Hong's Britannia 3E NPC collection

[hong]

This thread is for the various bad guys my players have offed in the last 18-odd months of campaigning. RIP d00ds.

Notes:
- The campaign is Britannia 3E; background info can be found on my web page: http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/dnd/britannia.

- The campaign is 13th-14th level right now, and baddies will range anywhere from CR 15 to CR 7, depending on how far back I go.

- Mostly I don't bother to spec out skill points entirely. I assign numbers that look right for skills that are most likely to see use, and wing everything else. I may be a gearhead, but I'm not that much of a gearhead that I want to track 40-80 skill points plus synergy bonuses.

- The campaign uses imbued magic, so I also haven't spec'ed out magic items entirely (especially stat boosters).

- I customise a lot of stuff in general. If a monster doesn't match what's in the books, that's most likely because I changed it. Or I could have just screwed up, which is also quite possible.

- Major changes wrt monsters: 1) only the good/evil alignment axis matters; 2) material based DR uses only two materials, Britannian steel (replaces both silver and cold iron) and blacksteel (replaces adamantine).

- Major changes wrt PC classes: 1) no paladin, druid, cleric, wizard and monk; 2) sorcs ("mages") get extra spells known and bonus feats, plus since they take over the "bookish wizard" role, they also get 4 skill pts/level and all Knowledge skills are class skills; 3) tweaked OA shaman ("druid") is the primary divine spellcaster; 4) OA spell lists in use instead of the PHB ones; 5) Quicken Spell costs +2 spell levels, and bards and sorcs get to use it.

 

[hong]

First up, the nimblewright that PC and Al wanted to check out.


Guardian of the sanctum: nimblewright MA5; CR 12; Medium Construct; HD 20d10+20 (150 hp); Init +8; Spd 40 ft; AC 31 (35 vs missiles, touch 24, flat-footed 20); BAB +16; Grap +21; Atk +25/+25 melee (2d6+5/15–20, 2 rapier-hands); SA Augmented critical, spell-like abilities, tripping thrust; SQ SR 27, DR 10/blacksteel, uncanny dodge, improved uncanny dodge, trap sense +1, vulnerabilities; AL N; SV Fort +9, Ref +17, Will +9; Str 20, Dex 26, Con —, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 19.

Skills and Feats: Balance +20, Jump +20, Tumble +20, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Dodge, Improved Trip, Missile Evasion, Mobility, Spring Attack, Weapon Focus (rapier-hand).

SA — Spell-Like Abilities (caster level 15th, save DC = 14 + spell level): At will — air walk, cat’s grace, feather fall, haste.

SA — Augmented Critical (Ex): A nimblewright threatens a critical hit on a natural attack roll of 15–20. On a successful critical hit, its foe is subjected to a tripping thrust attack.

SA — Tripping Thrust (Ex): An opponent who is the target of a successful critical hit from a nimblewright is subjected to an automatic trip attack. The nimblewright’s bonus on the trip check is +9. If the target manages to avoid being tripped, it cannot attempt to trip the nimblewright in return.

SQ — Vulnerabilities (Ex): A cold effect slows the nimblewright for 3 rounds, and a fire effect stuns it for 1 round.

This was a guard for the inner sanctum of the Brotherhood of Knives, an assassins' guild that the PCs had been tangling with for some months. A pretty tough encounter for a 12th level group on account of the AC and SR, plus Missile Evasion made it almost impervious to ranged attacks.


Notes:
- Nimblewright is found in the MM2; this one is upsized to 15HD + 5 class levels.
- Reduced the crit range from 12-20 to 15-20, in line with 3.5E's toning down of crits.
- Swopped Improved Trip for Improved Disarm.
- Reworked feats to be consistent with 3.5E's system where (nearly) everything gets 1 feat + 1 per 3 levels.
- Removed some of the spell-like abilities eg entropic shield; rather pointless when you also have Missile Evasion (see below).

Relevant links:
Martial artist
Improved Dodge feat
Missile Evasion feat

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

You're right - that things nasty! Glad to see it here...

I'm suprised it only got a single working Tripping Thrust - on balance you'd think it'd tip people all over the place! Must be some bad dice luck.

