Loopy's NPC Series:
The Fighter, Paladin and the Ranger
Hello again! Well, you will all notice that I've grouped these character types together this time. I made the Barbarian it's own article because of the special dynamic that they tend to have. As far as the other three warrior classes are concerned, they really share the same roles in an NPC party or encounter with a few exceptions.
I'll be separating this article into several sections; the first discussion being on the role of the warrior as a standard rank-and-file NPC. The second section will discuss elements from The Complete Warrior. I understand that some folks to not like anything beyond the core rulebooks, so I have separated these rules from the main body of text. The last three sections will briefly detail the specifics of each class separately, then will go into a more in-depth detailing of each class as a main antagonist / BBEG.
Before I continue, thanks again to all of you for your encouragement and assistance with the Druid article. If you find any mistakes here, please point them out.... but more importantly if you have anything to add, PLEASE do so. Your input is not only accepted, but necessary. Thanks!
Warriors as Rank-and-File NPCs:
The warrior classes should be the meat-and-potatoes of any adventure that you run. They are the easiest and the cheapest to train and upkeep... any BBEG would be stupid not to have these fellas (and ladies) around to guard her stuff.
On her majesty's secret service:
First, let me discuss the role-playing aspect of warrior characters. These people are likely brutes and brigands from around the countryside. They were either too lazy to do any real work or they were cast out of their own society for some reason. They have now ended up in the service of your BBEG. These people are paid to do the bidding of this character. Resourceful players will probably try to bribe brigand-like warrior characters and you really should take this tactic seriously, after all there really is no reason not to.
Some NPCs will be under the heavy fist of a fearful, willful person that uses torture and magic in addition to coin payment to keep her people in line. In this case, your PCs may have a harder time getting these NPCs to listen to you. Of course, we also have the type of NPC who has joined up with an evil order because he is.... well... evil. He loves violence and money and raping and pillaging. It's as fun as hell and trying to convince him otherwise is going to take a lot more than mere words.
Warrior training:
Reach weapons: Many times I have discussed the wonders of reach weapons. Reach weapons are wonderful things.... from the venerable longspear to the cool Nagamaki from Oriental Adventures, your NPCs would do well to employ these weapons whenever possible. A character with a reach weapon can make an attack of opportunity on charging PCs and if that NPC is using the weapon to set for a charge, then she gets ANOTHER attack on top of that one... all before the PC even gets close enough to hit the NPC. Now, one thing to remember about NPCs with spears, it's always good to have non-spear support behind them... swordsmen and bowmen and the like.
Here is a good example of an EL 10 encounter: Two level five orc Fighters in a 10'-wide hallway with longspears, two level five goblin Rangers behind them with shortbows, and behind them a level 5 Hobgoblin Bard to command them. After the PCs strike, have the Bard cast hold person on one of the charging PCs, have the orcs fall back two ranks so they are right behind the goblins, hopefully without taking any attacks of opportunity. This will give the goblins a chance to fire some more arrows into the held character before drawing their melee weapons (might I suggest small falchions). Now the PCs have to fight the Goblins AND the Orcs all at once while the orcs only have to stab their spears over the heads of small allies.
Various weapons: Always give your warrior characters a ranged weapon, a two-handed weapon and a one-handed weapon they can use with a shield. These characters are highly trained in the martial arts and they should use their diverse training they have received. Be sure to write down the separate attacks and armor classes on your notes to make things faster and easier on you.
Special Attacks: Tricksy warriors will use tactics in combat, especially fighters. With such a high base attack bonus, it is inexcusable for you not to use the same cheesy tactics your players use on you! For instance:
Flanking: I cannot stress this more and I am sure most of you use this one at the very least. I would like to say something about it, though. When you have more than one NPC fighting several PCs, then it is likely these NPCs are going to be weaker. Don't send a single NPC into the midst of the PCs just to flank, because he is going to be slaughtered. Send one or more NPC to either SIDE of the lead PC in the front rank, instead of one to the front and rear. Quite a few people make this mistake because in their heads they think they have to have someone literally behind a character to flank them.
