Villainous Competition XI: the higher they rise the harder they fall

[Korahir]

The Green Man

Source
CG->CE River Spirit Folk Shaman 7/Talontar Blightlord 10/Mage-killer 3

Stats

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Str 14
Dex 10 (plus 2 inherent)
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 16 (all increases here)
Cha 14

Build

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Shaman 1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Concentration 4, Heal 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Spellcraft 4	Great Fortitude, (B)Martial Weapon Proficiency (Glaive), (B) Weapon Focus (Glaive)(B) Improved Unarmed Strike	Unarmed Strike, Animal Companion, Domains (Hero and War)
2nd	Shaman 2	+1	+0	+0	+3	Concentration 5, Heal 5, Knowledge (Religion) 5, Spellcraft 5		Spirit Sight
3rd	Shaman 3	+2	+1	+1	+3	Concentration 6, Heal 6, Knowledge (Religion) 6, Spellcraft 6	Lightning Reflexes	Turn/Rebuke Undead
4th	Shaman 4	+3	+1	+1	+4	Concentration 7, Heal 7, Knowledge (Religion) 7, Spellcraft 7	(B)Combat Reflexes	Bonus Feat
5th	Shaman 5	+3	+1	+1	+4	Concentration 8, Heal 8, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Spellcraft 8		Spirit’s Favor
6th	Shaman 6	+4	+2	+2	+5	Concentration 9, Heal 9, Knowledge (Religion) 9, Spellcraft 9	Combat Casting
7th	Shaman 7	+5	+2	+2	+5	Concentration 10, Heal 10, Knowledge (Religion) 10, Spellcraft 10
8th	Talontar Blightlord 1	+5	+4	+2	+7	Concentration 11, Handle Animal 1		Blightbringer Prestige Domain, Blightblood
9th	Talontar Blightlord 2	+6/+1	+5	+2	+8	Concentration 12, Handle Animal 2	Aberration Blood (Flexible Limbs)	Illmaster
10th	Talontar Blightlord 3	+7/+2	+5	+3	+8	Concentration 13, Handle Animal 3		Blight Touch 1/day
11th	Talontar Blightlord 4	+8/+3	+6	+3	+9	Concentration 14, Handle Animal 4		Blightmind
12th	Talontar Blightlord 5	+8/+3	+6	+3	+9	Concentration 15, Handle Animal 5	Inhuman Reach	Blight Touch 2/day
13th	Talontar Blightlord 6	+9/+4	+7	+5	+10	Concentration 16, Handle Animal 6		Black Glaive
14th	Talontar Blightlord 7	+10/+5	+7	+5	+10	Concentration 17, Handle Animal 7		Blight Touch 3/day
15th	Talontar Blightlord 8	+11/+6/+1	+8	+5	+11	Concentration 18, Handle Animal 8	Deepspawn	Corrupting Blows
16th	Talontar Blightlord 9	+11/+6/+1	+8	+6	+11	Concentration 19, Handle Animal 9		Blight Touch 4/day
17th	Talontar Blightlord 10	+12/+7/+2	+9	+6	+12	Concentration 20, Handle Animal 10		Winterheart
18th	Mage-killer 1	+12/+7/+2	+9	+6	+14	Concentration 21, Spellcraft 11	Rapidstrike	Improved Saves (Fort +1)
19th	Mage-killer 2	+13/+8/+3	+9	+6	+15	Concentration 22, Spellcraft 12	(B) Augment Summoning	Augment Summoning
20th	Mage-killer 3	+13/+8/+3	+10	+7	+15	Concentration 23, Spellcraft 13		Improved Saves (Fort +2)

Spells

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Spells per Day

Level	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	3	1+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	4	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	4	2+1	1+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4th	5	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5th	5	3+1	2+1	1+1	-	-	-	-	-	-
6th	5	3+1	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-	-
7th	6	4+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	-	-	-	-	-
8th	6	4+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-	-
9th	6	4+1	4+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	-	-	-	-
10th	6	4+1	4+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	-	-	-	-
11th	6	4+2	4+1	4+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	-	-	-
12th	6	4+2	4+1	4+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	-	-	-
13th	6	4+2	4+1	4+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	-	-	-
14th	6	4+2	4+2	4+1	4+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	-	-
15th	6	4+2	4+2	4+1	4+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	-	-
16th	6	4+2	4+2	4+2	4+1	4+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	-
17th	6	4+2	4+2	4+2	4+1	4+1	3+1	2+1	1+1	-
18th	6	4+2	4+2	4+2	4+1	4+1	3+1	3+1	2+1	-
19th	6	4+2	4+2	4+2	4+2	4+1	4+1	3+1	2+1	1+1
20th	6	4+2	4+2	4+2	4+2	4+1	4+1	3+1	3+1	2+1

Backstory

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The Green Man followed the guidance of the spirits from an early age, and learned their magic to resolve conflicts between the spirit world and the world of man. He knew well that men and spirits did not always see eye to eye, and that as a union of the two himself he was well equipped to talk to both, to soothe tempers and smooth over misunderstandings.
The Green Man learned as the years drew on that there were deeper concerns between the two than simple misunderstandings. The spirits were not always prone to follow contracts and laws to the letter as man did. Men had a great ability to learn, but their constant desire for more drove them ever to push on the borders and drive for renegotiations.

A generation passed, and what had been a village outpost near the forest edge was growing into a large city. The spirits and animals called to him almost every day that the men were encroaching on their lands, stealing their food, and hunting the animals for their meat. The Green Man’s patience wore thin on their inability to stand up for themselves or defend against the humans. Even the predators cried foul to him at the men killing them for hunting the livestock kept near the city. The men had long since ceased bringing their grievances to the Green Man, relying on their ability to seize what they wanted.

When the river in which the Green Man dwelt and swam became tainted and befouled with the runoff from the city’s cooking fires and outhouses and tanneries, he reached the end of his confidence to handle the problems. He performed a ritual to call on a spirit or entity he had only vague knowledge of: Pazuzu. The stories told that he was a being who could provide the caller with assistance, and had great power. The being appeared before him and was very cordial, listening very carefully as the Green Man explained his situation. Pazuzu granted him his blessings, said he had increased the Green Man’s power, and left him at that. Though he could feel the effects, he feared that he would need something more to teach man his folly.

Decades more passed, and man’s greed grew with the town’s size. When they began flagrantly felling the trees of the forest without any attempt at discussion or negotiation, the Green Man knew they had fully cut their ties with the spirit world. He was ashamed to call man among his ancestors. When they dammed the river to power their mills he knew they had to be stopped. He called upon Pazuzu again, pleading with the being to provide him with the power to stop man’s encroachment on the wild. Pazuzu smiled, and told him he knew the solution to not only stop man, but to empower those in the forest to protect it. The Green Man gladly accepted his aid.

In the years that came, the sounds of the forest dimmed, and the moving plants began to decrease in number, and the men did not notice. Disease then came to their livestock, and they were afraid. They vainly followed in the way of their grandfathers and went to the Green Man for assistance. He told them in no uncertain terms that he was reclaiming the wild, and that they were to die if they ever encroached upon the land he had claimed. They saw scores of animals infected with the blight on the land. They saw some even farther gone, planting trees at the forest edge. They saw the Green Man’s emotionless face, and knew that he would expand the forest until he was satisfied. They asked him when the forest would stop growing, and for the first time in years he smiled a grim, cold smile.
“When man is dead.”

CR 5

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At this level the Green Man is a well-intentioned shaman. He’s a competent combatant and caster, and is willing to help the party remove aberrations or threats to the land. He functions much like an average cleric/druid at this point. One point of oddness is that shaman has been updated only slightly. Its animal companion is the outdated 3.0 version, but this is no longer how animal companions work. I’m assuming this means he can function as a druid’s animal companion, but it’s not necessary. If you do get the druid one, a fleshraker is a very solid choice. He currently turns undead, so when he turns evil it will switch to rebuke I assume.

CR 10

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The Green Man has at this point called on Pazuzu twice, shifting his alignment to CN and then to CE. It doesn’t matter what the benefit is, I’ve just selected bonuses to Dex to work with Combat Reflexes. His companion is now blightspawned, meaning it can infect anything with Talona’s Blight, which cannot heal naturally. When the companion inevitably dies, it becomes a Juju Zombie for rebuking and he replaces it with a new one. He can also infect with the blight himself once per day. It’s a nasty disease, so he will spread it as much as possible. At this point he’s at best willing to live and let live, but any harm or incursion on the forest will be viewed as an attack, and he will respond with full force.

CR 15

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Deeper into Talontar Blightlord adds to his power. He’s got an extra domain, and can rebuke blightspawned creatures as well as undead. He can use any of them as a scout that he looks through, extending his influence through much of the forest. Once the PCs enter, he’s likely going to be watching. His glaive can now be used to spread the blight, and once he hits with it the target bleeds until healed.
Inhuman Reach and Deepspawn are representing the blight working its change on him, warping his body before he becomes fully plantlike. I’m assuming that it works on both the tentacles and natural reach. Either way he’s fast becoming a melee menace, especially when he’s buffed up with things like Righteous Might.

CR 20

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The Green Man is now a plant, and as part of that he has now taken rapidstrike, giving him extra tentacle attack on a full attack. With things like Giant Size up and running, he’s going to make a tough foe. Remember if druid’s animal companion is working, that it is giant too.

Corrupting other creatures takes form in two different ways. The first is infecting all the animals and plants in his forest with Talona's blight to make them blightspawned, which are NE, and can begin as soon as CR 10. The second is through Compel, a unique spell to the Shaman which can change the alignment of whatever you target to whatever you want (presumably some evil), regardless of whether they are willing. If they fail the save, they are this new alignment permanently, and they have no inclination to change back. Its use in corruption is obvious, but if you were so inclined you could use it to shift an enemy's alignment closer to good or lawful to slap them with blasphemy/word of chaos or unholy blight/chaos hammer.

