Making an Ur Priest Final Boss

[TheCrowing1432]

So next week is the final session of a couple month long campaign ive been running. I had always intended the final boss to be an Ur Priest, which I had assumed was some sort of Evil Cleric PRC. I looked it over again and realized I was horribly wrong, cleric levels arent required, and are in fact discouraged, it seems.

So my question is, how do I build one? He will be 13th level

[Gildedragon]

what theme do you want?

also a boss with 8th level spells is probably a bit much: what is the party the urpriest is challenging?

[TheCrowing1432]

what theme do you want?

also a boss with 8th level spells is probably a bit much: what is the party the urpriest is challenging?

All 12th level

Sorcerer, Druid, Cleric, Warblade, Spell Thief, Druid has an Ape companion with the warbeast template.

[Emrod]

offhand i would say to use the initial levels needed to get the urpriest requirements to give him flavor as a character.
thief gives a sneaky cleric who steals from all, even the gods.
monk gives the illusion of a spellcaster thats incapable of melee but is a nasty surprise for anyone who gets too close
Fighters make an urpriest come off a LOT like blackguards, highly contemptuous of divine casters and paladins alike.
Frankly using an Ur-Priest is difficult to show AS an Ur-Priest, because the flavor of the class is that they are typically always in hiding. when exposed an Ur-Priest functions identically to a cleric of evil disposition.
Personally Ur-Priests AS Ur-Priests are best used as villains in high divine games, multiple clerics, paladins, low arcane party compositions where their Divine Spell Resistance REALLY gets to shine(it may or may not be RAW but i rule usually that smites are subject to it, its a fluff thing and abusing it can make your paladins/blackguards feel like they're being robbed of class traits so avoid overplaying that.)
for added fluff, Ur-Priests look very similarly to Sith Lords, you cant have too many or the divine forces they steal their spells from will be able to pinpoint them more thoroughly "Always, Two, There are. hrrrrrrmn."

[Gildedragon]

well urpriest 8 is pretty strong, though benefits from theurge classes; so what sorta theme you want for the villain; he could easily be a martial type, blending sword and divine power (Crusader 5, Urpriest 2, RKV 6)

or the maker of dark pacts: Binder 5, Urpriest 3, Tenebrous Apostate 5...

[DarkSoul]

Warlock 5/Anything with a good Fort save 1/Ur-Priest 7. Great flavor from the warlock levels going into Ur-Priest, and every skill required to get into the PrC is a class skill for the Warlock. It also only has one extra spell level over what the party has access to.

[TheCrowing1432]

well urpriest 8 is pretty strong, though benefits from theurge classes; so what sorta theme you want for the villain; he could easily be a martial type, blending sword and divine power (Crusader 5, Urpriest 2, RKV 6)

or the maker of dark pacts: Binder 5, Urpriest 3, Tenebrous Apostate 5...

His disciple, which the pc's will fight before him is a Paladin of Tyranny 6/Bone Knight 6 who is based on mounted combat.

The backstory of this world is that Pelor has started to become extremely powerful, even more powerful then other gods, hes actually started taking worshippers from other gods such as Moradin and Corrilian, reducing their power from Greater Deities into Intermediate.

Some of the other gods are losing all their worshippers and becoming either Minor ones or dead gods.

This is all because the Ur Priest has been setting events in motion to increase the worship of Pelor and decrease the worship in other gods. He starts holy wars, makes pacts with demons, and just basically makes the world a terrible place, that is, until Pelor can come and save the day, causing him to acquire more and more worshippers.

The reason hes doing this, is because the more powerful a god is, the more power he can steal from it as an Ur Priest, and the more power he steals, the better he can hide himself, even from the god he stole his power from.

Now, as to why this all powerful Ur Priest is only 13th level, He had invaded the dwarf kingdom who was holding a holy artifact of Moradin, able to forge extremely powerful items, he had gone to steal it with his own nefarious ends, but Moradin had tricked him and bound him with golden shackles which reduce his power significantly.

