Pathfinder in the Mists

[Ryan Naylor]

After 3 1/2 months, I return!

As promised, I've renovated a triptych of darklords to make use of the Advanced Class Guide classes.


The ones I haven't changed are as follows:

Malken - Stalker doesn't actually suit him as nicely as rogue does, in my opinion. Also, he and Tristen are so closely entwined (a fact I am quite pleased with), it's too much effort for too little return for me to bother with.

Alfred Timothy - Warpriest doesn't suit him, and there are no archetypes that make it better for him. Even the sacred fist archetype doesn't work, because it's all about unarmed attacks, not natural attacks, and I don't want to undermine his weakness in human form (since that's an important part of his curse). I suppose there's a need for the "crazy backwoods priest of a beast god" trope in a reasonably accessible part of the Core.

Ilsabet Obour - Unfortunately, the reanimator archetype for alchemist really suits her, and can't be applied to the investigator class, so no investigator for her.

Stezen d'Polarno - Swashbuckler's not a great class, so I've left him as fighter. This one is more open to debate.


On to the others:

[Ryan Naylor]

Meredoth is great as an arcanist, and he's really the only option for the class in Ravenloft.

As an arcanist, he loses life sight, grave touch and Scribe Scroll, and gains a shifting metamagic feat and far more spells per day. His command undead power is much weaker unless he expends some arcane reservoir on it (which I quite like - even dealing with his undead minions is now annoying for him). He's also a master of counterspelling too.



Meredoth (The Nocturnal Sea)

Timeline
c600 BC Born in Alphatia in Mystara.
633 BC Granted a barony in Norwold and quickly becomes annoyed by how much time is spent on the petty concerns of his vassals.
635 BC Poisons all his vassals and turns them into intelligent zombies in the middle of a brutal winter. Becomes the darklord of Nebligtode (potentially in the Sea of Sorrows, but more likely to be an Island).
642 BC Poisons the entire Graben family and turns them into lebendtod.
734 BC Captain Garvyn breaks his oath to return bodies to the Graben crypts and the Endurance becomes a Ship of Horror in Meredoth’s service.
737 BC Killed by adventurers; returns thanks to prepared clones.
750 BC Nebligtode becomes the Nocturnal Sea.
760 BC Present day.

Powers Checks
Caress (Violence: poison: 4%; c620 BC): Cha -2.
Enticement (Black Magic: necromancy: 4%; c625 BC): Bonus feat: Undead Master (later replaced by Cold One)
Invitation (Black Magic and Violence: removing rivals: 16%; c630 BC): Sense intruders.
Embrace (Black Magic: experimenting on some of his vassals to create lebendtod: 16%; c634 BC): Carrion collector.
Creature (Black Magic, Betrayal and Blasphemy: poisoning all of his vassals and raising them from the dead: 100%; 635 BC): Becomes an arcanist and darklord of Nebligtode. Arcane mastery, master of storms, undead truce.


Base stats
S 10 D 13 C 12 I 18 W 12 Ch 7 (high fantasy)
Racial: Int +2 (human)
Levelling: Int +5
Aging: Old
Favoured class: skills
CR 22 (19 [levels] + 1 [PC-level treasure] + 2 [darklord abilities])

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 22 XP 614,400
Male Old Human Arcanist 20
CE Medium Humanoid (Human)
Init: +2 (Dex) Senses: Darkvision 60 ft, arcane sight, see invisibility; Perception +21
Defense
AC 26 Touch 16 Flat-footed 24 (+2 Dex, +6 armour, +4 natural, +4 deflection)
hp 92 (6 +19d6 +20)
Fort +12, Ref +13, Will +18
Immune disease, poison, gas attacks, hp loss from bleeding
Resist cold 20, electricity 10
SR 20
Spell turning
Minor displacement
Offense
Spd 30 ft.
Melee Masterwork dagger +11/+6 (1d4; crit 19+)
Rod of withering +7/+2 touch (1d4 Str and 1d4 Con)
Ranged Ray +12
Space/Reach: 5’/5’
S 7 (11) D 11 (15) C 9 (13) I 27 (31) W 10 (12) Ch 7
BAB +10 CMB +10 CMD 26 (24)

