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  1. #1

    Rhuobhe Manslayer 3.5E Build

    An initial build for Rhuobhe using 3.5e rules. I tried to give him abilities that seemed appropriate to his nature; these include some elements of Ranger (having perhaps been one in his youth), a dash of Arcane Archer (mainly derived from his 2e description), and Wizardry abilities along with the assumption of some Fighter levels in his past (thus the specialization proficiencies).

    Arguably he could be built with Sorcerer instead of Wizard spellcasting abilities; Sorcerer is excellent for NPCs and his 2E build describes him as "a potent sorcerer" (emphasis added), but I decided to go with Wizard in this build, for now, because 1) it was easier and 2) I think most people will prefer it, where they are less likely to like a Sorcerer-build because of the limited spell-choices this might "stick" him with, something that could (in theory) hamper his utility as a long-term villain. In any case the idea of swapping out "Wizard" for "Sorcerer" is plausible.

    In addition his HP may seem too low in this build. I'd be open to bumping up his CON some and thus bumping his HP up. Remember his 2E version did not have tons of HP either.

    Whatever tweeks and alterations are made, I for one would like them to be kept reasonable (not that my opinion carries any weight - it's just a fond hope). His CR should remain lower than that of the Gorgon; his ability scores and such should be in line with those also, the relative range between his 2E ability scores and at least the 2E ability scores of the Gorgon.

    Personally - and this is just a personal observation, not a criticism of other people's hard work - I think the 3.5E BRCS build for The Gorgon was "over the top" - the obvious rejoinder is the Gorgon is supposed to be "Over the Top." But I for one would like Rhuobhe's build to not get quite that extreme, except for campaigns that can handle that kind of thing. For most BR campaigns, creatures of CR above 20 are already potent enough. This Rhuobhe should be out of the realm for most PCs to defeat - except perhaps as a long-term goal at the end of a long, hard campaign. As things should be. IMO, The Gorgon was put out of reach of even that in the 3.5E build that was made for him; IMO this tends to make him irrelevant as a campaign entity (the opposite of making him too easy to kill is making something so strong that the only thing a DM is doing by introducing an NPC is saying "I'm going to kill you tonight." - A DM can kill a party at any time, it's not a challenge). The effect then becomes that of Orcus on His Throne. This Rhuobhe was designed to be strong but not ultimately invincible. There may be some who will disagree with this underlaying design choice, and that's fair; I'm being open about having had that as a build premise, and I'm being long-winded in order to explain why I made that decision for this build.
    Last edited by Porphyrogenitus; 04-25-2012 at 06:26 PM.

  2. #2

    Rhuobhe Manslayer

    An initial build for Rhuobhe using 3.5e rules. I tried to give him abilities that seemed appropriate to his nature; these include some elements of Ranger (having perhaps been one in his youth), a dash of Arcane Archer (mainly derived from his 2e description), and Wizardry abilities along with the assumption of some Fighter levels in his past (thus the specialization proficiencies).

    Arguably he could be built with Sorcerer instead of Wizard spellcasting abilities; Sorcerer is excellent for NPCs and his 2E build describes him as "a potent sorcerer" (emphasis added), but I decided to go with Wizard in this build, for now, because 1) it was easier and 2) I think most people will prefer it, where they are less likely to like a Sorcerer-build because of the limited spell-choices this might "stick" him with, something that could (in theory) hamper his utility as a long-term villain. In any case the idea of swapping out "Wizard" for "Sorcerer" is plausible.

    In addition his HP may seem too low in this build. I'd be open to bumping up his CON some and thus bumping his HP up. Remember his 2E version did not have tons of HP either.

    Whatever tweeks and alterations are made, I for one would like them to be kept reasonable (not that my opinion carries any weight - it's just a fond hope). His CR should remain lower than that of the Gorgon; his ability scores and such should be in line with those also, the relative range between his 2E ability scores and at least the 2E ability scores of the Gorgon.

    Personally - and this is just a personal observation, not a criticism of other people's hard work - I think the 3.5E BRCS build for The Gorgon was "over the top" - the obvious rejoinder is the Gorgon is supposed to be "Over the Top." But I for one would like Rhuobhe's build to not get quite that extreme, except for campaigns that can handle that kind of thing. For most BR campaigns, creatures of CR above 20 are already potent enough. This Rhuobhe should be out of the realm for most PCs to defeat - except perhaps as a long-term goal at the end of a long, hard campaign. As things should be. IMO, The Gorgon was put out of reach of even that in the 3.5E build that was made for him; IMO this tends to make him irrelevant as a campaign entity (the opposite of making him too easy to kill is making something so strong that the only thing a DM is doing by introducing an NPC is saying "I'm going to kill you tonight." - A DM can kill a party at any time, it's not a challenge). The effect then becomes that of Orcus on His Throne. This Rhuobhe was designed to be strong but not ultimately invincible. There may be some who will disagree with this underlaying design choice, and that's fair; I'm being open about having had that as a build premise, and I'm being long-winded in order to explain why I made that decision for this build.

  3. #3
    Site Moderator Sorontar's Avatar
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    I suspect that trying to kill Rhuobe through standard combat should be near impossible. He is one of the few True Bloodlines in Aebyrnis. He has been around for long enough to know how to look after himself. The only way to defeat him should be through plots and means that the DM devises. Ditto for the Gorgon and any new representation of Azrai.

    Sorontar


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