Author Topic: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness  (Read 2487 times)

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Emy

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I believe I mentioned this build in an earlier post. I'm posting it now so you folks can improve it or poke holes in it. The thread title is a reference to LogicNinja's melee killer gnome.

I'm sure you've seen the acronym BBEG. Big Bad Evil Guy. Well, I was thinking about smaller ones, just for the humor value, and ended up fixing my attention on Petals. So naturally, I went to a class that has a feature that scales very well with charisma. The result of this is...

the Tiny Bad Evil Guy

You may be familiar with the Zhentarim Skymage prestige class from Lords of Darkness. If you're not, it's a 5 level PrC that advances spellcasting with each level, gives some free scrolls, grants a few bonus feats, and a flying mount. The free scrolls are actually quite nice. If the skymage gets that class feature later on in his career, it could mean as many as 8 free scrolls of Wish (or more, depending upon your interpretation of the ability). That's quite the value (230,600gp).

It's the flying mount I'll focus on right now.

A Zhentarim skymage can summon up a flying mount to serve him. Well, there's a list that says "suitable mounts include...", but the text states that some skymages use undead or even fiends as mounts, so it doesn't look like it's limited to the short list included in the ability description.

So mount can be anything the skymage would like with an HD limit of 1 + Charisma + skymage level. This can be maximized in a way similar to Hellfire Warlock, using Legacy Champion and/or bloodline levels. LC levels are clearly superior, since they advance spellcasting and grant bonus scrolls also.

If the skymage loses charisma or levels though, the mount will become uncontrolled, and likely be very angry at the skymage. This is why my TBEG includes means of protection vs. charisma drain and vs. energy drain. Note that in all cases, the HD cap for the mount could be raised by 3, by a +6 enhancement magic item. I haven't used this, since then the TBEG is just one sunder, antimagic field, or even a lowly dispel magic away from losing control of his mount.

No bloodlines are used in the "simple" build. The cohort version and the slightly better mount version both do; As such, I'm interpreting bloodlines in the less favorable way (they count as class levels, basically). All of them use level adjustment buyoff.

The UA variant Wizard is used to trade Scribe Scroll and the level 5 bonus feat for fighter bonus feats. The TBEG is free to specialize, take ACFs, or whatever, as long as Enchantment, Illusion, and Conjuration are not banned.

Oh all of them have really really horrible strength too (especially the last one). The Con requirement is for the anti-energy drain soulmeld. The Cha is for the mount.

Feat progression (the same for all of them)
[spoiler]
Petal Bonus: Weapon Finesse
1: Faerie Mysteries Initiate
Wizard 1 bonus: Improved Initiative
3: Combat Casting
Wizard 5 bonus: Mounted Combat
Otyugh Hole: Iron Will
6: Planar Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment. Pleasure Domain)
Zhentarim Skymage 2 bonus: (one of: Flyby Attack, Mounted Archery, Ride-by Attack, Spirited Charge, or Trample)
Zhentarim Skymage 2 bonus: Craft Wand
Zhentarim Skymage 3 bonus: Spell Focus (any)
9: Least Legacy
Zhentarim Skymage 4 bonus: Skill Focus (any)
Zhentarim Skymage 5 bonus: Enlarge Spell
12: Shape Soulmeld (Pauldrons of Health)
Legacy Champion 4 bonus: (any legacy feat)
15: Open Lesser Chakra (Shoulders)
18: (free)
Legacy Champion 8 bonus: (any legacy feat)
[/spoiler]

Simple
[spoiler]
Sparkly McEvil, Old Magic-blooded Draconic Petal
Wizard 5/Zhentarim Skymage 5/Legacy Champion 10

All legacy champion levels are added to Zhentarim Skymage
Starting ability scores: 18 Cha, 12 Con, Int as high as can be managed.
The 12 Con is boosted to 18 by racial adjustments, then lowered to 15 by age.