Mage-killer’s a fun class, boosting his saves, and giving free augment summon for all of his summon nature’s ally spells. It also runs with his idea of driving man away in all his forms, knowing that the spellcasters are the most dangerous form.

The Green Man has full 9s running now, including 3 of the big boys: shapechange, miracle, and gate. There’s all sorts of havoc that can be wrought with those 3, and he’ll put up a hell of a fight.

At this point his view of mankind has soured completely. Any entry into his forest will be viewed as an invasion, and he will do everything in his power to protect it.

Here I will bring up a possible thing to throw in, if you don’t find it too cheesy. The Green man is a plant after level 17, and has the ability to become large or larger, for some period of time. This means you can apply the Hivenest template to him, inserting any swarm of diminutive or fine vermin (I’d suggest the plague ant swarm from Fiend Folio). It’s unclear whether he would lose the template once he returns to normal size, or how long it takes to apply the template. If fast enough, just have some swarms on hand for him to cram in when he buffs up with righteous might or giant size. The CR adjustment is treating as a group encounter, and the swarm is so low it doesn’t increase his any. I’d definitely recommend applying the template to his fleshraker animal companion, who will be large from HD increase and a plant from blightspawned. I’d recommend nurturing swarms in the forest to put on all of the blightspawned creatures and juju zombies under his control as well, because a bunch of monstrous diseased plant things is scary, but a bunch of monstrous diseased plant things that are swarming with insects is scarier.

Sources

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Shaman, bonus feats: Oriental Adventures (with Dragon Compendium Update)
Talontar Blightlord, River Spiritfolk: Unapproachable East
Mage-killer: Magic of Faerun
Aberration Blood, Inhuman Reach, Deepspawn: Lords of Madness
Rapidstrike: Draconomicon
All else: srd

[Korahir]

Good King Wilhelm Rothheim
LG LE Human(Vampire) Beguiler 8/Swiftblade 10

Build Table

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CR	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1	Beguiler 1	+0	+0	+0	+2	Bluff 4, Concentration 4, Diplomacy 4, Knowledge(Arcana) 4, Knowledge(Local) 4, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft 4, Use Magic Device 4	Dodge, MobilityB	Armored Mage, Trapfinding
2	Beguiler 2	+1	+0	+0	+3	Bluff 5, Concentration 5, Diplomacy 5, Knowledge(Arcana) 5, Knowledge(Local) 5, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 5, Use Magic Device 5		Cloaked Casting (+1 DC), Surprise Casting
3	Beguiler 3	+1	+1	+1	+3	Bluff 6, Concentration 6, Diplomacy 6, Knowledge(Arcana) 5, Knowledge(Local) 5, Sense Motive 6, Spellcraft 6, Use Magic Device 6, Collector of Stories	Knowledge Devotion	Advanced Learning(Power Word Pain)
4	Beguiler 4	+2	+1	+1	+4	Bluff 7, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 7, Knowledge(Arcana) 6, Knowledge(Local) 6, Sense Motive 7, Spellcraft 7, Use Magic Device 7
5	Beguiler 5	+2	+1	+1	+4	Bluff 8, Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Knowledge(Arcana) 8, Knowledge(Local) 8, Sense Motive 8, Spellcraft 8, Use Magic Device 8	Silent SpellB	Silent Spell
8 (6HD)	Beguiler 6	+3	+2	+2	+5	Bluff 9, Concentration 9, Diplomacy 9, Knowledge(Arcana) 9, Knowledge(Local) 9, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft 9, Use Magic Device 9, Social Recovery	Endure Sunlight, AlertnessB, Combat ReflexesB, DodgeB, Improved InitiativeB, Lightning ReflexesB	Surprise Casting(move action), Vampire Abilities: Natural Armor +6, Slam Attack(1d6), Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Dominate, Create Spawn, Energy Drain, Alternate Form, DR 10/silver and magic, Fast Healing 5, Gaseous Form, Resistance to Cold 10, Resistance to Electricity 10, Spider Climb, Turn Resistance, +8 racial bonus to Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot, Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative and Lightning Reflexes, Vampire Weaknesses
9 (7HD)	Swiftblade 1	+4	+2	+4	+7	Bluff (10), Concentration 10, Diplomacy (10), Sense Motive (10), Spellcraft 10	Spring AttackB	Spring Attack, Swift Surge +1/+0ft.
10 (8HD)	Swiftblade 2	+5	+2	+5	+8	Bluff (11), Concentration 11, Diplomacy (11), Sense Motive (11), Spellcraft 11		Blurred Alacrity, +1 level of arcane spellcasting class
11 (9HD)	Swiftblade 3	+6	+3	+5	+8	Bluff (12), Concentration 12, Diplomacy (12), Sense Motive (12), Spellcraft 12	Arcane Strike	Sudden Casting, +1 level of arcane spellcasting class
12 (10HD)	Swiftblade 4	+7	+3	+6	+9	Bluff (13), Concentration 13, Diplomacy (13), Sense Motive (13), Spellcraft 13		Arcane Reflexes, Swift Surge +1/+10ft.
13 (11HD)	Swiftblade 5	+8	+3	+6	+9	Bluff (14), Concentration 14, Diplomacy (14), Sense Motive (14), Spellcraft 14		Evasive Celerity, +1 level of arcane spellcasting class
14 (12HD)	Swiftblade 6	+9	+4	+7	+10	Bluff (15), Concentration 15, Diplomacy (15), Sense Motive (15), Spellcraft 15, Use Magic Device (9.5)	Improved Turn Resistance	Fortified Hustle, +1 level of arcane spellcasting class
15 (13HD)	Swiftblade 7	+10	+4	+7	+10	Bluff (16), Concentration 16, Diplomacy (16), Sense Motive (16), Spellcraft 16, Use Magic Device (10)	Bounding AssaultB	Bounding Assault, Swift Surge +2/+10ft.
16 (14HD)	Swiftblade 8	+11	+4	+8	+11	Bluff (17), Concentration 17, Diplomacy (17), Sense Motive (17), Spellcraft 17, Use Magic Device (10.5)		Diligent Rapidity, +1 level of arcane spellcasting class
17 (15HD)	Swiftblade 9	+12	+5	+8	+11	Bluff (18), Concentration 18, Diplomacy (18), Sense Motive (18), Spellcraft 18, Use Magic Device (11)	Skewer Foe	Perpetual Options, +1 level of arcane spellcasting class
18 (16HD)	Swiftblade 10	+13	+5	+9	+12	Bluff (19), Concentration 19, Diplomacy (19), Sense Motive (19), Use Magic Device (12)		Innervated Speed, Swift Surge +2/+20ft.
19 (17HD)	Beguiler 7	+13	+5	+9	+12	Bluff 20, Concentration 20, Diplomacy 20, Knowledge(Arcana) 10, Knowledge(Local) 10, Sense Motive 20, Spellcraft 20, Use Magic Device 15		Advanced Learning(Dream Casting)
20 (18HD)	Beguiler 8	+14	+5	+9	+13	Bluff 21, Concentration 21, Diplomacy 21, Sense Motive 21, Spellcraft 21, Use Magic Device 21	Versatile Spellcaster	Cloaked Casting(+2 to overcome SR)

Ability Scores

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Final Ability Scores:

Str - 20
Dex - 18
Con - --
Int - 20
Wis - 12
Cha - 16

Levels 4, 8, and 12 go to Int, Level 16 goes to Dex

Spells per Day

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Spells per Day

CR	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	5	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	6	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	6	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4th	6	6	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5th	6	6	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
11th	6	6	6	5	3	-	-	-	-	-
12th	6	6	6	5	3	-	-	-	-	-
13th	6	6	6	6	4	-	-	-	-	-
14th	6	6	6	6	5	3	-	-	-	-
15th	6	6	6	6	5	3	-	-	-	-
16th	6	6	6	6	6	4	-	-	-	-
17th	6	6	6	6	6	5	3	-	-	-
18th	6	6	6	6	6	5	3	-	-	-
19th	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	-	-	-
20th	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3	-	-

CR 1-6, Lawful Lord

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Early on, Wilhelm Rothheim is a respected lord in the kingdom. He is a skilled diplomat, and a fair lord, much to the King's delight. Those who owe fealty to him are treated very well, and he's very proactive about their safety. This means he'll likely hire out adventurers to deal with problems like dealing with the bandits on the high road, rooting out the rumored cultists on the border keep, or dealing with the raiding goblin tribe in the mountains to the west. He's a typical, Lawful Good noble that the PC's are likely to deal well with.

