I need help with an antagonist I want to make.

[Rai_SD_Knight]

I'm going to be DM at some point in the future and I have had this character for a long time, I just can't think of a way to transfer him over to D&D correctly. Here is a physical description and a description of his abilities.

His name is Rave, human though he is at least dragon descended, cause he has light scales that run from his temples down his sides to his toes. Rave wears chain mail, gauntlets(more on these later) and grieves. In his own world he is considered a Demigod because his different abilities make him so strong.

Rave's natural(or supernatural) abilities include high strength, can create fogs, hide in darkness of any depth, use any language(speak and write) resists electric, immune to dark and evil effects, and can temporarily strip dark and evil beings of their powers and use them himself(this is probably the strongest one not even a god can stop it, I mean he basically makes them normal mortals for a time and there by vulnerable to anyone they've screwed with.), and can create(summon or conjure?) any non sentient creature with abilities of their own(orig this was for healing purposes but have since expaned it.

On top of that he has a gauntlet on his left hand that is sentient(and evil as ****)that can make any kind of weapon with any ability. On his right hand he has another sentient gauntlet that can create any kind of bane(though this would probably end up as negative modifiers or stat penalties.)

My idea is something along the lines of, he comes to the parties world and looses some or most of his abilities in the transfer, he has several confrontations with the group, and as the party increases in level he regains his abilities either by leveling or through magic items(money is not an object for him) leading to a final show down. How would I go about doing this.)

 

[Theroc]

I'm no expert, but let me roll along here and look.

If Rave is at all magical, taking him through a few levels of Sorcerer and giving him the "Dragon Disciple" PrC would be a good step, giving him the dragon traits(though this would give him wings and a breath weapon and jazz too.)

Alternatively, in the Races of the Dragon book(Or the Draconomicon), there is a Draconic Template that is +1 LA, which grants Low Light Vision, Dark Vision, racial saves against sleep and paralysis, racial bonus to intimidate and spot checks, two claw attacks and a +1 Natural armor bonus. Additionally, since this template does not grant the Dragon Subtype, one can have this template and STILL go into the above class.

The Dragon Disciple class and tenth level Dragon Apotheosis in that class will boost Rave's strength and give him the dragon flavor.

For Resist electric, the Dragon Apotheosis would grant immunity to the element of dragon Rave was 'descended' from, which could translate to electical immunity. For immunity to dark and evil effects... I'm clueless.

For power stripping, you MAY need to houserule this, unless you'd consider using the spell Anti-magic Ray, which causes the victim to behave as if inside an Anti-magic Shell if they fail their will save against it.

For any language... COnsider having Rave get the Tongues spell cast on him and made permenant. Edit: Alternatively, if Rave starts out as a Changeling (From the Eberron Campaign Setting), Speak Language will always be an In-Class skill for him. At least, according to Crystalkeep./edit

For summoning, Sorcerers and Wizards can summon monsters as it is, and Druid have a slightly different summoning spell. Perhaps there is a way to get an Arcane version of "Summon Nature's Ally"?

Anyways, hope this helped a bit... you didn't say which books you had available, or even which system you were using specifically.

 

[Rai_SD_Knight]

Uh well 3.5s what the group tries to stick with any books as long as we can find srds or pdfs(what is that photo files argh computer lingo) of them, because we are all dirt poor hahaha! (wait, the current DM has the DMG and PHB I think) I'm sorry my posts are a bit wordy, Thanks Theroc any other idea's especially after reading this.

Anyway I've been thinking, I think I can get around the creature thing rather easily(just have the monsters see him as a ally and not attack him, heal him, and ect), I mean it's him and probably two or three monsters against three or four PCs so...

Rave prefers unarmed combat to start(so maybe some kind of monk?) only using his gauntlets. But if things don't go his way or he gets ticked off he switches to any number of weapons though Rave prefers the great axe(for power) or scythe(do to the left gauntlets subcon influence, you know the whole grim reaper thing) Hmm perhaps I should explain the gauntlets more...

