Rebuilding a character into an NPC

[CIDE]

Howdy Playground,

Long story short I had a character in another campaign that had been a Dragonborn Paladin of Vengeance (Bahamut)/Celestial Warlock. Levels, stats, etc at this point aren't all that important. What's important is that by the end of the campaign he had broken his oaths, his pact, and had become a (UA) revenant and was nestled in the cold clammy hands of Thay. While technically his goals had not been met he was also "dying" as far as revenants were concerned and thus would've had to been resurrected and/or converted (somehow) into another type of undead to continue on.

The idea here is that through whatever dark rituals, spells, or whatever he's been twisted into something else. Likely a death knight since the story fits but I'm open to suggestions on other types of undead given the new location. I'm also looking at the paladin half going Oathbreaker for obvious reasons. The part that I'm stuck on as far as mechanics go is the Warlock half.

The character's going to be level 20 and still keeping both Paladin and Warlock classes. I just don't know how many levels of each and which type of Warlock is going to fit best here now. I'm looking for something fairly powerful in the event that this character (now NPC) has to face against the party but not so powerful that it looks like I'm just trying to boost my own creations for the hell of it.

I'm looking forward to your suggestions.

P.S. Our table alternates DM's and before anyone complains about the way we do things it's a regular occurrence for old player characters to have plot-relevant roles, cameos, etc. It's all in good fun. I just have a plot-specific role for this guy in mind for later.

[JNAProductions]

First off, don't build them as a PC. PCs are, relative to monsters, glass cannons. Build this person as an NPC.

Second off... What CR you looking for? I could whip a thingie up.

[Nagog]

Depends, are the players facing him at an equal level? The difficulty is that there really isn't a CR to Player Level conversion rate. The thing that would make it possible is if the party were at the same level as him and there were more of them to tip the Action Economy in their favor, it could work. It'd be a difficult as hell fight for them, but it's still possible. As a frequent player and a more frequent DM, I can attest it's quite noticable when a DM makes up stats vs. when they reskin pre-made stat blocks. I'd suggest looking for an enemy stat block you you could customize with spells and such to better fit this character's description and style.

[CIDE]

First off, don't build them as a PC. PCs are, relative to monsters, glass cannons. Build this person as an NPC.

Second off... What CR you looking for? I could whip a thingie up.

Hit points are easy to adjust for an encounter. The PC thing is more of an OCD categorizing thing for me as far as the abilities and how to model everything.


Depends, are the players facing him at an equal level? The difficulty is that there really isn't a CR to Player Level conversion rate. The thing that would make it possible is if the party were at the same level as him and there were more of them to tip the Action Economy in their favor, it could work. It'd be a difficult as hell fight for them, but it's still possible. As a frequent player and a more frequent DM, I can attest it's quite noticeable when a DM makes up stats vs. when they reskin pre-made stat blocks. I'd suggest looking for an enemy stat block you you could customize with spells and such to better fit this character's description and style.

For certain enemies, I actively go out of my way to avoid just reskinning something else. There's certain players at the table that will go "Are we just fighting XYZ?" halfway through a fight. While I mostly trust people to avoid metagaming there's always a subconscious element to it. That said, just Reskinning a Death knight is the easiest route.





To answer you both on the CR aspect the Death Knight (CR 17) is a pretty handy reference point. 15-20ish works since not all CR'd creatures are created equal and the party may deal with him at varying times. He's also not explicitly a villain; there's just the possibility that a fight breaks out.

Part of having mechanical aspects of both the Paladin and Warlock in there are supposed to be bits in there to tip the players off to this guy's identity. It's not going to be immediately apparent and I kind of want an "ah-hah!" moment since it'd probably tip some stuff off for the overall story.

[Nagog]

To answer you both on the CR aspect the Death Knight (CR 17) is a pretty handy reference point. 15-20ish works since not all CR'd creatures are created equal and the party may deal with him at varying times. He's also not explicitly a villain; there's just the possibility that a fight breaks out.

Part of having mechanical aspects of both the Paladin and Warlock in there are supposed to be bits in there to tip the players off to this guy's identity. It's not going to be immediately apparent and I kind of want an "ah-hah!" moment since it'd probably tip some stuff off for the overall story.

In that case, I'd just use a Death Knight with a few of the character's iconic Warlock stuff, like specific spells they were fond of using, perhaps a specific Invocation, etc. If they fit into the Death Knight description, that could be a great way to balance it while keeping their identity completely intact (well, as intact as can be given the plot-driven changes hes undertaken).

[JNAProductions]

In that case, I'd just use a Death Knight with a few of the character's iconic Warlock stuff, like specific spells they were fond of using, perhaps a specific Invocation, etc. If they fit into the Death Knight description, that could be a great way to balance it while keeping their identity completely intact (well, as intact as can be given the plot-driven changes hes undertaken).

Yeah, if the Death Knight's at the right CR, a few changes here and there should be fine.

[CIDE]

In that case, I'd just use a Death Knight with a few of the character's iconic Warlock stuff, like specific spells they were fond of using, perhaps a specific Invocation, etc. If they fit into the Death Knight description, that could be a great way to balance it while keeping their identity completely intact (well, as intact as can be given the plot-driven changes hes undertaken).


Yeah, if the Death Knight's at the right CR, a few changes here and there should be fine.



Neither of you think there's another monster out there that fits the bill better? Either mechanically or thematically? I'm not as wholly familiar with 5e as I am some other editions and didn't want to pass something up here.

[gloryblaze]

I agree with the other two that if you’re aiming for a tier 4 undead NPC based on a PC who had paladin levels at one point, it’s hard to beat the Death Knight as your chassis. However, since this was a padlock, I might also look at the Deathlock and Deathlock Mastermind from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foea. Deathlocks are warlocks who breached the terms of their pacts in life and was cursed with undeath until their bargain is fulfilled. It’s not a perfect fit (since deathlocks are typically cursed by evil patrons and are slavishly obedient rather than retaining free will) but if you synthesize some of the Deathlock Mastermind’s abilities (such as Grave Bolt) onto the Death Knight chassis, that could be a really cool opponent who’s a bit more unique