CR 8-10, Blood of the Aristocracy

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Around this time, Lord Rothheim spends a summer in a neighboring kingdom. While there, he performs his duties well, meeting with numerous foreign nobles, attending celebrations and visiting the neighboring kingdom's court. One of the nobles he meets turns out to be a vampire with designs on ruling the kingdom, and an eye towards expanding into the kingdom Rothheim serves as well. This vampire decides to turn Rothheim into one of his minions. He drains Rothheim dry, and spends the next several days "caring" for Rothheim, whom he claims has fallen gravely ill. When Rothheim rises as a new, evil vampire, he finds that he is strong enough to shake off his "master", but decides to play along and pretend to be a loyal puppet. His "master" gives him all the information he'll need to survive as a vampire, and sends Rothheim on his way home with orders to begin swaying nobles to his cause in preparation for eventual takeover. Rothheim takes the plan as his own. He begins to convince the various lords of his kingdom to support him. Those he cannot convince, he charms, dominates, turns into spawn, or as a last resort, slays. He begins discreetly sowing seeds of discontent among the populace for the King, and positioning himself in line to inherit (or take) the throne. All the while, he subtly builds a defense against possible aggression from his "master" and the neighboring kingdom. At this point, Rothheim is a manipulator and caster who uses his servants (charmed, dominated, or undead) to strike down any threats to his person. He can dash in and strike for decent damage with Knowledge Devotion where needed, but does not expose himself to needless risk. His personal defenses are supercharged by the Vampire template, and the Swiftblade prestige class. He's happy to throw spells to enhance his minions or harm his foes. He can withstand sunlight for a limited time, but always applies Liquid Night (hidden by Disguise Self if necessary) before appearing in public during the day. Rothheim will likely continue to utilize the party, though the nature of his requests have changed somewhat. Now his requests focus more on foiling the neighboring kingdom and harming those who would harm his domain rather than protecting his people. If the PCs regularly spend time in Rothheim's kingdom, they'll see signs of change. Perhaps where dangerous criminals were once executed publicly, now they are pitted against one another in gladitorial arenas. Astute PCs may even notice that the punishment for many minor crimes has become more severe. The idea is that these changes (intended to bring about a more LE society) happen relatively slowly, and always appear to be in the best interest of the people. All the while, Lord Wilhelm Rothheim comes off as suave, sophisticated, and very convincing.

CR 11-15, Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!

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It is during this time that Rothheim makes his move. He's got all the influence he needs to rise to power, now he just needs the opportunity. That opportunity being the assassination of the king (during the Harvest Ball) at the hands of the neighboring kingdom. At least, that's what Rothheim's agents will make it look like. After the King's death, the lords of the kingdom gather and overwhelmingly support Rothheim taking the throne. Publicly, he voices his reluctance, but vows to make the neighboring kingdom pay for their crimes. And so it is with an apparent heavy heart that Good King Rothheim ascends to power. He will likely hire the PCs both before and after the King's assassination to investigate activity on the border with the neighboring kingdom. As he is privvy to some of his "master's" plans (he still pretends to be a loyal servant right up until the assassination of the King), he is able to provide accurate information on the location of his "master's" agents. The PCs make an excellent tool for hindering his "master's" plans and eliminating his agents. As far as Rothheim's personal tactics go in battle, he continues to use minions to do his fighting for him, although he has now become a much larger danger personally. He can deal a large chunk of damage with an Arcane Strike powered Bounding Assault or his Haste bolstered attacks, and has considerable capabilities to spring a surprise attack on his foes with Invisibility spells, or to simply Dominate or Charm those who aren't immune. Defensively, Swiftblade boosts his defenses nicely, and can be augmented by some tasty spells from his Beguiler list, like Greater Mirror Image.

CR 16-20, Good King Rothheim, Defender of the Realm

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Now is the season for war. At this point, Rothheim is all too happy to point the PCs in the direction of his "master", in the hopes of having them remove the only remaining obstacle to his conquest of the neighboring kingdom. Otherwise, he prepares the kingdom for war. Rothheim's "master" should be a potent foe, and a suitable "miniboss". Should he have the opportunity to speak with the PCs, he's more than happy to relay the information that Rothheim is, in fact, a vampire. There are many points along the line where the PCs have the opportunity to suss this information out themselves, and indeed should if the campaign isn't going all the way to 20th level (stopping Rothheim's plot to assassinate the king would be a solidly dramatic ending, as the PCs duke it out with Rothheim and his servants at the Harvest Ball). However, should the campaign go this far, then after dealing with Rothheim's "master", the PCs will be well positioned and equipped to deal with vampires, and a climactic battle with Rothheim and his servants in his throne room should be a suitable end to the campaign. If Rothheim isn't to be the main focus of the campaign, he and his kingdom can still be sprinkled into the campaign, with the PCs continuing to work for him or uncover and thwart his plans at any point from CR 8-20. Rothheim has a few new goodies to throw around at this point. Skewer Foe gives him a little more oomph in a full attack (or a small boost in a Bounding Assault), Dream Casting gives him the ability to speak with (and Charm) anyone when they are sleeping, and Versatile Caster ensures that he has plenty of his most potent spells to throw around. Oh, and thanks to Swiftblade, he is so fast that he can utilize Timestop when necessary to either beat feet, or buff himself properly before a fight. You know Santiago from the Interview With a Vampire movie? He's got nothing on Rothheim's speed.

The Fallen Corruptor

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The Vampire template lists alignment as "Always Evil". According to the Alignment section in the Monster Manual Glossary, this means the creature is "born" with the alignment. Which means that newly created vampires are "born" evil. So Rothheim starts as a Lawful Good human, and is "born" as a Lawful Evil vampire. Which is a mechanical change, rather than a solely roleplay based one. In addition, Rothheim many methods of corrupting others - through Diplomacy (high modifier coupled with Social Recovery and Glibness to re-roll a failed check with a sky-high Bluff modifier), Charm and Dominate spells, and turning them into spawn. Lastly, Rothheim is, at no point, a Paladin.

References

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Monster Manual - Vampire template
Player's Handbook - Dodge, Mobility, Silent Spell, Spring Attack
Player's Handbook II - Beguiler, Bounding Assault
Libris Mortis - Endure Sunlight, Improved Turn Resistance, Liquid Night
Wizards.com - Swiftblade
Complete Warrior - Arcane Strike
Spell Compendium - Dream Casting
Races of the Dragon - Versatile Spellcaster, Power Word Pain
Champions of Ruin - Skewer Foe
Complete Champion - Knowledge Devotion

[Korahir]

վատ է ձի, (Vat e Dzi)
CE Lost[Wrath] Equinal Bard 2/Evangelist 5/Crusader 6

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CR	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
6 (6 HD)	Equinal	+6	+5	+5	+5	Balance 5, Bluff 4cc, Concentration 9, Diplomacy 9, Gather Information 4cc, Jump 7, Knowledge(The Planes) 9, Knowledge(Religion) 9, Listen 9, Perform(Oratory) 4cc, Sense Motive 9, Spot 9	Improved Unarmed Strike, Persuasive, Superior Unarmed Strike, RunB	Large size, +11 Natural Armor, Speed 60ft., 2 natural Slam attacks (1d8), At-Will: Aid(DC 17), Command(DC 16), Detect Evil, Detect Magic, Dimension Door(DC 19), Dispel Magic, Fog Cloud, Light, Magic Circle Against Evil(self only), Magic Missle, See Invisibility; 1/day - Slow(DC 18) and Wall of Stone(DC 20). Caster Level 6th. The save DCs are Charisma based., Whinny(DC 17), Speak With Animals, Lay on Hands, Resistance to Acid 10, Resistance to Cold 10, Immune to Electricity and Petrification, +4 racial bonus on saves vs. poison, Tongues, DR 10/Evil or Silver, Spell Resistance 18
8 (7 HD)	Bard 1	+6	+5	+7	+7	Bluff 7, Gather Information 5, Perform(Oratory) 6		Bardic Music 1/day, Bardic Knowledge, Countersong, Fascinate, Inspire Courage +1, Equinal Whinny DC increases by 1, Speed 70ft., +3 Natural Armor (added to Equinal base for a total of +14 Natural Armor), Fury of Wrath, DR (1/2 character level)/magic, Twisted Mind
9 (8HD)	Bard 2	+7	+5	+8	+8	Bluff 8, Perform(Oratory) 11		Bardic Music 2/day
10 (9HD)	Evangelist 1	+7	+5	+8	+10	Diplomacy 10, Intimidate 3, Perform(Oratory) 12, Sense Motive 10	Extra Music	Great Orator 1/day, Inspire Dread
11 (10HD)	Evangelist 2	+8	+5	+8	+11	Diplomacy 11, Intimidate 6, Perform(Oratory) 13, Sense Motive 11		Great Orator 2/day, Fast Talk
12 (11HD)	Evangelist 3	+9	+6	+9	+11	Diplomacy 12, Intimidate 9, Perform(Oratory) 14, Sense Motive 12		Great Orator 3/day, Inflame the Righteous
13 (12HD)	Evangelist 4	+10	+6	+9	+12	Diplomacy 13, Intimidate 12, Perform(Oratory) 15, Sense Motive 13	Imperious Command	Great Orator 4/day, Skill Mastery (1 skill), Equinal Spell-like ability DCs increase by 1
14 (13HD)	Evangelist 5	+10	+6	+9	+12	Diplomacy 14, Intimidate 15, Perform(Oratory) 16, Sense Motive 14		Great Orator 5/day, Convert the Unfaithful
15 (14HD)	Crusader 1	+11	+8	+9	+12	Intimidate 17, Perform(Oratory) 17cc, Ride		Furious Counterstrike, Steely Resolve 5
16 (15HD)	Crusader 2	+12	+9	+9	+12	Diplomacy 15, Intimidate 18, Perform(Oratory) 18cc	Song of the White Raven	Indomitable Soul
17 (16HD)	Crusader 3	+13	+9	+10	+13	Diplomacy 16, Intimidate 19, Perform(Oratory) 19cc		Zealous Surge, Equinal Whinny DC increases by 1
18 (17HD)	Crusader 4	+14	+10	+10	+13	Diplomacy 17, Intimidate 20, Perform(Oratory) 20cc		Steely Resolve 10
19 (18HD)	Crusader 5	+15	+10	+10	+13	Diplomacy 18, Intimidate 21, Perform(Oratory) 21cc	Improved Natural Attack(Slam)
20 (19HD)	Crusader 6	+16	+11	+11	+14	Diplomacy 19, Intimidate 22, Perform(Oratory) 22cc		Smite 1/day

Spoiler: Abilities

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Starting Ability Scores:
Str - 10
Dex - 12
Con - 13
Int - 14
Wis - 8
Cha - 15

Race Adjustments:
+10 Str
+6 Con
+2 Int
+4 Wis
+4 Cha

Template Adjustments:
+4 Str
+4 Con
-6 Int

Level Increases:
4, 8, and 12 to Charisma
16 to Constitution

Final Ability Scores:

Str - 24
Dex - 12
Con - 24
Int - 10
Wis - 12
Cha - 22

Spoiler: Spells per Day/Spells Known

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Spells per Day/Spells Known

CR	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
8th	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
9th	3	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Spell progression doesn't continue beyond this point.

