Dark Overlord PrC, in need of comments

[Kweezil]

Something a friend and I came up with. It was late and there was very little blood in my caffeine stream.

Any thoughts or criticisms?

The Dark Overlord
A PrC for evil overlords with hordes of fanatically loyal but expendible minions.

Prereqs:
Alignment: any evil
Diplomacy 10+
Intimidate 15+
Leadership
Skill Focus (Intimidate)
BAB +8
Must have a permanent base of operations

BAB Fort Ref Will Special
+0 +0 +0 +2 Fearsome Reputation, Tyranny
+1 +0 +0 +3 Frightful Presence
+2 +1 +1 +3 Rule Through Fear
+3 +1 +1 +4 Dark Master
+3 +1 +1 +4 Overlord

HD: d6
Skill points 4 + Int modifier/level
Skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, Knowledge, Listen, Search, Sense Motive, Spot

Fearsome Reputation
+1/class level bonus to Intimidate checks.

Tyranny
+1/class level to Leadership score. All Negative modifiers to Leadership score due to Cruelty etc. are cancelled.

Frightful Presence
As Feat of the same name.
[Once per round, you can, as a free action, use your frightful presence. All opponents within 30 feet who have fewer Hit Dice than you must make a Will saving throw (DC =10 plus your Hit Dice plus your Charisma modifier). An opponent who fails this save is shaken, suffering a -2 penalty to attack rolls, saves and skill checks for 1d6 plus your Charisma modifier rounds.
A successful save indicates that the opponent is immune to your Frightful Presence for one day. This ability cannot affect creatures with an Intelligence of 3 or less.]

Rule Through Fear
The Dark Overlord's mere name is a cause of fear and triggers effects identical to Frightful Presence.

Dark Master
Gains the Leadership feat for free, effectively doubling Cohorts and Followers.

Overlord
Followers and Cohorts within 30ft will fight without morale checks etc. and can fight even at negative hps until slain (-10 hp).

 

[Crothian]

First comment is get a copy of Evil by AEG and look at the Tyrant feat. It's basically Leadership for evil characters and has bonus and penalties that apply to evil characters. It's very well done.

I'm pretty sure they got rid of morale checks, so that part of the Overlord power isn't really needed. Perhaps replace it with a Banner like abity. For Instance the Banner of the Dark Overlord inspires the troops around it giving all within 15 feet +2 to strength scores.

 

[Kweezil]

I'd prefer not to have to buy Evil just for the one feat, and from what I've seen of the book, that's all I'd be buying it for. So I'll have to make do with this. :\

-PS: **BUMP**

 

[EOL]

A nice idea, but it seems that most NPC's already have it, if you look at how well stocked their dungeons are, and what they're able to do with those lackeys already.

 

[LufiaLillystorm]

WONDERFUL hehe and I find it overly useless, but that is why I love it. It is perfect to give to that big baddy to give him that bit more of depth. This is a subtle thing and a very usefull one, after all it can make it a BIT harder to beat then if you gave him a level in something else.

Very interesting have fun with it if you plan to use it

 

[Crothian]

It adds flavor and reason to why the dungeon is stacked with monsters. Evil's a good book, I've found it very useful. But, hey, mileage will vary......

 

[wolfpunk]

If you are content with it being a five level prestige class then ignore this, but otherwise I have a suggestion. Crothian and I have been working on some Leadership feats, and this looks like a prestige class that could take advantage of some of them. Perhaps you could switch it to a 10 level class and then give them a bonus leadership feat every other level.

here is the link to the leadership feats.

http://www.enworld.org/messageboards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7214

 

[Dagredhel]

I think the concept is great, especially given the circumstances under which it was conceived. (Caffeine deficiency is a tragic, deblitating condition.)

I think the requirements are a bit high, and there is the perennial question of whether a BAB requirement is necessary at all for a PrC requiring high skill ranks. I'd suggest reducing them a little, and maybe dropping the BAB prerequisite.

I wonder whether the necessity of establishing a permanent base could be relaxed for a mercenary company or the like. (Its entirely unoriginal to point out that a ship makes a great base of operations for seagoing characters.)

You're also giving the class good skill points. Is the bonus per level to Intimidate really necessary, given that it is a Class Skill anyways?

How about a special cohort? Archvillains always seem to have one minion in particular who leads the nameless horde of flunkies when their sent out to do dirtywork. The special cohort could invoke some of his master's abilities.

Anyways, I like the idea alot. I hope you decide to develop it further.