Once the PC's slay him, the truth will come out and balance will be restored to the Pantheon and the Cosmos.


Now that I think about it, I think Beguiler or Warlock would be perfect

[Rebel7284]

There are many ways to build an Ur Priest.

There are those that use it for theurging effectively:
Wizard 5/Mindbender 1/Ur Priest 2/Mystic Theurge 5
Alternatively, you can combine with Sublime Chord to get two fast progression classes to advance with Mystic Theurge.

You can have an the Sacrilegious Fist (note that, RAW, text trumps table and thus Sacred Fist has full caster progression):
Monk 2/x 3/Ur Priest 2/Sacred Fist 6

Then there is the Dark Knight build for crazy saves:
Paladin of Tyranny 3/Hexblade 2/Ur Priest 8

You can have a character that steals ALL the things, whether it's spells or buffs:
Spellthief 4/Warblade 1/Ur Priest 8 with Master Spellthief feat.

Ultimately, optimizing an Ur Priest does end up pretty similar to optimizing a cleric, so the cleric handbooks are still useful. Divine Metamagic is still amazing.

Also, you as a DM can totally have a cleric with the belief system of an Ur Priest. Worship the ideal of stealing power from the gods and stuff. :)

[Willie the Duck]

Now that I think about it, I think Beguiler or Warlock would be perfect

Unless you want to start the PrC at level 10 (not unheard of, but kind of defeats the mechanical value of the class), beguiler would have trouble with the knowledges and fort save. Perhaps a dip into Duskblade? Warlock just needs the fort save. Perhaps fighter or some monk variant which gives him a useful combat feat (point blank or precise shot for a ranged warlock, combat reflexes and weapon finesse for a glaivelock).

Monk (passive way style for bluff skill) 2/Duskblade 3/Ur Priest 2/Sacred Fist 6.

Mechanically speaking, the Ur Priest seems cool, you get 5 levels of 'something else' and slightly quicker access to higher level spells in exchange for 2 feats (and a lot of skills). However, I've found that the two feat tax, along with the likely requirement of practiced spellcaster (especially if you are doing two caster progressions) can be crippling. Likewise, except for levels 12-16 (which this example thankfully is in), where you have a spell level that no else has, you are often inferior to a normal cleric of the same total level.

[gorfnab]

If you want Warlock with Ur-Priest I suggest:
Warlock 4/ Binder 1/ Ur-Priest 2/ Eldritch Disciple 2/ Hellfire Warlock 3/ Eldritch Disciple 8

or

Warlock 4/ Binder 1/ Ur-Priest 2/ Eldritch Disciple 1/ Mindbender 1/ Eldritch Disciple 1/ Hellfire Warlock 3/ Eldritch Disciple 7

[Pyromancer999]

You could always do a Sacrilegious Fist (https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Sacrilegious_Fist_(3.5e_Optimized_Character_Build) ) build for the boss.

[Urpriest]

If you want Warlock with Ur-Priest I suggest:
Warlock 4/ Binder 1/ Ur-Priest 2/ Eldritch Disciple 2/ Hellfire Warlock 3/ Eldritch Disciple 8

or

Warlock 4/ Binder 1/ Ur-Priest 2/ Eldritch Disciple 1/ Mindbender 1/ Eldritch Disciple 1/ Hellfire Warlock 3/ Eldritch Disciple 7

Remember, the build only goes to level 13.

(Note also that there's a bit of ambiguity in Urpriests qualifying for Eldritch Disciple, but as you're the DM you don't really have to worry about that.)

As such, I'd probably skip the Hellfire Warlock, since at this point it delays your Cleric spells pretty dramatically. You could do something like Warlock 4/Binder 1/Ur-Priest 2/Eldritch Disciple 6, ending up with 7th level Cleric spells. At that point the Binder level isn't doing all that much for you, so you could swap it out with something else with good Fort. For example, you could do something like Warlock 2/Duskblade 3/Ur-Priest 2/Eldritch Disciple 6, since Arcane Channeling is pretty sweet with Cleric spells.