Charisma at class level 6 (ECL8): 33 (modifier +11) - breakdown: (18 + 12 racial + 2 age + 1 levels)
Charisma at class level 20 (ECL20): 42 (modifier +16) - breakdown: (18 + 12 racial + 2 age + 5 levels + 5 inherent)

Maximum 'safe' mount HD at level 6: 13 - breakdown: ( 1 + 11 charisma + 1 skymage levels )
Maximum 'safe' mount HD at level 20: 30 - breakdown: ( 1 + 16 charisma + 13 skymage levels )

Final wizard casting: 18th level
[/spoiler]

Cohort

[spoiler]
You too can have an evil faerie cohort. Just dial-
Sparkly McCohort, Old Magic-blooded Petal
Wizard 5/Zhentarim Skymage 5/Legacy Champion 6/Minor Doppelganger Bloodline 1

Starting ability scores: 18 Cha, 14 Con, Int as high as can be managed.
The 14 Con is boosted to 17 by racial adjustments, then lowered to 15 by age.

Charisma at class level 6 (ECL8): 31 (modifier +10) - breakdown: (18 + 10 racial + 2 age + 1 levels)
Charisma at class level 17 (ECL17): 40 (modifier +15) - breakdown: (18 + 10 racial + 2 age + 4 levels + 5 inherent + 1 bloodline)

Maximum 'safe' mount HD at level 6: 13 - breakdown: ( 1 + 10 charisma + 1 skymage levels )
Maximum 'safe' mount HD at level 20: 30 - breakdown: ( 1 + 15 charisma + 11 skymage levels )

Final wizard casting: 15th level (CL 16)
[/spoiler]

Max Mount HD

[spoiler]
He's ancient, he's decrepit, he's...
Sparkly McOld, Venerable Magic-blooded Draconic Petal
Wizard 5/Zhentarim Skymage 5/Legacy Champion 9/Minor Doppelganger Bloodline 1

All legacy champion levels are added to Zhentarim Skymage
Starting ability scores: 18 Cha, 14 Con, Int as high as can be managed.
The 15 Con is boosted to 21 by racial adjustments, then lowered to 15 by age.

Charisma at class level 6 (ECL8): 34 (modifier +12) - breakdown: (18 + 12 racial + 3 age + 1 levels)
Charisma at class level 20 (ECL20): 44 (modifier +17) - breakdown: (18 + 12 racial + 3 age + 5 levels + 5 inherent + 1 bloodline)

Maximum 'safe' mount HD at level 6: 15 - breakdown: ( 1 + 12 charisma + 1 skymage levels )
Maximum 'safe' mount HD at level 20: 31 - breakdown: ( 1 + 17 charisma + 13 skymage levels )

Final wizard casting: 17th level (CL18)
[/spoiler]

Oldypants over here can have a 31HD flying mount. Even with all flying mounts that aren't on mentioned on the ability's short list disallowed, and with templates disallowed (the ability is limited only by HD. a phrenic dark mineral warrior vampire dragon, evolved undead times a billion could be coming your way)... that's still, say, an ancient Shadow Dragon that has a BAB of 31, and breathes 6 negative levels at a time.

How is this useful? No idea.

As always, improvements/corrections/whatever welcome. As you can see, I don't even have him fully fleshed out yet.

edit: Oldypants can get a 32HD flying mount with Unseelie Fey adding another +2 Cha.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2009, 10:04:23 PM by Emy »

Mushroom Ninja

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2009, 10:30:58 AM »
Actually, this is really useful.  I was planning on sending some faerie BBEG tBEG against my PCs one of these days. 

BowenSilverclaw

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2009, 01:19:00 PM »
Heh, I was thinking about a Zhentarim Skymage character myself a while back, funny to see this pop up :)

Nice work .
"Weakness? Come test thy mettle against me, hairless ape, and we shall know who is weak!"

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PhaedrusXY

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2009, 01:43:36 PM »
Yeah, that PrC is crazy. I made one a while back focusing on getting in as early as possible, just to get a Nightmare at level 6, and posted it in the Encounter Resource thread on the WotC DM board. That makes for a pretty strong low level BBEG. :D

There was a dragon-based one in the old "10th level challenge" thread by DarkNoj that was quite strong, too (Zeus and Blue, I forget who posted that).
« Last Edit: February 02, 2009, 01:46:27 PM by PhaedrusXY »
[spoiler]
A couple of water benders, a dike, a flaming arrow, and a few barrels of blasting jelly?

