Need helping creating a baddie

[Doresain]

the baddie in question is leading an army of orcs and ogres across the land, destroying everything in their path...im basing a lot of this character off of Regnier from the kingdom under fire games...

the problem is, im not sure what to make him...do i make him an abnormally tall human with monkey grip or a half-ogre? barbarian or fighter? im not trying to optimize him (hence the mentioning of monkey grip), but i would like a guy that would strike fear in the hearts of my players...

much thanks in advance

[RTGoodman]

I'm not familiar with Kingdom Under Fire, but here's an idea.

Use a LE Half-Ogre Fighter/Paladin of Tyranny, or if he's not Lawful a CE Half-Ogre Barbarian/Fighter/Paladin of Slaughter. If he needs more of a commander feel, try the Marshal class, or maybe even adapt my Warleader Paladin to work with LE or CE Paladins.

EDIT: Oh, and nice sig, by the way - I love that movie and that line in particular.

[TheOOB]

Really you can handwave being large and having a big weapon any way you want. The real way to make a foe who is memorable in battle it to give them some ability that just doesn't follow the rules. Whether it is letting them cast spells in full armor, or making it so everytime they hit someone they burst out in flames consuming near by enemies, or even the ability have have hits target nearby minions. Just something the players can't do and haven't seen before.

[Doresain]

well im thinking about giving him the ability to wreath himself in flames at will...something along the lines of the balors body fire

[Asbestos]

Hmm... perhaps something akin to the goliath barbarian levels. By that I mean, raging granting a size increase. Perhaps the BBEG here has a rage that cause's him to become wreathed in flames... or enlarge in size... or both!

[Siegel]

Try an Eye Of Grummsch (?) and make him an Orc. Baseclass Ranger with Favored Enemy (Human) maybe ? But your one big monkegrip weapon doesn't stack well with 2 weapon fighting...

Psychic Warrior could give you some nifty abillities...

[Tsotha-lanti]

The Jotunbrud regional feat from Races of Faerûn gives you a half-giant's Powerful Build, in effect.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Give him the feats Dreadful Wrath (PGtF) and Frightful Presence (DCN), along with Dragon Totem Barbarian 5+. Anyone who gets within 30 feet of him will have to make three Will saves vs fear, failing one they become Shaken and take a -2 on the rest, failing a second they become Frightened, and if they fail all three they'll be Panicked. Take Ability Focus for whichever one has the highest DC and make that the one that everyone must save against first, since failing it will make it more difficult for them to make the saves against the others.

[Doresain]

i like the fear idea...but thats because i like doing fear-based builds...

and for those that dont know who regnier is, imagine lu bu from DW but 7 feet tall, dressed in animals hides and wields a greatsword a size category bigger than himself

[Person_Man]

If you can use Tome of Battle, anything with White Raven maneuvers.

[Doresain]

i dont have a copy of ToB

[ocato]

If Fear sounds fun, do a Fighter/Barbarian/Avenging Executioner (Complete Scoundrel). Grab Kiai Shout and a spiked Chain and you can make a pretty scary character. Effectively you use kiai shout to get the fear-chain rolling. If at least one person is shaken, you're golden. If you hit a shaken person, they take sudden strike damage. If anyone sees you sudden strike, they have to make a save vs fear. If you knock someone out, everyone present saves vs fear. The fears start stacking quickly, so people start to flee and you can AoO trip them. Eventually (if the saves are high enough) all of your enemies are tripped, scared poopless, and taking 3d6 sudden strike +rage power attack damage as you beat their butts rotten.

Of course, a paladin wrecks the whole thing.

[Dizlag]

I'm not sure of the Kingdom Under Fire games either, but I have played a small campaign in the Dawnforge Setting. The DM had us defend a walled village from an army of orcs lead by a minotaur. In Dawnforge, minotaurs were a playable race scattered across the lands after escaping their giant slavers.

So, my suggestion is have your orc and ogre army led by a minotaur with a big axe and a bad attitude!

Dizlag

[Coplantor]

Just use any class, but be sure that he is wearing a mask!
uuuuuh!!!!!

[Prometheus]

Have him be inaccessible via so many minions surround him. They can be weak, but there is nothing like literally having to swim through foes to reach your target to build up anticipation. So the caster don't dominate the fight with range, have each one being constantly shot at be archers, so that the casters have to wade through their own sea of combatants in order to participate in the big fight (also you can give the baddie hard or soft cover so that he is hard to hit from a range).

[Doresain]

well ive finally settled on making him human...and like Regnier, he gained immortality through an ancient and powerful artifact...

the idea i have is the artifact increased his physical power beyond that of any mere mortal and allowed him to take control of the savage orc and ogre clans of the west...he now leads this army across the land for some unknown reason, slaughtering all in his path...the party starts as slaves in a slave trade city near the borders of the badlands (orc/ogre country) and another arabian style country...everyone but the party and a few others survive the raid

during the raid however, the players get a glimpse of the immortal warlord hacking down groups of people at a time...what i need is something that works for an barbarian warlord(and preferably something that would work for a character that cannot be killed by traditional means)...if anyone has any ideas mechanics wise for this that would be great...if not, ill just make stuff up

[Prometheus]

Well if he is immortal because of an artifact than I presume the route to defeating him would be to find the artifact and either possess it or destroy it. Because an artifact of immortality would be ridiculous to possess (unless of course this guy is the last encounter in the game) than I suggest you encourage them to destroy it by making it corrupt the user in the process of granting immortality.

