Terminator concept build

[Draculmaulkee]

How would you build a character (d&d 3.5) character to be like the original Terminator? This character would need a way to deal large amounts of melee damage with unarmed or natural attacks and, more importantly, be as resistant as possible to attacks directed against him/her/it.
Thanks In Advance

[Chilingsworth]

Warforged Juggernaut, from the Ebberon Campaign Setting, maybe? (it's a PrC, required race: Warforged, if you don't already know about it.)

EDIT: to make it do damage with unarmed strikes, make it a monk, give it superior unarmed strike, or give it the improved slam feats from one of the ebberon books.

[Draculmaulkee]

The Warforged Juggernaut fits the concept really well. Is there a way to give him immunity to damage as well (eg regeneration + immunity to non-lethal)?
I kind of dislike the idea of including monk in the build...I was under the impression that pretty much any other martial class was better at it in dealing unarmed damage.

[Waker]

Warforged Juggernaut is immune to nonlethal damage at the second level of the classes progression. Regeneration is a bit trickier what with the immunity to healing at the 3rd level. You'd probably have to find a template that has Fast Healing as a special quality.

[Dragon Elite]

Unarmed Swordsage is better than monk, and dip warlock for eldritch claws for bonus unarmed damage. Then, you can take 2 levels of rogue for evasion.

[Angry Bob]

Unarmed Swordsage might work, if you don't like the fluff, use a warblade instead, taking improved unarmed strike manually and focusing on stone dragon strikes(to kool-aid man through walls) and the warblade's defensive counters(diamond mind save counters, wall of blades) to emulate indestructability. Take Martial Study as often as you can to get Immortal Fortitude. Of course, to do that, you have to skip Warforged Juggernaut. It's up to you.

If you don't like Tome of Battle, dig up the Dungeoncrasher fighter ACF and go into Juggernaut with that. For practicality, find a way to pounce, and mix the natural slam attack with unarmed strikes.

[grarrrg]

The Mineral Warrior template seems about right.
Natural Armor +3, DR 8/adamantine (it's not regen, but it helps), and +4 Con can easily represent the obscene toughness of a Terminator. +2 Str is fitting, and the mental penalties are about right, although a Terminator is very advanced, so it should 'really' have a bonus to Int.

Depending on how rules-tight you want/need to be, I'd say some minor-refluffing/tweaking (get rid of the "burrow" and "earth strike") and Mineral Warrior is a good start.

[Zonugal]

Maybe looking to classes like Bloodhound (Complete Adventurer) or Mortal Hunter (Book of Vile Darkness)?

[Draculmaulkee]

Questions

• Could the build have a two level fighter dip to pick up the dungeoncrasher power, then progress as warblade/juggernaut and eventually pick up immortal fortitude?

• How would the dungeoncrasher damage be optimized, since a warforged doesn't qualify for Knockback?

• Would a build like Dungeoncrasher 2/Pounce Barbarian 1/Warblade 2/Juggernaut 5/Warblade or manuever progressing class 10 achieve a workable balance between damage and survivability?

EDIT: Mineral Warrior may be worth including.
@ Zonugal: I don't have CAdv, what would a Blood Hunter contribute mechanically?

[Fishy]

Bloodhound is for "WHERE IS SARAH CONNOR?"

Warforged Chargers are Large, so they qualify for Knockback, War Hulk, and other such silliness. Alternatively, you could take a Half-Orge or something and run it through the Renegade Mastermaker PrC, but that doesn't become a full Warforged until ECL 17ish.


The 'Completely Immune to Damage' build includes 7 levels of Master of Many Forms, and 2 of Warforged Juggernaut. Wild Shape into a Troll of some kind, and then you have Regeneration and Immunity to Non-lethal damage, and you look vaguely like Arnie.

Warforged MoMF is quite interesting. As of the last Polymorph Errata, Warforged keep the traits of the Living Construct type while Wild Shaped. This means they don't recover HP when they Wild Shape, unless you squeeze Reforged 1 into your build, but the immunities can be very nice. Also, composite plating isn't armor or equipment, so it doesn't merge into their bodies and become useless. Slap a bunch of enchantments on yourself and you're golden.

