NPC, Serial Killer build.

[ASBERON88]

For my groups next session I was thinking about having the group try and hunt down a psychotic serial killer. I was looking into classes for this specific NPC. May be a touchy subject, but of course I'm not planning on doing anything insidious, I'm not that kind of DM, however I am open to any ideas.

[Karl Aegis]

Rangers are serial killers right out of the box.

[Dysart]

The way I see it you've got a couple of options. Go Chaotic 'stupid' Evil and just be a mad man. Or go Lawful Evil and be killing for a reason.

As for class, pretty much anyone could be one. Necromancer could be doing it for parts maybe even Jack the Ripper/Frankenstein cross over.
Or you could go with a barbarian who's got PTSD and seen too many fights, now he gets drunk in bars and ends up flipping out while walking home drunk and tearing through anyone near him.
Or of course there's the classic Lycanthropy curse. Maybe even Dhamphir (aka half-vampire) who might not know of their blood hunger and blacks out/sleep walks.

If you're wanting a blanket psycho killer I'd go with Adept who things that the more people he kills the more powerful he'll grow and eventually he'll become a god..... which in technical terms is exactly what could happen and generally what happens to the PCs in most games.

[Kazuel]

I'd go with an evil cleric impersonating a good cleric. Make him someone the PCs go to for help. Also have him kill in such a way that if the PCs marked each death on a map, it would form an arrow pointing at the church. (Only if your players appreciate that sort of dumb humor)

[Toilet Cobra]

I looked and I couldn't find it, but I believe there was a 3rd ed prestige class where you were essentially a psychopath running around with a rusty knife. Again my memory is sketchy, but I believe it focused on doing lots of awful crippling stuff to creatures who were shaken or under a fear effect or something. So that's pretty serial killer-y right out of the gate.

I don't know what level you want the killer to be, so a prestige class might be no good. But really, anything will do, it just depends on what you want your dramatic reveal to be. Alchemists are fairly creepy and can kill you in a variety of ways, might make for a good mystery.

If you want to actually make your players nervous, be sure to have your killer murder something other than level 0 commoners from time to time.

[DeltaEmil]

@ ASBERON88: Two prestige classes who focus on murdering through fear are the ghost-faced killer from Complete Adventurer, and the avenging executioner from Complete Scoundrel.

There's of course also the assassin prestige class. The SRD/Unearthed Arcana also gives you the chaotic evil loldumb paladin of slaughter.

It depends on what kind of psychotic serial killer you want to focus, however.

[BWR]

RangersPCs are serial killers right out of the box.

Fixed that for you.

[Telonius]

To the OP - what can you tell us about the killer? How do you see him (or her) as killing his victims? Is he a knife-in-the-back sort, a poisoner, magic-enabled? Is he somebody who does it for kicks, out of sheer insanity, or does he have a political cause? Frothing-at-the-mouth crazy, or high-functioning dual-life socialite? Does he target a particular group? Does he care if he's caught?

All of that stuff would be important to figure out exactly how to build this lovely little psycho.

[Hiro Quester]

I'd go with an evil cleric impersonating a good cleric. Make him someone the PCs go to for help.

Ooooh. That's good. I like the way you think, Kazuel. But without the cheesy "come catch me here" hook. That's more Nale's style (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0347.html).

Perhaps using Soul Bind (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/soulBind.htm), collecting bodies/souls in an artifact for some nefarious purpose (releasing a demon master from a trap, opening a portal to a demon plane to begin an invasion).

If you don't want to make him (yet) able to cast ninth level spells, then his demon lord gave him an artifact that activates the spell X many times (enough for the purpose).

That way you don't just have a bad guy to catch. You have a McGuffin to find, and an impending disaster to prevent. You have to stop him before he collects enough souls....

Side note: you also have the threat of genuine (your party cleric can't do anything about it) true death for PCs who the serial killer makes his victim. Making death a more serious matter in D&D 3.5 is something a few people have tried to add to the drama of an adventure.

And the cleric you confide in to help stop him, the one you consult as a scholar of (preventer of) the kind of evil magic you are dealing with, turns out to secretly be the one you are trying to catch. Betrayal plot twist at the end is just the kind of drama your players will enjoy.

[ASBERON88]

To the OP - what can you tell us about the killer? How do you see him (or her) as killing his victims? Is he a knife-in-the-back sort, a poisoner, magic-enabled? Is he somebody who does it for kicks, out of sheer insanity, or does he have a political cause? Frothing-at-the-mouth crazy, or high-functioning dual-life socialite? Does he target a particular group? Does he care if he's caught?