I had an artifact like this once, the way I fluffed it was touching the artifact released so much energy that it killed you but then the energy was such that it was powerful enough to be the only thing that sustains you (essentially undead). I told them that the artifact was the source of his power but they didn't get that it made him immortal until I described the creature. His left arm (the one carrying the artifact) was overwhelmingly beefy compared to an ordinary arm and his right was withered and decayed as it got further down the arm. They had to hack the arm in half for the creature to die.

Unfortunately, aside from using the Lich template (it doesn't seem like this is what you are going for), there doesn't seem to be any mechanics for balancing a combat challenge which is based more on an objective (destroy the artifact) than the actual fight. So you're on your own, whether the artifact is in hand (you'll want it immune to disarming) or hidden half-way across the world. Of course, you can use common sense or the collective sense of the boards.

[Doresain]

well there are three options that i have come up with so far for the artifact in question...either you can take the place of the current immortal (stabbing the heart of davey jones essentially), you can destroy the artifact thus making the immortal mortal again, or you can control the immortal much like an orb of dragonkind controls certain dragons...

the big baddie that i need help with is being controlled by another baddie (not quite as big or bad actually) in order to sow chaos and eventually take control of the continent

and in regards to immortality, im thinking about designing a template that gives gobs of DR, fast healing and a bunch of immunities and resistances...maybe a few other little goodies to differentiate between immortality artifacts (i plan on making 8 total)

[graymachine]

well there are three options that i have come up with so far for the artifact in question...either you can take the place of the current immortal (stabbing the heart of davey jones essentially), you can destroy the artifact thus making the immortal mortal again, or you can control the immortal much like an orb of dragonkind controls certain dragons...

the big baddie that i need help with is being controlled by another baddie (not quite as big or bad actually) in order to sow chaos and eventually take control of the continent

and in regards to immortality, im thinking about designing a template that gives gobs of DR, fast healing and a bunch of immunities and resistances...maybe a few other little goodies to differentiate between immortality artifacts (i plan on making 8 total)

Eh, I don't know that using an artifact to achieve goals with a BBEG's design is the best idea.

If you want him to be an seemingly unstoppable horror on the battlefield then I would suggest barbarian into frenzied berserker, with a fair number of stooge casters around him to buff him up. There was a similar BBEG in the current campaign and he was an unholy nightmare to fight, even after we gained several levels.

What level are you trying to build him at and what are the PCs at? That'll give an idea of the range of things we have to work with.

[Doresain]

i plan on making this guy an ECL 20...the PCs will start at level one and finally encounter the big baddie at 20 (if we make it that far...im cursed with games de-railing quite often)

of course, all through the game they will either witness the baddie's destruction first hand or hear of his infamous deeds through out the land...and if it wasnt obvious, the game is going to be focused more on warfare than anything

[AslanCross]

i plan on making this guy an ECL 20...the PCs will start at level one and finally encounter the big baddie at 20 (if we make it that far...im cursed with games de-railing quite often)

Might be a good idea to have the PCs meet him much earlier. I find that it helps a lot in hooking the PCs on your plot and building up personal feelings toward him. It also helps that if your campaign never finishes all the way to the 20th level, at least there's a sense of closure.

That's what's happening in my current campaign. We started at Lv 5 and after 1 and a half years of playing, we're still only up to Lv 10. We're likely to go only one more level before we finish it. They were originally supposed to meet the BBEG as a EL 15 encounter, then an 18 one, and then the final was supposed to be 25. Since many of my players (my students) are going to graduate this year (and I don't plan on staying in my current school another year), I'm going to have to cut it short. Just because it's an EL 14 "boss" encounter doesn't mean it can't be epic.

My BBEG is a Half-Fiend Ogre Mage (Using the re-done Ogre Mage posted a while back in one of the WOTC articles; the SRD one has design ADD) Warlock 6/Crusader 1, but the final battle will have him assisted by a whole bunch of henchmen.

[graymachine]

i plan on making this guy an ECL 20...the PCs will start at level one and finally encounter the big baddie at 20 (if we make it that far...im cursed with games de-railing quite often)

of course, all through the game they will either witness the baddie's destruction first hand or hear of his infamous deeds through out the land...and if it wasnt obvious, the game is going to be focused more on warfare than anything

Well, I'd definitely suggest Frenzied Berserker then. He will be seemingly immortal as you describe the horrible condition he is in at negative 50 hp or so and how he doesn't seem to be slowing down. He achieves his goals on the battlefield, whatever they are and then leaves to be healed away from PC eyes by lackey clerics.

[Doresain]

frenzied berserker is something i definitely considered with this guy...in fact it fits almost perfectly...

i think ill just make some bs major artifact that grants him immortality then...like i seriously want a davey jones/dorian grey/regnier feel with this guy (all of those were immortals who could be controlled in some way by their artifact)