast, Stoneskin
4th--Air Walk, Cure Serious Wounds (2), Enhance Wild Shape, Vortex of Teeth, Heart of Earth, Rusting Grasp
3rd--Alter Fortune, Blindsight, Greater Magic Fang, Plant Growth, Primal Instinct, Wind Wall, Forestfold
2nd--Earthbind (2), Nature’s Favor, Mass Snake’s Swiftness (2), Barkskin, Splinterbolt, Align Fang
1st--Faerie Fire (2), Longstrider, Speak With Animals (2), Endure Elements, Enrage Animal (2)
0-- Create Water (2), Detect Magic (2), Cure Minor Wounds, Guidance
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 18, Con 24, Int 18, Wis 30, Cha 32
Special Qualities: Animal Companion, Blinding Beauty, Grapple Bonus, Nature Sense, Trackless Step, Unearthly Grace, Wild Shape (Tiny, Small, Medium Large, or Huge animal 5/day, Small Medium, or Large elemental 1/day), Wild Empathy
Feats: Augment Summoning, Natural Bond, Natural Spell, Quicken Spell, Rapid Spell, Spell Focus (Conjuration), Widen Supernatural Ability
Skills: Bluff +16, Concentration +32, Diplomacy +36, Handle Animal +20, Heal +11, Hide +20, Knowledge (nature) +11, Listen +31, Move Silently +16, Sense Motive +21, Spellcraft +25, Spot +31, Survival +12 Swim 10
Possessions: Mantle of the Beast (+6 Charisma), Ring of the Beast, Ring of Freedom of Movement, Wild Shape Amulet (+6 Wisdom), Monk’s Belt with Wilding Clasp, Tunic of Steady Spellcasting (Con +4)
Animal Companion (Ex): Lorna has a fleshraker dinosaur (MM3) as a loyal companion which accompanies her on adventures appropriate for its kind. Its abilities are follows:

Fleshraker dinosaur animal companion; Medium Magical Beast; HD: 10d8+30 (75); Init +6, Spd 50 ft; AC 28, touch 16, flat-footed 22; BAB +7; Grp +12; Atk +12 Claw (1d6+7 and poison); Full Atk 2 claws +12 melee (1d6+5 and poison) and bite +10 melee (1d6+2) and tail +10 melee (1d6+2 and poison); SA Leaping Pounce, poison, rake 1d6+5, SQ: Bonus trick, devotion, evasion, link, low-light vision, multiattack, scent, share spells; AL: N; SV Fort +10, Ref +13, Will +5 (+4 Will vs enchantments); Str 20, Dex, 22, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 12
Skills and Feats: Hide +12, Jump +32; Improved Natural Attack (claw), Track, Power Attack, Leap Attack

Blinding Beauty (Su): All humanoids within 30 feet of Lorna who look directly at her must succeed on a DC 31 Fortitude save or be blinded permanently, as the Blindness spell. She can suppress or resume this ability as a free action. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Once per day, as an immediate action, she can widen the radius of this ability to 60 feet.

Grapple Bonus (Ex): The greenbound template provides her with a +4 bonus on all grapple checks.

Stunning Glance (Su): As a standard action, Lorna can target a creature within 30 feet with a look. That creature must succeed on a DC 31 Fortitude save or be stunned for 2d4 rounds. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Unearthly Grace (Su): Lorna adds her Charisma modifier as a bonus to all saving throws, and as a deflection bonus to her armor class. These bonuses have already been added to her above statistics.

Wild Empathy (Ex): Lorna can attempt to improve the attitudes of animals as though with Diplomacy. She rolls a 1d20 plus her druid level and Charisma modifier, with a +6 racial bonus (+30 total). She may also attempt to influence magical beasts by taking a -4 penalty to the check.

Skills: As a nymph, Lorna receives a +8 racial bonus on Swim checks, and she can always choose to Take 10 even if threatened or distracted, and may use the run action when swimming if she moves in a straight line.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 06:14 PM

I solemnly vow I am up to some good.

Brandeis "the Beneficent"
http://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/10/Maleficent13.jpg
"Paving the road to hell with good acts."

NG Nymph Druid 13

Wait, she's NG? How does that work for a BBEG?
Militant Vow of Poverty: No money or magic items are allowed in her forest, since they are inherently evil and cause conflict. She also has an interesting view of property rights (summarized as "Property doesn't exist.").

Haven for Chaotic and Evil creatures: As long as they leave valuables outside, and don't start fights inside, she doesn't really care what the residents do outside of her forest. Theft, murder, arson, it doesn't matter; she's very forgiving. This also has the effect of giving her some Evil minions. They'll fight for her and obey her requests to repay and ensure her continuing protection.

Privatising World Peace: Her forest is almost Utopic, to her eyes. There's very little theft or theft-related crimes (because no one has anything worth stealing). To bring about world peace, she's spreading her forest over everything (see again the views on property)."How and when the creature known as Brandeis came into existance is unknown. What is known is that in 35 YM, a young farmhand, Eric, encountered her near Johansdale and was entralled. Interviews from the farm suggest that his whole manner was suddenly infused with newfound vitality and enthusiasm. But then came the disappearances: a few days, a month, half a year. Each time, on his return, he always claimed that he'd just left earlier that day. Eventually, he was forced from the town to make his fortune to pay off his debts; he wasn't welcome as a farmhand anymore with his constant absenteeism. On his departure, he stopped one final time by the lake he first met her by to say farewells; she gave him a parting gift to remember her by, and to draw him back to her lake. There isn't a consensus among historians on the exact form this gift took; the leading theories are a carved wooden charm on a woven cord or a set of haunting reed pipes.
The young farmhand would never return to her lake. In 37 YM, ... "
- excerpt from A History of Faerie Activity in the Kingdom of Baumdahl: Vol 3 (Michael I-John III)

"We responded to an incident at a Wilhelmheim inn last week. Witnesses said an entire ECL 6 adventuring party was brutally murdered by several wild bears, eagles, and a larger faerie, possibly a nymph. Further investigation suggests that the victims were brigands who had robbed a caravan several months prior. We were able to recover several items stolen then from the lodgings, but an enchanted necklace taken from one of the dead in that attack, Eric of Johansdale, remains missing."
- sheriff's report on the Wilhelmsheim Massacre of 37 YM, Royal Archives

"By decree of Brandeis, Mistress of Nature: 1. No valuable items or material wealth are permitted within the boundaries of the forest. 2. No fighting is allowed within the forest except in self-defense. 3. All beings are welcome within Sanctuary Forest if they follow these simple Rules. 4. All rulings on these Rules are made by Brandeis and are final."
-Rules Governing Presence in Sanctuary Forest
She's mostly just a Nymph here, except for the VoP boosts.
- 7 levels of Druid casting
- Blinding Beauty & Stunning Glare (DC 19 = 13 + 6 Cha)
- DR 10/cold iron
- Armor bonus +6 (VoP), Deflection +6 Cha (racial)
- Intuitive Attack (Wis for attack rolls (+6 vs +1) ), Power Attack (with an unarmed strike or quarterstaff)
- Nymph's Kiss (she is a good fey herself)
- Sustenance (food, drink not an issue)
She's really scary here.
- 15 levels of Druid casting (8th level spells, lots of bonus spells)
- can cast while wild-shaped into a Dragon
- 2 key stats: Wis 28, Cha 24
- DR 10/cold iron, DR 5/evil
- Energy Resistance 5
- All saves have + 7 Cha (racial) + 2 resistance (VoP)
- 3/day Wild Shape into a Medium/Small Dragon (ex. Young Rust Dragon or Juvenile Shadow Dragon) or a Large (Celestial) Animal (ex. Dire Bear)
- Attack with natural weapons = 9 BAB + 9 Wis (intuitive strike) + 3 enhancement (exalted strike)
- +25 Wild Empathy check
- Blinding Beauty DC = 20 Fort, (but always active, even in wild-shape forms)
- In Shadow Dragon Form: AC 42 = 10 + 16 Natural + 1 Natural (VoP) + 8 Armor (VoP) + 7 Cha (deflection), Shadow Blend, SR 17
- Permanent Freedom of Movement
- Greater Sustenance (doesn't need to breath)
This is similar to CR 15, but much nastier (she could really use one more HD for 1 more feat, +1 Cha -> +2 to Frightful Presence, finish VoP). The changes are:
- 20 levels of Druid casting (5 9ths/day)
- key stats: Wis 32, Cha 29
- 6/day Wild Shape, now with enough HD for Young Adult Shadow Dragon (Frightful Presence DC 28 = 10 + 1/2 * 19 HD + 9 Cha)
- In Shadow Dragon Form: AC 50 = 10 + 19 Natural + 2 Natural (VoP) + 10 Armor (VoP)+ 9 Cha (deflection), Shadow Blend, SR 20
- Permanent True Seeing
- DR 10/evil
ReasonStrDexConIntWisCha
Elite Array13810121514
Racial Adjustment131412182122
HD 4131412182222
HD 8131412182322
HD 12131412182422
HD 16131412182423
CRClassBABFortRefWillSkills: Added (Total)Special AbilitiesFeats (BonusB, ExaltedE)
1Nymph HD 10022Concentration 4 (4), Diplomacy 4 (4), Escape Artist 4 (4), Handle Animal 4 (4), Heal 4 (4), Hide 4 (4), Listen 4 (4), Move Silently 4 (4), Sense Motive 4 (4), Spot 4 (4)-Sacred VowE
2Nymph HD 21033Concentration 1 (5), Diplomacy 1 (5), Escape Artist 1 (5), Handle Animal 1 (5), Heal 1 (5), Hide 1 (5), Listen 1 (5), Move Silently 1 (5), Sense Motive 1 (5), Spot 1 (5)--
3Nymph HD 31133Concentration 1 (6), Diplomacy 1 (6), Escape Artist 1 (6), Handle Animal 1 (6), Heal 1 (6), Hide 1 (6), Listen 1 (6), Move Silently 1 (6), Sense Motive 1 (6), Spot 1 (6)AC Bonus +5, Endure ElementsVow of PovertyE
4Nymph HD 42144Concentration 1 (7), Diplomacy 1 (7), Escape Artist 1 (7), Handle Animal 1 (7), Heal 1 (7), Hide 1 (7), Listen 1 (7), Move Silently 1 (7), Sense Motive 1 (7), Spot 1 (7), Swim 1 (1)Exalted Strike +1 (magic)Nymph's KissB,E
5Nymph HD 52144Concentration 1 (8), Diplomacy 1 (8), Escape Artist 1 (8), Handle Animal 1 (8), Heal 1 (8), Hide 1 (8), Listen 1 (8), Move Silently 1 (8), Sense Motive 1 (8), Spot 1 (8), Swim 1 (2)Sustenance-
6Nymph HD 63255Concentration 1 (9), Diplomacy 1 (9), Escape Artist 1 (9), Handle Animal 1 (9), Heal 1 (9), Hide 1 (9), Listen 1 (9), Move Silently 1 (9), Sense Motive 1 (9), Spot 1 (9), Swim 1 (3)AC Bonus +6, Deflection +1Power Attack, Intuitive AttackB,E
Min CR 7Nymph CR 73255-Blinding Beauty, Stunning Glare, Unearthly Grace, Wild Empathy (+6), Dimension Door (1/day), low-light vision, DR 10/cold iron-
8Druid 13457Concentration 1 (10), Diplomacy 1 (10), Handle Animal 1 (10), Sense Motive 1 (10), Spot 1 (10), Knowledge (nature) 3 (3), Spellcraft 1 (1)Animal Companion, Nature Sense, Wild Empathy, Resistance +1, Wis +2-
9Druid 24558Concentration 1 (11), Diplomacy 1 (11), Handle Animal 1 (11), Sense Motive 1 (11), Spot 1 (11), Knowledge (nature) 2 (5), Spellcraft 2 (3)Woodland Stride, Natural Armor +1, Mind ShieldingAnimal FriendB,E
10Druid 35568Concentration 1 (12), Diplomacy 1 (12), Handle Animal 1 (12), Sense Motive 1 (12), Spot 1 (12), Knowledge (nature) 2 (7), Spellcraft 2 (5)Trackless Step, AC Bonus +7Extend Spell
11Druid 46669Concentration 1 (13), Diplomacy 1 (13), Handle Animal 1 (13), Sense Motive 1 (13), Spot 1 (13), Knowledge (nature) 2 (9), Spellcraft 2 (7)Resist Nature's Lure, Exalted Strike +2 (good), DR 5/magicSanctify Natural AttackB,E
12Druid 56669Concentration 1 (14), Diplomacy 1 (14), Handle Animal 1 (14), Sense Motive 1 (14), Spot 1 (14), Knowledge (nature) 2 (11), Spellcraft 2 (9)Wild Shape (1/day), Wis +4/Cha +2-
13Druid 677710Concentration 1 (15), Diplomacy 1 (15), Handle Animal 1 (15), Sense Motive 1 (15), Spot 1 (15), Knowledge (nature) 4 (15)Wild Shape (2/day), AC Bonus +8, Deflection +2, Greater SustenanceDragon Wild Shape, Nimbus of LightB,E
14Druid 787710Concentration 1 (16), Diplomacy 1 (16), Handle Animal 1 (16), Sense Motive 1 (16), Spot 1 (16), Spellcraft 3 (12), Survival 1 (1)Wild Shape (3/day), Resistance +2, Energy Resistance 5-
15Druid 898711Concentration 1 (17), Diplomacy 1 (17), Handle Animal 1 (17), Sense Motive 1 (17), Spot 1 (17), Survival 4 (5)Wild Shape (Large), Exalted Strike +3, Freedom of MovementExalted Wild ShapeB,E
16Druid 998811Concentration 1 (18), Diplomacy 1 (18), Handle Animal 1 (18), Sense Motive 1 (18), Spot 1 (18), Spellcraft 3 (15), Listen 1 (10)Venom Immunity, AC Bonus +9, Wis +6/Cha +4/Con +2, DR 5/evilExtra Wild Shape
17Druid 10109812Concentration 1 (19), Diplomacy 1 (19), Handle Animal 1 (19), Sense Motive 1 (19), Spot 1 (19), Spellcraft 3 (18), Listen 1 (11)Wild Shape (4/day), Natural Armor +2Holy RadianceB,E
18Druid 11119812Concentration 1 (20), Diplomacy 1 (20), Handle Animal 1 (20), Sense Motive 1 (20), Spot 1 (20), Spellcraft 1 (19), Listen 3 (13)Wild Shape (Tiny), Exalted Strike +4, Resistance +3, Regeneration-
19Druid 121210913Concentration 1 (21), Diplomacy 1 (21), Handle Animal 1 (21), Sense Motive 1 (21), Spot 1 (21), Spellcraft 2 (21), Listen 2 (16)Wild Shape (plant), AC Bonus +10, deflection +3, True SeeingPersist Spell, Words of CreationB,E
20Druid 131210913Concentration 1 (22), Diplomacy 1 (22), Handle Animal 1 (22), Sense Motive 1 (22), Spot 1 (22), Spellcraft 1 (22), Listen 3 (19)A Thousand Faces, Wis +8/Cha +6/Con +4/Int +2, DR 10/evil-
Druid Spells + Bonus Spells per day
CR0123456789
764+23+22+11+1-----
864+23+23+22+1-----
964+24+23+22+11+1----
1064+24+23+23+12+1----
1165+24+24+23+12+11+1---
1265+24+24+23+23+12+1---
1365+35+24+24+23+22+11+1--
1465+35+24+24+23+23+12+1--
1565+35+25+24+24+23+12+11+1-
1665+35+25+24+24+23+13+12+1-
1765+35+35+25+24+24+23+12+11+1
1865+35+35+25+24+24+23+13+12+1
1965+35+35+25+25+24+24+13+13+1
2065+35+35+35+25+24+24+24+14+1
One quarterstaff, simple clothes. Items and money are the cause of all evil.SRD (Druid, Nymph)
Draconomion (Dragon Wild Shape, Shadow Dragon, Rust Dragon)
Book of Exalted Deeds (Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, Exalted feats)
Sleeping Beauty (1959) (Image)

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 06:16 PM

Fish really are terrifying sometimes, right?

Sanna Blackfish
CE Merfolk Bard 5/Stormsinger 10/Sea Witch 5

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs40/i/2009/027/2/a/Mistress_of_the_Tide_by_FracturedReality.jpg
Image by FracturedReality (http://fracturedreality.deviantart.com/art/Mistress-of-the-Tide-110929608)

The Hook
Sanna is, despite everything, a pretty typical mermaid in that her downfall began when she fell in love with a handsome sailor. He was as true to her as a landsman is capable of being, but he was a crewman on the first whaling ship to sail the waters where Sanna lived with a pod of orcas. The whalers decimated her pod, not even for food--which she might have understood--but as nuisances, leaving their bodies to stain the ocean red. Before, she was curious and even friendly with the few landsman ships that braved her waters, but now she's determined to stop their incursions, which means sinking their ships.

The Beat
Pre-Racial-Adjustment: Str 8, Dex 13, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 15
Post-Racial-Adjustment: Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 15
Increase: Int at levels 4 and 8, Cha at levels 12, 16, and 20.

