Help designing a "I am just better than you" Boss

[GrayDeath]

Well, as the title says.

The game in which this takes palys is alternately DMéd by me and a Friend, so we did a poll beforehand what classes we wanted and came to making a Warlock Initiator out of it.

Now a little background: In this campaign, we use exactly the same rules for Boss Villains as for PC`s (Stats, Gear, etc), and our PC`s in that campagn are allowed up to +4 LA that buys off as follows:
1st at Level 3, second at Level 7, 3rd at Level 11, 4th at Level 15.
LA above that is allowed on a case to case basis, but does not buy off, ever.


Now given that setup: What Templates/Races would you suggest for a "Higher Number, Better Protection" feel of "just better thn you rabble" Villain?

As he is meant to be a leader of the actual Adventures Big Bads he cannot be truly devoted to anybody/thing else aside from himself, but one off pacts/things to fulfill to achieve a Template are A-OK.
Ideal would be a total of LA+4, but up to LA +6 is OK. Starting ECL is 12.

Musts: Lots of Attribute Bonuses (see classes for most important Attributes)
Some Protective Bonuses.
Must look at least somewhat "majestic/Scary" (not Animalistic or abberant or...)

Total No Goes: Must be humanoid or be able to take humanoid form easily.
Must not be required to serve anyone/thing.
Cannot receive net maluses anywhere.
Cannot become Dragon, Udnead or Construct Type.

Otherwise go wild (yes, this does include Dragon magazine content^^).

Thank you!

PS: Will be needed the coming weekend, so youve got time until at least Thursday 6pm GMT.

[GrayDeath]

No Ideas?

My first thought would be taking one of the reevaluated half Fiend/Half Celestial versions from the forum (for good attribute bonuses and some defenses) and then combining it with....what?

Still open for any ideas. ;)

[RNightstalker]

BoED, there's an Aleax, which is literally just a better version of you.

[Falontani]

Ogre Mage (5 rhd, la +2 from inevitability's la rules): Large, +10 str, +6 con, +4 int, +4 wis, +6 cha, SLAs, fly speed, regeneration, sr, +5 natural armor
Return to Nature: -1 Size, +2 dex, -2 str
Primordial Giant: +0 la, -4 str, -2 con, +4 int, +4 cha, added skills, more sla, +1 cl on all slas
Mineral Warrior: +1 LA, +2 str, +4 con, burrow speed, +3 natural armor, dr 8/ada, -2 to all mental.

So far you have a medium giant (earth)
+6 str, +2 dex, +8 con, +6 int, +2 wis, +8 cha
+8 natural armor, regeneration 5, dr 8/ada
Movement speed, burrow speed, ogre mage has the ability to lose/gain fly speed as a free action, so we retain fly speed
Good sla's with +1 cl
5 rhd, la +3

[Maat Mons]

The Divinity ability (DMGII, p158) costs +2 LA and would make him literally part god. It can also give him +2 to all saves and the granted power of the Pride domain (reroll 1's on saves). Any, really, for a guy who's better than everyone else, what domain is more appropriate than Pride?

Maybe Half-Nymph (DR313, p95) combined with Prodigy (DMGII, p160)? He'd net +2 dex, +2 int, +2 wis, +6 cha, and an extra +4 on all cha-based checks. If you're going to run a cult of personality, that's a good start. You could use Lesser Aasimar (the humanoid version) as the base race for an extra +2 wis and +2 cha.

[Helluin]

What about Lilitu’s gift? It’s +2 profane to Cha and +2 profane to saves. Not a template so you get it for free as long as you have a Lilitu minion. It’s not exactly “one-off” either as it does come with some strings attached (Lilitu gains the Status spell effect on you, can communicate with you telepathically, and can observe what you see through your own perception) but in 3.5, even Iggwilv uses this to boost her stats and saves - I assume that she made sure the Lilitu will never even attempt to exert influence on her. I mean, killing the Lilitu doesn’t even remove the gift.

Otherwise, consider Spellwarped template (LA+3)? It does change the creature type to aberration, but does not necessarily involve a visual change. The stat boosts aren’t too bad, and if you rule that a creature can voluntarily fail a SR check, a Warlock has infinite invocation (which are SLAs) that can be used to fuel the Spellwarp, giving yourself additional bonus in Str, Dex, Con, move speed, or temp HP for a short while.

This is again plot-conferred boost, but have your character create via Infuse items a few scrolls of Extract Gift to get a ton of ability score bonus on all six attributes (up to +5 enhancement), and skill bonus (up to +10 in any number of skills, but only one skill per casting). This is borderline unfair to the players as you are hand-waving the success of each Extract Gift, so maybe consider bumping his CR a bit or something.

[weckar]

If cheese is fine, you have literally described - I think - the whole thing behind the unseelie fey. And we all know that template is broken. Put it on a changeling base and you have plenty of wiggle room to get specific abilities you might need out of the rest of your LA.

Sidenote: I fail to see how a Warlock initiator would work. You cannot do strikes with the eldritch glaive and all that, and you already said you did not want to be bestial so claws seem right out...

[Thurbane]

Some of the templates in this thread may be useful: [3.5] Templates That Don't Increase CR (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?489470)

[GrayDeath]

What about Lilitu’s gift? It’s +2 profane to Cha and +2 profane to saves. Not a template so you get it for free as long as you have a Lilitu minion. It’s not exactly “one-off” either as it does come with some strings attached (Lilitu gains the Status spell effect on you, can communicate with you telepathically, and can observe what you see through your own perception) but in 3.5, even Iggwilv uses this to boost her stats and saves - I assume that she made sure the Lilitu will never even attempt to exert influence on her. I mean, killing the Lilitu doesn’t even remove the gift.

Otherwise, consider Spellwarped template (LA+3)? It does change the creature type to aberration, but does not necessarily involve a visual change. The stat boosts aren’t too bad, and if you rule that a creature can voluntarily fail a SR check, a Warlock has infinite invocation (which are SLAs) that can be used to fuel the Spellwarp, giving yourself additional bonus in Str, Dex, Con, move speed, or temp HP for a short while.

This is again plot-conferred boost, but have your character create via Infuse items a few scrolls of Extract Gift to get a ton of ability score bonus on all six attributes (up to +5 enhancement), and skill bonus (up to +10 in any number of skills, but only one skill per casting). This is borderline unfair to the players as you are hand-waving the success of each Extract Gift, so maybe consider bumping his CR a bit or something.

A bit too cheesy for an NPC to exploiut, but one Gift and a trapped Lilitu sounds fine, thanks ^^


If cheese is fine, you have literally described - I think - the whole thing behind the unseelie fey. And we all know that template is broken. Put it on a changeling base and you have plenty of wiggle room to get specific abilities you might need out of the rest of your LA.

Sidenote: I fail to see how a Warlock initiator would work. You cannot do strikes with the eldritch glaive and all that, and you already said you did not want to be bestial so claws seem right out...

Unseelie Fae could work, yes, but its also so ...expected.

And a Warlock Initiator works by taking enough warlock levels to stack passive bossting Invocations (Invisibility, Flight, Social fu bonuses etc) and otherwise be an Initator. ^^