Iron Heroes has the concept of a "villain class", which is an NPC-only class used to create opponents for the PCs without too much build prep. I like the concept, so I've been making some villain classes for D&D.
Here are the general principles for villain classes that I'm following. In addition, see p.17 of Mastering Iron Heroes for more on this concept.
- Villain classes should be powerful/durable enough to be a CR-appropriate threat. It should be about as tough to fight a 20th level villain as, say, a balor or a wyrm black dragon (all CR 20). Or, if 20th level encounters are too situation-dependent, say a 10th level villain compared to a fire giant or gray slaad (CR 10). This should be done without having to deck the character out with gear like a Christmas tree. (Strictly speaking I could relax the CR = level assumption, but I like having a definite base to work from.)
- The classes are not meant to be used for PCs, so balancing against PC classes is less important (and in particular, mechanics that wouldn't be appropriate for PCs can be used). The main factor is that they should be balanced as opponents of the given CR.
- The classes are primarily designed to provide opponents in combat situations. While you can use them in a more social/non-combat-heavy game, they're not really designed with that in mind.
- Build time should be minimal, while preserving in-game flexibility. Ideally, you should be able to just read off the stats from the table, while choosing special abilities during play. Thus no requirement to choose spells known, maneuvers known, item selection, skill selection, etc. Feats complicate things slightly, but it's easy enough to have a set progression as a default.
- Maneuvers and spell slots give a way to limit the power of the class. While you can choose from any spell in the book, you can only cast that spell once (or twice); similarly for maneuvers. Special abilities that should be usable more than once still use up these slots, so they're not infinite (and present a tactical choice for the DM: use a special power now, or a spell/maneuver later?).
- Contingent bonuses and buffs should be kept to a minimum. Eg, the swift assassin below uses one attack bonus for everything, whether it's a dagger, crossbow or bastard sword. It's probably not feasible to eliminate buffs entirely though.
First villain class:
Swift assassin
The swift assassin villain class can be used to represent a human(oid) opponent that relies on speed, stealth and finesse. This includes (stereotypical) assassins, ninjas, and even swashbuckler types.
The swift assassin's CR is equal to his class level/HD. A class progression to 25th level is given below, to allow creation of powerful opponents for high-level parties. A swift assassin gains a feat at 1st level, 3rd level and every 3 levels thereafter, just like any other humanoid creature.
Class table (scroll right to see stat progression):
Class statistics
Hit die: d8
Skills: The swift assassin has ranks equal to his level +5 in Concentration, Balance, Climb, Jump, Tumble, Hide, Move Silently, Listen, Bluff, Sleight of Hand, Disguise, Knowledge (martial lore). He gains no other ranks, nor does he benefit from synergy bonuses.
Proficiencies: The swift assassin is proficient with all simple weapons, and all associated weapons of the Shadow Hand, Desert Wind, Diamond Mind and Setting Sun schools (scimitar, light mace, light pick, falchion, spear, rapier, shortspear, bastard sword, trident, quarterstaff, nunchaku, unarmed strike, dagger shortsword, sai, siangham, spiked chain). He is proficient with light armour, but not with shields.
Class abilities
Finesse: The swift assassin can use his Dexterity bonus instead of his Strength bonus on melee attack rolls with all weapons that he is proficient with.
Combat Mobility: The swift assassin gains a dodge bonus to AC equal to half his level, rounded down.
Dark-hardened Spirit: The swift assassin gains a resistance bonus to saves equal to half his level, rounded down.
Celerity: The swift assassin gains an insight bonus to initiative rolls equal to his level x 1/4, rounded down.
Defensive Insight: The swift assassin gains his Wisdom bonus to AC, when wearing no armour.
Sudden Strike: As the ninja ability (CAdv). When attacking an opponent who is denied his Dexterity bonus to AC, the swift assassin deals the extra damage indicated.
Bonus feats: The swift assassin gains a bonus feat at 4th, 12th, 20th and 24th level. He must meet the prerequisites for these feats.
Evasion: The swift assassin gains the evasion ability at 8th level. At 16th level, he gains improved evasion.
Stances and maneuvers
Stances: The swift assassin gains the listed number of stances per encounter, starting from 8th level. He can use any maneuver from the Shadow Hand school, plus one of the Desert Wind, Diamond Mind or Setting Sun schools (chosen beforehand).
Maneuvers: The swift assassin gains the listed number of maneuver slots per encounter. He can use any maneuver from the Shadow Hand school, plus one of the Desert Wind, Diamond Mind or Setting Sun schools (chosen beforehand). He can use any given maneuver only once per encounter, and he cannot recover spent maneuver slots. Alternatively, he can also use a maneuver slot to power one of the abilities listed below.
