Warduke

[Tony Ranger]

I've tried to get my hands on that copy of Dungeon with warduke but I'm finding it to be impossible! hey, and i've still got my old warduke action figure too.
Could someone PLEASE give me his stats!

[Brad Hardman]

Since the back issue is sold out...can't Paizo reprint the stats (and maybe a higher rez image of that cover) on the website?

How about it? Please?! :)

[Tony Ranger]

Hey! Now that's a better idea! C'mon Paizo!
I simply cannot get a copy of the magazine anywhere. I live in Taiwan!
Do it for the love of the game! I want to make warduke a cagewright!
Make an announcement about it! get people psyched up!

Please.

[Paul McCarthy]

What kind of stats are you looking for? I have the mag and can give you what you want, it's just a over half a page long. If you want something specific, let me know.

[Tony Ranger]

Paul McCarthy wrote:

What kind of stats are you looking for? I have the mag and can give you what you want, it's just a over half a page long. If you want something specific, let me know.

Thanks! I guess i want everything! His stats plus his history if you're willing. You could just put it here or email me at [e-mail].

Cheers!

[Paul McCarthy]

.Ca? That's a Canadian address. What are you doing in Taiwan? I am here in St. John's, NL. I'll mail you the stats as soon as I can type them up. Have Fun!

[Kossa]

Hey Paul,

I was wondering if you still have those stats written up, and if you do...could you send me a copy to [e-mail]??
Thanks ahead of time for all the hard work...I am looking foward to torturing my players with some old school flavor...

[Tony Ranger]

Paul McCarthy wrote:

.Ca? That's a Canadian address. What are you doing in Taiwan? I am here in St. John's, NL. I'll mail you the stats as soon as I can type them up. Have Fun!

You got another one looking... Thanks again

[Paul McCarthy]

Headed your way, Kossa.

[Kossa]

Paul McCarthy wrote:

Headed your way, Kossa.

Thanks again Paul....

Warduke is my new fav PC killer.....

[NPC Dave]

I am planning to use Warduke in my 3.5 campaign, and I wanted to give him an update and spruce him up a bit based on his statblock provided in Dungeon Magazine #105.

First, correcting a few minor errors in the stat block...

1) Spell Resistance is 28, not 27, since the helm gives him SR of 10 + character level.

2) Warduke's overall AC and touch AC should be 2 points lower since his magical ceremonial half-plate armor limits the Dexterity bonus Warduke can use. Normal half-plate limits the Dexterity bonus to AC at 0, but the ceremonial armor rules specify that ceremonial half-plate increases that to 1.

3) Warduke's eighteenth feat which is not listed is Cleave. He must have that in order to have Great Cleave which is listed.

4) The feat Spring Attack can't be used with heavy armor, and ceremonial heavy armor counts as heavy armor despite being half the weight. However, since the rules for ceremonial armor state that a wearer still moves at his maximum speed, the intent is probable that Warduke can use Spring Attack in his ceremonial half-plate.

5) Warduke's full attack assumes a -2 penalty when attacking with bastard sword and bashing shield. A +32 to hit is correct for the bastard sword considering it is a +3 weapon and Warduke has both Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Focus for bastard sword. But he doesn't have those feats for shield bash. So his attack bonus for shield bash should be...

+18 (BAB) +11 (Strength bonus) +1 (bashing magical ability) -2 (two weapon fighting penalty) = +28 to hit

The damage listed for the shield is correct.

With that out of the way, I will include my suggested changes focusing on his shield and swapping out some feats he doesn't need for feats from the Players Handbook 2...

1) If we change Warduke's ceremonial armor from half-plate to banded mail, we can increase his max Dex bonus to +2 instead of +1, and not lose any of his armor bonus. This is because ceremonial armor only grants half the normal armor bonus, so Warduke is only getting a +3 armor bonus from his half-plate. Changing it to ceremonial banded mail still leaves us with a +3 armor bonus but grants him a +2 AC bonus for Dexterity and reduces his Armor check penalty to -3. So first change is Warduke is wearing +3 moderate fortification adamantine ceremonial spiked banded mail.

2) Swap out the feat Quick Draw for Shield Specialization(heavy steel shield). Warduke isn't carrying a lot of throwing weapons, so he doesn't need Quick Draw. This new feat gives Warduke an extra +1 to his shield armor bonus. So his +5 bashing heavy steel shield gives him a +8 armor bonus instead of +7. This new feat is also a prereq for a couple of more PH2 feats we are going to give him.

3) Swap out the feat Two-Weapon Fighting for Agile Shield Fighter. This feat is just the equivalent of Two-Weapon fighting but only for shields, giving Warduke a -2 penalty when attacking with both sword and shield. So this doesn't change any stats it just means he won't fight with sword and dagger.

4) Swap out Spring Attack for Shield Ward. This is the big one, granting Warduke his shield bonus to his touch AC, as well as his rolls for resisting bull rush, disarm, grapple, overrun and trip attempts. Spring Attack isn't very useful at high levels and at high levels touch attacks are potentially deadly, so this is much more useful.

So now with these new feats, and his +3 moderate fortification adamantine ceremonial spiked banded mail, Warduke has

touch AC = 10 +2 (max Dexterity bonus) +3 (ring of protection deflection bonus) +7 (Shield Ward combined with +5 magical heavy steel shield) +1 (Shield Specialization) = 23 AC

regular AC = 23 +3 (ceremonial banded mail armor bonus) +3 (magic bonus) +5 (natural armor bonus granted from helm = 34 AC

A few other changes to consider would be...

1) Give him a cloak of resistance to beef up his saves.
2) Some magic to give him freedom of movement.
3) Great Cleave is not likely to be useful against high level PCs, so it could be swapped out for the feat Elusive Target which lets Warduke negate Power Attack against an opponent and perform a couple of other maneuvers. Or swapped out for Lightning Reflexes or Iron Will.
4) Another possible feat to give him is Riposte, which he can use with Combat Expertise to give him one attack of opportunity a round against an opponent that misses him in melee.

[NPC Dave]

As long as I am using Players Handbook 2, we should definitely do the following swap that I should have mentioned last time.

5) Swap out Great Weapon Specialization(bastard sword) for Melee Weapon Master(slashing). This new feat is just better, granting +2 to attack and damage rolls when using the bastard sword or any other slashing weapon. Warduke doesn't give up any damage, and has increased his attack rolls by 2 with the bastard sword.

This also means he could ditch Greater Weapon Focus(bastard sword) for another feat like Riposte, Elusive Target or another tactical feat and still have +1 better to attack rolls with his blade than his current stat block.