Spells Known:
0 Level: Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Message, Prestidigitation, Read Magic
1st Level: Expeditious Retreat, Inspirational Boost

Spoiler: Maneuvers Readied/Maneuvers Known

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Maneuvers Readied/Maneuvers Known

CR	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
15th	1	1	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
16th	1	1	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
17th	1	1	2	1	1	-	-	-	-
18th	1	1	2	1	1	-	-	-	-
19th	1	1	2	1	1	1	-	-	-
20th	1	1	2	1	1	1	-	-	-

Maneuvers Known (typically readied are marked with ^R):
1st Level: Leading the Attack(WR), Martial Spirit(Stance)
2nd Level: Foe Hammer(DS)
3rd Level: Revitalizing Strike(DS)^R, White Raven Tactics(WR)^R, Tactics of the Wolf(Stance)
4th Level: Divine Surge(DS)^R
5th Level: Tide of Chaos(DS)^R
6th Level: War Leader's Charge(WR)^R

Spoiler: CR 6, So let the games begin

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Vat e Dzi begins his life as an Equinal named Paterazmi Dzi with a particular zeal for battle. Moreso than others of his race, he relishes hoof to hand combat, and has focused on learning to use not just his slam attacks, but his whole body as a weapon. He's a staunch ally to anyone who would face the forces of evil. He can encounter the PCs in pretty much any place where there is a battle between good and evil. He usually enjoys running with his close friends and allies, a small group of other guardinals. He also studies a bardic tradition in an effort to better support his allies in their battles.

Spoiler: CR 10, A heinous crime

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Tragedy befalls Paterazmi Dzi and his guardinal allies when fighting against a pack of fiends in Pandemonium. The battle raged back and forth through several caverns. The fiends fell back to a cavern containing the soulstuff they were harvesting from the plane, and managed to slay one of his guardinal allies. His righteous fury gave way to simple hatred of the fiends, and plunged into their midst. He drove their leader into the containers of soulstuff, shattering them and releasing tainted incarnum into the cavern. Paterazmi Dzi's allies were driven back by the storm of incarnum whipped up by the howling winds of Pandemonium, and a stray wisp of hate-tainted incarnum shot through Paterazmi Dzi like an arrow. The incarnum fused with his essence. It corrupted his form and drove him into a raging frenzy. He slew the leader of the pack of fiends, and his allies lost track of him as he vanished into the depths of the cavern system in pursuit of the rest of the fiends, his horrible Whinny echoing above the winds.

The terribly transformed being now known as Vat e Dzi wandered for quite some time through Pandemonium before finding himself at the gates to the Citadel of Slaughter on Phlegethon. It was there that he found renewed purpose in the service of Erythnul. He yearns to turn all the planes into an eternal battlefield in the sacrament of slaughter. While he is personally fearsome in battle, he also takes delight in leading others to go to war and spill blood. There is a strange kind of unity in the terror and suffering of war, and to Vat e Dzi's corrupted and twisted mind, that's similar to the camaraderie he felt prior to his fall.

Vat e Dzi gains the Lost template shortly before gaining his first bard level. This template warps his body and twists his mind, changing him from an agent of good with a lust for battle to a slaughtering fiend who incites others to violence. His visage is terrible to behold, and his wrathful heart can be heard beating quite some distance away. He has limited bardic training, and becomes an Evangelist of Erythnul at CR 10. As far as the PCs are concerned, Vat e Dzi is a wealth of potential encounters or campaign options. He has the built-in hook of his former guardinal allies who are likely looking for him, there's the hook listed in the Lost template writeup where the party might be on the lookout for a way to "cure" a Lost. As for encountering Vat e Dzi himself, he is probably best used as the agitator who is prodding several tribes of savage humanoids to band together and go to war against the more civilized races. He is likely a general or advisor to the tribal leaders, and may wade into combat himself. More likely, he'll try and incite multiple sides into conflict and revel in the death and destruction.

Spoiler: CR 15, A show of force

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Given enough time, Vat e Dzi begins building a dark mirror to his former group of allies. He gathers a small league of like-minded individuals bent on chaos and destruction, and together they spread chaos and destruction on a much wider scale. He and his allies gather a large army under their command, and lead it in battle against forces on both the Prime Material and the Outer Planes. Their targets are not specific, Vat e Dzi will strike at anyone so long as there can be slaughter.

At CR 15, Vat e Dzi finished off Evangelist and starts taking Crusader levels. He can now inspire his allies in to much more destructive heights in battle, and has a method for converting non-allies into allies on the spot. He can convince even the most peaceful of individuals to kill. He uses this as a recruitment tool to swell his ranks. His addition of Crusader levels gives him much greater personal combat ability, as well as opening up the White Raven line of maneuvers to make him a more effective war leader.

Spoiler: CR 20, A murder would be nice of course

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As an Outsider, Vat e Dzi won't die from old age, meaning the only way to stop him is to either discover a method to cure a Lost, or to slay him. If he is left to his own devices, he will continue his one-horse crusade to plunge all of existence into bloody conflict. His former allies would very much like to cure him, but will put him down before they let him cause more harm. But in order to stop him, they will need help.

By CR 20, Vat e Dzi has gathered a mighty horde, and is a potent combatant in his own right. His inspirational abilities are solid, as all of his Bard, Evangelist, and Crusader(thanks to Song of the White Raven) levels stack for determining the strength of his Inspire Courage ability, and he can augment that ability with his White Raven Maneuvers. His former allies are likely to contact the PCs (if they haven't already) for help in dealing with their friend. Even if they find a cure, they will have to confront Vat e Dzi, and catching him alone will be difficult. They'll either need to engage his army with one of their own and seek him out on the battlefield, or more likely they'll have to deal with him and his personal retinue.

Spoiler: References

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Monster Manual: Improved Natural Attack
Player's Handbook: Bard, Improved Unarmed Strike, Persuasive, Run, Expeditious Retreat, Prestidigitation, Read Magic, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Message
Book of Exalted Deeds: Equinal
Magic of Incarnum: Lost template
Spell Compendium: Inspirational Boost
Complete Adventurer: Extra Music
Tome of Battle: Crusader, Superior Unarmed Strike, Song of the White Raven, Maneuvers
Drow of the Underdark: Imperious Command

[Korahir]

Citlalmina the Nagual

Spoiler: Images are large...

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Human Ex-Druid 6, Werewolf Lord, Blighter 10

Spoiler: Table

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Base: Str 8 Con 13 Dex 10 Wis 15 Int 12 Cha 14
At CR 20:
Str 8 Con 14 Dex 10 Wis 21 Int 12 Cha 14
Str 22 Con 20 Dex 14 Wis 21 Int 12 Cha 14 when transformed