Druids with the Adamantine Body feat loose most of their class abilities, but there's no such restriction on Wildshape Variant Rangers, from Unearther Arcana. The Abolisher PrC, from Lords of Madness, also doesn't have that restriction. You can enter at level 7 with a one-level dip in Druid, Spirit Shaman, Ranger, Fey Variant Bard, or Warlock with the Call of the Beast invocation. Some of those are better than others.

Sensible Build: Wildshape Ranger 5/MoMF 7/Juggernaut 5/Warshaper 3
Alternative Build: Ranger 1/Dungeoncrashing Fighter 6/Abolisher 1/MoMF 7/Juggernaut 5
Ridiculous Build: Warlock 10/Abolisher 1/MoMF 7/Juggernaut 2

[Kansaschaser]

Awakened Effigy Human...

You could just play an Effigy master, and then use Magic Jar to take over any of your effigies that you want.

Make an effigy of a Titan or some other powerful Giant. Then just magic jar and your effigy, equip it with armor and weapons, then go after your "target".

If that body gets destroyed, then switch your mind into another more powerful effigy and try again....after the child is born....15 years later.

[Greenish]

Well, there's the Troll-blooded feat. You'd need flaws to grab it, but that'd get you regeneration 1. Either warforged juggernaut or the warforged racial feat (I forget the name) would get you immunity to non-lethal damage, that is to say, anything but fire or acid.

[grarrrg]

try again....after the child is born....15 years later.

The reason Skynet couldn't try earlier than that is because Sarah Conner went off the grid after the first attack, and Skynet didn't know where to look. It wasn't until John got foster parents that he was finable again.
As for why Skynet didn't send a terminator to BEFORE the first attempt...

I've always just assumed that "Terminator"-style time travel is a very difficult/unreliable thing. Which is why only 2 beings ever got sent back each time.

[nyarlathotep]

I would recommend using natural weapons instead of unarmed strikes. Warforged start with a natural slam attack. There is a feat called extra slam that lets you have a second one. There is even a feat that gives you a bite attack (jaws of death) sadly it goes against the initial concept. Additionally you can then take rapid strike and imrpoved rapid strike from the Draconomicon for more slam attacks. You then use the armor spikes from warforged juggernaut as manufactured weapons in conjunction with your slams, btu your to-hit would be terrible.

Furthering this concept you can take ardent with the combat mantle for obtaining dr and the destruction mantle for giving your natural weapons bonus damage. If you are able to convince your DM to allow you to use a slightly homebrew feat practiced manifester (psionic version of practiced spellcaster) and you don't even miss out on higher level powers while taking warforged juggernaut.

[Ernir]

I'd skip getting damage immunity. It makes the build playable in a much greater number of games, and you don't need to be indestructible for the concept to work - you just need to be really tough to take down with conventional weapons.

Mineral Warrior Warforged would be awesome, but there is this problem...

"Mineral warrior" (also called "stony") is a template that can be added to any corporeal creature that is not a construct, undead, or an elemental (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

[The Glyphstone]

Which Terminator are we talking about?

The T-101 didn't have any sort of regeneration or fast healing, just some excellent Damage Reduction, a lot of hit points, and some variant of Diehard.

The T-1000 had the above plus a large amount of Fast Healing (more than a shotgun could overcome), and a golem-like vulnerability to cold damage that temporarily disabled said healing.

The T-X probably had Regeneration/Fusion battery overload.

[grarrrg]

Mineral Warrior Warforged would be awesome, but there is this problem...

Well, the OP never specified if this was for a PC, a BBEG, or just a thought exercise. If it's for the Big Bad Evil Guy, then tweaking the template is fine. If it's for a PC, he might be able to get it DM allowed with a few tweaks (say, reducing the DR)

Which Terminator are we talking about?
The T-101 didn't have any sort of regeneration or fast healing, just some excellent Damage Reduction, a lot of hit points, and some variant of Diehard.