Feats
Arcane Blast, Combat Casting, Craft Construct, Craft Magic Arms & Armour, Craft Rod, Craft Wand, Craft Wondrous Item, Enlarge Spell, Extend Spell, Forge Ring, Maximize Spell, Quicken Spell, Rime Spell*, Spell Focus (necromancy), Cold One (B), Command Undead (B)
* Able to be swapped for any other metamagic spell 1/day
Skills
Appraise +14 (1), Bluff +8 (10), Craft (alchemy) +26 (13), Craft (blacksmith) +16 (5), Craft (sculpture) +22 (10), Escape Artist +22 (20), Fly +18 (13), Heal +11 (10), Intimidate +13 (15), Knowledge (arcana) +33 (5; 20 from headband), Knowledge (dungeoneering) +15 (2), Knowledge (engineering) +15 (2), Knowledge (geography) +15 (2), Knowledge (history) +15 (2), Knowledge (local) +15 (2), Knowledge (nature) +23 (10), Knowledge (planes) +23 (10), Knowledge (religion) +33 (10; 20 from headband), Linguistics +14 (1), Perception +21 (20), Sense Motive +11 (10), Spellcraft +33 (20), Stealth +17 (10), Survival +11 (10), Swim +10 (10), Use Magic Device +15 (17)
Languages
Grabenite*, Aquan, Auran, Balok, Elven, Abyssal, Darkonese, Draconic, Infernal, Sithican, Vaasi, permanent tongues

Treasure
(660,000 gp/880,000 gp)
Amulet of natural armour +4/hand of glory/necklace of adaptation/periapt of health/proof against poison/wound closure/scarab of protection, belt of physical perfection +4, boots of the winterlands, bracers of armour +6, broom of flying, cloak of elvenkind/minor displacement/resistance +5, crystal ball of true seeing, headband of vast intelligence +4/Wis +2, rods: Quicken, Reach, Absorption, Flame Extinguishing, Withering, ring of spell turning/major cold resistance/minor electricity resistance, ring of freedom of movement/protection +4, ring of wizardry I and II/evasion, staff of frost and necromancy
Permanent tongues, arcane sight, darkvision, see invisibility
2 snow golems, 1 bone golem, 1 zombie golem

Special
Command Undead (4/day) (DC 11; DC 21 and no turn resistance with arcane reservoir)
Arcane reservoir (min 13; max 23)
Consume spells
Consume magic items
School understanding (Necromancy: command undead; Wis-based not Cha)
Counterspell
Greater counterspell
Counter drain
Spell tinkerer
Metamagic knowledge
Greater metamagic knowledge
Item crafting
Magical supremacy
Arcane mastery
Master of storms
Undead truce
Carrion collector
Sense intruders
Sinkhole of evil

Spells Known
(9/15/15/8/8/8/8/7/7/7); DC = 20 + spell level; 21 + spell level for Necromancy

Knows all the spells in the Core Rules, Domains of Dread, those regarding constructs from later books, plus those he has created: greater shrink item, shrink construct, transmute snow to stone, transmute stone to snow

[Ryan Naylor]

Heinfroth has moved from a mindchemist alchemist to an empiricist investigator.

His saves are different, as are his skills (losing the double Int bonus to skills from mindchemist has hurt some of his Knowledges, but now he has inspiration bonuses to lots of skills, so it's more or less even).He's lost Brew Potion, Throw Anything and his bombs. He's gained trapfinding and trap sense, Studied Combat and Strike, and the Empathy and Inspired Intimidation exploits, both of which are very in keeping with his character.




Daclaud Heinfroth (Dr. Dominiani)
(Dominia)

Timeline
c596 BC Born in Gundarak.
c606 BC Watches his mother succumb to madness. Becomes obsessed with how insanity arises and can be treated.
c630 BC Begins to suffer from hallucinations, and so begins his experiments with cerebral fluid transfusions.
c633 BC Transfuses himself with cerebral fluid from one of Duke Gundar’s favourites, and becomes a cerebral vampire. Joins Gundar’s service.
735 BC Plots with Akriel Lukas to overthrow Harkon Lukas; he is also working with Gundar to betray Akriel.
736 BC Betrays Gundar, who is staked. Becomes darklord of Gundarak.
740 BC Becomes darklord of Dominia in the Grand Conjunction.
c748 BC Dominia joins the Sea of Sorrows.
750 BC Captures Rudolph van Richten and drives him insane (although he eventually gets away).
760 BC Present day.

