Vote Up A Villain III! [Villain Complete!] (3.5)

[Drakefall]

I'm going with punch clock villainy because that just seems to work for the slightly absurd ogre ninja.

[paddyfool]

There's no reason this has to be absurd - I mean, the spell-like abilities of an Ogre Mage seem to synergise pretty well with ninja abilities to me (particularly change shape, invisibility, darkness, gaseous form and charm person), not to mention the ability to fly. It's a pity about the lack of stealthy class skills from the racial hit die, but there are ways around that.

And I'm going for... Revenge. A lot of the others don't seem like sufficient motivation for an Ogre Mage to undergo extensive ninja training.

[puppyavenger]

Punch clock Villainy

[zugschef]

And I'm going for... Revenge. A lot of the others don't seem like sufficient motivation for an Ogre Mage to undergo extensive ninja training.

i second that.

[Pronounceable]

Punch clock villainy. For the "LOLZ"!

(which means anyone could make a villain with revenge, insanity or whatnot whereas I trust Afro to make a good job with an ogre mage career ninja)

[UnChosenOne]

I chage my vote to Punch clock villainy.

[TheCheshireHat]

I vote Revenge, because, lets face it, ninjas are all about revenge

[Egiam]

I vote Revenge, because, lets face it, ninjas are all about revenge

I disagree, ninjas are about assasinating people, not necessarily revenge. But still I vote Revenge.

[vegetalss4]

i would like to change my vote from the greater good into Punch clock villainy.

afro i know you can make it awesome, i just wants to see how

[kopout]

I'm glad Lawful Evil won, as Lawful Good would've just been dumb. You really gotta ban good alignments for the VUAV, Afro. VUAM can get away with Good every once in a while, but the "villain" has some pretty clear connotations, implying Neutral at best. Good antagonists are just allies that you haven't befriended yet.

As for my vote, I'd like to see a story based on Revenge.

what if you are evil?
Punch clock villainy. I personally like PCV allot . It is always interesting.

And I trust afro can do it.
Go, afro, go

[Magnor Criol]

Before I vote, can someone toss a definition of "punch-clock villainy" my way? I'm a little hazy on what exactly a villain would do with that as his motivation. Is it sort of just "evil for the sake of being evil," or what?

what if you are evil?

Then it's still not a villain you're fighting. You're confusing "villain," which has definite negative implications, with "antagonist," which simply means an opponent, and thus would mean different things depending on who you are.

[Juhn]

PCV. As I mentioned before, people have been clamoring for this motivation, and it makes sense here. He's a ninja. Killing people is his job. That's what PCV means: the villain doesn't necessarily hate you, but he's got a job to do.

Magnor-Criol: As I've said, punch-clock villainy means he's evil because of his occupation. As a lesser example, the guards who work for a given evil overlord are punch-clock villains. They aren't necessarily evil by definition, they just happen to have a job that involves doing evil, or assisting evil. They're mostly just worried about getting a paycheque, "punching the clock" in and out when they start and finish their work is where the name comes from.

If you need any more explanation, I can always link to the TVTropes article, but unless you can resist the urge to click links I won't because I assume you have better things to do with the next several hours.

[afroakuma]

Juhn: TVTropes is down with the hacked brutally at the moment/

[puppyavenger]

Juhn: TVTropes is down with the hacked brutally at the moment/

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Lord_Gareth]

Punch-Clock Villainy

Yeah. It's like that.

[Magnor Criol]

Alright...that explains much. Thanks, Juhn. :D

Of course, at this point, a vote for anything other than PCV is kinda wasted, isn't it? =p

Regardless, I like the idea, and the idea makes sense. Punch-Clock Villainy vote from me.

[Juhn]

Nah, no vote's a waste if you can make your voice known. And depending on how well you explain your reasoning other people might go "Yeah, that's a good point/that makes sense" and vote for your preferred option as well.

Of course, keeping that in mind, I applaud your choice of PCV.

