Gestalt NPC in a Standard Campaign

[FaustianFeste]

Well, I have this semi-final boss (He's the direct underling of the BBEG) for my campaign that will be making his first appearance before the PCs soon, so I've been trying to come up with his information. So far I've been trying to make some swordsage/fighter multiclass, but then I remembered the wonder that is Gestalt. So, my first question is, what should be the CR modifier of a Gestalt villain in a campaign that is itself not Gestalt?

Before it's even brought up, yes, I am aware of the Warblade class, but a lot of this guy's concept is more in tune with the Diamond Mind and Shadow Hand disciplines. Plus, I want this guy to have decent Will saves, since so far my PCs have been using a lot of Enchantment-y spells, and I want this to be a more epic battle than:

"I cast Charm Person."

"....****! **** dice!"

Also, what would be a good level for this guy if I expect the PCs to actually meet him for the final showdown at level 14. It's going to be a him alone vs. them battle, and the party's a Warforged Paly, a cleric, a sorceress, a changeling ninja, and a kalashtar wilder, all with standard WBL. I expect him to have about triple standard wealth for a level 14 encounter. Oh, and the party's full of new players, so I want it to be both somewhat gentle (no TPK), but still have them be not only scare stiff by this guy, but have him at least kill one of them. They're level 14, they can raise with minimal problems.

And finally, any suggestion for this guy's build would be appreciated, but preferably with minimal cheese. I'd like him to have only a Bastard Sword for a weapon, but beyond that it's all open.

[Jack_Simth]

Well, I have this semi-final boss (He's the direct underling of the BBEG) for my campaign that will be making his first appearance before the PCs soon, so I've been trying to come up with his information. So far I've been trying to make some swordsage/fighter multiclass, but then I remembered the wonder that is Gestalt. So, my first question is, what should be the CR modifier of a Gestalt villain in a campaign that is itself not Gestalt?

Well, just reversing what's listed in the Gestalt Section of Unearthed Arcana, a Gestalt NPC would be +1 or +2 higher than a non-gestalt NPC - in theory, anyway.

But... swordsage//FIGHTER? That's not worth much of a bump from a regular Swordsage, especially for the 14th level party as you list below. It's bonus feats, slightly better bab, slightly better HP, and a good Fort save... and that's basically it. +1 CR, maybe, unless you really play him to Hide/Move Silently Shadow Hand strengths.


Before it's even brought up, yes, I am aware of the Warblade class, but a lot of this guy's concept is more in tune with the Diamond Mind and Shadow Hand disciplines. Plus, I want this guy to have decent Will saves, since so far my PCs have been using a lot of Enchantment-y spells, and I want this to be a more epic battle than:

"I cast Charm Person."

"....****! **** dice!"

Third Eye Conceal, Expanded Psionics Handbook - mind blank effect. Deals with that quite nicely - especially as you already have a Psionic character in the party - other than the issue that one spell shouldn't nullify an entire school of magic (and a big chunk of a second school) with no roll required.


Also, what would be a good level for this guy if I expect the PCs to actually meet him for the final showdown at level 14. It's going to be a him alone vs. them battle, and the party's a Warforged Paly, a cleric, a sorceress, a changeling ninja, and a kalashtar wilder, all with standard WBL. I expect him to have about triple standard wealth for a level 14 encounter. Oh, and the party's full of new players, so I want it to be both somewhat gentle (no TPK), but still have them be not only scare stiff by this guy, but have him at least kill one of them. They're level 14, they can raise with minimal problems.

Level? Eh, assuming you don't have any natural powergamers, try about 16th, possibly 17th. Play to the class strengths of the class, set up the terrain in your favor, and it will get very, very scary.


And finally, any suggestion for this guy's build would be appreciated, but preferably with minimal cheese. I'd like him to have only a Bastard Sword for a weapon, but beyond that it's all open.
Focus on Shadow Hand - Hide, Move Silently are good skills. The scariest thing is one you can't see, or one you can only see briefly. Stalker in the Night is probably going to be a signiture for this guy. Combines well with Shadow Blink (Swift action teleportation - he can now be anywhere in the room, which has been set up, in advance, to have a lot of concealment and blind corners; you'll want Shadow Stride (move Action) available as well) One With Shadow (immediate Action Incorporeality) and Cloak of Deception (1 round Greater Invisibility as a Swift Action). Do make sure to pick up Adaptive Style to recharge faster.