Languages: Common, Aquan, Darfellan

The Singer

CR
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st
Bard
+0
+0
+2
+2
Bluff 4, Concentration 4, Diplomacy 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Geography) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Perform (Sing) 4, Spellcraft 4
Magical Aptitude
Bardic music (countersong, fascinate, inspire courage), bardic knack

2nd
Bard
+1
+0
+3
+3
Bluff 5, Concentration 5, Diplomacy 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Geography) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Perform (Sing) 5, Spellcraft 5

3rd
Bard
+2
+1
+3
+3
Bluff 6, Concentration 6, Diplomacy 6, Knowledge (Arcana) 6, Knowledge (Nature) 6, Perform (Sing) 6, Sense Motive 2
Storm Magic
Bardic music (Inspire competence)

4th
Bard
+3
+1
+4
+4
Bluff 7, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 7, Knowledge (Arcana) 7, Knowledge (Nature) 7, Perform (Sing) 7, Sense Motive 4

5th
Bard
+3
+1
+4
+4
Bluff 8, Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Knowledge (Arcana) 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Perform (Sing) 8, Sense Motive 6

6th
Stormsinger
+3
+1
+6
+6
Bluff 9, Concentration 9, Diplomacy 9, Knowledge (Nature) 9, Perform (Sing) 9, Sense Motive 6.5
Wild Cohort
Bardic music, stormsong (gust of wind)

7th
Stormsinger
+4
+1
+7
+7
Bluff 10, Concentration 10, Diplomacy 10, Knowledge (Nature) 10, Perform (Sing) 10, Sense Motive 7

Stormpower

8th
Stormsinger
+4
+2
+7
+7
Bluff 11, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 11, Knowledge (Nature) 11, Perform (Sing) 11, Sense Motive 8

Stormsong (Thunderstrike)

9th
Stormsinger
+5
+2
+8
+8
Bluff 12, Concentration 12, Diplomacy 12, Knowledge (Nature) 12, Perform (Sing) 12, Sense Motive 9
Master Manipulator
Resistance to electricity 5

10th
Stormsinger
+5
+2
+8
+8
Bluff 13, Concentration 13, Diplomacy 13, Knowledge (Nature) 13, Perform (Sing) 13, Sense Motive 10

Stormsong (control winds)

11th
Stormsinger
+6/+1
+3
+9
+9
Bluff 14, Concentration 14, Diplomacy 14, Knowledge (Nature) 14, Perform (Sing) 14, Sense Motive 14

Resistance to electricity 10

12th
Stormsinger
+6/+1
+3
+9
+9
Bluff 15, Concentration 15, Diplomacy 15, Knowledge (Nature) 15, Perform (Sing) 15, Sense Motive 15
Arcane Disciple (Water)
Stormsong (winter's ballad)

13th
Sea Witch
+6/+1
+5
+9
+11
Bluff 16, Perform (Sing) 16, Spellcraft 6

Curse of the sea witch 1/day

14th
Sea Witch
+7/+2
+6
+9
+11
Bluff 17, Perform (Sing) 17, Spellcraft 7

Call maelstrom

15th
Sea Witch
+7/+2
+6
+10
+12
Bluff 18, Perform (Sing) 18, Spellcraft 8
Extra Music
Curse of the sea witch 2/day

16th
Sea Witch
+8/+3
+7
+10
+12
Bluff 19, Perform (Sing) 19, Spellcraft 6

Briny deep summoning 1/day

17th
Sea Witch
+8/+3
+7
+10
+13
Bluff 20, Perform (Sing) 20, Spellcraft 7

Curse of the albatross 1/day

18th
Stormsinger
+9/+4
+7
+11
+14
Bluff 21, Concentration 21, Diplomacy 21, Knowledge (Nature) 21, Perform (Sing) 21, Sense Motive 16
Lyric Spell
Resistance to electricity 15

19th
Stormsinger
+9/+4
+8
+11
+14
Bluff 22, Concentration 22, Diplomacy 22, Knowledge (Nature) 22, Perform (Sing) 22, Sense Motive 17

Stormsong (great thunderstrike)

20th
Stormsinger
+10/+5
+8
+12
+15
Bluff 22, Concentration 22, Diplomacy 22, Knowledge (Nature) 22, Perform (Sing) 22, Sense Motive 17

Stormsong (storm of vengeance)

The Instruments
Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th

1st
2/4
-
-
-
-
-
-

2nd
3/5
1/3
-
-
-
-
-

3rd
3/6
2/3
-
-
-
-
-

4th
3/6
3/4
0/2
-
-
-
-

5th
3/6
3/4
1/3
-
-
-
-

6th
3/6
3/4
2/3
-
-
-
-

7th
3/6
3/4
2/4
0/2
-
-
-

8th
3/6
3/4
3/4
1/3
-
-
-

9th
3/6
3/4
3/4
2/3
-
-
-

10th
3/6
3/4
3/4
2/4
0/2
-
-

11th
3/6
3/4
3/4
3/4
1/3
-
-

12th
3/6
3/4
3/4
3/4
2/3
-
-

13th
3/6
3/4
3/4
3/4
2/4
0/2
-

14th
4/6
3/4
3/4
3/4
3/4
1/3
-

15th
4/6
4/4
3/4
3/4
3/4
2/3
-

16th
4/6
4/4
3/4
3/4
3/4
2/3
-

17th
4/6
4/5
4/4
4/4
3/4
2/4
0/2

18th
4/6
4/5
4/5
4/5
4/4
3/4
1/3

19th
4/6
4/5
4/5
4/5
4/5
3/4
2/3

20th
4/6
4/5
4/5
4/5
4/5
4/4
3/4

Spells known
0 - Light, lullaby, prestidigitation, detect magic, ghostharp, songbird
1 - Charm person, swift invisibility, silent Image, sorrow, obscuring mist*, grease
2 - Alter self, suggestion, entice gift, hold person, fog cloud*, blindness/deafness
3 - Siren's call, summon monster III, dispel magic, glibness, water breathing*, speak with animals
4 - Dominate person, flowsight, celerity, control water*, shadow conjuration, dimension door
5 - Ice storm*, greater dispel magic, false vision, summon monster V, greater blink
6 - Cone of cold*, rapture of the deep, summon monster VI, geas/quest, mass charm monster

*Spells gained through Arcane Disciple

The Accompaniment
Sanna's animal companion's name is a short phrase of orca squeaks, but I'll just call him Squeaky. From level 6 to 12, he's a porpoise fluffed as a young orca, and from level 13 onward, he's a regular orca. He has pretty sophisticated feats for an animal companion (and he switches Weapon Finesse out for Improved Grapple when he grows up), to the point where I'm not sure I'd let a player set their animal companion up this way, but NPCs have a little more freedom. Squeaky's job is to make Sanna better (through stuff like constant guardian and his white raven maneuvers) without necessarily needing to attack anybody himself.

Level 10
Effective Druid Level: 7

Size/Type: Medium animal
Hit Dice: 6d8+ 6(27 hp)
Initiative: Doesn’t matter
Speed: Swim 80’
Armor Class: 20 (+4 Dex, +6 Natural), touch 14, flat-footed 16
BAB/Grapple: +4/+5
Attack: Slam +5 melee (2d4+1)
Full Attack: Slam +5 melee (2d4+1)
Space/Reach: 5’/5’
Special Attacks: None
Special Qualities: Blindsight 120 ft., hold breath, low-light vision, link, share spells, evasion, devotion
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +3
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 19, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills (including racial bonuses): Listen 10, Spot 9, Swim 9
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Constant Guardian, Martial Study (White Raven, Bolstering Voice)
Level 15
Effective Druid Level: 3

Size/Type: Huge animal
Hit Dice: 11d8 + 55 (94 hp)
Initiative: Doesn’t matter
Speed: Swim 50’
Armor Class: 19 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +8 Natural), touch 13, flat-footed 18
BAB/Grapple: +8/+29
Attack: Bite +15 melee (2d6+13)
Full Attack: Bite +15 melee (2d6+13)
Space/Reach: 15’/10’
Special Attacks: None
Special Qualities: Blindsight 120 ft., hold breath, low-light vision, link, share spells, evasion
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +10, Will +5
Abilities: Str 28, Dex 16, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 6
Skills (including racial bonuses): Listen 11, Spot 11, Swim 17
Feats: Improved Grapple, Constant Guardian, Martial Study (White Raven, Bolstering Voice), Martial Study (White Raven Tactics)
Level 20
Effective Druid Level: 8

Size/Type: Huge Animal
Hit Dice: 1d8 + 55 (94 hp)
Initiative: Doesn’t matter
Speed: Swim 50’
Armor Class: 21 (-2 size, +3 Dex, +8 Natural), touch 13, flat-footed 18
BAB/Grapple: +9/+30
Attack: Bite +16 melee (2d6+13)
Full Attack: Bite +16 melee (2d6+13)
Space/Reach: 15’/10’
Special Attacks: None
Special Qualities: Blindsight 120 ft., hold breath, low-light vision, link, share spells, evasion, devotion
Saves: Fort +13, Ref +11, Will +6
Abilities: Str 29, Dex 17, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 6
Skills (including racial bonuses): Listen 13, Spot 13, Swim 17
Feats: Improved Grapple, Constant Guardian, Martial Study (White Raven, Bolstering Voice), Martial Study (White Raven Tactics), Large and In Charge

The Verses
Sanna is meant as the villain of a nautical (not aquatic) campaign, and she's basically built to do two things: Sink ships and seem friendly while doing it. Try to keep her involvement in all the shipwrecks quiet for as long as possible--she wants people to think that the terrible weather is some mysterious supernatural force rather than something that can be solved by killing one mermaid. If she successfully stops all ship routes through her territory, then hey, great, she won. She has no desire to take the fight on land or anything like that.

Making her initial enemies whalers is intended to help her cover as a friendly NPC because, well, nobody likes whalers. Especially when they kill orcas just so the orcas won't be competition for whales, which is, unfortunately, a real thing.

At level 5, Sanna isn't really anything special, as mermaids go. She's a bard, not because it's a particularly nature-themed class, but because it gets her into her two prestige classes (oddly, the more nature-y Savage Bard variant would prevent her from qualifying for Sea Witch because it loses the Summon Monster line). Please note that because she breathes water as well as air, she can use perform (sing) underwater. Her power is mostly in her social skills—she can convince sailors to make bad choices, but she can't really wreck stuff herself yet. At this level, she should at least appear friendly to the party, and you could go so far as to introduce her before she goes bad, especially if the PCs happen to be traveling on a whaling ship. One notable thing that makes her much more flexible is that she can cast Alter Self starting at level 4 into a non-aquatic humanoid for some quick land-based recon; a particularly good use is to turn into a sailor and mess with docked ships.

By level 10, though, she's really starting to show her villainous potential. Her ability to mess with winds through stormsong makes her dangerous to any ship that crosses her path (since her CL for stormsong is based on her perform ranks, she can ratchet nondestructive winds all the way up to hurricane force), and can do so from pretty far below the ships. This is also where she finally has room for an animal companion, Squeaky, who's detailed in the "The Accompaniment" section above. Squeaky is mostly for flavor--he's not that powerful (and I assume that since Sanna is a BBEG, she can have more orcas around her if she wants to) but having a "special" whale hanging around makes sense.

If the party hasn't already figured her out, she should reveal her intentions by level 15. A particularly nasty way to do this is to offer to lead 'em to the cause of all the sinkings, cast water breathing (which she gets from the water domain at level 12) on 'em, bring them down to the bottom of the ocean, and then dispel water breathing. Maybe drop a maelstrom on 'em, too. Squeaky is now fulll-grown, and thanks to his Martial Study feats, can use White Raven Tactics on Sanna once per encounter. I chose to stick Sanna's Sea Witch levels as soon as she qualifies it (by virtue of control water from the water domain, though she also gets control weather as a Su stormsong ability at the same level) because it's the best anti-ship prestige class. She can trap small ships by creating whirlpools, and strategic cursing (on the captain or other lynchpin figure) can really ruin a ship's day. She can also, as I mentioned before, control water and the weather. Oh, and Umberlee works perfectly as a deity for Arcane Disciple, but that's the sort of fluff prereq I usually ignore for BBEGs.

Finally, at level 20, Sanna casts as a 19th-level bard plus the Water domain spells, but she also gets a couple abilities that mimic higher-level spells. Briny deep summoning, which she gets at level 16, mimics an aquatic summon nature's ally VIII, and her "capstone" ability lets her use storm of vengeance as a stormsong effect. She has 19 uses of bardic music/stormsong a day, which helps with the music-use-hungry effects like storm of vengeance and lyric spell.

The Credits
Complete Adventurer: Extra music, lyric spell
Complete Divine: Arcane Disciple
Drow of the Underdark: Constant guardian
Frostburn: Stormsinger, storm magic
Monster manual: orcaS
Player;s Handbook: Bard, magical aptitude, weapon finesseS, improved grappleS
Player's Handbook II: Bardic knack, master manipulator
Spell Compendium: Several spells
Stormwrack: Sea Witch, storm magic, several spells
Tome of Battle: Martial studyS
Web Content: Wild Cohort (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a)

SComponents for Squeaky

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 06:17 PM

You know.. there's something that feels.. off about this. Is it the undead, or the plant?

Deadwood

Gravetouched ghoul Dryad Dread necromancer
Medium Undead (augumented undead)

"How appropriate that those who would defile nature in life will defend it in death!"

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/287/f/a/fafda3e9dca50e1243aed356fd73934d-d4brs6v.jpg
[/CENTER]

Str 12
Con -
Dex 23
Int 16
Wis 19
Cha 20

(All stat increases go into charisma)

I wanted to go back to basics: in much western folklore from the pre-industry days, nature and the wilds was scary. It was what lay beyond the safety of the towns and villages, the community and the law. Being driven into the wild was a scary fate, and many ghost stories are told about people who died in the wild (lost in the woods, drowned in the fens) and thus couldn't be buried in hallowed ground.

Most of us have been ruined by Diseny, to believe that nature is this happy, cute place where everything gets along. And to your average adventurer, nature may only be a source of druids, rangers and low level exp from animals. To your average person, however, the vast, dark wilds would be a place you tell ghost stories about. And Deadwood? She's that ghost story come to life!

Also, she fights for nature using recycled humans! You don't get much more eco than that! Much less wasteful than the druid practice of animating trees and calling animals to fight for you! While most people feel that "nature" and "undead" doesn't really match, nature-themed classes actually do not have many anti-undead abilities. It's mostly the organized (civilized) churches that teach their priests how to keep undead in check.

Deadwood looks like a dryad having a really bad hair day! Her head and body is covered by gnarly branches, and her wooden skin seems dead and dry. She speaks in a creaking voice. She walks hunched over, often moving on all four. Despite her apperance, she can move with lightning speed, and her shivered limbs still hold some strength.

The monster that is now called Deadwood was once known as ”the green lady”. A gentle forest spirit of a vast, ancient wood, she used her magics to gently turn away those who would disrupt her home. She knew of the coming of civilization, having witnessed it from afar, but believed that allowing the humanoids some access to the wilds, they may learn to appreciate it, and use it gently.

She was wrong.

As human loggers and hunters exploited the wilds, farmers started burning the trees to create more arable land. Realizing that her tree would soon be in their path, and that the humans were far too many for her to drive away with her fey powers, she prayed to the goods of the wilds for deliverance. None were forthcoming. In desperation, she turned her prayers to darker powers. In the deepest part of her forest, there laid a place where the hunger ruled. Where scavengers that had turned to feed on their own race laid buried. And from that place, something answered her calls, and told her of a way to escape her fate.

Where she had previously used her magic to ward off trespassers, she began luring them to her instead. Drawing them into cunning traps, she would bring the young, weak and helpless to the place of the hunger, and there she would partake the sacrament of her new patron.

When the day came, the loggers arrived, and her tree fell to the “progress” of the nearby civilization, the green lady died with it. What arose, it's belly full of the flesh of humans, was Deadwood.

Deadwood is essentially an ecoterrorist. She's not so much interested in protecting nature as she is punishing those who she feels has wronged it. By killing off the transgressors (and their families, and everyone who ever knew them) she believes she can stop them from doing further harm and set an example to others. Because of this, she will sometimes leave some survivors to tell the tale and warn others against defiling nature. She intensely hates human civilization, and seeks to undermine it, taking perverse pleasure in turning humans into undead monstrosities that she can use in her war. Her crusade starts random, targeting small villages bordering on the wilds, but as she grows in power she begins trying to instrument local wightocalypses in larger cities. Ironically, while she hates humans, she depends on their flesh for her own survival.

She prefers to create small groups of self-sufficient undead and then set them lose on nearby humans, and her ghoul nature gives her an excellent tool to do just this. Whatever humans she can capture that doesn't go to feed her or her current pack will be restrained and infected with ghoul fever – she's especially interested in higher level prisoners which can be turned into ghasts. She will use her magic and rebukes to keep them in line in the short run, but once she has built up a decent sized pack, she will leave them to their own devices and move on to establish a new pack. Her familiari, when she gets it, can also help create more undead for the cause. She doesn't seek to control these Vargouille, but simply lets them lose on whatever is nearby. When able to, she will create more powerful undead. If she needs a special kind of minion to achieve an objective she will create it, but otherwise she may just let it go it's own way, trusting in the destructive nature of most undead to make itself useful to her cause.

As she advances she will eventually be capable of teleporting across continents, making it possible to encounter her (or her handiwork) over a large area.

One important question for a BBEG is how you can introduce the character in a good way. Can you build up expectations? Can you make the players hate and fear the BBEG, wanting in their hearts to put an end to this mortal foe?

Deadwood offers several easy ways to introduce her. You can have the party start small, fighting minions she created before moving off. Perhaps they start noticing odd pattern in where these undead they are called on to exterminate keep popping up? Perhaps an area they cleared out is suddenly infected again? Or maybe a family member or ally is turned into a ghoul by deadwood, and once the party “rescues” the lost friend, they find out the story about a crazy “Wooden Ghoul” who infects humans and sets them on their own kind.

Other angles are obviously that a church hires the players to investigate an increase in the number of undead, or perhaps druids are concerned about some new extreme sect targeting anyone who cuts down a tree or fishes in a lake. Because she eventually gets access to travel spells, she can easily appear even in an area that has previously been free of her influence.

CR
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

3rd
Dryad (4HD fey)
+2
+3
+8
+6
Escape artist +11, Handle animal +11, Hide +11, Knowledge (nature) +11, Listen +9, Move silently +11, Ride +6, Spot +9, Survival +9, Use rope +4 (+6 with bindings)
Great fortitude, weapon finesse
Spell like abilities, tree dependent

4th
Gravetouched ghoul
+2
+3
+10
+8
Accounts for stat increases from template

Escape artist +13, Handle animal +12, Hide +13, Knowledge (nature) +13, Listen +11, Move silently +13, Ride +8, Spot +11, Survival +11, Use rope +6 (+8 with bindings)
Multiattack
Paralyzing touch, ghoul fever, natural weapons

5th
Dread necromancer 1
+2
+3
+10
+10
Concentration 2, Intimidate 2, Spellcraft 1
n/a
Charnel touch, rebuke undead

6th
Dread necromancer 2
+3
+3
+10
+11
Concentration 2, Intimidate 2, Spellcraft 1
Quicken spell
Lich body DR 2

7th
Dread necromancer 3
+3
+4
+11
+11
Concentration 2, Intimidate 2, Spellcraft 1
n/a
Negative energy burst 1/day

8th
Dread necromancer 4
+4
+4
+11
+12
Concentration 2, Intimidate 2, Spellcraft 1
Charisma +1
Advanced learning: rigor mortis, mental bastion +2

9th
Dread necromancer 5
+4
+4
+11
+12
Skill trick: Never outnumbered, Intimidate 2, Spellcraft 1
Divine metamagic: Quicken spell
Fear aura

10th
Dread necromancer 6
+5
+5
+12
+13
Knowledge (religion) 2, Intimidate 2, Spellcraft 1
n/a
Scabrous touch 1/day

11th
Dread necromancer 7
+5
+5
+12
+13
Knowledge (religion) 2, Intimidate 2, Spellcraft 1
n/a
Lich body DR 4, Summon familiar: Vargouille

12th
Dread necromancer 8
+6
+5
+12
+14
Concentration 3, Intimidate 1, Spellcraft 1
Arcane disciple: travel domain, Charisma +1
Advanced learning: evil glare, negative energy burst 2/day, undead mastery

13th
Dread necromancer 9
+6
+6
+13
+14
Concentration 1, Intimidate 1, Spellcraft 3
n/a
Negative energy restistance

14th
Dread necromancer 10
+7
+6
+13
+15
Concentration 1, Intimidate 1, Spellcraft 3
n/a
Light fortification 25%

15th
Dread necromancer 11
+7
+6
+13
+15
Concentration 1, Intimidate 1, Spellcraft 3
Travel devotion
Lich body DR 6, scabrous touch 2/day

16th
Dread necromancer 12
+8
+7
+14
+16
Concentration 1, Intimidate 1, Spellcraft 2, Knowledge: Religion 1
Charisma +1
Advanced learning: aura of terror, enervating touch

17th
Dread necromancer 13
+8
+7
+14
+16
Concentration 1, Intimidate 1, Spellcraft 1, Knowledge: Religion 2
n/a
Negative energy burst 3/day

18th
Dread necromancer 14
+9
+7
+14
+17
Concentration 1, Intimidate 1, Spellcraft 1, Knowledge: Religion 2
Extra turning
Mental bastion +4

19th
Dread necromancer 15
+9
+8
+15
+17
Concentration 3, Intimidate 1, Spellcraft 1,
n/a
Lich body DR 8

20th
Dread necromancer 16
+10
+8
+15
+18
Concentration 3, Intimidate 1, Spellcraft 1,
n/a
Advanced learning: bestow curse (greater), Scabrous touch 3/day

As a minionmancer, it's obvious that Deadwood will rely heavily on her undead minions for her ability to fight. She herself prefers using debuffs and battlefield control spells to hamper the heroes, using SoS or SoL spells whenever available. While her fear effects aren't that heavily optimized, they can be an unplesant surprise for a character who tries to close with her.

If it looks like a fight will be hard, Deadwood is quite likely to withdraw, leaving her minions to fend for herself. Once she has divine metamagic online, she can keep up the debuffs while withdrawing. Because she has DMM (and eventually travel devotion) she can use some of the players favorite tricks to stay mobile and still keep the spells coming. While she herself is unlikely to cause a TPK, the combination of minions and 2 SoL spells per round can quickly turn the action economy against the players. Arcane disciple (travel) gives her good mobility, and is quite powerful on a caster. It also works as a plot element at higher levels, allowing her to turn up where least expected.

