I was just going to ask what the "best" TWF build is but after considering the question, I thought I might open it up a little and mention some of the variables.
Essentially this will be a recurring villain for the PC's. The NPC won't come up very often and initially won't even seem like an enemy. I envisage the NPC as being Lawful Evil, female, and wielding two weapons. She's got a bit of a pirate vibe to her but ultimately her aims are to gain access to and control the Starstone so as to bring about a new order on Golarion. She's nowhere near the power level required to just waltz in and do something like that so she's working behind the scenes and gaining supporters and developing alliances and putting pawns into play in order to eventually work towards that ultimate goal.
I'd like her to be a dangerous foe for the party as a solo combatant however she'd never be dumb enough to go toe-to-toe with an entire party either so support, flanking, etc. would definitely be something she'd have if ever engaging the group. She would most likely command a bit of a posse of loyal comrades who would fight for her if she had no other options but to stand and trade blows.
Any suggestions on how to build something like or even if something is already available would be appreciated. My lack of familiarity with what's available and can be done in the system limits my options, hence why I'm asking here :)
While I cannot provide an actual build, I just wanted to say this:
You do not want to make the NPC the way you would optimize a PC.
As an NPC villain, you want to focus a LOT on defense. If you optimize it for offense (as PC's tend to be) you'll either need to make her easy enough that she'll quite likely be one-round killed by the party, or you make her powerful enough to survive that but then there's a high risk of a quick TPK.
Don't be afraid of giving her stats that aren't available with a standard point buy or so, or otherwise "breaking the rules" on npc creation.
Focus on defense and versatility, and treat her level as two-three lower for it.
But then when it comes to flavor, there's a pretty big question: Is she supposed to be a spellcaster? In that case I might suggest bard or inquisitor, though you also need her to be intelligent if she's a plotter.
At this point I'm not tied to her being one particular class, I'm more just trying to cement what will be an effective challenge to the party. She's definitely human and definitely Lawful Evil. She's no dummy but every other stat is pretty much up in the air and she certainly doesn't have to be a Machiavellian genius, just smart enough to play a chess game. In fact, she'd be smart enough to know who to use to best advantage, for instance if an advisor is highly intelligent and very creative at planning such things, she'd use that.
I imagine her as having a similar mentality to The Operative in Serenity. She knows she's evil but she considers it a necessity to do what needs to be done to bring about the new world order.
She wouldn't be above making a deal with a devil either, so Chelaxian and Asmodean ties are very definitely a possibility, making spell-casting also an option. However she is also very definitely a TWF, that's pretty much the very first thing about her I decided and began building the concept of the character around.
Well, what level are you aiming for? I've begun looking a bit at a bard or bard/fighter, but there's quite a lot of difference between creating a level 10 and a level 15 character.
EDIT: Or rather, at what party level do you imagine they will have to fight her and with about how much support?
Hmmm... From the whole focus on the Starstone, the disguises etc, I felt that maybe she's a follower of Norgorber? In fact, why not an inquisitor?
Lawful Evil, ties to evil deities, Two-Weapon Fighting, a little spellcasting...
Sounds like you want a Red Mantis Assassin. =)
Fluff. I like their fluff.
Gives you an easy in too: Somebody hired her to kill the PCs. Mantis Assassins are tenacious buggers, and like to honor their contracts. She won't stop until they're dead or she is. Have her ambitions of godhood arise from there, perhaps. Or, hell, maybe she's the current Blood Mistress and thinks there's nowhere higher to go, except godhood. Never confronts them directly, but has an organization at her disposal, and is a highly trained killer in her own right.
Not a particularly optimal PC class choice, but you don't want to over optimize your NPCs anyway. Trust me.
Have them focus on nonstandard tactics, because focusing on pure damage will probably end up with them freakin' ANNIHILATING at least one PC.
I like ones that focus on action economy killing status effect attacks. Stuff like Dazzling Display, or "Use a Full-Round Action to make one attack that gives Sickened, maybe, if they fail a Fort save DC 10+1/2 level+Some stat you really don't want a lot of points in".
Not to say they NEVER actually attack, but if they try to do stuff like that for a round or two, it makes them a bit more palatable.
@Thank Dog
First thing that came to my mind was that if she is working alot behind the scenes that she would be a bard or rogue/cleric. The best thing for villains or at least main villains is for them to be spellcasters. This grants them versatility especially. However, making him viable as TWF user might be a bit harder. It really depends how nasty your player's characters are and what class it will be. There is plenty of routes to take besides that.