The swift assassin does not have to meet the usual prerequisites for choosing stances and maneuvers, nor does he have to select his stances and maneuvers known beforehand. Instead, he can use any maneuver whose level is equal to or less than half his IL (rounded up). The swift assassin's IL is equal to his class level. Thus, for example, a 9th level swift asssassin has 4 maneuver uses per encounter, and he can use any maneuver up to 5th level.
The following abilities use up one of the swift assassin's maneuver slots for the encounter. Unlike actual maneuvers, the swift assassin can use these abilities more than once per encounter, but each use consumes another slot.
Hidden Sting: As a move action, the swift assassin can make a skill check to deny an opponent his Dexterity bonus to AC against the next attack made against him. His opponent rolls a base attack check (BAB + higher of Str and Dex modifier); if this is equal to or higher than the swift assassin's roll, the result is avoided. This attack can be made by anyone, not just the swift assassin himself, but it must come before the end of the swift assassin's next turn. The swift assassin can only use this skill against an opponent with whom he is in melee.
At a minimum, the swift assassin can use this ability with the Jump, Tumble, Bluff and Sleight of Hand skills. If the Bluff skill is used, the opponent may choose to roll a Sense Motive check instead of a base attack check; similarly if the Sleight of Hand skill is used, the opponent may roll a Spot check. Other skills may also be used, subject to the DM's discretion (it's recommended to have a plausible in-game description of what the swift assassin is doing).
If the swift assassin takes a -5 penalty to the roll, he can use this ability as a swift action. If he takes a -10 penalty, he can use it as a free action.
(Taken from http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/ih/skills.htm#negate_defense)
Soul of Fire: As an immediate action, the swift assassin can gain SR equal to 10 + his level against one spell or spell-like effect.
Deadly Strike: As a standard action, the swift assassin makes an attack against a target, dealing double the normal number of sudden strike dice. The usual conditions for making a sudden strike must still be met.
Fade into Night: As a swift action, the swift assassin gains the hide in plain sight ability. If he makes a Hide check before the end of his turn, he can hide even when under direct observation as long as he is within 10 ft of some sort of shadow. The Hide check is separate to the action required to activate this ability.
Once hidden, the swift assassin remains concealed until spotted, as per the normal rules for hidden creatures.
Elude the Blade: As an immediate action, the swift assassin gains a 50% concealment miss chance against all attacks, until the next turn.
Possessions
The swift assassin is equipped with gear appropriate to a lightly-armoured combatant who specialises in stealth and quickness.
The following magic items are those commonly found on swift assassins; others may be substituted at your discretion. You should be careful about giving the swift assassin items that change his stats compared to the defaults; the class CR assumes the items below. The total value of the items should not vary significantly from the DMG guidelines for NPC equipment by level.
From 4th level, the swift assassin has +1 armour and a +1 weapon; these bonuses increase to +2 at 8th level, +3 at 12th, +4 at 16th, +5 at 20th and +6 at 24th. The type of armour is usually a (normal) chain shirt initially, a mithral chain shirt from 6th level, and bracers of armor from 12th level. The weapon can be any weapon that he is proficient with.
From 6th level, he has gloves of Dexterity +2, which improve to +4 at 12th level, +6 at 18th and +8 at 24th. He has an amulet of Wisdom +2 from 7th level, which improves to +4 at 13th level, +6 at 19th and +8 at 25th.
Here are the general principles for villain classes that I'm following. In addition, see p.17 of Mastering Iron Heroes for more on this concept.
- Villain classes should be powerful/durable enough to be a CR-appropriate threat. It should be about as tough to fight a 20th level villain as, say, a balor or a wyrm black dragon (all CR 20). Or, if 20th level encounters are too situation-dependent, say a 10th level villain compared to a fire giant or gray slaad (CR 10). This should be done without having to deck the character out with gear like a Christmas tree. (Strictly speaking I could relax the CR = level assumption, but I like having a definite base to work from.)
- The classes are not meant to be used for PCs, so balancing against PC classes is less important (and in particular, mechanics that wouldn't be appropriate for PCs can be used). The main factor is that they should be balanced as opponents of the given CR.
- The classes are primarily designed to provide opponents in combat situations. While you can use them in a more social/non-combat-heavy game, they're not really designed with that in mind.
- Build time should be minimal, while preserving in-game flexibility. Ideally, you should be able to just read off the stats from the table, while choosing special abilities during play. Thus no requirement to choose spells known, maneuvers known, item selection, skill selection, etc. Feats complicate things slightly, but it's easy enough to have a set progression as a default.
- Maneuvers and spell slots give a way to limit the power of the class. While you can choose from any spell in the book, you can only cast that spell once (or twice); similarly for maneuvers. Special abilities that should be usable more than once still use up these slots, so they're not infinite (and present a tactical choice for the DM: use a special power now, or a spell/maneuver later?).
