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Looking at the faceless one's stat block I'm wondering why does he only have 6 feats? scribe scroll should be free, thats 1, he gets 1 at first and then another one at first for being human. He gets a feat at 3rd and then one at 5th and one at 6th. right there thats six and alertness is added because of his familiar. Also, wouldn't the fact that he's all disfigured and talks with a lisp count as a flaw for his character? Even if it doesen't, the way I see it, the faceless one is missing a feat. Also, since the wall of eyes alert all the cultists that there are heretics in the temple, why does the faceless one need the giant centipede deversion to prepare? He has plenty of time from when the eye alarm goes off. And if the party doesen't take the path to area 23 where the eyes are, wouldn't some of his kenku warn him once the party first enters the labyrinth? To make the faceless one a challenge, I have to remake him-properly. Also, why does he have a 21 int? even starting with an 18 and getting a powerup at 4, wheres the other 2 points of Int come from? he doesn't have an item that does it....
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I think he's got the right number of feats listed -- human, level 1 3 & 6, wizard 1 & 5, familiar -- 7 in total
1 alertness (familiar)
2 brew potion
3 combat casting
4 dodge
5 improved initiative
6 scribe scroll (wizard 1)
7 spell focus - evocation
As for his intelligence, 21 INT isn't doable for a PC or using a standard stat generation mechanic, but thats more a quirk of the standard 3-18 stat range for (human) characters. There's nothing to suggest that exceptional NPCs couldn't have stats outside the ranges ascribed to PCs by the rules -- though to some extent this depends on what the 3d6 and best-3-from-4d6 distributions represent. Remember that if the 3d6 distribution is the typical adult range 18 is only 99.5th %ile.
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I'm not bothered by his looks, but I'd certainly fix his spell selection -- it's far too much like that of a standard stereotypical wizard for my taste.
Even just tossing in a few necromancy spells in place of some of the more flashbang stuff -- blindness is always fun, along with a spectral hand to deliver the touch of idiocy he hasn't memorised. Replace the magic missiles with rays of enfeeblement, and the lightning bolt with a vampiric touch. Maybe make him a necromancer rather than a vanilla wizard.
Sure it'll cut back on his direct damage and probably his overall lethality compared to magic missle/flaming sphere/lightning bolt, but it improves his flavour a lot.
Actually, I found the FO and his minions were almost too much for the party I am DM'ing, which consists of 8 PC's! Primarily, this was due to the allip, who's wisdom DRAIN (not damage) ability can be incapacitating for a fighter type very quickly.
Also, I noted that though scorching ray is in the FO's spell list, it is NOT in his spellbook, so I substituted Touch of Idiocy. This, couple with the wisdom already drained by the allip, managed to take out the party cleric handily. Also, once the FO had buffed himself, his AC was 24 (25 with dodge), making him difficult to hit. Add a false life in there, to boost his hp's by another ten or so, and he was pretty formidable. His lackies, with their color sprays (grand total of four of them) also managed to clean house pretty well, incapacitating no less than four of the party's heavy hitters. The centipede was a non-factor in our fight.
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i was planning to have his rat deliver the touch of idiocy
It may be AC 17 and have 18 HP, but would you really want that little bundle of 1200 XP getting into melee with it's movement rate of 15' and it's tiny habit of provoking AoO all the time?
As for spell selection how about something like this for less direct damage & more flavour:
Necromancer 6, spell focus (necro) instead of sp.f(evo)
1st (6) -- cause fear, mage armour, prot vs good, ray of enfeeblement x2, shield
2nd (5) -- blindness, Melf's acid arrow (extend), spectral hand, touch of idiocy, web
3rd (4) -- summon monster III x2 (extend), vampiric touch x2
Assuming at least a few rounds warning pre-cast mage armour, protection vs good, shield, spectral hand.
The rest probably depends on how & where the fight occurs, but between the two mooks (colour spray early on), web, cause fear, and summon monster (either 1 big blocker in front of the party, or 1d4+1 flankers around the party wizard/cleric) he's in a fairly good position to control the flow of the first few rounds.
Touch of idiocy & a vampiric touch against spell casters, extended Melf & enfeeble the heavies, blindness & the second vampiric touch for when things start to go wrong.
Blindness, fear, and stat damage are a lot more evocative than magic missiles and flaming spheres -- "I'm blind!" says the cleric, "I'm scared!" says the fighter, "I've got a stick!" says the wizard. But there can always be a few scrolls of direct damage if you actually want to hurt them!
