Early in the my game the group let a lone Kobold go free. That only happened because the Sorcerer stopped the Ranger from killing it after the party assured the Kobold it could leave safely with his friend, whom the Ranger killed while the two Kobolds were fleeing. The survivor is out for revenge. He is aligned with a Human Necromancer Wizard.
I cannot seem to decide on a class. I want to be able to do a lot of damage and need to take a lot as well. The Kobold will be level 10 with 2 mythic tiers. He is also going to be some kind of Undead. His dead friend will be brought back as well.
Any ideas are welcome. Crazy class combinations, prestige classes, and archetypes. I really want to scare my party with this fight. I will have three enemies against seven mythic PCs.
Thank you in advance
The nastiest thing I can think to throw at a party is an Antipaladin especially if most of the party is Good aligned. For Undead flavor throw in the Knight of the Sepulcher. It replaces some nice abilities for some nice defenses.
And Bane weapons featuring the Ranger's Race would be a nice personal touch as well as a damage booster. And when you stay his friend with be 'brought back' do you mean Raised or made Undead?
If he is Raised maybe Bloodrager with the Undead Bloodline? If he is made Undead then go Ghast with 7 levels of something nasty, maybe still the Undead Bloodlined Bloodrager?
And just because the Wizard is a Necromancer doesn't mean he wouldn't have the Enlarge spell to even the size gap.
Hmm...
Damage for a small critter, especially one with -4 strength, tends to come from damage dice. Sneak attack, multiple attacks, stuff like that.
One trick with small critters is swarming. I don't recall if there's a feat to do it, but if you cheat in the ratfolk's swarming ability to flank from the same square it might work for two undead slayer brothers.
Kobolds specialize in making traps, that's kind of their only "thing" in the fluff. A special maze crafted by the kobold trapsmith that he leads them down (making acrobatics checks to avoid triggering them) might work. Or just throwing down some explosive runes.
Bringing back the buddy makes me think of necromantic and mutated horrors. Like maybe the dead friend was turned into an experiment and grew into a huge hulking beast via reanimating necro-mutagen and the kobold now rides his bro into battle as some crazy kind of cavalier/vivisectionist.
Synthesist summoner reflavored as undead necro-mutation creates fun horrors. Throw in blood god disciple (technically requires orc but who cares?) so that they can follow the trail of half-eaten bodies to a nastily-empowered beastie.
that's all I have for the moment.
Well, that all assumes he needs strength. Gunslinger and bolt slinger are perfectly viable options that do dex to damage. That level range is also about the place where they get things like signature deed, or options to avoid AoOs entirely with their weapon.
Anyway, yeah, targeting touch AC with a ton of attacks with decent bonuses on them can be one way to get your players scared. That can serve as the 'hammer' role of the 'arm/anvil/hammer' strategy. Since you only have 3 characters, it might be best to specialize each in this kind of fashion.
Kobolds are good at traps, so I second that suggestion. A kobold could also be a decent spellcaster and there are PLENTY of lethal arcane caster builds out there. What if you went blaster-caster and the traps he has built into his lair are just simply to slow the party down and hold them in place long enough for his empowered/maximized fireball to hit the whole party as one?
Alchemist. He can give out potions to his allies. I'm a fan of giving a tribe of kobolds the Swap Places teamwork feat, so they can each take a hit, swap places, and drink a potion. Allies can use Aid Another to boost the low attack rolls of minion-types. The Swarming special ability plus sneak attack for roguey minions might be cool.
You could build him as a magus with a dex build. Dip a level into crossblooded sorc earth elemental/black dragon. That way he can use intensified shocking graps that deal acid damage with +1 to damage per d6 meaning 9d6+9 (the +9 are easily worth the 1 level lost)
Kobold press has some very good kobold options in AR:6 Kobolds, if I do say so myself. A radiation-using alchemist using Kobolds of Golarion is great, too.
