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I have been messing around with HeroLabs to create a few CR17+ non- monster villians and I have been building them as PCs instead of NPCs. I bought them magic gear based on the wealth a player of that level would have. These Villians would likely be "solo" fights (no minions).
Am I inviting a TPK with this strategy?
Have any of you guys had good results with this?
Any feedback or anecdotes are welcome.
Not really. PC-equivalent wealth is only worth +1 CR.
At that level nearly any solo opponent is going to get swarmed to death by the party unless they get lucky with Initiative and disable someone with a spell or terrain effect first thing in the battle, or have some way to mitigate the action economy limitations.
You're the best judge of what your players can handle. Look over your creations and put yourself in your players' shoes and think about how the combat would go. Tweak (or start over) accordingly.
I will say that the disparity of WBL at high levels may be worth more than just a single +1 CR bump, but then again I don't build NPC's with PC wealth as it screws up treasure distribution (for me). Weigh the bonuses gained by the additional treasure against an additional character level to see how much of an advantage the items are giving the NPC. Good luck!
Several of the final encounters in APs have the BBEG built using PC rules. They typically get a +1 to their CR for that.
So as long as you add the same amount to the CR of your villains, it should work fine :)
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Thanks for the responses. The "PC" villian I made is an assassin 7 / ranger 10 with +5 keen weapons, leather armor of etherealness +5 and magic items like ring of improved climbing, boots of striding, feather fall, spring attack, etc plus insane stealth.
So when I looked at all his good weapons, 4d6 sneak attack, favored enemy bonuses, etc, I kind of thought...omg this guy is too strong, but if he gets swarmed I can see bad things happening for him. The idea / strategy of the villian is to try pick off the PCs individually and that is where I'm worried he might be too much.
Yeah, as a sniper (he should have a ranged weapon if he can afford one) or sneaking up on PC while they're alone/asleep he could do some major damage. Going up against the whole party solo, though, he's toast.
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A foe like what your suggesting for a that is level 17 would be smart enought to never allow himself to fight a group of players alone. By that time, he would have killed thousands of creatures, and be extreemly familar with hunting tactics. By his very build he is a assassin If I were playing him, I would start by dropping hints to the party that there is someone working behind the scenes, supplying the PC's foe's with posions, bane arrows or general knowledge, all from the shadows. Then start posioning their meals. Make a deal with a hag to interupt their sleep. Wear them down. He needs some way to be immune to magical tracking. Shadow them, he would need some sort of way to quickly slip away from combat when it was going bad for him. This is allmost a epic level character. Get creative. Invisibility won't cut it and nither will flight, something to allow teleports or planeshifts. A foe like this should only attack when the players are weak, alone and tired. He is a hunter, he should know how to single out his prey and pick off the weakest one at a time.
If I were going to use him as the BBEG, I would figure out some way to at least mitigate the PC's major attacks for one round, and then give him some sort of teleportation/plane shift escape plan. That way he can hit, do a ton of damage (maybe even a kill, after all death isn't real permanent at this level) and get the heck out of there. Rinse and repeat. Preferably while the PCs are engaged with another foe or camping etc. Otherwise I'd use him as a henchman, do the same, and then let the PCs whack him when they get to the BBEG, as he stands with his master etc. Good luck! Sounds like a good villain to me. PCs LOVE it when they get to take this kind of villain down in the end.
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Thanks again for everyone's help. Here is the full stat block pasted from HeroLabs...and yes...he's basically an evil Drizzt...but I am doing a Darklands campaign.
Izztyrr Baenath
Male Drow, Noble Assassin 7 Ranger (Skirmisher) 10
CE Medium Humanoid (elf)
Init +8; Senses Darkvision, Low-Light Vision; Perception +22
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Defense
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AC 30, touch 22, flat-footed 23 (+7 armor, +1 shield, +6 Dex, +5 deflection, +1 dodge)
hp 173 (10d10+7d8+17)
Fort +15, Ref +22, Will +10
Defensive Abilities Evasion, Improved Uncanny Dodge (Lv >=11); Immune sleep; Resist +3 Save Bonus against Poison, Elven Immunities; SR 28
Weakness Light Blindness
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Offense
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Speed 40 ft.