You meant T-800. The rest of your points stand however.

The T-1000 had the above plus a large amount of Fast Healing (more than a shotgun could overcome), and a golem-like vulnerability to cold damage that temporarily disabled said healing.

This one gets tricky. If you go by the originally planned version, then all the shotgun blasts, and explosives, and freeze > shattering, were originally supposed to cause cumulative damage. The final scenes in the factory, the T-1000 was originally supposed to start glitching, and losing control of which/whose shape it was in. So shooting it with a shotgun once wouldn't be noticable. Shooting it with a shotgun 1000 times or so, and it would show some wear and tear.

Long story short, it WAS being damaged every time, it just had ungodly amounts of HP and DR.
As far as D&D goes, I'd make the T-800 either a Construct or an Earth Elemental, and I'd make the T-1000 a Water Elemental with shape shifting powers.

The T-X probably had Regeneration/Fusion battery overload.

Just give the Tarrasque some laser beams, and pretend it's medium sized and call it good.

[The Glyphstone]

You meant T-800. The rest of your points stand however.

The nomenclature apparently is inconsistent:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminator_(character)

Spoiler

Show

The end credits of the first three Terminator films list Schwarzenegger's character as simply "The Terminator". Later films call the newer terminator characters by their series numbers (T-1000, T-X, etc.). The only consistent name for Schwarzenegger's Terminator character has been "The Terminator". Kyle Reese in The Terminator and Schwarzenegger's character in Terminator 2 refer to it as a "Cyberdyne Systems Model 101." In Terminator 3, the Terminator refers to itself as a "T-101," which could be an abbreviation of its model number.

In Terminator Salvation, the T2 Extreme Edition DVD, and the Terminator 2 video game he is referred to as an 800 series and a T-800.[2] The T3 extras refer to him as an "850 series Model 101", a "T-850", and a "T-101".

Additionally, most merchandising for T2 and T3 - both at the time of their original releases and retroactively - (e.g. Action Masters miniatures, Cinemaquette statues, Sideshow Collectables replicas, Hollywood Collectibles statuettes, ArtFX kits, Medicom figures, Hot Toys, and McFarlane Toys) have all used the T-800 and T-850 nomenclature, contributing to this designation having arguably the most popular and widely-disseminated usage, especially in direct juxtaposition to the explicitly named T-600s and T-1000. Terminator Salvation has the first on-screen usage of the term T-800, when John Connor sees blueprints of said series' endoskeleton.

In the T2 commentary, Cameron states that the Model 101s all look like Schwarzenegger, with a 102 looking like someone else, leading to speculation that the 101 refers to the physical appearance while the 800 refers to the endoskeleton common to many models. A scene deleted from the theatrical cut, but restored in the Terminator 2 Special Edition, lends the most credence to this explanation. In this scene, John and Sarah shut down The Terminator for modification according to his instructions. When he reboots, the upper-left of his HUD reads "Cyberdyne Systems Series 800 Model 101 Version 2.4". Additionally, the original Terminator 2 teaser trailer further verifies this on a display monitor during cyborg tissue generation, referencing the Series 800 Model 101.

So strictly, he is a Series 800, Model 101.

Long story short, it WAS being damaged every time, it just had ungodly amounts of HP and DR.
As far as D&D goes, I'd make the T-800 either a Construct or an Earth Elemental, and I'd make the T-1000 a Water Elemental with shape shifting powers.

Personally, I'd give the T-1000 Warshaper levels. Morphic weapons, Fast Healing, immunity to criticals - like Another Gaming Comic describes it, it's basically Terminator: The Prestige Class.

Just give the Tarrasque some laser beams, and pretend it's medium sized and call it good.

Well, they did manage to actually kill it, though it took Ahnold detonating his reactor core in a suicide attack. Though in the absence of other Terminators to supply said fusion bombs, Regen/- is basically the same thing.

