I was really hoping to see a some uber baddie wielding Garvok, the Sword of Wrath in Book 6. Unfortunately, the closest we get is some wrathspawn with a scimitar. So I am going to have to invent one for my PC's. So I'm looking for ideas for a Champion of Wrath. I could adapt the Champion of Greed from the Rise of the Runelords or Champion of Envy from Book 5, but I'd prefer something original. Looking for an idea.
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Well, Garvok is a greatsword, and a barbarian is quite the appropriate wielder of such a weapon. Give them the hurling charge, savage hurl, and furious barrage rage powers, and they could really take adavantage of Garvok's ability to be a thrown weapon.
Add in more rage powers that give either resistance or immunity to fire damage so they don't kill themselves if they score a crit, and you can give your PCs a truly terrifying, greatsword wielding rage beast who rapidly and repeatedly chucks a greatsword at them.
Huh, that's also a good idea. I, personally, was thinking fighter with improved critical (greatsword) and a ring of greater fire resistance as well as feats for throwing weapons and the like. Would also be frightening since an exploding greatsword is quite the weapon either way... let's be direct here: Garvok is a reusable grenade and it should be clear how frightening it would be to fight someone with (basically) infinite grenades.
Edit: Something like this maybe?
Champion of Wrath:
CR 16 XP 76,800
Human fighter 16
CE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +11; Senses Perception +1
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Defense
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AC 32, touch 21, flat-footed 25 (+11 armor, +4 deflection, +7 Dex)
hp 198 (16d10+96)
Fort +19, Ref +19, Will +11 (+4 vs. fear); +4 vs. effects that cause you to lose your grip on weapons
Defensive Abilities fortification 50%; Resist fire 30
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee sword of wrath garvok +27/+22/+17/+12 (2d6+35/17-20)
Special Attacks weapon trainings (heavy blades +5, trained throw, warrior spirit)
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Statistics
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Str 18, Dex 24, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +16; CMB +15 (+19 sunder); CMD 41 (45 vs. disarm, 47 vs. sunder)
Feats Athletic, Deadly Aim, Distance Thrower[UC], Endurance, Greater Sunder, Greater Weapon Focus (greatsword), Greater Weapon Specialization (greatsword), Improved Critical (greatsword), Improved Initiative, Improved Lightning Reflexes, Improved Sunder, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Throw Anything, Toughness, Two-handed Thrower[UC], Weapon Focus (greatsword), Weapon Specialization (greatsword)
Skills Climb +17, Intimidate +19, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +12, Knowledge (engineering) +12, Profession (soldier) +12, Survival +12, Swim +17
Languages Azlanti, Thassilonian
SQ armor training 4
Combat Gear potion of cure serious wounds (11); Other Gear +5 moderate fortification mithral chainmail, sword of wrath garvok, belt of physical perfection +4, cloak of resistance +5, emerald ellipsoid ioun stone (2), gloves of dueling[APG], greater ring of fire resistance, handy haversack, headband of inspired wisdom +4, ring of protection +4, 600 gp
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Special Abilities
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Armor Training 4 (Ex) Worn armor -4 check penalty, +4 max DEX.
Deadly Aim -5/+10 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage.
Distance Thrower Reduce ranged penalties for thrown weapons by 2
Endurance +4 to a variety of fort saves, skill and ability checks. Sleep in L/M armor with no fatigue.
Energy Resistance, Fire (30) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Fortification 50% You have a chance to negate critical hits on attacks.
Greater Sunder When destroying an item, extra damage is transferred to the wielder.
Improved Lightning Reflexes (1/day) Can re-roll a Ref save, but must take the second result.
Improved Sunder You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when sundering.
Power Attack -5/+10 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Throw Anything Proficient with improvised ranged weapons. +1 to hit with thrown splash weapons.
Trained Throw (Weapon Training [Blades, Heavy] +5) (Ex) Thrown weapon atk using Dex mod, add double training bonus to damage.
Two-Handed Thrower Gain Str bonus when using two hands to throw a one or two-handed weapon
Warrior Spirit +5 (Weapon Training [Blades, Heavy] +5 [Ex], 6/day) (Su) Standard action, add enhance bon or item powers for 1 min.
Weapon Training (Blades, Heavy) +5 (Ex) +5 Attack, Damage, CMB, CMD with Heavy Blades
Exceptional Wealth - The Champion of Wrath has player character levels of wealth rather than wealth of a npc of their level. This adjust their challenge rating by +1.
