Although I'm only in the beginning of RRR, my PCs are a bit overpowered (high stats, almost all of them have Leadership) and I'm really psyched about tuning up the final encounter of VV. They have already met up with the Varnling host and the PC baroness has a secret fling with Maegar, planning to marry him after some courtship in endured by both sides. Also, the mage has a fling with an elven witch (Varnhold's Spymaster that disguises as Lily Teskerton) on the council, etc.
tl;dr: Powerful PCs, want to add the Varnling Host to last encounter for maximum drama.
So I expanded upon the idea of the Four Horsemen (following up on an idea I read on the forums) and decided he would surround himself with a mockery of these deities, made upfrom the valiant people of Varnhold and his dark, dark magic (profane rituals, etc). I need some help fleshing out these ideas and maybe stats.
Spoilered for lenght and general spoilerage (?).
td;dr Vordakai created minions resembling the Four Horsemen from dead/dominated NPCs of the Varnling Host. Help me flesh them out, please.
Szuriel (War) - Originally a black-winged woman with bleeding eyes, she'll be represented by Malena Yakova, Varnhold's Sword of Justice (Royal Executor). [IMC's Varnhold, people charged with grievous crimes may ask for a trial by combat, and this Aldori swordlord has the task of assuring victory.] She fights with 2 Aldori blades and had levels of rogue (with a lot of combat talents, etc). She'll probably be dominated and have giant black wings stitched to her back (Vordakai's magic makes them functional, although the stitching is festering), so if she survives the PCs are in for a really tough decision. She'll probably be the easiest to stat, since I already have a partial sheet (the PC queen dueled with her before).
Apollyon (Pestilence) - "Hulking ram-headed monstrosity" according to Campaign Guide. Probably Willas' (or a cyclops') corpse with a sewn in chimera's ram head. Is there any cool undead with disease/necromancy-related abilities?
Trelmarixian (Famine) - Represented as a Jackal-Headed man, he has the body of Caspar Morgarion with the head of a worg stitched on the human neck. Completely undead (would like some sort of improved bite that deals penalties, etc). No idea on rules, though. Suggestions?
Last but not least;
Charon (Death) - Maegar himself, mounted on a white stallion and wearing a black cloak. Don't know if he's just dominated and powered-up or dead and raised. This is actually an important campaign decision, because the strong-minded PC queen will probably be carrying his child already, and if he dies (IMC there aren't ressurrections aside wish/miracle) the kingdom will probably never have another ruler (it's terribly difficult finding strong men that the queen will respect but that would defer to her rule).
td;dr War is a (winged) half-elf rogue dual-wielding swords, Pestilence is an undead with the head of a ram, Famine is an undead Caspar Morgarion with an worg's head and Death is Maegar Varn on a pale white horse. Need help with stats.
Please PEACH. Also, don't mind spelling errors since English is not my main language.
Looks good. My players just faced down Vordakai last session, wish I had thought of something like this. The fight was pretty one sided in my players favor.
Awesome idea! Spot on the mummy, right CR and everything! I'll just reskin it so the slam becomes a gore attack etc.
About Famine, I thought about simply using a ghoul/ghast, or (that will be kindda strange) a worg vampire. I mean, I would use the stats for a 5-HD worg, adding some of the vampire powers (fast healing, blood drain, DR, resistances) and not some of the others (children of the night, spawn, dominate, gaseous form). He would probably attack with his bite, leaving his target prone and start to grapple on the following round (dealing Cons damage with every sucessful grapple as he feasts on the flesh and blood of the victim).
I also think I'll have Vordakai simply wait and watch the fight with his minions in a "Kill them all" manner (he's extremely arrogant and I don't want to just overwhelm the PCs). He'll just sit there and wait for them to die, only entering the fray when at least 2 of his horsemen have been dealt with (even then he'll keep buffing for one round or two).
i'm expecting my players to easily bounce Vordy around so I've been considering how to buff him up. I really like this idea, and I may end up stealing some of it.
Another possiblity I've considered is that since Vordy USED to be a:
...lvl 20 necromancer specialist lich lord. somewhere along the way he obviously atrophied. But it is logical to assume that he crafted at least a couple/few big nasty magic items along the way. So in my campaign i'm going to give him a staff of some sort. i'm also upgrading some of his spells and tactics with things from Ultimate Magic. I'm leaning towards a Staff of Power, but a Staff of Necromancy might be more appropriate. Or a metamagic rod maybe. he's definately getting a ring of protection or something.
At any rate, that's my thoughts on the matter.
Personally I'd go with these guys...
I love the idea! I hope you wouldn't mind if i incorporated it in my game?
Not at all, please lemme know how it went afterwards! I'm still on the middle of RRR, so maybe I can get some feedback before running the encounter.
With the group running with 4 overpowered players plus 3 cohorts, I think I'll end up using CR 7 monsters/NPCs on this. If I get the time to run around some stats I'll post it here (though I'll warn you guys the people on my Varnling Host are kindda different...).