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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hong" data-source="post: 1334962" data-attributes="member: 537">Yep, website is based on U4, so no Shadowlords. That said, there's a chance they might still show up (canon be damned), and even if not, I might do a U5 game at a later stage. This is the approach I'd use to statting them out:1) Decide what level would be appropriate for you to end your campaign. Fighting the Shadowlords is sorta like the end point; it's difficult to conceive of anything in Britannia that would be more powerful than one of these.2) Decide what are the main features you want them to have. In U5, they were tough melee combatants, but that wasn't their schtick; lots of other things were also tough. What made them dangerous was that they could draw your party into a funky, cell-like map where everyone was isolated; and they could dominate party members and make them fight each other.Something to watch out for is that the power curve in any Ultima game is a lot less steep than in D&D. If you just used the powers that existed in the CRPGs, a 10th level D&D party could probably take down a shadowlord without too much trouble. That may or may not be what you want.If I were to stat out a shadowlord, I would probably make it a CR 24-25 creature (say 40 HD or so), suitable as an end-boss encounter for a 20th level party (I like high-level games, but I'm not really into the epic stuff). It would have a domination gaze attack, plus the ability to teleport to and from whatever extradimensional/outer plane is your analogue of Hell. In D&D the latter ability would probably end up used more as a means of escape, rather than a way to drag the PCs around. I'd then round out the creature with any abilities that seem appropriate for a super-powerful evil being. The shadowlords in U5 are all identical, but you may want a bit more individuality: eg Cowardice gets lots of fear-inducing or buff-dispelling abilities; Falsehood gets illusions, charms and blink/displacement; Hatred gets barbarian rage and is a damage-dealing machine. Naturally they all get boom spells out the wazoo.If you want to simulate the shadowlords' effect on a town, you could give it a massive-radius aura of fear (all creatures with < 5 HD are shaken, unless they save). This would explain why most people don't want to talk to you, because they're too scared. It would also explain why guards attack you on sight, because you're ostensibly wanted criminals. There are holes in this theory, but I wouldn't worry about it too much; U5 isn't exactly a paragon of consistency in terms of backstory.</blockquote>

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