The at will spell list beef it up nicely. Could well give someone an interesting suprise! Haste - that's just mean!

Did the ranged resistance hinder the PCs heavily? They very bow/ray based?

Martial Artist is a good base class... Particularly like the optional unarmed feats.

 

[hong]

Yeah, when it started fighting defensively, that effectively shut the crossbow specialist out of the picture. But that was an NPC, so I didn't feel too guilty about it.

 

[hong]

The guildmaster of assassins. He caused raised eyebrows by getting two attacks per round while using Spring Attack, and doing craploads of damage, due to unholy + humanbane. Actually went down relatively quickly, when I misjudged the reach of the glaive-wielding fighter.


Tarim Val: male human MA4/rog3/shadow warrior 9; CR 13; Medium Humanoid (human); HD 13d8+3d6+64 (150 hp); Init +5; Spd 40 ft; AC 28 (touch 24, flat-footed 19); BAB +15; Grap +19; Atk +26/+21/+16 melee (1d10+11/17–20 plus 2d6 unholy, plus 2d6 vs humans, +3 unholy, humanbane Britannian steel bastard sword); SA Sneak attack +4d6, Way of the Shadow mastery, grasping darkness, shadow swarm, weapon of shadow; SQ Evasion, improved evasion, obscuring shadow, uncanny dodge, shadow jump 80 ft, blindsense 60 ft, hide in plain sight, darkvision 60 ft, elusive body; AL LE; SV Fort +18, Ref +21, Will +13; Str 18, Dex 22, Con 19, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 15.

Skills and Feats: Balance +18, Hide +32, Intimidate +22, Move Silently +32, Tumble +25, Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Fortune’s Favour, Iron Will, Improved Rapid Strike, Light Step, Mobility, Rapid Strike, Spring Attack.

SA — Way of the Shadow Mastery (Ex): Tarim gains a +1 bonus to attacks against opponents who are in shadow or darkness. He does not gain this benefit if his opponent has blindsight.

SA — Grasping Darkness (Sp): Tarim’s power over shadowstuff is such that he can give it corporeal form, sending it to grapple and constrict his enemies. This duplicates the effect of the black tentacles spell, and his caster level for this ability is 14th. He can use this ability once per day, and he must be within 10 feet of an area with some shadow to create the grasping darkness. This ability only functions in the absence of bright sunlight (not merely a daylight spell).

SA — Shadow Swarm (Su): Tarim can summon 2d4 shadows once per day. He must be within 10 feet of an area with some shadow to use this ability. The shadows cannot be turned, rebuked, or commanded by any third party, and are unswervingly loyal to their summoner. The duration of the summoning is one minute, although the shadow warrior can dismiss them at any time. Unlike normal shadows, summoned shadows cannot create spawn.

SA — Weapon of Shadow (Su): Tarim gains the ability to channel negative energy to strike his foes. On a successful melee attack, he can inflict 2d6 points of temporary Constitution damage, in addition to his normal damage. A DC 21 Fortitude save halves the Constitution damage. The shadow warrior can use this ability once per day, and he must decide whether to use it before the attack is rolled.

SQ — Trap Sense (Ex): Tarim gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves to avoid traps and a +2 dodge bonus to AC against attacks made by traps.

SQ — Obscuring Shadow (Sp): Three times per day, Tarim can create a cloud of shadowy vapors that obscure sight, as per the spell obscuring mist. The differences are that the mist created is dark and shadowy rather than foglike, and this ability is a Darkness effect (and can thus be countered or dispelled by Light effects).

SQ — Blindsense (Ex): Tarim can perceive the locations of those around him, without the need for sight. He has the blindsense extraordinary ability as described in the DMG, with a range of 60 feet.

SQ — Hide in Plain Sight (Su): Tarim can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as he is within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, he can hide himself from view in the open without anything to actually hide behind. He cannot, however, hide in his own shadow. This ability only functions in the absence of bright sunlight (not merely a daylight spell).