“You must come with me! You are in great danger!” the voice from behindthe tree whispered. Jon hesitated. He was only 9, but his father didn't let fools go into the forest alone to gather firewood. He knew the stories about this place being enchanted, and there had been stories in the village that children had vanished when going in there alone.
As if reading the boys thoughts, the voice continued: “Haven't you heard about the children going missing? There's magic in this wood, and it's not safe for little boys to run around alone.”

“WhoARE you?” Jon inquired. “There are those who use to call me thegreen lady.” the voice replied. “Haven't you heard the storiesthe old folks tell? I watch over this forest, and keep people safe.IF they listen!”

“The green lady!” Jon was suddenly intrigued. This wasn't scary, this was EXCITING! His friends would never believe that he had met th eguardian of the woods. He wondered what she looked like – the stories said she was a beautiful woman, made out of wood and leaves. Some said she was naked! “My grandfather use to tell stories about you! But you haven't been seen for years!”

“Well,I'm here now. I'm here to take you away from this place. I suggest you come with me...” A gnarled hand covered in bark reached outfrom behind the tree.

Perhaps it was the stories his grandfather use to tell him. Perhaps he was just curious about how the beautiful woman made of wood would look.Or perhaps there was something in the way she spoke. Jon took her hand, and let the creature that some use to call the green lady lead him deeper into the forest.

***
At this CR, Deadwood doesn't have the most powerful magic abilities. Her dryad SLAs are still useful though, especially with the increased DC from her high charisma. She will use this to try and lure any PC that strays away from the group into an ambush, using whatever minions and traps she has available. Because she is unable to summon much in the way of minions on her own, creating ghouls out of prisoners is a major goal for her at this level, and her intelligence allows her to direct her minions in more useful ways. Her SLAs and paralyzing touch gives her some crowd control that can prove a nasty surprise to PCs expecting the traditional brainless undead.

The family covered in the corner, the man in front of his terrified wife and children. The woman held the crying baby, trying in vain to calm it down, while the three older children clustered around her legs. The 3 ghouls paced back and forth slowly, anxious to leap, but apparently held in check by the tree-thing. Looking over them, it spoke with a voice like the wind through dry leaves: “You came into the forest. You cut down the trees. They bled and cried, and then you took them here, to build this abomination you call a cabin! You will pay! You will ALL pay!”

“Please, mistress, we meant no harm!” the man sobbed. “There were so many trees, and I took only what I needed. My family... look, we've been blessed with another child, and the cabin was falling apart. The wood was rotten! I needed to repair it or they may freeze to death come winter. We took so little and I thought it wouldn't be missed and... and... if you must punish someone, then punish me! Kill me if you must, but let my family go! They had nothing to do with it.”

The tree-thing looked at the weeping man for almost a minute before it spoke again. “Very well. Kill only the man. And the baby!” As two of the ghouls tore into the man and the third one tore the baby from the terrified woman's arms, Deadwood laughed. The last thing the man heard was “You have so many children, and I take only what I need. Surely it wont be missed?”

***

At this point, Deadwood has access to her fear aura and undead mastery, as well as travel spells. Her charisma gives a fair amount of turn undead attempts (and you can get more with a nightstick, or several if you swing that way) With rigor mortis, evil glare and the crowdcontrol from the DN spell list, she can disrupt a parties mobility pretty severely. While most of her minions will be pure brutes, she can have a fair amount of them, and when combined with her crowd control they can pose a serious threat to many parties. If things go bad, she can use her travel domain spells to escape.

“Didyou hear of Eagleclaw keep?” the dwarf asked. Thurgun the Just,paladin of St Cuthbert shrugged. “That castle we defended what, 10years ago? What about it?” “Word is it is a ghost town now.People went missing, started a couple of months ago. First just oneor two, then whole patrols. Couple of weeks ago, all contact ceased.The abbot sent a few men to investigate, and only one got out alive.Said they got jumped by ghouls while riding through the forest. Nastybunch too, determined and going for blood!”

Thurgunmade the sign of the Cudgel. “May they be granted fair judgement.But the church should be able to handle this, why send for me?”“BECAUSE” the dwarf said “this is the 7th report ofsomething like this happening just this year. Strong outposts, peoplego missing, then suddenly they're infested with undead. They all surrounded the city too, and I'm hearing rumors of beggars disapearing off the streets now. I'm tellingyou Thurgun, something is happening. Something big!”

***

While Deadwood may not be the most powerful CR 20 caster out there (she doesn't even get lvl 9 spells!) she still has the ability to influence a high level campaign. She can raise new armies quickly, and while a company of ghouls may not cause a lvl 20 paladin to break a sweat, they can tear down what he has built up over his career. Deadwood can create powerful minions and send them where they can cause the most damage, and with spells, rebukes and sheer personal power and intimidation she can keep a great many of them in line. When the part comes for her, she will conduct hit-and-run attacks against them, using her spells to weaken them and letting her minions do as much damage as possible. As a BBEG, her job is to keep the heroes chasing her and trying to twart her plans.

She will probably need an item of permanent mindblank, but that's standard for CR20 villains in mid or high OP games.

Main sources (build essentials)
PHB, HoH, LM, MM1.

Secondary sorces (feats, spells or other abilities)
SpC, CS, CD, CC

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-11, 06:19 PM

Alright, that's all 8. Looks like a pretty good field again.

Telonius

2015-03-11, 06:34 PM

atemu1234

2015-03-11, 06:37 PM

Looks like a great bunch!

My unused build stub:

Changeling Monk/Something(Ranger? Warlock?)/Cancer Mage. Concept: intent on wiping out the "higher" forms of life by using the "lower" forms of disease, reverting the world to its natural, simple state. Tactics: basic Typhoid Mary. Assume various identities (through the Changeling's abilities), sneak in to cities and cause plague, move on to the next one.

While it would be a great recurring villain, it seemed like it wouldn't really be appropriate as a final BBEG. Too much of a loner, no support structure of minions, horrible skill requirements, and a couple key points of failure as soon as the heroes know what it is they're fighting. Also, rancid cheese alert if it uses Festering Anger.

Interesting. I was thinking Ur-Priest who hates gods of nature for mine. I didn't enter because I realized it would be too tempting to make ANOTHER character that's far to overpowered to see actual play, as an enemy or as a PC. Though I really like all of the posted villains. Who knows, I might even base on of mine off of an idea here.

sakuuya

2015-03-11, 07:12 PM

Does anyone else find it weird that there are no generic "Evil Nature Guy" classes? The It's * Outside books have a few setting-specific ones (a couple of which were used here!), but I think it's an underfilled niche, considering the absurd glut of PrCs.

AvatarVecna

2015-03-11, 07:15 PM

My intention was to build a Vermin Lord (BoVD). Early levels, it depends on minionmancy via swarms, since swarms are pretty vicious in the low-levels. It suffers a bit in the middle levels (to the extent that a full caster can suffer in the middle levels), before finishing strong: the Vermin Lord can start a Hivemind, which grants a group of animals/vermin great power for gathering in great numbers. Swarms are technically large groups of creatures, so they'd count as thousands, making for a ridiculously powerful swarm: a single Diminutive swarm (like most of those that could be summoned via Summon Swarm) would give me thousands in my hivemind, which would give the hivemind (including me) max ranks in all skills, hundreds of bonus feats, and casting as a high-epic sorcerer with a Charisma in the stratosphere (somewhere in the triple, or even quadruple, digits).

The plan from there was to take inspiration from Big Hero Six (https://williamjepma.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/the-kabuki-mask-villain-in-disneys-big-hero-6-e1415557095413.jpg) and Skitter from Worm (https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-1-gestation/1-01/), in all her overpowered glory. I figured I could refluff spells as masses of insects performing various tasks, allowing for a wide variety of spells that make sense for the swarm to grant me. Alas, I couldn't quite meet the goals I set for myself, but it was still an awesome idea. I even just found a quote in Worm that's perfect for this contest, and represented my build's ideals:

It was funny how nature reclaimed this world in its own way. It was silly to say humans were destroying the environment; we were simply changing it. Nature would persevere until the world was a barren wasteland.

You know how my villain knew that man vs. nature ends with man losing? Because even in the greatest cities, where nature has been all but eradicated...the vermin remain. The thrive in the thousands. Nature adapts, and survives.

JyP

2015-03-11, 11:59 PM

here's my uncompleted stub - in use currently in my campaign in fact, from 3rd to 8th level:

CR 1 : Neanderthal druid (root walker + wild hunter variants) 1, savage progression lich 1

CR 13 : Neanderthal lich druid 11

Once upon a time lived a fair maiden, which was the druidess for the whole neanderthal tribe, in a great and luxurious forest. Then came hoomans, with their weird metal weapons, and the druidess found to her horror that hoomans inflicted wounds upon the Earth to find their ore... As they were too numerous, the tribe retreated in the forest, but it was too late : hoomans ravaged Nature, and a great Ice Age came... With her powers, the tribe survived in a forest which got encased in a Great Glacier, then full obscurity as ice covered the ground up to 400 meters above... and the tribe finally escaped in the Earth, leaving the druidess in the Dead Forest, with only vermins for company. No one knows what she did to survive here - but she became the first Lich during this time in obscurity.

Once the Ice Age finished, the druidess' wrath was terrible, as she inflicted plagues after plagues upon the hoomans. Deities decided to finish her once and for all - they could only encase her body in a cursed bronze armor which drained her natural powers, as her source of immortality could not be found. She was then stored in The World's Largest Dungeon, only able to see through animal eyes how the world above was changing while she was emprisoned... One day she will be free and all hoomans beware !

The idea is to explore The World's Largest Dungeon with evil PCs, the druidess being discovered near the entrance in a tomb - to take the place of a PC if there's not enough spellcasters. The twist was to create a lich at low levels ;-)
Note that this is an NPC, so it uses pretty powerful twists for the DM - not every DM will be ok with Greenbound Summoning for ex.

Main flaw on this build : some specific background & cursed items to create a lich at 1st level - by RAW you have to wait for 11th level.

Equipment : cursed bronze armor and gauntlets, which nullify lich aura and touch (normally also druid spells, but as she is too powerful she just has to restart at level 1). Needs to find someone able to do a remove curse...

Animal companion : a smilodon - I even wrote an article on how to have a smilodon from level 1 to 13, as by RAW it would be different felines along the way and not very smooth.

Roleplaying tips : As a neanderthal, she is illiterate. Abhors all metals, and those which use them. Partial to songs and kisses like Snow White at bed times - she misses her tribe very much - but not anyone can support a blackened nude skeleton doing some cuddling...

CR

Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st

Neanderthal druid (root walker + wild hunter variants) 1, savage progression lich 1

+0

+2

+0

+2

A Skill

Greenbound Summoning

spells, spontaneous casting, animal companion(smilodon), nature sense, vermin empathy, monk AC bonus, favored enemy (humans), track, undeath (lich 4 special), Int +2, natural armor +2, lich skills +2, damaging touch 1d6+5, paralyzing touch (1d4 rounds), resistances (cold 5, electricity 5)

2nd
Druid 2

+1

+3
+0
+3
Skills
Feats
rocky stride,

3rd
Druid 3

+3

+3
+1
+3
Skills
Primitive Caster
fast movement as monk, trackless step

4th
Druid 4

+3

+4
+1
+4
Skills
Feats
Resist Aberrations

5th
Druid 5

+3

+4
+1
+4
Skills
Feats

6th
Druid 6
+4

+5
+2
+5
Skills
Craft Skull Talisman
Feats

7th
Druid 7
+5

+5
+2
+5
Skills
Feats

8th
Lich 2
+5

+5
+2
+5
Skills
Feats
Natural armor +3, lich skills +4, damage reduction 5/bludgeoning and magic, damaging touch (1d8+5), fear aura (10-ft. radius), fortification (light), paralyzing touch (1d4 minutes), phylactery (1st stage), resistances (cold 10, electricity 10)

9th
Druid 8
+6/+1

+6
+2
+6
Skills
Feats
Swift Tracker

10th
Druid 9
+6/+1

+6
+3
+6
Skills
Craft Wondrous Items

11th
Druid 10
+7/+2

+7
+3
+7
Skills
Feats

12th
Druid 11
+8/+3

+7
+3
+7
Skills
Feats
Feats

13th
Lich 3 & 4 (same CR +2)
+8/+3

+7
+3
+7
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

[/TR]

neanderthal, smilodon, primitive caster, craft skull talisman : Frostburn
underground druid variant : Dungeonscape - explain how the druidess now likes vermins instead of animals
hunter druid variant : no wild shape but favored enemy (humans) : Unearthed Arcana
Lich : savage progression on wizards' site : http://archive.wizards.com/default.a...d/sp/20031212a
Greenbound Summoning : Lost Empires of Faerun - an overpowered feat to summon plant enhanced creatures

WhamBamSam

2015-03-12, 12:09 AM

My primary idea was an Ancient Black Dragon with one level of Swordsage (I had tried to do it with a Wyrm Black Dragon with no class levels using Martial Study/Stance feats, but couldn't swing it without Wyrm of War which gives heavy armor proficiency and is therefore verboten, also the Elite Array is +1 CR for creatures without class levels). It originally stemmed from the idea to combine the Ghostly Defense stance with the concealment from a swift action Rot of Ages spell, but had a few other interesting tricks such as Lingering Strafing (Possibly Energy Substituted and/or switched up with a Crown of the North Wind) Breath+Setting Sun Throws to toss them into it, a few other miss chance generating spells, and Setting Sun counter maneuvers (which Dragons are good at) rolled up in it. Technically, advancing one more dragon HD (CR 20.5, which I think would round down to CR20) would be enough for an initiator level of 17 for Tornado Throw, but I decided that was a little unsporting in a contest like this, since it's basically "hard counter this or be TPKed in one round" at dragon fly speeds.

Another thing I considered was a simple Druid 20 build, showcasing some BBEG-only tricks of Druid spellcasting, like using Memory Rot to drain things to 2 Int so they're valid targets for rearing with Handle Animal and you can sick things-that-were-once-men (or more realistically, some other, more viable without class levels, sapient species) on the sort of players who'd be freaked out by that sort of thing in a way other than the one they'd expect (zombies).

A third idea that was nipped in the bud by the armor proficiency restriction was a Lycanthrope Ardent using Practiced Manifester (and maybe the Magic Mantle Practiced Spellcaster double dip if I was feeling really cheesy) for a Psionic BBEG with powers known above what a normal human manifester of the same CR could access.

It looks like there's good competition without my help though. I have some thoughts on how one of two of the entries might have been improved, but I'll keep them to myself unless the people behind them specifically want to seek out my peanut gallery, non-judge critiques.

Sian

2015-03-12, 02:27 AM

The idea i considered, were TN Nymph Druid 3 (with Deadly Hunter ACF from UA) / Verdent Lord 8 / Mystic Wanderer 2, aiming for forcefully destroying material civilization, leaving the population living as nomads living in harmony off the earth traveling around following food sources.

Quite similar to what everyone else did.

The trick for entering Verdent lord was reading the accessory booklet for updating 3e phb, which mentions that Command plants and Control Plants changed names, hence arguing that you qualify via Command plants instead of as stated in Verdent Lord 'Control Plants'

amdskitzo

2015-03-12, 10:50 AM

Never had a chance to flesh out either of my builds(hit writer's block combined with mother breaking her leg).

First build I was going to base on San from Princess Mononoke. I was thinking Human Scout and/or Ranger into Beastmaster, but I didn't feel the power I was expecting from that combination.

The other was a Druid/Fist of the Forest/Verdant Lord(race indeterminate). I was thinking dwarf of all things, but that was as far as I got with that one.

Thurbane

2015-03-12, 02:23 PM

If I had gotten an entry in, it was going to be a Gravetouched Ghoul Nymph, which was already covered :smalltongue:

Aka-chan

2015-03-14, 09:22 AM

Unfortunately I didn't get my entry finished on time due to a bout of the flu. But this looks like a great field; there's some really interesting ideas here!

Jormengand

2015-03-14, 01:00 PM

I'm starting to wonder who made each build.

No prizes for guessing which one's mine. No prizes at all. :smalltongue:

WeaselGuy

2015-03-14, 01:13 PM

In completely unrelated news, the debate between Samurai and Monk on Facebook is making my brain hurt. How can so many people think that Monk is "an awesome class"?

Vhaidara

2015-03-14, 01:17 PM

In completely unrelated news, the debate between Samurai and Monk on Facebook is making my brain hurt. How can so many people think that Monk is "an awesome class"?

Because look at all the class features!

You have to actually read them, or even play them, if you're young/stupid enough, to realize how uselessly asynergistic the class is. I'm one of the ones who had to play it. Luckily the game didn't last long, but we didn't have a single combat where I didn't drop.

In other news, I will hopefully have time to judge this weekend.

WeaselGuy

2015-03-14, 01:22 PM

Because look at all the class features!

You have to actually read them, or even play them, if you're young/stupid enough, to realize how uselessly asynergistic the class is. I'm one of the ones who had to play it. Luckily the game didn't last long, but we didn't have a single combat where I didn't drop.

In other news, I will hopefully have time to judge this weekend.

No joke, that was one of the excuses given, until it was pointed out (by me) that pretty much every single class feature a Monk gets, it gets long after the other casters have already gotten the spells to replicate those features.

Also, I played a Monk from 5-30 in college. I loved that character. I died 3 times on that character. I will never, in my life, forget Zinthos the Blue Shadow. But I swear by C'thulhu he was a terrible character. I mean, I went Monk 20/Tattooed Monk 10, as a Tiefling, and wore a Cape of the Mountebank.

AvatarVecna

2015-03-14, 01:37 PM

Jormengand

2015-03-14, 04:05 PM

Fun fact: in PARAGON, the ascetic (monk equivalent) really was overpowered and had to be toned down.

The reason? It got too many class features, too many attacks, and too many stat dice (meaning it had the equivalent of high saves and AC).

The fact that it gets 1/3 spellcasting doesn't hurt.

Warriors (fighters) are incidentally possible to make pretty scary because of their large number of talents (feats).

Given the standard D&D gripes about each class, I thought this might be quite amusing.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-15, 12:00 PM

I'm starting to wonder who made each build.

No prizes for guessing which one's mine. No prizes at all. :smalltongue:

That's what the reveal is for.

Sam K

2015-03-16, 01:15 AM

My first ever character was a elf monk, and I played him straight monk all the way to about 16th lvl or so. He was partners with a human paladin and a halfling druid who usually focused on blasting and healing (no BFC, no summoning); we all ended up taking leadership (getting a halfling rogue/monk, a human sorcerer, and a goliath barbarian/exotic weapon master, respectively).

It was a fun game. We had two full casters, and the paladin player (who controlled the sorcerer) tended to complain about how stupidly OP my monk was, because of his sky-high AC/Saves/Speed/etc. I guess a lot of it just depends on the optimization level of your group, but I loved it.

In a low OP game, the monk can seem really powerful. You're having a drawn-out fight against a bruiser type BBEG, and one party member after another is dropping (because the wizard didn't get flight because "that means less fireballs", and the fighter has dodge instead of powerattack, and keeps forgetting to declare it). Everyone is out of options or HP, excapt the monk, who is tanking the BBEG and slowly wearing it down. And the monk gets better from everything! No matter what items you find, or what buffs you have, the monk benefits from it!

Ofcourse, one of the reasons why the party gets into those drawn out fights is that the monk isn't actually contributing much to them except not dying, and the reason "every" buff helps is that they're so MAD. And while the monks class abilities are generally too little, too late, some of them are actually good. Compared to low-op fighters and wizards (who actually need to pick the right feats/spells to be useful), it's easy to get the impression that the monk is a powerhouse.

WeaselGuy

2015-03-16, 07:33 AM

In a low OP game, the monk can seem really powerful. You're having a drawn-out fight against a bruiser type BBEG, and one party member after another is dropping (because the wizard didn't get flight because "that means less fireballs", and the fighter has dodge instead of powerattack, and keeps forgetting to declare it). Everyone is out of options or HP, excapt the monk, who is tanking the BBEG and slowly wearing it down. And the monk gets better from everything! No matter what items you find, or what buffs you have, the monk benefits from it!