Melee Dreadfrost - Keen Shortsword +24/+19/+14 (1d6+7/17-20/x2) and
Nightfall - Dagger +24/+19 (1d4+7/19-20/x2)
Ranged +3 Crossbow, Hand +24/+19/+14 (1d4+3/19-20/x2)
Special Attacks Death Attack (DC 21), Sneak Attack +4d6
Spell-Like Abilities Dancing Lights (At will), Deeper Darkness (At will), Detect Magic (Constant), Dispel Magic (1/day), Divine Favor (1/day), Faerie Fire (At will), Featherfall (At will), Levitate (At will), Suggestion (1/day)
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Statistics
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Str 14, Dex 22, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 11, Cha 12
Base Atk +15; CMB +17; CMD 39
Feats Assassin Weapon Proficiencies, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Double Slice, Endurance, Improved Two-weapon Fighting, Mobility, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Spring Attack, Two-weapon Defense, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse
Traits Magical Talent (Detect Poison) (1/day) (Sp), Warrior of Old
Skills Acrobatics +26, Bluff +9, Climb +20, Disable Device +28, Disguise +9, Escape Artist +26, Handle Animal +5, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +17, Knowledge (geography) +12, Knowledge (local) +6, Knowledge (nature) +15, Perception +22, Ride +10, Sense Motive +8, Sleight of Hand +14, Stealth +26, Survival +20, Swim +15, Use Magic Device +6
Languages Common, Drow Sign Language, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, Undercommon
SQ Animal Companion Link, Enemies: Humanoids (Dwarf) (+2 bonus), Enemies: Humanoids (Elf) (+2 bonus), Enemies: Humanoids (Human) (+6 bonus), Hidden Weapons +7, Hide in Plain Sight, Hunter's Trick: Chameleon Step, Hunter's Trick: Quick Climb, Hunter's Trick: Skill Sage, Hunter's Tricks (5/day), Poison Use, Poison Use, Quiet Death, Share Spells with Companion, Swift Tracker, Terrains: Underground (+4 bonus), Terrains: Urban (+2 bonus), Track +5, True Death (DC 22), Wild Empathy +11, Woodland Stride
Combat Gear +2 Frost Cold Iron Bolts, Crossbow (50), +3 Crossbow, Hand, +5 Etherealness Leather, Dreadfrost - Keen Shortsword, Nightfall - Dagger; Other Gear Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location, Bag of Holding I (20 @ 47.2 lbs), Blue Priest (5), Boots of Striding and Springing, Cloak of Resistance, +5, Glarecutter Goggles, Poison, Drow Poison (10), Poison, Hag Spit (10), Potion of Cure Serious Wounds (2), Potion of Remove Disease (2), Potion of Restoration, Lesser, Pouch, belt (empty), Rations, trail (per day) (10), Ring of Climbing, Improved, Ring of Protection, +5, Rope, Spider Silk (50'), Thieves' tools, masterwork, Waterskin
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Special Abilities
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+3 Save Bonus against Poison +3 bonus to saves vs Poison.
Animal Companion Link (Ex) You have a link with your Animal Companion.
Blind-Fight Re-roll misses because of concealment, other benefits.
Dancing Lights (At will) (Sp) Cast Dancing Lights at will.
Darkvision (120 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Death Attack (DC 21) (Ex) You can kill or render a target helpless for 1d6+7 rounds with a prepared sneak attack.
Deeper Darkness (At will) (Sp) Cast Deeper Darkness at will.
Detect Magic (Constant) (Sp) Constant Detect Magic
Dispel Magic (1/day) (Sp) Cast Dispel Magic once per day.
Divine Favor (1/day) (Sp) Cast Divine Favor once per day.
Drow Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Elven Immunities +2 save bonus vs Enchantments.
Endurance +4 to a variety of skill checks. Sleep in L/M armor with no fatigue.
Enemies: Humanoids (Dwarf) (+2 bonus) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Humanoids (Dwarf).
Enemies: Humanoids (Elf) (+2 bonus) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Humanoids (Elf).
Enemies: Humanoids (Human) (+6 bonus) (Ex) +6 to rolls vs Humanoids (Human).
Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead.
Faerie Fire (At will) (Sp) Cast Faerie Fire at will.
Featherfall (At will) (Sp) Cast Faerie Fire at will.
Hidden Weapons +7 (Ex) You gain +7 to Sleight of Hand checks made to hide weapons on your person.
Hide in Plain Sight (Su) You can use Stealth even while observed, as long as there is a shadow within 10'
Hunter's Trick: Chameleon Step (Ex) The ranger can move up to twice his speed as a move action. The ranger does not take any penalty on Stealth checks for movement during this move. This move provokes attacks of opportunity as normal.
Hunter's Trick: Quick Climb (Ex) The ranger can climb at his full speed as a move action without penalty.
Hunter's Trick: Skill Sage (Ex) As a free action, the ranger can roll twice on any one skill check and take the better result. He must have at least 1 rank in that skill to use this ability.
Hunter's Tricks (5/day) (Ex) Various tricks.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Lv >=11) (Ex) Retain DEX bonus to AC when flat-footed. You cannot be flanked unless the attacker is Level 11+.
Levitate (At will) (Sp) Cast Levitate at will.
Light Blindness (Ex) Blinded for 1r in bright light, dazzled as long as they remain in it.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Magical Talent (Detect Poison) (1/day) (Sp) Choose one 0-level spell - it becomes a 1/day spell-like ability for you.
Mobility +4 to AC against some attacks of opportunity.
Point Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Poison Use You don't accidentally poison yourself with blades.
Poison Use (Ex) You do not risk poisoning yourself accidentally while poisoning a weapon.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into combat.
Quick Draw Draw a weapon as a free action. Throw at full rate of attacks.
Quiet Death (Ex) If you kill a target with your death attack during a surprise round, you can make an Opposed Stealth vs. Perception check to avoid it being noticed.
Share Spells with Companion (Ex) Spells cast on you can also affect your Companion, if it's within 5 feet.
Sneak Attack +4d6 +4d6 damage if you flank your target or your target is flat-footed.
