Frost Giant King and cohort help

[Melcar]

So I'm tinkering with a feral or wild nation of giants and orcs living near the spine of the world, not unlike what is going on in GoT, but in Faerun... They will be the BBEGs and will therefore be NPCs!


I have a few builds which I would like help with.

1) The Frost Giant King
The Frostgiant must be someone who is able in combat, but must also be proficient as a ruler, which associated skills and abilities to hold feral forces at bay politically. Albeit holding such forces is bases on strength, he must still be able to politically control both giants, orcs and barbaric humans. (Level max 20)

2) The Frost Giant Shaman
This is the Kings right hand man. He/she must be a spell caster of some sort, and must be wise in the lore of magic and obscure history. A merlin or Gul'dan kind of type, who preferably can cast both offensive, defensive, utility, buffs and heal. Pretty much the whole shebang... The reason for this, is that I don't see magic as something too widely used in this frozen nation of wildlings and therefore a broad palate of spells is preferable. (Min 1 level lover than the king)

3) The Orc Warchief and General of the Armies
This is the Kings Army Commander and Field Martial. As such he must have unparalleled fighting and military tactical abilities (for his level). He will simultaneously be Warchief of all the united Orc tribes under the Frostking and be the 3rd in command after the shaman. (level around 12-15 was my initial thoughts)


My thought was to make the King a mix of fighter and paladin of tyranny, but it’s not quite good right. I did not think barbarian since being a king he was more intelligent and thus more calm/ ruthless and collected than a raging barbarian. More of a Edward the Long shanks in Braveheard…


The Shaman I've had an equally tough time deciding on. I haven't quite found the spellcasting class yes. My thoughts were circling around cleric of Thrymm, but again its not quite the right primitive shaman/witchdocter feel...

This shaman is as cold and calculating as Frostgiants come and will aid his/her king as best he/she can, with devastating spells to boost combat and brewing and tinkering behind the scenes off battle and healing and protecting the king when needed. Think a mix of Gul’dan, Magatha Grimtotem and Merlin.

For the Orc Warchief I instantly had a mix of Thrall and Grom Hellscream incisioned, less hot headed than Grom, more so than Thrall… I am however not sure of classes or feats with this one either, but Barbarian/fighter mix seemed appropriate…


As I’ve mentioned I completely open for suggestions. We play in Faerun at around 1390 (no spellplague for us). We play D&D 3.5 with all official sources allowed. Optimization tier (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?542125-I-give-you-TIERS-OF-THE-OPTIMIZER!) is around 3-4.

Any ideas or suggestions will be most welcome… comment on it all or only a single thing, everything is cool!

Thanks!

[DrMotives]

Thrall of Kostchtchie (dragon #345) requires the ability to rage and other easy to meet standards. The capstone is a permanent size increase, otherwise it's a class that just makes you more of a big raging oafy warrior.

[Deadline]

1) The Frost Giant King
The Frostgiant must be someone who is able in combat, but must also be proficient as a ruler, which associated skills and abilities to hold feral forces at bay politically. Albeit holding such forces is bases on strength, he must still be able to politically control both giants, orcs and barbaric humans. (Level max 20)

Well, right there in the Monster Manual you have a Frost Giant Jarl (a Frost Giant with 8 Blackguard levels). You could bump that up to 10 Blackguard (DMG) levels and ... maybe a level of Crusader(ToB)? Or better yet, 11 levels of Crusader. Or swap the Blackguard levels out for Disciple of Thrym(Frostburn) levels? Or alternatively, just add the Half-Fiend template to the Frost Giant Jarl in the MM. Any of those would get you to a CR of 20.


2) The Frost Giant Shaman
This is the Kings right hand man. He/she must be a spell caster of some sort, and must be wise in the lore of magic and obscure history. A merlin or Gul'dan kind of type, who preferably can cast both offensive, defensive, utility, buffs and heal. Pretty much the whole shebang... The reason for this, is that I don't see magic as something too widely used in this frozen nation of wildlings and therefore a broad palate of spells is preferable. (Min 1 level lover than the king)


You could just make them a Cleric of Thrym. Or Iborighu. There's a Winterhaunt of Iborighu PrC in Frostburn. Or you could use the Spirit Shaman in Complete Divine. Or a Savage Bard.

If that isn't "Shamanistic" enough for you, you could use Adept (DMG NPC class) levels as non-associated levels (2 for every +1 CR) until it qualifies for the Hexer PrC in Masters of the Wild (a 3.0 book), and then just take Hexer levels.

The main issue here is that you only have 10 CR to play with, so the Shaman isn't going to be a very powerful spellcaster for his CR.


3) The Orc Warchief and General of the Armies
This is the Kings Army Commander and Field Martial. As such he must have unparalleled fighting and military tactical abilities (for his level). He will simultaneously be Warchief of all the united Orc tribes under the Frostking and be the 3rd in command after the shaman. (level around 12-15 was my initial thoughts)

An Orc Bard/Warchanter (possibly with the Unholy Scion template from Heroes of Horror, or some Warblade in the mix) could work well here. He'd be a force multiplier and decent fighter. Unholy Scion and Bard skills would make him a pretty competent Warchief.

[Melcar]

The main issue here is that you only have 10 CR to play with, so the Shaman isn't going to be a very powerful spellcaster for his CR.

What I meant to say, was max 20 class levels for the King, and min one less for the Shaman. They can go abowe CR 20 no problem. The same goes for the Orc Warchief, except fewer levels than 19!

Sorry for the misunderstanding and thank you for the suggestions so far! I will be checking all of them out!