Ofcourse, one of the reasons why the party gets into those drawn out fights is that the monk isn't actually contributing much to them except not dying, and the reason "every" buff helps is that they're so MAD. And while the monks class abilities are generally too little, too late, some of them are actually good. Compared to low-op fighters and wizards (who actually need to pick the right feats/spells to be useful), it's easy to get the impression that the monk is a powerhouse.

That is probably the most eloquent and relevant response to a Monk's "power" that I have ever read. I feel that as the Monk in my group, I was in a similar situation! I remember we had a Rogue/Master Thrower, a Frenzied Berserker, a God-Wizard (didn't know it then, but almost everything he did helped us, and made us look better), a Blaster-Sorcerer who showed up maybe half the time, and her girlfriend that played a Debuff Cleric (similar attendance), and what I can only assume was a Fighter, but to this day I have never seen his character sheet (10 years later @.@). He was almost a Batman Fighter, that used twin self-loading & repeating crossbows, and always had a magic item for every situation. Chasm we need to get over? Cloak of the Bat. River we need to cross? Folding Boat. Ramparts we need to scale? Grappling hook crossbow bolt attached to a Spool of Infinite Thread. I mean it, this guy had his bases covered. He had Leadership and kept a Gnome Artificer in some fancy Portable Hole (it had an air supply of some sort. Or the Gnome was undead, it could've gone either way) to constantly spit out magic items for us. The point is though, that we were all pretty low-level optimization, except for the Wizard, who's basic playstyle was to make us look awesome, while plotting to rule the world through our blood, sweat and tears (it worked too, that magnificent bastard).

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-16, 09:42 AM

Telonius

2015-03-16, 09:53 AM

Okay evildoers, this thread is about evil enemies, not monks, being what they are they don't qualify for evil minions, because no evil BBEG wants someone who isn't even proficient in their main weapon as a minion.

The Supreme Chancellor has spoken. Any suggestions on concepts or future limitations?

Villainous Kung Fu guy. Johnny from the Cobra Kai dojo? Small potatoes. Shredder? Lame. We're looking for something that will strike fear into the hearts of his enemies. Restriction: No Tome of Battle. (Can't have it too easy, can we?)

illyahr

2015-03-16, 10:37 AM

Gone over about half the submissions so far. Should have my ratings up sometime this week.

Inevitability

2015-03-16, 01:34 PM

Okay evildoers, this thread is about evil enemies, not monks, being what they are they don't qualify for evil minions, because no evil BBEG wants someone who isn't even proficient in their main weapon as a minion.

The Supreme Chancellor has spoken. Any suggestions on concepts or future limitations?

How about 'beyond the stars' for a theme? You could go with the classical aberration/outsider/humanoid with some weird feats, but you could also make something that is literally from beyond the stars.

Jormengand

2015-03-16, 01:52 PM

Someone who hates magic.

Sam K

2015-03-16, 02:17 PM

A concept I really would like to see is "The enemy of my enemy (is still my enemy)!". A BBEG who, while being aggressively hostile towards some world spanning threath the party should be working against, is still such an obvious villain that the PCs will want to take it down.

I got the idea from Captain Goblinslayer in the Goblins webcomic. He's a ranger who has dedicated his life to exterminating "monsters" of all kinds (but especially goblins), but who has taken it to the point where he keeps a dungeon where he tortures, experiments on and abuses (in atleast one case sexually) various creatures he considers to be monsters. One of the heroes end up fighting him out of pure disgust (http://www.goblinscomic.org/03022010/) of his actions, even though he could have become a useful ally in their long-term quest.

AvatarVecna

2015-03-16, 02:32 PM

-snip-

We very rarely had full-out beatdown fights like what you're describing, and the monk usually had a way to meaningfully contribute. Buffs were pretty rare; again, the druid focused on blasting and healing, while the sorcerer focused on blasting and a tiny bit of utility (invisibility, but that's pretty much it). The monk, meanwhile, was proficient in longbows and spiked chains allowing for a much more versatile combatant all around (sort of).

The fight that sticks out in my memory was when we were assaulting a fortified tower being held by cultists. It was around 8th lvl or so, and nobody had taken leadership yet, so it was just the three of us (monk, paladin, druid). On the first floor, the low-level cultists were accompanied by a pair of gibbering mouthers. After a quick party discussion, the druid and paladin handled those four while the monk ran up the stairs, since we figured the cult leader would be at the top of the tower. Second floor, three higher level cultists were waiting, and started firing their spells at the monk. Unfortunately for them, my Touch AC was through the roof, and six spells got wasted trying to take my down; not a single one made contact. Finally, I arrived at the top of the tower, were the relatively high level cultist leader (~13th lvl, by my estimation) and two lower-level minions were waiting. Her tactics were to self-buff for the 4-7 rounds that it would take for the party to make it up there, finishing off with her summoning a pair of purple worms. That entire ridiculous encounter got circumvented by a monk coming in, taking out the minions, and then grappling her into unconsciousness.

Now, I'm pretty sure that, if the Playground had designed her, there's no way even a Tippy monk could've beat her, but the fact remains that a monk beat a buff-and-summoning based mage that had at least a few levels on them, all because they hadn't thought to prepare for the "run past the mooks" plan.

Okay evildoers, this thread is about evil enemies, not monks, being what they are they don't qualify for evil minions, because no evil BBEG wants someone who isn't even proficient in their main weapon as a minion.

The Supreme Chancellor has spoken. Any suggestions on concepts or future limitations?

1) The unstoppable juggernaut (essentially, what the Tarrasque was intended to be, but fails miserably at). If you've read Worm (https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-1-gestation/1-01/), this would be the Endbringers. Limitation: purely a monster design, rather than a character design; thus, no class levels of any kind.

2) The cult; whether we're detailing the cultists or the beings they worship, we need a "summoning the creature from beyond comprehension" round. Limitation: ?

3) The assassin: whether through poison, weapon, spell, or silver tongue, this person is good at killing people without being found out. Limitation: no levels in Rogue or Assassin (maybe? maybe something else?).

WhamBamSam

2015-03-16, 03:30 PM

Okay evildoers, this thread is about evil enemies, not monks, being what they are they don't qualify for evil minions, because no evil BBEG wants someone who isn't even proficient in their main weapon as a minion.

The Supreme Chancellor has spoken. Any suggestions on concepts or future limitations?That one enemy who just will. not. die.

A Pirate King/Queen.

A general of undeath.

A BBEG who's especially dangerous on his own turf.

I liked the Master Manipulator suggestion someone made either last round or up-thread.

Jormengand

2015-03-16, 03:37 PM

Preferably, make it something that can be done without sourcebook-diving. I don't even know how I'd do most of those, let alone how I'd make them any good.

WhamBamSam

2015-03-16, 05:19 PM

Preferably, make it something that can be done without sourcebook-diving. I don't even know how I'd do most of those, let alone how I'd make them any good.Isn't that sort of the point of this competition? To set the finest optimization minds the board has to offer (or at least the finest optimization minds who can be bothered to put something together) to the task of turning the rough guideline of a BBEG that some DM wants for his super awesome story into something that won't fold like a broken card table when exposed to the PCs. To show what can be done when the DM is willing to put in the necessary sourcebook diving and op-fu to really challenge an optimized party.

Regarding banned components: I don't think you should be banning things that are "too obvious" or what have you. This isn't Junkyard Wars (I should know). I honestly don't know if there should be banned components at all, but if there are, they should at least be related to abilities you specifically don't want your BBEG to have, like the first two have been.

Jormengand

2015-03-16, 05:38 PM

Isn't that sort of the point of this competition? To set the finest optimization minds the board has to offer (or at least the finest optimization minds who can be bothered to put something together) to the task of turning the rough guideline of a BBEG that some DM wants for his super awesome story into something that won't fold like a broken card table when exposed to the PCs. To show what can be done when the DM is willing to put in the necessary sourcebook diving and op-fu to really challenge an optimized party.

If a DM needs to open more than two sourcebooks then they should probably be reconsidering their life choices.

I mean, look at them. ToM and a tiny bit of RoD. Tiny bits of DotU and UA, a couple of things from CD, and a build that mainly comes from sandstorm. Ebberon and MoI. Not a great deal of stuff from anywhere. Then we have one with a metric boopton of sourcebooks. Then Draco and BoED. Another two booptons of sources. Three of those limited themselves to two books, one had four with two used a tiny bit, one had six but all used sparingly, and three had tons. All of these should be viable levels of sourcebook use, not just "Rarghleblarghle books books books."

AvatarVecna

2015-03-16, 05:58 PM

If a DM needs to open more than two sourcebooks then they should probably be reconsidering their life choices.

I mean, look at them. ToM and a tiny bit of RoD. Tiny bits of DotU and UA, a couple of things from CD, and a build that mainly comes from sandstorm. Ebberon and MoI. Not a great deal of stuff from anywhere. Then we have one with a metric boopton of sourcebooks. Then Draco and BoED. Another two booptons of sources. Three of those limited themselves to two books, one had four with two used a tiny bit, one had six but all used sparingly, and three had tons. All of these should be viable levels of sourcebook use, not just "Rarghleblarghle books books books."

That's it. Now I'm gonna need to find excuses to use the phrase "metric boopton" in day-to-day life.

Jormengand

2015-03-16, 06:28 PM

That's it. Now I'm gonna need to find excuses to use the phrase "metric boopton" in day-to-day life.

Just don't mix up your metric booptons and Imperial booptonnes.

Troacctid

2015-03-16, 06:29 PM

Regarding banned components: I don't think you should be banning things that are "too obvious" or what have you. This isn't Junkyard Wars (I should know). I honestly don't know if there should be banned components at all, but if there are, they should at least be related to abilities you specifically don't want your BBEG to have, like the first two have been.

I think the contest can do without banned components. That aspect doesn't seem to have contributed much to this round or the last. It has the potential to make for interesting contests, as we've seen with Junkyard Wars, but it doesn't seem to be needed here.

If a DM needs to open more than two sourcebooks then they should probably be reconsidering their life choices.

I mean, look at them. ToM and a tiny bit of RoD. Tiny bits of DotU and UA, a couple of things from CD, and a build that mainly comes from sandstorm. Ebberon and MoI. Not a great deal of stuff from anywhere. Then we have one with a metric boopton of sourcebooks. Then Draco and BoED. Another two booptons of sources. Three of those limited themselves to two books, one had four with two used a tiny bit, one had six but all used sparingly, and three had tons. All of these should be viable levels of sourcebook use, not just "Rarghleblarghle books books books."

I've never given an elegance penalty for dipping into lots of sourcebooks, and I don't see any reason to (aside from incompatible cross-setting material or insufficient citations). Maybe it's because I learned to play with 4th edition, but I think all books should be fair game within the allowed source list, and you should be free to take as much or as little as you want from them. 3.5 has an incredible breadth of available material; we should be utilizing it to the fullest.

Jormengand

2015-03-16, 06:49 PM

I've never given an elegance penalty for dipping into lots of sourcebooks, and I don't see any reason to (aside from incompatible cross-setting material or insufficient citations). Maybe it's because I learned to play with 4th edition, but I think all books should be fair game within the allowed source list, and you should be free to take as much or as little as you want from them. 3.5 has an incredible breadth of available material; we should be utilizing it to the fullest.

And my point is that the competition shouldn't be so dreadfully specific that if you don't happen to have the right sourcebook, you're screwed.

AvatarVecna

2015-03-16, 07:02 PM

And my point is that the competition shouldn't be so dreadfully specific that if you don't happen to have the right sourcebook, you're screwed.

The only books that are really vital to a contest like this is the core rulebooks, which are almost entirely available online for free, completely legally (see: d20srd). What's more, they're the three books most likely to be owned by anybody doing anything 3.5 related, so there's not much excuse for not having access to them. Beyond that, while I'm sure that some books are more helpful than others in regards to certain contests ("We're making an aquatic villain? Let's read through Stormwrack for ideas!"), no "Optimize My BBEG" contest should be so specific that not having book X completely screws you over. Sure, Iron Chef is like that, since each contest is based around fully using one specific PrC, but this contest is about concepts; ideas that have a wide enough variety of interpretations that you could really use just about any splatbook to make something that could fit.

Jormengand

2015-03-16, 07:04 PM

no "Optimize My BBEG" contest should be so specific that not having book X completely screws you over.

Emphasis mine; yes that is exactly my point.

Doctor Awkward

2015-03-16, 07:38 PM

At the same time, I don't think it would be very fair to penalize someone for using or not using "that one book", since the relative obscurity of any one book is entirely subjective.

Working within restrictions can inspire greater creativity, but it can hamper it as well. I'm often disappointed that most contests forbid Dragon Magazine material. I like to think this is for practical reasons, since the likelihood that all contestants would have access to every Dragon Mag is legally dubious. But it tends to give off the impression that Dragon Mag material is all cheesy, broken, garbage. Now a lot of it is, I admit, but there are a number of gems that I have used that I and had great fun with (shameless Charlatan (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=8763.0) plug). With a little sense, it's not too difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Red Fel

2015-03-16, 08:01 PM

I don't believe in penalizing someone for using "that one book," particularly if they can build the entire character with it. To me, that's elegant. By the same token, I recognize that there is low-hanging fruit in any given challenge (often either a primary caster or a Warblade) that tends to trivialize matters. Rather than penalizing someone for taking the singular class or book perfectly suited to the challenge, I tend to reward those who think outside of the box, and produce something similarly functional and elegant, based upon a less obvious choice.

That said, many times these competitions come down to little details. Particularly when the submissions are of high quality, it's the small, precise things that make the difference in score. If a person dips into many books where they could have used fewer ones, I am likely to look askance at their choices; likewise, if they suggest the use of multiple sources without it adding anything substantial to the build, I am likely to find it an inelegant choice.

One of the ways in which I approach these competitions isn't just the theoretical. Yes, having these builds in a vacuum is a good way to score them and examine them in minute detail. But part of my approach is also "Would I use this in a campaign," followed closely by, "And could I?" If I have to rely on many books, it could bog down my DMing. Fewer sources, or more readily apparent rules, will help me run a character, which means greater enjoyment for everyone involved. Or at least for me.

As an aside, I've got my scores, and am letting them percolate for another day or two while I consider the final numbers.

As an additional aside, my suggestion for the next round is "The Puppeteer" - basically, the true BBEG behind a fake BBEG. Concept should include his methods of influence, the type of BBEG he manipulates, and his long-term goals in using this particular BBEG. It's a very open concept, since really just about anyone can be an expert manipulator with the right design. Further down the road, I would also love to see "The Second-in-Command" as a theme; sometimes, a compelling lieutenant (trusted or otherwise) can be an even more fascinating character than the BBEG himself, particularly when Number Two is likely to have more screen time than his boss.

AvatarVecna

2015-03-16, 09:28 PM

With a little sense, it's not too difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The reason these contests ban Dragon Magazine material on general principle is because it contains some of the most unbalanced material ever published (on both ends of the spectrum); sure, it may contain a good deal of stuff that's fairly balanced, but it's mixed in with absolutely broken crap. The problem is not that people don't recognize the broken crap: it's getting people to agree on whether a thing is too broken to allow. There are people who argue that monks are overpowered and wizards are roughly as good as fighters; opinions are too diverse on these kinds of things to find an agreeable consensus. The problem with what you're suggesting is that cherry-picking from Dragon Magazine requires someone to decide what is and isn't allowed on an individual basis. This is a lot of work, because it requires the person running to contest to look at each individual thing in the DM stuff as well as everything in 3.5 books and decide what is and isn't broken.

As it currently stands, the ban list boils down to "No Dragon Magazine", "No Unearthed Arcana", "No Leadership or similar abilities"; simple. The ban list is that simple because the other way of banning things is having an ongoing list of every base class, PrC, skill, feat, and item that's too weak/powerful to allow, and that's just too much work for any one person to want to do; I mean, would you rather evaluate every single last bit of 3.5 for balance purposes, or toss out the biggest problem sources and call it a day? I know which choice I'd make.

WhamBamSam

2015-03-16, 11:04 PM

Eh, you guys are entitled to your opinions, but for me personally? I will never, ever, ever refrain from using something that I think helps my concept just because it requires another sourcebook that I wasn't previously using. If it hurts my score, it hurts my score, but I'll use what I think does what I'm going for most effectively (in terms of style and, yes, the way I see it, elegance, as well as power), whether that uses one sourcebook, or two, or five, or ten, or twenty. This is simply not a concern that I can be persuaded to care about.

As for Dragon Magazine, there's certainly material in it that I like, and I wouldn't be particularly adverse to its inclusion, but I understand why it's not allowed. Apart from the issues about what is or is not first party which tend to crop up around this question, I do sympathize somewhat with the balance concerns. While there are plenty of things that are significantly more broken than just about anything in Dragon Magazine in Core alone, the regular sourcebooks are at least devils that we can sort of be expected to know. Also, the more powerful/broken material tends to float to the surface more than the balanced stuff. Dragon Magazine represents a huge amount of material. The underpowered portion of that material would probably never see the light of day, and a given overpowered thing will generally see more use than a given balanced thing. So the practical impact would likely be a large influx of the broken crap that gives Dragon Magazine a bad name moreso than anything else.

Sian

2015-03-17, 01:18 AM

furthermore there's the obivous question of accessability.

all 3.5e books are available at various digital (and legal) outlets in pdf format, while the same can't be said with any degree of certainty for Dungeon/Dragon Magazine

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-17, 05:10 AM

Just to be clear, Dungeon and Dragon Mag will never be allowed as sources while I'm the Supreme Chancellor. The only one that could be allowed is dragon compendium, and that's iffy.

As far as limitations, It's never really been banned material. This last one skirted more into banned material than the first, but the first one still allowed you to go into classes that got 9ths, but not so much push them all the way, because it wasn't really the feel of the character.

More of what the limitations are, are hints of what Judges would probably penalize for if you did it, because it's not necessarily a good theme for the specific type of character. Nature's Revenger was a lot tougher to choose on, then the previous one.

I currently have up until May's contest planned out, as far as limitations and concept builds go.

I've been asking on limitations, because I'm wanting to see how everyone else feels about them. If we should get rid of them, I can do that. But I mostly feel they are there as hints for the optimizers.

Troacctid

2015-03-17, 05:38 AM

The Technomancer: A villain who uses machines and gadgets to carry out his evil schemes.
The Nightmare Lord: A villain who specializes in psychological warfare, using your own worst fears against you.
The Identity Thief: A villain who wears your face while he's committing his evil deeds.
The Necromancer: A villain who commands legions of undead servants.
The Pyromaniac: A villain who just wants to watch the world burn. Literally.
The Shadow Master: A villain themed around darkness and shadows.
The Hivelord: A villain with an insect or swarm theme.
The Elemental Master: Earth. Fire. Air. Water. Only this villain can master all four elements and bring balance...uh, I mean, destroy the world.

WhamBamSam

2015-03-17, 02:23 PM

Just to be clear, Dungeon and Dragon Mag will never be allowed as sources while I'm the Supreme Chancellor. The only one that could be allowed is dragon compendium, and that's iffy.

I've been asking on limitations, because I'm wanting to see how everyone else feels about them. If we should get rid of them, I can do that. But I mostly feel they are there as hints for the optimizers.Wait, is Dragon Compendium banned in this competition? I'd sort of just assumed that the same source rules from Iron Chef were in effect.

I think that's usually sort of clear from the concept. The build that got too castery in the first round got penalized for it. Had anyone tried to pull something too "modern" or "manufactured" seeming this round, they'd lose points whether or not the prohibition on heavy armor was there. All the ban did was toss out non-Cloistered nature Clerics, Ardents (which have several potentially fitting mantles, as well as a Tribal Ardent ACF), and people who happened to want various martial classes for reasons completely unrelated to armor proficiency. It's not necessarily a bad thing to have limitations, as they can help spur creativity, but the reasoning behind the limitations here seems a bit off.