SQ — Elusive Body (Su): Tarim can evade the blows of his enemies with supernatural ease. Attacks against him are subject to a 50% concealment miss chance, as per the spell displacement. Tarim can use this power for up to 10 rounds per day, and the duration need not be consecutive rounds. Activating and deactivating this power takes no time in itself, but he can only do it during his action, not in response to somebody else’s action. This ability only functions in the absence of bright sunlight (not merely a daylight spell).

SQ — Shadow Jump (Su): Tarim has the ability to travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension door spell. The limitation is that the magical transport must begin and end in an area with at least some shadow. Tarim can jump up to a total of 80 feet each day in this way. He can split this among many jumps, but each one, no matter how small, counts as a 10-foot increment.

Equipment: +3 unholy, humanbane Britannian steel bastard sword; bracers of armour +3; ring of protection +2; amulet of natural armour +1; belt of resistance +3; boots of speed.



Links:
- Shadow warrior
- Fortune's Favour feat
- Improved Rapid Strike feat

 

[hong]

A bloodmage who they'd met a few sessions earlier, at a death nexus. He escaped from them, only to resurface when one of the PCs wanted to become an archmage, and got assigned him as a supervisor (I love irony). He got away again and linked up with the assassins, and was slain in the same climactic battle as Tarim Val.


Altin: male human mag6/archmage 4/bloodmage 4; CR 11; Medium Humanoid (human); HD 10d4+4d8+42 (105 hp); Init +4; Spd 30 ft; AC 21 (touch 17, flat-footed 17); BAB +7; Grap +7; Atk +8/+3 melee (1d6+1, +1 quarterstaff); SA Spells; SQ Archmage abilities, accursed, blood magic, bloodpool (3rd level spells); AL NE; SV Fort +15, Ref +13, Will +17; Str 10, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 14, Cha 24.

Skills and Feats: Concentration +20, Knowledge (arcana) +19, Spellcraft +22, Empower Spell, Fortune’s Favour, Skill Focus (Spellcraft), Spell Focus (Evocation), Spell Focus (Necromancy), Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll, Still Spell.

SQ — Accursed (Ex): Altin’s association with foul magic has left its mark on his soul. He is treated as evil-aligned for the purposes of spells and effects, regardless of his actual alignment. For example, he detects as evil with a detect evil spell, he suffers extra damage when struck by a weapon with the holy enchantment, and so on.

SQ — Blood Magic (Su): Altin's power derives from blood sacrifice, hence the name. Each time he casts a spell, he takes 1 point of damage per spell level (with a minimum of 1 point). This does not provoke a Concentration check to successfully cast the spell, but cannot be negated through damage reduction or any other means.

If a spell has expensive material components, Altin does not use them, but must pay a greater price in lost health. He takes an amount of Constitution damage as given in the table, in addition to the hit point damage from casting the spell. This Constitution loss cannot be negated by any means, short of not having a Constitution score (but see below). Lost Constitution points return at the rate of 1 point per day.

Component cost	Constitution damage
50 gp or less	2
51 gp-300 gp	4
301 gp-750 gp	8
751 gp or more	12

SQ — Bloodpool (Su): Altin has the ability to use the bodies of others to fuel his spells. He can build up a reserve of arcane power, by bleeding a victim in a gruesome and agonizing ritual. This grants him temporary hit points or Constitution points that he can use in place of his own for casting blood magic.

Bleeding a sacrificial victim is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, and the victim must be helpless or willing. When Altin bleeds a victim, each hit point of damage he deals counts as a point he can substitute for his own, when casting his spells. Each round, he can deal up to 80 points of damage; the victim is entitled to a DC 25 Fortitude saving throw to halve the damage taken. Altin can choose to keep his victim alive by bleeding it for fewer than its total hit points + 10, which is enough to kill it. If he kills his victim, he also gains a number of Constitution points equal to the victim's HD (minimum of 1). He can only gain Constitution points by killing a victim as part of a sacrificial ritual; creatures slain in combat, for example, don't count.

A potential victim must have blood or ichor of some sort (not a plant, elemental, construct or undead), and have Intelligence and Charisma scores of at least 3. Called or summoned creatures cannot be used for such a ritual. If the ritual is interrupted, the victim takes no damage, and Altin gains no benefit.

