Elder-Basilisk
First Post
Ysgarran said:One of those feats should be 'Large and In Charge' from
the 'Sword and First' supplement.
Rated one of the best feats possible in Smetzger's Polls (TM).
Nothing keeps BBFs away as well as Large and In Charge.
It rather depends. Large and In Charge is an excellent feat but I thought Iron Will and Weapon Specialization would be better choices for starting out. (Iron Will helps to prevent falling to a color spray, sound burst, or some other will save effect and weapon specialization is just a good feat--why take four levels of fighter if you don't take it?) Since he'll be with the party for a while, I'd have him take Large and In Charge with his next feat when he hits fighter 4/Barbarian 2.
Originally posted by two
I have to disagree with all the fighter or wizard-based posts.
There is just too much room for "down in one."
At sixth level, a fighter-based BBEG's will save is, well, majorley suckey.
That's part of the nature of D&D. Sometimes the dice work for the DM and sometimes they work against him. Even a cleric can fail a save or die spell in round 1. (I was running an RPGA adventure with an evil cleric BBEG two months ago and sure enough, he failed his save vs. Hold Person in round 1. All he needed to do was roll a 5.... Similarly, I was playing an RPGA adventure a month ago when a 10th level (or so) cleric--a member of the lesser Boneheart--failed her save against glitterdust). So choosing cleric isn't a get out of save or die land option. It is, however, the reason I chose half-ogre for Ugluk. As a Giant rather than a Humanoid, he's immune to Hold Person, Charm Person, etc. As a 5th level character, he's immune to Sleep. That eliminates the most common offenders in the "down in one" department. Color Spray and Sound Burst are annoying but one round of stunning won't necessarily destroy the challenge (I did give him a locking gauntlet though so that he won't drop his weapon if he's stunned). Two levels of Barbarian or Blindfight would help to reduce the effectiveness of Glitterdust but I wanted Weapon Specialization for Ugluk.
Also, note that the fighter and barbarian based BBEGs have a better chance against the "So does a 27 confirm my raging scythe crit?" version of the "down in one" risk.
All told, I think that fighter, rogue, and wizard BBEGs are viable possibilities; although cleric might be a slightly safer route, it still doesn't eliminate "down in one round" effects.