I will pop just several common ideas because making entire NPC without enough info is extensive.
a) Bard NPC; Fairly simple, buffs before combat and uses charmed allies (or additional unique humanoids) to do the work for her until someone manages to reach her, she uses TWF then. Boss can be resilient and quick, but can't stand toe to toe with melee brutes.
b) Rogue/Cleric; Buffs before combat, uses summoned creatures to gain flanking positions for sneak attacks. Boss can be tough and resilient with decent armor and buffs.
That's about what crossed my mind at the moment,
Malag
I have always been under the impression the Red Mantis Assassins would be against anyone ascending to godhood,but this still makes the
Starstone very valuable for them. After all, who knows what other things it may do :) .
The RMA prestige class is interesting. In general, if you want a character with TWF you want to look at classes with at least decent BAB and some bonus feats or similar abilities - so for a base classes like the rogue, ninja, monk, (urban) ranger and some fighter archetypes etc are not so bad. I'd give the psionic classes a look for a slightly different supernatural abilities. Psychic warriors, soulknives and even wilders can all be decent combatants with some pretty nifty tricks up their sleeves.
Make it a a group of summoner ninja oni. Give the eidolons weapon proficiency in katana and wakizishi. Skilled in stealth,acrobats, climb, sleight of hand, disable device, perception. A+8 to those skills. Throw in some DR and fast healing. Make one of them size large.
Ilja wrote: Well, what level are you aiming for? I've begun looking a bit at a bard or bard/fighter, but there's quite a lot of difference between creating a level 10 and a level 15 character.
EDIT: Or rather, at what party level do you imagine they will have to fight her and with about how much support?
They'll first meet her at a fairly low level. Probably only 2nd, if that. At first she will actually be an ally, not an enemy. I don't even want the PC's to fight her at all. If all goes to plan, which it never does, the PC's will only realise what she's up to by the time she's gotten away.
After that, I'm not really sure when they'll face her. We're swapping DM'ing so I'll have to think about it when my turn comes around again. At a guess, I think she might pop up around 5th PC level, maybe 7th. Then I doubt she'll be around until about 12th or so. I won't be using her every time I DM either so it's hard to know in advance. My thoughts are that the PC's will have some sort of final confrontation with her at around 12th and until then, she'll be the slippery villain type.
At least that's the idea. But as they say, the best laid plans get FUBAR'd when you introduce players and their characters :)
Titania, the Summer Queen wrote: Make it a a group of summoner ninja oni. Give the eidolons weapon proficiency in katana and wakizishi. Skilled in stealth,acrobats, climb, sleight of hand, disable device, perception. A+8 to those skills. Throw in some DR and fast healing. Make one of them size large. I love that idea for one of her followers/lackeys but doesn't really suit my image of her. When I said that she's more of a behind the scenes person I may have given a false impression. Her evil activities are behind the scenes but she's very much a prominent and influential figure in Absalom and will be quite close to the PC's, possibly even working with them at times (at least initially).
Rynjin wrote: Gives you an easy in too: Somebody hired her to kill the PCs. Mantis Assassins are tenacious buggers, and like to honor their contracts. She won't stop until they're dead or she is. Have her ambitions of godhood arise from there, perhaps. Or, hell, maybe she's the current Blood Mistress and thinks there's nowhere higher to go, except godhood. Never confronts them directly, but has an organization at her disposal, and is a highly trained killer in her own right. She would definitely work with those types and possibly have them on retainer. I have the backstory for her pretty much worked out. She doesn't even want to kill the PC's initially. In fact, she's using them much like how she uses many others, without them even realising it.
I've been tinkering and so far this is what I have:
Female Human (Taldan) Fighter (Two-Weapon Fighter) 7
LE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +2
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Defense
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AC 26, touch 16, flat-footed 21 (+9 armor, +1 shield, +4 Dex, +1 deflection, +1 dodge)
hp 91 (7d10+21)
Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +6 (+2 vs. fear)
Defensive Abilities bravery +2, defensive flurry
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee pyre +12/+7 (1d6+7/18-20/×2) and
. . thiz +11/+6 (1d6+5/18-20/×2)
Special Attacks twin blades
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Statistics
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Str 19, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 16
Base Atk +7; CMB +11; CMD 27 (34 vs. disarm, 31 vs. overrun, 34 vs. sunder, 31 vs. trip)
Feats Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (wakizashi), Improved Two-weapon Fighting, Iron Will, Toughness, Two-weapon Defense, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (wakizashi), Weapon Specialization (wakizashi)
Traits extremely fashionable, keeper of the veil, serpent runner (two weapons)
Skills Bluff +16, Climb +5, Diplomacy +11, Disguise +4, Handle Animal +7, Intimidate +13, Ride +5, Swim +5
Languages Common, Infernal
SQ balanced, countering, countering, paranoid, silver tongued
Combat Gear Oil of keen edge, Potion of barkskin +2, Potion of cure serious wounds, Potion of haste; Other Gear Tokaru's Sorrow, Pyre, Thiz, Ring of protection +1
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TRACKED RESOURCES
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Oil of keen edge - 0/1
Potion of barkskin +2 - 0/1
Potion of cure serious wounds - 0/1
Potion of haste - 0/1
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Special Abilities
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Balanced +4 on Acrobatics checks to maintain balance, dropping prone is a move action.
