Building the black manta

[ScarletThief]

Hello lovely people of the playground, I'm gearing up for a big oceanic campaign and wanted to make a big bad who thrives in this environment. The first character who came to mind was the enigmatic black manta. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Manta) link for those unfamiliar. My question here is how would one go about making such a vengeance driven warrior class wise his equipment won't be an issue as the setting has remnants of highly advanced technology and this villain being a user of it wouldn't be unbelievable, my main concern is which class would be most effective and thematic class for the pathfinder system.

[ScarletThief]

Also a few of the players are of azlanti blood so there could be some fun parallels with his constant war with aquaman

[Hiro Quester]

Of course Stormwrack will be a relevant book for you. Lots of cool aquatic feats, class options (and adaptations), etc.

Check out the Darfallen race as an option. +2 str, -2 Dex, 40 swim speed and a bite attack. A darfallan Barbarian might be a good option.

Plus Darfallan have the brooding, with tragic history, aspect to their culture that seems to fit with this character. Perhaps you could ask DM to adapt that aspect of the world to make Azlanti the target of his racial hatred.

I don't know how you get lasers to shoot out of your eyes, though.

[Nifft]

I don't know how you get lasers to shoot out of your eyes, though.

Warlock levels.

[ScarletThief]

There's this suit of powered armored that's an artifact the characters been cleared to start with that Includes nifty lasers and built in strength/con boosters I was considering the half sahuagin but darfallen could work well too

[ScarletThief]

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/3rd-party-races/dreamscarred-press/half-sahuagin/

Half sahuagin for refference

[Grod_The_Giant]

Warlock levels.
Or Ocular Spell!

[ScarletThief]

Ocular spell is fantastic what class would give me that much access to beams though

[Prime32]

The Aquatic Shot feat might be useful, for making ranged attacks into water while on land.


Of course Stormwrack will be a relevant book for you. Lots of cool aquatic feats, class options (and adaptations), etc.On top of that, Sandstorm has spells like Dessicate, Dispel Water, Parching Touch and Wither which are extra-effective against water creatures. There's also Horrid Wilting from core, as well as Desiccating Bubble from Spell Compendium.

[ScarletThief]

It's great seeing so much feedback here kinda thought nobody would care about a character build like black manta

[Afgncaap5]

As far as class goes, would it be conceivable to get some sort of Artificer/Legendary Captain build? Pretty much every incarnation of Black Manta I've ever seen has indicated that he's really, really good with technology (his wetsuit is so perfectly designed that not even The Atom can get through it, among other things), and it kinda feels like he's an expert at commanding his vessels and henchmen.

Or if not Legendary Captain, perhaps some of the other pirate/nautical classes, like Dread Pirate, or even Windwright Captain (I mean, those guys just think and their ship responds.)

He's also a notably vicious attacker, maybe instead of pirate-themed classes you should go for something that's all about that. Ghost-Faced Killer feels... thematically appropriate, though I've never seen it played at a table so I can't say how effective it is.

-EDIT-

Blargh, I just missed that this was for Pathfinder, sorry.


It's great seeing so much feedback here kinda thought nobody would care about a character build like black manta

Aquaman is awesome, no matter what Hollywood's depictions of comic characters based on half-remembered bad writing from 60s cartoons tells us, and he's got an awesome enemy.

[ScarletThief]

I had considered (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/magus/archetypes/paizo-magus-archetypes/armored-battlemage-magus-archetype/) the armored battlemage for a mixture of laser potential armor effectiveness and melee mastery but I'm sure there's a better option in some book maybe prestiging into something more vicious

[ScarletThief]

As far as class goes, would it be conceivable to get some sort of Artificer/Legendary Captain build? Pretty much every incarnation of Black Manta I've ever seen has indicated that he's really, really good with technology (his wetsuit is so perfectly designed that not even The Atom can get through it, among other things), and it kinda feels like he's an expert at commanding his vessels and henchmen.

