NPC Build Advice [Unholy Scion Mortal Hunter]

[Thurbane]

Looking for some suggestions on a NPC/villain build.

Build I'm currently looking at is:

Unholy Scion Human Crusader 7/Mortal Hunter 5

...using Able Learner for the PrC skill ranks. Will also be a follower of an Elder Evil, and as such, will have 3 bonus Vile feats.

My heart is set on Mortal Hunter and Unholy Scion, but the rest is negotiable. I want the character to be strong in melee, as well as having the goodies that come with Unholy Scion and Mortal Hunter.

Cheers - T

[barakaka]

I'm putting this in a spoiler so my players don't see some of the ideas I just had... until it's already too late! Muahahaha! That means no Inquisitors! No Psions! No summoners! And especially no firebreathing fey!
Looking for the "overpowering stench of evil" theme, I'd pick Dark Speech, Evil Brand, and VerminFriend as his Vile feats. I might look at some of the rituals in Lords of Darkness. Carry a Darkskull (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#darkskull) around and use the Unhallowed area to attach Deeper Darkness everywhere he walks. Now that's evil! He won't have Deeper Darkness on his spell list for Mortal Hunter, so he may need a wand or scroll of it or to cast it as an SLA.

Pick out a few vermin that really form strange encounters. I believe there's a giant antlion in Sandstorm which could be cool to trap the PCs into a room with. If that's too easy, then have the Unholy Mortal Hunter make an appearance to darken the area and provide evil laughter.

I believe Draconomicon or Dragon Magic has Dragon's Blood which is a non-magical polymorph potion. Evil for sure, but kinda steps on the toes of Mortal Skin. Bloodspike, Tempo for the extra move action when the time calls for it.

[Technetium43]

So, I don't have any advice, but I do have a question about the Elder Evil devotion.


Any intelligent and evil creature can swear service to an elder evil if the creature knows of its existence. Doing so grants the creature one bonus feat, plus an extra bonus feat for every five character levels or Hit Dice. These bonus feats must be selected from among the vile feats given in the accompanying table. Elder evils do not grant spells.

Is there something that countermands the 'from this table' bit, elsewhere in the book? Because I've seen many people treating it as 'any vile feat', when in fact it's a rather restricted list.

[Thurbane]

Is there something that countermands the 'from this table' bit, elsewhere in the book? Because I've seen many people treating it as 'any vile feat', when in fact it's a rather restricted list.

I think RAW, you are restricted to feats on the table in that book, but I believe RAI (and how I run it) is any vile feat...

[WhamBamSam]

I'd take a one level Ranger dip for skills over Able Learner, since it ends up with the same IL and saves you two feats (Able Learner and your Track prereq). In fact, Urban Companion Swift and Deadly Hunter Druid 1 is even better on a Mortal Hunter, as you nab Track and Alertness, and more goodies besides, though it does delay entry by a level due to not having full BAB.

How do you feel about a bit of Incarnum? Seems like it'd gel nicely with the Unholy Scion flavor. You can meet Mortal Hunter's Alertness prereq with a Soulspark Familiar from an Incarnate dip or the Shape Soulmeld feat and take Sapphire Smite (maybe take Bonus Essentia and/or switch from Human to Azurin as well). Depending on how you read it, you might get extra uses and damage on both the Crusader's Smite and Mortal Hunter's Smite Mortals.

So perhaps something like this?

Unholy Scion Azurin Wildshape Ranger 1/Crusader 4/Mortal Hunter 5/Crusader +2
1. Ranger 1 - TrackB, Shape Soulmeld (Soulspark Familiar), Mortalbane, Willing DeformityV
2. Crusader 1
3. Crusader 2 - Power Attack
4. Crusader 3
5. Crusader 4 - Deformity (Tall)*V
6. Mortal Hunter 1 - Combat Reflexes
7. Mortal Hunter 2 - Boost SLAB
8. Mortal Hunter 3
9. Mortal Hunter 4 - Sapphire Smite
10. Mortal Hunter 5 - Murderous Intent/Chosen of Evil/WhateverV
11. Crusader 5
12. Crusader 6 - Martial Stance (Thicket of Blades)**

*If you rule that the Medium size requirement means you have to be exactly medium, you may want to go with a large Mortal Skin form instead. If this is the case and you'd rather have Beloved of Demons than Murderous Intent, you could qualify with Evil Brand as one of your earlier Vile feats.

**Could also be Flyby Attack or somesuch if you use Heroics or an item to grant the stance.

Unfortunately, Smite Mortals has the same annoying verbiage of "normal melee attack" that Smite Evil does, so you might not be able to use it in conjunction with strike maneuvers or even with AoOs depending on how your table rules. Crusader's Smite ability has no such stipulation though it requires a free action before the attack to activate, so it's potentially a bit awkward with AoOs. Figure out how those are going to work at your table, then take some big swings with some cocktail of smite and strike maneuver rolled in. You should have a reach advantage, so the party will have to go through a Thicket of Blades AoO to get into melee which may or may not give you more chances to smite. You have a bunch of smites, and probably don't need to fight more than once in the day as an NPC, so unload them with abandon (which will also grant a substantial bonus to hit which allows you to Power Attack harder).

[barakaka]

Get an Essentia Helm and possibly Soulsmite Gauntlets if you're on the lenient end of things. Technically the gauntlets only work for Soulborn, which is incredibly limiting.