Tolen Mar
First Post
Ok, so we decided to go Epic recently and we made up our characters. But we are a small group, so I created an NPC to join them. Now this NPC was originally a character from our Forgotten Realms 2E days, and a slight change to his backstory turned him into a planar traveller. (Just right for Union.)
By the way, I'm the DM.
Okay, so we have 20 levels to play with, and we have a Duelist/Gladiator and a Spellsword. Being multiclassed hurt the spellswords spellcasting ability (No 9th level spells yet for example). In order to make sure I wasnt planning a TPK on our first adventure, I took the record sheets, dug up a white dragon (The most recent dungeoncraft article said that a group of 2 characters can handle a fight with a EL of -2, or in this case 18), and played out the encounter. They got their clocks cleaned. So I made some adjustments. One of the adjustments was to add this NPC.
Now, as I mentioned before, this NPC used to be one of my player characters back around 3rd level. I used the new rules and recreated him. The problem is, I equipped him with items appropriate for him, but have a lot of money left to spend. Well, sort of...
You see, I used the info from the DMG to determine his starting money, fudged a little and spent too much (Hey, he is MY character in MY campaign). But thats him as an NPC. I want to be able to outfit him as a PC in case I get an opportunity to play him, instead of GM him.
According to the DMG, 20th level NPC's get 220,000 GP in equipment, and 20th level PC's get 760,000 GP in equipment. I spent 270,000 GP.
Okay, the character is an ogre, Toog, who has rededicated his life to Sune Firehair in the hopes that if he impresses her enough, she will make him handsome. He hates his looks, and knows that everyone is afraid of him due to his size and appearance. He is a 7th level barbarian, and a 5th level Brawler (from Dragon 295). According to the numbers in Dragon 293, he gets 8 levels of ogre.
His stats are: Str 23, Dex 13, Con 20, Int 7, Wis 12, and Cha 6. As you can see, he is terribly strong, but kinda slow on the uptake (what ogre isnt?) His skills are mainly physical kinds of things (climb, swim, and so forth), but he has 16 ranks in Intimidate (He is smart enough to know how to use his ugliness for him in a fight). For feats, he has
Improved Unarmed Strike
Alertness
Combat Reflexes
Intimidating Rage
Improved Critical (Mercurial Greatsword)
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Mercurial Greatsword)
Everyone knows what a 7th level barbarian can do, but not everyone knows about the brawler. The brawler lets him improvise weapons. Plus he has crowd fighting +3, which lets him take a +3 to attack and damage if his is threatening at least 3 opponents. Then he has subdual damage reduction 5/-, and bludgeoning conversion, which changes bludgeoning damage to subdual damage, which is reduced by the reduction.
Still with me?
Now for the gear. Toog, as I said isn't overly bright, and doesn't care much about magic. To Toog, if it doesn't directly make him fight better, he is not interested. Considering his attitude towards his looks, you would think that Charisma enhancing magics would be of interest, but he beleives that those are just disguises. He owns a Ring of Evasion, and a Scabbard of Keen Edges for his sword. He carries an Iron soup ladle named "Spidermasher" (It came from an adventure long ago...). Now he has Banded Mail +5, Invulnerable (Which gives him damage reduction against all damage 5/+1, and a Large Wooden Shield +5, with Spell resistance 19 (Just because he doesn't like magic, doesn't mean others don't). Finally, his Mercurial Greatsword is +5, Keen. I haven't purchased standard gear (tents, blankets, and so forth) because it is hard to find items of his size, and he wouldn't care much for them anyway.
So, what do you think I should buy him if I get a chance to use him as a PC instead of an NPC? I considered things like Ki straps and gauntlets of Ogre Power (sic), but he wouldn't use them. He wouldn't be able to see a noticeable effect. After all, when you are an ogre barbarian, a few extra points of strength arent a big change...
