building a evil pc, I suck, wanted to emulate "the Emperor", and BoVD vs BoED questions/comparison

[emanresu]

1st off I just typed 3 paragraphs and niece erased all!!!!!!!aaahhhhh. We are starting new campaign. Its evil & starting at 5th level. I am having problems creating what I have envisioned as my pc. My "problems" consist of

1) My lack of knowledge with evil builds. IMO it seems harder to optimize evil pc. This may be do to ignorance, the fact that Im "campaign conditioned" to be the good guy and I skimmed thru rather hastily probably doesnt help. Or maybe, just maybe its the fact (again just IMO) that there is just not as much info or books or splat available for the bad-guy. Really that's understandable, after all DnD was created with the idea that the pc was the good guy/espring young handsome hero. Do you know of any good resources for making villian? Any suggestions?

2) whats not understandable is the epitome of goodness vs evil, allegedly cap-stoned within the covers of the BoED vs BoVD. After a brief read thru evil ain't lookin up to par! Is it just me or does the BoED just plain whoop BoVD on every front? More & stronger magic feats spells even the prestige classes are unbalanced. This is all very much my humble and uneducated opinion, so if I am mistaken please enlighten me. No really I want to build a bad guy pc and I think I'm failing miserably.

In short Im disappointed, I wanted to make a pc that emulates the emperor from Star Wars. I dunno I just thought the Emperor was cool & making a pc in his image would be fun. Theres just something about the robed evil guy, right? The seemingly unarmed man loaded with ability, skill, feats, powers and a OK melee threat to boot. This is a gestalt campaign so that will help accomplish all this...This lead me down the Beguiler/mindbender & rogue route, heck the big robe even works! What are some good suggestions? Suicide and start over? Help me optimize a 5th level gestalt evil Emperor'esk PC.

For this type build, and nothings in stone yet, what would you suggest and does the BoVD have much to offer a Emperor wannabe?

Thanks any help advice, as usual, is much appreciated

Eman

 

[Abraxus]

Not sure if its what you're looking for, but the Dread Necromancer class from Heroes of Horror is a great class with really cool flavor and its really fun to play (its also a Charisma based caster). If you take the Tomb Tainted Soul feat from Libris Mortis then you have an infinite capacity to heal yourself as a standard action, which makes you surprisingly decent at combat for a spellcaster.

Exemplars of Evil and Forgotten Realms: Champions of Ruin have some nice feat options. Libris Mortis is my favorite evil focused splat book, but obviously it revolves around undeath. BoVD sucks in terms of feats, but some of the vile spells are quite nasty.

 

[NuSair]

The seemingly unarmed man loaded with ability, skill, feats, powers and a OK melee threat to boot. This is a gestalt campaign so that will help accomplish all this...This lead me down the Beguiler/mindbender & rogue route, heck the big robe even works! What are some good suggestions? Suicide and start over? Help me optimize a 5th level gestalt evil Emperor'esk PC.

For this type build, and nothings in stone yet, what would you suggest and does the BoVD have much to offer a Emperor wannabe?

Thanks any help advice, as usual, is much appreciated

Eman

Darth Sidious was more than just OK in melee. Yoda is considered one of the best swordsman ever in the Jedi Order and Sidious was his match.

I am not that familiar with gestalt. But, I would say maybe like a Kensai and maybe Sorcerer? Looking through the powers of a Sith, they really don't fall into the realm of Necromancy. With a lot of skill points dumped in Diplomacy.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

1st off I just typed 3 paragraphs and niece erased all!!!!!!!aaahhhhh. We are starting new campaign. Its evil & starting at 5th level. I am having problems creating what I have envisioned as my pc. My "problems" consist of

1) My lack of knowledge with evil builds. IMO it seems harder to optimize evil pc. This may be do to ignorance, the fact that Im "campaign conditioned" to be the good guy and I skimmed thru rather hastily probably doesnt help. Or maybe, just maybe its the fact (again just IMO) that there is just not as much info or books or splat available for the bad-guy. Really that's understandable, after all DnD was created with the idea that the pc was the good guy/espring young handsome hero. Do you know of any good resources for making villian? Any suggestions?