I could see a mad clockwork alchemist with a horde of mutated cyber-kobolds coming for the adventurers!
Don't forget to check out examples of kobolds with class levels over at the Monster Codex on the PRD.
Also, check out the stats for Enga the Kobold Barbarian from Pathfinder #4: Fortress of the Stone Giants.
Don't forget to check out examples of kobolds with class levels over at the Monster Codex on the PRD.
Also, check out the stats for Enga the Kobold Barbarian from Pathfinder #4: Fortress of the Stone Giants.
That character certainly brings up a point- there is little reason for a NPC kobold to be less threatening than any other race. Racial adjustments only really matter when there are limits on base stats (either rolled or point buy, with an upper limit of 18).
Unless I am mistaken (always been on the player side of things; no experience as a GM preparing enemies), you can just put whatever number you want arbitrarily (within reason of course; there should be a reason why that Kobold has 50 STR...which might come from being 'mythic' and all).
If you use just any stats you please, then it is mostly an advantage being a kobold. Small size (+1 AC, +1 hit in return for -1 CMB/CMD and slight decrease in weapon dice) and +1 natural armor.
So overall, there is no reason why your kobold cannot be anything you want.
With that in mind- how about an unarmed brawler? Is perfect for grabbing pummeling style (cause psuedo pounce is always fantastic). An interesting thing you could also do would be to take the steel breaker archetype and take a dip into MoMS monk to grab snake style. The large bonus to sense motive and the ability to use your sense motive check for AC seems like a great combo.
Plus stabbing people with your hands is always great. And the archetype is built to sunder and disarm, which can further complicate the battle. Maybe throw some mutagenic mauler on there for extra damage and strength boost.
Alchemist. He can give out potions to his allies. I'm a fan of giving a tribe of kobolds the Swap Places teamwork feat, so they can each take a hit, swap places, and drink a potion. Allies can use Aid Another to boost the low attack rolls of minion-types. The Swarming special ability plus sneak attack for roguey minions might be cool.
Bonus points if they explode from the potions, mid-swarm.
I have yet to get to play with the bloodragers so the one who died will most likely be that. plus I need a meat shield.
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The cavalier/vivisectionist is hilarious and I will be using that idea later.
I love the magus, it is one of my favorite classes and the Anti-Paladin is brutal. But I just threw a dex based magus and a Knight of the Sepulcher Anti-Paladin at my group. It was fun.
An Alchemist could be fun. A friend played one and he was wicked!
Arrggg! I want to do so many things!
clerics in stone is great and I am noting it for a later very big battle. I doubt my party will thank you but I do. That just became a major fight later on, oh around level 17ish. Sadly the group is only level 8 but it is always good to have plans for later.
And I love the Tucker Kobolds. This will be attempted later. Thanks to the Goblin Ranger the party will always have issues with Kobolds.
Undead-themed traps could be pretty awesome. Spiked pit traps full of skulls that bite whatever's down there, mazes full of allips that drift through the walls, a door that can only be opened if three levers are all pulled at the same time, forcing the party to split up and get jumped by spooky scary skeletons, aquatic areas with ghouls...
As for the guy himself, kobolds don't have too many strengths. Just give him a class that doesn't need Strength, and maybe give him ways to mitigate damage, since his Constitution is gonna suck. Give him debuff abilities, maybe—poison and enfeebling spells—and, true to kobold form, lots of henchmen. Let him stay out of their reach (or instate the equivalent of an intercom) and just have him GLaDOS at them, guilting them over the murder of his friend, screeching taunts and threats.
Let them notice a nasty area effect trap, disable/avoid it, and have him commend them on their cunning. Then have him activate it.
Kobolds don't play fair, and undead find the suffering of the living hilarious. Actually, I'm totally picturing your guy as an undead GLaDOS now.
...oh my god. I need to make that.
those traps are hilarious.
And have been torn between vampire and juju zombie for this little guy.
