[3.5] Help with 9 swords and one guy

[Trenelus]

First, my players keep out from this!

For upcoming Tome of Battle campaign I had an idea of this guy who would hunt for all the nine sword. I have intended him to be lesser/moderate badguy / nemesis / henchman for PCs to fight couple of times over the campaing, and maybe even get some of those swords at later. As one or all PC might even have said legacy weapon, this could be fun opponent to have.

But then comes the mechanical problem: I really don't have any good ideas how to build him - lets call Gilgamesh for now - so that he could use those said weapons, without just switching sword(s) every round. That and the violent thrust use of telekinesis, and swarm of dancing weapons were all that i came by. And I think you, the forum folk, can come up something way better.

I wish Gilgamesh to be martial character, using ToB maneuvers and having a way to use/wield all 9 weapons simultaneously. Doesn't have to be able to do that all day long, I'm happy with "limit break" style attack. I would prefer to him to be human, or any medium sized phb1 race, without templates, having no greater gear than PC wpl, and be cool while fighting 4 PCs.
And as Gilgamesh is trying to get all the 9 swords, he should not be dependant on having some specific weapon

Books we are using:
SRD, Complete Adventurer/Arcane/Divine/Warrior, Draconomicon, Faerun books and of course Tome of Battle.

32 point buy if possible, i don't usually want to make npc much higher if they ain't BBEG or greatest figures in campaign, that he, while deadly opponent / plot devise, really isn't.

Builds for levels 5-20 needed.

And if it matters the party will be consisting 4 martial adepts of some sort,
nothing is yet final. No full casters, if there even is any. The group aint heavy at optimising except one fellow, who more often just fails at it.

Little something that might resemple this guy :

Spoiler

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Thank you in advance.

[Prime32]

There's a number of ways to get extra arms, but few of them are in the books you have listed.

The_Mad_Linguist has made a Gilgamesh build before, using Savage Progression ghost for telekinesis on the cheap.

Like the F/SN character, I don't think there's any way you could use the legacy abilities of more than one weapon. You'll have to be an "owner", not a "wielder".

[Lifeson]

Well, if THAT Gilgamesh is your inspiration, just remember that the Nasuverse is made of hax, and anything goes.

Um, since I don't really know the books inside and out, I'm just going to throw some suggestions:

- When you throw these swords, is there a way to make them come back? Gil was an archer, after all. And it also adds strength-based ranged attacks, which is kind of nice.

- Probably pick human to be the race. Extra feat?

- Personality-wise: a superiority complex (Your choice on the use of MONGRELS, though.), if he can hijack the campaign from your actual BBEG he will try his hardest,and he will gleefully f*** you up if you stand in his way. Power-hungry, really.

[Flickerdart]

Refluff a nine-headed Hydra.

[nyarlathotep]

Make him a master of the nine obviously and then rather than giving him telekinesis graft several extra arms on him so he looks something like this.

Spoiler

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Now you'll notice that that guy only has 8 arms; so how does he wield all 9 swords? Well that should be obvious. One was modified to be a tongue blade.

[Prime32]

Spoilers please - that pic is stretching my window.


Bloodstorm blade + Quick Draw + Rapid Shot + Two-weapon fighting + Improved Two-Weapon Fighting + Greater Two-Weapon Fighting + haste = 9 thrown weapons per round, which return to you. There are some gloves which upgrade your TWF feat a step which you might want to look into. Consider also fitting weapon crystals of return (Magic Item Compendium) to the swords so that he can call them back to his hands even if they are somehow blocked.

Since you can't use their legacy abilities, see if you can buy the Nine Swords for the cost of their base stats only. Right, NPC. Never mind.

