KidCthulhu's Scarred Lands Needs YOU! (Unless you're in the group. You stay out!)

[carpedavid]

Mr. Evil Spider Bard

As promised, here is a potential set of stats for Mr. Evil Spider Bard. I've attached a .zip file containing the PCGen file I used to create him, so that others can take him and modify at will.

Mr. Evil Spider Bard
Male Human Bard 12

CR 12; Medium Humanoid; HD 12d6+12, hp 57; Init +7; Spd 30 ft.; AC 19, touch 13, flat-footed 16; BAB +9/+4; Grap +8/+3; Atk +14/+9 melee (1d6+1 +2 rapier); SA spells, bardic music; AL CE; SV Fort +5, Ref +11, Will +11; Str 8, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 20

Skills: Bluff +26, Diplomacy +24, Gather Information +15, Move Silently +18, Perform +20, Sense Motive +11, Use Magic Device +10

Feats: Dodge, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (Bluff), Weapon Finesse (Rapier)

Spells Known (3/5/4/4/3; base save DC = 15 + spell level) 0 - Daze, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Read Magic; 1 - Charm Person, Cure Light Wounds plus 2 others; 2 - Invisibility, Silence, Suggestion, Tongues; 3 - Charm Monster, Dispel Magic, Haste, Major Image; 4 - Dimension Door, Dominate Person plus 1 other

Possessions: Boots of Elvenkind, Gloves of Dexterity +2, Cloak of Charisma +2, +2 Rapier, +3 Studded Leather

 

[Capellan]

Vampire is indeed a truly, deeply nasty template to give a bard (or any sort of negiotiator, really), but it has some well-known and quite inconvenient weaknesses: garlic, sunlight and the inability to enter private abodes are probably the most confining for a 'go anywhere, do anything' character like this.

A better choice in this case would be half-fiend, I think. Just file off the serial numbers, rename it "Titan-touched", and you're ready to go The +4 Int and +2 Cha modifiers certainly won't hurt.

 

[Surreptitious]

As I think about him now, I suspect I'd like him to be an evil bard. He was charming, smooth and had a certain rough charm when under interrogation by the party. Think Bruce Willis in Die Hard only more evil. And his job is go go here and there on missions from his boss, talking various cults and titan sects into working with his boss (and then double crossing them).

Evil bard fits that picture nicely. Say 10-12 level for now, although he'll grow.

Hey KidC
Here is my shoot at fleshing out spider (using 3.5)

Spider 12th lvl NE Human Bard
Using a 32 standard points buy I would give him the following stats
str 10, dex 14, con 10, int 14, wis 14, cha 16 (19) all levelbased stat increases added to cha.

Personality
Spider is a daredevil, the the thrill of a dangerous gambit is what motivates him to do all the nasty diplomatic bickering for his boss. He is the front / mouthpiece of an immensly powerfull organisation ( that is how I imagine he appears, wether it is true or not doesnt matter, hell he could be acting all on his own the part of having an organisation og archwizard behind him an elaborate bluff) He is living by his wits and magic rather than by brute force
He appears as a roguish bard rather than a typical wandering minstrel,

He is slippery in every sense of the word, equip him with a ring of free movement its expensive but if he is 12th level it will not unbalance hings

He is a polyglot, proberply affected by a permanent comprehend languages or wearing some kind of necklace, earring or hat of comprehending languages

Spider is extremely talented, his skills makes him truly dangerous (136 skillpoints)

Bluff: 15 ranks +4 cha +4 tatoo = + 23
this guy can lie seamlessly with a knife at his throat

Concentration 15
he keeps cool under fire spitting out arcane words even while he is being beaten up (you said he was somewhat like an evil Bruce willis)

Decipher script 5

Diplomacy 15 ranks + 4 cha + 4 tatoo +2 syn bluff, +2 syn sense motive, +2 knowledge = 29 !!! Once they get to know him, your players first priority will be to shut him up, the greatest danger from this guy will be the word he say, he could instigate a strike among modrons!

Forgery 15 ranks + 2 int = 17 this complements his diplomatic skills. Deeds treaties, incriminating loveletters you name it he just makes them up.