Powers Checks
Caress (Blasphemy: experiments with alchemy and madness: 16%; c630 BC): Madness.
Enticement (Blasphemy and Violence: murders people to get cerebral fluid to prevent own madness: 16%; c.633 BC): Becomes cerebral vampire.
Invitation (Blasphemy and Violence: callous treatment of inmates in his asylum: 32%; c700 BC): Madness bomb.
Embrace (Betrayal and Violence: plot to overthrow Harkon Lukas and then betray Akriel Lukas: 4%; 735 BC): Confusion touch.
Creature (Betrayal: allows Gundar to be killed by adventurers: 16%; 736 BC): Becomes darklord of Gundarak.

Base stats
S 13 D 10 C 12 I 16 W 15 Ch 8 (high fantasy)
Racial: Cha +2 (human)
Levelling: Wis +2, Cha +1
Aging: Middle aged
Favoured class: skills
CR 14 (11 [levels] + 2 [template] + 1 [PC-level treasure])

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 14 XP 38,400
Male Middle aged Human Mature Obyri (Cerebral Vampire) Investigator (Empiricist) 7 Mesmerist 5
CE Medium Undead (augmented humanoid)
Init: +6 (Dex, feat) Senses: Darkvision 60 ft, Perception +33+1d6


Defense
AC 27 Touch 15 Flat-footed 24 (+2 Dex, +8 natural, +4 armour, +2 deflection, +1 dodge)
hp 112 (8 + 6d8 + 5d6 + 60), lunar healing
Fort +11, Ref +14, Will +16; +2 vs illusions
Evasion
Mind shielding
Channel resistance +9
DR 10/magic and silver
Immune undead traits
Resist cold 10, electricity 10
Obyri weaknesses
Offense
Spd 40 ft
Melee Slam +11 (1d4+6 plus confusion)
Ranged +9
Space/Reach: 5’/5’
S 18 D 13 (15) C - I 21 W 20 Ch 18
BAB +7 CMB +11 CMD 26 (24)

Feats
Ability Focus (dominate), Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Enforcer, Hypnotism, Improved Initiative, Lightnight Reflexes, Persuasive, Rhetorical Flourish, Skill Focus (Heal), Spell Focus (Enchantment), Toughness
Skills
Acrobatics +8 (6), Appraise +10 (2), Bluff +27 (12), Climb +10 (3), Craft (alchemy) +20 (12), Diplomacy +17+1d6 (8), Fly +8 (3), Handle Animal +10 (3), Heal +26+1d6 (12), Intimidate +23 (12), Knowledge (arcana) +10+1d6 (2), Knowledge (history) +10+1d6 (2), Knowledge (local) +12+1d6 (4), Knowledge (nature) +11+1d6 (3), Knowledge (nobility) +11+1d6 (3), Knowledge (religion) +10+1d6 (2), Linguistics +7+1d6 (2), Perception +33+1d6 (12), Sense Motive +33+1d6 (12), Sleight of Hand +11 (6), Stealth +16 (6).
Heal +4 to hypnotise with pocketwatch, +2 to cure/induce madness
Languages
Luktar*, Balok, Mordentish, Draconic, Darkonese, Vaasi, Sithican, Lamordian

Treasure
(81,000gp/108,000 gp)
Amulet of Natural Armour +2, Belt of Incredible Dexterity +2, Bracers of Armour +4, Cloak of Resistance +3, Ring of Evasion/Protection +2, Ring of Mind Shielding

