[3.5/Dragonmech] Help me build Karchev!

[Deth Muncher]

First off, for those who don't know: http://privateerpress.com/warmachine...v-the-terrible

Karchev is a Khadoran (read: Soviet) Warcaster (read: arcane/steam construct operator) in the Warmachine universe. In my campaign, I want him - well, not exactly him, but close - as a Big Bad for the Interplanar Evil League of Evil. I need your help, because I'm not very familiar with all of the Dragonmech books and such, though I have access to them (sort of).

I don't want EXACTLY him, but I do want the following, and I'll post how I think it's to be done as I can recall - which is where you, the Plaground Hivemind of Infinite RPG Knowledge come in, to fill in the gaps!

What I want:
Beefy guy in mech armor (fused to it)
Weilds a huge axe.
R-tarded amounts of strength
Possibly some of his special abilities from Warmachine? I was a Cygnar player, so I don't have much knowledge with him.
Preferably a level 16 build and a level 20 build

What I know:
Dragonmech has the Mech Jockey class, and a PrC or two that fuses the Jockey to his mech.
Karchev is, likely, between Huge and Gargantuan size, depending on how you interpret scale.

Will post more later after completing schoolwork.

[Deth Muncher]

Right, so I actually need this by, oh, tomorrow. D: So I've decided to tweak it a bit: I'm making Karchev a good guy? Why? Because I want to subvert the "If you've got a Russian-sounding name, you're EBIL" trope that seems to pervade my country's literature since the Cold War. (ish)

So, what I HAVE got is that Karchev is going to have to be a Steamborg/Assimilated, but my issue is going about making the actual mech. Like, what should he have as weapons/addons? Any Khador players out there wanna help me out?

[clockworkmonk]

Another option is, if its ok with the fluff, have him , IIRC, have had iron soul or something like that cast on him. transfers his spirit to a mech, and basically makes him a giant construct. The strength's gonna happen with the mech, thats just how it goes. mechs are strong. Have you considered what kind of mech? and by that I mean power source. I gues Im saying I'm more interested in the mech than the character, but I can help with the mech.

Other questions come to mind.
What size do you want the mech to be?

[Deth Muncher]

Another option is, if its ok with the fluff, have him , IIRC, have had iron soul or something like that cast on him. transfers his spirit to a mech, and basically makes him a giant construct. The strength's gonna happen with the mech, thats just how it goes. mechs are strong. Have you considered what kind of mech? and by that I mean power source. I gues Im saying I'm more interested in the mech than the character, but I can help with the mech.

Other questions come to mind.
What size do you want the mech to be?

I think he's going to have to be a steam mech for sure. My problem is I can't really remember anything Karchev DOES, other than beating the hell out of things with his axe.

[Leon]

Hurtle around the table towing Jacks and then flinging them off into combat.

Invigorate his battlegroup into a rage

[clockworkmonk]

judging by the pic i'd call him Large. Possibly huge.

So I'm gonna stat it as Huge.

as a huge mech

crew 1.
HD 12
66 hp
green yellow 33 orange 17 red 7
steel armor hardness 12
speed 50 ft.

str 22, dex 10.

5 PUs 25 ft tall
manuverability good.

weapons and freatures
axeblade- 2d8 damage.
His other hand is empty, so it deals d8
a bomb launcher should cover whatever the hell you mean by jacks

and for features...
combat spikes. bonus d6 in unarmed.
and fast legs to bring his speed up to 50ft.

and now to the man himself

start with a level 3 steam borg, to mee the minimum reqs for the assimilated.
7 levels of mech jocky for what you wanna do here.

2 levels of mech devil, as you want him to be a melee beast as you described him.

then 4 levels of assimilated.

To qualify for all this, his stats are gonna have to be double badass.
con 18 for the assimilated.

dex 18 and int 16 for mech devil, minimum.


as he is an NPC, these should be no problem.

if you instead choose the ferrous soul option, you can drop both the steamborg and assimilated levels, making him a mech pilot 10, mech devil 6.

If I have time tomorrow morning, I'll go ahead and stat him out.

[The Glyphstone]

'Jack' = Warjack - Huge steam-powered magical robots. Karchev's the top half of a man sealed inside the gutted hull of a Khadoran warjack. Some of them do have bomb launchers on them though.

[Swordguy]

*digs out Warmachine stuff*

OK...Karchev. I'll post summaries of his Mark 1 abilities (since Mark II is the standard by now for Warmachine, this shouldn't violate any forum rules). They'll give peeps an idea of what he does.