- Contingent bonuses and buffs should be kept to a minimum. Eg, the swift assassin below uses one attack bonus for everything, whether it's a dagger, crossbow or bastard sword. It's probably not feasible to eliminate buffs entirely though.
First villain class:
Swift assassin
The swift assassin villain class can be used to represent a human(oid) opponent that relies on speed, stealth and finesse. This includes (stereotypical) assassins, ninjas, and even swashbuckler types.
The swift assassin's CR is equal to his class level/HD. A class progression to 25th level is given below, to allow creation of powerful opponents for high-level parties. A swift assassin gains a feat at 1st level, 3rd level and every 3 levels thereafter, just like any other humanoid creature.
Class table (scroll right to see stat progression):
Code:
level BAB Fort* Ref* Will* AC* Maneuvers Stances SStrk Other Str Dex* Con Int Wis* Cha
1 +0 0+0 2+0 0+0 +0 0 0 1d6 special abilities 12 16 12 10 12 8
2 +1 0+1 3+1 0+1 +1 1 0 12 16 12 10 12 8
3 +2 1+1 3+1 1+1 +1 1 0 2d6 12 16 14 10 12 8
4 +3 1+2 4+2 1+2 +2 2 0 bonus feat 12 16 14 10 12 8
5 +3 1+2 4+2 1+2 +2 2 0 3d6 12 18 14 12 14 10
6 +4 2+3 5+3 2+3 +3 3 0 12 18+2 14 12 14 10
7 +5 2+3 5+3 2+3 +3 3 0 4d6 12 18+2 14 12 14+2 10
8 +6 2+4 6+4 2+4 +4 4 1 Evasion 14 18+2 16 12 14+2 10
9 +6 3+4 6+4 3+4 +4 4 1 5d6 14 20+2 16 12 14+2 10
10 +7 3+5 7+5 3+5 +5 5 1 14 20+2 16 12 14+2 10
11 +8 3+5 7+5 3+5 +5 5 1 6d6 14 20+2 16 12 16+2 10
12 +9 4+6 8+6 4+6 +6 6 1 bonus feat 14 20+4 16 12 16+2 10
13 +9 4+6 8+6 4+6 +6 6 1 7d6 14 22+4 18 14 16+4 12
14 +10 4+7 9+7 4+7 +7 7 1 14 22+4 18 14 16+4 12
15 +11 5+7 9+7 5+7 +7 7 1 8d6 14 22+4 18 14 16+4 12
16 +12 5+8 10+8 5+8 +8 8 2 Improved evasion 16 22+4 18 14 16+4 12
17 +12 5+8 10+8 5+8 +8 8 2 9d6 16 24+4 18 14 18+4 12
18 +13 6+9 11+9 6+9 +9 9 2 16 24+6 20 14 18+4 12
19 +14 6+9 11+9 6+9 +9 9 2 10d6 16 24+6 20 14 18+6 12
20 +15 6+10 12+10 6+10 +10 10 2 bonus feat 16 24+6 20 14 18+6 12
21 +15 7+10 12+10 7+10 +10 10 2 11d6 16 26+6 20 14 18+6 14
22 +16 7+11 13+11 7+11 +11 11 2 16 26+6 20 14 18+6 14
23 +17 7+11 13+11 7+11 +11 11 2 12d6 16 26+6 22 14 20+6 14
24 +18 8+12 14+12 8+12 +12 12 3 bonus feat 18 26+8 22 14 20+6 14
25 +18 8+12 14+12 8+12 +12 12 3 13d6 18 28+8 22 16 20+8 14
* includes bonuses from special abilities and items listed belowClass statistics
Hit die: d8
Skills: The swift assassin has ranks equal to his level +5 in Concentration, Balance, Climb, Jump, Tumble, Hide, Move Silently, Listen, Bluff, Sleight of Hand, Disguise, Knowledge (martial lore). He gains no other ranks, nor does he benefit from synergy bonuses.
Proficiencies: The swift assassin is proficient with all simple weapons, and all associated weapons of the Shadow Hand, Desert Wind, Diamond Mind and Setting Sun schools (scimitar, light mace, light pick, falchion, spear, rapier, shortspear, bastard sword, trident, quarterstaff, nunchaku, unarmed strike, dagger shortsword, sai, siangham, spiked chain). He is proficient with light armour, but not with shields.
Class abilities
Finesse: The swift assassin can use his Dexterity bonus instead of his Strength bonus on melee attack rolls with all weapons that he is proficient with.
Combat Mobility: The swift assassin gains a dodge bonus to AC equal to half his level, rounded down.