Human Warblade 3/Monk (cobra strike) 1/Cleric (Darkness, Time) 1/Bloodstorm blade 3
Feats: Blind-Fight^B, Dodge^B, Improved Initiative^B, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Unarmed Strike^B, Point Blank Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid Shot, Two-Weapon Fighting
Flaws: ?, ?
Equipment: Those gloves

Human Warblade 3/Monk (cobra strike) 1/Cleric (Darkness, Time) 1/Bloodstorm blade 3/Crusader 1/Master of Nine 1
Feats: Adaptive Style
Equipment: Boots of speed

See Tome of Battle for Dummies and Dipping cleric 1.

[Exarch]

I would build him as a gestalt Warblade/Bloodstorm Blade//Sword Sage/Master of the Nine. Not really sure what the best way to build that would be, but whatever. You don't have to tell your party that he's SUPER AWESOME.

[nyarlathotep]

Sorry about that

[Divide by Zero]

Thri-Kreen Totemist 2 with Girallon Arms bound to his totem chakra and access to the Girallon's Blessing spell would have 8 arms, but I'm not sure whether they can all hold weapons. I think there's a template for a prehensile tail somewhere, which could get you the 9th.

[hamishspence]

One is a Greatsword and one is a Falchion though (both are two handed weapons) so the being might need more limbs.

Girallon arms don't allow you to wield weapons in them, nor do Arms of the Naga if you already have arms (you can use other things, like shields, though)

the Insectile Creature (Savage Species) template doesn't grant extra attacks.

The Arachnoid template (Underdark) does- but it's restricted to animals and magical beasts. And even then, it might be tricky.

An Arachnoid Girallon would (if you consider them to have opposable thumbs- it looks like a gorilla, and they have them) be close. 8 claw attacks- so 8 limbs that might be allowed to wield weapons, Large (so it can wield the greatsword and falchion one-handed, albiet at a penalty- and in general, badass.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have a tail attack- you need one, to take the Prehensile Tail feat.

Its not clear if the Girallons Blessing spell allows you to wield weapons. It does state you can't use your normal weapons in the same round as the claw attacks granted by the spell- but it doesn't say what happens if you try to wield weapons in those claws.

[Prime32]

Here's another idea: give him nine Fiend of Possession minions who are animating the swords. This lets them fight independently.

If you want him to gain those minions like a PC would, the best I can come up with is a thrallherd with the Leadership and Undead Leadership feats and making all the thralls/cohorts into dvati. That would let you possess eight of the swords and wield the ninth one yourself, though this build would require you to be pretty high level.

I'd recommend fudging the prereqs for FoP so that a weak fiend can take it, or using the rules in the ECS for possessing fiends (though these might not be able to enhance the weapons enough to grant the dancing property).


Rather than Gilgamesh, these builds are making me picture someone else:

[Akal Saris]

Here's another idea: give him nine Fiend of Possession minions who are animating the swords. This lets them fight independently.

If you want him to gain those minions like a PC would, the best I can come up with is a thrallherd with the Leadership and Undead Leadership feats and making all the thralls/cohorts into dvati. That would let you possess eight of the swords and wield the ninth one yourself, though this build would require you to be pretty high level.

I'd recommend fudging the prereqs for FoP so that a weak fiend can take it, or using the rules in the ECS for possessing fiends (though these might not be able to enhance the weapons enough to grant the dancing property).

Oh my god, yes. Make each of the "fiends of possession" the spirits of each of the original wielders of the weapons, forced to serve the main boss until he is defeated in battle.

[hamishspence]

Lower power fiends (Ch 17, 10 HD or more) can use Animate Object on the object they are possessing.

This won't be quite the same thing- but it may provide the same "feel" to it.

Come to think of it- the Reth Dekala are fiends (outsiders with the Evil subtype) and very martial. Advance them to 10 HD- raise their Cha to 17+, give them the Fiend of Possession upgrade from Fiendish Codex 1, BoVD, or ECS,

(or give them levels in Fiend of Possession from Fiend Folio)

and they might work well.

[WoodenSword]

here's my idea:

1. Be a Totemist and bind Garillion Arms to your Totem Chakra
2. Have a Wizard cast Garillon's Blessing and Permanency on you
3. Hold a sword in every hand and your mouth

[Adumbration]

I'd probably go with a battle sorceror with the stalwart variant (UA and... Complete Mage?), and take Master of the Unseen hand prestige class at 11th level. Before MotUH use blade-themed spells such as Whirling blade and Ring of blades.