Alignment	CR	Class	HP	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Skills	Feats	Class Features
NG	1	Druid 1	1d8+1	+0	+2	+0	+2	Concentration +2 Craft(Alchemy) +4, Diplomacy +4, Heal +2, Know(Nature)+2, Listen+2, Prof(Herbalist)+2, Spellcraft+4, Survival+2	Improved Initiative Heroic Destiny	Animal Companion Nature Sense Wild Empathy Speak Druidic, Sylvan, Common
NG	2	Druid 2	2d8+2	+1	+3	+0	+3	Concentration +2 Craft(Alchemy) +5, Diplomacy +5, Heal +3, Know(Nature)+2, Listen+2, Prof(Herbalist)+4, Spellcraft+5, Survival+2	–	Woodland Stride
NG	3	Druid 3	3d8+3	+2	+3	+1	+3	Concentration +2 Craft(Alchemy) +6, Diplomacy +6, Heal +5, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+2, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Survival+2	Protected Destiny	Trackless Step
NG	4	Druid 4	4d8+4	+3	+4	+1	+4	Concentration +5 Craft(Alchemy) +7, Diplomacy +7, Heal +5, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+2, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Survival+3	–	Resist Nature’s Lure +1 Wis
NG	5	Druid 5	5d8+5	+3	+4	+1	+4	Concentration +6 Craft(Alchemy) +8, Diplomacy +8, Heal +7, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+2, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Survival+4	–	Wild Shape 1/day
NG	9	*Werewolf Lord*	11d8+22	+7	+9	+6	+6	Note to self: Max skill ranks are based off of HD Concentration +6, Control Shape +0, Craft(Alchemy) +8, Diplomacy +8, Heal +7, Hide +9, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+4, Move Silently +9, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	–	Alternate Form: Hybrid and Dire Wolf Iron Will, +2 Wis, Trip, Wolf Empathy +4 Survival when tracking by scent Low-Light Vision, Scent, Alertness Run, Track, Weapon Focus(Bite) +2 Natural Armor, DR 5/silver +1 Con
NG	10	Druid 6	12d8+24	+8	+10	+7	+7	Concentration +6, Control Shape +4, Craft(Alchemy) +8, Diplomacy +10, Heal +7, Hide +9, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+4, Move Silently +9, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	Fearless Destiny	Wild Shape 2/day +1 Wis *When falls:* Lose all Druid abilities and spells
CE	11	Ex-Druid 6 Blighter 1	13d8+26	+8	+12	+7	+9	Concentration +6, Control Shape +6, Craft(Alchemy) +8, Diplomacy +14, Heal +7, Hide +9, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+4, Move Silently +9, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	–	Deforestation
CE	12	Ex-Druid 6 Blighter 2	14d8+28	+9	+13	+7	+10	Concentration +6, Control Shape +7, Craft(Alchemy) +10, Diplomacy +17, Heal +7, Hide +9, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+4, Move Silently +9, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	–	Blightfire Sustenance
CE	13	Ex-Druid 6 Blighter 3	15d8+30	+10	+13	+8	+10	Concentration +7, Control Shape +9, Craft(Alchemy) +10, Diplomacy +18, Heal +7, Hide +10, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+4, Move Silently +10, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	Natural Spell	Undead Wild Shape 1/day
CE	14	Ex-Druid 6 Blighter 4	16d8+32	+11	+14	+8	+11	Concentration +10, Control Shape +11, Craft(Alchemy) +10, Diplomacy +19, Heal +7, Hide +10, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+4, Move Silently +10, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	–	Speak with Dead Animal Undead Wild Shape 2/day +1 Wis
CE	15	Ex-Druid 6 Blighter 5	17d8+34	+11	+14	+8	+11	Concentration +10, Control Shape +12, Craft(Alchemy) +14, Diplomacy +20, Heal +7, Hide +10, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+4, Move Silently +10, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	–	Contagious Touch 1/day Undead Wild Shape (Large)
CE	16	Ex-Druid 6 Blighter 6	18d8+36	+12	+15	+9	+12	Concentration +13, Control Shape +14, Craft(Alchemy) +14, Diplomacy +21, Heal +7, Hide +10, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+4, Move Silently +10, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	Coercive Spell:Chill Metal	Animate Dead Animal Undead Wild Shape 3/day
CE	17	Ex-Druid 6 Blighter 7	19d8+38	+13	+15	+9	+12	Concentration +15, Control Shape +15, Craft(Alchemy) +15, Diplomacy +22, Heal +7, Hide +10, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+5, Move Silently +10, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	–	Contagious Touch 2/day +1 Wis *When undergoes Wish-Ritual*: Curse of Lycanthropy DR 10/silver
CE	18	Ex-Druid 6 Blighter 8	20d8+40	+14	+16	+9	+13	Concentration +17, Control Shape +17, Craft(Alchemy) +16, Diplomacy +23, Heal +7, Hide +10, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+5, Move Silently +10, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	–	Unbond Undead Wild Shape 4/day
CE	19	Ex-Druid 6 Blighter 9	21d8+42	+14	+16	+10	+13	Concentration +20, Control Shape +18, Craft(Alchemy) +17, Diplomacy +24, Heal +7, Hide +10, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+5, Move Silently +10, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	Chain Spell:Create Undead	Contagious Touch 3/day Undead Wild Shape (Huge)
CE	20	Ex-Druid 6 Blighter 10	22d8+44	+15	+17	+10	+14	Concentration +22, Control Shape +20, Craft(Alchemy) +18, Diplomacy +25, Heal +7, Hide +10, Know(Nature)+3, Listen+5, Move Silently +10, Prof(Herbalist)+5, Spellcraft+5, Spot + 2, Survival+6	–	Plague Undead Wild Shape 4/day

 
Alternate Forms
Dire Wolf Form: speed 40ft, Large, 10ft space, bite attack, trip, +14 Str, +6 Con, +2 Dex
Hybrid Form: 2 claws and bite, Large, 10ft space, 10ft reach, +14 Str, +6 Con, +2 Dex
(See SRD entry on Lycanthrope, Werewolf Lord for all the details)

 

Spoiler: Spells, sources, etc

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Spells per Day/Spells Known

CRl	0lvl	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	5	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	5	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	5	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	5	4	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	5	4	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
13	5	4	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
14	6	4	3	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
15	6	4	4	3	2	0	-	-	-	-
16	6	4	4	4	3	1	0	-	-	-
17	6	5	4	4	4	2	1	0	-	-
18	6	6	5	4	4	4	2	1	0	-
19	6	7	5	5	5	5	3	2	1	0
20	6	7	6	5	5	5	4	3	2	1

Note:
No items or WBL included in any of the stats except for paying for a wish for the ritual.
 
Sources
Blighter: Complete Divine
Heroic Destiny, Protected Destiny: Races of Destiny
Chain Spell: Complete Arcane
Coercive Spell: Drow of the Underdark
Alternative Method/Ritual of using Wish to change from Infected Lycanthrope to Natural Lycanthrope as described in Savage Species

 
Methods to convert others to evil:
*Playing the long game with Diplomacy, slowly convincing others to change their opinions and actions, that the “evil” thing is right
*Those who die for one reason or another: Raise them as mindless undead (mindless evil)
*Those who fight against undead: Have Ghoul/Ghast/Moghr kill them and spawn more (mindless evil)
*Those who she trusts or who are worthy enough: Bite with Lycanthropy Infection. They’ll turn evil eventually if they either fail a will save or willingly transform

Description

Spoiler

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CR 5: Citlalmina was happy and content with life in her jungle village. She lived pretty much alone making salves and gathering plants, with only Alam, her animal companion jaguar (Leopard Alternative Animal Companion) accompanying her as she went into the forest to gather materials. She was well-respected and even though she was not old, everyone came to her for healing. One night, this all changed. A wild beast had attacked a boy from the village and he was burning with a disease she had never seen before. It was causing him to be overtaken by the beast inside him. She left immediately that night to investigate and try to find a cure. When she arrived at the scene of the attack, she was bitten but with the help of Alam she fought off the already-injured lycanthrope. She didn’t find a cure, but returned to report the beast was dead. Days later, the boy transformed into the same monster and was killed. Fearing the same would happen to her, Citlalmina locked herself in her house. The next morning after transforming, Alam was dead, the house was covered in blood, and she remembered every minute of it (She passed her will save). She swore to do everything in her power to not lose control again.
CR 10: Citlalmina was able to keep her vow for the next couple months. She still acted as the village’s healer but kept her distance even more and built a new house even farther from the village. She knew this couldn’t last forever: each passing month, it was harder to keep herself. She kept the fact that she was also bitten a secret, out of fear the village would kill her like they did to the boy. But, for now, everything was fine. That is, until the jungle burned. It was under attack by a foreign nation, taking over the land and killing those who resisted. Citlalmina, after returning to the village, found houses on fire and people being slaughtered. She exhausted all her magic and strength fighting back against the invaders, but she didn’t have enough. However, she knew the beast inside her had more than enough strength. She broke her vow and willingly changed into the beast, destroying everything and everyone remaining. All that was left in the village was smoke, soot, and blood.
She felt the peace of nature and life forsake her, but burning within her was the consuming destruction of vengeance. Covered in blood and ash, she walked off to the nearest village. She told them she was the only survivor of that attack, and that she was a pretty handy medicine woman. As she healed and took care of the village, she loudly proclaimed the evils of the attacking nation and started to unite all who would listen in her quest for vengeance.
CR 15: By day, a wandering healer. By night, a vengeful destroyer. She preached the virtues of her cause and those who were sympathetic with this “vile” nation she murdered at night, raised them as undead, and sent them off to attack the nation she hates. Occasionally, she went herself to destroy their resources and their camps, to burn their fields, and cause revolts with the undead attacks. Still, she sought for more strength to destroy those she saw as wrong.
CR 17: Finally, she had completely crippled and ruined the nation that attacked her village. For so long, though, she had the burning desire for vengeance and destruction in her mind that she no longer had any purpose without it. She sought a powerful magician to perform a ritual on her: this ritual would fully transform her into the beast, giving her the power to infect others with her bite just as had happened with her so long ago.
CR 20: Those who she trusted with her mission, she has bitten and transformed them into her pack. Those who resisted were changed into undead. She turned her eyes of vengeance towards all civilization. It wasn’t the fault of just one nation: it was the fault of all nations. It was because they fought over their excess wealth. It was because the “civilized” nations sought to impose their world-view on the “barbarous” people. She will bring these nations to their knees. She will destroy all their resources and wealth. She will give them a taste of their own medicine: destruction.

[Korahir]

Throkk Steeltusk
"Some think of vampires as graceful but brutal. Many think of orcs as graceless and brutal. Combine the two and you get just brutal. Throkk has a level of nonchalance that gives him a suaveness usually reserved for the non-orc denizens of this world. Simply powering through anything that gets in his way gives him an almost ceremonial unceremoniousness. It is quite bizarre."

Thokk Steeltusk was going to save the world. That's what he thought, anyway. If he'd known that he was going to end up dooming it, he'd rather have driven a stake through his own heart there and then than leave his home in search of the vampire lord Aradaxis, and to defeat him with the help of an adventuring party.

Thokk smiled as he remembered who he once had been. Naive fool. Cool name, though. He had set off with the intention to follow the barbaric tradition of his ancestors, despite never having had the toughness for it. But now? Now he was the unstoppable leader of a vampire army which stretched across entire countries. Funny old world, eh?

Spoiler: Build Stub

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Male Chaotic Exalted/Chaotic Evil Savage Vampire^LM Lord Orc Whirling Frenzy^UA Barbarian 7/Black Blood Cultist 8

ORC: Str 19 (+3 from levels) Dex 13 Con 8 Int 8 Wis 10 Cha 12
VAMPIRE: Str 29 (+3 from levels) Dex 17 Con - Int 6 Wis 12 Cha 12
LORD: Str 35 (+3 from levels) Dex 21 Con - Int 8 Wis 14 Cha 16

Now, intelligence changes are annoying. What it means is that from CR 6-12, I lose a skill point per level. Oh, this'll be so fun...

Also, Vampire Lord states that nonlord vampires are Chaotic Evil, but vampire itself thinks they're any evil. So whatever, let's make him chaotic evil anyway. Not like he was gonna be lawful.