Spell Resistance (28) You have Spell Resistance.
Spring Attack You can move - attack - move when attacking with a melee weapon.
Suggestion (1/day) (Sp) Cast Suggestion once per day.
Swift Tracker (Ex) Tracking penalties when moving at normal speed or faster are reduced.
Terrains: Underground (+4 bonus) (Ex) +4 to rolls vs Underground.
Terrains: Urban (+2 bonus) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Urban.
Track +5 +5 to survival checks to track.
True Death (DC 22) (Su) Casting Raise Dead on a victim of your death attack requires a successful DC 22 caster level check.
Two-weapon Defense +1 to AC while wielding 2 weapons. +2 when doing so defensively.
Wild Empathy +11 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.
Woodland Stride (Ex) Move through undergrowth at normal speed.
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In Drow speech, Izztyrr Baenath means "Masked Poisoner, Blessed by the Dragons".
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Oh yea... traps! There's no reason why a character of that skill woulden't want to use his favored terrain. Pick something like underground, and make it a death-house. Use innocent's to force hard decisons on the players. Like Jigsaw from Saw. Sure, the players can use spells to save the maiden, but thats one less spell they have vs the assassin.
A cool idea, is that he could have use magic device. Use a scroll of Mage's Magnificen Mansion and trap a player and the hunter inside of it. The door closes when the caster walks in and seals off the group from the straggler. Now the mansion becomes a hunting ground.
Guards and Wards inside of the hunting ground. Fog + traps + sneak attack and hidden doors. Its deadly. Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting you kill the players, but make the experience epic. You need some way to limit travel out of the space. Perhaps diminsonal anchor.
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buy a bunch of Greater Slaying Arrows Fort save of 23. Strike from Shadows shooting at the mage. Theres no way that he will be able to save on 3 fort rolls of a 23. (death at this level is usually a temp setback.) then slip away, make sure you have haste active. Also, I think your stealth is a bit low, try to find some way to up it or make sure you are attacking from max range. I would get some potions of barkskin for Nat Armor AC. And perhaps a Ioun stone to absorb spells cast at you. It looks like you went DW route. Personnally I would not, I would stick with Ranged for your BBEG. This is all part of the end game though. If it was me, I would have him pick away at the characters for weeks or even months, learning their weakness, and burning down their resources. Where do they keep their gold? Steal it if its not secure. Do they have a family? He kills them first. Followers? Dead. Everything your PC's hold dear he goes after, and makes then insane with hatred towards him. Anything so they are not thinking clearly. This is how he wins. I know it sounds crazy, but my though is that by this level and also as a drow, he has had years to think of these types of things. You don't live this long as a Drow if you dont.
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Speaking of resources, its not just material worth. With the options at hand, there is no reason why he could not start to impersonate the PC's and have them do horrible things, and force them to become wanted by the law, and turn them from "hero's" to "outcasts". If you have a player that is a Paladin then force him into situatons were he has to choose between the law and goodness. I am sure you can think of ways that he cannot choose both. Wrack your players with guilt. Its different when the players are so high level they can cast limited wish and travel the planes, but everyone has a family and a home...
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As far as stealth goes, it's maxed (with 17 ranks) unless I give him some other stuff, but his armor allows him to move in the ethereal plane with no time limit once per day. I still like the melee idea for him since it is part of his backstory/assassins code (he likes too look his victims in the eyes "up close" before taking them down.
A very basic melee strategy is:
1. step out of the ethereal plane* or stealth
2. Spring attack/ unload massive melee damage / spring away (no op attacks)
3. *Step back into ethereal plane if not used for the day, jump off building (feather fall (at will), cast Deeper Darkness, etc.
Also...yes he will be picking off family members/ hirelings first. He even has a little token he leaves behind. Kind of like Zorro's "Z" in order to taunt the PCs.
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Not really. A level 15 Elf Wizard would certainly already have Spell Penetration, and maybe also GSP; that means a caster level check of 21+1d20. And against the wizard's chosen Perfect Spell (again, level 15), that's actually 25+1d20; all in all not reliable.
Also, there are good spells that ignore SR altogether.
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As I look at it, I don't see anything that's particularly deadly for its level. You might be able to take on PCs one at a time, with Surprise, but certainly not multiple PCs; your AC isn't all that high, you don't have the kind of HP expected from a CR 17 enemy, and your saves and SR aren't that high either. You don't even have Improved Initiative. And why no Rapid Shot?
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So if you catch one PC alone, maybe you can kill him. Easier on unprepared casters than on combat types. Of course, you don't have the kind of spellcasting to infiltrate a properly fortified wizard's lair, so catching them by surprise won't be easy, since around that level wizards can bypass ambushes with Teleport.
And is killing off PCs one by one really the game you want to play? Either the combats are short and brutal, and the players feel like you're executing them by GM fiat, or they're dragged-out things that take a long time with the other players sitting around twiddling thumbs.
Assassination has good story potential, but the game potential is poor.
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His will save is only 10, but he has a Spell Resistance of 28. Wouldn't that mitigate that a bit?
