NPC classes in Iron Heroes Beastery

[Gundark]

What are they like? Do they go to CR 20 like the dread sorcerer? Do they actually present a challenge to a party? Let me know.

 

[Selganor]

The Villain Classes (and their CRs) are:
- Champion (3-20)
This is a straightforward "fighter" (Options are different fighting styles)

- Demonic Minion (1-6)
Not the brutes but the small, mean and tricky creatures that sometimes "support" evil mages

- Demon Knight (5-15)
A demon that's also a fighter complete with weapons and armor (but with negligible "magical" powers)

 

[ValhallaGH]

What are they like?

Two (the Champion and Demon Knight) are bruisers that take on a party in melee combat. You can swap the Champion's Str and Dex, give him some good projectile feats and you'll have an extremely mean Archer character that can also do melee.
The third (Demonic Minion) is more of an RP challenge, since he will have knowledge that the PCs want and must convince him to give up, he'll have some sort of trinket/token/spell that takes him from minion to terror, or he will support his 'master' in such a way as to make the master even more deadly.

Do they go to CR 20 like the dread sorcerer?

See Selganor's post.

Do they actually present a challenge to a party? Let me know.

Yes. Yes they do. Champions are scary (and almost make the Beastary worthwhile by themselves) no matter their specialty or race. Demon Knights are scary because of a) magic weapons, b) tons of DR, c) some effective and appropriate powers. Also, they can look like anything you want them to, making them even more deadly. Demonic Minions can be cake or death, depending upon how the GM (you) plays them. It's like dealing with an Imp in D&D, it is either easy or deadly depending upon how it's run.

 

[ken-ichi]

One thing that I have not been able to determine is that the book states that you can make a Champion out of any race.
I can't tell if you are supposed to add all bonuses like the BAB, saves, HD, and CRs together, and add the race's racial modifiers to ability scores to the Champion stats.
Or are you supposed to just use the race as flavor and go, yeah this CR 7 Champion is a tougher than normal bugbear.

 

[Pbartender]

One thing that I have not been able to determine is that the book states that you can make a Champion out of any race.
I can't tell if you are supposed to add all bonuses like the BAB, saves, HD, and CRs together, and add the race's racial modifiers to ability scores to the Champion stats.

Yep... you add it on top, like a template.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Yep... you add it on top, like a template.

You add the Champion like a template, not the race. That's why there is the table of ability score modifiers for monsterous Champions. But yes, add it all together (including the Champion's CR and the base creature's CR) to get the final results. Then watch your players cry as you destroy the entire party with one CR-appropriate creature.*


*Okay, probably not. A CR appropriate Champion is a mean encounter but he's only one opponent and therefore limited to one round's worth of actions. As such, he is unlikely to TPK the party, though he'll make a good dent in them.

 

[Pbartender]

You add the Champion like a template, not the race.

That's what I meant... Sorry for being unclear.

 

[Gundark]

Champions are scary (and almost make the Beastary worthwhile by themselves) no matter their specialty or race. Demon Knights are scary because of a) magic weapons, b) tons of DR, c) some effective and appropriate powers. Also, they can look like anything you want them to, making them even more deadly. Demonic Minions can be cake or death, depending upon how the GM (you) plays them. It's like dealing with an Imp in D&D, it is either easy or deadly depending upon how it's run.

I'm thinking of using them in non-Iron Heroes D&D (iron kingdoms, WoW rpg, etc) are they still a challenge?

 

[ValhallaGH]

I'm thinking of using them in non-Iron Heroes D&D (iron kingdoms, WoW rpg, etc) are they still a challenge?

Champions yes, though you may want to increase their will saves to allow them to avoid the "instant kills" such as Hold Person and similar effects.
Minions, yes, if they would have been a challenge to begin with.
Demon Knights, not so much, unless you change their DR from /magic to something specific. /magic and cold iron or /magic and silver would seem appropriate, as would /good or /magic, good, cold iron etc. Without their DR they simply don't have the staying power to be as terrifying and memorable. Some SR might be appropriate too (10 + CR probably).

Edit: For a really memorable encounter, let them keep their IH feats, such as Vorpal Hurricane or Cleave 5. } >

 

[JohnSnow]

For a really memorable encounter, let them keep their IH feats, such as Vorpal Hurricane or Cleave 5. } >

Sure. If the memory you want is your D&D players WHIN-ING! Add Cleave 3 & 5 together and you've got the equivalent of the old Samurai ability Supreme Cleave: Cleave and Step - up to 6 times!

And Vorpal Hurricane?

"Whaddya mean I stepped in to attack and he cut me down! He moved, then he attacked Bob, and then Dave got close, and he attacked him too!!"



I love Vorpal Hurricane...