Making a Banshee

[Blackhawk748]

Im making a pair of NPCs for an upcoming E8 Gestalt campaign. They are the Ghostly Spy-Mistresses to a Vampire Lord and while i know what one track of their buildis gonna be (Rogue 5/Assassin 3) im not sure what to make the other side. Id like to make them Banshee-like so im figuring some kind of caster with a bunch of Sonic spells, im just not sure which full caster would have the best mix of spells.

Thanks in advance.

[Nibbens]

Im making a pair of NPCs for an upcoming E8 Gestalt campaign. They are the Ghostly Spy-Mistresses to a Vampire Lord and while i know what one track of their buildis gonna be (Rogue 5/Assassin 3) im not sure what to make the other side. Id like to make them Banshee-like so im figuring some kind of caster with a bunch of Sonic spells, im just not sure which full caster would have the best mix of spells.

Thanks in advance.

PF has a Banshee variant that uses Bard CasterLevels.

[Honest Tiefling]

You could go with the older aspect of the creature and make them diviners instead of screamers. I mean, if you are going to have spies, shouting at the top of your lungs as a class feature doesn't make much sense, does it?

Also, it screws with the players!

[tadkins]

You could go with the older aspect of the creature and make them diviners instead of screamers. I mean, if you are going to have spies, shouting at the top of your lungs as a class feature doesn't make much sense, does it?

Also, it screws with the players!

But screaming and calling attention to yourself is a great way to prove you're not a spy. I mean, people would expect a real spy to be quiet and discreet, right? Screaming would be a great way to get people to think "oh she can't possibly be the spy".

*snicker*

[Blackhawk748]

Im fine with giving them diviner spells and whatnot, but when it comes to combat i want them to unleash their pipes. :smallamused:

[Honest Tiefling]

Well, what if they had two different builds? One could be the loud 'muscle' while the other is sneakier.

I'd consider making one a Bard//Something/Blackguard? The Bard gives the skills and the screaming spells, and the other gives a lot of charisma related boosts. Assassin requires intelligence, not charisma after all. The outsider flavor might not work for this concept, and I don't know if your group is okay with changing that to a powerful undead thing of some sort. Or why not Orcus? Hexblade seems pretty fitting with the curse thing, and has a relatively nice chassis, minus the crummy skills. Hexblade/Bard seems hilarious.

The other one could even be Rogue/Assassin//Wizard, getting a few sonic spells and that divination flavor, while meshing with the INT heavy Assassin. I'm guessing incorporeal undead don't tend to wear armor? Beguiler is doubling up on stuff, but does use light armor. Warmage might actually work, and I'm pretty sure they have SOME sonic spells in there.

Spell Thief might work better in Gestalt, and the Warlock's Eldritch Blast is nice and they get thematic abilities, but I don't personally know of a way to make it sonic damage. Dread Necromancer seems to be better for their boss, not them.

I haven't used it myself, but what of the Doomspeak Feat from Champions of Ruin? It does seem thematically appropriate if you want banshees yelling at your opponents.

[Silva Stormrage]

Simplest way for a banshee would be to apply the ghost template on them. It can give them at least 2 different scream options. 1 Frightful Moan, 2) Disturbing Laugh? (Away from books I forgot the exact name). The first is from the standard selection and the second is from Oriental adventures and deals 2d6 mental ability score damage. It can be pretty effective.

[Blackhawk748]

Bard//Hexblade/Blackguard should be awesome. For the other Im usually not one for Prepared Casters, but since she'd be using Spontaneous Divination that will be less of a problem


Simplest way for a banshee would be to apply the ghost template on them. It can give them at least 2 different scream options. 1 Frightful Moan, 2) Disturbing Laugh? (Away from books I forgot the exact name). The first is from the standard selection and the second is from Oriental adventures and deals 2d6 mental ability score damage. It can be pretty effective.

Already on them. They will also both have Quicken Manifestation and Ghostly Grasp, because those feats are great.

[frogglesmash]

There's a Banshee in MMII, got a pretty high CR though.

[Silva Stormrage]

Bard//Hexblade/Blackguard should be awesome. For the other Im usually not one for Prepared Casters, but since she'd be using Spontaneous Divination that will be less of a problem



Already on them. They will also both have Quicken Manifestation and Ghostly Grasp, because those feats are great.

Whoops wasn't sure if "Ghostly" meant fluff wise or the actual ghost template XD.

In the interest of adding something actually useful the empowered ability damage feat is pretty good for ghosts with that mental ability damage laugh from OA. 3d6 ability damage in an aoe is terrifying.

[Blackhawk748]

Whoops wasn't sure if "Ghostly" meant fluff wise or the actual ghost template XD.

In the interest of adding something actually useful the empowered ability damage feat is pretty good for ghosts with that mental ability damage laugh from OA. 3d6 ability damage in an aoe is terrifying.

My god that is sick, i may just do that.....

[ksbsnowowl]

The Keening Spirit template on page 126 of City of the Spider Queen is a variant of the ghost template that gets different special attacks and special qualities, which are basically being a banshee, including a 1/day Wail of the Banshee effect.