Bravery +2 (Ex) +2 to Will save vs. Fear
Countering +2 CMD vs disarm/sunder against this weapon, if foe fails free counter with same maneuver.
Countering +2 CMD vs disarm/sunder against this weapon, if foe fails free counter with same maneuver.
Defensive Flurry +2 (Ex) +2 AC vs. melee when making a full-attack with both weapons.
Paranoid Aid Another DC 15 for attempts to help you.
Silver Tongued You can shift a creature's attitude by three steps with Diplomacy.
Twin Blades +1 (Ex) +1 to hit and damage when making a full attack with both weapons.
Two-weapon Defense +1 to AC while wielding 2 weapons. +2 when doing so defensively.
7th-level was kinda arbitrary and I'm only messing around trying to figure out what works. Thanks for all the advice so far :)
I think I've evolved the concept a bit... primarily because of this picture:
Hawt!
Yeah, i can see the summoner as a cohort. One who is the official leader of a rogue organization. Call him the shredder. The shredder secretly answers to this female of yours. Much like Senator Palpatine and his Darth Lord pf the Sith. Shredder's eidolon minion leads a group of actual ninja thieves that are known to be responsible for the many assassinations in the kingdom. As well as some priority thieving of artifacts.
Your female could be publically working against this rogue group. In fact she hires the PC's to stop a crime that she has just become aware of. While they successfully stop one attempt, another mission succeeds.
Thank Dog wrote: I think I've evolved the concept a bit... primarily because of this picture:
Hawt!
Yeowser!
I would reduce her armor a bit. While you didn't write down what it is, it would be kind of appropriate for mobile Dex fighter to use more mobile armor. I would ditch also Imp. TWF, it adds very little in general unless she is higher level and I would take Weapon Finesse instead.
Her stats seem a bit too high.
NPC's typically don't get traits also.
Malag
Malag wrote: I would reduce her armor a bit. While you didn't write down what it is, it would be kind of appropriate for mobile Dex fighter to use more mobile armor. I would ditch also Imp. TWF, it adds very little in general unless she is higher level and I would take Weapon Finesse instead.
Her stats seem a bit too high.
NPC's typically don't get traits also.
Malag
He stayed earlier that he isn't making a typical npc.
Half-Elf Two-Weapon Warrior Fighter
Alt. racial traits: Ancestral Arms
STR 18 (+1 at 12th, 16th lvls)
DEX 15 (+1 at 4th, 8th, 20th lvls)
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 12
CHA 7
1-TWF, Weapon Focus: Katana, EWP: Katana
2-Bravery, Quickdraw
3-Defensive Flurry +1, Power Attack
4-Weapon Specialization: Katana
5-Twin Blades +1, Combat Exp
6-Improved Trip
7-Defensive Flurry +2, Doubleslice
8-ITWF , Retrain Quickdraw for Greater Trip
9-Twin Blades +2, Double strike, Greater Weapon Focus: Katana
10-Critical Focus
11-Improved Balance (-1/-1), Defensive Flurry +3, Critical Versatility
12-Two Weapon Rend
13-Twin Blades +3, Equal Opportunity, Combat Reflexes
14-Pin Down
15-Perfect Balance (0/0), Defensive Flurry, Dazing Assault
16-Greater Weapon Specialization: Katana, (Retrain Greater Trip for Blinding Critical)
17-Twin Blades +4, Deft Double strike, Critical Mastery
18-GTWF
19-Deadly Defense, Defensive Flurry +5, Improved Iron Will
20-Weapon Mastery, Retrain Dazing Assault for Stunning Assault
At low lvls full attack with chakrams and quickdraw your blades when they come close for full-attacks.
You have trip, pin down and dazing assault in order to deny them 5-foot steps and the withdraw action so that you can full-attack them all the time.
Use Katana / Kukri until the 11th lvl, two Katanas (o yeah) from the 11th lvl onwards.
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