Sounds like the makings of a gay porn film.
...thanks
[/spoiler]

Dictum Mortuum

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2009, 01:48:42 PM »
Sigh -_-
Another thread on using legacy champion and bloodlines to boost mounts/class features/whatever
Am i the only one that hates those :S ?
No offence, i just had to make the statement :p
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Emy

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2009, 08:23:56 PM »
Sigh -_-

~_~

Yeah, that PrC is crazy. I made one a while back focusing on getting in as early as possible, just to get a Nightmare at level 6, and posted it in the Encounter Resource thread on the WotC DM board. That makes for a pretty strong low level BBEG. :D

There was a dragon-based one in the old "10th level challenge" thread by DarkNoj that was quite strong, too (Zeus and Blue, I forget who posted that).

Since you were looking at getting in early, is there a faster entry than Wizard 5?

Dictum Mortuum

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2009, 08:35:54 PM »
Since it requires a 3rd level spell, i don't think so :(
What do you do with that ranks in scry? I mean what skill replaces that?
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Emy

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2009, 08:52:01 PM »
Since it requires a 3rd level spell, i don't think so :(
What do you do with that ranks in scry? I mean what skill replaces that?

No skill replaces it; it was removed entirely.

Even if the DM wants to add a different skill in its place, the skill requirements are easy to meet for a wizard with racial int bonuses.

The funny thing is that if it were any other outdated 3.0 skill, it would be quite obvious what should be done. The rest of them (Innuendo, Alchemy, Read Lips, etc) were either folded into another skill (Read Lips became a use of Spot) or renamed (Alchemy became Craft(Alchemy)). Scry was the only one that was removed entirely.
« Last Edit: February 02, 2009, 08:58:09 PM by Emy »

skydragonknight

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2009, 10:06:43 PM »
Sigh -_-
Another thread on using legacy champion and bloodlines to boost mounts/class features/whatever
Am i the only one that hates[ those :S ?
No offence, i just had to make the statement :p

I hate bloodlines for their utter inconsistency with the rest of the rules of the game. Using Legacy Champion to advance something beyond it's natural limit is something I only tolerate on the most theoretical builds. I get a bad feeling in my stomach if I even contemplate using it for a game-I despise character concepts that are easily vetoed by a DM. I prefer character builds that can be accepted in a wide variety of campaigns.
It always seems like the barrels around here have something in them.

Emy

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2009, 10:41:22 PM »
Sigh -_-
Another thread on using legacy champion and bloodlines to boost mounts/class features/whatever
Am i the only one that hates[ those :S ?
No offence, i just had to make the statement :p

I hate bloodlines for their utter inconsistency with the rest of the rules of the game. Using Legacy Champion to advance something beyond it's natural limit is something I only tolerate on the most theoretical builds. I get a bad feeling in my stomach if I even contemplate using it for a game-I despise character concepts that are easily vetoed by a DM. I prefer character builds that can be accepted in a wide variety of campaigns.

Yeah bloodlines are pretty lame. I used them a bit here, but the previous sentence still applies.

Legacy Champion seems like a potentially cool idea ("lose a bit of class feature advancement in exchange for increasing the power of your legacy weapon!") but the implementation is all screwy. (Same with bloodlines, actually. For example: "Class levels of 'bloodline' do not increase a character's character level the way a normal class level does" That... what? That doesn't even.... aaaaaaaa-.)

With Zhentarim Skymage, the fluff is restrictive enough that I doubt I'd ever use it in a real game either - except perhaps as a nemesis when I'm the DM. (Only once I have more experience, though. I once nearly killed a level 1 party with low-level zombie, because I didn't realize only the DN could bypass its DR when I threw it at the party.)

Akalsaris

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2009, 01:19:51 AM »

Just for kicks, here's the skymage I came up with the other night.  I went for the draconic theme personally to get 3 pet dragons on a character.

Oh, and another potentially cool minion to get at 6th level would be an erinyes/succubus to fly around carrying your halfling skymage.  Bet the ride's a lot more comfy than a chimera ;)

[spoiler]Zhentarim Skymage Optim.

