by Guillaume Martinet
Born as an Frostblood orc, raised only by father, Grakk wasn't a happy child even by the orcish standards. His father was a stupid warrior and wanted to make the son into a "real orc". For him there is no virtue better than furious blow and there is no disgrace worse than magical arts. Grakk's upbringing was brutal and violent, especially when his parent found out that Grakk has arcane gifts. Batterings and exhausting exercises were things that, father thought, will enable extirpate taint of magic from his son and will give him the gift of battle rage. Well, he probably died as a happy orc - he achieved his goal, Grakk flew into a rage finally and immediately killed hated parent.
Grakk realized long ago: all that his father told is wrong. He said the sky is blue, so it's actually red. He said magic is a taint, so it's a gift. First thing Grakk did after father's murder was to go to the shaman and ask to be his apprentice.
Grakk's father's study didn't give young orc many things which are needed for full-fledged shaman, but actually wasn't worthless. Grakk was tireless and strong enough to hammer respect for him directly into a bully's fangs. After all, orcs respect brute force very much. Especially from somebody who is expected to be weakling like a shaman's apprentice.
And, in addition, Grakk was making progress in his apprenticeship. He found in himself great affinity to the power of the very Death. He was becoming a master of undead and terrifying curses. This gives him even more respect than he had before. When he finished his studies he formed the gang of young orcs and went to raid. And again, and again. He turned out to be a lucky warlord who not only rushed into battle in the front lines, but also supported his warriors with powerful spells and inspirational warcries.
Even dead orcs raised up and continued to fight after his words. "Gruumsh! Command! You! Rise!" he shouted! "Death isn't cause for desertion!" he yelled! And his orcs, alive and undead, rushed to the foes in bloody final rage.
CE Frostblood Orc Unholy Fury Barbarian 1/Dread Necromancer 14/Orc Warlord 5
Spoiler: Stats
Abilities Initial Frostblood orc Levels Total STR 11 4 15 DEX 10 10 CON 14 14 INT 14 -2 12 WIS 10 -2 8 CHA 17 -2 5 20
Spoiler: Build
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features 1st Barbarian 1 1 2 0 0 20: {+4 CC} Concentration: 2; {+4} Intimidate: 4; {+4} Jump: 4; {+4} Ride: 4; {+4} Survival: 4; Tireless, Endurance (B) Dragonblood subtype, illiteracy, rage 1/day, resistance to cold 10, unholy fury, vulnerability to fire 2nd Dread Necromancer 1 1 2 0 2 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 5; Jump: 4; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 1; Ride: 4; {+1 CC} Survival: 4.5; Charnel touch, rebuke undead 3rd Dread Necromancer 2 2 2 0 3 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 6; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 1; Ride: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 1; {+1 CC} Survival: 5; Fell Animate Lich body DR 2 4th Dread Necromancer 3 2 3 1 3 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 7; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 1; {+1 CC} Ride: 4.5; {+1} Spellcraft: 2; Survival: 5; Negative energy burst 1/day 5th Dread Necromancer 4 3 3 1 4 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 8; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 1; {+1 CC} Ride: 5; {+1} Spellcraft: 3; Survival: 5; Advanced learning (Kelgores Grave Mist), mental bastion +2 6th Dread Necromancer 5 3 3 1 4 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 9; Jump: 4; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 2; Ride: 5; {+1} Spellcraft: 4; Survival: 5; Leadership Fear aura 7th Dread Necromancer 6 4 4 2 5 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 10; Jump: 4; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 3; Ride: 5; {+1} Spellcraft: 5; Survival: 5; Scabrous touch 1/day 8th Dread Necromancer 7 4 4 2 5 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 11; Jump: 4; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 4; Ride: 5; {+1} Spellcraft: 6; Survival: 5; Lich body DR 4, summon familiar 9th Dread Necromancer 8 5 4 2 6 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 12; Jump: 4; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+1} Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Blood of the Warlord Advanced learning (Negative Energy Wave), negative energy burst 2/day, undead mastery 10th Orc Warlord 1 6 6 2 8 5: {+2} Bluff: 2; Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 13; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+2} Sense Motive: 2; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Gather horde ×150% 11th Orc Warlord 2 7 7 2 9 5: {+2} Bluff: 4; Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 14; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+2} Sense Motive: 4; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Inspire courage 12th Orc Warlord 3 8 7 3 9 5: {+2} Bluff: 6; Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 15; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+2} Sense Motive: 6; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Accelerate Metamagic (Fell Animate) Gather horde ×200% 13th Orc Warlord 4 9 8 3 10 5: {+2} Bluff: 8; Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 16; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+2} Sense Motive: 8; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; 14th Orc Warlord 5 10 8 3 10 5: {+2} Bluff: 10; Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 17; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+2} Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Final rage 15th Dread Necromancer 9 10 9 4 10 3: Bluff: 10; {+2} Concentration: 4; {+1} Intimidate: 18; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Mad Foam Rager Negative energy resistance 16th Dread Necromancer 10 11 9 4 11 3: Bluff: 10; {+2} Concentration: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 19; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Light fortification 25% 17th Dread Necromancer 11 11 9 4 11 3: Bluff: 10; {+2} Concentration: 8; {+1} Intimidate: 20; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Lich body DR 6, scabrous touch 2/day 18th Dread Necromancer 12 12 10 5 12 3: Bluff: 10; {+2} Concentration: 10; {+1} Intimidate: 21; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Practical Metamagic (Fell Animate) Advanced learning (Animate Dread Warrior), enervating touch 19th Dread Necromancer 13 12 10 5 12 3: Bluff: 10; {+2} Concentration: 12; {+1} Intimidate: 22; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Negative energy burst 3/day 20th Dread Necromancer 14 13 10 5 13 3: Bluff: 10; Concentration: 12; {+1} Intimidate: 23; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; {+2} Swift Concentration; Mental bastion +4
Spoiler: Arcane artsAll spells but advanced learning are from PHB and Heroes of Horror.