Note that for all of these you should be careful about skill points: NPC ability scores aren't that great, so it can be hard to accumulate enough skill points to meet the prereqs with 2+Int classes.

[TheCrowing1432]

Remember, the build only goes to level 13.

(Note also that there's a bit of ambiguity in Urpriests qualifying for Eldritch Disciple, but as you're the DM you don't really have to worry about that.)

As such, I'd probably skip the Hellfire Warlock, since at this point it delays your Cleric spells pretty dramatically. You could do something like Warlock 4/Binder 1/Ur-Priest 2/Eldritch Disciple 6, ending up with 7th level Cleric spells. At that point the Binder level isn't doing all that much for you, so you could swap it out with something else with good Fort. For example, you could do something like Warlock 2/Duskblade 3/Ur-Priest 2/Eldritch Disciple 6, since Arcane Channeling is pretty sweet with Cleric spells.

Note that for all of these you should be careful about skill points: NPC ability scores aren't that great, so it can be hard to accumulate enough skill points to meet the prereqs with 2+Int classes.

This is perfect.

The source of the Ur Priests power comes from a demon prince who provides him with his clerical abilities and warlock invocations.

[Caedric]

Unless you want to start the PrC at level 10 (not unheard of, but kind of defeats the mechanical value of the class), beguiler would have trouble with the knowledges and fort save. Perhaps a dip into Duskblade? Warlock just needs the fort save. Perhaps fighter or some monk variant which gives him a useful combat feat (point blank or precise shot for a ranged warlock, combat reflexes and weapon finesse for a glaivelock).

Monk (passive way style for bluff skill) 2/Duskblade 3/Ur Priest 2/Sacred Fist 6.

Mechanically speaking, the Ur Priest seems cool, you get 5 levels of 'something else' and slightly quicker access to higher level spells in exchange for 2 feats (and a lot of skills). However, I've found that the two feat tax, along with the likely requirement of practiced spellcaster (especially if you are doing two caster progressions) can be crippling. Likewise, except for levels 12-16 (which this example thankfully is in), where you have a spell level that no else has, you are often inferior to a normal cleric of the same total level.

Actually, Beguiler is one of the EASIEST transitions to Ur-Priest you can do. 6+Int skill points (your casting stat), so cross-class for Intimidate 4 and some knowledge ranks (Religion and The Planes), then Mindbender gives you the Fort save AND the remaining skills as class skills (Bluff, KS: The Planes, and Spellcraft). Telepathy is pretty stalwart throw-in ability for a splash class on a Boss as most PCs don't defense it and add Mindsense to capitalize for color and capability. Beguilers are excellent support if you want a memorable lieutenant fight with the Boss slinking away for a later fight. Beguiler also has light armor proficiency without spell failure.

And this is without ANY jank. Consider Knowledge Devotion at 3rd level for cheaper skill entry and an early Gish option, Versatile Spell Caster at 6 (some rulings support burning the divine slots) but it's an essential spontaneous caster feat anyway, and maybe Arcane strike if you want to continue the Gish path or Practiced Spellcaster to keep your Arcane CL in line with your Divine CL (which advances faster). You probably need to adjudicate Legion of Sentinels in advance and Blinding Color Surge / Mirror Image, Greater are among your best friends. If you bump him to 14, Greater Dispel Magic can really torment a party.

Beguiler 5 / Mindbender 1 / Ur-Priest 2 / Mystic Theurge 5 is pretty straight forward, 7th-level divine 0+with bonus spells, 5th-level arcane

Even straight Ur-Priest 7 for the class features and hit points isn't a bad route. And there are for more robust builds if you want to min-max.

[jdizzlean]

The Mod Life Crisis:Not even a Ur Priest can defeat thread necromancy.