[Deadline]

What I meant to say, was max 20 class levels for the King, and min one less for the Shaman. They can go abowe CR 20 no problem. The same goes for the Orc Warchief, except fewer levels than 19!

Sorry for the misunderstanding and thank you for the suggestions so far! I will be checking all of them out!

Ah! Well then my suggestions still hold, you'd just add more of the suggested levels! The only real change I'd make is to probably stick with the Blackguard or Disciple of Thrym levels on the King (and do all 10), and then pop 10 Initiator levels on top of that (Likely Crusader).

[ExLibrisMortis]

For the orc, how about... bard 4/barbarian 1/crusader 1/marshal 1/battle howler of gruumsh 1/crusader +1/battle howler +2/crusader +1/battle howler +2/crusader +1 (ECL 15), with Chaos Music, Song of the White Raven, and Song of the Heart? Equip a vest of legends, get a masterwork natural horn, and you have 20th-level Inspire Courage with another +3 bonus on top, for +7 to hit and damage. Basically, the commander blows his horn, and suddenly all their allies are extra badass. The commander has three uses of Rage, which can be Whirling Frenzy. Frozen Berserker can be cool for the frost giant flavour. Throw in blackguard 2 instead of the first two crusader levels if you want some extra fort/ref save bonuses.

You can do the same thing with for the giant king, if you want.

[Telonius]

I used this build for a Frost Giant King in a previous campaign. Some of the stats are odd thanks to the Artifact he had on him (an Orb of Dragonkind), but the originals are there too.


Jarl Elaksvard
Large Frost Giant
Speed 40
Paladin (Sword of Baator variant: trade mount for summoned sword. Sword becomes +1 at lvl 5, +2 at 10, +2 unholy at 15, +2 unholy lawful at 20)
LE Giant14/Paladin2/Kensai8
STR 36, DEX 14, CON 28, INT 14, WIS 18, CHA 20

1 Power Attack. 3 Shape Soulmeld (Flame Cincture), 6 Bonus Essentia (2), 9 Combat Expertise, 12 Weapon Focus, 15 Bonus Essentia (4), 18 Shape Soulmeld (Adamant Pauldrons), 21 Improved Sunder, 24 Toughness

Attack:
Large Greatsword 18 (BAB)+13(Str)+2 (sword of Baator)-1(size)=32
Full Attack: +32/+27/+22/+17
Damage: 3d6 +19(1.5xStr)+2(SoB)+1 Con(17-20x2)
*+2d6 vs Good foes
*On Crit: 5 temporary hp, +2 morale to damage. Bestows negative level(recovers after hour, does not stick)
*Con damage does not multiply on crit
*1/day Smite: +5(cha) to attack, +2(Pal lvl) to damage vs CG character
*2 for 1 Power Attack

AC: 10+2(Dex)+10(natural)-1(size)+1(deflection)=31
AC: 31(FF 29, touch 12) * 21 touch if Scint. Scales
***Per Artifact, Changes to:
37 (-2 size, +29 natural), touch 8, flat-footed 37
*25% chance to negate crits and sneaks

Fort 21/ Ref 13/ Will 18
***Per Artifact, Changes to:
Fort 23/Ref 17/Will 19

HP: 362
*Resist Fire 30, Immune to Cold, Vulnerable to Fire (+50% damage)
*NOTE: Per FAQ, apply resistance in the most beneficial order. Fire Resistance 30 applies to the initial damage; remainder gets multiplied by 50%.*

+1: Souldrinking (Crit = 5 temporary hp, +2 morale to damage for 10 min), Keen
+2: Unholy, Enervating (Crit = negative level), Wounding(+1 Con damage)

Large MW Greatsword (400gp)
Potion of Scintillating Scales (consumed)
Cloak of Charisma +4 (16,000)
Harp of Charming (7500)
*ARTIFACT* Orb of Dragonkind (White)



EDIT: Completely forgot that this was using one of my houserules for Paladin ... they can be of any alignment, taking the alignment of their deity or cause. (So "Sword of Baator" is the evil variant of "Sword of Celestia")

[flappeercraft]

The shaman sounds like a Sha'Ir to me. If I were to build it I would base it upon that. Unfortunately I don't have access to my laptop rn or internet outside of my phone so I can't do it myself.

[Melcar]

Thank you all for the great responses! Much obliged! I will be looking into then to see how they fit both in terms of mechanics and theme!

[Max Caysey]

So I'm tinkering with a feral or wild nation of giants and orcs living near the spine of the world, not unlike what is going on in GoT, but in Faerun... They will be the BBEGs and will therefore be NPCs!


I have a few builds which I would like help with.


2) The Frost Giant Shaman
This is the Kings right hand man. He/she must be a spell caster of some sort, and must be wise in the lore of magic and obscure history. A merlin or Gul'dan kind of type, who preferably can cast both offensive, defensive, utility, buffs and heal. Pretty much the whole shebang... The reason for this, is that I don't see magic as something too widely used in this frozen nation of wildlings and therefore a broad palate of spells is preferable. (Min 1 level lover than the king)
[B]

The Shaman I've had an equally tough time deciding on. I haven't quite found the spellcasting class yes. My thoughts were circling around cleric of Thrymm, but again its not quite the right primitive shaman/witchdocter feel...

This shaman is as cold and calculating as Frostgiants come and will aid his/her king as best he/she can, with devastating spells to boost combat and brewing and tinkering behind the scenes off battle and healing and protecting the king when needed. Think a mix of Gul’dan, Magatha Grimtotem and Merlin.

Any ideas or suggestions will be most welcome… comment on it all or only a single thing, everything is cool!

Thanks!

How about gestalting that dude... Maybe Winter Warden Druid and perhaps either Warloch, Wizard or Cleric???