Originally posted on May 7th, Click Here Last post.
The first amber hues of dawn cast a hellfire glow over the rocky windswept desert plain. At other times it may have pleasant, even beautiful, but to the grim souls who bore witness, it only acted to fuel their enmity. Two armies, clad in glistening arms and armor, were arrayed on the plain to the north and south, their banners fluttering crisply in the cold desert wind. The wind gusted strongly from the east raising some dust and howling like a wounded banshee, but even the howling wind couldn’t drown out the sounds of shuffling feet and nervous chatter as the soldiers prepared for war. In the midst of the northern forces a warrior pushed the banner of Torm from his face with a gauntlet-clad hand.
He stood out among the men around him. Unlike his metal clad companions, his armor was constructed from the strategically layered scales of a black dragon, and instead of a sword and shield he bore a mighty scythe, which seemed somewhat inadequate given his massive stature. He stood a good foot taller than any of the men under his command, and he eyed them with a measure of contempt through the eye slits of black helm, whose visor was made to look like a skull. They fidgeted ceaselessly, shifting their weight from one foot to another and adjusting their grips. Why couldn’t they still themselves and prepare for the coming onslaught? As this thought passed through his mind, he shrugged his mighty shoulders and turned to face them. These weren’t battlefield warriors he now commanded, like the paladins who had freed him from a life of slavery 5 years ago. The twenty men before him were temple guards and bureaucrats, weakened by the good life and too much time spent praying rather than training. These were same men that ridiculed him for his churlish ways and his poor attendance record for morning prayers. He believed in Torm, but he felt his god was better served by actions rather than words. Now these men looked to him for inspiration and leadership. He cleared his throat, and began to speak, his voice was a strong and powerful as his appearance. “I was born a slave. To the south are the bloody Zhents that I was enslaved to.” He said, gesturing towards the opposing army with his scythe. Fighting down the rage that filled him he continued, “They took me as a boy and forced me to fight in the arena. I can tell you it is not a life you could imagine. If I lost, I died. If I showed mercy, I was beaten. If I showed no mercy, I was beaten. That is the life your loved ones can expect if we lose today.” He paused here for effect, then continued. “Men of your order rescued me and I pledged my life to serve Torm from that day forth. They fought with honor, courage and righteous fury on that day. If you do the same we shall be victorious. When I was a gladiator, I fought under the moniker of the Master of Melee, a name I earned by killing every opponent that ever stepped into the arena with me. Just stay close to me, keep your ranks close, and watch for them to try and flank us on our right. Do this and you may live to see the morrow.” He turned back and surveyed the rest of the Tormite army. He wasn’t worried about the left side. These were battle-proven veterans that would hold the line. The right side was a mixture of raw recruits and court soldiers that, like his own troops, had never seen combat. They might break and run. Behind these troops were several trebuchets, ballistae and catapults. The Tormite general, Father Bartholomew, expected the right to break and set these siege engines to target that area. There would be a lot of collateral damage but that was the way of war. Father Bartholomew was in the rear with the reserve troops and a cadre of Mages and Clerics, who the Master of Melee could hear preparing to counter the spells of the Zhentarim mages. Also in the rear were their archers, who were busy distributing arrows. Further to the right was the bulk of their cavalry. They were ordered to stand their ground and try to flank the enemy if the right broke. Before him appeared to be a full column of infantry, the front line troops of their forces. They appeared to be infantry, they were actually cattle under a powerful illusion spell. All things considered they had 2000 infantry, only 500 of those were veteran troops, they had 200 archers, 100 spell casters, who were mostly clerics, and 200 cavalry.
Over the heads of the illusionary infantry, he could just make out the spears and banners of the Zhentarim army. They had 3000 infantry, with probably 1000 veteran troops, 200 archers, 150 spell casters, who were mostly mages, and 100 cavalry. The Master of Melee did not like their odds. With the illusion their forces looked equal, but the Zhentarim army was vastly superior. The only advantage they had was the siege engines. The Master forced away these thoughts and bowed his head, as a cleric passed by, giving his blessing before the battle.
As the clerics past, the army settled down. For a moment, except for the wind, there was deadly silence, then the sound of battle horns filled the air. A battle cry rose like thunder from both sides and the infantry advanced. The reserves split, half moved to guard the siege engines and the rest stayed with the mages. The infantry marched forward, slowly as first, but as the first arrows began to sing through the air the order to charge was given. The ground shook as the cattle soldiers were driven forward.
