Evil Trio

[BlackStaticWolf]

Well, duo really. In the campaign I'm running, the arrival of the main villain is going to be heralded by three major minions. These minions are going to be twisted versions of three of the heroes of the group's previous campaign.

Tricky thing is... this campaign is 3.5e, while our previous campaign was 2nd edition. So, I'm sort of stuck on appropriate class/build combinations for evil mockeries of 2nd edition characters.

The trio consisted of the following:

The Monk: This one I've managed to convert into an 11/9 monk/tattooed monk fairly easily.

The Ranger: He was a melee oriented skirmisher that used a longsword and a mace in battle. He favored fighting on the front lines and loved a good one on one tussle with the big bad. He moved around a lot in battle.

The Fighter: She was a melee oriented warrior that used a longsword and shield. She fought very defensively and had a knack for getting into pitched battles where she had to be rescued by either the monk or the ranger.

I'm somewhat lost on class and feat selection for the ranger and fighter. Each is going to be have 20 character levels to work with. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated (they don't have to stay as the 3e version of their original base classes, but I don't have access to Tome of Battle, so please nothing from that).

[SilverClawShift]

Do we have to stick to the same classes? Or are we going for thematic interpretation here?

[BlackStaticWolf]

Purely thematic interpretation.

[Fixer]

There are some weapon style feats in (I think) Complete Warrior. I think Mace & Sword was one of them. It should give your players a good run for their money.

The fighter can go for shield bashing & weapon focusing on the longsword for simplicity. Go with Expertise to boost her AC for the sake of attack bonus. If you want to make her intelligent go for disarming & tripping (no bonuses from weapons but the surprise should work well).

[SilverClawShift]

A little more info on what exactly you're going for would help, and content limitations wouldn't hurt either.

For the fighter, you could crack open Heroes of Horror and turn her into a fighter/death delver. Death Delvers get a number of ways to cheat death, including the capstone at level ten, where they literally get 9 extra lives (anytime something would kill them, they get reduced to -9 hitpoints and automatically stabilize).
From a fighter who needed to be rescued because they fought conservatively and carefully, to a fighter who will tackle an enemy onto a grenade because they aren't afraid of dying. It's not truly an opposite, it's just a nice warping.

[SilverClawShift]

Of course, having a villain that has 9 lives would turn them into a recurring villain, not a one time encounter.

[Inyssius Tor]

Unfortunately, there aren't any sword-and-mace combat style feats. I would recommend giving the ranger some levels in scout, since scouts get damage bonuses from, well, Skirmish. In each round where they move ten feet or more, they get +x AC, and +xd6 damage (as Rogue, if I remember correctly).

[Attilargh]

I don't have access to Tome of Battle, so please nothing from that

Blast it, that'd have made things so easy. The Ranger is clearly a Tiger Claw swordsage, and the fighter could be done as a warblade.

I'd say Knight from PHB2 might be a good pick for the fightery type. The class has got a good defense, and has a tendency of attracting enemy attention. Especially good if the character had a Lawful alignment and a code of honour.

There is no feat to tie the ranger's two weapons together at least in the Complete Warrior (sorry, Fixer), but the Three Mountains style threatens opponents with nausea if hit twice with a mace. You might look into taking the variant ranger without spellcasting from Complete Warrior if you really want some mobility, and there's a Lion Totem Barbarian somwhere that grants Pounce.

[bigbaddragon]

For the ranger you could go with scout(complete adventurer)/ranger/dervish(complete warrior) combination but don't give him the last level of dervish because if he wins the initiative and uses thousand cuts he'll probably butcher one of your PCs. Also he would have to wield only slashing weapons for this to work.

For the fighter, your best option would probably be knight.

[BlackStaticWolf]

[QUOTE=SilverClawShift;2859636]A little more info on what exactly you're going for would help, and content limitations wouldn't hurt either.

Good point. I should have listed that to begin with... I've got Complete Warrior, Arcane, Divine, Adventurer, and Psionic. I've also got the Books of Exalted Deeds and Vile Darkness as well as the PHB2, Libris Mortis, Tome of Magic, and the Eberron and Dawnforge campaign sourcebooks.

I liked that sound of that death delver PrC... is there enough other cool stuff in Heroes of Horror to make it worth the buy?

Blast it, that'd have made things so easy. The Ranger is clearly a Tiger Claw swordsage, and the fighter could be done as a warblade.

Does the tiger claw swordsage really fit with the style of the character that well? What sorts of abilities does it grant?

I ask because I've heard enough good things about the Tome of Battle that I was considering picking up a copy anyway.

[Attilargh]

Does the tiger claw swordsage really fit with the style of the character that well? What sorts of abilities does it grant?

Well, many of the maneuvers of the Tiger Claw discipline are pretty good for dual-wielders, or so I've understood. Haven't looked very much into the discipline, actually. Also pretty mobile and feral, with Jump checks and stuff like that.

Swordsages get bonus from a high Wisdom, as it increases their AC and gives damage bonuses with certain weapons. Lightly armoured, but act fast, have pretty good saves, get lots of maneuvers and even have Evasion. The only downsides are the d8 hit die and the 3/4 BAB, but the latter is compensated with the maneuvers.

[Matthew]

Ranger should probably be a Scout/Fighter/maybe Ranger. Two Weapon Fighting/Power Attack/Leap Attack/Shock Trooper/Two Weapon Pounce should get a lot of the job done.

Fighter could probably quite easily remain a Fighter. There are quite a number of Shield orientated Feats out there (though an Animated Shield and Two Handed Long Sword would be a twisted surprise).