Aid Another: On page 154 of the Player’s Handbook is this nifty rule. Again, I have discussed this before and I won't go into too much detail, but I must stress its usefulness. Any moderate-level NPC could have the Leadership feat and with it he gets a bunch of little guys for "free" and these cheap, little NPCs could spend the entire battle annoying the PCs enough to give your "real" NPCs +2, +4, or even +8 or +10 to their next attack roll.
Bull Rush: Bull rush is quite the evil attack. If you set it up right, a bull rush by even a low-level warrior could kill a character. Many BBEGs have a way of building their strongholds in hard-to-reach places. The entrance to such a place might be on the side of a mountain or a precipice over a deep underground lake or river. The guards on the ledge here probably already have a bull rush tactic worked out between them and one or both might have already been trained in its use and may have the Improved Bull Rush feat There are other ways of getting PCs into trouble with this attack that do not have to be so grandiose. A simple pit hidden in the floor off to the side of a room could be a great place to dump unwary PCs.
Charge and Overrun: Charging is pretty straightforward. You are going to be charged quite a bit more than you will be charging yourself. One thing that should be mentioned is the partial charge. Any character with a standard action left that has not moved already may charge a distance equal to her movement rather than double. This also allows any of your warriors who act in the surprise round a charge action.
Mounted warriors can make great use of the charge action to deal a great deal of damage with a lance, which deals double damage on a charge. Mounted characters can be very deadly indeed. Take a good look at some of those feats and you will understand. A charge combined with a overrun all during a ride-by attack is an excellent way to maximize the effect that an NPC will have on your players. A charging LINE of mounted warriors could also be very cool in the open.
Disarm: Disarms are a very nice way of irritating your players. When they try to pick up the weapon you just knocked out of their hands they incur an attack of opportunity from you. Better yet, give your NPC an item that allows you to “have” any weapon you have disarmed.
Feint: Feinting is not as useful for warriors as it is for Rogues.
Grapple: Grappling can be very deadly for the PCs. This is where you need to really be careful about adding warrior levels to monsters like giants and large outsiders. These creatures can quickly overpower most PCs, especially Wizards. I would not recommend single-party NPC grappling because this leaves the single NPC open for attacks from the rest of the PCs. Adding a rogue to your grappler’s party is an excellent way of killing a player-character if that’s the sort of thing you’re into.
Sunder: Items.... even magic ones are much physically weaker than you might imagine. They can be broken very easily... especially hafted ones like axes and polearms. I definitely suggest using this tactic against your PCs. They will be investing in Adamantine weapons before too long, but you get a certain satisfaction from snapping a Weapon Master’s +5 Mercurial Fullblade in half on him. It’s not bad to punish players for specializing now and then, I assure you.
Trip: This is an annoying maneuver like disarming. In some ways it is more difficult than a disarm, but it will make certain that if the PC tries to do anything they will draw an attack of opportunity from your NPC. Remember, tripping is considered an attack and your NPC may have as many attempts as she has normal attacks. Another seldom-used and little-known tidbit is that you may pull someone from their mount with a trip attempt. This is especially nice if your NPC fighter has wings of flying and he “trips” a Paladin from her flying Pegasus mount. Very nasty situation, that.
Ranged Weapons: I have seen quite a few DMs who really only give ranged weapons to rogues. This is a pretty big mistake. Warriors of all shapes and sizes should carry a ranged weapon of some kind in case your PCs bust out with some strange Abjuration magic or they simply employ ranged tactics. Of course a great deal of your Rangers may indeed completely rock out with the ranged combat, but fighters are well-equipped for it as well. If you assign their second-highest (or even their highest) ability score to strength, give them a composite bow and use up two of the bajillion feats they get to purchase point-blank shot and precise shot, then for level 6+ NPCs, you may want them to have Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Greatbow along with Rapid Shot and Weapon Specialization. This is a good NPC for turning your player's characters into walking pincushions.
