Hello everyone. My game is currently on hiatus as I finish graduate school (few more months yay) and I have been using some free time to finish putting touches on my NPCs that the party will be coming up on throughout the story.
The character I am working on now is as following: (Brevin)
The youngest son of his generation, though he is 37. His family (for 3 generations now) have served in various and well placed positions in their city, Metrepti, one of 9 major metropoli in the region. Three years ago, game time, his own opportunity to be elected to the city's highest position arrived. He ran a campaign for the position and was the popular choice. During the campaign, however, his opponent (or someone....) started a rumor that his family was too ambitious; that they sought to rule the city. It did not help that both of his brothers were in elected positions and their father had been Magister (the position in question) a few years back. The rumor stuck, and his campaign shattered. His opponent continued to press and in the process of winning the election completely destroyed the credibility of Brevin's family. In the fervor that followed Brevin's loss his family was disgraced and run from the city. He became a drunk and disappeared for a while.
After about a year he snapped, becoming paranoid and delusional. He began to believe that his family should rule Metrepti, he should rule it. For the past two years he has been tirelessly working to bring about his dynasty as the ruler of the city. A major religious figure in the city (incidentally the real threat to the city and the world) that has become corrupted by an evil (and dead) God offered assistance in exchange for help in bringing the God back from the dead. Brevin accepted believing the idea ridiculous and believing he was getting the better half of the deal.
After two years of prep they led an army of various creatures (money and promises go a long way) and sacked the city in the middle of the night. This is where the game began. The gist of my question to you all is: Brevin is LN (believing that the city can only be protected by him and that his opponent brought the destruction on the city). The players will eventually fight him and I would like your help in preparing him.
Feats: Scribe Scroll; Surge of Success; Skill Focus (dip); Arcane Strike; Combat Casting; Extend Spell; Arcane Armor Training; Leadership; Eschew Materials; Rhetorical Flourish; Defensive Combat Training; Improved Initiative; Weapon Focus; Power Attack; Weapon Specialization.
Stats: Str 16 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 20 Wis 14 Cha 18. (rolled obviously)
He was educated at the magic school in the city.
His caster Level is 10. He wields a Long sword, but favors using magic and influence to get things done. He isnt an experienced combat leader, nor soldier, but was trained to fight due to being a noble and has magical experience from schooling.
I would be interested to know what you all think about spell selection, tactics, and other ideas for how this fight should go. The PCs are lvl 7 atm (Magus, Fighter, Inquis, Arch. Bard).
He currently has a camp hidden in some forested terrain North West of the cities and off the grid. His army is growing. He will be headed to the city to "assume control" within a few weeks, but its only been about three weeks since the attack and the city is not 100% under the control of his forces.
If you need more information let me know. I have class soon and wanted to get my basic post up before I forgot.
Thanks.
Bump. :)
Opposition schools are: Illusion and Necromancy.
Necromancy is not taught much at the school (upper level stuff...)
Illusion: Illusions leave a trace that he wants to avoid as an enchanter. There needs to be no evidence.
I am sorry for omitting this in the original post.
Thanks so much for your response though.
I hadnt considered permanency....which is a good way to justify his having many active buffs as soon as the PCs encounter him.
They havent been kind to me in my "bad guy monologue" moments ha.
He is very wealthy. He is a disgraced politician that had been running for the highest office in a metropolis of 200,000 people. He has already formed an alliance with a corrupt bishop from the city (the real BBEG -- 20th lvl anti paladin masquerading as a paladin) and sacked the city.
He is in reality not evil, just simply pissed.
He'll have a 14th level cohort (thanks to noble scion) which I also havent built entirely. Was thinking cavalier, but not committed to it yet.
I definitely think that his resources would justify his having a wide variety of spells, and my only high level experience is with a ranger so I need to get my higher level casting "savviness" boosted.
thanks
Don't forget, every Wizard has their scrolls, too!
things that buff his allies (ie Haste, Mass Enlarge Person, etc) and things that could be situational (ie Resist Energy, Protection from [alignment], etc) are best left in his scroll case, rather than his spells prepared. Also, I believe he can still cast opposition schools from scrolls, but I'm not 100% on that one.
Don't be afraid to prepare multiple incantations of things that could be spammed (like Magic Missile, Fireball, etc). Or don't - firing off just one fireball kind of gives the impression he has a lot more up his sleeve (figuratively of course, Eschew aside), and should make an intelligent PC think twice before leaving themself open.
As for a Cohort: why not make it a messenger of this deity? Like how some deities send a symbolic/specific creature to send a message - this cohort could be a symbol of his allegiance to this said god. It may drop a hint as to the scale the players are really up against, if they suspect he's more than just another agent.
The cohort as a messenger idea is interesting but wouldnt fit too well here. This guy doesnt actually buy into the deity. The antipaladin is trying to restore an evil deity to life; one that defeated by the 9 major human gods a few thousand years before. The noble in question here doesnt believe that the antipaladin will be successful and actually believes (wrongly) that he is the one in control of their relationship, thus he is getting the better end of the deal.
Part of the story is that he will realize his mistake. I am thinking of making his cohort a brother, or perhaps some sort of lower noble that serves his house.
Maybe even a devoted guard that served him throughout his political career.
The interesting thing is that while he is a disgraced politician he actually did no wrong and was the victim of a rumor that undermined his campaign. It was only after this that his rage boiled over and he decided to take the city.
Thanks for brainstorming with me.