They are actually originally inspired by D&D(Sentient magical items), I removed all the rules for them(the dice rolling and stuff cause that would be silly for short stories) and gave them the abilities to augment Rave's natural abilities. Both are considered God items(I think that's right) the left one as I said before can make any weapon with any abilities(so most likely give the wielder automatic proficency to all weapons), and is hell bent on creating as much destruction and chaos as possable(but because of Rave's abilities, lost its power to control its wielder, but still argues the matter).

The right one is re-enforced and is used like a shield to deflect blows(can dich that though), it can create its oponents bane(weakness, a friend was telling me about a spell that gives stat penalties, and maybe another with a low rusting effect too) and is less maniacal but still takes pleasure from destructive and chaotic acts.(was made specifically for Rave so is subservant to his wishes, this ticks off the left one to no end.)

I thought these three would make an interesting story and even have some comedy(if the party could hear the gauntlets talking or not, nothing like a seemingly crazy villain, eh!)

 

[Theroc]

Well, I've no idea what books you all have access too, but Dragon Disciple is in the D20 SRD and the Dungeon Master's Guide.

Also, many of the things I've mentioned are available at crystalkeep, which you can google and should be easy to find. It supplies a decent amount of information(though there ARE some errors) in a PDF which I believe is a temporary file(I have never found them stored on my PC after use, requiring me to revisit the site to see them).

Anyways, COmplete Arcane's "Enlightened Fist" Prestige class might suit Rave. It's a Monk/Arcane Spellcaster PrC. So, (since Rave strikes me as a more charismatic character than a bookworm) Sorcerer/Monk-> Enlightened Fist-> Dragon Disciple might be something that helps fit him.

COmplete Arcane also offers Draconic Heritage feats(which get stronger the more of them you possess) offering different bonuses when you cast spells and such.

 

[Rai_SD_Knight]

I say let's go for the monk/sorcerer/enlightened fist/Dragon Disciple whats the lowest possible combined level I could manage it. I've only made a 4th level Ranger before so I'm not that well versed in the matter and definitely not multiclassing.

It should be mentioned that I was originally the DM but failed miserably, not because of lack of story or interesting characters but low knowledge of the rules and high CRs whoops should not have put the players against Xenomorph/Kythons(do to Rave's abilities) My first incarnation was horrible, some kind of barbarian monstrosity(abomination?) just horribly winged ach! I don't even want to think about it.

So I am going to take my time and make sure all npc and DMC are well thought out!

I did roll awesome stats for Rave though 12,14,16,16,17,17 now how to allocate them haha!

 

[Theroc]

Okay, It gets a bit convoluted due to the restriction on Monk Multiclassing.

You could hit Dragon Disciple by Level 5.

But to qualify for Enlightened Fist, you'd need at least 6 levels of sorcerer.

So, Sorc6/Monk1/Enlightened Fist1/Dragon Disciple/1

Is the earliest I see, taking into account the penalty, caster level requirements and skill ranks. I believe you will need the Combat Casting feat outside of the bonus monk feats though.

So, earliest level would be a level 9 character. But this version of Rave would be very, very weak in melee at this point, since he spent all of his levels qualifying.

All of this is in the event that I haven't misinterpreted something horribly. Anyone more familiar with these classes feel free to point out my errors.

 

[Rai_SD_Knight]

Okay I found this on wizards.com

Practiced spellcaster

Choose a spellcasting class that you possess. Your spells cast from that class are more powerful.​

Prerequisite: Spellcraft 4 ranks.​

Benefit: Your caster level for the chosen spellcasting class increases by 4. This benefit can't increase your caster level to higher than your Hit Dice. However, even if you can't benefit from the full bonus immediately, if you later gain Hit Dice in levels of nonspellcasting classes, you might be able to apply the rest of the bonus.


so could this be used to lower the sorcerers needed level 1+4 is 5 right

sorcerer2/monk3/EnFist3/Dragon disciple1 still level 9 but I dont know?(could use skill points from sorcerer for spellcraft and knowledge reqs right), I don't even begin to know how to calculate the skill points and feats I would get!!!