Or if not Legendary Captain, perhaps some of the other pirate/nautical classes, like Dread Pirate, or even Windwright Captain (I mean, those guys just think and their ship responds.)

He's also a notably vicious attacker, maybe instead of pirate-themed classes you should go for something that's all about that. Ghost-Faced Killer feels... thematically appropriate, though I've never seen it played at a table so I can't say how effective it is.

-EDIT-

Blargh, I just missed that this was for Pathfinder, sorry.



Aquaman is awesome, no matter what Hollywood's depictions of comic characters based on half-remembered bad writing from 60s cartoons tells us, and he's got an awesome enemy.

Thanks for the advice Ghost-faced killer looks fantastic thematically might be able to make it work mechanically as well just don't know how I feel about the invisibility I don't recall black manga having an ability of the like but I'm not the most informed

[ScarletThief]

For clarification 3.5 stuff is available in some areas but the main content is pathfinder

[Afgncaap5]

Thanks for the advice Ghost-faced killer looks fantastic thematically might be able to make it work mechanically as well just don't know how I feel about the invisibility I don't recall black manga having an ability of the like but I'm not the most informed

Well, I've always been in favor of building NPCs like monsters instead of with levels, something that you can do as GM. Why not swap out that first level of Ghost-Faced Killer for something like...

1 level of humanoid (1d8, coincidentally enough) and

Mad Slasher (Ex): For one round per day, Black Manta can enter an erratic and nigh-unpredictable combat state. Entering this state takes a swift action that provokes no attacks of opportunity. He gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls against opponents he can see, and ignores his opponents' Dexterity bonus to AC (if any.) His wild movements effectively convey total concealment, granting a 50% miss chance to opponents who try to strike him using traditional senses. In addition, his actions are atypical enough to render him immune to the extra damage from a Ranger's favored enemy ability, or from precision damage (such as a rogue's sneak attack).

Toss in some skill points akin to the Ghost Faced Killer's and you're good to go. After this you can just start his progression through Ghost-Faced Killer at level 2 (or if you need something to show players who demand that even homebrew follow progressions, add in an ability that says something like "Recondite Assassin (Ex): A creature with this ability may begin their Ghost Faced Killer progression at level 2 instead of level 1.")

Or, like... take everything I've written and just call it an ACF for Ghost-Faced Killer. It's technically not invisibility, though it could be changed to give bonuses to being unseen akin to invisibility (for the single-round swift action that he's got it.) Or just leave it without it, and balance that negative by making it so that not even things with tremorsense can track him.

[ScarletThief]

Well, I've always been in favor of building NPCs like monsters instead of with levels, something that you can do as GM. Why not swap out that first level of Ghost-Faced Killer for something like...

1 level of humanoid (1d8, coincidentally enough) and

Mad Slasher (Ex): For one round per day, Black Manta can enter an erratic and nigh-unpredictable combat state. Entering this state takes a swift action that provokes no attacks of opportunity. He gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls against opponents he can see, and ignores his opponents' Dexterity bonus to AC (if any.) His wild movements effectively convey total concealment, granting a 50% miss chance to opponents who try to strike him using traditional senses. In addition, his actions are atypical enough to render him immune to the extra damage from a Ranger's favored enemy ability, or from precision damage (such as a rogue's sneak attack).

Toss in some skill points akin to the Ghost Faced Killer's and you're good to go. After this you can just start his progression through Ghost-Faced Killer at level 2 (or if you need something to show players who demand that even homebrew follow progressions, add in an ability that says something like "Recondite Assassin (Ex): A creature with this ability may begin their Ghost Faced Killer progression at level 2 instead of level 1.")

Or, like... take everything I've written and just call it an ACF for Ghost-Faced Killer. It's technically not invisibility, though it could be changed to give bonuses to being unseen akin to invisibility (for the single-round swift action that he's got it.) Or just leave it without it, and balance that negative by making it so that not even things with tremorsense can track him.

I'm liking this idea for adding some unique abilities after all it will be a Npc there s some specialities that can be added and I like the feel of that example ability might use that with a bit of tweaking