Spoiler: Vampire Lord Traits

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Savage Vampire Lords:

• Get STR +16, DEX +8, CON -, INT +0, WIS +4, CHA +2
• Get +1 HP/level
• Have two claws, and also a slam.
• Are undead augmented humanoid
• Have the same land speed as the base creature and fly 50 ft perfect.
• Get +12 natural armour to AC
• Drain blood at a rate of 1d4+2 CON drain/round.
• Can call creatures indefinitely.
• Can dominate creatures using their Vampire Lord ability.
• Can create vampires, but never spawn.
• Drain 3 levels on a slam, 1 level on a claw, and 2 levels once per round on any one natural weapon.
• Can wild shape as a druid 12 at will.
• Have Control Weather, Fog Cloud, Telekinesis as a sorcerer 12 at will
• Have CL 5 Gaseous Form indefinitely and at will.
• Can Spider Climb as a constant ex ability.
• Have DR 10/+3
• Have Fast Healing 8 while above 0 HP
• Have a paladin-style CHA to saves.
• Can communicate with creatures at varying ranges.
• Are any evil.

In terms of weaknesses, they:

• Are not repelled by garlic.
• Cannot be held at bay with a mirror or holy symbol.
• Are not stopped by running water.

• Are partially affected by sunlight: they can't use their supernatural abilites and take a -4 to all ability scores and an additional -4 on all attack rolls, saves and skill checks.
• Are partially affected by a stake through the heart, but it only causes its normal damage even if it can overcome the creature's damage reduction.

• Are unable to enter a private location uninvited.
• Can be killed by cutting its head from its body, burning each separately, scattering the ashes of the body in running water and immersing the ashes of the head in holy water, and burying the ashes in consecrated ground, then making sure no-one digs it up and unhallows it. Yes, this is needlessly convoluted.
• Can just be resurrected to get the old person back, though you should probably make the actual vampire helpless first.

Spoiler: Table

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Level	Class	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Class Features
1st	Barbarian 1	+1	+1	+1	+0	K (Nature) 2, Survival 4, Intimidate 4	Extended RageUE	Fast Movement, Illiteracy, Rage 1/day
2nd	Barbarian 2	+2	+2	+1	+0	K (Nature) 2, Survival 5, Intimidate 5	-	Uncanny Dodge
3rd	Barbarian 3	+3	+2	+2	+1	K (Nature) 3, Survival 6, Intimidate 6	Track	Trap Sense +1
5th	Barbarian 3 (Savage Vampire gained)	+3	+3	+4	+2	(+8 bonus Hide/Jump/Listen/MS/Spot)*	AlertnessB, Combat ReflexesB, DodgeB, Improved InitiativeB, Lightning ReflexesB	Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Create Spawn, Energy Drain, Alternate Form, Damage Reduction, Fast Healing, Gaseous Form, Resistances, Spider Climb, Turn Resistance.
6th	Barbarian 4	+4	+4	+4	+2	K (Nature) 3, Survival 7, Intimidate 7	-	Rage 2/day
7th	Barbarian 5	+5	+4	+4	+2	K (Nature) 3, Survival 8, Intimidate 8	-	Improved Uncanny Dodge
8th	Barbarian 6	+6	+5	+5	+3	K (Nature) 3, Survival 9, Intimidate 9	Improved Unarmed Strike	Trap Sense +2
9th	Barbarian 7	+7	+5	+5	+3	K (Nature) 3, Survival 10, Intimidate 10	-	Damage Reduction 1/-
10th	Barbarian 7/Black Blood Cultist 1	+7	+7	+7	+3	K (Nature) 3, Survival 10, Intimidate 11, Move Silently 1	-	Rage 3/day, Feral Rage**, DR 1/Silver
11th	Barbarian 7/Black Blood Cultist 2	+8	+8	+8	+3	K (Nature) 3, Survival 10, Intimidate 12, Move Silently 2	Improved GrappleB, Scorpion's GraspSSt	-
12th	Barbarian 7/Black Blood Cultist 3	+9	+8	+8	+4	K (Nature) 3, Survival 10, Intimidate 13, Move Silently 3	-	Feral Rage Bite
15th	Barbarian 7/Black Blood Cultist 3 (Vampire Lord gained)	+9	+11	+13	+10	(+4 to SM, +8 to diplomacy and intimidate)	Iron Will***	Domination****, Energy Drain, Blood Drain, Alternate Form, Control Weather, Create Spawn, Damage Reduction, Fast Healing, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Turn Resistance
16th	Barbarian 7/Black Blood Cultist 4	+10	+12	+14	+10	K (Nature) 3, Survival 10, Intimidate 14, Move Silently 5	-	Greater Whirling Frenzy, Scent, DR 3/Silver
17th	Barbarian 7/Black Blood Cultist 5	+10	+12	+14	+10	K (Nature) 3, Survival 10, Intimidate 15, Move Silently 7	Extra RageCW	Rage 4/day, Stranglehold
18th	Barbarian 7/Black Blood Cultist 6	+11	+13	+15	+11	K (Nature) 3, Survival 10, Intimidate 16, Move Silently 9	-	Feral Rage Rend
19th	Barbarian 7/Black Blood Cultist 7	+12	+13	+15	+11	K (Nature) 3, Survival 10, Intimidate 17, Move Silently 11	-	Improved Natural Attacks
20th	Barbarian 7/Black Blood Cultist 8	+13	+14	+16	+11	K (Nature) 3, Survival 10, Intimidate 18, Move Silently 13	Extra RageCW	Savage Grapple

*There's an argument to be had that the Savage Vampire doesn't overwrite the Vampire's original skill bonuses, but since racial bonuses don't stack all this means is that the SV gets a +8 to Bluff, Search and Sense Motive which it doesn't really need.
**You already have the claws that you get, but more to the point it stacks rage. The DR at this level is on the table but the text only says 4th and 9th. Go figure. Also this DR stacks, which is neat, so you can stack it on your DR/silver and magic and fall back on your DR/+3 or DR/- if it's bypassed.
***Vampire lord also grants Leadership but it's banned. If you like, imagine that Throkk keeps his servants in his castle. He's gonna end up with a load of mind-slaves anyway.
****The savage vampire removes the dominate ability from the vampire, but not the domination ability from the vampire lord. Go figure.

Spoiler: CR 3 (Turning Point)

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"Run! RUN! I'll hold him off."

The paladin was unused to taking orders from a barbarian, much less an orc, but she had to admit that he was beaten. That, and the orc couldn't heal anyone to save his life, which was a pressing concern when she was carrying an unconscious sorceress over her shoulder. She had to admit that it made sense, but she didn't want to abandon him.

She took a split-second decision, and ran.

"Hello, Throkk".
"Aradaxis. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. A pity that it had to be under such poor circumstances."

Aradaxis laughed. "Don't worry, Throkk. I know that you're stalling. I hope you realise that I could just fly past you, if I wanted?"
"I had guessed as much. But I think you want to fight me."
"Hah! You've some guts. I'll give you that much. Come on, then, have at you!"

It should come as no surprise that Throkk loses this fight. Even though Aradaxis is only a second-level aristocrat, he's still a dangerous 3 points of CR above Throkk, and has a dizzying array of resistances, special abilities, and attacks. The battle's over the moment Aradaxis lands a slam on Throkk. Not that Throkk has no way of fighting back: Whirling Frenzy allows him to take an extra attack irrespective of what he does in the round (even if he runs or withdraws, apparently? It just says "One additional attack in a round", not "One additional attack when he makes a full attack action") so his strategy against Aradaxis is to jump-start his strength up to 23 and whack the vampire with a greatsword, twice. Still, his average damage is only 16 per attack, which gets damage reduced to 6, meaning that Aradaxis' fast healing is probably going to reduce the total damage per round to... 4. Yeah, the poor guy's screwed. That's because he's a good guy, duh.

Against anything a little less scary than Aradaxis, Throkk is likely to take it down in a round or two. 32 damage is a heck of a lot; an Assassin Vine (CR 3) dies, so do two arrowhawks (CR 3 each, EL 5), or amusingly enough a Vampire Spawn (CR 4). Yeah, Aradaxis is too powerful for the party, so they're probably gonna come back in two levels and kill the damned creature. Which is a really, really involved process, mind you. It'll be good practice.

Spoiler: CR 5 (Turning Point)

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Throkk woke up. Aradaxis wasn't ordering him about. That was unusual. Oh, and the place was on fire. Definitely unusual. Fine, fine, he supposed he'd get up and see what the matter was. Oh, Aradaxis was fighting someone and had forgotten that Throkk existed. He didn't feel very compelled to help him, to be honest, except that... oh, damn, were those his adventuring party? Ugh, fine, he'd probably better intervene then. Actually, on second thoughts, he'd make sure that Aradaxis lost the fight before getting involved. And if they didn't manage to kill him, then Throkk would do it himself. It wasn't like Aradaxis would be conscious to tell him not to.

At this point, the party are going to need to run, because the moment that Aradaxis is forced into his place of rest, Throkk is going to jump out of hiding and start tearing the party up big time. At this point, Throkk's claws are good enough damage dealers, especially since his whirling frenzy lets him attack an extra time, and his grappling ability is pretty amazing. The party should probably have to run, maybe even using spells just to slow up Throkk.

Spoiler: CR 15 (Sweet Spot)

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Throkk had only just learned how to read, but that didn't stop him reading frantically through Aradaxis' library. How the hell did the guy learn how to fly? And he just danced through a flowing river, singing like an idiot. Surely that wasn't possible? And worse, he was dead, so Throkk couldn't even interrogate him.

Okay, he could, but that would involve a cleric and a lot of work, so Throkk wasn't prepared to do it.

