[3.5] Help With NPC

[Thurbane]

Hey all,

I want to use an NPC villian in my game: a Harssaf (MM3 p.82; Monstrous Humanoid, 6 RHD).

I want to give him 2 (or 3) martial adept levels. What would you recommend?

Things to note: must be Lawful Evil; RHD count to initiator level (So 1st class level he will be IL 4); any association with Baator/Dis flavour or crunch-wise would be a distinct bonus.

Cheers - T

http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/mmiii_gallery/83009.jpg
+3 Natural armor bonus
Burrow 10 ft
Special attacks: flaming aura; sand pulse
Special qualities: blindsense 30 ft, DR 5/bludgeoning, fast healing 3, immunity to blindness and fire, sand form, SR 17, vulnerable to cold
Str +4, Dex +6, Con +6, Cha +2
Bonus feats: Alertness, Lightning Reflexes

[Malak'ai]

First thoughts would be Swordsage pure and simple, but having actually thinking a bit more about it, and looking at the Special Qualities (especially the fitst 3) my thoughts went straight to Crusader. Fast healing 3, coupled with Martial Spirit and Crusaders Strike will keep him flush with healing (to a certain extent).
Only thing that might be a bit annoying is the DR 5/bludgeoning, but only if you get him.... Zealous Counterattack(?)... I think its called (I can't remember the name or the level it's gained at at the moment and I'm away from my books) as it'll slow down your Delayed Damage pool.

[DrKerosene]

If you want to make it a brute, Crusader seems a little better for boosting the Fort Save, and works with the minor Charisma boost. Also, there's some of those Alignment maneuvers. However, Warblades would probably be more common in their society ("Fighters"), and achieve the same result.

Reading the fluff, and looking at the abilities, I think Swordsage would easily seem like you simply "advanced" it's HD if it was seen as a monster by the PCs. Also, if you replace base classes with ToB, Swordsage is the "favored class". Fire theme, ambushing, dual weilding Kukris. You've already got +6 BAB from the RHD so it's not like the 1 BAB loss will cost an iterative.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I'm going to agree that Crusader is going to be your best choice. Between Martial Spirit and the healing strikes, Stone Power for temp hp, and its fast healing, it should last quite a while, so the flaming aura will get plenty of mileage.

I would give him Half-Fiend 1 (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20031010a), using this variant (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060630a) to expand the class skill list of his RHD. I would use half-Malebranche (FCII), it wouldn't give a Dex bonus so Half-Fiend 1 should give +2 Str, and it would add Balance, Escape Artist, Intimidate, Kn: Planes, and Sense Motive to his class skills for his RHD, plus increase his RHD base skill points to 8+Int. The purpose behind including Half-Fiend 1 is to qualify for the feats Brand of the Nine Hells: Dispater and possibly even Mark of Dis from FCII.

So he would be Outsider 6/ Crusader 3, flaws/feats should be Bravado and Hot-Blooded (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?258440-The-quot-Best-quot-Flaws#30), Brand of the Nine Hells: Dispater, Devil's Favor, Devil's Aura, Combat Reflexes, Imperious Command, and Stone Power. Ability scores with the elite array and racial adjustments should be Str 22, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 16. Skill ranks should be Balance 9, Climb 9, Intimidate 12, Jump 9, Kn: Planes 4, Listen 12, Sense Motive 9, Spot 12, with the skill tricks Nimble Charge, Up the Hill, Never Outnumbered, Wall Jumper, Speedy Ascent, Extreme Leap, and Corner Perch.

Maneuvers known: Crusader's Strike, Leading the Attack, Foehammer, Mountain Hammer, Battle Leader's Charge, and Revitalizing Strike. Ready everything except Leading the Attack.
Stances known: Martial Spirit and Thicket of Blades.

Equipment (ECL 14 NPC, 45,000 gp)
Glaive +1 Spell Storing (contains Poison, spell-like ability from Half-Fiend), 8,308 gp
+ Lesser Crystal of Life Drinking (MIC), 1,500 gp
Breastplate of Terror (MIC, Armor of the Watching Master set), but Mithral instead of Adamantine, 7,200 gp
+ Fearsome property (DotU, more recent than the MIC version), 5,000 gp
+ Least Crystal of Adaptation (MIC), 500 gp
+ Masterwork Armor Spikes, 350 gp
Gauntlets of Destruction (MIC, Armor of the Watching Master set), 6,610 gp
Helm of Wounding Sight (MIC, Armor of the Watching Master set), 6,500 gp
Mask of Mastery (MIC, Armor of the Watching Master set), 3,500 gp
Shadow Cloak (DotU), 5,500 gp, allows him to automatically avoid an attack 3/day!
32 gp remaining

Tactics: Activate Flaming Aura (free action), begin in Thicket of Blades stance. Begin with his Darkness spell-like ability active.
Reposition if he's not within 10 ft. of most/every opponent, preferably in Sand Form or by using Battle Leader's Charge.
Once within 10 ft. of most/every opponent, use Devil's Aura (swift action), then Intimidate with Never Outnumbered (move action), then either use a melee strike or Sand Blast as many shaken opponents as possible (standard action).
If he hasn't used Sand Blast and most/all of his opponents are shaken and he can hit most/all of them at once with it, he should Intimidate an opponent who's not shaken (move action) and use Sand Blast (standard action).
Most rounds he should use a melee strike (standard action) and Intimidate an opponent (move action).
He should release the Poison spell-like ability stored in his weapon when striking an opponent wearing light or no armor and not using any (non-Rogue-proficient) martial weapons.

Keep in mind that fear effects stack to create an escalated condition (Shaken > Frightened > Panicked), and the escalated condition lasts until every contributing fear effect has lapsed according to the Rules Compendium. If he Intimidates an opponent they're Cowering for one round and Shaken for that and the next round. If he Intimidates an already Shaken opponent they're Cowering for one round and Frightened for that and the next round (or longer if the initial Shaken condition's effect lasts longer).

Edit: He should actually have Hide and Move Silently at 9 ranks, I'd originally planned on giving him heavy armor and a shield but went with Combat Reflexes/reach instead.

[Thurbane]

Thanks all for the advice, lots of good stuff there. :smallsmile: