In the time of the Great Expasnsion, during the years of the Empire's Conquest of the Mountain Tribes, there was one who rose among that fierce folk to lead his people against the "civilized" soldiers of the Empire. Fell and filled with wrath, he became a Chieftain among the tribes, and grew into a symbol of defiance of the Empire's conquest. And everywhere he went, always there was a great Raven who flew above him. And it was said among the tribes that the Raven was a god of Old, and that he protected the Chieftain from death, for the great bird could see it from aloft.
Suffering one embarrassing defeat after another, the Emperor became mad with a desire to find this Barbarian Lord of the mountains who made a mockery of the greatest Army in Faerun. He eluded capture, won victory after victory, and soon grew into a legend among the Northern peoples.
But he fought one battle too many.
He eventually was captured. But rather than kill him outright, they wanted to break the spirit of the Tribes by making an example of their greatest warrior, their greatest symbol. He was beaten, tortured, and crucified upon a hilltop sacred to the Mountain Folk. Daily, vultures picked at his still living flesh. But a Raven came among them, and said, "Take of this his flesh, his arm, but I ask you to leave his heart, for he will need it that he may have revenge." And so he endured the elements, and starvation, and dehydration, and at the end of each day the Emperor would come to his shattered and gangrenous form and would ask him to surrender, and each time the barbarian would lift his head up slightly and spit frothy blood in defiance.
But a day came when he no longer lifted his head. And it was in this hour that the Empire's legions had found a way to conquer the Mountain peoples, and subjugate them to their rule. And the once-proud Chieftain was cut down from the crucifix and cast into a shallow grave, forgotten, and left to rot.
I know this because I was there, that day. It was I, a simple gravedigger, who dug his grave, I who was commanded by the watch commander to cut him down, and I who cast his body into the earth. And after the soldiers left I remained, for I was weary from my labours, and so I sat upon a small outcrop of rock that slowly sank into shadow beneath the mountains of the setting sun. I looked on the meager grave, without stone or tribal totem, and I pitied this once great man so filled with life. And as twilight creeped over the land, I saw a strange thing happen. I saw a bird, a great thing of ebon, circle above the grave, and then land without a sound upon it. It began to busy itself with pecking and scratching the earth. I picked up a rock to cast at it, for I felt this noble man at least deserved some dignity in his death, but something stayed my hand. For in that instant it perceived me, and I it, and I knew this was no ordinary carrion, but that raven I had heard mentioned in the mountain tales. And as I watched, enthralled by this strange creature, a sleep stole over me.
The hoarse sound of cawing and the morning sun awoke me, and it occurred to me that I had fallen asleep and had dreamt it all. I looked to the source of the cawing, and there upon the grave were hundreds of ravens, all black as night and blanketing the earth with their feathered forms. And then, almost as if they preceived me, they flew aloft, like some dark stygian cloud, and flew beyond the mountains until they were out of sight. I scrambled to the grave sight, and there I found the most peculiar thing of all. The dirt and rocks had been moved, and there was naught but an empty hole. Naught but a single black feather, as long as my forearm and just as broad.
And it was in the coming years that a new force moved among the mountain peoples, and a Raven was ever seen flying above the visage of a new, mysterious leader, shrouded in cloaks, and whose left arm and hand was bundled in a black cloth.
And it seemed that the mountains themselves spewed the hordes of barbarians who came thundering across the plains, who set siege to the capitol, and threw down its gates, and set the city and its people ablaze, such was their wrath.
For PvM, playable from 1-40
The Revenant
Barbarian19/Wizard5/Palemaster16
Benefits: Greater Rage: +6 Strength/+6 Constitution/+3 Will Saves Immune to Sneak Attacks and Criticals Excellent Hit Points for a Spellsword Tremendous Melee Advantage with Stilled/Extended Buff Spells Great Skill Set (including Taunt, Spellcraft, Hide, Move Silently) Terrifying Rage with an unmodified DC of 52 High AC Improved Invis 9x/day (4 Stilled) DR 3/- and Fire Resistance 10/-
Weaknesses Low Will/Reflex Saves: remember, Clarity is your friend. Further, he has Uncanny Dodge VI to help with reflex issues. Low Spell DCs. Just keep in mind he's a spell buffer, not a spellslinger.