Crown of the Kobold King had a very nice (living) kobold king build that included
Beef those up a bit and add in vampire template and voila!
Undead-themed traps could be pretty awesome. Spiked pit traps full of skulls that bite whatever's down there, mazes full of allips that drift through the walls, a door that can only be opened if three levers are all pulled at the same time, forcing the party to split up and get jumped by spooky scary skeletons, aquatic areas with ghouls...
As for the guy himself, kobolds don't have too many strengths. Just give him a class that doesn't need Strength, and maybe give him ways to mitigate damage, since his Constitution is gonna suck. Give him debuff abilities, maybe—poison and enfeebling spells—and, true to kobold form, lots of henchmen. Let him stay out of their reach (or instate the equivalent of an intercom) and just have him GLaDOS at them, guilting them over the murder of his friend, screeching taunts and threats.
Let them notice a nasty area effect trap, disable/avoid it, and have him commend them on their cunning. Then have him activate it.
Kobolds don't play fair, and undead find the suffering of the living hilarious. Actually, I'm totally picturing your guy as an undead GLaDOS now.
...oh my god. I need to make that.
Well,
Just a woman whose mind got stuffed into cores and then she was tied into the facility's computer network. That basically works like phylactery, except they apparently can be downloaded into other ones (PotatOS)
My campaign started off with the crown of the kobold king so I don't want to do that. And the Ranger killed him in wonderful way. Called shot to his one eye. The party tied him up and when they weren't looking he jump of the throne pedestal and broke his neck.
An incorporeal undead could work great—it completely eliminates the Strength score as a factor.
Here are some incorporeal templates I found:
Undead-themed traps could be pretty awesome. Spiked pit traps full of skulls that bite whatever's down there, mazes full of allips that drift through the walls, a door that can only be opened if three levers are all pulled at the same time, forcing the party to split up and get jumped by spooky scary skeletons, aquatic areas with ghouls...
As for the guy himself, kobolds don't have too many strengths. Just give him a class that doesn't need Strength, and maybe give him ways to mitigate damage, since his Constitution is gonna suck. Give him debuff abilities, maybe—poison and enfeebling spells—and, true to kobold form, lots of henchmen. Let him stay out of their reach (or instate the equivalent of an intercom) and just have him GLaDOS at them, guilting them over the murder of his friend, screeching taunts and threats.
Let them notice a nasty area effect trap, disable/avoid it, and have him commend them on their cunning. Then have him activate it.
Kobolds don't play fair, and undead find the suffering of the living hilarious. Actually, I'm totally picturing your guy as an undead GLaDOS now.
...oh my god. I need to make that.
Well,
** spoiler omitted **
I had not considered the incorporeal undead for this fight. I love and my group hates shadows and wraiths. This is a potential option and might make it easier for him to escape and come back later. Though if I don that now they will me more cautious later. The magus, anti-paladin, and the oracle escaped and the party has to track them down. I don't want to do this constantly. But I love wraiths! Now I have another think to fight with myself over. Vampire or Wraith! Arrggg! Picking what I want to throw at my group is the hardest part.
Can't you have both? What about the dead friend? ;D
this is true. But by the end of my campaign I will have thrown almost every kind of undead at my group, it is very heavy undead. And yet they don't seem to want to pay for an ghost touch weapon.
A incorporeal bloodrager sounds like fun, not sure if it works like that but I will look into it.
Flavor wise a Witch or an Oracle could work for the one that got away. But I love Sorcerers and they are easy then going Dragon Disciple. Ranger or Slayer could be fun too for the martial option. The Alchemist just doesn't fit for this little guy. And I have a fun temperamental Goblin Alchemist coming up soon anyways. Picking is hard.
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Make a Chaotic Evil kobold Dragon Herald bard archetype and use his crazy diplo skills to make the pc's be his "friend" then have the necromancer wreck the party.
Don't try to make him a killer kobold. Make him a distraction that the PC's CANNOT ignore. Mucho enchantment/compulsion/charm spells and let the party cry!