On a side note, I thought of spending some gold to make spidermasher a +5, Spider Bane Ladle... Just not sure if an improvised weapon qualifies for enhancement bonuses. (Hmmm... a +5 soup ladle, guaranteed not to spill a drop!)
By the way, I'm the DM.
Okay, so we have 20 levels to play with, and we have a Duelist/Gladiator and a Spellsword. Being multiclassed hurt the spellswords spellcasting ability (No 9th level spells yet for example). In order to make sure I wasnt planning a TPK on our first adventure, I took the record sheets, dug up a white dragon (The most recent dungeoncraft article said that a group of 2 characters can handle a fight with a EL of -2, or in this case 18), and played out the encounter. They got their clocks cleaned. So I made some adjustments. One of the adjustments was to add this NPC.
Now, as I mentioned before, this NPC used to be one of my player characters back around 3rd level. I used the new rules and recreated him. The problem is, I equipped him with items appropriate for him, but have a lot of money left to spend. Well, sort of...
You see, I used the info from the DMG to determine his starting money, fudged a little and spent too much (Hey, he is MY character in MY campaign). But thats him as an NPC. I want to be able to outfit him as a PC in case I get an opportunity to play him, instead of GM him.
According to the DMG, 20th level NPC's get 220,000 GP in equipment, and 20th level PC's get 760,000 GP in equipment. I spent 270,000 GP.
Okay, the character is an ogre, Toog, who has rededicated his life to Sune Firehair in the hopes that if he impresses her enough, she will make him handsome. He hates his looks, and knows that everyone is afraid of him due to his size and appearance. He is a 7th level barbarian, and a 5th level Brawler (from Dragon 295). According to the numbers in Dragon 293, he gets 8 levels of ogre.
His stats are: Str 23, Dex 13, Con 20, Int 7, Wis 12, and Cha 6. As you can see, he is terribly strong, but kinda slow on the uptake (what ogre isnt?) His skills are mainly physical kinds of things (climb, swim, and so forth), but he has 16 ranks in Intimidate (He is smart enough to know how to use his ugliness for him in a fight). For feats, he has
Improved Unarmed Strike
Alertness
Combat Reflexes
Intimidating Rage
Improved Critical (Mercurial Greatsword)
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Mercurial Greatsword)
Everyone knows what a 7th level barbarian can do, but not everyone knows about the brawler. The brawler lets him improvise weapons. Plus he has crowd fighting +3, which lets him take a +3 to attack and damage if his is threatening at least 3 opponents. Then he has subdual damage reduction 5/-, and bludgeoning conversion, which changes bludgeoning damage to subdual damage, which is reduced by the reduction.
Still with me?
Now for the gear. Toog, as I said isn't overly bright, and doesn't care much about magic. To Toog, if it doesn't directly make him fight better, he is not interested. Considering his attitude towards his looks, you would think that Charisma enhancing magics would be of interest, but he beleives that those are just disguises. He owns a Ring of Evasion, and a Scabbard of Keen Edges for his sword. He carries an Iron soup ladle named "Spidermasher" (It came from an adventure long ago...). Now he has Banded Mail +5, Invulnerable (Which gives him damage reduction against all damage 5/+1, and a Large Wooden Shield +5, with Spell resistance 19 (Just because he doesn't like magic, doesn't mean others don't). Finally, his Mercurial Greatsword is +5, Keen. I haven't purchased standard gear (tents, blankets, and so forth) because it is hard to find items of his size, and he wouldn't care much for them anyway.
So, what do you think I should buy him if I get a chance to use him as a PC instead of an NPC? I considered things like Ki straps and gauntlets of Ogre Power (sic), but he wouldn't use them. He wouldn't be able to see a noticeable effect. After all, when you are an ogre barbarian, a few extra points of strength arent a big change...
On a side note, I thought of spending some gold to make spidermasher a +5, Spider Bane Ladle... Just not sure if an improvised weapon qualifies for enhancement bonuses. (Hmmm... a +5 soup ladle, guaranteed not to spill a drop!)