If you want to make him more frightening relatively easily, switch Str and Wis (for +2 Will Save), then make his weapons Agile (adding Dex instead of Str to damage), and replace his armor with a Mithral Chain Shirt. Maybe grab a Belt of Dex while you're at it. And definitely grab an Amulet of Natual Armor, too. Maybe a Headband of Wisdom to boost Will Saves as well.
Doing all this really ups his AC (by +4 or so for relatively cheap with minimal rearrangement)...though you might go even more than that with a judicious Wand or two (Wands of Shield are great for this), and likewise raises his damage a decent amount. And boosts his Will Save a decent amount (though if facing 15th level PCs I might still grab Iron Will instead of, say, Blind Fight).
And, for reference, I'd peg a level 17 Drow Noble as CR 18. Drow Noble is definitely worth a CR on it's own.
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@Cel, Ascalaphus and deadman. This helps so much! I have had zero experience with the super high level stuff do all your advice (and all the previous posters) really help. I certainly don't want to kill off my PCs, but I want them to hate this guy and ultimately take him down...I certainly don't want him to open with a fancy attack and then get pwned either.
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I was afraid I came across as unfriendly in my previous post; didn't mean to do that, but it was getting late.
Anyway, the concept of Evil Drizzt isn't bad, but like I said, assassins (and snipers and all that) are difficult to implement in a game in a fun way.
The whole point of assassination is to attack someone in such a totally asymmetric way that the target has no chance to survive the attack. Surprise, overwhelmingly deadly attacks, speed, disguise, long-range, wall-penetrating bullets (Shadowrun fan here) are all ways to do that.
That's a nice concept in theory, and it can be great in a movie or novel, but in an RPG it doesn't work the same. See, in an RPG, the audience and the actors are the same thing. If you kill a PC, then you've eliminated part of the audience. Also, if you spend a whole lot of time on a fight with one PC alone, then the other actors/audience are just waiting.
Consider how this might go. He isolates one PC and fights the PC. Three possibilities:
A) He kills the PC. Now the other PCs probably don't really know what happened, but have to raise the PC, and perhaps some of the PC's (oh so valuable, in a WBL based game) gear is gone.
B) He gets killed by the PC in single combat. While that PC's player may feel really badass for doing it alone, it can be a bit of an anticlimax for the other PCs.
C) He can't kill the PC fast enough and either he or the PC retreats (perhaps teleporting). This is actually the best outcome.
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RPGs are best when all the players are involved in the action; that generally means all PCs can undertake meaningful actions and communicate with each other. In modern era games that's easy, with cell phones or fancier communication gear. In fantasy campaigns, at some point long-range telepathic communication may also enable the PCs to work together without being in the same room, but it's much much harder.
So how about putting a spin on it: the assassin isn't after the PCs. He's not targeting them, he may even respect them and want to avoid killing them.
BUT! He's going to assassinate a series of important NPCs. Maybe the Council of Mages/Clerics that can keep out the Demon Lord that wants to invade. NPCs that the party considers important and want to keep alive. So the party needs to catch the assassin and stop him before he completes his serial assassination.
And now you can let the PCs play together (which is more enjoyable), to try to catch an elusive badass assassin (which should be really hard).
So how could you build this up? First he kills two people on the Council of Important NPCs. This is the warning shot. PC investigation and divination shows that this is the start of an attempt to kill all of them. Meanwhile the Council has important duties to attend to; maybe political intrigue electing new members, a coronation ceremony they want to go off without a hitch, and Performing The Ritual Of Keeping Out The Demon Lord. While they may be powerful, they need help protecting themselves, and that's where the PCs come in.
So now you run some encounters where it's a cat and mouse game with AntiDrizzt and the PCs; they try to predict where he'll strike next, and he'll try to kill the NPC and get away without getting caught. He's going to need impressive getaway and disguise powers for this. The Council has appointments to keep, so they're somewhat predictable. This helps the PCs in predicting when and where attacks may come.
The big difficulty here will be in setting up encounters where AD will get away even if confronted. If the PCs can prevent him from carrying out a particular attack on a Councillor, even if they can't kill AD, that should be a partial victory. After all, AD has to succeed before the Demon Lord is completely banished again, so he's on a deadline too. But as long as he isn't dead, nobody's safe.
AD should use misdirection, distractions by allies and all that to try to outmaneuver the PCs. That's all well within the capabilities of a drow noble.
Eventually, you lead things up to the point where AD has just one chance left to kill a quorum of the Council; if he succeeds at killing a few more of them, he wins, but otherwise he loses. And the PCs have figured that out by this point, so they know this'll be the decisive battle. That'll be the time when AD isn't going to truly withdraw if he loses the advantage (although he might Dimension Door out to circle around and attack from another side). Eventually his fanaticism proves to be his downfall.
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The second part is stats of course. Now, I'm not experienced in high-level play, but I can see some problem spots. They should be fixable. Now that the party is probably facing him collectively, you can also be a bit more generous in terms of how powerful he is vs. the party.
* He needs getaway powers. These need to be pretty good, because people will use Dimensional Anchor on him. Bonus points if the getaway power takes only a Swift or Immediate action, otherwise you might not live long enough to use it after your initial attack.