[grarrrg]

Well, they did manage to actually kill it, though it took Ahnold detonating his reactor core in a suicide attack. Though in the absence of other Terminators to supply said fusion bombs, Regen/- is basically the same thing.

So basically "Blah blah blah, kill it with LOTS of fire, blah blah blah"

[The Glyphstone]

So basically "Blah blah blah, kill it with LOTS of fire, blah blah blah"

There is that too.

[Czin]

How would you build a character (d&d 3.5) character to be like the original Terminator? This character would need a way to deal large amounts of melee damage with unarmed or natural attacks and, more importantly, be as resistant as possible to attacks directed against him/her/it.
Thanks In Advance

Depending on whether you are asking for

This terminator or

This kind my answer would vary.

The latter would require a human with a template that would give him a complex series of effects encased in a suit of armor that puts any armor artifacts mentioned in any published sourcebooks to shame (to be fair, they were never all that impressive any way) in terms of both enhancements and effects and armor class and equipped with some very powerful weapons.

The Former would most likely be a construct, but as a DM I'd represent the flesh casing as a set of "kind of like but not really" temporary hit points, and once those pseudo-temporary hit points are exhausted the terminator has been completely relieved of it's flesh disguise, though more and more of it would be torn away as it's pseudo-temporary hit points take damage, but the pseudo-temporary hit points would probably be able to be restored by healing magic and hurt by things like inflict wounds or harm.

The machine itself would probably have multiple energy resistances, I'd say about Fire resistance 20, Cold resistance 30, Acid resistance 10, Sonic Resistance 25, and Electricity resistance 15, however; the pseudo-temporary hit points would not have these resistances for fairly obvious reasons.

In addition, since T-800s are made out of "Hyperalloy" which apparently makes the finest Steel alloys we can make today look like a pile of rusted, waterlogged crap I'd also give it a hit point bonus, about 5-10 hit points per hit dice with an equivalent bonus on fortitude saves, I'd also give it a very high natural armor bonus (in the 20s or 30s) and Damage reduction (15/-) but it would only apply once it's pseudo-temporary hit points were exhausted.

I would probably give any of the humanoid terminators with solid endoskeletons (starting with the T-20 and ending with the T-950) two slam attacks with the option for a single kick (essentially a slam attack with an moderate attack penalty made up for by having a higher damage bonus) or headbutt (parenthesis notes on kicks) during an full attack or they can be done in place of a slam attack.

For it's attribute scores I'd give the a T-800/T-850 a very high strength score judging from it's performance in the movies, probably in the upper 20s or lower 30s. Due to it's computerized brain and demonstrated quick reflexes (when they aren't doing the slow walk that is) I'd also give it a very high dexterity score, equal to it's strength score so again it would probably be in the 20s and 30s. As a construct it would obviously have no constituion score so this is a moot point. I'd give it a pretty high intelligence score, but not quite a superhuman one as Terminators (or at least protagonist/antagonist ones) appear to be very capable in the reasoning and logic department, so 14-18. For a wisdom score, I'd say maybe a 20 or so. For Charisma, I'd probably give it a 14.

Now as for it's special qualities, It's definitely going to be immune to mind-effects and fear, theability to wield very large weapons (the mini-gun scene in Terminator 2 comes to mind, the only person on the set who could even lift the prop was Arnold, and that's without the weight of the thousands of rounds of ammo and the power generator that weapon would require, actually firing it would create enough recoil to knock a man on his arse and break bones) without penalty, dark vision (with an range that's really only limited by the distance one can continue to make spot checks), low-light vision (I'd say that it would have about a x8-12 version of lowlight vision) as well as ambidexterity (it's a machine, there is no reason for it to have an off-hand.)

A Vanilla T-800 would not have any special attacks save for a modified version of snatch (if it succeeds on a grapple check it can throw an opponent of up to large size X number of feet) awesome blow, and improved grapple.