At any one time, Altin’s bloodpool can hold up to 140 hit points and 14 Constitution points. Any hit points or Constitution points he gains in excess of these limits are wasted. The hit points and Constitution points he gains in this manner do not add to his own totals — they can be used only for the purpose of casting blood magic, and only within eight hours, after which they are lost.

Altin can use his bloodpool to cast up to 3rd level spells.

SQ — Arcane Reach (Su): Altin can use spells with a range of touch on a target up to 30 feet away. He must make a ranged touch attack. Arcane reach can be selected a second time as a special ability, in which case the range increases to 60 feet.

SQ — Bonus Feat (Ex): Altin has chosen the Quicken Spell feat (already figured into stats above).

SQ — Mastery of Dispelling (Ex): Altin gains a +2 bonus on dispel checks.

SQ — Paths of Fate (Su): Altin gains knowledge of the twisted, myriad pathways of fate. Once per day, he can add his archmage level as a luck bonus to one attack roll, ability or skill check, or saving throw; alternatively, he can add his archmage level as a luck bonus to his AC against one attack. Activating this power doesn't take an action; he can even use it on somebody else's turn if needed. However, he must decide whether to use this power before the roll is made.

Equipment: +1 quarterstaff, bracers of armour +4, amulet of Charisma +6, belt of Constitution +2, gloves of Dexterity +2, circlet of resistance +5, ring of mind shielding, ring of protection +3, 2 arcane scrolls of lion’s charge, arcane scroll of haste, potion of cat’s grace, potion of bear’s endurance.

Spells Per Day (6/8/8/8/7/5/4/3, save DC = 17 + spell level, or 18 + spell level for Evocation and Necromancy spells): 0 — dancing lights, daze, detect magic, detect poison, flare, ghost sound, open/close, prestidigitation, read magic; 1st —magic missile, fiery eyes, ray of enfeeblement, scales of the serpent, shield, true strike; 2nd — acid arrow, alter self, resist energy, scorching ray, see invisibility, spectral hand; 3rd — animate dead, displacement, fireball, sound lance, vampiric touch; 4th — air walk, dimension door, earth reaver, enervation, summon monster IV; 5th — cloudkill, summon monster V, teleport, wall of force; 6th — harm, spirit binding; 7th — limited wish.

Powerup Results (potions of cat’s grace and bear’s endurance, quickened scales of the serpent, stoneskin via limited wish, quickened shield, displacement): spells/day 6/8/8/5/7/5/4/2; 133 hp; AC 31 (touch 18, flat-footed 17, 50% miss chance); Ranged atk +12; SQ DR 10/blacksteel; Dex 22, Con 20.

Links:
- Master of arcana (archmage)
- Bloodmage

 

[hong]

Altin's henchman, a warrior gone over to the dark side. Flurry + haste + wounding weapon = scary. Strike of corruption = very scary, unfortunately it's once per encounter only.


Saduj: male human ftr6/tainted berserker 7; CR 10; Medium Humanoid (human); HD 6d10+7d12+65 (155 hp); Init +2; Spd 20 ft (30 ft base); AC 25 (touch 14, flat-footed 23); BAB +13; Grap +19; Atk +23/+18/+13 melee (1d10+14/x3 plus 1 Con, +2 wounding halberd); SA Unholy strike, whirling frenzy 3/day, strike of corruption 2/day; SQ DR 3/good, accursed, aura of fear; AL LE; SV Fort +19, Ref +10, Will +12 (+15 vs mind-influencing effects); Str 22, Dex 14, Con 20, Int 9, Wis 14, Cha 15.

Skills and Feats: Intimidate +15, Jump +15, Sense Motive +10, Cleave, Indomitable, Iron Will, Luck of Heroes, Power Attack, Soul of Battle, Still Mind, Weapon Focus (greataxe), Weapon Specialisation (greataxe).

SA — Unholy Strike (Su): Saduj’s melee and ranged weapon attacks are treated as evil-aligned, and bypass the corresponding damage reduction.