Yeah, someone who's chucking infinite grenades is pretty scary.
I like your build, Dryad. What point buy did you use on the stats?
Here's what I came up with. Level 20 Shoanti Barbarian with the Invulnerable Rager and Hurler archetypes. I didn't fully flesh out wealth - I'm pretty sure he's got more than an NPC should, but less than a PC does. Maybe comparable survivability - lower AC, but higher Fort and Will.
And, of course, Superstition. Because why not.
Champion of Wrath:
Champion of Wrath
Male Shoanti barbarian (hurler, invulnerable rager) 20
CE human (humanoid)
Init +7; Senses Perception +26
Favored Class: Barbarian; FCB: +2 HP, +6 Superstition Bonus
DEFENSE
AC 27, touch 15, flat-footed 24 (+8 armor, +3 Dex, +4 natural, +4 deflection, -2 rage); +3 after dealing damage with a melee weapon
HP 312 (20d12+202)
Fort +25, Ref +13, Will +17; +4 vs enchantments; +13 vs spells and spell-like abilities
Special Defense eater of magic, fortification (25%), raging vitality, DR 10/-; resist fire 20
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft
Melee Garvok, Sword of Wrath +32/+27/+22/+17 (1d12+41+5d6 fire/17-20)
Ranged Garvok, Sword of Wrath +27/+27/+22/+17/+12 (1d12+18+5d6 fire/17-20)
Rage Powers eater of magic, furious barrage, furious draw, greater sun totem hurling charge, lesser hurling, lesser sun totem, savage hurl sun totem, superstition
STATISTICS
Str 34, Dex 17, Con 28, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 12
Base Atk +20/+15/+10/+5; CMB +32; CMB 45
Feats Cornugon Smash, Hurtful, Improved Critical (greatsword), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Raging Brutality, Raging Deathblow, Raging Vitality, Recovered Rage, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Greatsword)
Skills (ACP -1) Acrobatics +25, Climb +16, Intimidate +23, Perception +26, Survival +26, Swim +15
Languages Common, Shoanti
SQ Extreme Endurance, mighty rage, skilled thrower, tireless rage
Gear Garvok, Sword of Wrath, +2 bloodthirsty light fortification stanching mithral agile breastplate, belt of physical perfection +4, headband of mental prowess (wis, cha) +4, cloak of resistance +4, amulet of natural armor +4, ring of protection +4
Stats Without Rage Str 26, Dex 17, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 12; AC 29, touch 17, flat-footed 26, HP 212 (20d12+102), Fort +20, Ref +13, Will +13, resist fire 6, Melee Garvok, Sword of Wrath +28/+23/+18/+13 (1d12+35+5d6 fire/17-20), Ranged Garvok, Sword of Wrath +29/+24/+19/+14 (1d12+18+5d6 fire/17-20); Power Attack is factored into all melee attack rolls.
@Kevin: If she survived your campaign, I'd definitely go for it. It makes a great callback for your PCs, and if she got away last time, it will give the players some closure on her.
Point Buy was the Heroic NPC Array (13, 15, 14, 12, 8, 10), thus no adjustment to CR. I figured I could give some leeway for anyone who wants to raise the difficulty on the character by giving some room for increasing the point buy.
Also, I didn't include any inherent bonuses from wishes, but all stats would probably be 4 higher if inherent bonuses were added in.
I was sad to see that nobody had Garvok, and that really only two of the Sin Swords show up for any length of time. If I ever run this, I'm gonna look at these builds and figure out my own. Thanks for figuring this out!
Garvok is a great weapon for pretty much any melee class. For a little arcane supplement, you could go bloodrager with elemental fire. An antipaladin dedicated to a demon lord probably wouldn't be amiss, either, given Alaznist's bargains. A slayer or warpriest could make for an interesting option, as could a battle oracle.
The big thing is making sure the champion has either fire resistance or immunity - otherwise, they might end up killing themselves when they crit with the greatsword.
I do like the idea of Garvok's wielder not having heat immunity. Either because they flunked Abjuration or just Wrath's view of, "If you have to defend, you aren't being offensive enough!"
It'd also fit with the final battle's theme of, "Everyone's Willing To Hurt Themselves In Order To Hurt You Even More"