Special
Inspiration (8/day)
Trapfinding +3
Unfailing logic +2
Keen recollection
Trap sense +2
Studied combat +3
Studied strike +2d6
Empathy
Expanded inspiration
Inspired intimidation
Mesmeric Focus
Alter Perceptions
Diagnose Madness
Soothing Voice
Implant Spells
Shatter Psyche
Break Will
Cerebral Drain (1d4 Int, heal 5 hp)
Dominate (DC 22)
Children of the Night (2d6 wolves or 1d4+1 seagull swarms (as bat swarms))
Create Spawn
Change shape
Daylight Powerlessness
Lunar Healing
Gaseous Form
Restful Sleep
Spider Climb
Salient Ability: Immune to garlic, damaged by surgical alcohol not holy water
Confusion touch
Mastery +4
Sinkhole of evil

Spells
DC 15 + spell level (-1 for silent image)
4 5/day – hideous laughter, silent image, sleep, unnatural lust
2 3/day – calm emotions, hold person

Formulae
(6/4/2); DC 15 + spell level
1 – anticipate peril, bomber’s eye, comprehend languages, cure light wounds, disguise self, keen senses, polypurpose panacea, see alignment, true strike, identify, vocal alteration, detect undead
2 – acute senses, aid, blistering invective, blur, cure moderate wounds, detect thoughts, delay poison, invisibility, see invisibility, lesser restoration
3 – arcane sight, bloodhound, cure serious wounds, heroism, lightning lash bomb admixture, rage, seek thoughts, tongues

[Ryan Naylor]

Bluebeard is now a brawler instead of a fighter. I think it's a great fit for him, and both archetypes are excellent - one is about spotting weakness and tearing apart things with his bare hands, and the other is about strangling people. Conveniently, they don't clash, so he can have both.

His AC is 2 points lower, and he's lost bravery. That's all. In return, his razor does more damage (close weapon mastery), he's great at manoeuvres, he can strangle people and exploit weaknesses. He does, however, have to use martial flexibility to shift two of his feats around when he's in combat mode, but he can do that as a swift action, so it doesn't matter. He's got Quick Draw and Enforcer out of combat, and will change that to Specialisation and (if he's really serious) Bloody Assault when he needs to.




Bluebeard (Blaustein)

Timeline
c600 BC Born in Prime Material Blaustein.
c622 BC Inherits Castle Blaustein and great wealth. Marries his first wife.
c625 BC Suspecting her of infidelity with a bard, Bluebeard kills her.
c627 BC Remarries.
c629 BC Kills her. Later that year, remarries.
c630 BC Kills her.
c631 BC Marries Marcella. She lasts about 2 months before he slits her throat. Over the next few years, does away with 3 more women in increasingly cruel ways as they prove themselves disloyal to him.
c637 BC Murders his eighth (somewhere between 6 and wife. Becomes darklord of Blaustein (probably as an Island of Terror, but possibly not). Kills 12 more wives over the next century, including Lorel, who he blinds and rips out the tongue of her brother before killing them both.
c741 BC Blaustein joins the Sea of Sorrows (if it hasn’t already).
760 BC Present day.

Powers Checks
Caress (Betrayal and Violence: murdering his first wife: 32%; c625 BC): Sense Motive becomes a class skill.
Enticement (Betrayal and Violence: murders his third wife increasingly sadistically: 16%; c630 BC): Discern lies.
Invitation (Betrayal and Violence: murders his fourth wife Marcella: 8%; c631 BC): Charm person, detect thoughts.
Embrace (Betrayal and Violence: murders his sixth wife sadistically: 4%; c636 BC): Immune to his wives’ powers
Creature (Betrayal and Violence: murders his eighth wife: 2%; c637 BC): Becomes darklord of Blaustein. Utter loyalty, master of the castle, murderous charisma.