I don't really have a good name for it, but a bad guy who does mad science experiments on his minions to make them scarier for the PCs to fight might be kinda cool.

I like Troacctid's ideas. I'd be a little worried about overlap for the Identity Thief (it seems like there's one particular Race+PrC combo that's too on the nose to pass up), but it's certainly a fun concept.

The power behind the throne and evil lieutenant ideas Red_Fel's post touched on seem fun.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-18, 09:01 AM

Wait, is Dragon Compendium banned in this competition? I'd sort of just assumed that the same source rules from Iron Chef were in effect.

I think that's usually sort of clear from the concept. The build that got too castery in the first round got penalized for it. Had anyone tried to pull something too "modern" or "manufactured" seeming this round, they'd lose points whether or not the prohibition on heavy armor was there. All the ban did was toss out non-Cloistered nature Clerics, Ardents (which have several potentially fitting mantles, as well as a Tribal Ardent ACF), and people who happened to want various martial classes for reasons completely unrelated to armor proficiency. It's not necessarily a bad thing to have limitations, as they can help spur creativity, but the reasoning behind the limitations here seems a bit off.

I don't really have a good name for it, but a bad guy who does mad science experiments on his minions to make them scarier for the PCs to fight might be kinda cool.

I like Troacctid's ideas. I'd be a little worried about overlap for the Identity Thief (it seems like there's one particular Race+PrC combo that's too on the nose to pass up), but it's certainly a fun concept.

The power behind the throne and evil lieutenant ideas Red_Fel's post touched on seem fun.

If it's not banned in iron chef, it's not banned here. From the notes, I can't tell if it is banned or not there.

sakuuya

2015-03-18, 09:13 AM

If it's not banned in iron chef, it's not banned here. From the notes, I can't tell if it is banned or not there.

It's not banned in IC. The FAQ post says so.

Is Dragon Compendium Allowed? Yes (as well as its Errata), but individual issues of Dragon Magazine are not.

WeaselGuy

2015-03-18, 09:18 AM

If it's not banned in iron chef, it's not banned here. From the notes, I can't tell if it is banned or not there.

From this competition:

Secret Laboratory: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Elegance below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt or Generic Classes are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Item Familiars and Taint are also banned from the competition. We don’t want to make this too easy, do we?

From Junkyard Wars:

Workshop: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon Magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. If you use web material, link it. Dragon Magazine Compendium is allowed, as are Oriental Adventures and the Dragonlance Campaign Setting. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt and fractional saves are not allowed, as they create a different playing field.

And lastly, from Iron Chef:

Kitchen: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Elegance below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt or Generic Classes are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Also, item familiars are forbidden because I hate 'em. Please refrain from using Taint unless it's necessary for the Secret Ingredient.

From what I can see, the only one that explicitly allows Dragon Magazine Compendium is Junkyard Wars.

Edit: Swordsaged(ish) by sakuuya...

It's not banned in IC. The FAQ post says so.

FAQ:
Is Dragon Compendium Allowed? Yes (as well as its Errata), but individual issues of Dragon Magazine are not.

illyahr

2015-03-18, 11:01 AM

Sam K

2015-03-19, 09:19 AM

My opinion on the restrictions:

I think the restriction in the last round (no full casters) was really good (if only because it kept away the "T1 casters win at everything" problems), but I think the restriction this round added nothing. Because the VC is more open ended than most contests (we build around a concept/stereotype, not a mechanical component) the restrictions can help avoid everyone picking the same low-hanging fruits for their build. However, the restrictions should be used only if they add something. The HA ban didn't really do much, as cleric could still be used (cloistered), and people were still allowed to make builds based around manufactured weapons.

I do want to raise a question regarding how we measure "power"; because we're making antagonists, power is a bit tricky. The optimal power is the "right" level of power; it should be enough to make a credible TPK risk for a party, but not so much that the party is overwhelmed without feeling that they have a fighting chance. Depending on what kind of games you usually play, the right level of power can be tricky to define. A cleverly played T1 caster would be horrible death for a party at the "3.5 playtest" level of optimization (blaster wizards (elven wizards, even!) and druids meleeing with scimitars), but might be a great challenge for a party who plays at the "high but not uber cheesy" optimization level most Playground theoretical builds end up at.

Hmm... perhaps instead of (or in addition to) restrictions, we should have an expected power level? Have power graded based on how good of a challenge the BBEG would be for a party at the expected power level? That would be a great motivation to make something other than the standard "warblade or T1 caster" builds, because those may be overwhelming for the party this challenge is intended for?

WeaselGuy

2015-03-19, 09:27 AM

My opinion on the restrictions:

-snip-

Hmm... perhaps instead of (or in addition to) restrictions, we should have an expected power level? Have power graded based on how good of a challenge the BBEG would be for a party at the expected power level? That would be a great motivation to make something other than the standard "warblade or T1 caster" builds, because those may be overwhelming for the party this challenge is intended for?

I really like this. Maybe for the next challenge, we're actually presented with a sample party to design a bad guy for. Even if it's something as simple as "Human Trip-Fighter, Elf Blaster Wizard, Gnome non-DFI Bard, Halfling TWF Rogue". This way, we know that the bard will be buffing, the wizard will be frail but still a heavy hitter, the fighter will be doing some BFC, and the rogue will be doing hit-hit-miss-miss-miss with his shortswords.

Telonius

2015-03-19, 10:04 AM

Doctor Awkward

2015-03-19, 11:28 AM

Hmm... perhaps instead of (or in addition to) restrictions, we should have an expected power level? Have power graded based on how good of a challenge the BBEG would be for a party at the expected power level? That would be a great motivation to make something other than the standard "warblade or T1 caster" builds, because those may be overwhelming for the party this challenge is intended for?

The problem I have with this, as others have hinted, is that expected power is entirely subjective.
I frequently play wizards and clerics, and greatly enjoy participating in higher level games, and thus have little trouble building around them.
It's not that I think I'd have a problem making a "lesser" challenge for a lower optimized party, it would just feel like tossing a hand grenade into a barrel of fish. It wouldn't be nearly as challenging and fun.

Red Fel

2015-03-19, 12:18 PM

The problem I have with this, as others have hinted, is that expected power is entirely subjective.

I agree. Look, we're coming up with villain concepts, that's the purpose of this competition. Come up with an idea (the prompt), then bring it to life in an awesome and creative manner (the submissions). Not every submission will be perfectly, or even adequately, suited to every campaign. There will be different party compositions, different campaign themes, different levels of optimization, different tones, different environments.

The great thing about this competition is that, aside from the prompt, these submissions are generated somewhat in a vacuum. This makes them, to a certain extent, independent of party composition or campaign theme. If a DM finds one he likes, and steals it (and the one who submitted it should absolutely take that as a compliment, I know I would), he might still need to tweak it to fit the party at his table. And that's fine.

The important thing is that we're able to examine and grade these builds in a vacuum. Start throwing in actual gameplay, actual players and PCs and optimization, and things can go to all kinds of heck. (Your BBEG is facing a party of four Wizards. Commence rocket tag.) But by keeping it in a vacuum, by looking at the villains independent of PC composition or campaign theme, we're able to look at them solely based on the merits presented, without outside distractions or challenges. It's as close to a pure form of analysis as we can get, which makes it a bit more "fair," much as I hate that word.

I generally like the idea, but here's my concern. We're designing enemies at CR 5, 10, 15, and 20. Are we assuming those groups are also going to be at levels 5, 10, 15, and 20? That would work out to "Challenging," which is the target for 50% of the encounters the players should have. This is supposed to be the Big Bad Evil Guy - a really tough fight. Anything that's fighting a party at equal CR is going to get curbstomped, especially if they only have a single foe versus a standard party of four. If I'm ever designing a boss fight for my players, I try to give the boss a bunch of minions. If it's a single foe, I make his CR be the party level plus at least four or five.

Now, here is a tricky concept, because it's hard to quantify universally. For example, with the last competition (Warlord, Leader of Armies), he would most definitely be confronting the PCs directly, but would almost certainly have at least some of his soldiers at his side. It's virtually unthinkable to face the Warlord while outnumbering him. Compare that with the present competition, in which underlings may or may not be relevant to the character concept (Nature's Avenger); he would certainly face the PCs at some point, but might or might not have minions at his disposal. And contrast that with the classic mastermind archetype, who would certainly have minions, but would virtually never engage the PCs directly. (In all likelihood, if confronted with force, he would probably surrender, having already developed seven contingencies specifically designed around his capture.) As such, I do think that the CR should be tied to the concept, and not just universal across the competition. The other problem, of course, is that CR isn't always (or even often) a good indicator of actual challenge, but once we start down that dark path, forever will it dominate our discourse. Consume the thread, it will.

WhamBamSam

2015-03-19, 02:07 PM

I generally like the idea, but here's my concern. We're designing enemies at CR 5, 10, 15, and 20. Are we assuming those groups are also going to be at levels 5, 10, 15, and 20? That would work out to "Challenging," which is the target for 50% of the encounters the players should have. This is supposed to be the Big Bad Evil Guy - a really tough fight. Anything that's fighting a party at equal CR is going to get curbstomped, especially if they only have a single foe versus a standard party of four. If I'm ever designing a boss fight for my players, I try to give the boss a bunch of minions. If it's a single foe, I make his CR be the party level plus at least four or five.Well, the BBEG for the first challenge was expected to have minions, so that helps. Also, CR-based optimization tends to be a bit more powerful than ECL-based optimization. Still, that is a concern. A "fair" equal-CR fight is one that the party has the resources to take down 4 times a day, so for bad guys without minions, it's something of a concern.

If I were to suggest a baseline party that the BBEG is supposed to challenge, it would be "a T3 party at around playground level optimization," which is probably a higher power level than the group that WeaselGuy described. And like several others, I'm a little skeptical of setting anything in stone.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-19, 04:51 PM

Growing pains. All new contests have them. I'll eventually get a set upon method for everything.

Red Fel

2015-03-19, 08:13 PM

And here we are again. It’s always such a pleasure.

Yes, it's scoring time again. I got tired of waiting. So let's get right to it, shall we?

I remind you, these were the criteria listed in the original post. Next to each, I've shared how I grade them. Each is scored on a scale of 1-5, for a total of 20 possible points overall. I also remind you that, as is my tendency, I won’t be awarding partial points. I know we can, as judges, but I don’t, because reasons. Now, the criteria: Originality: This is my fluff metric. How fascinating is this BBEG? How clearly explained is it? How can I fit it into a campaign? Power: Simple enough. How bad is this dude (or dudette)? This isn't just combat ability, for me - it's also effective skill use. Elegance: How few classes? How few templates? How do they all mesh together? Concept: How closely did this build fit the concept? Remember, the goal was to make Nature’s Revenger (The world must be clean! We must have plants!), with no heavy armor.
And on to the scores!

Originality: 3. It’s different, I don’t often see Truenamer mixed with any other class. (See Power, below.) That said, it’s not particularly special. She’s interesting, but I really just see her as an attacker in the trees. She’s got a bow and some pretty words. Power: 3. You took a Tier 3 class (Ranger), cut it off at the knees, and tacked on a Tier Nope class (Truenamer), a class which really only works if you take it all the way to the end. You’ve hurt your power badly, really badly. Despite the fact that you can technically use Truespeak each round, all day, the DCs scale, and painfully. The DC to use Temporal Twist on yourself, for instance, is 15 + 2x HD -4. That means that, when you first get it, it’s a DC of 11 + 18, or 29. Your skill ranks are 12, +3 from Skill Focus – you still need to roll a 14 or better on a d20 to use it, and each time you succeed, the DC increases by 2. That said, you do pull off some good numbers with it, and your Utterances give you some nice battlefield control. Elegance: 4. On the one hand, I like the simplicity. One race, no templates, two classes, few books. I appreciate that. I also appreciate your choice of Utterances; they complement the concept nicely. But you’ve taken something MAD and made it MADder. Truenamer and Ranger have extremely little synergy. I couldn’t give you a perfect score for that reason. Concept: 3. She has elements of nature, being a Ranger and firing from the trees, and using her Utterances in certain ways. But none of it is essentially natural. In fact, one could argue the opposite. Illumians are artificial humans. Truenamers exert dominance over nature, rather than letting nature exert dominance over the unnatural. If anything, she’s an unnatural creature forcing nature to act in an unnatural manner. Total: 13
Comments: I liked what you did here. Don’t get me wrong. Your fluff is excellent, and your table is humorous. (As an aside, while I appreciate the humor in the table, it’s a bit distracting.) Your character is, tactically, effective for what she does. That said, I don’t know that I’d see her as a BBEG; certainly, she’s a menace, and assuming she can cheese her Truespeak DCs, she’s a threat.

Originality: 4. It’s nice, fluff-wise. A desert-dweller who wishes to return the entire world to a desert state. The build is well-designed around the concept – race, classes, deity, template. Power: 4. You’ve got Wizard casting and Cleric casting. You’ve got minionmancy. You’re a powerhouse. Elegance: 3. You’re starting with a CR 5 monster, adding class levels (and not in his favored class), and then dumping a template on at the end (courtesy of Walker). Wizard and Cloistered Cleric, together, make you a bit MAD; Wizard and Cleric casting lack synergy, even if they give you power and versatility. And I think you’ve slightly miscalculated your CR; don’t forget, at capstone, you add an additional +3 CR from Dry Lich, as well as the CR from Marrutact and your class levels. Also, don’t his minions add to the encounter CR? Concept: 5. Fact is, you’ve got the fluff down pat – he seeks for nature to reclaim the world, at least his definition of nature, and he has the power to make it happen. He has the power, the zeal, and the authority, to cleanse the world of everything that doesn’t meet his definition of nature. Total: 16
Comments: I really like this. It’s a classy spin on the “return to nature” beast. It uses Cleric instead of Druid or Ranger, which is a refreshing twist; it uses a monster base, which is uncommon; and the fluff is fantastic. As mentioned above, a desert-dwelling race who wants to turn the world into his idea of nature – a desert. This is a guy who can easily become a BBEG. He has a mission, he has followers, and his zeal is such that he could easily recruit more Marruspawn to his cause. It’s excellent. And on a more personal note, I love the Walker as a villain – thanks to Dry Lich, he’s basically Lord Voldemort. Oh, they cut off his head? That’s nice. That’s step one. What about steps two through ten?

Originality: 4. A Warforged getting back to nature, without turning into a Dinobot? Color me surprised, and pleased. Totemist is a nice class for a savage naturalist, and Reforged is a great way to get a Warforged there. And let’s not forget, they are made partially out of wood. Power: 3. You’re no spellcaster, and even with your natural weapons your abilities are primarily DPR-based. Your soulmelds, aside from Enigma Helm, are primarily damage-dealing, which is more or less what you’d expect from Totemist. Elegance: 5. One race, two classes. Reforged doesn’t particularly “go” with anything, but it doesn’t have to; it’s a three-level “turn my Warforged into a more ordinary humanoid” class, which does the job it needs to. Concept: 4. I’m going to give you this. She’s a techno-organic monstrosity turned against her creators, determined to collapse society. She’s a savage, shamanistic warrior who harnesses bestial spirits to brutally maul her enemies. She doesn’t exactly have the means to cause natural reclamation, but she can take a big bite out of civilization. I dig it. Total: 16
Comments: Again, color me impressed. This was a direction I didn’t expect a Warforged to be taken. But they do make good Totemists, due to Warforged Con bonus. And you gave some good thought to which soulmelds would go well with a Reforged. Well done.

Originality: 5. She’s the best kind of sympathetic villain – the kind that used to be a friend, until horrific tragedy warped her. I absolutely love it, a friendly, innocent Cleric turned into a rage-fueled monster by a tragic quirk of fate. Power: 5. She’s a Cleric with access to 9th-level spells. You’ve put together the means for her to have minionmancy. The PCs are in a boatload of trouble. Elegance: 4. Two templates, I start docking points. That said, one race, one class, so that’s simplicity I can appreciate. And Cleric obviously goes well with Illumian. Concept: 4. It’s not so much that she wants nature to overtake the world, as she hates the world and loves nature. It’s pretty close to target, but her goals are just a wee bit off. Total: 18
Comments: Another Illumian. Why do people thinking “force of nature” think “artificial human?” That said? Wow. I really like this one. Yes, a level 17 Cleric isn’t terribly complex. But using her Turning ability to manage a plant army is a very nice touch. The templates make her even more tragic, turning her from a party friend into a barely-recognizable hate-fueled plant monster. This, I have to say, is a character I would use. I would totally use this. I would make my players cry with this. It’s magnificent.

Originality: 3. Greenbound Nymph Druid. The Druid-est Druid who ever did Druid. She’s a tree-formed tree-worshipping tree spirit-thing. A good stacking of flavor. That said, aside from that, it’s basically a straight Druid-with-extras. Her background is simple, too – Nymph gets mad, then gets even. Good, but not great. Power: 5. Nymph Druid, full casting. Plus Greenbound bonuses. She’s a powerhouse. We’re done here. Elegance: 2. CE is not a valid alignment for a Druid. (She must have a Neutral component.) I don’t like it, but them’s the rules. Aside from that, it’s one race, one template, one class, which isn’t horrible, although Nymph is a potent race and Greenbound a somewhat broken template. My bigger concern is the number of books on which you rely, for a lot of little things. Concept: 4. You’ve definitely got a scary lady who murders with the power of nature. She’s got the means to do some damage, and the backstory that explains a hatred of civilization. That said, she seems more enraged on a personal level than on an “I must protect nature” level. Further, she seems less motivated by a cause, and more motivated by Audrey II. Total: 14
Comments: First, a technical point. A Nymph is CR 7, Greenbound adds CR +2. With 12 class levels, she’s technically a CR 21, not 20.

Overall, I don’t see her as a major villain. A major encounter, certainly, possibly a recurring one. But I don’t get a sense of someone who has a plan, a substantial goal, and the means to make it a reality; I see someone who’s just killing people, and at some point there’s going to be a tree, and then question marks. I don’t really see where she’s supposed to go with this. Dangerous, you bet, but I’m not getting the BBEG vibe. Frankly, I’d more suspect the evil plant of being the BBEG than her.

Originality: 2. Nymph Druid. You’ve given me a bit of fluff, but not enough. I don’t know who she is, what she does, or why she does it. All you’ve told me is that she has dominion over a forest, where she allows Evil but not property, and that at some point there was a guy named Eric. She’s spreading her forest, I guess. I need more than that. Power: 5. Nymph Druid, full casting. She’s a powerhouse. We’re done here. Elegance: 2. Nymph Druid. The build is simple, the synergy obvious. Few sources, very clean. My problem is one of rules legality – I’m not convinced that she’s Good. It’s one thing to want peace in your forest, but to knowingly offer haven to Evil creatures, to deliberately take property from others, at a certain point she loses her Goodness. And with it, she will lose her Exalted feats. Concept: 3. She’s less “nature’s avenger” and more “hey, here come more trees.” If her goal is simply to spread her forest, and with it her domain, there’s a chance she won’t come into conflict with the PCs at all. If she is, as you say, Good (and Exalted at that), then her views on property don’t matter; if the PCs come to her and point out that she’s hurting people, she has to stop. Total: 12
Comments: I’ve given you points because, with a few tweaks, this could be a potent enemy. A mad forest queen who expands her realm and gives succor to Evil within it? Nice. Problem is, you made her Goodness a focus of her design, and that’s just not cricket. She can’t be Good (let alone Exalted) and be an effective villain. That works fine in games with moral ambiguity; D&D is a game of absolute morality. The fact is, it’s almost impossible for an Exalted character to consistently oppose any Good party – by their nature, they’d prefer a nonviolent resolution, and would be hard-pressed to fight the good guys and retain her Exalted abilities. That hurts her, a lot.

Side note, original Maleficent, one of my favorite villainesses of all time. Great image.