[An Enemy Spy]

Love. I believe that is a very underutilized motive.

[puppyavenger]

Love. I believe that is a very underutilized motive.

well, he did make a love-sick plant 2 times ago.

[afroakuma]

The votes have all been tallied and the primary motivation is Punch-Clock Villainy!

The completed villain, Dandag the Quiet, will be published by Saturday.

[Juhn]

Question for you, afroakuma: Will this be the last of these until VUACS is overwith? I should imagine, even though there's a whole team (or trio, at least) of you involved with that, that working out VUACS and a VUAV concurrently might be too much work.

[afroakuma]

I have this to complete by Saturday, then VUACS and the new Beastlands project (from Direct My Wrath) which hopefully I will have a partner on.

That said, I would still run it, except that the next two weeks for me read as Projects, Exams.

So in a way, yes, VUAV will be on hiatus until after Nov. 28 (that day is going to be a bad day. )

On the bright side, regardless of the status of the other two projects, VUAV will resume the evening of the 28th.

[afroakuma]

Dandag the Quiet
Large Giant
Ogre Mage Level 14 Ninja
HD 5d8+14d6+114 (185 hp)
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares); fly 40 ft. (good)
Init: +8
AC 38; touch 30; flat-footed 25 (+7 bracers of armor, +6 Wis, +5 natural, +5 Dex, +3 deflection, +2 honed mind, +1 insight, -1 size)
BAB +13; Grp +27
Attack +3 Large keen frost battleaxe +25 melee (2d6+13 + 1d6 cold, 19-20/x3) or Large composite longbow (+8 Str bonus) of distant wounding +18 ranged (1d10+8 and 1 Con, 19-20/x3) or Large bolas +17 ranged (1d6 subdual)
Full Attack +3 Large keen frost battleaxe +25/+20/+15 melee (2d6+13 + 1d6 cold, 19-20/x3) or Large composite longbow (+8 Str bonus) of distant wounding +17/+12/+7 ranged (1d10+8 and 1 Con, 19-20/x3) or Rapid Shot +16/+16/+11/+6 ranged (1d10+8 and 1 Con, 19-20/x3)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Ninjutsu, sniper, shadow rush, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities Honed mind +2, always ready +3, trapfinding, improved evasion, improved uncanny dodge, evasive rush, improved muted presence, mute breath, hide in plain sight, uncanny movement, faint presence 5%, master uncanny dodge, darkvision 60 ft., low light vision, change shape, regeneration 5, spell resistance 19
Saves Fort +17 Ref +19 Will +19
Abilities Str 30, Dex 20, Con 22, Int 15, Wis 22, Cha 20
Skills Concentration +14, Disguise +18, Escape Artist +18, Gather Information +18, Hide +22, Listen +26, Move Silently +22, Open Lock +15, Spellcraft +10, Search +19, Spot +26, Tumble +17
Feats Dodge, Improved Critical (longbow), Mobility, Point Blank Shot, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (invisibility), Rapid Shot, Weapon Finesse (B), Weapon Focus (longbow)
Challenge Rating 17
Alignment Lawful evil

Dandag the Quiet is a master killer-for-hire.

In his true form, Dandag is a hulking brute, standing nine feet tall, with intelligent red eyes and teal-blue skin. He keeps a neat black goatee and soul patch and trims his hair short. His alternate forms vary, but usually include an efficient-looking dark haired human wielding a longsword.

Combat
Dandag rarely enters melee, preferring to snipe foes to death with rapid-fire barrages of wounding arrows. He is a master of stealth who employs his shadow rush to conceal himself before striking. His favorite tactic is to bring off a full attack, then go invisible and climb 5 ft up a nearby wall.

Class Features

Spoiler

Show

Honed Mind (Ex) Dandag adds his Wis bonus to his armor class as long as he is unencumbered and wearing no armor. He loses this bonus if flat-footed. Dandag gets an additional +2 bonus to his AC.

Always Ready (Ex) Dandag is ever vigilant. He gains a +3 insight bonus to his initiative.