Base stats
S 16 D 16 C 13 I 12 W 9 Ch 7 (high fantasy)
Racial: Str +2 (caliban)
Levelling: Str +1, Dex +1
Favoured class: skills
CR 10 (8 [levels] + 1 [PC-level treasure] + 1 [darklord abilities])

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 10 XP 9,600
Male Caliban Brawler (Steel breaker, Strangler) 9
LE Medium Humanoid (crossbreed)
Init: +3 (Dex) Senses: Lowlight vision, Perception +10

Defense
AC 20 Touch 14 Flat-footed 19 (+3 Dex, +6 armour, +1 deflection)
hp 63 (10 + 8d10 + 9)
Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +3 (+2 vs charm, sleep)
SR 15
Immune to negative levels
Offense
Spd 30 ft
Melee +3 mithral straight razor +20/+15 (1d8+12, crit 19+)
+3 mithral straight razor +17/+12 (1d8+18, crit 19+ with Power Attack)
+3 mithral straight razor +15/+10 (1d8+12 plus 1d4 bleed, crit 19+ with Bloody Assault)
Unarmed strike +15/+10 (1d3+6 plus Intimidate)
Grapple +16 (1d3+3d6+6)
Space/Reach: 5’/5’
S 19 (21) D 17 C 13 I 12 W 9 Ch 12
BAB +9 CMB +14 [+3 sunder, +2 disarm] CMD 28 (25) [+3 sunder, +2 disarm]

Feats
Alertness, Betrayer, Enforcer/Bloody Assault, Persuasive, Power Attack, Quick Draw/Weapon Specialisation (dagger), Uncanny Alertness, Weapon Focus (dagger)
Skills
Bluff +10 (6), Climb +6 (0), Diplomacy +13 (7), Intimidate +14 (3), Knowledge (local) +5 (4), Perception +10 (8), Sense Motive +13 (8)
Languages
Blausteiner*, Mordentish

Treasure
(34,000 gp/45,000 gp)
Belt of giant strength +2, circlet of persuasion, ring of protection +1, cloak of resistance +1, +2 chain shirt, +3 mithral straight razor.

Special
Ferocity
Intimidating
Brawler’s cunning
Martial flexibility (7/day, swift action)
Close weapon mastery
Exploit weakness +8
Sunder training
Strangle +3d6
Practised strangler
Sleeper hold (1/day)
Discern lies, charm person at will; dream to seduce wives
Utter loyalty
Master of the castle
Murderous Charisma
Sinkhole of evil

[Ryan Naylor]

Any thoughts?

[Nemesio]

Great to see you back on the forum Ryan. Haven't been up to much on here myself either.

Also excellent work as usual! I really like Meredoth!

P.S. Hit me up If you want to talk shop...

[Ivoshandor]

I always thought Blue Bread would be a rogue with pirate archtype. but that just me

[IrvyneWolfe]

I've been pouring over these stats for months in PDF format and I'm glad I found a place to ask some questions.

1. Easan the Mad. Where is the Wild Mage archetype? The closest I've been able to find is the Primalist (which admittedly, is very similar).
2. On Prestige classes. I really like how you stuck to the essence of the prestige classes and didn't feel required to turn each one into a 10 level monster padded with useless class features and/or dead levels. Have you seen the noble scion Prestige class from Paths of Prestige? I always thought that could be tweaked to fit perfectly in Ravenloft without too much effort, just change the name on some the regions. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
3. By and large I loved reading your dark lord stats. Especially Elena Faith-hold, marrying Anti-Paladin and cavalier abilities was inspired. My only complaint was Strahd, but I know my opinion of making him more warrior than wizard is in the minority. All the same my file of pathfinder stats for Darklords is now only populated by the Fighter 1/Necromancer 9/Eldritch Knight 10 Strahd, bravo .

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I always thought Blue Bread would be a rogue with pirate archtype. but that just me

Bluebeard himself is not a pirate, at least not in the original legends, nor our version in the SoS Gaz. He may allow Blaustein to become a pirate haven, but he himself is nobleman who never really had any connection to the sea. (I suspect the original idea of Blausteiners as pirates came from someone confusing Bluebeard for Blackbeard.)

[Ryan Naylor]

Great to see you back on the forum Ryan. Haven't been up to much on here myself either.

Also excellent work as usual! I really like Meredoth!

P.S. Hit me up If you want to talk shop...

Thanks!

I am *always* happy to talk shop with you

[Ryan Naylor]

I've been pouring over these stats for months in PDF format and I'm glad I found a place to ask some questions.

I am very happy to talk about this with you. All comments welcome.