Gather information 15 + 4 cha = 19. He has an extensive network of contacts and friends as well as an ability to combine a few rumors and observations into a complete picture of what is going on. He will quickly know everything there is to know about the heroes

Intimidate

knowledge skills 15 as apropriate (5 ranks in knowledge (royalty, evil cultist and titans +2 synergy to diplomacy)

Perform 15 ranks + 4 cha = 19 his perform skill should be oratory, stories of the titans glorius past alliances, old wrongs done against them, obscure prophecies prodding them to do this and that, such are his bardic powers of persuasion.

sense motive 15 ranks +2 wis= 17, Spider is a shrewd judge of character. He knows what makes people talk and move

sleight of hand 5 ranks + 2 dex, you can't run from your past, even though spider is years away from picking pockets and doing coin tricks it is still in his fingers.

Spell craft: 5 ranks + 2 =7
Use magic device 15 ranks + 4 cha (+4 synergy Spellcraft and decipher script)= 19 / 23 scrolls. Spider has been observing his sorcerous master carefully learning more than a few tricks in the proces.

I'll give his spells and equipment a shot when I hav acces to my books at home
Hope this was useful

 

[Radiating Gnome]

Divide and Conquer

I have just discovered this thread, so I can't bring my complete rat bastardliness to bear until I've had some time to think, but here are some intial thoughts on Spider -- more just stuff to add to the mix above (love the brutal UMD-powered fight, and both previous incarnations have been good).

Spider should really earn his name, and the enmity of the party, from the other sort of web spinning, rather than actual webs and actual spiders. Plots plots plots, wheels within wheels. When they think the've finally got hiim where they want him, they should figure out suddenly that they just played into his hands once again.

In general, I'm not a fan of preparing encounters specifically to railroad PCs specifically -- either singly or as a group -- because in most cases it doesn't make sense for the NPC to have done that. But in this case the NPC has a very real interest in the party, and has a LOT of resources at his disposal.

The bard's gifts are social, and he should use them. To begin with, he needs to do his homework. In different guises he should start asking around about the PCs -- their habits, their relationships with other PCs and NPCs, etc.

Odds are there isn't much true inter-party tension -- most D&D players I know will stick to each other through thick and thin, even if there are RP reasons to not get along. And that's fine, it's the nature of the game, but it makes some things that might be interesting in a novel -- like trying to seduce one of the PCs into unwittingly betraying the party -- far more difficult to work.

BUT there are things that you CAN do. To begin with Spider is just one person, taking on the whole party, and that puts him at a big disadvatage in combat. He just needs to do what he can to separate the party, and take on one PC at a time.

To do that, he can do the obvious things -- the easiest one is to disguise himself and try to convince the party rogue that he is a member of the guild and she should meet him, alone, in a dark alley, blah blah blah.

Since your players probably don't have lobotomy scars, they'll see that coming, but that doesn't mean the ruse can't be useful. Spider will find it very interesting to see HOW the party responds to the lure. Do they all pack up and follow along with the rogue, or do only some of the go? Do some hang back? If Spider can be invisible and flying in the area, he can learn a lot just watching them try to outflank him in the dark alley -- and might be able to take on one of those flankers in a one-on-one fight. Hit and run. A few rounds -- if he can't bring down the PC in a few rounds, get out of there, because the rest of the party will turn up to tear him up.

Spider is charming enough to be able to talk to anyone that the PCs know, and gain their trust. And that should be scary to them. They should start to hear a trickle of reports of people -- all very different people -- asking questions about them in different places.

Another thought on splitting up the party -- Speed is a GREAT way to divide a group of PCs. I've done it many times. Assuming the PCs have a variety of speeds scores (and Spider would know) they start the encounter in a group, but have the bad guy take off running, and within a few rounds you have a few fast types who have separated themselves from the group, overconfident because they see Spider -- in one of his guises, or one of his agents, who can be sure -- running away. A few corners later, and the PC has run into an ambush. And, while running, a figure has no dex bonus -- i.e. ripe for sneak attacks. A handful of rogues with crossbows, waiting around a corner for a PC to come barreling around can make a big big mess very quickly.

there's more, but I'm out of time. I'll be back, probably.