AB: 40/35/30/25 (15-20/x2) AB with True Strike/Greater Rage and Bulls Strength: 65/60/55/50 AB with the above and successful Taunt: 71/66/61/56 AC: 36( mere chain and shield) Max Hit Points: 497 Hit Points in Greater Rage: 617 Hit Points w/ Greater Rage and Endurance: 697 Skill Points: 296
Tumble: 20 Intimidate: 43 (52) Taunt: 43 (42 or 52) Discipline: 42 (50) Hide: 22* Move Silently: 22* Concentration: 42* Spellcraft: 42 (45) *these are variable, you can max Hide/MS and skim on you Concentration, according to environment
What I've discovered about Palemasters is that I have an extremely good time roleplaying them and creating backgrounds for them. While not particularly as powerful as other Spellsword-types, he still gets the job done, and I can guarantee you won't find many Barbarian/Palemaster builds out there in the NWN multiverse. I've enjoyed him so much I couldn't help but share. This is designed for a non-dev crit environment. Cheers. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
Edited By Kail Pendragon on 10/12/07 16:00
The stories just keep getting better and better I've been playing and having fun with Cinnabars Raging Skald for a while but I may try this next _________________ Teaching men a lesson in combat etiquette.
The stories just keep getting better and better I've been playing and having fun with Cinnabars Raging Skald for a while but I may try this next
Thanks, Ama. I've come to expect, in my 9 months on the board, that if you build a Barbarian, Amazon Queen will come.
Looking back on the build, I realize that instead of my little story, I should instead have prefaced it with the old "Tired of gaming with your plain old Barbarian? Does your dark-hearted savage got you down? Looking to spice up your wanton tribal ways? Then seek no further..." But, you know the saying, best laid plans of mice and dwarves oft go yada-yada-yada.
But on the subject of Barbs, while they don't exactly hit the meta-gamers top 10 list of favorite classes, they still can be fun, and I enjoy multiclassing them. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
Grizz,
Great backstory - I was sorry to see it wrapping up!
And great, unique build. I don't think I've seen an undead Barb before. I built an undead spellsword but of course it was a Human Ftr/Wiz/PM.
What a great roleplaying opportunity. Well done sir.
K. _________________ "Where there is life, there is hope." - Grover
Nice build. I was just wondering about the spells. I assume that you get these spells by adding them via scrolls right? Because I just tried out the concept and I couldn't choose half of these spells. Just a little note for those who want to use this character...visit ye old magic shop and buy thine self yonder scrolls of ancient and forgotten arcane lore!
nifty use of pm to get the extra levels. you even get an epic spell, which is a nice bonus.
-c _________________ "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement."
I was just wondering about the spells. I assume that you get these spells by adding them via scrolls right?
Exactly. Scribe Scroll is a Wizard ability gained at 1st level Wiz, and often overlooked by players not as versed in NWN or DnD lore. In fact, Palemaster aside, just pure Wizards scribe scrolls a lot. Back in the day, when a wizard leveled up, he got to pick one spell, from level, and that was it. But he still had the ability to "burn" a scroll to his hard disk, so to speak. That was really how Wizards filled up their spellbooks. If you sat around and waited to level up, your spellbook would be virtually empty.
So back to the Palemaster, after Wizard level 4 in this build, one obtains spells for their repetoire by scribing them to their spell repetoire. The scroll is used up in the process, and then that spell is permanently yours. Scrolls are pretty common drops, and fairly easy to obtain in most environments, so it shouldn't be a problem, unless you are playing in a no-magic world(in which case, Wizards and Palemasters wouldnt even be a class. It would just be Fighters, Barbarians and Weaponmasters).
Thanks, Christian, for highlighting that, as there's probably quite a few who were not aware of it. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
I guess you don't have too many other useful 4th level spells to choose from, but with a caster level of 5, those last 2 aren't going to be too useful.
I like the build though. Nice melee'er with very nice AC.
Steve
Edited By Stravinsky00 on 07/27/05 03:47
It will make a nice change from my usual I've played a lot of Barbarian/Bard combis and quite a few Barbarian/Sorcerers but I don't think I've tried a Barbarian/Wizard before One day I may try out a character who is a spellcaster first amd foremost, not too soon though _________________ Teaching men a lesson in combat etiquette.
Awesome Griz. Barb DR+speed with PM's ac makes a terrifying opponent to face.
Some idea's if they're not too far off the mark: You might want to stock up on blank scrolls to scribe your buffs to. This would make them last longer (although you would spend chunks of gold on it; it's worth it to extend eg flameblade from 5 minutes [1d4+5] to 15 minutes [1d4+10]; as with greater magic weapon [goes to +5 off scroll]).
It might also be worth your while to consider an extra int point. Reason being, you can get Greater Sanctuary which is invaluable in area's you are unsure of [also a 'get out of jail free' card when you're in deep trouble].
