(DnD 3.5) Suggestions for creating Zodd the Immortal.

[maniakmastah]

Hey everyone, looking to create an NPC for my players to interact with based on thE character Zodd the Immortal from the manga "Berserk". Wanting to keep him as true to the source material as possible, in that he is a demon, albeit one who detests simply killing or devouring people for the sake of it and simply wants to finally find someone who can give him the challenge he desires. Won't need too many spell like abilities or spells (could have them, but will rarely use them), but focuses on raw strength and toughness, as well as giving him martial maneuvers. Debating whether to just flesh him out as a monster with many different abilities than average demons, or look at some class levels. Also looking for monsters to base Zodd on. Eager to hear any and all suggestions

[curious-puzzle]

What level are your players? Also, what sort of encounter do you want Zodd to be? Something that can be defeated, or more along the lines of Berserk, i.e. the first time they meet only plot/fate keeps Guts and Griffith alive?

[Gruftzwerg]

As race Goliath or something large, maybe a monster or real daemon. Or a half-Minotaur template?

For feats I would suggest something along the knockback/knockdown feats with some charge build on top of it. But beware that you don't overdo it with charge optimization or your players end up as 1hits. And maybe dip into monk/unarmed swordsage for his unarmed strikes and to fight without armor.

maybe consider lycanthropy rules for his transformation?

edit: If it is going to be a lategame/endgame build, consider Frenzied Berserker as PRC, which would be fitting. But again, beware of 1shotting your PCs.

edit2: maybe skip the otherwise mandatory Shock Trooper in the charge build, to give your players more breathing room.

[maniakmastah]

What level are your players? Also, what sort of encounter do you want Zodd to be? Something that can be defeated, or more along the lines of Berserk, i.e. the first time they meet only plot/fate keeps Guts and Griffith alive?

Its pretty high level in the game, bordering at epics, but for the first encounter, something along the lines of the first time meeting him, he can be fought, but the premise is to gain his aid, and he'll first test the party's resolve by challenging someone in the party to nonlethal combat, to see if they can give him the fight he craves later on. Depending on how they do things, Zodd will aid the party in exchange for a final duel to the death if he feels them strong enough, or let them go and tell them to get stronger later. Party is largely unoptimized (save for a few tricks they do well).

[maniakmastah]

As race Goliath or something large, maybe a monster or real daemon. Or a half-Minotaur template?

For feats I would suggest something along the knockback/knockdown feats with some charge build on top of it. But beware that you don't overdo it with charge optimization or your players end up as 1hits. And maybe dip into monk/unarmed swordsage for his unarmed strikes and to fight without armor.

maybe consider lycanthropy rules for his transformation?

edit: If it is going to be a lategame/endgame build, consider Frenzied Berserker as PRC, which would be fitting. But again, beware of 1shotting your PCs.

edit2: maybe skip the otherwise mandatory Shock Trooper in the charge build, to give your players more breathing room.

I'll look into those. Was probably just going to stat him as an older demon (making him as a unique demon instead of using one premade) who has tired of the constant war between angels, demons, devils and whatnot, and prefers to travel amongst the Material Plane, challenging warriors for those who can impress him enough to give him a good battle. As he journeyed, he soon began to see the many races as something more than just things to kill, relating to them more.

Will definitely be looking into knockback and knockdown based feats, though preferring to go the more tactic based route to reflect his mastery of battlefield tactics. He will have martial maneuvers as innate abilities (similar to Valkyries from Tome of Battle) to reflect that he was created for battle as an old demon. I tend to shy away from Frenzied Berserkers as a whole, even though it would definitely fit Zodd. I want him to be a difficult challenge, but not have the party be one shotted straight out.

[Gruftzwerg]

maybe go for pounce + whirlwind + knockback/down

this way, he will only have a single attack that is impressive but not 1shoting anybody.

edit: and unless your PC are so stupid to cluster up every turn again and again, he should be an interesting tactical movement/positioning fight.

edit2: imagine the first fight between guts, griffith & zodd in the castle. The pillars did offer protection from LoS and thus charge to some degree. If you can build a nice combat environment that fits the fight, this should work out nicely.