-rg

 

[Varianor Abroad]

How about a dose of Dark Speech from Book of Vile Darkness? Any time he's encountered, there are lots of rats around. He speaks a word of Dark Unity, and presto, rat swarms.

The other thing that will help is a connection to a reason not to kill him. He's got someone's SO tied up somewhere, the king wants to talk to him instead of killing him, or he knows where so-and-so's eternally lost mother is. That way when the party tries to wipe him out (which they will sooner or later), he can call out "Wait!" very convincingly.

Bards as leaders of enemy groups need lots of minions to get max benefit from many of those nifty, group affecting abilities. An item of Mass Teleport to let him buff them with music and pop them in might be useful. Either that or having charmed several teleporting demons (shapechanged of course) and the like.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

One PrC you might want to consider, with some modification, would be Disciple of Baalzebul, from the Book of Vile Darkness. It would allow him to add his INT bonus to his Bluff skill, in addition to his Charisma. It also gives suggestion as class ability.

At 5th level in the PrC, he would normally get Summon Osyluth as a class ability, but you could swap that for a Spidery demon if need be, and at 6th level, he'd get Insect Plague for more spidery goodness.

Just swap out Baalzebul for an appropriate Scarred Lands patron, and you're in business. He could qualify for it after 7th level.

 

[el-remmen]

You know, if this guy is the liason between the BBEG and various cults and things. It would be so rat bastardly to have him manipulate the party into dealing with the less cooperative cults and secret societies (what have you) by dropping hints to them in the guise of wiser elder adventurer type you can introduce.

Make them feel all avuncular and then betray 'em!

Technically the party is still doing "good" just for the wrong reason, but they will hate and resent him so much more when they find out.

 

[carpedavid]

You know, if this guy is the liason between the BBEG and various cults and things. It would be so rat bastardly to have him manipulate the party into dealing with the less cooperative cults and secret societies (what have you) by dropping hints to them in the guise of wiser elder adventurer type you can introduce.

Make them feel all avuncular and then betray 'em!

Technically the party is still doing "good" just for the wrong reason, but they will hate and resent him so much more when they find out.

If I may extend the RBDM-edness, once the party has worked up a good and proper loathing of this guy, he could start taking care of the evil groups he wants eliminated by having hints work themselves down through the grapevine as to where he can be found.

PCs show up, slaughter the bad guys, and end up disappointed that they didn't catch the fellow. Then a few days later, they're delivered a message:

"Thanks for cleaning that up for me. If I have any other work for you, I'll let you know.

Ta for now,
Spidey"

If they don't hate him by then, they certainly will after that.

 

[nameless]

After reading and playing Dark Sun many years ago in 2E, I can't get enough of maliciously evil bards. If you're not familiar, Bards in DS weren't known as jovial storytellers and performers, but were more like elite assassins and poison masters.

In that vein, build him as some sort of bard/assassin/shadowdancer, maybe DM fiating the assassin spellcasting progression to advance his bardic spellcasting instead. Give him oodles of poisons of all shapes and sizes, and give him shurikens (which in 3.0 are amazing for delivering poison). Poison rules are pretty harsh, so you'd probably want to either hand-wave the cost and time to prepare them, give him a race or class ability that gave him tons of poison, or give him a magic item.

I envision him as the mysteriously dangerous type that the people he is "persuading" don't really want to disappoint. He'd phrase every question as if it were a favor, but also let everybody know that there is no choice in the matter. Coercion, not mind control magic. If he wants you dead, he doesn't have to kill you today, he can poison your food, he can hire other mercenaries, he can do anything. As a bard, he has the connections to call in any number of favors, to get any information he would want, and to slit your throat with a smile.

I'm also a fan of evil jester-looking guys. White face makeup, broad collar, big cuffs, maybe a porcelain mask, and crazy pomade hair. Twisting humor into something really perverse and evil is a great way to get a visceral discomfort from your players.

 

[RangerWickett]

Mr. Evil Spider Bard
Feats: Dodge, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Scribe Scroll, Skill Focus (Bluff), Weapon Finesse (Rapier)

Give him two levels of fighter, so he can have Endurance and Diehard as feats. *grin*