SA — Strike of Corruption (Su): Saduj can imbue a melee or ranged weapon attack with foul, life-destroying energy. He deals 2d6 points of temporary Constitution damage if he hits, in addition to any damage normally inflicted. A DC 18 Fortitude save halves the Constitution damage taken. He can use this ability twice per day, but no more than once per encounter.

SA — Whirling Frenzy (Ex): Three times per day, Saduj can enter into a state of frenzied bloodlust, gaining terrifying strength and speed. In a whirling frenzy, he temporarily gains a +4 bonus to Strength and a +2 dodge bonus to Armor Class and on Reflex saves. While in a whirling frenzy, he may make one extra attack in a round at his highest base attack bonus, but this attack takes a –2 penalty, as does each other attack made that round. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the tainted berserker might make before his next action.

While in a frenzy, Saduj cannot use any Charisma-, Dexterity-, or Intelligence-based skills (except for Balance, Escape Artist, Intimidate, and Ride), the Concentration skill, or any abilities that require patience or concentration, nor can he cast spells or activate magic items that require a command word, a spell trigger (such as a wand), or spell completion (such as a scroll) to function. He can use any feat he has except Combat Expertise, item creation feats, and metamagic feats. A whirling frenzy lasts 8 rounds, although he may prematurely end his frenzy. At the end of the frenzy, he loses the modifiers and restrictions and becomes fatigued (–2 penalty to Strength, –2 penalty to Dexterity, can't charge or run) for the duration of the current encounter.

Saduj can enter a frenzy only once per encounter. Entering a frenzy takes no time in itself, but the tainted berserker can do it only during his action, not in response to someone else’s action.

SQ — Accursed (Ex): Saduj’s association with foul magic has left its mark on his soul. He is treated as evil-aligned for the purposes of spells and effects, regardless of his actual alignment. For example, he detects as evil with a detect evil spell, he takes extra damage when struck by a weapon with the holy enchantment, and so on.

SQ — Aura of Fear (Su): Saduj radiates a malign aura that can terrify his enemies and cause them to flee from the battlefield. The aura is activated when he enters a whirling frenzy, and potentially affects all creatures within 15 feet who have less than 5 HD and have hostile intent towards him. Such creatures must succeed at a DC 18 Will save or be frightened for 2d4 rounds.

A frightened creature suffers a –2 morale penalty on attack and damage rolls and saving throws, and flees from him as well as it can. If unable to flee, the creature may fight. Creatures that make their save are immune to his aura of fear for one day. This is a mind-affecting, compulsion, fear-based effect.

Equipment: +2 wounding halberd; excellent quality Britannian steel full plate; +1 ring of protection; +1 amulet of natural armour; +3 cloak of resistance; boots of speed.

Powerup Results (whirling frenzy, haste): Spd 50 ft; AC 28 (touch 17, flat-footed 23); Grap +21; Atk +26/+26/+21/+16 melee or +24/+24/+24/+19/+14 melee (1d10+17/x3 plus 1 Con, +2 wounding halberd); SV Ref +12; Str 26.


Notes:
- Whirling frenzy is a rage variant found in UA. You get a Str boost, +2 AC and an extra attack like a monk's flurry, instead of a Con boost and -2 AC and +2 on Will saves.

Links:
- Tainted berserker
- Indomitable and Soul of Battle feats
- Still Mind feat

 

[hong]

The ghaele that caused the party lots of grief, as detailed here:

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=77430


Faerinel: fiendish ghaele eladrin (modified); CR 14; Medium Outsider (evil, spirit); HD 10d8+20 (80 hp); Init +5; Spd 50 ft, fly 100 ft (average); AC 29 (touch 14, flat-footed 17); BAB +10; Grap +17; Atk +21/+16 melee (2d6+14/19–20 plus 1d6 fire, +4 flaming burst greatsword); SA Spell-like abilities, spells, doom gaze, smite good (+10 damage); SQ DR 10/good and Britannian steel, darkvision 60 ft, immunities, resistances, low-light vision, protective aura, SR 28; AL NE; SV Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +10; Str 25, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 16, Wis 17, Cha 16.