Books: Races of the Dragon, Unearthed Arcana, PHB II, Lords of Darkness, Draconomicon, Comp. Warr,

Dragonwrought (Red) Desert Kobold Transmuter 5/Skymage 5/Dragonslayer 1/Spellsword 1/Wyrm Wizard 3/Archmage 5
 (Evoc/Necro/Abj. banned)

ACFs: fighter bonus feats, trade familiar for AC, focused specialist

Stats: 32 PB
Str: 04
Dex: 16
Con: 16
Int: 19
Wis: 09
Cha: 20 

(Venerable, -4 Str/-2 Wis/+2 Dex racial, +1 to Cha  at 4th, +2 Cha from Cloak)

Feats:
1st char: Dragonwrought Kobold
1st bonus wiz: Mounted Combat
3rd char: Combat Casting
5th bonus wiz: Dodge
6th char: Iron Will
7th bonus skymage: Flyby Attack (applies to mount)
7th bonus skymage: Craft Wand
8th bonus skymage: Spell Focus: (Transmutation)
9th char: Obtain Familiar
9th bonus skymage: Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
9th bonus skymage: Ride-by Attack (Useless!)
10th bonus skymage: Enlarge Spell
12th char: Dragon Familiar (wyrmling red dragon)
15th char: Spell Focus: Conjuration
18th char: Dragon Cohort (young red dragon)

Red dragon's feats: (based off of Blue from that old challenge)
1st: Mageslayer
3rd: Recover Breath
6th: Power attack
9th: Imp. Bullrush
12th: Large and In Charge

Skills:

Plan: pray that I never lose my cloak or my pet will turn on me.  I'll grab a wyrmling red dragon as the first mount.  By 11th level, he should be young, and by 20th items and inherent bonuses should raise that to juvenile.  The Gray Linnorn is another amazing option at 11th level, but probably too broken - besides, a creature that strong would only betray me, right?

Anyhow, optimization be damned, I went for a themey build.  By the end, this character gets a juvenile, a young, and a wyrmling red dragon as his bitches.  Also, with an animal companion, a familiar, and a mount all sharing spells, each spell the character casts on himself benefits all of them.  Shapechange, polymorph, mirror image, displacement, etc. all are excellent choices.

Combat & tactics:
Levels 1-5: choose a heavy horse, a crocodile, or a riding dog and race around having fun as a low-level wizard.  If possible, get Companion Spellbound with a flaw, and buff your pet from a distance. 

Levels 6:-8 things change quite a bit, as suddenly you're riding a dragon!  YAY!  This is when things turn awesome for you.  Flyby attack lets the two of you fly in, cast a spell/breathe, then fly out at 150 foot flying speed.

Levels 9-11: this is where you get a very young dragon.  Level 11 gets you all armor, weapons, and shields, and fear immunity.  Righteous.

Levels 12-17: this is where you get a young dragon and a wyrmling familiar, and can wear lots of mithril armor and shields.  You also get a single spell from any list up to lvl 7, and can apply Enlarge Spell to a single 2nd level spell for free 1/day - maybe Web?

Levels 18-20:

How it all comes together: Zhentarim Skymage gets almost all of the prereqs for archmage, as well as the prereq for Wyrm Wizard.  Fighter bonus feat option lets you qualify for Skymage on time and still be a dragonwrought kobold, and also gets you the Dodge feat for dragonslayer.  Spellsword lets you get some benefit out of Dragonslayer's free armor/weapon proficiencies, and archmage lets you get lots of nifty abilities.[/spoiler]

Emy

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2009, 01:26:34 AM »

Just for kicks, here's the skymage I came up with the other night.  I went for the draconic theme personally to get 3 pet dragons on a character.

Oh, and another potentially cool minion to get at 6th level would be an erinyes/succubus to fly around carrying your halfling skymage.  Bet the ride's a lot more comfy than a chimera ;)

[spoiler]Zhentarim Skymage Optim.

