Drow noble nightmare lord half-invidiak shadow lord shadowfire rogue (chameleon) 1/slayer 15
CE Medium outsider (native, augmented humanoid [elf], evil)
Init +13; Senses see in darkness; Perception +23
Aura fear 60 ft (shaken, DC 31), frightful presence (DC 31)
DEFENSE
AC 24, touch 23, flat-footed 11 (+13 Dex, +1 natural); protection from good, 20% concealment (shadow blend)
AC 36, touch 36, flat-footed 23 (+13 Dex, +13 deflection); incorporeal, protection from good, 20% concealment (shadow blend)
hp 121 (16 HD; 1d8+1 plus 15d10+30); regeneration 5 (good or silver weapons)
Fort +10, Ref +24, Will +9; +4 vs. illusions, +13 vs mind-affecting, +2 vs. enchantments
Defensive Abilities regeneration 5 (silver or good), shadow blend, incorporeal step; DR 20/magic; SR ???; Immune cold, fire, poison, sleep, automatically disbelieves illusions; Resist acid 10, electricity 30, +4 vs illusions, +2 vs enchantments
Weaknesses light blindness
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Melee +1 keen conductive ghost touch scimitar +29/+24/+19 (1d8+14 plus 2d6 negative energy (Fort DC 30 half)/17–20/x2; 1 Con dmg [Fort DC 30 negates])
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks sneak attack +6d6, studied target +4, assassinate (DC 24), deadly sneak, hunter’s surprise, nightmare magic, smite good, night terrors, dream slave, cloying gloom blast 3/day (DC 31), slayer’s advance 1/day
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +29)
Constant—detect magic, protection from good,
At-will—dancing lights, deeper darkness, faerie fire, levitate, ray of sickening (DC 24),
6/day—shadow step
4/day—shadow conjuration (DC 31), suggestion (DC 26)
3/day—deep slumber (DC 26), detect thoughts (DC 25), dream, invisibility, nightmare (DC 32), plane shift (DC 30, Material Plane and Dimension of Dreams only), shadow evocation (DC 32), unholy aura (DC 31), telekinesis (CMB +29, DC 28)
1/day—blur, dispel magic, divine favor, feeblemind (DC 28), greater shadow conjuration (DC 34), greater teleport, magic jar (DC 28), modify memory (DC 28), shadow walk, unholy blight (DC 27)
STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 37, Con 12, Int 20, Wis 18, Cha 36
Base Atk +15; CMB +15; CMD 38
Feats Ability Focus (assassinate), Dastardly Finish, Dazzling Display, Disheartening Display, Intimidating Prowess, Killing Flourish, Merciless Butchery, Silent Kill, Slashing Grace (scimitar)*, Steadfast Personality, Weapon Finesse*, Weapon Focus (scimitar)*
Skills Acrobatics +32, Bluff +32, Craft (alchemy) +24, Diplomacy +32, Disguise +32, Fly +26, Heal +22, Intimidate +36, Knowledge (local)+24, Perception +23, Sense Motive +23, Stealth +44; Racial Modifiers +4 Intimidate, +12 Stealth
Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elven, Infernal
SQ misdirection pool (16), ghostly form (16 rounds/day), feign death (DC 31), swift tracker, stalker, planar thinning 1/day
So, the above is an attempt at a truly terrifying villain. In combat he is difficult to touch, strikes without warning, and can kill characters easily if he can get the drop on them. He has both shadow evocations and shadow conjurations to shift the battlefield as he pleases, and can simply attack foes in their dreams without ever having to get near them. In addition, he can possess them via magic jar.
Does anyone have any ideas how to best use him, either in combat or out?
And what CR is he? His SR value depends on that, but I haven't been able to figure it out.
You got a tough dude for sure.
To scare them best, make your Halloween surprise monster's prescience foreshadowed before the ever actually meet it and make them dread the upcoming encounter.
Here are some ideas:
1) Party is going to visit a sage/wizard/holy person/ruler that is comatose to try to find cause of it. At that level, they can teleport right there. If it's a familiar NPC and/or place, all the better. Describe the place as normal, but add effects they can't explain that unsettle them.
- dead birds on the ground, mosquitoes and flies carrying diseases in unusual abundance
- doors opening and closing without reason.
- "shadows move where light should be"; upon investigation, shadows are gone
- use of Haunt type traps from Game Mastery Guide
- nightmare Lord and cronies use nightmare on each party member every night they sleep, and the nightmare lord attacks the least trusted party member first.
- mind fog lowers saves and will add more tension
- make party feel like every animal is watching the party, even if they aren't.
I'll come back with more soon.
What might your Drow Nightmare Lord's plot/motivations be for attacking party/being a creeper? Does the Drow have good ties with a Drow City or Dark Folk? Is it questing for an artifact or trying to get secret knowledge? Are the PC's to be primary target or will they be interlopers in an existing plan? Will/can the Pc's get an ally to fight against it, such as a friendly Unicorn or a Baku that protects dreamers from nightmares?
Also I recommend looking up what happens when you don't have REM sleep. Tl; dr it's a terrible way to die because your brain basically loses the ability to retain or use information (Michael Jackson may hold the record for having survived the longest without REM sleep. That's why he was on those medications. They gave him sleep but no REM sleep, and he was addicted. He tried to go off but impulsively took a large dose and OD'ED).
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for the cr it depends, is he going to have npc wealth or player wealth?
Anyway from what i could see, assuming pc wealth:
cr 20+ (dunno about the shadowfire template)
But well funny enough he is actually a very weak cr 20+ monster. Probably would consider his cr way lower than that, mostly because your caster could get lucky with his low saves and end the fight with one fort SoD spell.