Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Timespike 01-21-07, 08:30 PM	I just finished with this NPC, and I really like how she turned out. This is Illesurieth, a mysterious, lethal VoP monk/paladin with some serious layers of rule subsystems. She has material from about half my collection, I think. I really like how the whole turned out, though. It's noteworthy that she took a Vow of poverty but NOT a vow of chastity and is married to a male Killoren (her good-aligned Fey that Nymph's kiss is keyed off of.) Race: Azurin Sex: Female Starting Ability Scores: STR 13 DEX 14 CON 10 INT 16 WIS 18 CHA 18 Final Ability Scores: STR 14 DEX 18 CON 12 INT 22 WIS 26 CHA 22 Progression: Monk 4/Paladin 4 (alternating levels)/Soulknife 1/Swordsage 1/Shadow Sun Ninja 10 Feats: H Sacred Vow 1 Vow of Poverty 1E Nymph's Kiss B Improved Unarmed Strike B Stunning Fist 2E Exalted Smite 3 Ascetic Knight B Combat Reflexes 4E Touch of Golden Ice 6 Power Attack 6E Intuitive Attack 8E Divine Might 9 Psycarnum Blade B Wild Talent 10E Nimbus of Light 12 Sapphire Fist 12E Holy Radiance 14E Stigmata 15 Resounding Blow 16E Quell the Profane 18 Sapphire Smite 18E Sacred Strike 20E Hands of a Healer Maneuvers: Mighty Throw Shadow Blade Technique Distracting Ember Sudden Leap Fan the Flames Shadow Garrote Cloak of Deception Strike of the Broken Shield Ballista Throw Stalker in the Night Stances: Step of the Wind Assassin's Stance Skill Tricks: 2 Extreme Leap 4 Twisted Charge 6 Healing Hands 8 Never Outnmbered 10 Nimble Charge 12 Dismount Attack 14 Corner Perch 16 Walk the Walls 18 Wall Jumper Essentia: 4 Investment: 2 In Sapphire Smite, 2 in Psycarnum Blade Paladin Spells: 1: Divine Sacrifice (x2) Description: A stunningly-beautiful woman with elaborate tattoos in celestial covering her hands and trailing up her arms to her elbows, and matching ones on her feet trailing up to her knees. She's dressed in a simple, sleeveless tunic of black cotton, loose-fitting, unbleached cotton pants that end just above her knees, and sandals. Her tunic is belted at the waist with a short length of rope. Her head is shaved except for a long, dark brown ponytail. She usually carries a quarterstaff.
Timespike 01-21-07, 11:58 PM	This is Ellesurieth's Husband, a dangerous man in his own right. Race: Killoren Sex: Male Alignment: Neutral Good Starting Ability Scores: STR 10 DEX 13 CON 16 INT 18 WIS 18 CHA 14 Final Ability Scores: STR 16 DEX 19 CON 22 INT 32 WIS 31 CHA 20 (belt of magnificence, WIS tome, INT tome, 2 level raises into WIS, 3 into INT Progression:Druid Avenger 7/Wizard 3/Arcane Hierophant 10 Feats: 1 Reckless Rage 3 Intuitive Atack 6 Spontaneous Healer 9 Natural Spell 12 Exalted Wildshape 15 Summon Elemental 18 Fiery Burst (Keyed off of Storm of Vengeance) Skill Tricks: Conceal Spellcasting Healing Hands Nimble Charge Twisted Charge Spells Prepared (Typical) Druid 6/8/8/7/7/6/6/4/3/2 0 Create Water, Detect Magic (x3), Flare, Read Magic 1 Beast Claws, Camouflage, Cloudburst, Sandblast, Obscuring Mist, Longstrider, Faerie Fire, Goodberry 2 Barkskin, Bull's Strength, Spider Climb, Briar Web, Mass Camouflage, Healing Lorecall, Winter's Embrace 3 Call Lightning, Sleet Storm, Spike Growth, Bite of the Werewolf, Forestfold, Quillfire, Icelance 4 Lay of the Land, Murderous Mist, Sheltered Vitality, Summon Elementite Swarm, Flame Strike, Ice Storm, Wall of Water 5 Hallow, Tree Stride, Wall of Fire, Inferno, Freeze, Memory Rot 6 Anger of the Noonday Sun, Fires of Purity, Summon Greater