A T-800 would have quite a substantial bonus to Spot, Search, Listen, Jump, Survival (Without some bonuses or ranks in this skill there is no way it would be able to function all that well at infiltration), Gather Information (See survival parenthesis notes, this is arguably even more important for any infiltrator with little to no knowledge of the locale it's infiltrating), Climb, Sense Motive (it's scanners would probably be able to quickly find any of the physical indications of lying), and Intimidate checks while it would probably have a very hefty penalty to swim checks due to the weight of it's endoskeleton, in fact it would probably have to walk along the ocean/sea floor or river/lake bed. As long as it has it's fleshy exterior, it would also gain an extremely high bonus to disguise checks for passing off as whatever type of creature (probably a human) it's masquerading as, but it would be foiled by the scent ability (there was a tidbit in the first terminator movie about dogs being able to detect disguised T-800s) but would foil true sight due to it's mundane nature.

I hope this helps.

[The_Jackal]

Iron Golem. Next caller, what's on your mind?

[Admiral Squish]

Well, my Tome of Iron has stats for T-101 and T-1000 models in the second post.
[/shamelessplug]

[Eisirt]

How about a Stonechild (Races of Stone)

+8 STR
+8 CON
+2 INT
-2 CHA

Immune to Acid and Poison
Darkvision 60'

Favored Class: Fighter

Lvl adjustment: +4

2 Monster Class levels (Outsider, Earth, Extraplanar)


(But for all intent, Warforged most likely comes most close to the original concept, just give it an item with a few "Repair XXX Damage spells/day)

[Draculmaulkee]

Thanks for all of the responses!

I would like to use this for a PC, and I don't really want to utilize homebrew...it feels like cheating. I know it is possible to build a viable Terminator character, I just don't personally have the opti-fu do so. If it helps you, I was thinking of the T-800 when I posted.

Regarding the actual build, I DO want immunity to damage. The "Sensible Build" posted by Fishy looks it accomplishes this.

Sooo...what should the feat progression be for a Wildshape Ranger 5/Master of Many Forms 7/Warforged Juggernaut 5/Warshaper 3? And does anybody have advice other advice on dealing damage with natural attacks?

EDIT: I feel bad that you went to all that trouble Czin...I'm just looking for PC, not a custom campaign villain. Thanks for the effort though

[Czin]

Thanks for all of the responses!

I would like to use this for a PC, and I don't really want to utilize homebrew...it feels like cheating. I know it is possible to build a viable Terminator character, I just don't personally have the opti-fu do so. If it helps you, I was thinking of the T-800 when I posted.

Regarding the actual build, I DO want immunity to damage. The "Sensible Build" posted by Fishy looks it accomplishes this.

Sooo...what should the feat progression be for a Wildshape Ranger 5/Master of Many Forms 7/Warforged Juggernaut 5/Warshaper 3? And does anybody have advice other advice on dealing damage with natural attacks?

EDIT: I feel bad that you went to all that trouble Czin...I'm just looking for PC, not a custom campaign villain. Thanks for the effort though

While I do feel a bit miffed, I don't hold grudges, my ADHD and Asperger's and generally laidback personality prevent me from both feeling enough emotion to do so (I've never been happier than just...content, I've never been sadder than mild disappointment or a vague sense of longing, I've never been angrier than mildly frustrated and so on etc; emotions don't come easily to me and when they do come they're very muted) and keeping focused long enough to do so. I am worried that you may not do the machine justice though, there just doesn't seem a way to represent the fleshy coating in a fluff accurate way without resorting to homebrew. And the T-850, well; good luck finding a character class that lets you explode with the force of a small nuclear bomb if killed (honestly though the hydrogen cells would make for a stupid class feature, you only have two of them and you can't survive without them, so you have two shots throughout your characters' life time and once the second one goes you're dead, the alternative is to blow up both at once and go down like a soviet demolition truck but I'm not sure many players find the idea of their characters using themselves as suicide bombs particularly appealing.)

The T-1000 is easier to represent with existing rules, I think a few Oozes would have the rules to represent the T-1000's liquid nature, add in some shape-shifting ability, make it specially affected by extreme heat and cold, the power to generate certain simple melee weapons from it's body and fill in the HD, skills and feats and you'd be set.