They advanced with inhuman speed. Surprised by the burst of speed, the Zhent archers, concentrated their fire on the forward ranks. The sky exploded in an awesome display of light as fireballs and lightning bolts, cast by Zhent mages, streaked through the air demolishing the cattle. As the smoke cleared, the illusion faded and the smoking corpses of the cattle could be clearly seen by both sides. The Master of Melee had to fight back the urge to vomit from the vile stench of brimstone, ozone and burning flesh as his men pushed forward. As he grew accustomed to stench, he smiled. The ruse had cancelled the Zhentarim advantage in spell casting, and wasted their arrows. The Zhentarim spell casters set off another volley of spells, but unlike the first volley these were met counterspells, and other than illuminating the battlefield they had no effect. On the Master’s side, the Tormite archers had done quite well, they had struck the front lines of the Zhentarim, decimating their infantry. Even with the first exchange having gone in their favour, they were still outnumbered and had a long way to go. The Master of melee glared at the Zhent troops who were now a mere twenty yards away and sprinted forward.
With one swipe of his mighty scythe, the Master cut down three Zhent troops. These were not veteran troops, merely the fodder that made up the Zhentarim front lines. Among these troops, the Master was a lion amongst sheep. Every sweep of his weapon rained death among his enemies. Blood from slashed arteries spurted over his armor and he roared like a mighty dragon. Some of the Zhents tried to flee from him, only to be cut down by the ranks behind them. Inspired by his prowess, his own troops were holding their ground, they made use of momentary break in Zhent moral to advance with him and were holding their own against the Zhentarim.
As he expected, the left was advancing steadily, while the right were barely holding their own. He called his troops to him, taking care that they were not getting overconfident and advancing too quickly. He ordered them to close ranks with the left, he edged over to the right, cutting down Zhents with every swipe of his mighty scythe. The Master hooked the blade of his scythe into the neck of a Zhent spearman and threw him into two of the latter’s comrades. With another swipe he finished them off. Looking forward he realized they had crushed the first column of infantry. Before him stood the Zhentarim veteran guard.
As the second column rushed forward, The Master took a moment to survey the field. The troops on the left were engaged in heavy fighting with Zhentarhim veterans, on the right the Tormite columns were still struggling with the remnants of the Zhentarhim front lines. In the sky the master could still see spells and counter spells streaking through the air, though they had dwindled in number.
The Master speared the corpse of a fallen Zhent with his scythe and threw it at the feet of the rushing Zhentarim. The solider tripped and was trampled by the man behind him. The Master, made a broad sweep with his scythe, halting the advance of the first few Zhents. The first Zhent darted in, hoping to strike the Master before he could recover from his swing. The Master pulled back, bringing up the but of his weapon and demolishing his opponents jaw. Before the man could hit the ground, the Master’s Scythe took his head. The other Zhents rushed in but were met by the Master’s troops. The master used the opportunity to send another Zhent to his god. These Zhents were much better soliders, but the Master held his own. With his skill and the determination of his troops they were giving better than they got.
The Master could feel the change in moral as the belabored right finally broke. A cheer of triumph rose from the Zhents and they pushed harder. The Master silenced a Zhent with a swipe from his scythe and focused on defense as the Zhents pushed forward with renewed vigor. It took all his skill to stand his ground against the Zhentarim push and his own men began to falter. Sensing their dwindling moral, he let out a stream of profanity, and using his scythe as a staff, he knocked down the three Zhents before him and with a quick swipe disemboweled two of the Zhents standing behind them, as more Zhentarim struggled to fill the gap, the Master finished off the prostrate men. As they fought on, more his men began to fall, of the original twenty, only ten were left. The Zhents were beginning to close in on the demolished right and they were in danger of being flanked.
The Master was almost deafened by a sudden cacophony of explosions to the right. The Siege engines had been activated. Trebuchets and Catapults threw barrels of Alchemist’s Fire and heated sand into the Zhentarim ranks, to devastating effect. The exploding barrels did the most damage, tossing body parts and dirt up in to the air only to fall back on to the demoralized Zhentarim troops. The hot sand had a less dire effect but worked none the less, it worked itself into the armor of the Zhentarim troops causing several of them to throw down their weapons and strip off their armor. As Zhentarim commanders tried to keep their troops in check, ballista bolts skipped across the ground cutting furrows through the ranks. Their ranks shattered, the Zhentarim began to fall back. As they retreated the Tormite Knights rode in routing the Zhent troops. The Master and his men surged forward, with renewed momentum cutting down the beleaguered infantry.