Then, he found something interesting. Aradaxis survived an assassination attempt by one of his subjects? Hmm, that would be easy to copy. "Javen! Javen, come in here!"

Javen walked in. "Yes, Throkk? What do you want?"
"I'm giving you your fair chance. You hate me, and I hate you. So here's the deal. You may be my slave, but you have my permission to kill me. Just make sure it's in the next week. We'll see whether you can manage or not."

Javen grinned. "You're on."

I confess to not having read the Vampire Lord requirements before having decided to become one. I actually almost tried to enter at level 9, but changed it to 10 even before realising I had to.

Aaanyway, now, if Javen's just some random vampire spawn (which she is), then Throkk's going to annihilate the poor girl. RIP Javen. Then, Throkk becomes a vampire lord. Weirdly, the only way to survive an assassination attempt by one of your subjects is to order one, because they're all under your total control. Go figure.

So, once that's all done, Throkk can go into combat with the PCs and win. Here's his battle strategy:

1: Control Weather to create a storm to make it easier to sneak in.
"Booyah! Direct Hit!"
- Thor, #353

Listen checks take a mighty penalty in a storm, and you have a decent MS score. Go figure.

2: Smash in the door. Hope that the storm masks this.
"Wow, I guess half-orcs really WERE designed for kick-in-the-door style..."
- Elan, #396

Vampire Lord Orcs? More so. With a nice old +13 bonus from strength, no door's going to get in your way for long.

3: Try dropping negative levels on people. Hope they're not immune.
"I needed to see if you remembered to target yourself with the Mass Death Ward as well. You did. Unfortunate. No matter."
- Malack, #873

Your bite deals 2 negative levels (Normal vampire). Your claws deal 1 each (Savage vampire reduces to 1). Your slam deals 3 (Vampire lord increases to 3). You can make all of them (Though the base vampire's drain ability can only be used once/round, so if you get a second bite it doesn't drain) and the claws and slam are primary, and you can take a second slam while frenzied. That's 7 negative levels. That's nasty. Try to see if someone has immunity by going and slamming them (if you can get a necklace of natural attacks that gives you a throwing slam, that could be hilarious), and if they don't you can start dropping more attacks on them.

4: Grapple things.
"Undignified, to be sure, but you will not escape"
- Malack, #873

Unfortunately, your base attack bonus sucks, with CR+5 and mid-bab Black Blood Cultist levels. Oh well; your strength is good enough to grapple any PC who isn't seriously optimised for it.

5: Just deal damage
"This is different. This is a lot more convenient."
- Roy, #1001

If being able to greataxe something three times for 2d6+18 damage isn't enough damage for you, then... well, I'm not entirely surprised. But hey, it's something, and you have a bucket of defensive abilities that let you go toe-to-toe with whatever you need to.

But of course, there's an easier way...

0: Send in an army of vampires to do your dirty work for you.
"You vamped the entire cult?!?"
- Roy, #1018

Of course, rather than fighting people directly, you can just run through a village and energy drain everyone to death. Why? Because Vampire Lords only ever produce vampires, not spawn, and there's no limit for how many they can control. If you turn into a swarm, your swarm attack inflicts negative levels (two per attack) on each creature you pass through, and the attack never misses. You can literally take a full-move through a small army and kill them all by negative levels, and then boom, instant army of vampires. Okay, army of vampires in 1d4 days, whatever. But you can basically have entire towns full of vampires in a few days. Invade another town or even a city (all of your vampires can do the swarm thing too, and they can stack it on the same creature) and you can have a massive army of vampires in very little time, at least not a long time in the grand scheme of things.

Also, you can summon some rat swarms, bat swarms or wolves every day and they don't leave you unless released. This presumably means that if you energy drain them into being wights (they can't be vampire spawn or vampires because they're not humanoid/monstrous humanoid) then they'll still serve you, even though they're dead? That's probably a stretch, but it does mean that each day you can get 1d4+1 eternally-serving bat swarms. Which is nice.

Spoiler: CR 20 (Endgame)

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Ashaya climbed the stairs tentatively. Over a hundred years ago that she'd fought alongside Throkk. A hundred years since he'd sacrificed himself. She shuddered. She turned to Lara, whom she'd carried off the battlefield back then. Curse Aradaxis. This was all because of him. Or maybe it was her fault for pressing them to fight him before they were ready. She sighed, and advanced. The cleric Johann had already fled the battle by the time that Ashaya did, but today would be his show...

"You prepared resurrection?"
"Yes."

Ashaya let the conversation stand. They weren't going to kill Throkk and leave him. They couldn't. They had to change him back into the person he was. Into the cheerfully gold-hearted orc he used to be.

She reached the top of the stairs, and whispered. "Ready?" She got nods from Lara and Johann, and so, she pulled back her foot, and gave the door a mighty kick.

Inside the room was a mass of vampires, almost looking like spectators to some kind of formal proceedings. There were all kinds of people there, from wealthy aristocrats to poor farmers, each one now guised as a vampire. Above them was a mass of flying, swarming bats. Throkk smiled. "I hope you don't mind that I brought guests."

Lara grimaced. "Well, the good news is that I prepared Meteor Swarm..."

The final fight is going to be hard. Throkk's had the chance to amass an army, and while he's no military genius, the vampires he controls can advise him (a sixth of the random peasants he vamps are going to have INT 15, after all) so he's managed to expand quite a lot. And finally, now, he's got all of the heroes into a room with his best vampires. A random level 7 wizard seems a lot more scary with d12 hit dice and a long list of immunities, after all. A vampire rogue who can grab your protective jewellery and give everyone else an opportunity to drain you to death is terrifying. Or, I mean, it's not hard for it to find a flanking partner and stab you. Worst to the worst, they can spam dominates on you until you roll a 1 (though actually, the DC could easily be high enough that you can fail even on a higher roll). Throkk himself can charge up to you, grapple you, auto-hit with all of his natural weapons, auto-hit with his claws again, grapple you again using whirling frenzy, auto-hit with all of his natural weapons again, auto-hit with his claws again, and end up dealing 154+8d8+4d6 points of damage (average 204) and also grappling you. That's not half bad!

For defence, Throkk has a naked AC 25, DR 13/silver or 10/+3 or 1/-, resistances to cold 10 and electricity 10, and fast healing 8, as well as a nice set of saves and immunity to a ton of stuff.

Spoiler: Items

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Did you know that Vampire Lords get quadruple the amount of treasure as the base creature, who already has double standard for being a vampire (try arguing that money isn't a "Real-world value")? Here are some good items for Throkk:

Armour Spikes: 1d6 damage on a grapple and enhance them separately. Neat, especially when you put +damage enhancements on them.
Custom Items or Wands: Spells to get include Balor Nimbus, Babau Slime, Corrosive Grasp, Body Blades, and other extra damage in a grapple spells. Or just get a friend (mind slave) to cast something on you. Enlarge Person is super-good for you, meaning you can get a grapple bonus, and deal more damage when you get free hits with your natural attacks two to four times depending on which one it is.
Gloves of Titan's Grip: You can get a +8 to grapples. Neat.
Last Resort weapon: +1 enhancement that lets you use a weapon while grappling. Neat.
Monk's Belt: AC bonus only works while unarmoured, but the unarmed damage is nice, especially since a UAS is a natural attack so you can use it with Savage Grapple. Unfortunately, it shares its one use/round of energy drain with your bite.
Necklace of Natural Attacks: For when you absolutely, definitely, gotta throw some natural weapons. I'm not kidding, it gives throwing as an example of something you can do. If you use your Scorpion's Grasp, you can grapple from the other end of a room, which is awesome. If you take a -20, you can even do it without having to move, so you can maintain the grapple at that distance too.

None of this is in the least necessary, but if you want to give him some items? These are the ones.

[Korahir]

And that's all folks. 8 entries total, a broad variety as usual.

[AvatarVecna]

When I saw the first entry was an undead Captain Planet, I knew this was gonna be a fun competition.

[5a Violista]

Cool!

I notice a lot of them are nature-ish people. I guess that makes sense? Overzealous protectors of nature seems like a common theme with those.
There's Kobayashi, who is basically Captain Planet-turned-cannibal. 1/1
Quaholom isn't really nature-focused; 1/2
Well, neither is Ivar. 1/3
The Green Man, though: pretty cool. Expand nature into infinity and beyond. 2/4
Wilhem is just a fancy king vampire: suave and aristocratic but not nature-focused; 2/5
Vat e Dzi is not-a-paladin rather than a nature person. 2/6; I guess they really aren't as common as I initially thought reading through them.
Citlalmina is an werewolf burninator. Like Trogdor, except not a dragon: destroying the thatched-roofed cottages. I'll count her: 3/7
Throkk is a vampire too, but also cool. 3/8.
Less than half.

...Guess I was wrong. Maybe I got that impression because Zombie Captain Planet just stood out in my mind so much. I loved his "Background" description.



I kind-of wanted to make a vampire dragon, but I couldn't figure out how to do that.

[Tiri]

If you are rethinking deadlines, maybe you could shift the day of submission to a Saturday? That might give some people a bit more time to finish up their builds.

[Thurbane]

My build was a Pixie recruited by dark forces and “turned” with a Helm of Opposite alignment (best I could come up with given the restrictions).
Remorseless Charm was one of the key components of the build – never come across this spell before, but found it researching for this build. Seems ideal for this competition. Thanks to Versatile Spellcaster, the build still gets access to 9th level spells.
Character schtick: using a combo of spells, subterfuge (disguise, forgery, sleight of hand, hide, move silently) and persuasion (bluff, diplomacy, intimidate) causing those of high social standing or power to fall from good to petty evil.
Just could not get enough time IRL to do a write-up and format tables.