Skills and Feats: Concentration +15, Diplomacy +5, Escape Artist +14, Handle Animal +16, Hide +14, Knowledge (planes and spirits) +16, Knowledge (religion and philosophy) +16, Listen +16, Move Silently +14, Ride +16, Sense Motive +16, Spot +16, Use Rope +1, Combat Expertise, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Quicken Spell.

SA — Spell-Like Abilities: At will — aid, charm monster (DC 17), color spray (DC 14), comprehend languages, continual flame, dancing lights, detect good, detect thoughts (DC 15), dimension door, disguise self, dispel magic, inflict light wounds (DC 14), hold monster (DC 18), invisibility (self only), major image (DC 16), see invisibility; 1/day — chain lightning (DC 19), destruction (DC 20).
SA — Doom Gaze (Su): Slay good creatures of 5 or less HD, range 60 ft, Will DC 18 negates. Even if the save succeeds, the creature is affected as by fear for 2d10 rounds. Nongood creatures and good creatures with more than 5 HD must succeed on a DC 18 Will save or suffer the fear effect.

SQ — Immunities (Ex): Faerinel is immune to electricity and petrification.

SQ — Resistances (Ex): Faerinel has cold resistance 10 and fire resistance 10.

SQ — Protective Aura (Su): Faerinel gains a +4 deflection bonus to AC and a +4 resistance bonus to saves vs attacks or effects from good-aligned creatures. This extends to anyone within 20 feet of the fallen ghaele. It also functions as a magic circle against good effect with a radius of 20 feet (caster level 10th).

Equipment: +4 flaming burst greatsword, masterwork chain shirt.

Spells Prepared (6/7/7/6/5/4/4/3; save DC = 13 + spell level, caster level 14th): 0 — inflict minor wounds, detect magic (x2), guidance, resistance, touch of fatigue; 1st — bane, bless, burning hands*, cure light wounds (x2), divine favor*, shield of faith; 2nd — bear’s endurance, cure moderate wounds (x2), inflict moderate wounds, rebuke, scorching ray*, spiritual weapon*; 3rd — bestow curse, cure serious wounds, dispel magic, quickened divine favor*, magic vestment (x2); 4th — cure critical wounds, flame strike*, spell immunity, unholy blight (x2); 5th — quickened cure serious wounds (x2), greater heroism*, slay living; 6th — harm, heal, plane shift, quickened divine power*; 7th — blasphemy, fire storm*, mass inflict serious wounds.
* Domain spell. Domains: War, Flame, Hero.

Powerup Results (quickened divine favor, bear’s endurance, greater heroism, quickened divine power, magic vestment, protective aura, 3 rounds casting time): Init +7; 128 hp; AC 32 (36 vs good creatures, touch 14, 18 vs good creatures, flat-footed 20, 24 vs good creatures); Atk +32/+27 melee (2d6+22/19–20 plus 1d6 fire, +4 flaming burst greatsword); Fort +15 (+19 vs good), Ref +12 (+16 vs good), Will +14 (+18 vs good); Str 31, Con 19; Concentration +21, immune to fear.


Notes:
- I extensively modified the ghaele, to the point where it's debatable you could call it a ghaele anymore. Greater invisibility (never did like it) got switched for invisibility, greater teleport got switched for dimension door, and prismatic spray got dumped. The light globe form and the globe of invunerability part of the protective aura were also dumped, but it got wings and a chain shirt. All alignment-based stuff got switched around from good to evil, to match the fallen angel schtick.
- The spell list is based on the shaman list from OA, with a few additions from splatbooks. Hero is the definite munchkin domain, with divine favor and divine power among others.
- Fully buffed, this thing was hideous, even after I'd nerfed the globe of invulnerability effect. Thankfully the druid managed to disarm it with a magnetism spell, stopping it from carving the knight in two. It still got its sword back, but the delay was critical.

 

[Psion]

Sudaj, hmmm? Will he turn on the enemy for 30 sp?

I like your "Accrused" mechanic. Is that part of the classes (I can't get to them right now. The "accursed" firewall blocks the link.

 

[hong]

One of the players said that this was the first name of mine that sounded good, and I had to admit I'd stolen it from U5.

Accursed is a class "ability", yes. Both the tainted berserker and bloodmage have it. I finally got tired of using the maho-tsukai.