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I'm trying to flesh out some NPCs for my homebrew and I'm a little stumped on how to make some of the martial NPCs charismatic.
To be more specific, I'm trying to make a Barbarian Warlord type character, but I find it hard to up his cha, without making him a weaker combatant, or become a bloodrager.
It's like muscles = less cha... :S
And Swashbuckler or some dex/cha combo is not suitable for this character's backstory. Nor is forcing a rod of splendor onto this character's gear.
The overall ideal for part of the campaign is to have the party find a way to overcome the Barbarian Warlord's army, by replacing him, turn his army against him or some other course of action.
Hence the need for a charismatic marital character.
I'm trying to flesh out some NPCs for my homebrew and I'm a little stumped on how to make some of the martial NPCs charismatic.
To be more specific, I'm trying to make a Barbarian Warlord type character, but I find it hard to up his cha, without making him a weaker combatant, or become a bloodrager.
It's like muscles = less cha... :S
And Swashbuckler or some dex/cha combo is not suitable for this character's backstory. Nor is forcing a rod of splendor onto this character's gear.
The overall ideal for part of the campaign is to have the party find a way to overcome the Barbarian Warlord's army, by replacing him, turn his army against him or some other course of action.
Hence the need for a charismatic marital character.
Strategist Standard-Bearer Cavalier 1 / Martial Artist Sensei Monk 1 / Barbarian or Bloodrager 3 / Battle Herald X
That's the closest to being a true "War Leader". If you want to give them Leadership as well (you should), their Cohort should probably be a Pack Rager, and their subordinates should all be varying degrees of Barbarians, Skalds, and Wild Stalker Rangers.
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Then you can get Variant Multiclassing into the mix, which can REALLY screw things up.
Strategist Standard-Bearer Cavalier 4 / Sensei Martial Artist Monk 1 / Battle Herald X / Barbarian VMC
Invulnerable Rager Barbarian 4 / Sensei Monk 1 / Battle Herald X / Cavalier VMC
Invulnerable Rager Barbarian 6 / Strategist Standard-Bearer Cavalier 1 / Battle Herald X / Bard VMC
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Or you just go straight Pack Rager, because holy crap Tactician.
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Cavalier of the Order of the Cockatrice. At level 2 he gets Braggart and a +2 bonus on demoralized opponents. Add a level of Rogue with the Thug archetype and he gets Frightening which extends the demoralized condition by 1 round.
Now if you want to optimize this you could do the following things:
Skill Focus (Intimidate) and Intimidating Prowess, as well as Half-Orc can add to Intimidate for a truly scary Intimidatrix.
Precise Strike is a good tactical feat to share with your allies but there are more.
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Well, if you want to be a marital leader, you'll need a very nice ring, a proper location and time, and a good lead-in to your proposal.
You're the GM, yes? If there aren't mechanics directly tied into the warlord's fighting prowess that depend on his CHA score, it's unimportant. Or, you could just give him high CHA. Do all your NPCs hew to a specific point-buy system? You don't need sky-high CHA to lead an army.
Why does his ability to lead have to be mechanical?
Make him the leader - give him a reputation and a set of deeds that makes his army look up to him. He doesn't have to lead by being the most Charismatic - in a wild civilization, being the toughest combatant is likely to mark him as a viable leadership candidate.
Give him powerful supporters - not just an army, but craftsmen and spiritual leaders - which can include casters - who back his claim. Once his people trust him to lead, the party can't displace him as leader simply by winning an opposed Diplomacy check.
Anyone trying to spread divisive rumours or dig up stories of failed raids where family members didn't come back has a hard time of it even without him being especially charismatic.
Also, he can still have max ranks in Diplomacy and Sense Motive even without high charisma.
What level is he? A barbarian with the eldritch heritage feats with the Orc or Abyssal bloodline has a good reason to have high Cha and gets great Str (the only downside is that it doesn't come online until higher level).
Yeah, just pump up Charisma if you want.
Maybe look into some feats that work through Charisma, like Enforcer, Goad, Noble Scion, Improved Feint, stuff like that.
Maybe some levels in oracle and that Cha to saves feat?
Dip in anti-paladin?
What level is he? A barbarian with the eldritch heritage feats with the Orc or Abyssal bloodline has a good reason to have high Cha and gets great Str (the only downside is that it doesn't come online until higher level).
The Linnorm Death Curse Rage Powers also use Charisma for their saves, and not only do you get the curse that activates when you're knocked unconscious or killed, but you also get +1 damage of the associated energy type on your attacks. The only prerequisites for them are being 4th level (except Tor, which needs 8th).
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The warlord would be around lv 7-11. The Party is lv 6 now and they may encounter him when they are about lv 7-8.
I did thought of just upping his cha, given that unless there is a specific class feature that uses it, a boosted cha would almost not affect any combat.
I'm not sure however if it would be a good ideal to create npcs with over over the top ability scores... or if I should stick with a point buy.
Thanks for all the advice and options, going to look through them and make this character work. Thanks!
The Spirit Totem is a good reason to have a Charisma based Barbarian. It's not super effective, but it's flavorful and fun.
Also, have you considered Rage Prophet? I could see a character like that running an army.
Skald, a bardbarian is exactly what you need.
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Well, if you noticed, Charisma isn't necessary for warlords and martial NPCs usually have little. If we are talking about orcs for example, an orc warlord might have 10 Charisma or so. He is simply pumping ranks into Intimidate and nothing else. His martial prowess is enough to guarantee his ranking. Barbarian NPC might be a similar case. Keep in mind that leaders have helpers also. Those helpers might be a brilliant strategist or charismatic shamans who are supporting the leader himself, so you could split the roles for several different NPCs.
Adam
"How do you make a charismatic pure Marital Leader-type / Barbarian warlord character?"
Build a bloodrager with good Cha score and make him/her boss his husband/wife around.
XD
Gestalt bloodrager//skald?
Just assume the barbarian was super lucky and got some nat 20s on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks?
Paladin + Holy Tactician archetype + Holy Guide archetype + Warrior of the Holy Light archetype + VMC barbarian. Huge amounts of teammwork feat sharing, AOE buffs rather than spells, and barbarian rage.
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One thing to consider is whether the character NEEDS to be a barbarian in the class sense or if he's just a barbarian in the tribal sense. It was already mentioned, but mechanical representation of leadership isn't entirely necessary, particularly for an NPC.
How I would approach it: Build the character first. If the campaign is built around dethroning the warlord, the characterization is going to be what is more memorable for the players.