Spoiler

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Pixie Beguiler 15/Mind Bender 1 (CR 20, ECL 20)
Str 10 Dex 20 Con 14 Int 24 Wis 16 Cha 20
Feats: Darkstalker, Dodge, Greater Spell Focus (enchantment), Mind Sight, Rapid Metamagic, Silent Spell, Spell focus (enchantment), Still Spell, Versatile Spellcaster, Weapon Finesse
Skills: Bluff +24, Concentration +16, Diplomacy +28, Disguise +20/22, Forgery +20, Gather Information +22, Hide +24, Intimidate +19, Knowledge (local) +20, Move Silently +24, Sleight of Hand +22, Use Magic Device +20
Advanced Learning Spells: Friendly Face (1st), Phantasmal Killer (4th), Remorseless Charm [DC 25] (6th), Superior Invisibility (8th)

[ben-zayb]

I think the majority theme is less nature and more "undead minions", there's Kobayashi's ghouls, Ivan's not-undead undead steed, Green Man's Juju zombies, Citlalmina's various undead animation options, and Wilhelm's and Throkk's vampire spawns. That's a solid 6/8, so I guess fallen heroes are likely to have undead minions based on this. What's up, Arthas?

[Korahir]

If you are rethinking deadlines, maybe you could shift the day of submission to a Saturday? That might give some people a bit more time to finish up their builds.

If this is favorable for you, that is no problem for me. I'd like to do the reveal on the weekend though, so I'll move it to Sunday 6:59 AM GMT.

[Tiri]

I think the majority theme is less nature and more "undead minions", there's Kobayashi's ghouls, Ivan's not-undead undead steed, Green Man's Juju zombies, Citlalmina's various undead animation options, and Wilhelm's and Throkk's vampire spawns. That's a solid 6/8, so I guess fallen heroes are likely to have undead minions based on this. What's up, Arthas?

Well, it's a reliable way of turning people evil. My unsubmitted build was wraith-based.

[Inevitability]

Well, it's a reliable way of turning people evil. My unsubmitted build was wraith-based.

I guess it could be argued making someone undead doesn't really turn them evil, though, especially in the case of uniform spawn. When you're adding a template and not changing the victim beyond that, then I could see your point, but otherwise it doesn't seem more corrupting than Animate Dead or other such magic.

[Korahir]

Any (potential) judges yet?

[Tiri]

I guess it could be argued making someone undead doesn't really turn them evil, though, especially in the case of uniform spawn. When you're adding a template and not changing the victim beyond that, then I could see your point, but otherwise it doesn't seem more corrupting than Animate Dead or other such magic.

Well, I think the real test of whether or not whatever process 'turned them evil' is whether or not their mind/soul was turned evil. For a wraith, that would be the case as a wraith is literally the deceased's soul, turned evil, but since a zombie is, apart from the Evil tag on the spell used to create it, just an animated object that happens to be made out of the deceased's body, it doesn't qualify.

[Deadline]

Well, I think the real test of whether or not whatever process 'turned them evil' is whether or not their mind/soul was turned evil. For a wraith, that would be the case as a wraith is literally the deceased's soul, turned evil, but since a zombie is, apart from the Evil tag on the spell used to create it, just an animated object that happens to be made out of the deceased's body, it doesn't qualify.

I came up with a surprisingly (to me) large list of mechanical ways one can turn evil:

• Always Evil template - As was recently-ish pointed out to me in an Iron Chef competition, always evil (at least per the MM glossary) indicates that the creature is born with the alignment. For acquired templates, I'd be inclined to believe that "born" means when they acquired it.
• Helm of Opposite Alignment - As advertised. Given the RP restriction though, I figured you'd have to either use it unawares, or have it forced on you.
• Mace of Blood - Unambiguous like the Helm of Opposite Alignment, with the same issues.
• Cursed Item - One of the curse abilities on the table specifically changes alignment of the creature while it possesses the item. Same RP issues as the Helm of Opposite Alignment and Mace of Blood.
• Intelligent Item - Can take over and force the user to perform evil deeds. Enough of those and that might change alignment.
• Casting Evil Spells - Mechanically this will change your alignment over time. That said, casting those spells is a choice, which may run into the RP restriction.
• Morality Undone spell from BVD - Allows a choice to change alignment back when it ends, so may run into the RP restriction.
• Using evil descriptor abilities (like soulmelds) - Same as casting evil spells, but I didn't have it on my list (Saw it in Ivar Deadborn's entry).
• Summoning Pazuzu - Works, but same RP issues as casting evil spells and the like. (Thanks Jormengand).
• Making a Pact with a Devil - Again, same RP issues as casting evil spells.
• The Remorseless Charm spell - essentially removes someones moral compass. While it doesn't turn them evil, alignment changes seem likely to happen to those under the spell's influence. (Thanks to DireStirge)
• Atonement spell for Tempation/Redemption option - (Thanks to Th Viscount)
• Taint - Might work, but is banned for this competition. (Thanks to Thurbane and WhamBamSam)

Are there any that I missed? (I'm pretty sure I've missed something).

That RP restriction really caused me fits. I mean, does knowingly casting evil spells violate the restriction? On the one hand, it's an RP decision, on the other, it does technically involve a RAW method of changing alignment. I'm probably overthinking it, but it really threw me for a loop.

[Jormengand]

There is also Pazuzu, who changes your alignment each time you use him.

[Deadline]

There is also Pazuzu, who changes your alignment each time you use him.

Right, and I also forgot Devil Pacts. Added both to the list. Any more?

[Inevitability]

I came up with a surprisingly (to me) large list of mechanical ways one can turn evil:

• Always Evil template - As was recently-ish pointed out to me in an Iron Chef competition, always evil (at least per the MM glossary) indicates that the creature is born with the alignment. For acquired templates, I'd be inclined to believe that "born" means when they acquired it.
• Helm of Opposite Alignment - As advertised. Given the RP restriction though, I figured you'd have to either use it unawares, or have it forced on you.
• Mace of Blood - Unambiguous like the Helm of Opposite Alignment, with the same issues.
• Cursed Item - One of the curse abilities on the table specifically changes alignment of the creature while it possesses the item. Same RP issues as the Helm of Opposite Alignment and Mace of Blood.
• Intelligent Item - Can take over and force the user to perform evil deeds. Enough of those and that might change alignment.
• Casting Evil Spells - Mechanically this will change your alignment over time. That said, casting those spells is a choice, which may run into the RP restriction.
• Morality Undone spell from BVD - Allows a choice to change alignment back when it ends, so may run into the RP restriction.
• Using evil descriptor abilities (like soulmelds) - Same as casting evil spells, but I didn't have it on my list (Saw it in Ivar Deadborn's entry).
• Summoning Pazuzu - Works, but same RP issues as casting evil spells and the like. (Thanks Jormengand).
• Making a Pact with a Devil - Again, same RP issues as casting evil spells.

Are there any that I missed? (I'm pretty sure I've missed something).

That RP restriction really caused me fits. I mean, does knowingly casting evil spells violate the restriction? On the one hand, it's an RP decision, on the other, it does technically involve a RAW method of changing alignment. I'm probably overthinking it, but it really threw me for a loop.

The Remorseless Charm spell essentially removes someones moral compass. While it doesn't turn them evil, alignment changes seem likely to happen to those under the spell's influence.

[zergling.exe]

The Remorseless Charm spell essentially removes someones moral compass. While it doesn't turn them evil, alignment changes seem likely to happen to those under the spell's influence.

It would probably be better to move this conversation to a new thread.

[Troacctid]

I was really hoping someone would use Lost. The fluff is so cool.

[ben-zayb]

I didn't even know there was such a template. I sure can't remember seeing it in the master teemplate list! That massive INT loss, though.

[Troacctid]

I used it in the Nature's Avenger round. It's awesome. A stray wisp of incarnum latches onto you while you're feeling a strong negative emotion, and you become consumed by that emotion until you're driven mad.

My idea was a hero of the Pentifex Order who ventures into a Lost Site to cleanse it (as the Pentifex Order is wont to do), but is afflicted by the disease and transformed into a Lost himself.

[The Viscount]

Right, and I also forgot Devil Pacts. Added both to the list. Any more?

One of the simpler ones, though I understand why it didn't get use: Receiving an atonement spell where the caster is using the "temptation/redemption" option.

Acquiring sufficient taint brings up some vague "maybe" rules about changing alignment.

[ben-zayb]

You can also add the one I thought Citlalmina used, which was permanently assuming the "perceived" alignment of the "sinister" wolf after a failed will save. I guess you can just consider that the same as acquiring "Always Evil" from a template.


My first idea was to search for the exact rules on how you turn evil by worshipping elder evils, but I've found no such thing apparently. However, I remember reading about turning evil after you get victimized by one of them (Sertrous, IIRC)

EDIT: Souldrink (Su) causes Charisma drain to a grappled creature, and once that creature gets drained to 1 (can't go below 1), it is considered as Dominated by Sertrous and turns chaotic evil

[Thurbane]

What about the Taint mechanic, can that turn you evil?

[WhamBamSam]

What about the Taint mechanic, can that turn you evil?

Any actual alignment change is up to the DM’s discretion, but as a rule of thumb characters with moderate taint are neutral at best, while characters with severe taint are usually evil.

So the answer is probably, but might not be sufficiently ironclad for this competition. Also, Taint is banned, isn't it?

[Tiri]

I came up with a surprisingly (to me) large list of mechanical ways one can turn evil.

That's a useful list, but I'm not sure why you quoted me.

[Deadline]

That's a useful list, but I'm not sure why you quoted me.

Honestly, I'm not sure.

I think it was in reference to how the "Always Evil" bit works (it's one of the items in my list).