Lurking teaches many things hahaha!!!
​

 

[Theroc]

Okay I found this on wizards.com

Practiced spellcaster

Choose a spellcasting class that you possess. Your spells cast from that class are more powerful.​

Prerequisite: Spellcraft 4 ranks.​

Benefit: Your caster level for the chosen spellcasting class increases by 4. This benefit can't increase your caster level to higher than your Hit Dice. However, even if you can't benefit from the full bonus immediately, if you later gain Hit Dice in levels of nonspellcasting classes, you might be able to apply the rest of the bonus.


so could this be used to lower the sorcerers needed level 1+4 is 5 right



Lurking teaches many things hahaha!!!
​

No it can't, because the caster level doesn't allow you to cast higher level spells. What that will do is help ease the hit your spell DC's would take from missing spellcasting progression from your levels in Monk and Dragon Disciple.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Other possibilities:

1) How easy it is for you to multiclass as a Monk depends upon what setting you're in and what books you're using. See my sig- some Monk base class variants have expanded multiclassing options...especially the one from Oriental Adventures, which has none.

In addition, the OA Shaman (esp. with the 3.5 update in Dragon #318) also has similar unarmed strike capacity, though it doesn't have the advantage of getting treated as both a natural and manufactured weapon, nor the bonus feats. However, instead of that, you get Lt armor proficiency, full casting of divine spells...and up to 3 Domains.

And don't forget the Kensai PrCl- it boosts your weapon of choice with every level, and there is a conditional +8Str boost that is unnamed, so it stacks with everything.

See my sig for the Monk Database.

2) Barring using a base class variant, there is also the (oddly named) Ascetic Mage Feat from CompAdv that lets you freely multiclass between Monk and Sorc.

3) Ring the Golden Bell, a Feat from DCv1, lets you use your unarmed strikes at (limited) range, delivering any effect your PC could deliver by a normal unarmed strike.

4) For the accenting the Draconic side, consider the aforementioned Draconic Heritage feats. Most show up in CompArc, but some also show up in Dragon Magic.

Depending upon your exact choices, you gain a Breath Weapon, natural armor, a fear aura, and similar effects.

See here to find them:
http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/featsform.pl

The advantage is that this path is more streamlined. The disadvantage is that it is more Feat intensive.

To look a little closer:

A Rave built with Shaman/Sorc/Mystic Theurge could be a fearsome arcane & divine spellcaster...and with use of the Draconic Heritage Feats, could be spitting his breath weapon pretty much at will. And if your DM is permissive and lets the DH feats work for the BttlSorc as well, that could also be in armor.

Similarly, Shaman/BttlSorc (or WarMage)/Geomancer could get the most out of his spellcasting of both classes- in armor- and would probably have accumulated many draconic features like claws, wings, scales and so forth. And with the aforementioned Heritage feats, could still have a breath weapon.

With a Monk/Sorc build and Ascetic Mage, you could max out his arcane spellcasting...and if your DM is permissive and lets AM work for the BttlSorc as well, that could also be in armor (though that would introduce issues for your Monk aspect).

 

[Rai_SD_Knight]

Not to argue Theroc, but I've looked at some of the other threads and this seems to be a player/DM choice.

Help making an enlightened fist

From the Enlightened Fist PrC requirements:
Spells or Spell-Like Abilities: Arcane caster level 3rd.

It doesn't matter what level of spells you can cast, or how many. Just as long as you have a caster level of third. A Monk 4/Sorceror 1 with Practised Spellcaster can qualify just fine.

Heck, a Bard 1 with PS could qualify, even though it can only cast 0-level spells.

and

The requirement is "Arcane caster level 3rd", which indeed means that Practiced spellcaster would help you. Whether it's a good choice or not I don't know.

As I said opinions vary on the subject and these here are far from official I'm cool either way just trying to make Him as low in the first two classes as possible!

Dannyalcatraz you helped me with my familiar problem I was having thanks for that, as for DM thats not a problem its me(at that point) and I'm very lenient, my group is doing a we each get a turn kind of thing, so after the current DMs campain is over I'll get to try again(didnt do so well first time but live and lean right.)