Generally alignment is not important when it comes to build. The differences between a good-aligned scout rogue and an evil assassin rogue is RP. That can make a big difference in the game, but not when it comes to impacting the rules.

D&D was actually originally built around relatively amoral treasure seekers. I don't know when alignment codification came about, but I think it was so you could kill orcs without guilt.

2) whats not understandable is the epitome of goodness vs evil, allegedly cap-stoned within the covers of the BoED vs BoVD. After a brief read thru evil ain't lookin up to par! Is it just me or does the BoED just plain whoop BoVD on every front? More & stronger magic feats spells even the prestige classes are unbalanced. This is all very much my humble and uneducated opinion, so if I am mistaken please enlighten me. No really I want to build a bad guy pc and I think I'm failing miserably.

BoED is pretty broken. I would avoid it and BoVD though. You can play an evil character within the core rules, or using rules that actually make sense.

In short Im disappointed, I wanted to make a pc that emulates the emperor from Star Wars. I dunno I just thought the Emperor was cool & making a pc in his image would be fun. Theres just something about the robed evil guy, right? The seemingly unarmed man loaded with ability, skill, feats, powers and a OK melee threat to boot. This is a gestalt campaign so that will help accomplish all this...This lead me down the Beguiler/mindbender & rogue route, heck the big robe even works! What are some good suggestions? Suicide and start over? Help me optimize a 5th level gestalt evil Emperor'esk PC.

For this type build, and nothings in stone yet, what would you suggest and does the BoVD have much to offer a Emperor wannabe?

Thanks any help advice, as usual, is much appreciated

Eman

The Emperor was pretty similar to a wizard or sorcerer. Lots of lightning-themed spells Also has lots of social skills. He was only a swordfighter in the prequels, when his Dexterity score hadn't been reduced by age yet, I'm guessing. Note that emulating the Emperor isn't really possible until you have a lot of levels.

 

[emanresu]

alignment for most classes is not important, as far as the mechanics of the classes are concerned. In order to draw a contrast between good n evil role playing is the key...yes thanks

I was interested in prestige classes that fit well with the baddies, specifically tailor made for the bad guy.
2ndly If there was any prestige classes in the BoVD that were worthy for this build or any other?
Was there anything in the BoVD that's worthwhile? I know of heart clutch or heart ripper spells, and a few others I thought were pretty awesome/had a good evil vibe. As expected evil spells have a lot of save or dies.
Is the BoVD commonly thought of as an inferior book to the BoED? Was this subject, bovd vs boed, already touched on? Because it really was just my opinion, I hadn't spoke about this with anyone...whats the common opinion of the BoVD?

Is the BoED really considered broken? Did I miss something, what exactly is broke, any examples? I thought Lum Armor looked pretty sweet being a +8 force and a -4 to hit nets a +12 to AC.

 

[emanresu]

uhh I do remember a psions power called Death Urge, that made its victims try n commit suicide. Now thats a great evil power/spell! And it wasnt even listed as evil, just telepathic, always thought that was strange?

to all, what are you favorite evil spell/powers?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Is the BoED really considered broken? Did I miss something, what exactly is broke, any examples? I thought Lum Armor looked pretty sweet being a +8 force and a -4 to hit nets a +12 to AC.

Yes, it's broken. Effective +12 to AC with no ACP is pretty overpowered by itself.

 

[Ezequielramone]

If you can use 3rd part book look at "Evil" from AEG.
The link to rpggeek: http://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/54128/evil

I bought it because a guy was selling his D&D stuffs and this came with all the stuffs, I was surprised when I read a little history of the writter in the first page. It's a ok-good book, you can try it.

 

[rgard]

If you take the Tomb Tainted Soul feat from Libris Mortis then you have an infinite capacity to heal yourself as a standard action, which makes you surprisingly decent at combat for a spellcaster.

Yes, and this works well if the entire party takes Tomb Tainted Soul. Always good to heal your entire party while hurting your enemies at the same time.

 

[emanresu]

can a evil pc, non Cleric & non Pali, find much use with the BoVD?