Oh, and welcome to the playground.

[dgnslyr]

He's Gilgamesh, he can have as many arms as he wants. I think the easiest way would just be to slap a cumulative attack penalty for each sword he swings, -3 or -4, maybe? I don't know, tweak it to make having extra arms advantageous but not overwhelmingly so.

Just for giggles, make him whip out Excalipoor on natural 1s, which is an artifact longsword +9 that deals 1d1 damage on hit. Excalipoor cannot deal more or less than 1 damage. Ever.

For more giggles, make him normally two-armed, but he transforms into his many-armed form after and only after shouting, "Enough expository banter! Now, we fight like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men! For Gilgamesh, IT'S MORPHING TIME!"

For giggles^giggles, play Clash on the Big Bridge whenever he's around. Preferably the original version.

[Pluto]

I'd probably use some variation of Githyanki Swordsage 1/Crusader 10/Master of the Nine 5/Master of the Unseen Hand 4. (I'd arrange levels, but I'm lazy and there are a lot of other ideas in this thread.)

Gith for Telekinesis (though a supplementary ring would be a good idea), Swordsage for Unarmed Strike and prerequisites from various schools, Crusader for its staying power and awesome recovery mechanic, Master of the Nine for versatility between schools and for lots of high-level maneuvers, Master of the Unseen Hand for multiple telekinetic thrusts, telekinetic full attacks, etc.

Actually, scratch that. I'd probably just give the guy the ability to wield all those swords. As a DM, I don't care about builds. (Did I mention that I'm lazy?)

[Jack_Simth]

He's a villian?

Gestalt him. He's a Sorcerer-X/Master of the Unseen Hand-5//Swordsage-X

Get Chain Spell.

Chained Telekinesis = Wielding [Caster level] weapons at once.

[retkin]

Have the swords combine like clouds sword in ff7 advent children.

[Darrin]

For the build, just use my Archon of Nine build for non-epic mastery of all 9th level maneuvers.

For nine arms... off the top of my head, I'd probably go with polymorph scrolls or Phylactery of Change (A&EG p. 135), probably into a Tako (OA, humanoid octopus that can wield up to 7 weapons) and then add another two arms with a Girallon's Blessing spell + Permanence. Another good method might be seven "Fiendish Arm" grafts from Fiend Folio.

[WoodenSword]

Have the swords combine like clouds sword in ff7 advent children.

The First Tsurugi. THE most BA FF weapon ever (sorry Sephiroth...:[)

[The Cat Goddess]

Really, if you want the NPC to do something that's not in the rules... Rule #0 it.

Remember that he should be using some of the Swords to defend himself... so give him a "Parry Bonus" equal to 2x the number of Swords he uses for Defense instead of attacking. Allowing this bonus to work against Arrows is fine, and even allowing it to work against melee touch attacks is fine. Allowing it to work against ranged touch attacks from spells is iffy... The Flaming Sword should be able to "Parry" Scorching Rays and Orbs of Fire... but not Orbs of Acid or Force Missles, for example.

Also remember that, at lower levels, he shouldn't be able to attack with every sword in the same round.

Strongarm Bracers will give him the ability to use the 2-handed weapons as 1-handed... Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting helps here too.

Under normal circumstances, he'll only be attacking with two weapons at a time... but if he has 4 attacks and Quickdraw, he can freely swap out any of the weapons he's wielding with the ones he's got floating around himself.

[Jastermereel]

You'll have to Rule 0 a fair deal of it. If I remember right, The Nine Swords are pretty mediocre and deduct from your BAB, Saves, and HP. If he's looking to have all nine of them, then by the time he completes his goal he'd be less of a challenge to a house cat than a commoner.

[Runestar]

One idea is to reskin a chain devil, but that only accounts for 6 swords.