Books: Races of the Dragon, Unearthed Arcana, PHB II, Lords of Darkness, Draconomicon, Comp. Warr,

Dragonwrought (Red) Desert Kobold Transmuter 5/Skymage 5/Dragonslayer 1/Spellsword 1/Wyrm Wizard 3/Archmage 5
 (Evoc/Necro/Abj. banned)

ACFs: fighter bonus feats, trade familiar for AC, focused specialist

Stats: 32 PB
Str: 04
Dex: 16
Con: 16
Int: 19
Wis: 09
Cha: 20 

(Venerable, -4 Str/-2 Wis/+2 Dex racial, +1 to Cha  at 4th, +2 Cha from Cloak)

Feats:
1st char: Dragonwrought Kobold
1st bonus wiz: Mounted Combat
3rd char: Combat Casting
5th bonus wiz: Dodge
6th char: Iron Will
7th bonus skymage: Flyby Attack (applies to mount)
7th bonus skymage: Craft Wand
8th bonus skymage: Spell Focus: (Transmutation)
9th char: Obtain Familiar
9th bonus skymage: Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
9th bonus skymage: Ride-by Attack (Useless!)
10th bonus skymage: Enlarge Spell
12th char: Dragon Familiar (wyrmling red dragon)
15th char: Spell Focus: Conjuration
18th char: Dragon Cohort (young red dragon)

Red dragon's feats: (based off of Blue from that old challenge)
1st: Mageslayer
3rd: Recover Breath
6th: Power attack
9th: Imp. Bullrush
12th: Large and In Charge

Skills:

Plan: pray that I never lose my cloak or my pet will turn on me.  I'll grab a wyrmling red dragon as the first mount.  By 11th level, he should be young, and by 20th items and inherent bonuses should raise that to juvenile.  The Gray Linnorn is another amazing option at 11th level, but probably too broken - besides, a creature that strong would only betray me, right?

Anyhow, optimization be damned, I went for a themey build.  By the end, this character gets a juvenile, a young, and a wyrmling red dragon as his bitches.  Also, with an animal companion, a familiar, and a mount all sharing spells, each spell the character casts on himself benefits all of them.  Shapechange, polymorph, mirror image, displacement, etc. all are excellent choices.

Combat & tactics:
Levels 1-5: choose a heavy horse, a crocodile, or a riding dog and race around having fun as a low-level wizard.  If possible, get Companion Spellbound with a flaw, and buff your pet from a distance. 

Levels 6:-8 things change quite a bit, as suddenly you're riding a dragon!  YAY!  This is when things turn awesome for you.  Flyby attack lets the two of you fly in, cast a spell/breathe, then fly out at 150 foot flying speed.

Levels 9-11: this is where you get a very young dragon.  Level 11 gets you all armor, weapons, and shields, and fear immunity.  Righteous.

Levels 12-17: this is where you get a young dragon and a wyrmling familiar, and can wear lots of mithril armor and shields.  You also get a single spell from any list up to lvl 7, and can apply Enlarge Spell to a single 2nd level spell for free 1/day - maybe Web?

Levels 18-20:

How it all comes together: Zhentarim Skymage gets almost all of the prereqs for archmage, as well as the prereq for Wyrm Wizard.  Fighter bonus feat option lets you qualify for Skymage on time and still be a dragonwrought kobold, and also gets you the Dodge feat for dragonslayer.  Spellsword lets you get some benefit out of Dragonslayer's free armor/weapon proficiencies, and archmage lets you get lots of nifty abilities.[/spoiler]

Hah, that's funny. A dragon sorcerer riding around on a dragon, with a dragon familiar and a dragon buddy. You can share spells with two of them, too.

skydragonknight

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #12 on: February 03, 2009, 01:58:11 AM »
Just for kicks, here's the skymage I came up with the other night.  I went for the draconic theme personally to get 3 pet dragons on a character.
Hah, that's funny. A dragon sorcerer riding around on a dragon, with a dragon familiar and a dragon buddy. You can share spells with two of them, too.

Sky dragon mage? I think you're encroaching on my territory.
It always seems like the barrels around here have something in them.

BowenSilverclaw

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Re: I may be tiny, but my friend here isn't: the fae lord of darkness
« Reply #13 on: February 03, 2009, 06:28:52 AM »
Just for kicks, here's the skymage I came up with the other night.  I went for the draconic theme personally to get 3 pet dragons on a character.
Hah, that's funny. A dragon sorcerer riding around on a dragon, with a dragon familiar and a dragon buddy. You can share spells with two of them, too.

Sky dragon mage? I think you're encroaching on my territory.
There's only one way to solve that issue...



MORTAL KOMBAT!!!





:P
"Weakness? Come test thy mettle against me, hairless ape, and we shall know who is weak!"

Quote from: J0lt
You caught a fish.  It was awesome.   :lol