DnD 3.5 Unlimited: Legendary Monsters Recruitment part2!

Started by Zaer Darkwail, January 07, 2016, 09:02:00 PM

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Zaer Darkwail

Original recruit thread is in here. Want play as badass lich? Vampire? Dragon? In truth something more than that; a something which either was founder of those monsters or something which had reached absolute perfection of said monster while being itself cosmic scale unique and powerful!

So far story goes Ao imprisoned some legendary monsters because of potential risks for them running loose, but he released them recently wander cosmos again with aid of almighty door which allows travel in future and past a one month (and open anywhere and door is highly customizable in manner how it opens and reveals itself) because cosmos (with all alternative realities) is slowly devoured by what so far is termed as nothingness itself. Void and entropy are forces developed by Ao but this nothingness goes beyond that; Ao does not understand it and he hopes legendary monsters find answers where he cannot find them either because nature of the threat being elusive to him or find angles which he did not think about.

Either case since release of legendary monsters (short list here, new ones have been born in cosmos and unlike before Ao does not bottle and imprison them but rather welcomes them and gives just bit guidance, access to door and then send them back on merry way to adventure and grow more legendary and powerful! As even if your unique powered being, there are still entities (gods, archdukes, demon princes, epic adventurers) who can bring serious challenge or perhaps kill you if your not careful.

But so far the game is about being having fun, playing a self-made powerful char and interact with others of similar might (if bit more so as new players start at 13th level while some players are beyond that and have got additional gifts).

PhantomPistoleer

Weird question:  if you're making a lich, do you have to pay for the phylactery?
Always seeking 5E games.
O/O

Zaer Darkwail

Any expenses which would come from getting template are not taken out from your starting gold. But any future ones may demand payment and such.

Zaer Darkwail

Seeing many views but no replies.....if got questions please ask, I do not bite :). Also it indeed can sound daunting to make gestalt 13th level char (more so third path is entirely devoted to monster stuff). As note monster classes (like master vampire from libri mortis or even dungeon lord from dungeonscape) are all allowed taken in monster side to gain their abilities which are more themed for villains, BBB's or such than normal player chars.

Lich example can serve as base where to build from; it takes spot as added template and your inheritated (basically 'born with') could be half-dragon, half-vampire, natural lycantrophe etc. However I allow stacking templates (like evolved undead) stacked multiple times (example your base creature is somekind undead like necropolitant + some creature + evolved undead). Also ofc lots math is involved and we have taken bit liberty on paragon creature template in regards where +13 insight bonus for special attacks applies (it does not apply just things related to race but also feat or class granted special attacks but they all must be classified as special attacks and also expection to this is with marshal auras which are merged with paladin class, as there is tons house rules in regards classes as well as I have merged quite few together or outright changed them as in case example with samurai class).

So I know lots of things to chew through, but as advance warning this is advanced DnD we speak about here and be high tier to point it's ridicullous and that's really point of the game; play ridicullous powerful chars who are most of time top of food chain anywhere and have fun with it (sort like in Overlord anime if familiar with series). There is epic scaled plot involved and events to come, but they atm take backseat on fun plotting and do epic deeds as epic monsters.

As note present active monsters are pretty evil aligned or neutral gray atm, so would warmly welcome a legendary monster who embraces more heroic tendecies (but to avoid clusterfuck said heroes should able tolerate other legendary monsters for a moment anyways).

TheGlyphstone

For that matter, the scary complex stats are a bit disingenuous (speaking as the player of the beast with by far the most cracked-out statline in play). There's been relatively little actual dice thrown around for anyone to resolve conflicts - this level of Epic power is practically freeform anyways. To quote the great pirate Barbarossa, 'the Pirate's Code statblocks are more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules'...hard-coded stats following the rules as laid down, but used in practice more as a guide to possibilities.

Zaer Darkwail

Yeah, even my EP system (sort sex system) is just guideline and can become boring to use overtime. But it's there as a guideline and idea of measure things. As in present scale dicerolling has been rare thing and some fights are merely freeformed or resolved after initial rounds where is chance for opposition to do something to win.

Etherealgirl


Zaer Darkwail

It's simple math, base mindflayer has CR 8 (which is same as their HD) and so yes, you can be one. Plus add templates up to 5 LA in value or take monster PrC's associated with mind flayer (not just psionic or caster based PrC's).

TheGlyphstone

Though if you ask for Illithid Savant, you may get virtual books thrown at you.

Etherealgirl

Yeeeeeah. Never made a monster character before, so no idea how to start.