All of that stuff would be important to figure out exactly how to build this lovely little psycho.

I'm thinking about naming him Simon (as an alias of course.) He kills his victims and carves the words "Simon Seyz..." and the next word would be a clue for the next murder, example "Simon Seyz...Dance." The next murder would be a known dancer of some sort. I'd like for him to very smart and cunning, yet extremely psychotic, kinda of like Kevin Spacey's character in Seven.

[daremetoidareyo]

We need to know more about the nature of your serial killer’s sociopathy. People wind up as serial killers from many different roads so I’ll do a quick lay dissection for you and build from there. I’m making generalizations based on trends reported by media. Don’t feel limited to making women angels of death or men as utilitarian killers.

In our society, male serial and female serial killers operate much differently. Many times, female serial killers are “angels of death,” taking roles of caring and nurturing and then killing, seemingly on a whim, the weaker and more disconnected charges that they are responsible for. So orphanage marms, nurses (particularly with the sick, elderly, and newborns). Their motives tend to be power-reassurance (think of the thrill of stealing a candybar from the store, now amplify it to a matter of life and death.) Another observed trend for female serial killers is working with a romantic partner who recreates on others, the trauma that she encountered as developing person. So how can we build from these blocks?

Angel of death: A religious mission that is spearheaded by a binder (or better, a beguiler with bind vestige feat lines). She offers home and shelter for 20-30 people in her establishment. She feels like she is “cleaning up the streets.” Sometimes, however, she binds some of the more powerful vestiges, and when she loses total control (like the aspect manifests) she feels a need to reassert herself by going downstairs to the mission and separating one of the homeless or infirm from the group and murders them in a way that leaves no marks; i.e. suffocation or medication/poison. This makes her feel “in control.” The plus side is that a new spot opens up for a new homeless person to join the mission. The PCs find out when she is sloppy or miscalculates some aspect. If you make the surviving victim somehow unbelievable (a rampantly drunk dwarf, a lecherous half-elf criminal) the PCs are left with a real conundrum.

Codependant Enabler: A succubus would be great for this role, as would a tiefling. But a race that is typically a scion of ultimate good (nymph, aasimar, high elf) will really set up a scary monstrous contrast between expectations and behavior. These Serial Killers set the trap of collecting young girls to bring back to a seriously sinister murderer. She feels loved and appreciated by providing this service to the monster who may love her or simply regard her as an easily manipulatable tool for his own selfish desires. Think Bonnie and Clyde or the Manson chicks.

My suggestion is to take an aasimar or tiefling that was raised in a hellish environment, maybe hell itself, or in an orcish chain gang. The creature that “frees” her is just as evil, but a different type of evil and makes her feel special. Maybe she is a rogue/bard? High bluff, high charisma, some access to the spell calm emotions and something that makes her alignment untraceable would help. She finds and befriends other disaffected young women and leads them to her partner who can be anything, really. Maybe the partner is a gelatinous cube, and what she does is trick them into falling into it. Maybe the partner is a green dragon who loves to eat elven girls. Or even better, maybe a green dragon that likes eating unicorns, the best way to get at is to trick elven women of virtue to befriend unicorns and lead them to a predetermined dragon spot. Maybe the partner is just a human fighter who really enjoys punching a woman to death. It’s your dark imagination, go for it.



Is it utilitarian or for pleasure? If it is utilitarian, then the man has no sexual component to his behavior and his “kills” are part of a social plan (not an artistic plan) that supports his worldview. He is equally likely to kill men and women. He doesn’t feel good about it, but he doesn’t feel bad about it either.

The utilitarian killer is likely to be a cleric, but a spell caster with a plan would be good as well. I’m thinking what would be a lot of fun would be a Lawful Neutral sorcerer or druid 5/divine oracle x. The killer was presented with a dream as a kid where he believed it was a prophecy. In this dream men or women with a specific type were responsible for destroying the world as we know it. (Choose the features, maybe half-elf, half orc, tattoos, or maybe they are just fat bald men with red beards) Now, he is trying to save the world in the most direct way that he can conceive: murder. He uses all sorts of divinations to stalk his victims and then strikes, remorselessly.



Now, I think that we are in the categories of serial killer that you were likely thinking of when you mentioned serial killers. At this point, you have a few decisions on how to flesh this person out. What is this persons childhood trauma? What is this persons sexuality? What is this person’s relationship to society? Is he smart? How you answer these questions will craft the direction of your killer.

