Could use some insight on strong NPCs for my campaign

[HD300]

Well, I have put a lot of work in to a campaign for my group while our normal DM is in Mexico for five weeks, and I'm having troubles coming up with rules for some NPCs that will be part of the story.

So far I'm working on two class/race combos (Prefer something that looks like a human for the race) for the friendly NPCs. Both will play intricate parts in the story, and will be a part of the first big fight of the night. One wields a three piece Fullblade and the other wields a very strong flaming Greatsword. I want the Fullblade user in light/medium armor, and the Greatsword user can be in anything.

I also have five Generals for a planeshifting army that are all going to be Angels. Each of them with different abilities, that I'm also having troubles finding classes for.

General 1 - Strong
General 2 - Fast
General 3 - Casts arcane spells, can also fight in combat
General 4 - Emotional, sadistic - Fights with confusion and unorthodox methods
General 5 - Great at everything, all around powerful and probably the strongest of all 5


The setting is on the Astral Sea, advanced technology as far as DND goes. I have written up a lot of magical items, and created pseudo "guns" (Repeater X Bows, Hand X Bows, modified).
All characters are automatically proficient with such weapons

Everyone is level 10 to start, and cannot become a spell caster class until they level to 11.

I made up for this by creating a lot of wicked magical items, and bombs and such to counter the lack of spells at the start.

If anyone could be of help to me I would be greatly appreciative. I think the Generals should be around level 18-20, and the two friendly NPCs the same. If you guys could suggest classes that you think would work well for what I'm after, that would help a lot. In no way am I asking you to do the work for me ><

 

[VanRichten]

My first thought on your angels would be to look at Aasimon and Archons to draw from.

General 1: Planetar Fighter
General 2: Hound Archon Rogue
General 3: Lantern Archon Sorcerer
General 4: Trumpet Archon Bard
General 5: Solar Cleric

Generall these are just base ideas as I don't have my MM in front of me but it could be seomthing to springboard you into some ideas.

 

[HD300]

My first thought on your angels would be to look at Aasimon and Archons to draw from.

General 1: Planetar Fighter
General 2: Hound Archon Rogue
General 3: Lantern Archon Sorcerer
General 4: Trumpet Archon Bard
General 5: Solar Cleric

Generall these are just base ideas as I don't have my MM in front of me but it could be seomthing to springboard you into some ideas.

Hrm, I'm saving the Commanders for Archons.

General 1 and 5 though look good. My only concern is how strong they are. The Solar especially has a CR of 22.

 

[VanRichten]

Well you did say level 18 to 20. And CR is not directly a measure of level though it does include such.

As I don't have the MM before me can you tell me the HD of a Solar?

 

[HD300]

Sorry for the Sluggish response, it's CR 23. I've imposed a no spell caster rule for their first 10 levels, as I feel the 3.5 system does not hold up very well with intelligent 8th-9th level spell users. Didn't want any 18-20th level Clerics or Sorcerers making combat really hard for the melee.

That in mind, if I remove some of the spells Solars can cast, I might be okay. Do you have any suggestions?

 

[VanRichten]

Hmm well we could consider this option.

General 1: Half-Celestial Fighter
General 2: Half-Celestial Rogue
General 3: Half-Celestial Warmage
General 4: Half-Celestial Bard possibly Martial
General 5: Half-Celestial Cleric

Each one would be around 14th level with the ECL of 4 added making them a total of 18th level fitting your campaign perfectly.

They could all be in essence half of the former choices but would be well within line for what you are wanting.

 

[HD300]

Actually, that sounds like a good idea. So far I had it planned like this:

Generals - Angels
Commanders - Archons
Captains - Half-Celestials


What if I were to make it

Generals - Archons
Commanders - Half Celestials
Captains - Half Celestials


Oh, and we decided to do my campaign after the current DM gets back from Mexico, and finishes his. This gives me a lot of extra time for it, and I'm thinking about making them level 20. I'd go higher, but I am not overly comfortable doing things in an epic level campaign since I've never played past 20 yet. I will be in the current one I am in, as I'm already level 15 and there's a fair bit to go yet. If I could recieve some insight for past 20 VanRichten, I would greatly appreciate it.

I was also planning to make their fights non-one dimensional. For example, almost like a multi-part boss fight in an MMO. Has anyone had experience with this in DND, and if so could you please shed some light? Thanks

 

[VanRichten]

I like the ideas of making the Generals as Archons. It fits well with their story line. Also following withe the commanders and captains as half-celestials.

So now with the epic concepts.

You could use the Epic Handbook but I would avoid Epic Spells due to the complications they can bring because of the book being written in 3.0 vs 3.5.

All the complete books should provide you with feat concepts to use on your npcs. And if you want you can always add more spell like abilities akin to the likes of the celestial that makes them half of what they are.

 

[SolosAddie]

this might fit in your mmo thing, just a thought. What if the generals, being half celestials, the first time their 'killed' just kills their mortal side, and they become a purer celestial, giving them different abilities etc.

Anyway, something like that might play into what you want for a changing fight.