The “Durrr!” Quotient:
Divine Grace aside, warriors have some really miserable Will saves and there is precious little that can be done about this. It is always a good idea to mix up adventuring parities with clerics and wizards in order to combat this problem a little bit whether with buff spells or simply to have someone there who can pass a Mind Blast saving throw and then dispel the damned thing. Protection from Good and Law might be good spells to use as well as Mass Owl’s Wisdom. There are also several high-level spells that protect the mind that a BBEG might use to protect his bodyguards. Some of them even last long enough to allow them to be warded for the entire day. Do NOT hesitate to use this and certainly don’t award extra experience points.
Warriors as BBEGs:
Quite a few people have jumped on the Warriors-as-Antagonists bandwagon. There are plenty of dudes like this in history that you can draw inspiration from. There is a considerable draw to using these guys as main antagonists... they have great hit points and their Acs are usually through the roof. I strongly suggest pairing any warrior BBEG with a single Cleric or Druid four or so levels lower than himself. The buff spells will do him good even after the Cleric has met his maker. These antagonists should NOT have extremely low mental attributes. Use a warrior’s extra bonus ability points every three or four levels (or however you do it) to improve his poor ability scores so that he can make sense as a BBEG. If you roll your BBEG’s stats, then more the better. That is certainly something that I endorse. I cannot stress how lame it is to have a BBEG with a Charisma score of 8 or even 10 or 6. It just does not make much sense, unless your BBEG has nothing but constructs working for him.
Fighters:
I especially think that BBEG Fighters make an excellent opportunity for you to show your players how diverse and exciting PLAYING a fighter can be. As I said before, a Warrior BBEG’s mental attributes should really match her station in life. It may, in fact work to your advantage when it comes to the fighter. A BBEG with a greataxe or a longspear with Whirlwind Attack can leave your PCs dumbfounded and doubling over in pain, especially if your BBEG has backup. All of the feats that require Combat Expertise are excellent choices for a BBEG, because they make her interesting and they keep her alive.
I know that quite a few of you out there (myself included) have no problem whatsoever putting a 10 in a Fighter’s Dexterity score and then loading the heaviest armor you can find on him. This is nice for a rank-and-file NPC, but I would hope that your BBEGs would have a little more panache than that. The Dodge series is very nice indeed as is the Two-Weapon Fighting and Point-Blank Shot series. Read the feats and look at them at as many angles as you can, because they are what separates a Fighter from the rest of the crowd.
Rangers
Rangers are difficult as BBEGs, but one comes to mind that may allow you to wrap your brain around this one. Does anyone remember the character from A Princess Bride who tracked Wesley across the wilderness with ease? He was, at the very least a multiclass Ranger. How about Boba Fett? (No Fett alignment flames, please!) Evil BBEG Rangers might be all about the hunt. They do love nature, but they believe that it exists to be shaped and used at their need and will. These guys make very good recurring NPCs that show up when the PCs least expect it. They can also be very dangerous with the eyes and ears of their Animal Companions to assist them. Make sure that Ranger BBEGs always have a sufficient plan of escape. I’m not telling you to metagame, it’s just that a guy like that simply does not take any unnecessary chances and will work out every part of a plan before he employs it.
See the Dungeon adventure #107 in the first adventure for an example of a really cool Ranger antagonist.
Paladins:
How do you handle Paladins as BBEGs? The Blackguard PRC is a tool you should consider to make sure your Paladin BBEG doesn’t get hosed in the first round of combat. It should be mentioned that not very many fallen Paladins live for very long. The fact that their Paladin abilities are gone and that it takes quite a while to reach any proficiency in the Blackguard PRC means that these kinds of characters usually end up just hanging on the coat-tails of more powerful characters until they have reached a higher plateau of power. Make these guys simple rank-and-file NPCs until about 14th to 15th level. Adjust their CR if you think that their power level is too low... I definitely suggest this.
I don't think I need to tell you all how to play a really despicable Fallen Paladin? Remember that he is pure, unadulterated evil. If you have a mature gaming group, then go ahead and pull out all the stops. I’m not talking about simple murder... that’s too easy. Any idiot can commit homicide. Use your better judgment here, as always. If you think you’ll alienate your players by describing a Noble cracking under interrogation because your BBEG just split her infant son’s head like a raw egg, then DON’T DO IT. If it’s the sort of thing that will incense your players into action, then give it all you’ve got.