So much of serial killer psychology comes from a place of abuse if not unaddressed trauma (actually, jeffry dahmer stands out as the one case where there is no reported abuse). Some young boys are forced into dresses as children (called petticoat torture) and then mocked, by their parental figures, which bubbles up into rage filled sexuality, particularly when there are no feelings of security coming from any other source in their life.

Intelligent serial killers tend to be more organized, and they tend to feel empowered by the inability of society to catch them. But dumb serial killers can feel this as well. Serial killers prioritize their value above the value of other people (obviously), but some derive this value by feeling like they are “outsmarting” someone. Ted Bundy is a great example of a highly intelligent manipulative dude. So, based on real life serial killers, here are my suggestions.

Green River Killer type: A man who travels. Kills prostitutes and sometimes young boys. A big erotic element to his fantasy. Tends to use extra-ordinarily gruesome tools. Assumes he won’t get caught because of different jurisdictional boundaries. To him, murder and sex are interwoven. Preys on the weaker parts of society. I suggest Half-Orc Barbarian 2/Ranger X. But…Dragonfire adept could make for some neat corpses. Low charisma high constitution. Disorganized.

Ted Bundy Type: Wicked Smart. Wicked manipulative. The people that he is attracted to fill him with turbulence. He makes that turbulence incarnate in how he tortures his object of affection. I would totally go archivist 3/Wizard 3/mystic theurge. No summoning monster line, but called demons and creatures are probably fine. He also has a high charisma (bluff, diplomacy, maxxed). He charms. He is intense. He targets women (or men) that he is attracted to, all of whom fit a visual profile. Organized

Manson: A Bard 2/marshal 1/ardent x. This is a leader with a plan. That plan consists of taking his cronies, most of whom he has a romantic brainwashed slave relationship with, and using them to re-organize society around what he believes is the truth. This is unique in that he will selectively target the weaker, but high economic/political power targets to teach society a lesson that it is blind to. I would even through some fiend templates on this guy. organized.

I would pick a model, write down a backstory of how the killer is traumatized and have the victims and methodology of attack be a twisted re-enactment of that childhood trauma. It will evolve (or...mature) over the course of victims. The really cool thing about using a serial killer in D&D is that you have magic. Do you have any idea how much damage ted bundy could have done with just the spell charm person? You also have literally, evil, things in the world that these killers may interact with (or even condescend to!) What happens when an itinerant serial killer discovers that he really enjoys watching summoned fiends rend his victims apart slowly. Or when he can sculpt his spells to look like nefarious clown party favors.

To really make the serial killer work, though, in this game, is to divorce them from a concept of evil, and to make them the handiwork of people and society who failed them consistently. Would they have been so messed up if someone had just intervened 15 years ago, jailing the abusive step father and setting up the selfish mother with a parenting program? Watch psycho (again) to get at this difficult feeling.

[atemu1234]

Rangers are serial killers right out of the box.

Ranger, at least for two levels. Probably urban ranger. Then, you may want to get into a prestige class. The one I have in mind is from Complete Scoundrel, Avenging Executioner, especially if you're thinking Sweeney Todd style rampages.

[DMVerdandi]

Definitely wizard for the booksmart, kill you 5 ways from sunday murderer. Stalking people with spontaneous divination. Using spells like wall of stone to trap people and knife them to death.
Weapon spells so that you will never be without a killing tool.
Delayed blast fireballs in random public spots for spree kills.

Wiz/sorc spells just have SO MUCH that you can wreck lives with.
One of my favorite concepts really. Pick up something so that you can qualify for Eldritch knight. No need to go full gish, just have enough to have enough.

[Crazysaneman]

Ghost Faced Killer/ Avenging Executioner is fun as heck

[gorfnab]

Druids can make excellent serial killers. No one will suspect that a stray house cat is capable of murder except for the occasional theoretical commoner.

[Telonius]

Druids can make excellent serial killers. No one will suspect that a stray house cat is capable of murder except for the occasional theoretical commoner.

Or anyone who has owned a cat at any point in their life. :smallbiggrin:

[Inevitability]

I'd go with an evil cleric impersonating a good cleric. Make him someone the PCs go to for help. Also have him kill in such a way that if the PCs marked each death on a map, it would form an arrow pointing at the church. (Only if your players appreciate that sort of dumb humor)

No, make it so that the arrow points at the house of that-one-weird-stranger-dressed-in-black-who-almost-never-leaves-his-house the PC's already suspect! Lots of fun and falling alignments for everyone! :smalltongue: