Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Sinister_Doren 01-05-06, 09:04 PM	So I am a lvl1 Soc, lvl6 Ftr that split from the main party and teamed up with a lvl7 Bbn. We plan to kill off the main villian and pick up were he left off after we take care of the main party. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for PrC's or tactics for me, I have already looked through the Book of Vile Darkness, and the Book of the Dead. Nothing really intrigues me too much. I have already set into play a plan to gather up an army. I haven't really ever tried this before so its risky as hell.
Morbid 01-06-06, 12:46 AM	Open your own store. Lets call it "Wall-Mart" (note the 2 L's). Hire tons of people to work there. Open more stores. Hire more people. Train them all to worship you. Then one day, tell them they need to die for their master! And there ya go, you might lose two or three of them, but the rest will follow. If you've ever worked at Wal-Mart and watched the little videos of Sam (the guy who started wal-mart) on stage talking to people, you'd understand.
Blackavar 01-06-06, 09:03 PM	World domination will take a lot of study, but it can be done. Here's what I suggest: For you, taking over the world will have four parts: replacing the main villian, maintaining the loyalty of your underlings, winning battles, and conquering. 1) REPLACING THE VILLIAN Learn about the main villian who you intend to replace. Is he cruel, oppressive, and rules by fear? Is he stingy in rewarding his followers? In order to gain their allegiance, you have to be a more appealing leader then the main villian. In order to do this, you have to know what he lacks. If you can offer his followers a) higher salaries, b) improved working, and c) their former masters demise, then most of them will follow you, possibly aid you in battle against their former master. For an example, read Robin Hood. He got all his followers by offering them better living conditions then being a commoner ruled by the king. All he needed to offer was good food, drink, living conditions, entertainment, and company! 2) MAINTAINING YOUR POSITION OF AUTHORITY To maintain your newfound minions, you must constantly prove to them that they are better off as you underlings. You will have to lead them to victory again and again (see BATTLE TACTICS, below). You must know when to punish and when to reward. If you do not bring them victory, they will either die in your service, desert you, or decide that they will be a better ruler and replace you just as you replaced the villian before you. Give too many rewards, and you will have no order. Give too many punishments, and, eventually, some minion will have the courage to assassinate you. Once they decide that working for you means victory (with few or no casualties), profit, and power, even the most insane, ambitious, vindictive, power-hunger minion will think twice before attemping to usurp your position and send you soul to the outer planes. For an example of loyalty in an evil orginization, read about the Garrote in the epic level handbook. NOTE: If the villian you want to replace has this level of loyalty from his minions already, do not even attempt to replace him. If you try, you will not be able to gain the following of his former minions. 3) BATTLE TACTICS To have minions who think you are a brilliant strategist who will lead the to victory again and again, you must actually be a brilliant strategist who will lead the to victory again and again. I suggest reading The Art Of War by Sun Tzu, which teaches principles of battle that can be useful for planning a minor skirmish or a full-scale war. Also, if you DM allows it, powergaming is useful (some DM's hate powergaming, so check). Learn what skills your minions have and always STUDY YOUR ENEMY to find their weaknesses. Want to bring down a wizard? Wizards don't have many HP and and weak when unprepared, so I suggest ordering a rogue under you command to ambush the wizard with 6 shuriken of true strike (50 GP each for a lv. 1 spell that only ever activates once- when you throw it), 3 per hand, each doing bonus sneak attack damage. If your DM won't allow shuriken of true strike, then use normal shuriken- you don't need all 6 to hit to kill the wizard, 2 or 3 will probably do it. This is just one example. Just match up the strengths of your minions with the weaknesses of your foes. Also, don't forget that you must profit from every battle. NEVER send a few wizards to some little town to fireball it for fun. Sure, this is evil, but it's a waste of resources (yes, your underlings are classified as resources) and will yeild little profit. 4) DOMINATION You have you loyal minions and you win you battles. Now, you need widespread domination. For an example, reread The Art Of War and I suggest Shogun as well because it provides excellent examples of many of the lessons in The Art Of War being used. Gather minions, the same way you did before: prove that they are better off working for you. Although this was probably difficult when you first usurped the main villian, you will find it is easier when you already have an overlord reputation backing you up. Make alliances. After all, you may need help, whether or not you intend to betray you allies later. Finally, nothing is better for learning to take over the world then researching people who have tried it themselves, like Adolf Hitler or Napoleon Bonaparte. See what they did right or wrong, and learn from their mistakes. Part 3 reqires study of game rules (basically powergaming). The rest are mainly roleplaying. If you want to pursue the lofty goal of world domination, then you need BOTH. Combining roleplaying and powergaming, you will find ultimate power. This is the key to world domination. Good luck.
Sinister_Doren 01-06-06, 11:37 PM	Thanks, I will take your suggestions and utilize them.
Johnny Cache 01-06-06, 11:44 PM	Here's a good set of general tips for those considering world domination as a career: http://www.evilrulers.com/.