The Complete Warrior:
This is an excellent book.
The Prestige classes are wonderful for your players, but are even better for you. Halfling Outriders riding Carrion Crawlers, War Chanter or Spellsword BBEGs, a group of Ronin thugs, a Mindspy recurring enemy.... what about a BBEG Cavalier riding a flame-hoofed Nightmare, Adamantine lance ready for the charge? The list goes on. These prestige classes will add flavor to any campaign. Can you do some of this with the standard character classes.... sure, but it keeps things interesting and will educate you in the Prestige Classes players take that you are likely to face in the future.
The feats will spice up any Fighter, I encourage you to use them whenever it is possible or whenever it will benefit your NPCs. Why wouldn’t a rapier- or Elven thinblade-wielding swashbuckling Fighter have the Power Critical feat? Why wouldn’t a group of Level 1 Kobold Fighters have the Swarmfighting feat? Why not spice up a group of four level 5 fighter NPCs each with a separate Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization and Weapon Style Feat?
In conclusion:
I hope you enjoyed this installment of the series. If you have anything to refute, please do so. I especially want people to add some points
I want everyone who reads this to post an example of a BBEG warrior that you have used in your campaign or that you have fought in your DM’s campaign. Tell us why you liked this NPC and what gave it flavor and panache. I think that it’ll be an excellent resource for those who are interested in making a warrior Antagonist!
Thank you so much for your input! See you next time when we tackle the Monk (and he kicks our ass)!!!
For my sample BBEG, I can't actually give stats for him, as he pulled a classic "I have more important things to do" style getaway speech before teleporting away. I have a strong feeling he was some sort of Blackguard/Fighter mix, and probably would have beaten our weakened group into paste.
The final battle of the particular story arc ended in a room with three spike-pits with two stone bridges over them. Our group consisted of a Dwarf Fighter(me), an Aasimar Cleric, a Nezumi Rogue, a water Spirit-folk Samurai, an Avariel Bard, and an elf ranger, and a gnome wizard. The opposition included, to the best of my knowledge, a Minotaur Fighter who wielded a scythe, a Kobold Sorcerer who loved fireballs, a gnoll bard with drums of panic, a Duergar fighter, and a giant spider.
The barrage of fireballs, combined with the Drums weakened our main melee fighters(myself included) and allowed the minotaur to advance on our spellcasters. We barely managed to pull through without any casualties, but were badly injured, so we decided that we were lucky that the Blackguard had not participated.
That was an excellent battle, and as a reward we were presented with the Keep that it was fought in.
For some reason, the BBEGs in my game tend to be clerics, but one evil gal is traveling with the party.
She's an elven ranger known as The Kinslayer since she put all of her Favored Enemy bonuses into Humanoids (elf). She hunts down enemies of the Elvish rulers and puts arrows into their backs. If you're an elf, and you're her target, most likely you're going to die. She's traveling with the party on assignment, to kill an elf who happens to be the brother of one of the characters. The character already suspects that this woman is the one she's had nightmares about since she was a little girl, having escaped The Kinslayer once before. Sparks will fly when she gets final proof about the Kinslayer's identity and mission.
But what makes this character cool, from a roleplaying standpoint, is that The Kinslayer is a tragic figure. She hates her job, and she hates the corrupt elvish ruler who uses her as a pet assassin, and she hates killing her own kind, but in her eyes she has no other choice. The evil sorceress who controls her has implanted a magical device in her that will kill her if she disobeys. So she's looking for a way out, and is beginning to think that the party can help her...