* He needs superior vision. The Light Blindness will be catastrophic if someone casts Daylight. Get him experimental eye surgery to overcome it. It's just too much of a liability. He needs some sort of blindsense/blindsight. Actually, that combined with Deeper Darkness should give him a useful tactical advantage.
* He needs to be protected against one-shot attacks, like a level 10 barbarian RagePouncing him (Beast Totem) to death in a single full-round action. I'm not sure how to do this, but his AC 30 isn't sufficient for it. (Actually, Antimagic Field should block the Pounce.)
* He needs to be protected from save-or-die magics, because doing that on the first round of an "Epic Battle" is very anticlimactic. Antimagic Field sounds good again. No magic in a 10ft radius around you. Almost all Ranger powers are Extraordinary, so he'd lose very little compared to almost every other class.
* He needs a way to improve his action economy versus the party. 4-5 PCs take so many more actions than a single NPC BBEG, it's hopeless. So you need spammable flunkies to divide PC attention and prevent them from throwing everything at you. Nice side effect if you combine it with AMF: the casters still get to do useful things, clearing the way for warriors, just not one-shotting the BBEG. Basically what you need is some sort of PokeBalls he can throw outside the AMF that then do Summon Monster effects.
* If you're using blindsense/blindsight, then gas cloud attacks are very useful too; they require specialized abilities to look through, so they block a lot of lines of sight for casters.
* His saving throws just aren't good enough right now. I think the Assassin PrC isn't doing you any favors regarding both BAB and Saves. More Ranger levels might make you a better assassin than a few sneak attacks. Getting a few more ranger bonus feats and maybe some Critical feats might work better.
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@Ascaphalus:
Antimagic Field is actually a very bad idea due to stopping all his nifty magical AC enhancers from working. the highest AC he's likely to have without magic is 22 or so. even without magic of their own, that's way too fragile vs, well, and combat oriented PC you'd care to name. They'll almost auto-hit on raw BAB. AMF also gets rid of summoned creatures, just FYI.
Perhaps a Wish that's rendered him (and only him, not any items) permanently immune to all arcane magic? Or vastly increased his SR? Obviously with some nasty side effects if you want to go that route. Alternately, drop some (say 2-4 levels) of Ranger for Antipaladin, jack Charisma up (easy enough) and have Saves that are nearly unassailable.
I agree with all your general points to some degree. He needs better survivability and evasion options to be truly viable. That siad, with some improved Saves, his SR 28 is actualy high enough to give PC magic users some trouble, and targeting spellcasters should be first on the itinerary for this kind of guy.
Light Blindness can be solved with this lovely item, albeit somewhat expensively.
Personally, I'd max his UMD, and supplement his mundane skills with various wands and scrolls. I mean, just Shield and Mirror Image (at even relatively low caster levels) increase his survivability enormously, as do various potions and other effects.
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AMF is a bit of a gamble yeah. I think on the whole, if you build for it, you can lose less than enemies not counting on it. You need a pretty specialized build for it though.
I dunno, man. 0-HD Humanoids just don't have enough HP for their CR already, and don't have too many non-magical ways to increase AC to anything remotely approaching CR-appropriateness. Barring a few very specific and specialized builds (an Invulnerable Rager Barbarian, for example) of which this clearly isn't one, I just don't see it as being a viable option.
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Well, if you're going to assassinate a wizard, surprising him with AMF is probably going to assure victory. I mean, he's depending almost completely on magic to protect him. You might have some trouble with golems along the way, but that's what Stealth is for; I don't think golems are all that attentive. Ideally you drop on the wizard and execute him in 1-2 rounds, then leave before anyone else shows up.
For an assassin, I think having the option of turning off the magic for everyone is invaluable. If you're hired to assassinate a demon (not absurd for a level 17 drow), then AMF turns off most of the demon's abilities AND defenses, making it easy prey. Magical wards? Walk right through. Enemies who get most of their AC/miss chance from magic? They die quickly.
Rangers have very few magical abilities; in general, a ranger loses less in combat without magic than most classes. Paladins are only a mediocre fighter without Supernatural and Spell-Like abilities. Clerics and wizards are practically naked. Only fighters and barbarians, and maybe rogues, still fight at your level.
So it should definitely be a matter of on/off AMF; you want to turn it off in order to teleport away after completing the assassination.
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Let's extend this idea to a more general one: you need plans for different enemies. You don't assassinate a wizard the same way you assassinate a fighter or rogue. Outsiders or dragons require special tactics too.
So confronting multiple classes at the same time is bad. You should avoid that. It'll be the job of the PCs to force a confrontation with the whole party, the assassin doesn't want that.
The assassin needs to have the strategic initiative. He needs to know which targets will be where, when, and defended how. He wants to be the one who decides when fights happen; if he can't do that, he can't be better prepared than the target.
So the assassin needs to have a hideaway, and he needs better information than his enemies. If enemies can't seek him out to confront him, he can choose all the fights to his advantage. If he can spy on his enemies, he knows when to strike.