1. Easan the Mad. Where is the Wild Mage archetype? The closest I've been able to find is the Primalist (which admittedly, is very similar).

The primalist is certainly the closest to the old wild mage. It's about half of the old version (the half that deals with wild surges, not the half that has a fluctuating caster level).

The wild mage archetype doesn't exist, so I understand why you can't find it. That was probably more difficult than it should have been, so I apologise. The only difference from a universalist wizard is that he has "wild magic" rather than "hand of the apprentice," which is the fluctuating caster level as described in his 3e and Fos Gazetteer stats. I think in terms of power, they're about the same.

If you were to use the primalist archetype as well/instead, he'd gain hand of the apprentice (or keep wild magic), and gain the primal surge powers. He'd lose his bonded ring (which isn't too great a loss) and 2 feats (probably Augment Summoning, Craft Wand, Dazing Spell, Empower Spell, Intensified Spell or Spell Focus (conjuration), since we know he can make constructs and the others are prerequisites for that. Which is a pity, because they're all really in keeping with his character, so it'd be a pity to give them up).

2. On Prestige classes. I really like how you stuck to the essence of the prestige classes and didn't feel required to turn each one into a 10 level monster padded with useless class features and/or dead levels. Have you seen the noble scion Prestige class from Paths of Prestige? I always thought that could be tweaked to fit perfectly in Ravenloft without too much effort, just change the name on some the regions. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you.

It's a great prestige class, isn't it? It's hitting a different noble archetype than Courtier, obviously - the "wealthy leader of men" rather than conniving social animal/poisoner. Of course, there's nothing that says you can't mix and match and do both...

3. By and large I loved reading your dark lord stats. Especially Elena Faith-hold, marrying Anti-Paladin and cavalier abilities was inspired. My only complaint was Strahd, but I know my opinion of making him more warrior than wizard is in the minority. All the same my file of pathfinder stats for Darklords is now only populated by the Fighter 1/Necromancer 9/Eldritch Knight 10 Strahd, bravo .

Thanks again.

That's a really interesting build for Strahd, and not one I'd thought of. I am intrigued...

The difference is that he loses 2 wizard feats, and several uses of Command Undead and Bolster. He gains some hit points, and spell critical. Or you could make him Fighter 1/Wizard 10/Eldritch Knight 9 to salvage a feat but sacrifice spell critical.

[Ryan Naylor]

This is that Strahd:


Strahd von Zarovich

CR 24
Male Human Eldritch Knight 10 Fighter 1 Wizard 9
LE Medium Undead (augmented humanoid, human)
Init +11; Senses Darkvision (60 feet), life sight (9 rds); Perception +30
--------------------
DEFENSE
--------------------
AC 39, touch 23, flat-footed 30 (+7 Dex, +12 natural, +5 deflection, +1 dodge, +4 mage armour)
hp 256 (11d10+9d6+160); Fast Healing 6
Fort +21, Ref +19, Will +22 (reroll 1/day)
Channel Resistance +13;
DR 15/magic and silver;
Immune Undead Traits;
Resist cold 10, electricity 10
SR 20
Weakness Vampire Weaknesses
--------------------
OFFENSE
--------------------
Spd 50 ft., climb 20 ft
Melee Slam +30 (1d4+20 plus +4 with arcane strike plus 2 negative levels (DC 27)) and longsword +4 +30/+25/+20 (1d8+14 plus +4 with arcane strike; crit 19+)
Slam +26 (1d4+28 plus +4 with arcane strike plus 2 negative levels (DC 27)) and longsword +4 +26/+21/+16 (1d8+22 plus +4 with arcane strike; crit 19+) with Power Attack
Special Attacks Blood Drain, Children of the Night (1/day), Create Spawn, Dominate (DC 27), Energy Drain (2 levels) (DC 27)
Wizard Spells Known (CL 18, 25 melee touch, 22 ranged touch):
--------------------
STATISTICS
--------------------
Str 30, Dex 24, Con -, Int 26, Wis 24, Cha 24
Base Atk +15; CMB +25; CMD 48 (40)
Feats Alertness, Arcane Strike, Burning Spell, Cleave, Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes (8 AoO/round), Craft Rod, Craft Wondrous Item, Dodge, Extend Spell, Forge Ring, Furious Focus, Improved Initiative, Improved Iron Will (1/day), Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack -4/+8, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus: Necromancy, Still Spell, Toughness +20, Command Undead (11/day) (DC 21), Undead Master, Weapon Focus: Longsword, Wizard Weapon Proficiencies
Skills Bluff +25, Climb +23, Craft (Alchemy) +21, Diplomacy +17, Fly +15, Intimidate +22, Knowledge (Arcana) +31, Knowledge (History) +24, Knowledge (Local) +24, Knowledge (Nobility) +24, Knowledge (Planes) +26, Knowledge (Religion) +31, Linguistics +12, Perception +30, Perform (Dance) +9, Perform (Keyboard Instruments) +9, Sense Motive +32, Spellcraft +31, Stealth +30
Languages Common
SQ Abjuration, Bolster (+2, 4r) (3/day) (Sp), Bonded Object: Amulet (1/day) (Sp), Change Shape (dire bat or wolf, beast shape II) (Su), Enchantment, Gaseous Form (Su), Life Sight (9 rounds/day) (Su), Metamagic Rod, Bouncing, Metamagic Rod, Dazing, Metamagic Rod, Extend, Metamagic Rod, Lingering, Metamagic Rod, Persistent, Metamagic Rod, Quicken, Metamagic Rod, Reach, Metamagic Rod, Sickening, Metamagic Rod, Silent, Rod of Absorption, Rod of Alertness, Shadowless (Ex), Spell Critical (Su), Spider Climb (Ex), Undead