Originality: 3. Mermaid with storms and whirlpools. It fits nicely together, and you do a good job of giving her a way to build to power innocuously. Power: 4. You use two of my favorite words: Control Winds. At the point that she gets that ability, her CL is equal to her ranks in Perform (Sing), 13. At CL 13, that ability is creating a windstorm that endangers ships; in two more levels, a hurricane that sinks them. She may not be that powerful on her own, but this ability alone can crush almost any opponent who attempts to engage her on her home turf. And it’s not the only tool at her disposal. Elegance: 3. First off, Squeaky doesn’t add a lot. I get that, as a Bard, she needs a force to multiply, but I just don’t feel him. Second, I think you overused Sea Witch. Curse of the Albatross isn’t going to do a lot for you, and Briny Deep Summoning, while nice, is niche. You’re giving up CL to get it, too. I feel it thematically, but I’m not convinced it adds to your build. Lastly, you’re bringing together an awful lot of sources, some of which, like those I mentioned, don’t give you as much for the inconvenience of throwing another book on the pile. Concept: 3. As I saw it, the challenge concept was about fighting back against civilization, aggressively. This character, at best, can be seen as fighting a defensive war – she has the motivation to sink ships that come into her area, but she doesn’t seem to have the motivation (or the ability) to take her war to the shore. Further, her abilities are less “wrath of nature,” and more “fury of the storm, plus some whirlpools” – a bit more generic than I’d like. Lastly, she’s really not much of a BBEG. Total: 13
Comments: A villainous mermaid. It’s something I don’t see as often. And I appreciate your attempt to weaponize Sea Witch, a class that has never particularly impressed me. Ultimately, however, this character has a rather glaring flaw – she can be avoided. She isn’t a proactive villain at all; at best, she’s a natural hazard. You could just as easily say that an entire area of ocean has a perpetual hurricane over it, or random whirlpools, and it would have the same effect. She’s not a very effective avenger if she waits for people to come to her to be killed.

As an aside, I liked the flavor of your musically-themed captions. That was a nice touch.

Originality: 3. Undead Dryad Necromancer. Take a Dryad, an incarnated representation of living wood, kill her, bring her back as a particularly nasty Ghoul, and then expand on the Undead angle. It’s clever. My mind isn’t blown, but it’s nice. Power: 3. As you observe, she’s not the most powerful enemy. Her skills do let her use a healthy arsenal of ghouls, and she has good survivability, but she’s hardly the most lethal opponent a group of PCs will face. Elegance: 5. One class, one template, excellent synergy. Nothing more need be said. Concept: 3. She’s less “nature’s avenger” than she is a generally nature-related murderer. Apart from her backstory, she’s a generic Necromancer; she could be anybody or anything. While her backstory does give her the motivation described in the build challenge, nothing in the build itself – apart from the fact that she is a Dryad – has anything to do with nature. That said, the backstory does a good job for making up for that. Total: 14
Comments: First, a technical point, a Dryad is CR 3, a Gravetouched Ghoul adds CR +4, so your starting CR should be 7. With your class levels, that’s a total of CR 23, not 20. I’d also like to note that there were some formatting issues in your “Breakdown by CR” section.

The character herself doesn’t impress me as a BBEG. Certainly, she could be a menace, a sidequest boss or recurring plot element. But I don’t generally see flesh-craving Ghouls as terrible masterminds of over-arching concepts. Further, while she has some survivability, a group of prepared PCs, particularly one with a Cleric, could sweep up her and her minions handily.

A few side comments. First off, I’d like to give a particular tip of my hat to Marduk-bel-Iziri. Although this villain didn’t get my highest score, the concept is absolutely exceptional for a villain. He represents the raw, inevitable force of nature that is the desert, and like the sands, he’s wonderfully unstoppable. As a BBEG, he can provide a DM with exceptional use, because he’s mostly unkillable.

Also, to Triana. Wow. If there’s one thing I love, it’s a tragic villain, and this build delivers it in abundance. More than that, because of the unique circumstances involved, this build design actually creates an alternative means of “defeating” the villain (i.e. finding a cure), at the DM’s discretion. It’s rare that I find a villain who is simultaneously so menacing and so heartbreaking.

Second, I’d like to say how pleasantly surprised I was just how few people went with Druid. As with Warblade in the last competition, Druid was the low-hanging fruit of this competition. It offers easy power and flavor in abundance. I was very pleased with those entries that avoided the easy route, and instead found other, creative ways to be a representation of nature’s wrath. That’s not to disparage those who used Druid – they were all good builds. But I enjoy seeing unexpected ideas pop up in these threads. On a related point, some of the race choices – Marrutact and Merfolk in particular – struck me as uniquely clever, given the prompt. They fit, but you wouldn’t have expected it.

Lastly, I just want to emphasize the high quality of the submissions in this competition. These were some very excellent submissions, and not a disappointment among them. Well done, all of you.

sakuuya

2015-03-19, 09:52 PM

Hooray, judging! And it's always nice when a judge actually likes the builds, regardless of scores. Thanks, Red Fel!

Build
Score
Place

Triana, the Husk of Hate
18
1st

Marduk-bel-Iziri
16
2nd

Cullet
16
2nd

Lorna, the Mother's Wrath
14
4th

Deadwood
14
4th

Melissa, the Huntress
13
6th

Sanna Blackfish
13
6th

Brandeis “the Beneficent”
12
8th

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-20, 05:12 PM

Got our first dispute:

Ok, this is gonna be long. You have been warned. First, some general stuff:

I'm using the gravetouched ghoul template from libris mortis (page 103-105) which is +1 CR. Sorry for not being clear about that, I just kind of assumed GG was a well known template in optimization. Probably a case of home blindness; I spent alot of time thinking about it so I assumed everyone else does too (maybe there are people who do not count undead sheep before going to not-sleep?)

Regarding flesh-craving ghouls not generally being seen as masterminds of over-arching concepts, that's probably true, but that doesn't mean they can't. It's something you don't see every day, but the tools are all there: being undead gives you all the time in the world, gravetouched ghoul gives you a bonus to int, wis and cha, and you have the ability to make infinite minions at almost no resource cost (except lvl 1 humanoids and a place to keep them while they stew). And she has charm and suggestion (as well as entangle and deep slumber) to capture those mortals if she needs to make some more. And because she's highly mobile (due to travel domain), she can go where she needs to be to set up her next strike force. AND she has the mechanics to set up one of the most famous thought experiments in TO: the wightocalypse! But you can do it with ghouls instead, which means that instead of waking up one day to find out civilization went away, the PCs get a chance to stop it! Or you can do it with wights, because, hey, necromancer (summon undead 5, even if the wight you summon disapears, the people it killed doesn't)!

The mechanics are all there to make for a mastermind/BBEG, and there are few limitations to stop her. I think she compares pretty favorably to a vampire, actually. They can both create minions of their victims, they are both immortal, and they are both dependant on humanoids for physical sustenance. Deadwood doesn't have the power of a vampire, but on the other hand she's vulnerable to high level clerics and vampires are vulnerable to spicy food and nice weather. Ok, in your average campaign, it's a bit of a tossup which is is more rare, but my point is the possibility def exists for a ghoul mastermind. I hope your opinion that ghouls don't normally make BBEGs didn't cause you to rate her lower.

This brings me to what I actually want to dispute (sorry, I tend to ramble): I feel that, considering the power rankings for the other non-druid builds, Deadwood is rated too low. You rated Sanna a 4 for power, and rated deadwood a 3; the same as Melissa and Cullet. While Deadwood doesn't have the arcane might of the T1 casters, she has fairly respectable T3 casting, combined with some of the most useful spells in the game through travel domain, as well as some great ways to indirectly fight her enemies. She can blast (yeah, I know, but it's an option!), create minions and use a decent selection of save-or-lose spells. AND she has access to planar binding... yes, it's tricky to use, and she will have to pay a price, but it can add some unexpected abilities to her side when needed. More importantly, she can put out 2 spells per round for much of the fight, which means that even a prepared party is likely to fail some saves, and if it looks like that's not happening, she has good escapes (an extremely useful ability for something that should be able to become a returning villain).

While in a straight up fight she's probably about as powerful as Cullen or Melissa, I feel that her strategic abilities are superior, and at least on part with Sannas. Control winds is powerful, but starting infections of undead at multiple sites has greater potential to actually make an impact in the campaign world.

Finally, you made the comment that a party could wipe out "her and her ghouls", so I'm wondering if you assumed that the only minions she will have is some regular 4HD ghouls? She has undead mastery: at her sweet spot, without any charisma boosting items, she can controll 80HD of undead from animate dead (4+cha bonus of 6, per DN level). These can't infect mortals, so she can use them as bodyguards instead. Then there are summons. She's a minionmancer, after all. These minions are pretty much meat shields and brutes, but there are lots of them, and they can block the path of PCs and take down those who fail their saves against her crowd control.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-20, 07:26 PM

2 More Disputes:

Thanks for taking the time to judge this contest again.

Firstly, I had always assumed that the nymph stat block was simply a misprint. 6 hit dice, with a 6th level skill block and level 7 casting didn't make any sense. I always assumed that Nymphs were supposed to be a CR 6 with 6th level spells, and built it accordingly. WotC monster blocks are notorious for their unaddressed inaccuracies so I didn't think anything of it.

Secondly, you're right about the alignment, and I posted it in full knowledge of what the PHB says. However, I have also taken the time to construct a multi-faceted defense to explain the reasons for making her as I did, and it's this:

-The druid PHB fluff is stupid.

To elaborate: tearing down civilization so that nature can thrive is an exceedingly common trope amongst druids all over WotC's history with D&D. It's also exactly the opposite of preserving balance, and any creature who has that goal, for the purposes of this contest at least, abandons their claim to neutrality.

I stand by my decision, and accept the judgments that it earns.

And finally, you're right about the plant.

When I first started work on this concept (which was well before this round of the contest had been announced) I statted the Mother Seed as an advanced Demonthorn Mandrake using Elder Evils. Lorna would represent the facet of that threat the party was dealing with until it came time for the endgame, which would require destroying the tree at it's roots.

Unfortunately, since this contest required a recurring villain, the Mother Seed was not suitable for entry, thus I used Lorna instead.

Anyone wishing to use just her in a campaign can easily adapt out the entire Mother Seed aspect, by simply refluffing the voice as part of Lorna's own psychosis that adapted in order to help her cope with the trauma she endured.

In other words, she was tortured, and went insane.

You can still use a giant tree as part of the endgame by having Lorna research a homebrew spell (involving Plant Growth), or you can simply have the endgame be her on the march with her forces at her back, laying waste to everything they encounter. Time and a judicious application of Handle Animal can make for some wonderful minionmancy.

And the second one..

All right, here's my list of disputes:

Originality: How is a stereotypical Egyptian mummy more original than someone who wants to go around telling the universe to behave itself because people are screwing it up?

Power: I'm an illumian with the int sigil and an int bonus and I know what a magic item is. If I have a greater amulet of the silver tongue and a truespeak masterwork item, I don't need a 14 to utter, I need a minus three. If I have precisely zilch in the way of items, I need a nine. If I get a competence item, I might need as little as minus thirteen (or even less if I fork out a lot - I wasn't really using my money anyway), and that's way, way before the paragnostic assembly or any of the other little tricks I can use get involved, and still ends up as minus four at twentieth level with no more help but my INT boosts. If I - being as I be the one, the only, the Big Bad - have the same WBL as a PC, I can afford a Greater Amulet of the Silver Tongue and a competence item and a masterwork tool; if I have to stick with my NPC levels then I need a whopping minus three to use an utterance.

Ignoring a truenamer's GaotST is like ignoring a wizard's spellbook.

I also don't know why you think ranger is tier three. Ranger and a properly-handled truenamer are both tier 4. (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?PHPSESSID=tu93iaers0c5bit2pcd744iff6&topic=5293) But if you're going to gimp everyone who doesn't play a full caster, well, I guess that's on you, but really now? You shouldn't measure based on picking a high tier, you should measure based on how well the build functions for the class's tier. It's not hard to make a wizard that's better than a commoner crafted by Tippy himself, but that commoner is probably a lot more impressive power-wise. Surely, getting a ranger/truenamer functional, let alone a dark reminder of what tucker's kobolds would be like with class levels, deserves more credit?

Concept: The concept was a character who was like "Oh hey, you guys went and screwed up nature. Hey, universe, change back to the way you should be." And illumians aren't exactly artificial humans; they're humans who have changed from the normal type of humans to the way they believe that humans ought to be. Melissa's entire character concept is someone who attempts to fix nature by undoing the damage done by humans, which was in fact implied pretty much everywhere.

Red Fel

2015-03-20, 10:26 PM

Ah, disputes. Such is the burden of one who passes judgment. Let's get to it.

With respect to the GG template, thanks for the correction. I didn't realize that's the one you meant; my bad. Don't worry, I didn't dock you for that, so it's all good.

Similarly, I appreciate that she could be smarter than the average ravenous shambling corpse, and that she has appropriately effective minionmancy powers. Respect. My issue wasn't that she couldn't plan or be a threat; it's that I didn't see her as anything more than simply "a threat." As you point out, she makes minions and sics them on people. It's not exactly Ocean's Eleven here. I see her as a menace, but not as the final villain behind the whole campaign (with the exception of triggering a Wightocalypse). Again, however, I didn't dock you for the fact that I don't see her as a BBEG; I docked for the fact that she's more a necromancer than "Nature's Avenger."

Now, on to your chief complaint. You should be careful when drawing comparisons to other builds. I don't compare the builds as I'm scoring them; I try to score each in a vacuum. But you want to go there, so let's go there. Do you want to know why I rated Sanna more powerful than Deadwood? As you point out, Deadwood has a limited spell list, but excellent minionmancy. Here's the thing - bring a Cleric, or anyone with Turn Undead, and her minions are crippled. Planar Binding is also nice, but again limited. I respect minionmancy. Know what Sanna brings? For one of her abilities - just one - she can completely wreck enemies on her own turf. Do you know what Control Winds does at that level? Because I think I said it fairly clearly. And unlike a dedicated minionmancer, Sanna has other tricks up her sleeve on top of that one.

Yes, Deadwood is potent. Minionmancy is powerful. And she could certainly start a zombie apocalypse with the right resources. The problem is that Clerics are a thing. The problem with a zombie apocalypse scenario in D&D is that there are so many ways to deter or stop it. She could cause some real havoc, but it could be contained. Sanna, since you choose to compare Deadwood to her, is mostly unstoppable on her home turf, unless you manage to stay under the surface and out of range of her weather abilities - in which case you're at the mercy of some of her other powers.

I respect her minionmancy. She's quite capable, with major undead and later summoning. But I stand by my Power rating of 3.

First off, no worries about the CR issue. As with Deadwood, I didn't dock you for it; I considered it a minor technical point.

Second off, I agree with you. The Druid fluff is stupid. I have a special hatred for alignment restrictions on classes. I don't think that Druids should have to be Neutral, and frankly, I love the idea of a Druid going so far off the rails like your suggestion. You'll notice I gave you high marks on Concept. However, the Druid alignment restriction is RAW. As much as I would love to run a table where the alignment restrictions get thrown out, that's a house rule, and I can't consider house rules in a competition like this. Much as it pains me, that means your build was not RAW-legal. I still gave you points for the elegance of the build otherwise, but violating the Druid's alignment code forced me to dock you heavily.

Third, I can respect your decision with regard to Audrey II. (As an aside, don't take it personally, I always call intelligent evil murderous borderline-Faustian plants Audrey II. Blame my theater background.) The plant would have made for a very difficult submission in this competition. Lorna is very much the Dragon to Audrey II's BBEG, however, and it kind of shows. I liked the concept, but as you note, Twoey is the real threat here.

I stand by my rating.

Okay. I said this to Deadwood, and I'll say it to you - I don't compare the builds as I'm scoring them; I prefer to score each in a vacuum. You want to go there, we can go there. But with you, I'll take it a step further - I'm reading some attitude in what you wrote. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's not, but my immediate reaction was to tell you off and refuse to even consider your dispute. I had to take a few minutes to bring myself down before I came back to type this. So if you intended any attitude, you'd best check it in the future; if you didn't, I should apologize for snapping, but you should be more careful to approach future comments with a bit more caution and respect.

You want to know why "a stereotypical Egyptian mummy more original than someone who wants to go around telling the universe to behave itself because people are screwing it up?" It's simple. [I]The mummy fits. The mummy is from an unusual desert-dwelling race. He worships the hungering sand. He devotes himself and his followers to it and eventually becomes its emissary. The pieces fit together into an awesome concept. The one who barks at the universe? She's an artificial human who also speaks the language of the cosmos and also is apparently a Ranger for some reason. The pieces are awkward; yes, there's an idea there, but they don't fit conceptually into a complete whole. Heck, you even acknowledge the awkwardness of choosing the race in your Human Nature section.

Further, it's a question of intriguing concept. For me, a BBEG whose motivations I can understand, or even respect, is tremendously fascinating. The "stereotypical Egyptian mummy" has that in spades. Melissa, as you described, "[goes] around telling the universe to behave itself because people are screwing it up[.]" That's her thing. She's mad at people for messing with nature, so Truenaming and revenge. It isn't exactly Tolstoy in its complexity and nuance, here.

I stand by my Originality rating.

With respect to Power, I acknowledge that a well-handled Ranger and Truenamer are both Tier 4. (Forgive me for overestimating Ranger yet again.) But I'm not just looking at the versatility of the class, which is what the Tier System measures; I'm also looking at actual, raw power. Tier for me is an indicator, not an outcome-determinative factor. I also acknowledge that you can easily cheese your skill DCs. I respect that. You could even work them to the point that they are effectively at-will SLAs. Know who has those? Warlock. Want to compare Tiers? He's also a Tier 4.

I'm not going to give you credit for getting a Ranger/Truenamer functional. This is the BBEG. Functional doesn't cut it. I want someone who can be a real, substantial, catastrophic threat. Someone who can command the forces of nature, shrug off brutality, someone who can make the PCs shudder with actual terror. If your claim to fame is that you took something that only becomes functional when heavily optimized and did precisely that, I'm unimpressed. I don't want functional, I want brutal.

I stand by my Power rating.

With respect to Concept, I will acknowledge that I spoke out of turn. I didn't dock you points because you were playing an Illumian Truenamer. I docked you points because there was nothing that screamed "Nature's Avenger" about an Illumian Truenamer. I look in the build to see what about this BBEG, mechanically, makes it fit the concept. I look in the fluff to see what about this BBEG, in idea, makes it fit the concept.

I gave you points for certain things, like being able to conjure mists and things like that. Nice natural tricks. I gave you points for your use of Ranger and SNA, although I note that even Ranger isn't exclusively an agent of nature. But I needed more. I needed something that explained what caused her to so inextricably tie her fate to nature, what caused her to take up nature's war for herself, and I didn't see it. I saw somebody who could fit the role of Nature's Avenger, not somebody who necessarily must fit that role.

I stand by my Concept rating.

illyahr

2015-03-22, 12:12 PM

Here come my ratings

Originality 2.5 I haven't heard of anyone using Ranger with Truespeaker before, but Ranged attacks with spellcasting support is a standard build. Still, bonus points for the nature of the magical support.

Power 2.5 Well thought out, but everything relies on direct physical damage. Anything with Damage Reduction, with a miss chance, high enough AC or any other means of avoiding attacks will give this build a hard time. Since this build is so MAD, it would take too much to buff any of your abilities by more than a point or two. And you use everything to buff combat ability so your skills would be lacking

Elegence 4 Your build really shines in this category. With only two classes/templates you have pulled off a very elegent automatic weapon. The support abilities work nearly perfectly with the build (excepting, of course, the nature of truenaming itself)

Concept 2 A good idea, but it looks more like a nature activist than nature's wrath. She doesn't have any nature abilities other than what she gets from ranger and that's not much. She could be just as much an urban champion or a dungeon champion with nothing done except a shift in fluff.

Total: 11

Originality 4 A very good mix of unusual features. An obscure class and race make for a unique build.