And here we come to a major weakness of this character: he's not a caster. It's not really doable for a ranger to:
- block all scrying against him
- hide his home
- travel to and fro his home without being followed
- find out where his enemies are
- find out how his enemies are set up, with regard to defenses and such
- stop enemies sending summoned monsters at you in your sleep
Because his opponents will probably be using divination and abjuration magic. It's like having a cave bear fight a sniper with spy planes. If you can ever close in you'll be deadly, but the enemy has much better information than you do and is better at range.
That's an issue in Pathfinder: at higher levels, non-casters just aren't independent anymore. They can't travel the planes, scry, block scrying, deal with severe conditions etcetera without either ginormous gear expenditure or help from someone else. You can do the gear, but it'll be fairly inflexible, dealing with any new problem takes time because you have to acquire new gear.
So such an assassin would require a backer who can deal with these things; someone who can shelter him and provide him with information on his targets.
Thought: Maybe that's why drow society is often ruled by clerics?
As suggested by others, he cant do it alone, Assassins never work alone if there any good really, they are hired by someone to kill someone else, often someone who could do it themselves, but doesn't want to get there hands dirty, perhaps for political reasons, maybe they want a royal killed, because they are next in line, if they do it themselves, they certainly are not going to be welcomed in as the new royal for example. Or at least not in some civilizations. :) He is an Assassin. Killing is his profession, who hired him? Most likely if they can afford him (considering his experience), they can provide him with help avoiding detection etc.
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Wow. All of this information is great. I rebuilt my assassin using a lot of the ideas you all posted. One thing to note. There are NO arcane casters in the group. The group consists of a sniper rogue, a rogue/gunslinger and a monk tank. It's a thieves world style campaign and everyone is evil. They've been doing well with no healer and are usually stocked up with healing potions.
In that case this guy is going to be a definite challenge, and a thematic one at that. Lots of Spy Vs Spy going on in here. I like.
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Yes there is magic, but my players are so shooty shooty stabby stabby, I don't see them doing scrying etc, but I could be wrong. Hey...I do want them to win, I just don't want my BBEG to go down like a sack of potatoes. At the same time I don't want him walking around with a batman utility belt of escapes, etc..
Ultimately I want him to harass them (not kill them individually, maybe just there hirelings, etc.---build up tension
I guess I want him to be a melee monster. Maybe I should drop some assassin levels, take some more ranger and a level of barbarian for rage? Grab some multi attack stuff like great cleave and whirlwind?
He's wielding two +5 keen cold iron blades. Crits!
He's not the campaign end boss, just a troublemaker along the way.
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I'm not very impressed with the assassin class. Sneak Attack isn't easy to set up as a solo operative. Ranger has better BAB, saves and HP. With that BAB you can do a little bit more Power Attack and a bit more iterative attack, which might make up for the loss of occasional sneak attack. Higher BAB would also allow you to access nastier critical feats, like Stunning Critical (BAB 17!).
Whirlwind or Cleave does seem useful as a way to fix action economy, and they have synergy with Critical fighting styles. However, it doesn't combine so well with TWF.
You should consider the Stunning Critical feat. It's a serious (3) feat investment, but works with the keen scimitars. Anyone you hit is either stunned or staggered for 1d4 rounds. Staggered creatures don't make full attacks, so that's a clear win in action economy. Combine with Whirlwind for extra shenanigans.
Get your UMD up a bit too - if custom items are allowed, a UMD-boosting item is useful. Also make a lot of customized magic gadgets that'll allow "weird stuff happens". An *item* of quickened summon monster or *quickened* *illusion* can make the players confused.
There are a LOT of useful buffs that can be activated with UMD'ing wands and scrolls.
Fly
Extended Silence (oh yeah, this one is GOOD if you can close with a caster)
Mirror Image
Shield
See invisibility
Invisibility
Dimension Door
Also, reconsider magic talent. Detect poison isn't worth it. At least make it detect magic! xD
Try not to be a Drizzt but rather a Jarlaxle.
Also, don't let them know anything about their foe more than that it exists. The one major thing he's got going for himself is them not knowing what and when he'll do something.
Don't let the players know he's the big bad. Let them think he's just a henchman of some sort - make an obvious "big bad" that is really just a puppet - a lich might be good, or a half-dragon sorcerer. It should be big and classical so they immediately think "that's the big bad".
The main issue I see with this character is poor defenses - and I just don't mean statwise. For an assassin character to work, it needs to constantly try but fail at removing the PC's - while this is true for all BBEGs, most others use minions that die in the process. This guy's up personal, and so you must make sure he can escape every time. He should ALWAYS have a great plan - and a plan B and a plan C, in addition to being good at improvising.
Also, as Ascalaphus said, reconsider the assassin class. In many respects, it's like a worse Rogue - and rogue doesn't need to get worse. Consider changing it for Ninja (to keep SA and get more magic tricks up your sleeve) or maybe even some kind of archetyped monk (great defensive and good maneuverability). Alternatively, you can play up the Jarlaxle approach I recommended earler and go with Alchemist for magic fun and bombs.
Or as ascalaphus said, go straight ranger.
In addition, consider additional homebrewed mundane gear. The biggest drawbacks of this character in an encounter is action economy and getting swarmed - so something that helps disorganize/disable the PC's even for a single turn would do wonders.