The Zhentarim cavalry, which had to this point been silent, rushed forward to meet the Knights of Torm. Their leader, and general, was a massive man in gold armor with a heavy flail. He charged straight through the Tormite Cavalry and demolished the head of the Captain of the Tormite cavalry with one swing from his mighty weapon. In the ensuing chaos, the Zhentarim calvalry took the upper hand, breaking up the Knights’ charge and throwing them into disarray. The Zhents who were remaining were starting to reform their ranks. Of the original troops, perhaps 600 Tormite infantry, and 100 cavalry remained in fighting shape, while the Zhentarim had been reduced to 500 infantry and 80 cavalry. It seemed the Tormites had the upper hand, but they were exhausted whilst the Zhentarim troops were mostly fresh. The Zhentarim general was coming around again to harass the Tormite infantry. The Master of Melee knew something had to be done.
He called his remaining 8 men to him and called out to the Zhentarim general. The Latter turned his horse and charged towards the Master and his forces. He came in quick and the master ducked, rolling out of the way of the horseman’s flail. His men were not as lucky and one of them fell to the flail. The horseman turned again to cut through the Master’s men. The Master rolled out of the way again, but this time he managed to bring his scythe across the knee of the horse. The hobbled horse crashed forward, losing the use of its limb. The general, to his credit managed to keep his saddle and dismount without injury. One of the Master’s men dispatched the wounded animal with his halberd while another rushed forward to meet the general and was summarily executed by the heavy flail. The Master, realizing the skill of his opponent, waved off his men and advanced towards the general.
It seemed like they were the only two on the battlefield. Both sides were busy reforming their ranks. The two warriors circled feigning attacks and striking out to hit each other. The Master was surprised by the general’s skill, he could still see some flaws in the latter’s technique, but fatigued from the previous fighting he couldn’t take advantage of these weaknesses. As it was, it took all his skill to keep from being disarmed. As they circled the Master saw the general’s felled mount, which was lying dead on the ground. He manoeuvred carefully getting the horse behind his opponent. The general feigned another attack and the Master rushed in with a thrust from the scythe. The general stepped back tripping over his mount. The Master wasted no time and rushed forward. The general was using his momentum to roll backwards and get out of the way, but the Master buried his scythe in the general’s thigh. As the general struggled to recover, the Master leaped over the fallen horse and brought the but of his scythe up sharply, connecting with stomach of his opponent. As the master landed his blow, the general also swung out with his flail and the head of the weapon struck the Master’s scythe sending it flying from his hands.
The Master ran over and picked up his scythe, while the general struggled to his feet. They turned to face each other again. The general could barely walk, but jumping over the horse had drained the Master’s reserves. The Master circled the general, he watched as his opponent struggled to move on his wounded limb. Calling on his last strength reserves, the Master made a quick step to the left and leaped back attacking on the right. The general swung his flail and the master caught the chain of the weapon on the shaft of his scythe, the momentum of the flail’s head wrapped the flail around the scythe entangling the two weapons. The Master moved in to keep the general from being able to keep tension in the chain. The general released his weapon and grabbed the shaft of the scythe, vying with the Master for control. The Master kicked out, striking the general’s wounded leg. As the general fell, the Master wrestled the scythe from the general’s hands and brought it down swiftly, driving the blade through the gap between the latter’s gorget and helm for the death blow. With a brutal swipe, the Master cut the head from the general’s corpse and held it up. Their leader defeated, the Zhentarim turned and marched from the field. Exhausted, the Master of Melee collapsed to his knees. He looked about at the devastation that had been wrought that morning.
The field was littered with corpses and heat of the rising run was raising the stench of death about the field. There were very few wounded, perhaps 200, the siege engines had seen to that. Of those 200, less than half would ever recover completely. The clerics were marching up from the rear, looking for dead who were in good enough condition to be raised. Prior to the battle, the clerics had prepared 500 scrolls of raising, but he doubted that they would find 300 bodies in good enough condition to survive the spell, again the siege engines had made sure of that. All things considered, with luck they might end up with 1000 troops who would be able to fight another day. Despite the loss of life, their city would be the stronger for this day. The arms and armor of the dead would more than fill the coffers of the city and the order of Torm that protected it. In time news of their victory would reach the surrounding villages and more families would immigrate to their city. By the time the Zhentarim gathered another army, the city would be better prepared to defend itself. The Master of Melee forced himself to his feet and rejoined his forces.
