How would you add Sylar to your game?

[Alzrius]

One of my favorite shows is NBC's new drama Heroes, and as I've always had a propensity for villains, one of my new favorite bad guys is Sylar.

Thinking about the show while browsing the boards here, I started to wonder about how one would add a Sylar-like villain to a d20 game. The crux of Sylar's character is that he kills people with special powers and steals their power. How would that work in a d20 game? The very idea of a character who can take abilities from defeated enemies seems to run counter to the notions of "balance" that pervade the d20 system, but could it still be done somehow?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hmm, maybe take the spellthief and tweak the core power to work on supernatural abilities only?

 

[I'm A Banana]

My first instinct is to say that this already happens, because as you kill things, you gain XP, and as you gain XP, you gain greater power. There's also the idea that you gain someone's magic items that they have on them when you kill them...

Leadership also has a vaguely similar effect: you basically gain a second character. If, when you killed someone 1 level lower, you gained them kind of like a Cohort that was part of your body...that would be fairly balanced.

Gestalt, too, does something like this: if your main class is whatever and you have this feat, your second class just keeps getting added to you as you kill things with that class.

I'd also give my accounts of FFZ doing this:

#1: The Blue Mage. The crux of this caster is that they get hit with spells and learn them. This can be easily changed to "if you spend 1 full round "absorbing" the power of a creature, you learn it's ability." This hinges on a specific list of "blue magic" that an assortment of monsters also have. So, basically, there's a category of powers that exist expressly for this "absorber" to take, and those that aren't on the list, he can't take. This may involve adding these powers to other creatures, assigning levels to certain powers, etc.

For instance: there's the power of "teleportation" (roughly similar to, perhaps, a 6th level spell). The absorber can gain this power when he kills someone with it (assuming he's the proper level), but he can't learn the teleportation spell or other abilities with a similar effect. Basically, give critters exclusive powers that they can take.

#2: The Mimic. The base effect is that it can repeat the action of another, even without having the inherent skill to do it. It can also learn other characters' class abilities, etc. For this absorber character, that can be tweaked so that if it kills another, it can gain their "class ability" (at the opportunity cost of not having a different class ability), giving it a custom list of abilities that it can change out on the fly. The big thing is that they'd have a certain number of "slots" that they could fill. The abilities would be ranked based on the level they were gained at -- you have one "level two" slot you can fill with the 2nd level ability of whatever you've killed.

The basic thing is that the DM should be paying attention to the critters he throws at you, so that you have a nice mix of critters you can learn from, because otherwise you have no real abilities.

There's some rough ideas, anyway.

 

[jdrakeh]

I'd be a total bastard and use the Aberrant d20 rules to create him

 

[jmucchiello]

Aww, c'mon just give him a bunch spell-like abilities. I've always wondered what the somantic component to finger of death would look like.

Perhaps he's a highly modified barghest.

 

[Sound of Azure]

You could replicate something like that with the Illithid Savant prestige class (in Savage Species). Granted, it's meant for illithids, but it is about brains.

Mostly you gain feats and skills in the normal version (You gain two special attacks/special qualities rom the class levels, at level 5 and 9), but I could see you coupling the mechanic with something like the Spellthief (though Spellthief sounds more like Peter, IMO).

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I don't think it would work very well in DnD; too many save-or-die spells and magic items. However, the psionic power Assimilate looks pretty similar (it's temporary).

You could create increasing his CR slightly when he gains new powers; note that he can't use that many powers at a time (I think he used super-hearing and telekinesis at the same time once, but that's the most I've seen him do).

 

[Set]

The fast, fast version. See 'Doppleganger, Greater.'

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You could a version of the Chameleon PrC that has to eat people's brains to switch to that powerset. Basically, he'd have X levels of the 'Sylar' PrC, and after he eats someone's brain, he can turn those levels into X-1 levels of the class of the person he's eaten. (or, using monster levels, even gain the abilities of a particular creature). So, a 5th level 'Sylar' could eat the brains of a 4th+ level Fighter and gain 4 levels worth of Fighter traits (but with skills and feats determined by the donor, he doesn't get to pick them), *or* he could eat the brain of a 4th+ level Sorcerer, and gain 4 levels of Sorcerer, *or* he could eat the brains of a Minotaur and gain 4 levels worth of the Minotaur monster class.