I suspect this would be less lethal than the encounter as given, and also feel more like a battle with a vile minion of Vecna than with a generic wizard.
Also, why does he have a 21 int? even starting with an 18 and getting a powerup at 4, wheres the other 2 points of Int come from? he doesn't have an item that does it....
If the FO's age is over 35 his mental stats will all increase by +2. Of course, his physical stats will all go down by 2 but its easy to pretend this has all been accounted for already.
Cheers,
C.
Necromancer 6, spell focus (necro) instead of sp.f(evo)
1st (6) -- cause fear, mage armour, prot vs good, ray of enfeeblement x2, shield
2nd (5) -- blindness, Melf's acid arrow (extend), spectral hand, touch of idiocy, web
3rd (4) -- summon monster III x2 (extend), vampiric touch x2
At work so I don't have the mod in front of me, but was he given a lesser metamagic rod of extend? An Extended Melf's is actually a 3rd level spell, and extended monster summoning III is a 4th lvl spell without it.
Why make the FO a necromancer? "Too many necromancers spoil the campaign"...the PCs just tangled with Filge in the last adventure, and I'm sure there are more necromancers to come (Kyuss' followers?). And what does being a worshiper of Vecna have to do with necromancy? Vecna is the god of secrets and magic; death and/or undeath isn't in his portfolio.
A evil wizard can be creepy and scary without being a necromancer. It's all in the description, not necessarily what spells he casts.
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At work so I don't have the mod in front of me, but was he given a lesser metamagic rod of extend? An Extended Melf's is actually a 3rd level spell, and extended monster summoning III is a 4th lvl spell without it.
Ummm...
*checks Dungeon*
Yep, page 48, col 1, halfway down: "Possessions dagger, bracers of armor +1, lesser metamagic rod (extend), ..."
So he can extend 3 spells of 1st to 3rd level a day without bumping their level -- 2nd level extended Melfs, and 3rd level extended MS3s.
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And what does being a worshiper of Vecna have to do with necromancy? Vecna is the god of secrets and magic; death and/or undeath isn't in his portfolio.
A evil wizard can be creepy and scary without being a necromancer. It's all in the description, not necessarily what spells he casts.
Whilst you're right the (un)death isn't among him portfolio or domains, it's always been a part of his, for want of a better term, method.
From his own lichdom prior to achieving divinity, through his repeated use of undead as both footsoldiers (back in the day) and lieutenants (Kas, and more recently Complete Divine (the most current official references to Vecna AFAIK) identifies his herald as a lich), to "those who know the secret locations ov Vecna's temples find them to be good sources for death magic..." (C.Div again).
Sure, it's not a given that a follower of Vecna would be a necromancer, but it's probably one of the two most likely specialisations; the spell list I described still feels (to me) far more reasonable than the direct damage (magic missile / flaming sphere / lightning bolt) one given in the adventure.
As for the specifics of the adventure, it felt to me that this was certainly someone with at least a passing familiarty with necromancy; the research being conducted was of the arcane experimentation variety rather than the uncovering lost secrets variety; there was a significant undead creature (the Allip) in immediate proximity; the description of room 27 indicates that he had been performing reanimation experiments.
Of the three Ebon Triad faiths, Vecna's followers are the ones most likely to make any major necromantic contributions to the project.
Lastly, I don't recall implying that a wizard had to be a necromancer in order to be scary, but rather I wanted to say that the head of a sinister cult shouldn't necessarily be a generic wizard with a spell selection that could have come from any one of a thousand other mages, indeed I would have thought a follower of a god of secrecy would have been more inclined to use more subtle spells than flaming spheres and lightning bolts.
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Add a Lurking Strangler, from Whispering Cairn.
It's in the background that this was sent to the cairn by him, but the PCs have no way of ever finding this out.
Having him stroking one on his lap would add to the creep factor. And tie the two chapters together.
I already added more prophecy scrolls to Grallak Kur, which referenced the PCs and their backgrounds. Three divine casters, vs the Ebon Triad, just seemed too good a symmetry to miss.
Also, I noted that though scorching ray is in the FO's spell list, it is NOT in his spellbook...
Throughout the Dungeon Adventure Paths, wizard stat blocks presume that the spells that are prepared are already in the spellbook, in addition to the ones specified as in the book.