Murderous command might be a fun spell for this guy. Might have to Heighten it to pump up the Save DC, or come up with a variant that affects multiple targets!
Kobolds like bugs, right? Maybe use lots of giant vermin AND swarms of vermin. The Army Ant swarm is pretty nasty....in some circumstances, it causes double damage. Maybe an evil druid archetype that specializes in vermin, with vermin wildshape, summon swarm, vomit swarm, etc. etc.
Or just use them in traps.
Lots and lots of traps.
I had not considered the incorporeal undead for this fight. I love and my group hates shadows and wraiths. This is a potential option and might make it easier for him to escape and come back later. Though if I don that now they will me more cautious later. The magus, anti-paladin, and the oracle escaped and the party has to track them down. I don't want to do this constantly. But I love wraiths! Now I have another think to fight with myself over. Vampire or Wraith! Arrggg! Picking what I want to throw at my group is the hardest part.
Oh, how about some levels in shadow dancer?
That would give you a corporal undead that is great at stealth and sneaking (very Kobold-y), and a shadow for good measures.
Even if the Kobold itself is destroyed, the shadow could come back to exact its master's revenge. That works particularly well under the somewhat supported assumption that the shadow dancer's shadow is a part of their very being and actual shadow infused with magic-whatever, rather than just the regular undead.
Anyway, for the main part of the character levels, a slayer would be great. It has TWF and sneak attack (plus studied target for extra damage/attack), which works great with having a flank buddy. It has the skill points for being sneaky, and by level 6 you can grab both TWF and Improved TWF. Level 7 gives him swift action studied target, which works great for a slayer 7/shadow dancer 3.
Just have him stealth and have the shadow duck under the floors, and then have the shadow ready an action to flank when the slayer is in place for a full attack. After that, have them re-stealth/run through the walls, and repeat.
this is true. But by the end of my campaign I will have thrown almost every kind of undead at my group, it is very heavy undead. And yet they don't seem to want to pay for an ghost touch weapon.
A incorporeal bloodrager sounds like fun, not sure if it works like that but I will look into it.
Flavor wise a Witch or an Oracle could work for the one that got away. But I love Sorcerers and they are easy then going Dragon Disciple. Ranger or Slayer could be fun too for the martial option. The Alchemist just doesn't fit for this little guy. And I have a fun temperamental Goblin Alchemist coming up soon anyways. Picking is hard.
Don't forget that kobold oracles also have the option of becoming Dragon Disciples, via the Scaled Disciple feat.
The Dragon Herald doesn't fit for what I want. No Dragon patron more like an evil undead guy. Though I may have a place for this archetype later.
Crazy bug Druid is awesome and if I don't use it here I will find another place for it because bugs are cool!
The shadow dancer could be great though I have yet to look in to the slayer. Which I will do. I like the sneaky route and I love the shadow vengeance thing. I want to ambush the group with these three. Only part that makes me sad with this build is no magic. Though I could go the Trickster route and I like that one. I need to read up on the slayer though.
Traps take a lot of work and I have been looking though them.
No Anti-Paladin for this guy despite the love I have developed for this class. I have one I am so excited for them to deal with again. They let him get away and I have beautiful plans.
All of you people are freaking awesome!
If you go with alchemist, pick up Doppleganger Simulacrum at level 10. That way you could have them fight to the death 3-5 times. Put him in places where suicide traps could lure the PC's right in.
Or, I'd be cool with a Dragon Disciple with an undead template, It'd be kind of awesome to see a skeletal dragon show up and beat the snot out of the front line. It sounds really appealing to me. An Unarmed Fighter 5/ Crossblooded sorcerer 1/ DD4 given a scroll of Form of the Dragon I (or II, I'm not picky) would be pretty awesome. If your Necromancer is level 11, he can make the scroll on his own.
That sounds awesome and i will look into that mix.