Trapfinding Dandag may use Search to locate traps when the DC is greater than 20. He may use Disable Device on magical traps. If Dandag beats a trap's Disable DC by 10 or more, he may bypass it without disarming it.

Improved Evasion (Ex) Dandag takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, and takes only half damage on a failed save. Dandag does not gain these benefits while helpless.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex) Dandag retains his Dexterity and Honed Mind bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses these bonuses to AC if immobilized. Dandag can no longer be flanked. This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack Dandag by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than Dandag has ninja levels.

Evasive Rush (Ex) While charging or running, Dandag is treated as being Medium-size. This includes attack rolls made at the end of a charge, but does not include grappling, overrun or bull rush attempts made by the ninja. In short, Dandag gains all of the benefits of Medium size and none of the drawbacks.

Improved Muted Presence (Su) Casters trying to employ a 6th level or lower divination spell against Dandag must succeed on a caster level check (DC 24) or have the spell fail.

Mute Breath (Su) Dandag can speak silently to his allies and foes. Without so much as moving his lips, Dandag may employ a one-way message effect to any creature within 100 ft. This message is blocked only by airtight separation - lead, metal and magical silence will not stop the recipient from hearing the message, although a magical barrier around Dandag will stop the breath from escaping. Dandag may use this ability as long as he can breathe.

Sniper (Ex) Dandag gains a +14 bonus on Hide checks made to stay hidden after making a ranged attack from hiding, and may Hide as an immediate action. This allows him to strike, move and hide, or to make a full attack and hide.

Hide In Plain Sight (Ex) While in a crowd, in fog, snow, rain or anything less than bright illumination, Dandag may use the Hide skill even while being observed.

Uncanny Movement (Su) Dandag may spider climb at will without time limitation.

Faint Presence (Su) Dandag has a permanent 5% concealment, which stacks with effects such as blur and displacement, as well as with total concealment. This concealment does not count as concealment for the purposes of Hide checks.

Shadow Rush (Ex) While charging or running, Dandag is treated as being under the effect of a blur spell. This effect allows neither a saving throw nor spell resistance, and cannot be penetrated by see invisibility or even true seeing. A shadow rush negates the penalty to hide while attacking, running etc. The effect ends with Dandag's turn.

Master Uncanny Dodge (Ex) Three times per day, Dandag may add a +5 dodge bonus to either his AC or his Reflex saves for one round. He may declare this ability as a free action in response to an attack or effect, if he so chooses.

Regeneration (Ex) Dandag takes normal damage from fire and acid. He may reattach any severed body part by holding it to the stump for 1 minute. If a vital body part is severed, it must be reattached within 10 minutes or Dandag dies.

Flight (Su) Dandag can cease or resume flight as a free action. While using gaseous form he can fly at normal speed and has perfect maneuverability.

Change Shape (Su) Dandag can assume the form of any Small, Medium, or Large humanoid or giant.

Ninjutsu Void Element 1/1/1, Walk of Hours 1/1/1/1/1. Constant - steps of the lily, waltz of the moment. 3/day - art of twin time, ki emptiness, step ahead of time. 2/day - burning of the void, timelost plunge, void palm. Dandag's bonus jutsu was ki emptiness.

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp) At will - darkness, invisibility. 3/day - Quickened invisibility. 1/day - charm person (DC 16), cone of cold (DC 20), gaseous form, sleep (DC 16). Caster level 9th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

Equipment Dandag wears two gloves of storing. The one on his right hand stores his +3 Large keen frost battleaxe, while the one on the left stores his Large composite longbow (+8 Str bonus) of distant wounding. He wears a black sash wrapped around a black leather belt of giant strength +4, and has a periapt of Wisdom +4 on a silver chain around his neck. On his arms are bracers of armor +7, which Dandag normally wears hidden under his sleeves, and his ring of protection +3 is on his left ring finger. Soft black boots of teleportation are his footwear of choice, and he wears a handy haversack over his silky black cloak of resistance +3.