Another good BBEG warrior I've used was Liu Jue, from the Western Continent (I use a custom campaign world.) He was strong, incredibly so, around 24 or 26 Str, 20 or 22 Dex and 22 or 24 Con. He had 13 Int and 8 Wis, as well as 12 Cha. He was, again human (I like to use them for foes since they get the bonus feat) and used a polearm in combat. He had a couple levels in Barbarian and would rage often. He too was an effective enemy as he didn't plan much, he just attacked them over and over and over and then again while they rested from that. His polearm was a +3 Vorpal Halberd, and he used Whirlwind attack whenever the opportunity presented itself. He eventually began to collect more and more allies, until he had a small army, complete with a tactician with which to attack the PCs. He captured their fortress and even teamed up with Gamus at one point. He did die in the end, on their side against a common foe, killing more than 40 1st level Warriors, at least a dozen 2nd level Warriors, several 3rd level Warriors and a few 9th level warriors (he wasn't evil at all, but they'd made a BAD first impression, calling a proud man a stuck up imbecile with the IQ and appeal of a deranged baboon with lepresey will make MOST people mad.) Quite a dramatic exit for a dramatic foe, saving the life of the party from Gamus' army.
These two foes managed to take down the party on a martial level, something almost no other foe can do, due to various protections and natural armors (rust monsters are such wonderful things for villains to have for guard dogs.)
The Pally ally of the group, a strong law enforcer, contacts them because of a series of arsons in the town. To make a long story short it appears that it is his own son that is becoming a sorcerer (and on top of that sorcerers are tracked heretics).
step 1) loses his paladinhood because he has to surrender his beloved son and don't want to
step 2) a grudge against the PCs because there are the ones who found out about the son (though on his request)
step 3) he asks them to save his son, but an enemy inside the Church manages to get the son legally executed
step 4) breakdown, one night in the chapel the paladin has disappeared, the PCs only find the blood-dripping head of his Mount
step 5) some sessions later the PCs have a new nemesis, a Blackguard, with new weapons and an undead lackey that is his skeleton-like son with levels in sorcerer (fire specialty of course) : it is better if they do not recognize him at first and are not willing to kill him, because they feel responsible (rescuing the son was their responsibility)
Granted it is not blatantly original, but this is not about how original the story is, this is about how you tell it. So what about that ?
A fighter BBEG I used in a one-on-one Oriental Adventures campaign was the lord of a minor clan that was over-run by shadowlands creatures. By the time the PC arrived he had become a Pennaglon, and was torturing innocent villagers, claiming that they were cult-members in league with the Oni. The PC didn't twig until the lord attacked from behind by strangling her with his intestines.
Once again I have to say that these articles are excellent.
The campaign never met up with him, though. He was a 15th level barbarian with a brutal sword, and an agenda for continental domination and invasion. The players would have eventually wound up face to face with my monstrous orc, and would have been met with a devious surprise. What they thought was an orc was actually a doppleganger posing as an orc to rally the orcish factions into an army.
I don't think I've ever created a fighter BBEG though, to my recollection. Most of my better baddies have been sorcerers...
I've been really impressed with the quality of stuff people post on this site. Now this is the question that gets me sacked from this forum. Yes, and what does BBEG stand for??
{Big Bad Evil Guy – WotC_Mel}
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Could you be more specific about what you say above regarding flanking? I'm not sure I understand, and text pictures would be helpful...
Send one or more NPC to either SIDE of the lead PC in the front rank, instead of one to the front and rear. Quite a few people make this mistake because in their heads they think they have to have someone literally behind a character to flank them.
I'll try to illustrate this:
R
S0S
F
The 0 represents the target player character. The PC is facing downwards, and therefore F represents the direction in which he is facing. S represents one of the PC's sides. The error in question is for an NPC to move to position R, which exposes her attack from more of the PC's party members, when flanking can be achieved by placing the NPC in one of the S positions. In either case, an NPC must be in the F position or the PC can simply turn to face his opponent.
We met up later with the Blackguard while we were infiltrating an evil organization underneath my Dwarf's mountain home (we later found out we were basically "house-cleaning" for the BBEG). We never fought him. Instead, we actually tamed up with him, as he used his influence to allow us to destabilize the hierarchy, and eventually defeat the army from within. His reasons? He had WAY better things to be doing than dying for a cause he no longer felt was worth his time and intelligence. Yes, intelligence. He was smarmy, suave, and came up with better plans than anyone else. Without the Blackguard's assistance, we would have been toast (Orcus would have been summoned-we stopped it).