Apart from before-mentioned quickened spells, consider something like a smokestick launcher built into the hand crossbow, launching a smokestick freely when you attack with it (but taking a standard action to reload). It would be an additonal little edge against them to sew confusion, and would also be cool loot for them if they manage to get their hands on it.
And traps. Not necessarily unmanned traps that they stumble upon in his lair, but more setting up the scene when he attacks. His first action could be pulling a lever that opens up the ground to a pool of lava, forcing reflex saves to jump to the closest side - both risking killing a player or two and separating the party.
Consider swapping Assassin for Vivisectionist Alchemist.
You loose:
Death attack, true death, quiet death, hidden weapons, uncanny dodge, improved uncanny dodge (okay the last two are pretty good but the rest are kinda "meh")
You gain:
+3 to fort saves (+1 extra against poison), brew potion, mutagen, swift alchemy, two discoveries, throw anything, and 5/4/2 1st/2nd/3rd level extracts per day.
I think Alchemist is a clear winner here. For discoveries I'd consider Bleeding Attack, Enhance Potion, Spontaneous Healing and Sticky Poison. Sticky poison is particularly nasty! Personally I'd pick enhance potion and sticky poison.
EDIT: If I remember correctly, it has been ruled that you can use spell trigger items without UMD if you have them on your formulae list (but not spell completion items). Can't find the ruling, but I'm pretty sure of it... Regardless, you're the DM!
This would mean alchemist is even nicer as a lot of good spells show up as formulae and can then be used with a wand. For example shield, disguise self, jump, ablative barrier, acute senses, greater animal aspect, spider climb and so on. A lot to choose of, both for preparation, potion brewing and wand buying. And since you have the brew potion feat, they're cheap too!
We'd love an update when it's done ;)
oh, and the feats don't really mesh well either. Two-weapon defense is pretty bad (improved init a MUCH better). The spring attack line meshes badly with two-weapon fighting - either go for a two-hander and spring attack or drop spring attack for something else I'd say.
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@stringburka, Ascaphalus, etc.
URBAN RANGER archetype -I went with a balance of melee and ranged feats and augmented his abilities with magical items. I like that Drow have a weaker con and strength, so 2 of his magic items give him a boost almost like Elric's "Stormbringer". He needs the sword to not be a weakling.
His "keen" +5 cold iron shortsword is criting on a 15 and his offhand is a + 5 "Vorpal" adamantine dagger.
He will open with +5 adamantine crossbow bolts covered in "hag spit" poison to hopefully blind people and then hack and slash (on full round attacks) with 1 "keen" mainland and 3 offhand attacks - greater two-weapon fighting (w/ "vorpal" effect on nat 20s - 3 chances per round!). I tried to make sure he has some self healing and balanced Saves as well.
I spent about 500k on gear which is a little above his level, but he is a boss.
The flavor of the character is melee dual wield "Evil Drizzt" as I said before (i have an awesome mini for him already to go!)
With Greater Darkness, levitate, feather fall and an Additional +8 attack and damage against humans, i think he's better than the first version i posted - so dumping assassin seemed to really help. He still has some nice "thief things".
Favored Community (Absalom) (+2 bonus) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Commuity (Specify).
Favored Community (Katapesh) (+4 bonus) (Ex) +4 to rolls vs Commuity (Specify).
Favored Community (Zirnakaynin) (+4 bonus) (Ex) +4 to rolls vs Commuity (Specify).
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Male Drow, Noble Ranger (Urban Ranger) 17
CE Medium Humanoid (elf)
Init +12; Senses Darkvision, Low-Light Vision; Perception +26
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Defense
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AC 35, touch 21, flat-footed 29 (+9 armor, +6 Dex, +5 natural, +5 deflection)
hp 255 (17d10+85)
Fort +20, Ref +21, Will +16
Defensive Abilities Evasion, Improved Evasion; Immune sleep; Resist Elven Immunities; SR 28
Weakness Light Blindness
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft., Push Through
Melee +5 Keen Cold Iron Shortsword +26/+21/+16/+11 (1d6+10/15-20/x2) and
+5 Vorpal Adamantine Dagger +26/+21/+16 (1d4+10/19-20/x2)
Ranged +5 Crossbow, Hand +28/+23/+18/+13 (1d4+5/19-20/x2)
Spell-Like Abilities Dancing Lights (At will), Deeper Darkness (At will), Detect Magic (Constant), Dispel Magic (1/day), Divine Favor (1/day), Faerie Fire (At will), Featherfall (At will), Invisibility Trick (4/day), Levitate (At will), Suggestion (1/day)
Ranger (Urban Ranger) Spells Prepared (CL 14, 22 melee touch, 23 ranged touch):
4 (2/day) Cure Serious Wounds (DC 18), Find Quarry
3 (3/day) Remove Disease (DC 17), Neutralize Poison (DC 17), Cure Moderate Wounds (DC 17)
2 (4/day) Snare (x2), Cure Light Wounds (x2) (DC 16)
1 (5/day) Blend (x3), Residual Tracking (x2)
