Nastiest Cleric (Flayers: stay out!)

[moritheil]

I rolled 14, 12, 6, 10, 10, 13. I was challenged by the players to make a BBEG cleric of some sort that could actually off some party members. The highest EL it can be is EL 8 (the party is basically 8 6th level chars.) Note that as it is not a PC, CR and not LA adjustments apply.

Our campaign is 3.5 and involves almost no house rules. Any WOTC books are allowed. What's the nastiest evil thing I could build? Note that only 1 level needs to be cleric, technically, as multiclassing is par for the course here.

Personally, I suspect that a vampire cleric is the way to go. I throw the 6 into con, laugh because it becomes a nonability, and benefit from hefty stat bonuses and special abilities with a +2 CR adjustment. That leaves me 6 levels of pure cleric fun. Divine metamagic, Leadership for a cohort . . . some interesting domains, perhaps . . . I think it could be quite painful to face.

 

[moritheil]

No one has any other ideas, or suggestions on how to spend ability scores?

 

[Prism]

How about using the spikes spell on a wooden weapon. Its last an hour per level and dishes out some good damage. FR has duskwood which can be crafted into weapons normally made of metal and therefore be affected by this spell. Something with the war or metal domain could give you access to martial or exotic weapons

Divine spell power from complete divine is good with high cha clerics as it allows you to convert turning attempts into caster level boosts. Since your BBEG won't be using all their attempts fighting the party most probably it makes sense to get some good duration and damage boosts. I would say its much better then divine metamagic at the lower levels and with far less of an investment - just the feat itself

 

[Thanee]

Troll Cleric 5th
Str 26 Dex 14 Con 22 Int 8 Wis 12(+2 periapt of wisdom) Cha 3
CR 7½

A troll with Protection from Energy and some nice buff spells, could be quite nasty.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Prism]

Good point on the non associated levels. Every 2 cleric levels will be worth just a single CR for a fair range of 4 to 6 HD monsters

Phaerlin Giant (monsters of faerun) has 8HD and is CR3. You could add 8 cleric levels to make it CR7 by the book strange as it seems. Another level for a full CR making it CR8 for a 9th level cleric with a total of 17HD. Remember you get the elite stat array for free when you add a PC class to a monster

I'm sure there are some good undead combinations to be had. The spell stiched template is well worth the CR adjustment

Of course, this is where the CR guidelines break down as they are only a guideline

 

[RigaMortus2]

A Vampire Cleric could be a nice choice. I assume they don't have anyone in the group that can Turn Undead, right?

 

[green slime]

Troll Cleric 5th
Str 26 Dex 14 Con 22 Int 8 Wis 12(+2 periapt of wisdom) Cha 3
CR 7½

A troll with Protection from Energy and some nice buff spells, could be quite nasty.

Bye
Thanee

This cleric can't cast 3rd level spells.... Wisdom is too low.

 

[moritheil]

A Vampire Cleric could be a nice choice. I assume they don't have anyone in the group that can Turn Undead, right?

That's correct - they have healers but no actual clerics.

 

[moritheil]

Good point on the non associated levels. Every 2 cleric levels will be worth just a single CR for a fair range of 4 to 6 HD monsters

Phaerlin Giant (monsters of faerun) has 8HD and is CR3. You could add 8 cleric levels to make it CR7 by the book strange as it seems. Another level for a full CR making it CR8 for a 9th level cleric with a total of 17HD. Remember you get the elite stat array for free when you add a PC class to a monster

I'm sure there are some good undead combinations to be had. The spell stiched template is well worth the CR adjustment

Of course, this is where the CR guidelines break down as they are only a guideline

- Excellent point on combining nonassociated levels with a melee threat, like a giant. Thanks.
- I actually was rolling up those stats for an NPC, and then I was challenged to make a BBEG with them, since the group thought it would be impossible to make a threatening villain with them. Sorry if that wasn't clear above.
- I think the CR guidelines break down whenever the DM plays intelligently and with a great deal of preparation, so this bothers me less than it might.

 

[moritheil]

Troll Cleric 5th
Str 26 Dex 14 Con 22 Int 8 Wis 12(+2 periapt of wisdom) Cha 3
CR 7½

A troll with Protection from Energy and some nice buff spells, could be quite nasty.

Bye
Thanee

Actually this makes me think of a Mummy Cleric. Also nasty in combat due to its high strength, also vulnerable to fire, and also likely to benefit from Resist Energy or Protection from Energy. A mummy is CR 5, so I guess I can only get 3 cleric levels in . . . calling them nonassociated is questionable because the sample mummy lord has cleric levels and pays for them as though associated. I could give it a clerical scroll of protection from energy, or just let it roll with resist energy. I don't know if the free fire resistance 10 applies here, since I'd technically be devolving a mummy lord by 7 levels rather than adding 3 to the mummy if I wanted it, but in any case it's moot until protection from energy goes down.

The problem is that the nastiest ability the mummy can bring to bear is its rotting curse, and it will only have a BAB of +6. That's not exactly likely to strike fear into the well-armored members of the group.

You might ask why I gravitate towards undead, so I'll let slip that the party is currently (unknowingly) winding its way through Ravenloft . . .