[dyslexicfaser]

Jack Smith has the right of it. Shadow Hand is probably the strongest build a Swordsage has, and is well-suited to solo play.

Personally, I prefer a blend of Shadow Hand and Setting Sun - you can pop around using things like Shadow Blink, and then use throwing maneuvers to toss people around like ragdolls or redirect people who attack him into their own allies.

[Yakk]

That 3rd eye costs 120,000 gp, far more than the WBL of a L 15 to 18 encounter.

What about:
4: Swordsage 4//Psion(Telepath) 4 (3/4 BaB, poor fort, d8 HD)
1: Warmind 1//Psion 5 (1 BaB, d10 HD)
9: Swordsage 13//Warmind 10 (1 BaB, d10 HD)
2: Swordsage 15//Psion 7 (3/4 BaB, poor fort, d8 HD)

L 16 Gesault, so a CR 18 or so.

BaB: +14
Saves: +9 Fort, +10 Reflex/Will
HD: 6d8+10d10 (90+ConBonus*16)
PP: 70+46+WisBonus*5+IntBonus*3.5

2 Bonus Psionic Feats
5/4/4/2 psion powers known (for a 4th, get Split Mind)
2/1/1/1/1 psionic warrior powers known
DR 3/-
Sweeping Strike (all attacks can hit 1 adjacent target free of charge!)
Insight +4 AC/Str/Con for 1 minute 3 times per day (free action)
+10d6 damage once per day on a melee attack (free action)

Plus L 15 swordsage abilities.

Prebuffing:
Share Pain (Psion 2, split damage with psicrystal, hours/level)
Inertial Armor (Psion 1, 7 pp for +7 armor AC, hours/level)

Expansion (Warrior 1, 9 pp for +2 size categories, 10 min/level)
Thicken Skin (Warrior 1, 10 pp for +4 natural armor, 10 min/level)
Freedom of Movement (Psion 4 10 min/level)

Touchsight (Psion 3, 60' radius blindsight, min/level)
Concealing Amorpha (Psion 2, partial concealment, min/level)
Force Screen (Psion 1, 5 pp for +5 shield, min/level)
Vigor (Warrior 1, 10 pp for +50 temp hp to self and crystal, min/level)

Schism (Telepath 4 1 round/level)
Metaphysical Weapon (Warrior 1, +3 enc on weapon, 10 rounds)

In Combat standard actions:
Time Hop (Psion 3, standard action, use it on yourself to confuse people!)
Concealing Amorpha, Greater (Warrior 3, standard action for full concealment, rounds/level)
Dissolving Weapon (Warrior 2, standard action for 7d6 acid damage on next hit)
Dimension Slide (Warrior 2, 50' teleport -- 5 pp @ standard, 9 pp @ move)
Vigor (Warrior 1, Replace the 50 temp hp to self and crystal, min/level)
Metaphysical Weapon (Warrior 1, +3 enc on weapon, 10 rounds)

Immediates:
Mental Barrier (Psion or War 3, immediate +4 deflection AC -- 6+X pp, lasts for X rounds -- needs War to get more than 1 round).
Precognition, Defensive (Psion 1, immediate +3 AC and all saves (insight) @ 7pp)
Precognition, Offensive (Psion 1, immediate +3 to hit (insight) @ 7pp)
Empty Mind (Psion 1, immediate +4 Will save bonus @ 7 pp)
Hustle (Warrior 2, immediate move action @ 3 pp)
Psychic Lion's Charge (Warrior 2, full attack on a charge)

Note the above are using the max charge amount for a 7 psion/10 warrior manifester level.

With 153 PP (22 wis, 14 int), you'll probably run out after a single fight using the above kind of buffing.

Budget above: 66 PP on prebuffs (not including the water walking ab

Notice that for 12 pp the above character can teleport 50' as a swift action.

Lots of options for Immediate actions.