Edited By Khandahr on 07/27/05 08:12
Now THAT is a build i'm talking about. ROAR!
Quote: Posted 07/27/05 08:09:18 (GMT) -- Khandahr
Awesome Griz. Barb DR+speed with PM's ac makes a terrifying opponent to face.
No pun intended, eh K? Perhaps, though, but I don't particulary find him as intimidating, but rather somebody who just won't go away and who will, if given the opportunity, will find away to beat his opponent.
Quote: It might also be worth your while to consider an extra int point. Reason being, you can get Greater Sanctuary which is invaluable in area's you are unsure of [also a 'get out of jail free' card when you're in deep trouble].
While that is a good spell, I'm afraid that's a magic deeper than this Primal Spellsword is willing to commit to. I suppose if you restructure the build, you could go with 14Barb in pre-epic, 4Wiz and 2PM, and then take only 2 more Barb in Epic(one to get TR and the other to skilldump your Intimidate and Taunt). Doing so will allow you to take 3 more Wizard levels. This would give him then 2 8th lvl casting slots, and GS, IIRC, is Vocal only. One would then of course, want to nab that 5th lvl Wiz early in Epic, and then it's all down hill.
And I beleive he would only lose 1 AB, and 1 DR and 1 Rage Use.
That's actually a very good idea, Khandahr. Good show. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
Edited By grizzled_dwarflord on 07/27/05 13:43
Hmmm didn't think of the wiz levels .
Cool story , reminds me a bit of the Crow, in terms of visual imagery, but it comes out less goth (unless you are talking about the Germanic barbarian tribe) in the D&D setting. I like the build (Spellswords are my favorite characters) but I would drop a wizard level for a Barbarian level. Terrifying Rage only affects creatures that have up to twice your Barbarian hitdice, IIRC, so that would let you terrorize level 40s. _________________ Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Cool story , reminds me a bit of the Crow, in terms of visual imagery, but it comes out less goth (unless you are talking about the Germanic barbarian tribe) in the D&D setting.
Thanks, Mith. I thought the same thing after I had written it, although intitally there was no bird imagery, but rather it was wolves. On a tangent note, I always liked the idea of Barbarians choosing Totems, in a way like clerics choose domains, and then have the Barbars acquire modest little buff powers from that totem.
Quote: I like the build (Spellswords are my favorite characters) but I would drop a wizard level for a Barbarian level. Terrifying Rage only affects creatures that have up to twice your Barbarian hitdice, IIRC, so that would let you terrorize level 40s.
It's funny you should mention that, for two reasons: A. it initially was a 20/4/16, but Cin and I both agreed that what was gained by 19/5/16 was greater than what was lost. And B., someone just recently had shown a script on the general forum that suggested that Ter-Rage used Class hitdice and notBarb hitdice. Like you, I always thought it to be Barb hitdice, for in playtesting I never discovered anything to suggest it were otherwise. If it were true, then all someone really would ever need to take is 15 Barb levels and you can Terror the world. I would be interested to know what is the actual case here. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
It's funny you should mention that, for two reasons: A. it initially was a 20/4/16, but Cin and I both agreed that what was gained by 19/5/16 was greater than what was lost. And B., someone just recently had shown a script on the general forum that suggested that Ter-Rage used Class hitdice and notBarb hitdice. Like you, I always thought it to be Barb hitdice, for in playtesting I never discovered anything to suggest it were otherwise. If it were true, then all someone really would ever need to take is 15 Barb levels and you can Terror the world. I would be interested to know what is the actual case here.
It was Kamiryn who posted the script and pointed out it runs off the character's level, not the Barbarian's. I'd take that to the bank, as Kam knows his stuff - he's got powerful script mojo! _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Quote: Posted 07/28/05 14:53:55 (GMT) -- Cinnabar Din It was Kamiryn who posted the script and pointed out it runs off the character's level, not the Barbarian's. I'd take that to the bank, as Kam knows his stuff - he's got powerful script mojo!
Quote: Posted 07/28/05 14:53:55 (GMT) -- Cinnabar Din
It was Kamiryn who posted the script and pointed out it runs off the character's level, not the Barbarian's. I'd take that to the bank, as Kam knows his stuff - he's got powerful script mojo!
While this is true, and while we all saw this with our own eyes, me wonders if there is something behind the scenes that the script doesn't reveal...well, there's nothing for it but to load up the build again in a leveller and test him against a 40th level Rogue or Fighter, and see if we get any failed saves. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
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Cool story 