Elemental, Fire Seeds, Spellstaff, Vigorous Circle 7 Changestaff, Heal, Aura of Vitality, Brilliant Blade 8 Bombardment, Stormrage, Reverse Gravity 9 Storm of Vengeance, Cast in Stone Wizard 4/7/7/7/6/5/5/4 0 Prestidigitation, Open/Close, Mage Hand, Dancing Lights 1 True Strike (x3), Magic Missile (x2), Greater Mage Hand, Spell Flower 2 Web, Darkness, Shatter, Mirror Image, Spectral Hand, Daggerspell Stance, Bonefiddle 3 Haste, Fireball, Dispel Magic, Chain Missile, Spectral Weapon, Healing Touch, Spider Poison 4 Fire Shield, Defenestrating Sphere, Flame Whips, Dimension Door, Evard's Black Tentacles, Fear 5 Magic Jar, Sending, Waves of Fatigue, Indomitability, Mass Fly 6 Acid Fog, Undeath to Death, Disintegrate, Tenser's Transformation, Veil 7 Ice Claw, Greater Teleport, Forcecage Notable Gear: Belt of Magnificence +6 +5 INT tome (read) +5 WIS tome (read) +5 Beastskin Leather armor of shadows & silent moves +5 Flaming/+5 Frost Quarterstaff
Timespike 01-22-07, 12:03 AM	Common tactics: Kadrasaar (The Killoren) will wildshape into a Pegasus and use illusions to make the two of them look the part of mounted knight and steed. Kadrasaar will wildshape into a small animal of some sort and pretend to be Illesurieth's "familiar" when he's actually the mage. What do you guys think of these two?
Bill Bisco: Average Adventurer 01-22-07, 12:31 AM	They've got great flavor, and you seem to have optimized them pretty well. I may take a closer look when I have more time. I'm curious, are you using these NPCs against the party at Level 20?
Timespike 01-22-07, 12:55 AM	They've got great flavor, and you seem to have optimized them pretty well. I may take a closer look when I have more time. I'm curious, are you using these NPCs against the party at Level 20? Probably not; my PC party is 100% good-aligned. I might lend these two to them if they need the help at some point, though. More likely they'll be another group of good guys operating in parallel to them. My setting is looking at a major event that will mobilize a huge number of good-aligned adventurers. I want them to have some rivals they can't kill and some allies they can turn to for help.
ThePrivateer 01-22-07, 02:52 AM	Although this isn't optimization advice, be careful that you don't fall victim to the DMPC/Mary Sue trap with these two, especially if your party isn't full of optimizers. Other than that, both are solid, flavorful builds.
WombleHunter 01-22-07, 07:32 AM	Progression: Monk 4/Paladin 4 (alternating levels)/Soulknife 1/Swordsage 1/Shadow Sun Ninja 10 Doesn't this still invoke the multiclass XP penalty, for the difference between your Monk (or Paladin) levels and your Swordsage (or Soulknife) level?
Timespike 01-22-07, 10:03 AM	It would if I used that particular rule. One of my houserules is that humans, Azurin, Illumians, and any other race with favored class: any can multiclass freely with no XP penalty. It would be a fairly easy workaround to get away from that problem, though. Just make the mix Monk 2/Paladin 4/soulknife 2/swordsage 2.
Timespike 01-22-07, 10:44 PM	Although this isn't optimization advice, be careful that you don't fall victim to the DMPC/Mary Sue trap with these two, especially if your party isn't full of optimizers. Other than that, both are solid, flavorful builds. I doubt the PCs will ever interact with these two in a mechanical way. They'll probably talk with them, they may hear stories, they might see them in action briefly, but I doubt it. Building these two was more of a fun thing.