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An alternate version could be more mix-n-match.

Sylar PrC
Requirements: Sick bastid. Evil, evil, evil. Illithid, Neh-Thalggu, Daelkyr, Doppleganger or related to same through the appropriate heritage feat or bloodline or template or whatever. At least five class levels scattered among at least three classes (base or prestige).

d6 HD. Poor Fort and Ref saves, high Will saves. Poor or Medium BAB.

Spellcasting progression similar to an Ur-Priest (but cast spontaneously, and starting with only 0 levels pells at PrC level 1, and not gaining 9th level spells until PrC level 10).

All spells must come from those prepared / known by people you’ve slain.

You can only change spells after slaying someone and ‘feeding,’ swapping out any of your Known spells with those they knew. The spells can be consumed from either an Arcane or Divine caster, but you cast them as Arcane and at the spell level of the original caster. Note that a Sylar learns no spells through other means, and cannot fill his Sylar spell slots with spells known from his other spellcasting classes (if any).

In the case of critters with Spell-Like Abilities, the Sylar can eat their brains and gain the spell equivalent of that ability as a spell of the level it is shown on the Sor/Wiz list (or Bard, Cleric or Druid list, if it is not available to Sor/Wiz, as appropriate).

1 Bonus feat at 1st level, another at 5th and a third at 10th. These feats must come from slain targets, and can be changed at any time a new target is slain, replacing a previously known bonus feat with one of the targets known feats. You must satisfy the prerequisites for any feats learned in this manner, but, at the GMs option, your consumption of the donors tissue may allow you to qualify for specific racial requirements.

Your standard feats gained through level progression may also come from those you have consumed (as if you had received appropriate training in the feat), but you cannot 'swap' them in this fashion, and you must meet all requirements normally.

2 skill points + Int Bonus. At 1st level in the Sylar PrC, you gain 8 skill points (+Int bonus) instead of 2 (+Int bonus). Unlike your 1st character level, the bonus skill points from a high Intelligence are not quadrupled. At any time that you ‘feed’ by devouring the brain of another creature, you may use any of the skill points you have gained as part of this PrC (including those from a high Intelligence) to purchase any of the skills known by the ‘donor’ creature, up to your normal maximums. Any skill ‘stolen’ in this way is treated as a Class Skill for the Sylar class, so long as it was a Class Skill for the donor (or is a Class Skill for the Sylar class. If the Skill to be usurped was cross-class for the donor and is not on the Sylar class skill list, the character must purchase the skill at cross-class costs).

Unlike other classes and PrCs, you are not required to spend your three bonus feats or your PrC level-based skill point acquisitions at the time of ‘leveling,’ but can save them until you find a suitable feat or skill you wish to absorb. Even if you have already ‘spent’ these bonus feats or skill points, you can still choose to voluntarily relinquish certain ranks or feats, to gain new ones from a fresh donor. There is no specific limit to how often or in what manner you can perform these exchanges, other than meeting the requirements for the feats (or skills, in the case of those, such as Craft (alchemy) that have a special requirement), and not exceeding your maximum number of feats, ranks in skills, or level+3 ranks in any single skill.

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Variant. The Manifesting Sylar. As above, but based around Psionics instead of magic. Can only manifest powers stolen through brain-chompin.' Gains a percentage of power points as well when eating brains.

 

[LostSoul]

I would write him up as a monster.

Steal Power (Su): When Sylar kills a character, he takes their powers. This means he gains whatever feats, skill ranks, spells, or special abilities the DM feels like adding to Sylar.

 

[WayneLigon]

Steal Power (Su): When Sylar kills a character, he takes their powers. This means he gains whatever feats, skill ranks, spells, or special abilities the DM feels like adding to Sylar.

That's pretty much the way to handle it. With a thing like Sylar you throw all hints of balance out the window. He's like an arch villain: someone meant to take on an entire team of superheroes by himself and have a better than even chance of winning.