Dark-hardened Spirit: The swift assassin gains a resistance bonus to saves equal to half his level, rounded down.
Celerity: The swift assassin gains an insight bonus to initiative rolls equal to his level x 1/4, rounded down.
Defensive Insight: The swift assassin gains his Wisdom bonus to AC, when wearing no armour.
Sudden Strike: As the ninja ability (CAdv). When attacking an opponent who is denied his Dexterity bonus to AC, the swift assassin deals the extra damage indicated.
Bonus feats: The swift assassin gains a bonus feat at 4th, 12th, 20th and 24th level. He must meet the prerequisites for these feats.
Evasion: The swift assassin gains the evasion ability at 8th level. At 16th level, he gains improved evasion.
Stances and maneuvers
Stances: The swift assassin gains the listed number of stances per encounter, starting from 8th level. He can use any maneuver from the Shadow Hand school, plus one of the Desert Wind, Diamond Mind or Setting Sun schools (chosen beforehand).
Maneuvers: The swift assassin gains the listed number of maneuver slots per encounter. He can use any maneuver from the Shadow Hand school, plus one of the Desert Wind, Diamond Mind or Setting Sun schools (chosen beforehand). He can use any given maneuver only once per encounter, and he cannot recover spent maneuver slots. Alternatively, he can also use a maneuver slot to power one of the abilities listed below.
The swift assassin does not have to meet the usual prerequisites for choosing stances and maneuvers, nor does he have to select his stances and maneuvers known beforehand. Instead, he can use any maneuver whose level is equal to or less than half his IL (rounded up). The swift assassin's IL is equal to his class level. Thus, for example, a 9th level swift asssassin has 4 maneuver uses per encounter, and he can use any maneuver up to 5th level.
The following abilities use up one of the swift assassin's maneuver slots for the encounter. Unlike actual maneuvers, the swift assassin can use these abilities more than once per encounter, but each use consumes another slot.
Hidden Sting: As a move action, the swift assassin can make a skill check to deny an opponent his Dexterity bonus to AC against the next attack made against him. His opponent rolls a base attack check (BAB + higher of Str and Dex modifier); if this is equal to or higher than the swift assassin's roll, the result is avoided. This attack can be made by anyone, not just the swift assassin himself, but it must come before the end of the swift assassin's next turn. The swift assassin can only use this skill against an opponent with whom he is in melee.
At a minimum, the swift assassin can use this ability with the Jump, Tumble, Bluff and Sleight of Hand skills. If the Bluff skill is used, the opponent may choose to roll a Sense Motive check instead of a base attack check; similarly if the Sleight of Hand skill is used, the opponent may roll a Spot check. Other skills may also be used, subject to the DM's discretion (it's recommended to have a plausible in-game description of what the swift assassin is doing).
If the swift assassin takes a -5 penalty to the roll, he can use this ability as a swift action. If he takes a -10 penalty, he can use it as a free action.
(Taken from http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/ih/skills.htm#negate_defense)
Soul of Fire: As an immediate action, the swift assassin can gain SR equal to 10 + his level against one spell or spell-like effect.
Deadly Strike: As a standard action, the swift assassin makes an attack against a target, dealing double the normal number of sudden strike dice. The usual conditions for making a sudden strike must still be met.
Fade into Night: As a swift action, the swift assassin gains the hide in plain sight ability. If he makes a Hide check before the end of his turn, he can hide even when under direct observation as long as he is within 10 ft of some sort of shadow. The Hide check is separate to the action required to activate this ability.
Once hidden, the swift assassin remains concealed until spotted, as per the normal rules for hidden creatures.
Elude the Blade: As an immediate action, the swift assassin gains a 50% concealment miss chance against all attacks, until the next turn.
Possessions
The swift assassin is equipped with gear appropriate to a lightly-armoured combatant who specialises in stealth and quickness.
The following magic items are those commonly found on swift assassins; others may be substituted at your discretion. You should be careful about giving the swift assassin items that change his stats compared to the defaults; the class CR assumes the items below. The total value of the items should not vary significantly from the DMG guidelines for NPC equipment by level.
From 4th level, the swift assassin has +1 armour and a +1 weapon; these bonuses increase to +2 at 8th level, +3 at 12th, +4 at 16th, +5 at 20th and +6 at 24th. The type of armour is usually a (normal) chain shirt initially, a mithral chain shirt from 6th level, and bracers of armor from 12th level. The weapon can be any weapon that he is proficient with.
From 6th level, he has gloves of Dexterity +2, which improve to +4 at 12th level, +6 at 18th and +8 at 24th. He has an amulet of Wisdom +2 from 7th level, which improves to +4 at 13th level, +6 at 19th and +8 at 25th.
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