Arcantrik Turbine: K may spend focus to gain +2" movement, ignore movement penalties across rough terrain, and may charge or slam across rough terrain and obstacles.
Body System: K may spend a focus point to regenerate his Body system... (ie, self-healing).
Man in the machine: K is a living model, but is neither a warjack nor a warrior model. (summary) K may be repaired as a warjack.
Martial Instinct: Warjacks in K's Battlegroup gain +1 to hit with melee attacks.

Special Attack: Fissure: K cleaves the earth asunder and sends his enemies sprawling to the ground. Place a spray template ( a 6" triangle 3" across at the far end) within his front arc. *mechanics* The target suffers damage and is knocked down.

Reach: 2" melee range

Spells
Eruption: medium-range cloud effect. Models in AOE suffer a moderate-damage hit (POW 14), or upon entering or finishing their turn within the cloud.
Iron Curtain: draws a line between a target warjack in K's battlegroup and a target enemy warjack. If the enemy crosses the line, he takes a low-to-moderate power (POW 12) damage roll. This spell can be upkept.
Sidearms: Each model in K's battlegroup gains +1 defence (+1 armor class) for each other model in the battlegroup with which it is in base to base contact. This spell can be upkept.
Tow: Up to three friendly warjacks may be placed within Base to base contact with K if he moves within 2" of them. They then move with him for free until the spell is dropped. This spell can be upkept.
Unearthly Rage: Group buff - all models in K's battlegroup within his command radius (8") gain boosted melee attack and damage rolls for one turn (normal roll is 2d6, boosting adds +1d6). These attacks count as magical for this turn.

Karchev's base stats:
Speed: 4" (average-to-slow)
Strength: 12 (VERY high)
MeleeAT: 7 (average)
RangedAT: 4 (low)
Defense: 12 (VERY low - easy to hit)
Armor: 20 (VERY high - hard to damage...full plate in WM give about an Armor 16)
Durability (hit points): 34 in total, and takes damage as a Warjack. This is a LOT. The other front-line fighter warcasters in Khador have 18 (Vlad) and 20 (Butcher) HP, respectively. Butcher has, if anyone does, a d12 hit die, so figure out where that takes you...

I'd take the obvious route and make him a Warforged to start with. Past that, I'd just make stuff up without worrying about normal "d20 rules" to reflect his abilities. Warcasters have limited spellcasting that doesn't seem to be mirrored in any D&D rules I know, but they're also usually (and in Kharchev's case specifically) awesome melee combatants as well.

[Leon]

Some of them do have bomb launchers on them though.

Karchev works quite well with the best of the them - a pair of Devastators advancing up with Iron Curtain on them is a formidable thing

He needs those 34 Hp as he cant Overboost his powerfield, a Def 17 Arm 25 Butcher is a nasty thing to try and stop unless your prepared for it

[Swordguy]

This is where I'd start. It's not complete, but I think it gets the point across. He's an incredibly durable melee brute.

Kharchev (level 16)

Hit Points (2d12 HD per level, drop low die): 152 (9.5/level)+160=312

Str - 36 (+12)
Dex - 10 (+0)
Con - 32 (+10)
Int - 12 (+1)
Wis - 14 (+2)
Cha - 12 (+1) (He has a low command radius for a warcaster)

FORT: +30 (Fighter progression=+10, +10 Con, +10 natural: machine parts don't get tired)
REF: +5 (Fighter Progression)
WILL: +20 (Mixed Progression =+8, +2 Wis, +8 natural: he keeps himself alive by force of will)

AC: 24 (+14 natural armor - the warjack body. A Fighter has +16 to hit with attack #1 at this level, so he should be easy to hit)

Attack: Sunder (Large +1 Greataxe, wielded 1-handed): +30/+25/+20 (+16 BAB, +12 Str, +1 Axe, +1 Weapon Focus), 3d6+19 damage (plus see special abilities)

Special Defenses:
-Immune to ability drain/damage.
-Immune to instant death attacks (warcasters in WM evidently can't be outright killed as per the fluff).
-DR 30/none (no form of attack bypasses this DR, including magical damage or damage from spells or failed saves).

Special Attacks:
-Spells (you can translate the spells above on your own). -Fissure: Karchev may sacrifice an attack to strike the ground (auto-hit), tossing the earth about. Everyone in a 50' long by 20' wide cone must make a REF save vs DC 30 or be knocked prone, be stunned for 1 round, and suffer 3d6 damage. Success on this save means that targets within the cone are only dazed for one round.

Special Abilities:
-Due to Warjack body, can wield Sunder 1-handed and treat it in all ways as though it is wielded in two hands, including strength-and-a-half damage and extra damage when using Power Attack.

Speed: 20 feet/round (if not modified by spells).