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Once again I need the help of the amazing people here on paizo I am DM’ing and I want to create a NPC and I’m having difficulty on how to build him since I am taking the idea from a iconic serial kill. Jack the Ripper.
Has anyone done this or have any tips on where to start? At first I was going to use the swashbuckler archtype but that didn’t give me the exact feel of what jack the ripper was.
The stats I have are off a 25 point buy system. The race I was leaning towards was the fletchling and the campaign I have is set in an urban mega sized town.
Any tips or advice would be amazing!
There a 3rd-party book that has some evil-themed Rogue archetypes. I can't remember it's name, but one let's you sneak attack shaken/frightened/panicked targets and gives you bonuses for murdering a certain number of people every day. If you're building a creepy serial killer, it's pretty much perfect. Hopefully someone else will chime in with the name, because I've completely forgotten.
Basic research & review reveals that Jack worked at night, so an obvious Pathfinder twist is to make him a vampire. Past that, a sneak attacker of some sort does seem most fitting. Probably a higher end charisma as well, since a couple of accounts imply he was visible to a victim or two before the deed was done. Many versions of the guy have him as a smooth talker as well. Creepy in a way but oddly attracting.
As for Jack himself, the build depends on the level, but I'm thinking 5 levels of rogue, then 10 of Crimson Assassin (Red Mantis Assassin). The spells gained gives a nice edge, & perhaps a mystical feel. The bonus feats even out attack & damage some.
It's not perfect by any means. Bit of sneak attack lost, & needs a ton of feats. But might catch your interest more than a pure rogue. Especially that Prayer Attack. As a random final note, there is a 3rd party template called Demon Possessed Creature that can give a possible +2D6 sneak attack. If a rogue isn't your thing but some sneak attack is.
It think a vivisectionist would be a great idea. It could go a long way in explaining the harvest of organs he/she did. This could fit well with the theories that Jack had medical training, and one of the actual suspects.
Focusing on Jack the Ripper as the myth, a bard might just be fitting. There was a number of letters, acclaimed to be from Jack, some obvious fakes, the rest probably fakes. But in your case, the Ripper might just be driven by trying to instill fear in the generel population, and create a legend for himself.
As for race, I think it should depend on the version of the Ripper, you are going for. If it is the gentleman-killer a la From Hell, human (or whatever race is the majority) seems the most fitting in my opinion, as someone with a respected position in society.
For a wholly different take, you could do it as either a ghost, or cursed intelligent item (razor or scalpel), that posseses/convinces unwitting people to do the deeds. This in part could help explain the differences between the murders (some with precision, others very brutally). As far as an investigative adventure goes, it changes the primary objective from finding the villain and killing him, into finding out how to stop it from happening.
Well, the obvious is Rogue with the Scout and Knifemaster archetypes (to be able to maximize sneak attack with knives), then a couple levels in vivisectionist?
prototype00
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Sweet I am loving this adive posts! My party is a group of LVL 10 characters. I am wanting him to be able to sneak up to them and put a hurting on them and be able to go away so the human is more then likely the best race for this.
I never thought of the vivisectionist so i will have to look at it. Although the thought of having him be CHA and persuade his victims is more of how I envisioned this NPC/ Big baddie to be.
Norgorber Inquisitor with the Infiltrator archetype.
Disguised MiGo with a few character levels.
I think the 3.5 Monster Manual 3 had a creature that was the perfect model for the Mr. Ripper. I'll try to look it up later this morning.
If you are willing to go with monsters instead of pc races, you could look at a redcap. I could see one entering a city to do this kind of thing, I would fully expect him to leave notes and such to try and stir up the fear even more, it is just their style in my opinion.
What about the Dread class in Dreamscarred's Ultimate Psionics? They create numerous fear effects and then get all kinds of advantages for dealing with said scared victim...
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The Vivisectionist is great, as mentioned.
The Bogeyman (Found here) makes a very good urban Ripper/Serial killer... could add class levels to him to be a challenge for a level 10 party.
My sudden inspiration would be to base him on Spring-heeled Jack (from Bestiary 4) and cross him with some templates.
Ripper might be the elite of the Jacks.
rogue/shadowdancer.
Edit: Profession Surgeon or Barber
Do you have a motivation for him yet? What if he was killing and stealing all these organs for a purpose?
Maybe he's trying to re-create his lost love? Or maybe he is building a new type of golem that requires all the parts to be harvested from someone feeling terror?
How are you going to get around Speak to Dead, Raise Dead, and all the other spells that could quickly solve the murder mystery?
This sounds like it could be very interesting!
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Any suggestions I would offer would depend a great deal on what it is you’re trying to accomplish with the NPC:
Is this a “track down the serial killer who keeps getting away” sort of campaign where the PCs have to outsmart or otherwise find a way to capture an elusive terror who runs from conflict … OR …
… a “watch out you’re next on Jack’s list” sort of campaign where the PCs might be Jack’s next victims and you intend for this to be yet another BBEG to get the beat-down at the end of a short arc … OR …
… a “plot-twist! sort of campaign where the Ripper is actually targeting disguised dopplegangers or evil outsiders or somesuch and the PCs begin the campaign unaware of the Ripper’s true agenda and then discover that his purpose and their align, though his methods (and evil alignment) may put them at odds forcing the PCs to choose between monsters or find a way to neutralize both.
Random thoughts:
The Bogeyman is pretty iconic for that purpose, especially if you want him to be bad enough that the PCs have to try to escape him a few times.
The Skinsaw Cult seem to be based on a similar concept to the NPC you’re pondering. A “Jack the Ripper” NPC would be a good fit as a follower of Father Skinsaw if you’re running a Golarion-based game.
-TimD
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Probably too high powered but Nightripper is basically Golarion's version of Jack the Ripper mixed with Freddy Kreuger only even worse, and having died and immediately ascended to nascent Demon Lord based on being just that evil.
So there's that. Judging by his abilities, he was probably a Fighter/Rogue when he was alive...
Most of the suggestions above look good, though. Personally, I'd go with an Inquisitor (Infiltrator) of Norgorber, just because that lets him avoid getting caught with magic pretty well, which many other possible builds do not.
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well to answer Tims question this Jack the ripper is going to be a little of your first to comments they need to capture him but because they are trying to catch him they get on his list and he is going to try and kill him.
I like cnetarian's idea of hit and run......this is going to be harder to decided then i first thought good thing I asked you guys early.
I had a Jack the ripper like murderer in one game. It turnes out to be a gargoyle possibly under the influence of some unseen mad man.
I imagine that the unseen mad man Will continiue his evil work at some point but it is a casual game and there are other stories for them to open before i let them close that one unless they persist.
The iconic part of Jack isn't just the cutting up prostitutes. It's the taunting letters. A cleric of the Skinsaw Man or something similar can send taunting sending spells--psychic messages that target the head of the guard, the mayor or some other civic authority to let him know he's killed again.