Power 4.5 With a combination of arcane, divine, special attacks, and minion support, this guy is a force to be reckoned with. Add to that Undead immunities and this is a tough fight. This guy is the desert at its fiercest. The only penalty I've given is that he doesn't have many high-level spells to throw out, which negates most metamagic shenanigans.

Elegence 3.5 Very well-rounded build, most of it is easy enough to pull together. Base monster is one I don't think most people are familiar with, so it doesn't have the poetic impact that I'm looking for, but overall a great build.

Concept 4 When most people think nature, deserts aren't what comes to mind. Very impressive. This is a champion
of the desert, with all the desert's fury.

Total: 16

Originality 3 A fairly standard Totemist build. Impressive, but not overly original.

Power 2 Everything is set up for physical melee attacks. High AC, damage reduction, miss chance or anything else that avoids damage will put a damper on the build. It makes a great scrapper, but it has to close in on its target before it can do much else

Elegence 3 There's something to be said for a simple build. It's sleek and fulfills the role it was designed for. Loses
points for lack of difficulty, though.

Concept 1.5 Having problems here. The guideline was nature's wrath, but this seems more a weapon and not a BBEG. It's an enforcer, not a head boss. You even have a group of nature-type characters as backup. This is more like a weapon of an evil circle of druids than its own villain.

Total: 9.5

Originality 3 Single class progression but the addition of the two templates makes an interesting combination.

Power 5 9th level divine casting, direct control of the environment she can be found in, and an army of willing creatures that swarm the hero's stronghold. I'll just be here in the corner crying.

Elegence 4 Very well put together. Not only do you manage to make everything fit together, it fits together in a very streamlined manner. It doesn't have many moving parts to manage so that makes it easier, but difficulty is part of the challenge.

Concept 5 This is beautiful. This one is the focal point of nature made incarnate, nature itself has turned her into a vengeful destroyer that uses nature itself as a plague against its enemies.

Total: 17

Originality 2 A nymph druid that hates anything not of nature. Bonus points for the backstory, but fairly easy.

Power 4 9th level druid spells is always a plus. All of its other power comes from a homebrew creature, which can't be
given a value. Since it can't be defined, I don't count it at all.

Elegence 3 Streamlined, but much too easy for me to give too many point too. It's a druid with a race that boosts druid spellcasting. Not difficult. However, it performs its function with grace.

Concept 2.5 Started out fairly well. Great backstory giving a reason for her hatred. Unfortunately, it fell apart later.
Her primary source of power is an intelligent nature overlord, a being that runs the show while she does the dirty work. This makes her the sidekick, not the BBEG.

Total: 11.5

Originality 3 Ok a lot of bonus points trying to make a good guy as a BBEG. Could easily fit into a campaign as a background character. Still a nymph with druid levels, though.

Power 3.5 9th level druid spells. However, you never actually say what she does with it. She polices her area but you give no indication on what she does with it or even if she ever has done anything.

Elegence 1.5 Druid with a race that boosts druid casting. No combat descriptions, nothing to base elegence on. I can't give you any additional points.

Concept 1 You get a point for nerve. This is a Villanous Competition. This is not a Villian. This seems more like a protector of a sanctuary where one can go for peace.

Total: 9

Originality 3.5 Bard isn't usually the first choice for high power characters so it a fairly unused build. The bit about tricking the PC's into drowning is a nice touch.

Power 3.5 Very well thought out combat capabilities used in a way to maximize their effect. Not the most powerful of class setups but placed in an environment where the abilties are difficult to resist or avoid.

Elegence 3.5 Mild dissonance between backstory and current alignment. It sounds like she's setup to protect her home from what she perceives as invaders but otherwise is well put together. Each class and ability is thought out very well.

Concept 4.5 A carefree girl turned to torment and murder for the sake of the beings she cares for. One that would sell her soul to the powers of darkness to save the ones she loves. This needs its own story or something.

Total: 15

Originality 4 Did...did you just make a mobile wightocolypse maker?

Power 3 Doesn't do direct combat so much as create a NI supply of minions to plow through. Built around not coming into direct contact so basing power on the NI minions.

Elegence 2 A lot of dissonance with an undead fey, especially an undead dryad. The class works really well with a
gravetouched ghoul though.

Concept 3 I'm loving the mobile wightocolypse maker. Guerrila hit-and-run tactics initiate a wight infestation with each strike. Unfortunately I don't know how well undead creatures tie in with wrath of nature idea.

Total: 12

Some really good submissions. A couple are absolutely brilliant. I wouldn't mind using some of these in some of my campaigns.

sakuuya

2015-03-22, 01:02 PM

Thanks for judging, illyahr! Here's an updated table:

Build
Judge 1
Judge 2
Total
Place

Triana, the Husk of Hate
18
17
35
1st

Marduk-bel-Iziri
16
16
32
2nd

Sanna Blackfish
13
15
28
3rd

Deadwood
14
12
26
4th

Lorna, the Mother's Wrath
14
11.5
25.5
5th

Cullet
16
9.5
25.5
5th

Melissa, the Huntress
13
11
24
7th

Brandeis “the Beneficent”
12
9
21
8th

Jormengand

2015-03-22, 08:25 PM

For the next contest, how about a BBEG who works by giving other people bits of their power and fighting by proxy? Kinda like a god's proxies and avatars, or maybe cool simulacrum stuff.

I feel that could be fun.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-23, 04:38 AM

Two Disputes for Illyahr.

First of all, I want to say thank you for taking the time to judge. This goes to Red Fel too, as well as to any other judges that step up. Without you guys, this wouldn't be much of a competition, merely a bunch of people showing off. With that said, I just wanted to address something, and get a little more feedback.

Marduk-bel-Iziri

Originality 4 A very good mix of unusual features. An obscure class and race make for a unique build.

Power 4.5 With a combination of arcane, divine, special attacks, and minion support, this guy is a force to be reckoned with. Add to that Undead immunities and this is a tough fight. This guy is the desert at its fiercest. The only penalty I've given is that he doesn't have many high-level spells to throw out, which negates most metamagic shenanigans.

Elegence 3.5 Very well-rounded build, most of it is easy enough to pull together. Base monster is one I don't think most people are familiar with, so it doesn't have the poetic impact that I'm looking for, but overall a great build.

Concept 4 When most people think nature, deserts aren't what comes to mind. Very impressive. This is a champion
of the desert, with all the desert's fury.

Total: 16

While I am indeed very happy with a 16, I just want to know your quantification for "poetic impact". You say early that it's "an obscure class and race (that will) make for a unique build" under Originality, but then seem to dock me a point under Elegance, even though it's "very well-rounded" and "most of it is easy enough to pull together". Is that not the point of Elegance? Ease of implementation? I mean, if anything, I could see it being harder to implement solely because it would require both a desert in your campaign, and the party to go to the desert. However, that standard wasn't utilized against any of the other entries, so that critique wouldn't apply in this case.

I don't know, maybe I'm being nitpicky over something as trivial as half a point, especially with this judging pushing me into a more solid 2nd place, but I just don't understand how an Anubis look-alike loses points in Elegance because he isn't well known.

Here's my second round of disputes:

Sorry about this, but:

Originality: Are ranged gishes really a standard build? Ranged attackers and gishes both have a reputation for being nearly impossible to pull off.

Power: Reversed Energy Negation deals your choice of Fire, Electrical, Cold or Acid damage, so unless she's fighting a party with DR/(something which isn't piercing/magic/material) and also resistance to four different energies, none of which is a spell of any kind, she can deal some pretty hefty damage to it. Reversed Word of Nurturing deals true damage, so it can't be blocked at all. I quote, "Anything with Damage Reduction, with a miss chance, high enough AC or any other means of avoiding attacks" won't be able to defend against REN or RWoN at all.

Also, Archer's Eye ignores one of the main sources of miss chance - no hiding behind tower shields!

Also, you say her "Skills would be lacking" but they don't seem to be... what gives?

Elegance: Where could I have got the last elegance point?

Concept: This is where it gets odd. You say "She could be... a dungeon champion". Could she? I mean, there's the whole tucker's kobolds thing that I'll give you, but... I don't see it. You say that "She doesn't have any nature abilities other than what she gets from ranger", but she does - Shield of the Landscape and Fog From the Void are both very nature-themed... and so are three separate instances of knowledge focus (nature). If she were dungeon-themed, that would be dungeoneering, and she'd probably have taken shockwave as her LPM utterance. Urban... knowledge local, I guess, and I don't even know what utterances for urban. She probably could be torn up and redone as another concept, but it would take some doing.

sakuuya

2015-03-23, 11:08 AM

Will you accept Honorable Mention votes, Mr. Chancellor? The first post seems...hesitant. I'll PM it to you, obviously--don't want anyone knowing which build's not mine!

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-23, 06:20 PM

I will accept honorable mention votes. I didn't get any last round, so I was very dispirited in writing that portion up.

Following, a dispute for Illyahr.

Elegance: I'm a bit confused about the "dissonance" of the undead fey.

The build is completely fluff and cruch legal with no grey areas. Gravetouched ghoul is one of the few undead templates you can add to a fey. No shady dealings there. The way one becomes a gravetouched ghoul is also fairly well described in the template, and doing so is part of Deadwoods background. There's no shady dealings here either, except maybe in that she eats children.

So I feel that the undead fey thing is fairly well anchored in both rules and background. I use no questionable rule interpretations and I don't think I'm "forcing" the template on her, it's an integral part of her concept. What exactly is inellegant about it? If it's just that undead fey is not something you expect to see, then I'll give you that, but should I be punished for making something you don't see every day. I picked dryad for this partly BECAUSE it takes a stereotype (gentle, defensive tree spirit unable to move far) and turns it on it's head (fierce, agressive monster roaming the world).

Concept: Well, the concept is that she's fighting natures enemies WITHOUT doing harm to nature. It doesn't make sense to me how every "nature avenger" character in fantasy tries to "protect" nature by making it go and get killed in the cities! If you really like trees, shouldn't you want to PROTECT them, not animate them to go fight the murderhobos? It's like the WWF giving weapons to orangutans and training panda suicide bombers!

Deadwood creates her army out of the very people who would defile nature, AND she creates them in a form that's not actually dangerous to trees. Ghouls? Ghasts? Wights? Shadows? None of them target nature, they only hunt humanoids! But I'm starting to realize not many people actually think this matches the concept.

sakuuya

2015-03-23, 06:31 PM

Sent!

Since we're almost to the deadline, any hints on the theme of the next round?

JyP

2015-03-24, 05:08 PM

I know it’s too late, but I completed my stub - as it was a different kind of Nature’s Revenge. So I am not part of the competition there, but if any judge wants to note it after the official ones, I would be very grateful - as it’s the first time I am doing this :smallsmile:

Once upon a time lived a fair maiden, which was the druidess for the whole neanderthal tribe, in a great and luxurious forest. Then came hoomans, with their weird metal weapons, and the druidess found to her horror that hoomans inflicted wounds upon the Earth to find their ore... As they were too numerous, the tribe retreated in the forest, but it was too late : hoomans ravaged Nature, and a great Ice Age came... With her powers, the tribe survived in a forest which got encased in a Great Glacier, then full obscurity as ice covered the ground up to 400 meters above... and the tribe finally escaped in the Earth, leaving the druidess in the Dead Forest, with only vermins for company. No one knows what she did to survive here - but she became the first Lich during this time in obscurity.

Once the Ice Age finished, the druidess' wrath was terrible, as she inflicted plagues after plagues upon the hoomans. Deities decided to finish her once and for all - they could only encase her body in a cursed bronze armor which drained her natural powers, as her source of immortality could not be found. She was then stored in The World's Largest Dungeon, only able to see through animal eyes how the world above was changing while she was emprisoned... One day she will be free and all hoomans beware !

The idea is to explore The World's Largest Dungeon with evil PCs and some silliness, the druidess being discovered near the entrance in a tomb - to take the place of a PC if there's not enough spellcasters. The twist was to create a lich at low levels ;-)
Note that this is an NPC, so it uses pretty powerful twists for the DM - not every DM will be ok with Greenbound Summoning for ex.

Main flaw on this build : some specific background & cursed items to create a lich at 1st level - by RAW you have to wait for 11th level.

Equipment : cursed bronze armor and gauntlets, which nullify lich aura and touch (normally also druid spells, but as she is too powerful she just has to restart at level 1). Needs to find someone able to do a remove curse...

Animal companion : a smilodon - I even wrote an article on how to have a smilodon from level 1 to 13, as by RAW it would be different felines along the way and not very smooth.

Roleplaying tips : As a neanderthal, she is illiterate. Abhors all metals, and those which use them. Partial to songs and kisses like Snow White at bed times - she misses her tribe very much - but not anyone can support a blackened nude skeleton doing some cuddling...

Here we can try to use this BBEG outside of silliness : you only need a natural cave not explored since aeons, discovered through pure luck / a sudden drought in a lake / an earthquake. Inside the cave, a very old burial site, a big rough stone covered with hand paintings, and under this stone... a blackened skeleton with an tarnished bronze gauntlets, breastplate and helmet, add an archaic bronze sword in a pristine state - surely a magic weapon. The point being that only the sword can be taken easily, and it frees the lich whenever anyone take it. In a surge a of magical power, the lich casts a quickened Meld Into Stone to protect herself and move to another area of the cave, then Summon Nature's Ally III to summon 1d4+1 greenbound wolves which will :

1) Entangle PCs - if you want them to be helpless and interrogated by the lich,
2) attack the PC with the biggest metal armor, if you want only an encounter. A fun trick would be the bronze sword, which is cursed to stuck on hands - no one can drop this weapon, you need another character to remove it from your hands. But it's a magic weapon nonetheless, and maybe important for the lich’s doom in the future.

If the PCs are interrogated, just play on how out of touch the Lich is since her imprisonment. In both cases, she will disappear, and PCs will not hear for some time about this strange skeleton which summon plants, something they would not have ever seen before at this level.

The lich has now access to 5th level spells, which includes awaken for a low xp cost. She can now start to claim her own turf, with awakened animals and trees - as in her time, all neanderthals knew how to talk to plants or animals and they talked back. What is not covered in standard spells, and I want to do, is to slowly reverse nature to older times : animals seem to grow bigger and meaner (thinks Dire), trees are also bigger - but it can happen on a long time frame, as the lich will take some time to setup her vengeance now. You can even organize a hunt by a local baron to investigate the mysterious witch in the woods - but the witch should be now quicker than all, only some skulls which would be left behind could indicate that a primitive tribe is still there.

Now she can also change the climate to be meaner and more extreme - with Control Weather. And I chose Craft Rune Circle as a feat on previous level, as this is the only magic item type I know for unmovable magic effects - but there it would be more like Craft Magic Tree or Craft Magic Menhir - unmovable objects, dissimulated on thick areas, which would influence all that is going on. So meaner weather, dire animals, maybe the first dinosaurs coming out...

On 15th Druid level I added Sacrifical Mastery, as a way to explain how she can craft so much magic enchantments over time - by ritual sacrifices. Here would be the last step of the lich’s wrath : all her magic stones and trees can now unlock a kind of epic spell, or maybe the 9th-level Shadow Landscape spell but more like Primitive Landscape, where all worked metals will rust at an accelerated pace. She can even start a grand war on all hooman civilizations, with hordes of dinosaurs, awakened animals and plants with her - she will only be calmed once hoomans are back at their right place - as nomads hunting beasts through endurance and exhaustion, cowering in trees. Unless desperate adventurers can unlock the mystery of the only remaining metal there : the bronze sword which is still as good as new...

CR

Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st

Neanderthal druid (root walker + wild hunter variants) 1, savage progression lich 1

+0

+2

+0

+2

A Skill

Greenbound Summoning

spells, spontaneous casting, animal companion(smilodon), nature sense, vermin empathy, monk AC bonus, favored enemy (humans), track, undeath (lich 4 special), Int +2, natural armor +2, lich skills +2, damaging touch 1d6+5, paralyzing touch (1d4 rounds), resistances (cold 5, electricity 5)

2nd
Druid 2

+1

+3
+0
+3
Skills
Feats
rocky stride,

3rd
Druid 3

+3

+3
+1
+3
Skills
Primitive Caster
unarmored speed bonus +10 ft, trackless step

4th
Druid 4

+3

+4
+1
+4
Skills
Feats
Resist Aberrations

5th
Druid 5

+3

+4
+1
+4
Skills
Feats
+1 AC bonus when unencumbered

6th
Druid 6
+4

+5
+2
+5
Skills
Craft Skull Talisman
unarmored speed bonus +20 ft

7th
Druid 7
+5

+5
+2
+5
Skills
Feats

8th
Lich 2
+5

+5
+2
+5
Skills
Feats
Natural armor +3, lich skills +4, damage reduction 5/bludgeoning and magic, damaging touch (1d8+5), fear aura (10-ft. radius), fortification (light), paralyzing touch (1d4 minutes), phylactery (1st stage), resistances (cold 10, electricity 10)

9th
Druid 8
+6/+1

+6
+2
+6
Skills
Feats
Swift Tracker

10th
Druid 9
+6/+1

+6
+3
+6
Skills
Craft Wondrous Items
unarmored speed bonus +30 ft, Venom Immunity

11th
Druid 10
+7/+2

+7
+3
+7
Skills
Feats
+2 AC bonus when unencumbered

12th
Druid 11
+8/+3

+7
+3
+7
Skills
Feats
Drift 1 : Your hair becomes a tangle of short vines.

13th
Lich 3 & 4 (same CR +2)
+8/+3

+7
+3
+7
Skills
Feats
Wis +2, Cha +2, natural armor +5, lich skills +8, damage reduction 15/bludgeoning and magic, fear aura (60-ft. radius), fortification (moderate), paralyzing touch (permanent), phylactery (3rd stage), immunities (cold, electricity, polymorph), turn resistance +4

14th
Druid 12
+9/+4

+8
+4
+8
Skills
Craft “Rune Circle”
unarmored speed bonus +40 ft, Drift 1 : Your touch causes flowers to wilt.

15th
Druid 13
+9/+4

+8
+4
+8
Skills
Feats
A thousand faces, Drift 2 : You become as swift as an elk.

16th
Druid 14
+10/+5

+9
+4
+9
Skills
Feats
Drift 2 : The pads of your feet become sticky, like those of a lizard.

17th
Druid 15
+11/+6/+1

+9
+5
+9
Skills
Sacrificial Mastery
unarmored speed bonus +50 ft, +3 AC bonus when unencumbered, Timeless body, Drift 3 : Deer antlers grow from your forehead.

18th
Druid 16
+12/+7/+2

+10
+5
+10
Skills
Feats
Drift 3 : You can spin a web like a spider.

19th
Druid 17
+12/+7/+2

+10
+5
+10
Skills
Feats
Drift 4 : You can pounce like a leopard.

20th
Druid 18
+13/+8/+3

+11
+6
+11
Skills
Extend Spell
Drift 4 : You can trip like a wolf.

21th

Drift 5 : You can move like a cheetah

neanderthal, smilodon, primitive caster, craft skull talisman : Frostburn
underground druid variant : Dungeonscape - explain how the druidess now likes vermins instead of animals
hunter druid variant : no wild shape but favored enemy (humans) : Unearthed Arcana
Lich : savage progression on wizards' site : http://archive.wizards.com/default.a...d/sp/20031212a
Greenbound Summoning : Lost Empires of Faerun - an overpowered feat to summon plant enhanced creatures
Drifts : described in Geomancer Prestige Class in Complete Divine - “As a variant rule, high-level druids who spend all their lives away from civilization may also experience drift at the Dungeon Master’s discretion”
Craft Rune Circle : Races of Stone
Sacrificial Mastery : Book of Vile Darkness

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-24, 05:12 PM

I can give you a hint, sure. The next concept may be a little too grandiose for the normal folk.

atemu1234

2015-03-24, 05:15 PM

I can give you a hint, sure. The next concept may be a little too grandiose for the normal folk.

I am NOT statting a politician for a contest :smalltongue:.

