My thoughts: On one side I'll put the base creature along with maybe a few templates if I have room. I know your thinking already, "BLACK ETHERGAUNT FTW!" but it is out of the question.
I'm thinking for the base side to use War Troll( which would come out to be 18 HD) and maybe adding feral and lolth touched(though getting that passed by may be difficult) to finish that side off. On the other side I wanna try and get as much dragon HD as possible. Half-black dragon is a must, but what comes afterward is a question. I'm thinking about Voidmind, as it looks awesome. Any suggestions?
All books are cool
Dragon is okay, but I'd rather not use it.
The starting ECL is somewhere in the mid levels(around 9?)
My Goal:Melee monster
Some backstory on this guy:I'm thinking about him being an escaped Neogi slave, these templates being their attempts to create perfect mercenaries for them to hire out.
If you want lots of attacks, I would highly recommend the Mulitheaded template. Just one head gives you perfect two weapon fighting, plus you can tack on HD as needed. Take HD from the Multiheaded template when you have LA from the troll to get full HD. 1 extra head has a LA of +2, while 2 to 3 (3 is max for large creatures) extra heads has a LA of +3. Each head gives you +2 con and 2 HD.
Along the same lines you can take the insectiod template also in savage species. This gives you 4 additional arms, but they cannot be used for extra attacks. The same book has rules though for weilding two-handed weapons with more hands. So you could weild 2 3-handed swords adding your full str in twice or one weapon adding in your str 3.5 times.
I know you already have the wartroll in mind, but I have to throw in the Sharn for contention. It has 3 heads and 9 arms, casts as a level 7 sorc and level 5 cleric base, regen (although weak), +8 or +10 to every stat, and alot more. It starts out as large and can be advanced to huge. Each racial HD advancement also increases one of it is caster progressions by 1. You can go crazy with extra heads adding up to 11 (6 is a good stopping point though LA +4 12 HD leaving room for half-dragon or half-celestin). It starts our with 4HD and has a LA of +5. Maybe you could layer like this.
Sharn HD/ LA heads
Sharn LA/HD Heads
Sharn HD/LA Heads
Sharn LA/ HD Heads
Add in the half-dragon template or whatevery you want to change it's type to dragon or outsider, and you are set. If done right, by level 20 you could tack on 16 more HD giving you a total 28 Caster levels (maybe 17 cleric, 11 sorc), Full BAB, 36 claw or weapon attacks, 9 Bites, and Huge size. Now you just need a small fortune to equip all those arms with weapons.
BB
Well the best large templates would be paragon or pseudonatural. Paragon should be +11 LA (example in book is 26 ECL on an illthiad) or pseudonatural from the epic book.
Paragon is an exceptionally good idea, but pseudonatural is iffy. I promised my DM the creature wouldn't look hideous(he is a nymph lover and doesn't like ugly monsters around them
)If you want lots of attacks, I would highly recommend the Mulitheaded template. Just one head gives you perfect two weapon fighting, plus you can tack on HD as needed. Take HD from the Multiheaded template when you have LA from the troll to get full HD. 1 extra head has a LA of +2, while 2 to 3 (3 is max for large creatures) extra heads has a LA of +3. Each head gives you +2 con and 2 HD.
Along the same lines you can take the insectiod template also in savage species. This gives you 4 additional arms, but they cannot be used for extra attacks. The same book has rules though for weilding two-handed weapons with more hands. So you could weild 2 3-handed swords adding your full str in twice or one weapon adding in your str 3.5 times.
I know you already have the wartroll in mind, but I have to throw in the Sharn for contention. It has 3 heads and 9 arms, casts as a level 7 sorc and level 5 cleric base, regen (although weak), +8 or +10 to every stat, and alot more. It starts out as large and can be advanced to huge. Each racial HD advancement also increases one of it is caster progressions by 1. You can go crazy with extra heads adding up to 11 (6 is a good stopping point though LA +4 12 HD leaving room for half-dragon or half-celestin). It starts our with 4HD and has a LA of +5. Maybe you could layer like this.
Sharn HD/ LA heads
Sharn LA/HD Heads
Sharn HD/LA Heads
Sharn LA/ HD Heads
Add in the half-dragon template or whatevery you want to change it's type to dragon or outsider, and you are set. If done right, by level 20 you could tack on 16 more HD giving you a total 28 Caster levels (maybe 17 cleric, 11 sorc), Full BAB, 36 claw or weapon attacks, 9 Bites, and Huge size. Now you just need a small fortune to equip all those arms with weapons.
My DM would never let me use a Sharn or multi-headed
Bozak perhaps? You'll be decent in melee as a War Troll, so why not mix it up with full dragon HD/benefits and full sorc progression too?
Where is Bozak found?
I'm not sure about the legality, but go for: Feral Paragon Half Dragon(Red) 12 headed Cryohydra. Get a half troll template or something similar while at it.
Playing a Cryohydra would probably be impossible
It is a shame you cannot go with the multihead template. One head is all you need for perfect two-weapon fighting.
You can also use the savage progressions from wizards web enchancements if you can only get a partial template in. Then you will have the benefits broken down by level until you advance enough to get the whole thing.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/sp