The T-X however, doesn't really belong anywhere outside of an epic-level campaign.

Iron Golem. Next caller, what's on your mind?

While you are obviously joking I still feel the need to tear this idea apart. I'm sorry but the idea of a large MINDLESS Iron Golem trying to pass off as a medium human by wearing flesh seems...silly. Especially when one considers that Terminators have been proven to be sapient, capable of learning and abstract thought, a Golem can only follow the simplest of programs, anything even approaching complex and they either just stand there or pull a literal genie on you.

[Fishy]

And the T-850, well; good luck finding a character class that lets you explode with the force of a small nuclear bomb if killed.

Jade Phoenix Mage. Booyeah.


Natural Attacks: Warshapers can grow Slam Attacks, and Warforged have a handful of interesting things they can do to improve theirs. For example, you could Wild Shape into a troll, grow a slam attack, and then put on your Battlefist.

I'm a fan of the Stone Power/Shocking Fist combo, but it probably takes too many feats to get going if you have no Crusader or Fighter levels. Second Slam isn't that great, but it does what it does.


Regarding feats: Depends what levels you'll be playing. Extra Wild Shape at level 6 will let you stay humanoid all day long- but is a waste once you get to high levels. You want Power Attack sooner rather than later, but you have to take Alertness first. (Boo!)

Ask your DM what he feels about druids, monsterous feats, and qualifying for things through Wild Shape. If a druid can take Weapon Focus: Claw for an attack he only sometimes has, you might be able to take Knockback even if you're only sometimes Large.

[Czin]

Jade Phoenix Mage. Booyeah.


Natural Attacks: Warshapers can grow Slam Attacks, and Warforged have a handful of interesting things they can do to improve theirs. For example, you could Wild Shape into a troll, grow a slam attack, and then put on your Battlefist.

I'm a fan of the Stone Power/Shocking Fist combo, but it probably takes too many feats to get going if you have no Crusader or Fighter levels. Second Slam isn't that great, but it does what it does.


Regarding feats: Depends what levels you'll be playing. Extra Wild Shape at level 6 will let you stay humanoid all day long- but is a waste once you get to high levels. You want Power Attack sooner rather than later, but you have to take Alertness first. (Boo!)

Ask your DM what he feels about druids, monsterous feats, and qualifying for things through Wild Shape. If a druid can take Weapon Focus: Claw for an attack he only sometimes has, you might be able to take Knockback even if you're only sometimes Large.

It's still fluff rape, terminators couldn't change their disguises or remove them with any deal of ease until the advent of liquid metal robots. Shapeshifting is not the way to represent the syntheic flesh.

[Fishy]

Fine, fine.

From the 'Cheese That Will Get You Banned' files, take a Warforged, and apply the Incarnate Construct template (Savage Species). You loose all your special abilities, but now [Humanoid] and can apply +2 LA worth of templates for free.

Add the Half-Doppelganger template (Dragon 313), which conveniently has +2 LA. Among other things, this gives you the [Shapechanger] subtype and lets you choose three [Humanoid] forms that you can Alter Self into at will. Choose Arnie, Arnold and Ah-nold.

However, you're still a Warorged, kind of. Take Adamantine Body at level 1. You're a [Shapechanger], so you can got into Warshaper at level 5 and get your slam back. Get into Warforged Juggernaut at level 6, and you start earning back most of your construct traits.

Totally playable, if your DM will let you get away with it.

[Draculmaulkee]

Totally playable, if your DM will let you get away with it.

That would be the problem

I think I will be sticking with Fishy's ranger build. I suppose this makes my character more like a T-1000, but as long as I remain in Troll form nobody will know the difference. We will be starting the campaign at 7th level, so I have only have 3 feats (flaws aren't allowed). Unless someone has a way to get more feats, I am pretty much shoehorned into taking Adamantine Body, Alertness, and Power Attack.

On to the next question: what equipment does a Terminator need?