Spells: 4/11+1/11+1/11+1/11/6/6/5/5/3

All the equipment etc remains the same, except I've traded the rod of alertness for a longsword +4.



Note that this Strahd has access to 9th level spells, which I'm not entirely sure about. I liked it when Azalin was a more powerful spellcaster (despite his curse). I can see good story reasons to restrict Strahd to 8th level spells.

Any thoughts?

[IrvyneWolfe]

Strahd von Zarovich

Wow that actually ends up being nastier than the version I cooked up.

My thinking on this particular class combination for Strahd was that he was supposedly a peerless warrior before taking up magic in his later years. I always felt somewhat put off that an important, canon, part of the character was simply reduced to Fighter 4. A few weeks back my PCs were playing an adventure path and fought an army made up entirely of Fighter 6s. And with rules that allow level replacement to occur on failed powers checks it makes sense that some, or almost all, of those fighter levels became Eldritch Knight levels. It seems like a level of brutal efficiency that Strahd would embrace.

As far as Azzie goes having them both with 9th level spells IS pretty scary, but the difference is I wouldn't put many 7+ level spells in Strahd's spellbook. Azzie is THE archetypal master mage, his spelbook needs to read like a laundry list. Strahd is a dabbler who's reached those heights simply because he's had ages to put into the job. He'd simply have the high level spells he'd think he needed.

Of course the other option would be like a Magus/Necromancer with the spell blending Arcana, but that'd be a pretty messy build.

[Ryan Naylor]

I had a look at giving some magus levels, perhaps with broad study to compliment his necromancer levels, but it's a nightmare. I don't recommend it.

While I agree with everything you've said about his warrior history, Strahd is meant to be one of the most powerful and creative necromancers in Ravenloft. He's created several unique types of monster (not least the Strahd undead), magical items, and new spells. So I think he's more than just a dabbler. Of course, I still can't convince myself that he should have 9th level spells. He's *always* been a 16th level necromancer.

I think I incline towards Fighter (Tactician) 3/Necromancer 8/Eldritch Knight 9, to get the right level of spells (plus lifesense, which is a great ability for him) plus to recognise his abilities as a general as well as a fighter. If you assume his eldritch knight levels used to be fighter levels, that puts him at about Fighter 10 when he won the war (which is when fighters used to get their castle in 2e) and Fighter 12 when he made his pact with Death, which seems to fit.

[Ivoshandor]

Fighter (Tactician) 3/Necromancer 8/Eldritch Knight 9 sounds alot more reasonable to me Ryan