Dandag always keeps the following in his handy haversack:

• Immovable rod to suspend himself from or bar entry.
• 4-6 beads of force to trap spellcasters or pin down targets to be taken alive.
• A potion of water breathing
• A potion of heroism
• 2 potions of neutralize poison
• 2 potions of bear's endurance
• 2 potions of cat's grace
• 5 potions of cure serious wounds
• 4 Large bolas to take down mobile targets

Additionally, he keeps a crystal ball with detect thoughts at his center of operations, along with dust of tracelessness, his ninjutsu scrolls and a used manual of quickness of action +3.

Dandag the Quiet

A child of two ogres from an eastern land, Dandag watched his parents die in an unsuccessful attack on a human village while still quite young. Far from harbouring resentment, the young ogre mage kept the memory as an early lesson: you must be prepared.

Exalted from a young age amongst his peers for his status as an ogre mage, Dandag found himself disdainful of his fellows. He learned how to take on other forms, and used this ability to infiltrate human and elf villages, acquiring learning of the kind most ogres scorn. At night, Dandag would hunt food for himself, growing tall and wiry through hunting animals.

The coming of another ogre mage, who led the ogres in a successful assault on the human town, was the breaking point for Dandag, who realized that his kin were beneath him. Searching for greater power and peers more deserving, he attempted to join a wizard college. However, a mage with true seeing discovered him and he was forced to flee.

Eventually, Dandag discovered a monastery where lived three old but vigorous humans. Dandag observed their arts, took in their customs and at last asked to be taught by them. After three years of nonstop training, he had mastered the first steps of their teaching: the Walk of Hours. Dandag revealed himself to his teachers, who at last understood the drive for excellence that the ogre mage embodied.

The teachers offered Dandag the scrolls of their art, and to give him an introduction to the school of his choosing. The ogre mage thought hard, and realized that, for all his training, he was still not prepared. Not prepared to repulse those same mages that hat run him off. The power that he needed was the power of the Void.

The Villainous Turn

The school of the Void taught Dandag the jutsu he needed, but also taught him many other things - how to become unseen with great speed; how to strike to kill; why to strike to kill. They pressed Dandag to become colder, more brutal, uncaring as the Void. And so he did. Until one day, a rival revealed the ogre mage's nature to his teachers. Nonplussed, they decided that the opportunity had come to test their prized student. They demanded a fight to the death, in exchange for the scrolls of the Void Element and a sorcerous tome of graceful motion.

Dandag accepted this, his first kill of a thinking being, not out of hatred, but out of pragmatic assessment of his needs. His teachers fulfilled their promise, and directed him to a thieves' guild, where Dandag rose to become a powerful enforcer.

Unfortunately, his dark skills, monstrous heritage and understanding of this new crowd caused him to isolate himself, taking jobs only for the profit, not for the good of the guild. He left soon after, to organize a powerful assassins' clique, Silent Slayers. Through contacts with wizards and the underworld, he has amassed a network of people, charmed or otherwise, who supply him with deadly weapons, vile poisons and contracts.

Dandag lives well on his profits and reputation, as few can discover him and fewer still live to tell about doing so. When taking personal contracts, Dandag gives it his all, demonstrating his excellence simply to show future employers that he is worth every single gold piece.

Encounters

Dandag will usually abstain from a contract himself, unless the target is a mage or the employer wants him specifically. He normally dispatches other agents to do the job, sometimes no more than a charmed waitress with a poisoned cup, if he feels it that simple. He will never go back on a contract, and never accept a job against a previous employer, though he has no scruples about one of his own agents moonlighting to do the deed.

Dandag will not converse in battle. Those who would fight him will find that the ogre mage is already aware of their plans, having employed his crystal ball against them. He may be hiding on the ceiling, or suspended above a window on his immovable wand. He may be four hundred feet away, ready to riddle his target with five lethal arrows and hide again. Or he may be right next to his target, invisible, impossible to strike.