TheGlyphstone

#10
Quote from: Etherealgirl on January 08, 2016, 02:05:09 PM
Yeeeeeah. Never made a monster character before, so no idea how to start.

As general advice, I'd suggest you first start with a theme. A particular monster you want to play, and/or a particular sort of legend you want to explore with your character. Your character's Legend, your backstory, is almost as important as their stats, since it will shape a lot of stuff including your introduction to the world and how other Legends will interact with you.

To use a personal example, I started out just wanting to play a Hydra. Hydras are really tough and hard to kill, so I used that as the basis to make an archetypical Juggernaut, something you cannot stop, only hide from, run from, or get out of the way. The inclusion of an Elder Evil was selected as a suitably immovable object to my unstoppable force, and after a whole lot more work, I ended up with World-Scour.


If you want to play a Mind Flayer, that's a start. What sort of things are Mind Flayers naturally good at or skilled at? How could you take what you're good at (or, for that matter, something you are not 'traditionally' good at, if you'd rather tell a story about going against tradition/stereotypes)  and use that as a basis for a creature that people would immortalized in myth and legend centuries or millenia later?

Zaer Darkwail

Legend can be legends of boogeyman, ghosts, ghost kings/queens, nigthmares or even secret noble figures or wise sages or overall even heroic monsters (like guardian spirits who stood against tide of enemies against single tribe which they were sworn to protect because promise they gave to princess of said tribe centuries ago). So overall many ideas.

So if mind flayer is your thing then think what things mind flayer is good at and think epic story/tale around it (more so as you get class levels too which can help expand the concept further).

Atarn

A sudden storm in
    summer, the brightest
    star at night; an
    opportunist rogue,
    confessor of sins
    a master of hearts
    a dominant lover


Snake

I have a character 'd like to use.

Though I'm not sure how well it'd go:

A god-killer type char who posesses a unique abiilty to slowly cut deities off from their source to weaken them

TheGlyphstone

#15
You'd have to work your way up to slaying gods, really.

That could be your ultimate ambition, though...and there's actually a base monster that could work out really well for that theme, the Quell from Libris Mortis. It has the ability to Turn Divine Casters, which temporarily severs their ability to cast Divine spells. If you want to eventually become a godslayer, starting with their minions/followers is a good idea, and 'upgrading' the strength of your Intercession ability over time to where it can mess with the gods themselves would be a neat character arc.

Zaer Darkwail

Also having ur-priest levels to literally steal powers of the gods is pretty neat concept also. However there is epic feat (a homebrew stuff) which demands +35 BAB to take and it allows ignore gods divine rank stuff in regards attacks, skills or saving throws when they fight vs you.

Snake

Well the character basis was the "Infernal" from Epic Player's Handbook. XD Though I appreciate what you suggest and will look into it when I find my Libris Mortis but I'd prefer one to look more ...alive.

TheGlyphstone

Appearance is entirely mutable, really. You can have the mechanics of a Quell and look like something completely different, based on your templates or just whatever you feel like looking like. The Infernal, sadly, is far too strong to be a starting monster, since we kick off at CR13 to it's CR26.

Another angle you could explore that concept from would be a servant/follower/worshipper of some kind of the Elder Evil Pandorym.

Snake

True! *rubs chin* will look into it. I don't have my books with me atm.

Kunoichi

As another possibility, if the Intercession ability sounds neat but you don't specifically like the look of the Quell, there's an evil Paladin variant in an issue of Dragon Magazine that gets the same ability.  You could take it on your martial side by combining it with the non-spellcasting ACF from Complete Champion, and then go Warlock/Ur-Priest on the spellcasting side and make a rather nice anti-divine character. ^^ Although, that would then leave the question of just what to take for the monster side...

Atarn

Excellent. I will look into monsters a bit, as my first idea might not be that appreciated*chuckles*
A sudden storm in
    summer, the brightest
    star at night; an
    opportunist rogue,
    confessor of sins
    a master of hearts
    a dominant lover

TheGlyphstone

Doesn't hurt to ask. The inflexible hard cap is CR13, but if that is obeyed, there's a lot of wiggle room.

Zaer Darkwail

Yeah, although in case of dragons you follow different rule; your CR 20 dragon with paragon creature template slapped onto it and have no class levels. You can reduce CR to get templates added to the dragon. So example you can be wyrm paragon black dragon or be ancient dark paragon black dragon. Reason for this is that dragons gain tremendous amount of HD based on age and CR 11 would result in black adult dragon which already got 19 HD. It's hard to balance to monster side to have exact 13 HD and get some templates in with dragons, so thus dragon chars get no class levels but they get to play actual big badass dragon (who has very good basic package deal).

Muse

A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)