The free standard action can be spent on:
50' teleport @ 5 pp
Refresh temp hp on self and crystal. @ 10 pp
7d6 acid damage for next melee hit @ 9 pp
Full concealment for next 10 rounds
Disappear in place -- then reappear at the same place 10 rounds later! (more of a trick than anything)

Notice that I avoided anything that gives the players a save. All powers are self-targeted in general.

...

At 22 wisdom and 18 Dex, he'll have +30 AC, or +34 with Mental Barrier.

-2 for Huge size, -4 dex for Huge size, gives us +30 AC at huge size. Plus 20% or 50% miss chance.

Attacker with 26 strength, +4 weapon, +14 BaB, +2 other bonuses has +28 to hit -- so this just makes the target difficult to hit, not impossible. That's good (and he can refresh that pool for 10 PP + Mental standard action)

A 26 caster-stat casting 7th level spells has a DC of 25. That's a challenge.

Assuming +2(+2 from warmind) con, +3 dex, +6 wis modifiers, we get:
Saves:
+13 Fort +13 Reflex +16 Will
Str: ??(+4 from Warmind)
Dex: 12(+4 from Item)
Con: 14(+4 from Warmind)
Wis: 16(+6 from Item)
Int: 14
Cha: ??

Budget, CR18x3 encounter: 141k

Some magic items:
Necklace of Wisdom +6 (36k) (for the high wis modifier)
Gloves of Dexterity +4 (16k) (for the high dex modifier)
Cloak of Resistance +5 (25k) (because saves are good)
A nice +1 Brilliant Energy Spiked Chain would be amusing -- ignores armor, costs 50k.
Remainder: 14k.

Now we are at:
Fort +18, Reflex +18, Will +21

On top of that, direct mind-control requires two failed saves thanks to Schism, and using Empty Mind hits +25 Will save as an immediate action.

Fort and Reflex saves have a better chance of getting through.

...

Using the Warmind and Acid Weapon ability, and a 2d4 weapon, at normal size we end up doing:

2d4+10d6+7d6 on primary target = 66 dam on average
2d4+10d6 on secondary target (acid is gone) = 42 dam on average

This is only once/day however.

But the Warmind "hit 2 targets" trick mixed with the Swordsage Strikes should be very tasty.

This is not a min/maxed gesault -- I just thought having a character that could do multiple action-type things per round would be a good thing to put up against a party of 4 or 5.

The mental action from schism lets him buff himself, psuedo-heal himself (vigor is tasty!), or move rapidly (but not too rapidly).

Then again, the character might need more magical defense.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Protection from Evil this spell wards a creature from attacks by evil creatures, "from mental controls".

Third Eyes are expensive at 120,000 gp so how about an intelligent magic item with a continuous protection from evil (good) for +16,000 gp apge 270.

FRCS has the 5 level Zhentarim Spy PRC with Deep Cover for protection against Divinations and Complete Adventurer has the 7 level Spymaster PRC with the same both have the same effect of toning down the combat abilitites.

One or even Two Ring(s) of Counterspells with Charm Person could also be useful and a nice useful PC treasure in most games with a BBEG who has been studying the PCs.

[FaustianFeste]

a Gestalt NPC would be +1 or +2 higher than a non-gestalt NPC

Well, I thought about that, but it says that a party of 4 adventurers would be able to take on challenges 1 or 2 levels higher. So, I'm not sure how that would interpret into a single opponent with gestalt against non-gestalt PCs.


Stuff of value and interest.

That's beautiful. I never even considered multiclassing gestalt. I should write this down....*copy/paste*


how about an intelligent magic item with a continuous protection from evil (good) for +16,000 gp

Hmmm. This is an interesting idea. The only sword swinger's the Paly, so an evil item that's also moderately powerful might be an interesting thing to mess with, especially since I enforce the "selling stuff has 1/2 market price" rule, making it a moderate financial loss to just sell it off. Of course, it would only be able to use Empathy, so that he's not in immediate risk of falling from keeping the sword.

[Stycotl]

i've been running two npc's in my campaign that discovered a ritual that allowed them to go gestalt. i have pretty much been staying with a +3 la and cr for that. +2 seemed too low, especially for la use, and +4 and higher didn't end up making sense in game; too high.

i might get around to posting the ritual and the resulting template in the homebrew section someday...