Advantages
-High AB -Devastating Critical. Even without devastating critical he wields a weapon with a X5 critical multiplier. -9 points of damage reduction. Should take the edge off of missile attacks, and the damage from DEX based fighters. -40 Fortitude Save. This should give this character a good chance to make his own devastating critical saves. -Over 600 hitpoints.
Disadvantages
-Low will saves. This character will be vulnerable to mind spells. -No evasion or spell immunity. He should make his saves against damage spells but he'll still take damage. -No spell casting ability.
Master of Melee
Race Human
Alignment Any non evil
Base Attributes STR 16 DEX 13 CON 16 WIS 8 INT 13 CHA 8
(+12 STR, +20 to hit +5 keen scythe) 72/67/62/57 32+2D4 (16-20 X5) Devastating Critical DC 44
AC 15 (no buffs, no armor skin, no items) 17 (no buffs, armor skin, no items) 23 (no buffs, no armor skin, full plate) 25 (no buffs, armor skin, full plate)
Hit Points 640 (Max. every level) _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Not in case you build and try your char at home arena module
Wow with a story like that how could anyone not have a go at making this character! That's the kind of origionality that makes a fantastic RPer. Forget the build he's the best epic character i've seen yet!!
*reads the bio again*
I will try this on HOwards LoTR.
sonderful story, but you have some things that need to be fixed here
Weapon master cant take any points in concentration easy fix there, but the other one I find a bit annoying hehe you never took power attack, if you didnt take power attack then you cant take cleave, which makes it kinda hard... Devistating crit isnt allowed on my server so I kinda bumped it off the list for the cleave and power attack, but for others who want that you might want to remove something less important
Just trying to help! _________________ When the Trickster starts a-walking, He sets the whole world askew... Just when you thing that it's all through, It's just the birth of something new.
I've fixed errors, here he is again. I've tested him too, works great. I had to give up luck of heroes and great fortitude though .
Note: If you're playing on a server where Dev. Crit. is allowed you may want to pick up great fortitude instead of exotic weapon proficiency and switch the scythe for a great axe.
Advantages
-High AB -Devastating Critical. Even without devastating critical he wields a weapon with a X5 critical multiplier. -9 points of damage reduction. Should take the edge off of missile attacks, and the damage from DEX based fighters. -37 Fortitude Save. This should give this character a good chance to make his own devastating critical saves. -Over 600 hitpoints.
Disadvantages
-Low will saves. This character will be vulnerable to mind spells. -No evasion or spell immunity. He should make his saves against damage spells but he'll still take damage. -No spell casting ability.
Master of Melee
Race Human
Alignment Any non evil
Base Attributes STR 16 DEX 13 CON 16 WIS 8 INT 13 CHA 8
(+12 STR, +20 to hit +5 keen scythe) 72/67/62/57 32+2D4 (16-20 X5) Devastating Critical DC 44
AC 15 (no buffs, no armor skin, no items) 17 (no buffs, armor skin, no items) 23 (no buffs, no armor skin, full plate) 25 (no buffs, armor skin, full plate)
Hit Points 640 (Max. every level) _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Edited By Mithdradates on 06/02/04 07:04
How do you get +20 to Hit?
I play on the Aventia Mod, wondering maybe its capped.
Thanks, wonderfull story and build btw.
Quote: Posted 06/03/04 00:10:18 (GMT) -- Nigma
How do you get +20 to Hit?
I play on the Aventia Mod, wondering maybe its capped.
Thanks, wonderfull story and build btw.