Level Class 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 2nd Dread Necromancer 1 3 3rd Dread Necromancer 2 4 4th Dread Necromancer 3 5 5th Dread Necromancer 4 6 3 6th Dread Necromancer 5 6 4 7th Dread Necromancer 6 6 5 3 8th Dread Necromancer 7 6 6 4 9th Dread Necromancer 8 6 6 5 3 15th Dread Necromancer 9 6 6 6 4 16th Dread Necromancer 10 6 6 6 5 3 17th Dread Necromancer 11 6 6 6 6 4 18th Dread Necromancer 12 6 6 6 6 5 3 19th Dread Necromancer 13 6 6 6 6 6 4 20th Dread Necromancer 14 6 6 6 6 6 5 3
Spoiler: First thing firstI want to explain what I did with SI. Our SI in this round are spellcasting and rage. You can't cast spells while you rage. Okay, I said, then I need to fully control when I rage and when I don't. Which means I need an endless amount of rages per day and the ability to fly into a rage more than once during a single encounter. I already may prematurely end my rage as it said in the rage description. And of course I need to deal with fatigue.
Orc Warlord's capstone and Tireless feat give me all I want. Invoking the final rage is a free action and there are no per day or per encounter limitations. I think it is implied that fatigued and exhausted conditions were enough limitations itself, but for me this doesn't work.
More of than there even are no limitations per round, so nothing prevents me to incite myself and all my nearby allies into greater rage every round. It's of course a very permissive reading, but I'm ok even with regular rage every round.
Of course I want to end every turn with another final rage after casting all spells that I want to cast. Also every time I rage I have a new use of Mad Foam Rager feat and Smite from Unholy Fury ACF. Because final rage is free action I even can use it after casting a spell and before touch attack to get +Cha mod to attack roll via smite.
Fatigue and exhaustion actually are issues. Not for me, I'm immune, but for my allies. That's why I want to have undead around me. They are immune, too, plus, raging is a limited tactic for undead in normal, because of only 3 rounds duration. I solve this problem for them.
Spoiler: Level breakdownSpoiler: 5One-level barbarian goodies and four levels of dread necromancer. Second level spells (most interesting are Spectral Hand with various touch spells and Charnel touch and Kelgores Grave Mist), negative energy attacks, rebuke undead, 1/day rage as last argument. Fell Animate exists, but is unusable at this moment.
Spoiler: 10Enter orc warlord after eight dread necromancer levels. Two prerequisite feats, undead mastery, ghostly visage familiar, fear aura, third and fourth level spells (good for me are Vampiric Touch, Animate Dead, Enervation, Phantasmal Killer, Negative Energy Wave from advanced learning) and ability to use Fell Animate. I can have my undead horde with me now.
Spoiler: 15Orc warlord is finished and I return to the dread necromancer. I obtain at these levels my main trick, looking also limitless inspire courage and Accelerate Metamagic feat, thanks to my draconic ancestry.
Spoiler: 20Five final dread necromancer levels. Spells up to seventh level (most useful are Animate Dread Warrior, Vile Death, Control Undead, Harm, Greater Dispel Magic, several SoD), fortification 25%, Practical Metamagic, some extra goodies from dread necromancer features.
Spoiler: Books
Type Name Book Page Race Frostblood Orc Dragon Magic 10 Class Barbarian PHB 24 Class Dread Necromancer Heroes of Horror 84 Prestige Class Orc Warlord Races of Faerūn 184 Class variant Unholy Fury Exemplars of Evil 22 Feat Tireless Player's Guide To Faerūn 46 Feat Endurance PHB 93 Feat Fell Animate Libris Mortis 26 Feat Leadership PHB 97 Feat Blood of the Warlord Races of Faerūn 161 Feat Accelerate Metamagic Races of the Dragon 98 Feat Mad Foam Rager PHB 2 80 Feat Practical Metamagic Races of the Dragon 101 Spell Kelgores Grave Mist PHB 2 116 Spell Negative Energy Wave Tome and Blood 94 Spell Animate Dread Warrior Unapproachable East 48 Skill Trick Swift Concentration Complete Scoundrel 90
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2023-02-21, 02:14 AM (ISO 8601)Ogre in the Playground
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
Grakk "Halfdead"
Last edited by pabelfly; 2023-02-21 at 05:16 PM.
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