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Statistics
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Str 14/20, Dex 22, Con 12/18, Int 12, Wis 18, Cha 12
Base Atk +17; CMB +22; CMD 43
Feats Double Slice, Greater Two-weapon Fighting, Improved Critical (Shortsword), Improved Initiative, Improved Two-weapon Fighting, Iron Will, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid Shot, Toughness +17, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse
Traits Resilient, Warrior of Old
Skills Acrobatics +23, Climb +25, Disable Device +29, Escape Artist +11, Heal +8, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +9, Knowledge (geography) +9, Knowledge (local) +9, Knowledge (nature) +6, Knowledge (nobility) +2, Knowledge (religion) +2, Perception +26, Ride +10, Sleight of Hand +7, Spellcraft +5, Stealth +26, Survival +24, Swim +13
Languages Drow Sign Language, Elven, Undercommon
SQ Blend In, Camouflage, Enemies: Humanoids (Dwarf) (+2 bonus), Enemies: Humanoids (Elf) (+2 bonus), Enemies: Humanoids (Gnome) (+2 bonus), Enemies: Humanoids (Human) (+8 bonus), Favored Community (Absalom) (+2 bonus), Favored Community (Katapesh) (+4 bonus), Favored Community (Zirnakaynin) (+4 bonus), Hunting Companions (4 rounds), Poison Use, Quarry, Ring of Sustenance, Swift Tracker, Track +8, Trapfinding +8, Wild Empathy +18
Combat Gear +5 Adamantine Bolts, Crossbow (10), +5 Crossbow, Hand, +5 Keen Cold Iron Shortsword, +5 Mithral Chain Shirt, +5 Vorpal Adamantine Dagger; Other Gear Amulet of Natural Armor +5, Bag of Holding I (2 @ 175.56 lbs), Belt of Physical Might, STR & CON +6, Cloak of Resistance, +5, Flint and steel, Poison, Hag Spit (10), Pouch, belt (11 @ 0 lbs), Ring of Protection, +5, Ring of Sustenance, Thieves' tools, masterwork, Waterskin
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Special Abilities
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Blend In (Ex) Stealth can replace Disguise within a favored community for the purpose of blending into a crowd.
Camouflage (Ex) Can use the Stealth skill in favored terrain, even without cover/concealment.
Dancing Lights (At will) (Sp) Cast Dancing Lights at will.
Darkvision (120 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Deeper Darkness (At will) (Sp) Cast Deeper Darkness at will.
Detect Magic (Constant) (Sp) Constant Detect Magic
Dispel Magic (1/day) (Sp) Cast Dispel Magic once per day.
Divine Favor (1/day) (Sp) Cast Divine Favor once per day.
Drow Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Elven Immunities +2 save bonus vs Enchantments.
Enemies: Humanoids (Dwarf) (+2 bonus) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Humanoids (Dwarf).
Enemies: Humanoids (Elf) (+2 bonus) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Humanoids (Elf).
Enemies: Humanoids (Gnome) (+2 bonus) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Humanoids (Gnome).
Enemies: Humanoids (Human) (+8 bonus) (Ex) +8 to rolls vs Humanoids (Human).
Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead.
Faerie Fire (At will) (Sp) Cast Faerie Fire at will.
Favored Community (Absalom) (+2 bonus) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Commuity (Specify).
Favored Community (Katapesh) (+4 bonus) (Ex) +4 to rolls vs Commuity (Specify).
Favored Community (Zirnakaynin) (+4 bonus) (Ex) +4 to rolls vs Commuity (Specify).
Featherfall (At will) (Sp) Cast Faerie Fire at will.
Hunting Companions (4 rounds) (Ex) Grant half favored enemy bonus to allies within 30' as move action.
Improved Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead. If you fail you take half damage.
Invisibility Trick (4/day) (Sp) Invisibility as a spell-like ability.
Levitate (At will) (Sp) Cast Levitate at will.
Light Blindness (Ex) Blinded for 1r in bright light, dazzled as long as they remain in it.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Point Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Poison Use (Ex) You do not risk poisoning yourself accidentally while poisoning a weapon.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into combat.
Push Through (Ex) Not slowed by difficult terrain within a favored community, and may move through citizen's spaces as allies.
Quarry +2 to hit and other bonuses against your designated quarry.
Quick Draw Draw a weapon as a free action. Throw at full rate of attacks.
Rapid Shot You get an extra attack with ranged weapons. Each attack is at -2.
Ring of Sustenance This ring continually provides its wearer with life-sustaining nourishment. The ring also refreshes the body and mind, so that its wearer needs only sleep 2 hours per day to gain the benefit of 8 hours of sleep. The ring must be worn for a full week before it begins to work. If it is removed, the owner must wear it for another week to reattune it to himself.
Faint conjuration; CL 5th; Forge Ring, create food and water; Price 2,500 gp.
Spell Resistance (28) You have Spell Resistance.
Suggestion (1/day) (Sp) Cast Suggestion once per day.
Swift Tracker (Ex) Tracking penalties when moving at normal speed or faster are reduced.
Track +8 +8 to survival checks to track.
Trapfinding +8 +8 to find or disable traps.
Wild Empathy +18 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.