Well you need custom items. I really just put it there to show his theoretical maximum AB. To get the +20 you would need either a weapon with a +20 AB bonus, or a fighter, CoT or WM useable item that could cast true strike such as a wand or rod. Depending on how high the ACs get and how the DM feels about clerics you might be able to convince him to add true strike wands, with no class restrictions, to the world (seeing as it would be level 1 item and it balances clerics a bit, it should be a reasonable request). It doesn't last for long, but if you can't hit your opponent it can really save your but. Plus, if you follow it up with a knockdown attack you can extend your hitting streak for another turn. You'll also get a few criticals as well that, with a scythe, could mean one turn is all you need. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
I just have a question. If you take dev crit why would i matter what your crit mult is? Wouldnt a scimitar orr raiper be better than if u wanna get dev crit? Im really bad at NWN building (NWN in general too but ya know ). I probably forgot something an you are right, but Im just saying
The way a critical hit works is that when you hit the first time, if your attack hits your opponent and is in the threat range of your weapon you get a critical threat. After you get a threat you roll again and if you hit again you get a critical hit, otherwise it's a normal hit. If you have high chance to hit, then an increased threat range weapon will give you more critical hits (but if you have a high chance to hit you probably don't need the criticals to finish off your opponent). However, let's say to hit your opponent you need a 16 or better, if you're a weaponmaster with a keen 20 weapon (you have a 16-20 or 25% critical threat range). This is the same critical chance as if you were using a keen 18-20 weapon (you have a 10-20 or 55% critical threat range) because you can only hit on a 16 or better. So against a high AC opponent both weapons are equivalent.
Just because you have devastating critical doesn't mean it will work. dwarven defenders, fighters, dragons, etc. can have fortitude saves in the high 30s or low 40s. They could very well make their saves, in that case the extra damage from the multiplier can be significant. It also takes quite a few levels to get devastating critical, until you reach that level you have to rely on the multiplier and the extra damage can be significant.
A kurki is a tiny weapon, while a scimitar and rapier are medium weapons. The scythe and greataxe are large weapons. This means that on a improved disarm attempt an opponent with a scythe has no penalty against an opponent with scimitar or rapier and gets a +8 against an opponent with a kukri.
The large weapons also do more damage on a regular hit, which helps against critical hit immune opponents and opponents with damage reduction. In the end you can make an arguement for either weapon, but for this particular character I felt the larger, low threat range weapons were better. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Edited By Mithdradates on 06/22/04 03:57
NEver knew that Thanks for clearing it up...Good build, it rocks too
Hi there,
firstly thanks for making such interesting build... I am testing it at moment (Server on which i test it has level cap 25 at moment....) and it seems powerfull and roleplay-sided is excellent. Being newbie, i might ask you one question: As CoT i get some nice feats... But, CoT-given features can't be used, because of low charisma. Divine wrath for example, I get message my cha bonus in not enough to use feat... What is then sense of using CoT? Must i rely on magic items which increase cha to use it? _________________ The Three Towns - a Neverwinter Nights persistent world. Oby DM Team www.threetowns.org.uk
Edited By Obyvatel on 06/28/04 14:23
The primary reason for taking CoT was the sacred defence saving throw bonus. Part of my goal in making this character was to get the fortitude save high enough to give him a chance against devastating critical attacks. In the end, taking 10 levels CoT ends up the same as taking 10 extra levels of fighter, except I get a +5 to all my saving throws. The ability to use the other CoT abilities if the character's charisma is buffed is just an added bonus and wasn't a design consideration. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
If the negative CHA bothers you and you want the extra buff from COT, you could always shave off 1-2 pts. of CON and put them in CHA. You lose hitpoints, but you gain buffs. Up to you.
Uhhh, just noticed you'd also have to give up some Damage Reduction without the 21 CON. Maybe not a good decision.
It's always the obvious stuff you forget.
Wow with a story like that how could anyone not have a go at making this character! That's the kind of origionality that makes a fantastic RPer. Forget the build he's the best epic character i've seen yet!!
. 
). I probably forgot something an you are right, but Im just saying 
The way a critical hit works is that when you hit the first time, if your attack hits your opponent and is in the threat range of your weapon you get a critical threat. After you get a threat you roll again and if you hit again you get a critical hit, otherwise it's a normal hit. If you have high chance to hit, then an increased threat range weapon will give you more critical hits (but if you have a high chance to hit you probably don't need the criticals to finish off your opponent). However, let's say to hit your opponent you need a 16 or better, if you're a weaponmaster with a keen 20 weapon (you have a 16-20 or 25% critical threat range). This is the same critical chance as if you were using a keen 18-20 weapon (you have a 10-20 or 55% critical threat range) because you can only hit on a 16 or better. So against a high AC opponent both weapons are equivalent.