Jormengand

2015-03-24, 08:09 PM

I am NOT statting a politician for a contest :smalltongue:.

Just how high can we get their bluff score? :smalltongue:

sakuuya

2015-03-24, 11:44 PM

I am NOT statting a politician for a contest :smalltongue:.

Just how high can we get their bluff score? :smalltongue:

You guys. You guys. What if he's bluffing? Crap, he may have already won the next round.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-25, 06:58 AM

I may be pretending to be your friend, to give you a hint that may not be true.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-25, 05:36 PM

Alright, 25 minutes before the reveal.

sakuuya

2015-03-25, 05:46 PM

What about ilyahr's disputes? Deadwood could jump into third place.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-25, 06:04 PM

Hmm.. With three disputes.. I'll extend the deadline a day- or whenever Illyahr posts their responses, whichever is sooner. I'm accepting no more disputes or extra judges, however.

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-26, 07:34 AM

Also, how did everyone feel about the change to CR instead of ECL? Trying to decide if we switch back or not.

WeaselGuy

2015-03-26, 07:55 AM

Also, how did everyone feel about the change to CR instead of ECL? Trying to decide if we switch back or not.

Personally, I liked the change. I feel it lets people use different races/monsters for builds than one would normally see in competitions. Also, really lends a "BBEG" feel when your baddie is an Undead Nymph or Jackal-Headed Lich.

Sam K

2015-03-26, 08:02 AM

Vhaidara

2015-03-26, 08:28 AM

Yeah, I think CR opened up a lot more options for people.

As far as my lack of judging, I apologize. I've been back on the job hunt lately, and it's kept me from focusing for long enough to judge properly. However, I do generally agree with the scores that have been given. Trianna was going to be my highest scorer (beautifully written, especially since the first encounter is explicitly not-combat, makes her VERY effective as a campaign insert), while Brandeis wasn't going to do too well. As the other judges said, she isn't really a villain. If anything, I see her as being a Material Plane version of the Lady of Pain: Everyone can come to my realm, but if you piss me off, I will end you. Different scale from the Lady, of course, but a similar concept. I can see myself using her, but not as a villain.

sakuuya

2015-03-26, 10:06 AM

Telonius

2015-03-26, 10:59 AM

WeaselGuy

2015-03-26, 11:05 AM

I do like the limitations based on CR rather than ECL. But there is a limitation; the base creature's CR would have to be 5 or less - below that, you couldn't have something for all of the break points (CR 5, 10, 15 , 20). If your BBEG were an Ettin (for whatever reason), you couldn't have a CR 5 writeup, because they start out at CR 6. Same way with Giants, Ogre Mages, and a whole bunch of others. I'd suggest that if you really want to open it up to weird combinations that CR affords (but ECL doesn't), then change the writeups to be at the bad guy's start point (based on race and template), and then at any of the regular breakpoints after that (5, 10, 15, or 20).

Contestants: You will need to present a write-up of your build with at least one of the following points: 5 CR, 10 CR 15CR, 20 CR, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build, as well as presenting a fully-fleshed out 20 CR build in the table below.

Actually, Gwatch already has that in place. You don't have to do a write up at all of the points, just at least one of them, as well as a sweet spot and at 20.

illyahr

2015-03-26, 11:27 AM

Sorry for the delay, folks. Army life can get hectic at the drop of a standard-issue hat. :smalltongue:

First off, I think I should explain my grading criteria. I usually start with a 3 and then add or subtract based on different factors, depending on what I'm grading. If I didn't give you a five, it's not because it wasn't great, it might have been because I docked a point for a flaw.

That being said, here we go:

When I say "poetic impact" I mean a race that people are familiar with enough that it means something. A race unknown by most people, while giving a lot of points in originality, won't be as relatable to most people as a race they are more familiar with. A drow, while highly un-original, resonates with most people as even the mention of the word conjures up images of violence and darkness.

Originality: Nearly impossible to pull off, but that doesn't mean a lot of people don't try. I have two in the campaign I am running right now (they don't do it nearly as well as you display, but it they are still fairly common).

Power: Ok, fair enough on those points. I confess that I am not as well-versed in truenaming as I would like and was unaware of the full extent of some of the abilities. Power score 2.5 -> 3.5

Elegence: Something to round off her attacks, such as leading targets into trapped areas, would have added the extra oomph for the last point.

Concept: This was my point exactly. Nothing about her screams "nature" other than some ranger abilities and those can be altered with ACF's.

Elegence: "Dissonance," as used by musicians, is when two non-harmonious notes are played together. This is done to draw attention to a particular line in the music for the purpose of "resolving," or changing one note into another to end a musical phrase.

My use of the word is similar. Yes, you set up the dissonance perfectly by adding a template that usually isn't associated with fey, but I didn't feel you resolved the conflict in a satisfactory manner. She becomes an undead fey, yes, but how is this important? What happened to the area where this began? Is it still tied to that area and can be manipulated, or was it a random event?

Concept: I understand where you are coming from. My problem is that even though they aren't against nature, theyaren't for nature either.

sakuuya

2015-03-26, 11:32 AM

Thanks for responding. Melissa was the only one who got a score adjustment, right?

Nobody's rank changed, but here's an updated table anyhow.

Build
Judge 1
Judge 2
Total
Place

Triana, the Husk of Hate
18
17
35
1st

Marduk-bel-Iziri
16
16
32
2nd

Sanna Blackfish
13
15
28
3rd

Deadwood
14
12
26
4th

Lorna, the Mother's Wrath
14
11.5
25.5
5th

Cullet
16
9.5
25.5
5th

Melissa, the Huntress
13
12
25
7th

Brandeis “the Beneficent”
12
9
21
8th

WhamBamSam

2015-03-26, 01:07 PM

Despite some initial confusion, I really liked the CR part of the challenge. It opens up using builds that you could never use in a optimized ECL build.

Ofcourse CR is broken so only a small percentage of monsters are really suitable for this, but the same could be said for classes. All in all, I think we should keep the CR aspect. The one thing that could get confusing is if you want to use a high CR monster as a base, as there isn't actually much build. For example, dragons are generally considered some of the more powerful monsters for their CR. If I build a CR 16 dragon (all standard feats and spells) with 4 sorcerer levels, there isn't really much "build" except picking spells. Is this a build worth rewarding? It's powerful and elegant for sure, but it isn't really my work. Is a build that only works for lvl 15+ parties worth the same points as a build that work for lvl 5+ parties?

I have no real opinion, just think it's a question worth discussing.

I do like the limitations based on CR rather than ECL. But there is a limitation; the base creature's CR would have to be 5 or less - below that, you couldn't have something for all of the break points (CR 5, 10, 15 , 20). If your BBEG were an Ettin (for whatever reason), you couldn't have a CR 5 writeup, because they start out at CR 6. Same way with Giants, Ogre Mages, and a whole bunch of others. I'd suggest that if you really want to open it up to weird combinations that CR affords (but ECL doesn't), then change the writeups to be at the bad guy's start point (based on race and template), and then at any of the regular breakpoints after that (5, 10, 15, or 20).Personally, I feel that using high CR base creatures should be a valid approach (I considered a CR 20 Black Wyrm for this round briefly, though pure monsters have issues with using the Elite Array).

As someone who thinks about dragons a lot, I disagree pretty strongly with the notion that one CR 16 Dragon/Sorc 4 or what have you is necessarily the same as another. Apart from anything else, dragons have a lot of HD and therefore have a lot of feats (and can qualify for a pretty wide range of things with those feats). There are also all manner of dragon options, from Sovereign Archetypes, to wider sorcerer spell selection, to the ability to trade out Sorcerer spells for draconic auras, to templates that are Dragon or True Dragon specific. Dragons offer a pretty wide range of customization when it comes right down to it, even within the same variety and age category.

If anything, I'd say open things up further to high-CR monsters by either houseruling out the +1 CR for the Elite Array in absence of class levels, or letting people use the standard array if they're using a monster without class levels. I personally think monster optimization is quite interesting, and something of an untapped frontier. This competition seems as good a place as any to examine that sort of thing.

Troacctid

2015-03-26, 01:21 PM

I didn't even realize +1 CR for the Elite Array was a thing.

I definitely think there should not be a CR limit for race (besides 20). Why is a CR 8 Lammasu less valid than a CR 8 Human Cleric? I want to see interesting races that might not normally see play. (Like that Marrutact. That's a good one. I'll need to keep that in my pocket for later.)

Triana got the highest score from both judges and she wasn't exactly doing anything out of the box with her class levels. It's more about the strength of the concept.

Anyway, CR instead of LA seems to be working out great, so yeah!

Telonius

2015-03-26, 01:48 PM

So that's game? Congrats, Triana!

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-26, 01:54 PM

And now, the reveal.

Build

Judge 1

Judge 2

Total

Place

Member

Triana, the Husk of Hate

18

17

35

1st

Troacctid

Marduk-bel-Iziri

16

16

32

2nd

WeaselGuy

Sanna Blackfish

13

15

28

3rd

Sakuuya

Deadwood

14

12

26

4th

Sam K

Lorna, the Mother's Wrath

14

11.5

25.5

5th

Tonymitsu

Cullet (Honorable Mention)

16

9.5

25.5

5th

Telonius

Melissa, the Huntress

13

12

25

7th

Jormengand

Brandeis “the Beneficent”

12

9

21

8th

Livius

Alright, that's all folks! I'll have the next one up soon. This time, no limitations!

sakuuya

2015-03-26, 02:00 PM

Now that the competition is over, can I just say, heck yes marruspawn. I love those jackal-headed weirdoes. Congrats to you, WeaselGuy, and to Troacctid as well.

Sam K

2015-03-26, 02:01 PM

Personally, I feel that using high CR base creatures should be a valid approach (I considered a CR 20 Black Wyrm for this round briefly, though pure monsters have issues with using the Elite Array).

As someone who thinks about dragons a lot, I disagree pretty strongly with the notion that one CR 16 Dragon/Sorc 4 or what have you is necessarily the same as another. Apart from anything else, dragons have a lot of HD and therefore have a lot of feats (and can qualify for a pretty wide range of things with those feats). There are also all manner of dragon options, from Sovereign Archetypes, to wider sorcerer spell selection, to the ability to trade out Sorcerer spells for draconic auras, to templates that are Dragon or True Dragon specific. Dragons offer a pretty wide range of customization when it comes right down to it, even within the same variety and age category.

If anything, I'd say open things up further to high-CR monsters by either houseruling out the +1 CR for the Elite Array in absence of class levels, or letting people use the standard array if they're using a monster without class levels. I personally think monster optimization is quite interesting, and something of an untapped frontier. This competition seems as good a place as any to examine that sort of thing.

Fair point, I may have exagerated a bit about the dragons; feats and spells still gives them some options. However, my original point is still this:

You can take a CR20 dragon and change NOTHING (no templates, no trades, no alternative features). Just give it feats and spells. Still a valid entry. Not much of a build. But because it's very powerful (dragons tend to be very strong for their CR) and quite elegant (only racial HD, maybe using a couple of splatbooks for fun feats to avoid it being too stale).

This is easily more powerful than many builds that go for melee and casting, without actually being a build. I dunno, it seems... odd to me that you could win a build contest without actually doing much building. At the very least, I think that one of the scoring criteria should penalize builds that cannot be used for most CRs.

Then again, I did very poorly this round, so maybe I should be going for dragons instead :)

Gwachitallemall

2015-03-26, 02:08 PM

Alright, Next one is up!

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?406015-Villainous-Competition-3-Or-No-Holds-Barred!&p=19019070#post19019070

illyahr

2015-03-26, 02:15 PM

This is easily more powerful than many builds that go for melee and casting, without actually being a build. I dunno, it seems... odd to me that you could win a build contest without actually doing much building. At the very least, I think that one of the scoring criteria should penalize builds that cannot be used for most CRs.

Sure, you could make a CR 20 dragon and qualify. It's kinda boring though unless you really put some thought into it. Not very original (dragons are BBEG in too many works already) and you wouldn't get many bonus points in elegance because it's just too easy. It's the difference between a quarterstaff and a 3-section staff. They are both used to hit things but the you'd get bonus points for getting the 3-section staff to work properly.

Vhaidara

2015-03-26, 02:52 PM

Everyone who knew that Melissa was Jormengand, raise your hand.

*everyone* :smalltongue:

Well played to all of you. If I ever manage to run a non-planehopper game, I will quite possibly use Triana (she doesn't have the same impact without the early encounters).

Others who might see use in my games
Cullet (solid stand alone encounter/mini-villain)
Marduk (likewise, can work as a short arc)
Sanna (if I ever run an aquatic game, especially)

Jormengand

2015-03-26, 03:05 PM

Everyone who knew that Melissa was Jormengand, raise your hand.

*everyone* :smalltongue:

Yes, well, I'm glad you didn't miss my writing style, my sense of humour, the fact that no-one else would have made a gender-neutral paladin for a PC, and the fact that I'm one of about three, maybe four people on this entire forum who know how to play a truenamer. :smalltongue:

Sam K

2015-03-26, 03:40 PM

Sure, you could make a CR 20 dragon and qualify. It's kinda boring though unless you really put some thought into it. Not very original (dragons are BBEG in too many works already) and you wouldn't get many bonus points in elegance because it's just too easy. It's the difference between a quarterstaff and a 3-section staff. They are both used to hit things but the you'd get bonus points for getting the 3-section staff to work properly.

Clearly, being original and doing full builds isn't getting me those elegance points either :P

Doctor Awkward

2015-03-26, 03:53 PM

I'm glad the final posting is up so I can stop sitting on this.

It was interesting to see all of the other entries, and much congratulations to the winners.

I definitely think there should not be a CR limit for race (besides 20). Why is a CR 8 Lammasu less valid than a CR 8 Human Cleric? I want to see interesting races that might not normally see play. (Like that Marrutact. That's a good one. I'll need to keep that in my pocket for later.)

Triana got the highest score from both judges and she wasn't exactly doing anything out of the box with her class levels. It's more about the strength of the concept.

I'm now glad I waited, such that I'm not the first person to post this opinion. Moreover, I'm glad that this came from this contest's winner.

This idea is what attracted me to this contest in the first place. I enjoy the storytelling aspect of DMing very much, and I enjoy putting together monsters that I can turn into compelling villains by writing a few adventures around. What set this contest apart from usual character building competitions was its focus on creatures that players don't normally have access to.

That said, I'm more than a little disappointed in the direction that the judging of both contests has taken. In both cases, the basic chassis of the top placers were all things readily available to players. Now granted the first competition had the excuse of being ECL instead of CR, but this time around we have an Illumian Cloistered Cleric, a Merfolk (+1 LA aquatic race), and a Marrutract (7HD +3 LA). The only things that took Trianna out of the hands of a player was the templates applied (Greenbound has an unplayable LA of +8, and Lost is forbidden for players to take). Personally, I think the idea that creating a monster that is nothing but racial hit dice, feats, and maybe a template, is somehow "less" of a build than something that uses class levels, for no reason other than it doesn't use class levels, is not only ridiculous in the extreme, but also against the spirit of what a contest like this should stand for.
-For one thing, anyone who even casually optimizes can tell you that a build isn't just a race and class levels. Feats, skills, maneuvers/stances/spell selection play just as big a part in determining your focus and effectiveness, especially the higher you get in level.
-In addition, it also implies that a person who does take that approach is somehow taking the easy way out. I'm glad that illyahr brought up dragons, because the very first thought that I had for this competition before attempting to rework Lorna was a Green Dragon. There are a number of nature related ACF's to be found out there specifically for them. I abandoned this approach because I could not find a way to make it work with the fluff I wanted to create for it (there are surprisingly few divine related resources for sorcerers). As you'll note from my post I made after I submitted my entry, I spent a full seven days tuning her feats, spells, and equipment to get them in line with the theme I wanted. It was actually longer if you count the corrected entries I submitted to fix mistakes I caught. Despite the fact that I used one creature, one template, and one class, I'm sure anyone could understand that I would feel just a little offended at the suggestion that I worked any less hard on my entry than someone else did, simply because they started from a less obvious point.
-Finally, continuing to have a judging metric that considers a core races and classes inherently better than other possible entries will lose my interest very quickly. Not just as a possible competitor, but also as a viewer. If I want a player character to be the villain of my campaign, I'll browse around any of the other build contests for something to slap a template onto. I don't like those for villains, especially in a fantasy setting. As my entry clearly demonstrates, I like horrific nightmare creatures that just don't think the same way normal people do.

As a corollary to class = build, I also found it extremely ironic that Red Fel specifically listed druid as the "low-hanging fruit" in this contest, given that I thought the exact same thing about Plant domain cleric. In fact, I assumed that was the reason that classes with heavy armor proficiency were restricted from entry (though clearly that didn't stop contestants from using it anyway). I actually expected the majority of entries to focus on plants, which is why I specifically decided to focus on animals instead. Much like the dragon example above, the problem I have with potential entries being labeled as such, let alone using that as a metric for judging, is that it implies it's easier, or takes any less effort than someone who works up a less "obvious concept".

Speaking of minions, I also felt like there was a great deal of undue emphasis placed on this contest's entries ability to be in control of a standing army of something. Triana specifically called out Rebuke Plants, Marduk has sand golems as a class feature, Sanna is clearly a force multiplier, and Deadwood is a "living" (mobile I guess is a better word) wight-ocalypse. While I won't dispute a BBEG being allowed to be in charge of something, that was not a requirement or even a goal of this contest like it was for the first one. The requirements were that the villain be of a recurring nature, and have a goal of reclaiming the world from the clutches of civilization for... er, nature. In light of this, I found it especially odd that Lorna received no credit for her ability to mobilize a standing army of animals with Handle Animal/Speak with Animals.

Lastly is the fluff.

As with the previous contest, the entries with the least amount of fluff (or the most adaptable fluff) had the best performance. In the first round, Vayne had nothing but a collection of effective mechanical abilities and a simple campaign hook. Even though I was penalized severely for it (as I should have been), he was carried by his simplicity in adhering to the stated concept, and his raw effectiveness. Except, of course, for the judgments where I was both penalized and rewarded for the same lack of fluff. I didn't say anything at the time because I didn't want to seem ungrateful. This time I took the exact opposite approach, and crafted a complex scenario in which the character I made would have a significant motivation to pursue her goal, a definite plan and the ability to carry it out, as well as a plausible means to actually be a recurring villain, in that she can readily escape from encounters that turn against and is capable of staving off pursuit. This approach, curiously, had the opposite effect, in that I was penalized extremely harshly, in more than one category, for the possible implication of Lorna working for something else. The logic behind this is that it made her not "feel" like a BBEG. All right, I can see that. But again, I would point out two things in response.
-First, the trope of the BBEG (or Big Bad) is filled by the person who makes the plot happen. If it wasn't for them, there would not be a threat for the heroes to deal with. In Lorna's case, even without refluffing the Mother Seed as a figment of her imagination, it is doing nothing. At all. Lorna is the one feeding it, she is the one doing the kidnapping, she is the one turning animals against people who dare to set foot in the forest, and she is the one the party is facing. Despite the fact that she is acting (or believes she is acting) on behalf of a "higher power", without her there would not be a threat. Going back to the first round. Suppose that I had written up fluff for Vayne that the crown prince of the tyrant king had been deposed rather than killed, and Vayne was raising an army in order to re-conquer the kingdom on his behalf. Would Vayne cease to be the driving force behind the plot just because he is now working for someone else? Of course not. Like Lorna, he would explicitly be doing all the work so that someone else can have all the glory, and, like Lorna, without him there is no threat.
-Secondly, while I admit this is extremely nitpicky, the goal of this contest (at least as I understood it) is not specifically to create a BBEG. We're here to create villains and antagonists. The only qualification to be a villain is that you have to either have goals that are opposed to the heroes or do something that instigates the conflict of the story.

I guess what I'm saying is that for future contests, I'd wish for more clearly defined and consistent standards by which the entries are to be judged, such that every potential concept can be accorded equal amounts of respect.