Those who meet the (disguised) ogre mage in a social setting (he enjoys partaking in events at court, concerts and vintner's festivals) find Dandag to be charming, affable and intelligent. Dandag has no love for pretenders, sycophants or the excessively arrogant. He is often (in a preferred guise) considered a pleasant, prominent member of society. He obeys all social rules, upholds the law and is a model citizen.

That said, Dandag is about Dandag. He is self-centered and cares nothing for the consequences of his kills. He has been known to exploit social loopholes to get his way at others' expense.

Plot Hooks

•A mage has seen a monster in town and now fears for his life, as nobody else will believe him. Sure enough, three assassins have already fallen to his protections. The fourth may well succeed.

•A local well-to-do has been cited by a zealous paladin as the contact point for a series of contract killings.

•The thieves' guild of a major city is taking over the streets, as constables are assassinated left and right and the remaining police force is too afraid to go out on the streets. Word has it that a rival nation financed an expert killer to destroy the city government, but divinations have revealed nothing.

•The brother of a powerful wizard, himself a prince, has been killed, and the wizard's divinations are failing to discover the one responsible.

•The party has been targeted by a foe who has contracted the assassin known as Dandag the Quiet. Though his agents have been found, Dandag himself seems to be just a ghost story.

•The queen is concerned about the prominence of the new courtier,who seems to have too much pull with her son, husband and (alarmingly) daughter. Her attempts to have him followed have failed, and the wizards she has contacted have been unable to divine anything. She now fears some terrible sorcerer has taken control of her realm.

---

The Ninja base class

[Pronounceable]

Yup. It's what was expected. A villain as good as any from DC or Marvel universes.

This one is giving me all kinds of supervillain jibes. I can see this guy agains Spidey or Batman.

[streakster]

Afro -


This is just masterfully well-done. A ridiculous concept like an ogre mage ninja was turned into a fleshed-out and believable opponent. Not to mention the cool factor - who can't picture him hanging off an immovable rod to snipe at a foe?

Like cnsvnc said, this is professional grade. Heck, this is better than most of the villians they throw in the splat-books. Dandag is real, threatening foe, and I really want to take him on now.

Really, I don't know what else to say. Kudos.

Oh, but there was one thing I noted. Under the ninjutsu entry?

VOID PALM!

At last, at last, at last....

* Goes back to picturing Dandag blocking a dragon*

[afroakuma]

streakster:

I determined that it was most flavorful and fitting out of the ninjutsu available to this particular character. My selection of this ability in no way reflected in its perception as being "cool" or "awesome."

Hells yeah, I totally did it. I totally gave him Void Palm.

[Drakefall]

Suuuuukeeeee!!!

And here I thought an ogre ninja would turn out silly... But Dandag is quite the scary ninja assassin indeed. I most definitely wouldn't want him after my head... or even my widdle pinky toe for that matter. Stone cold killer of pure awesome Afroakuma. I salute you!

And, yes... void palm is the most awesome thing since steampunkasaurus rex.

[Zeta Kai]

You have done a masterful job on writing this villain up, Afro. Kudos to you on this sublime work. I don't think it's hyperbole to say that this the best thing that I've seen you do so far, & that's saying quite a bit. It more that justifies your position on the VUACS thread.

BTW, just so you know, you double-posted the entire villain. You may wanna delete one of those posts.

[afroakuma]

Yeah, I tried to jam the original post because I forgot to add the skills. It's been removed now.

Also: thank you all.

Please note: Vote Up A Villain will be on hiatus until the evening of the 28th.

[Zeta Kai]

1) You can delete posts entirely by selecting Edit then check the Delete Post box, & in the text field, type "double-post" or similar verbiage.

2) I've added Dandag to the links in post #1 of VUACS.

3) VUAM5 (v3.X) will be on hiatus until I have gotten a few other projects complete. I call dibs.

4) Again, I tip my hat to you, sir. Great homebrew, as always.