Re-inventing the Four Horsemen (Build advice)

[ZeroSpace]

I've started thinking up some rough ideas for BBEG's for future use, and I'm looking for build advice/suggestions. For those who go TL:DR, skip the following spoiler box, it only explains the logic that led to my request here.

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So one game in my group ran for all of one session, due to the DM suddenly being unable to attend show at all due to work. In the game, there had been some Christian influences running alongside a cosmology that also cribbed from 3.5 and Pathfinder. Notably, this included the Four Horsemen (yes, that bunch), and after dwelling on what had looked like on an interesting game, I got an itch to give a hand at stat-ing them out. Since Death, Famine, and Pestilence occupied very similar territory, I decided it would be best to re-imagine them to make them more distinct, and also my own. Thus, I'm working on Slaughter, Sacrilege, Entropy, and Discord.

The first 'Horseman' that I've started on is Slaughter, since I have and interesting signature ability for him: The Warmind's Sweeping Strike ability. I'm only interested in taking Warmind to lvl5 to get that, and then continuing in something else. I would also like to take some levels in Warblade, since I can have some real fun pairing SS with some choice maneuvers, like Mithril Tornado or Dancing Mongoose. My current build stub is ??? 5/ Warmind 5/ Warblade 5. I'm trying to find something to occupy those first 5 levels, before I've met prerequisites for Warmind. I would prefer something with Full BAB, as I intend Slaughter to be the melee monster of the bunch.

[FlaminCows]

Hexblade 3 gets you Charisma bonus to saves and Mettle, and two levels of Paladin of Slaughter gets you Charisma bonus to saves again. Alternatively, two more levels of Warblade would get you Improved Uncanny Dodge and access to 6th-level manoeuvres.

I would stat the Horsemen of the Apocalypse in D&D as Elder Evils; it gives them a proper sense of catastrophe. Blood Moon (like the Hulks of Zoretha) is an appropriate sign for a Horseman of Slaughter.

[ZeroSpace]

Interesting ideas. Having thought things over a little more myself, I'm finding Slaughter a little starved for feats, so I think I'll build him as Hexblade3/Fighter2/Warmind5/Warblade5. As for the race hodge-podge, I was thinking something along the lines of Lolth-Touched and Dragonborn(wings) templates, with maybe Maenad as the base race to get the power points I need for Warmind.

As for the other three Horsemen, I've only got looser ideas of what I want to do. Entropy will be a necromancy debuff vampire wizard with a Necrotic Focus weapon, Sacrilege some kind of undead horde cleric, and I was thinking a fear based brawler with Avenging Executioner, Dreadful Wrath, and Warlock Invocation dipping.

[Gribel]

If all you want from War Mind is Sweeping Strike, you might be better served by War Hulk 4. You get Mighty Swing, which is the same as Sweeping Strike, except hits 3 squares, and you don't lose iteratives (normally the biggest issue with War Hulk).

[ZeroSpace]

Having looked at War Hulk, while the Strength boost and extra attack coverage is nice, Great/Mighty/Massive swing is it's own attack action, and doesn't key off every attack like Sweeping Strike does. I personally think I'm going to go with Warmind, as there's fewer hoops to jump through, and I get some basic Wis-based manifesting to buff with.

[SorO_Lost]

Previous suggestion of mine war a war-crazy build for war, a Blighter based also ranked pretty high for Famine in the last thread. So have some generic suggestions to incorporate as you want. I'll in turn continue to add to them for a bit so I can start reposting them since they seem to be requested annually.
Conquest=Discord, War=Slaughter, Famine=Entropy, Death=Sacrilege right?

The Four Horsemen

The White Horse of Conquest

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Conquest should be the first rider to appear. The weakest among them he focuses on preparation by sowing discord and convincing kings and lords alike to fight each other. Sometimes this can be done with a well timed assassination, paid mercenaries disguised as another's forces, or even direct domination of a lord. While the courts will favor him, merchants and the like will associate him with the problems in the land which will be the hook for NPCs to recognize, or fail to recognize, them selves.

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Illusion/Dominate based. Thinking Bard but let me get back to you on that.

The Red Horse of War

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As the skirmishes begin one man exceedingly obtains reown. With his display of powerful magic and deadly skill with a sword this champion is so great that kings alike seek to hire him as their own private general. This is of course the second horsemen. More direct in his actions than his predecessor but the hearts of men are not swayed by magic, lies or deceit which makes it all that much harder to undo him without direct combat. His honesty and willingness for open combat draws fanatics seeking their own glory in a troublesome age, through his goal is endless combat.

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Jacky Chan (aka War)
Warforged Warmage 6 / Warmage (the PrC) 5 / War Wizard of Cormyr 1 / Warweaver 5 / Warblade 1 / Warshaper 2.
Feats: Combat Casting^1st, Eschew Materials^F, Enlarge Spell^F, Extend Spell^3rd, Iron Will^6th, Reserves of Strength^9th, Imperious Command^12th, Weapon Focus(any)^B, Leadership^15th, Residual Metamagic^18th.
A gish style build heavily based on Evocation magic. Like a good general he supports his captains with Charisma to AC, Spell Buffs via Eclectic Learning, and the White Raven Discipline. This thing makes a man out of you.

The Black horse of Famine and Disease

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After War has pass and all but destroy local forms of government. The infrastructures will be on the verge of collapse. This is one Famine makes her appearance. Instead of attacking people directly she plagues the land with diseases, burns the forests and crops to the ground, animates and releases undead creatures to creep through the night. Without the promise of tomorrow many fall into despair, and soon the fall to their knees.

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Urmom (aka Famine/Disease)
Awakened Favored Spawn of Kyuss^MMII? Diseased^LM Corpsecrafter-Enhanced Zombie Undead 1 / Druid 5 / Blighter 6 / Walker in the Waste 3 / Soul Eater 1 / CR Reserve 2 1/2
Feats: Alertness^3rd, Weapon Focus^6th, Heat Endurance^9th, Natural Spell^12th, Corpsecrafter^15th, Bolster Resistance^18th.
Less punful than the last. This build adds Kyuss's worms, Filth Fever, Dessication (dehydration), and Energy Drain onto the Blighter's Undead based Wild-Shape form. Deforestation, Wildfire, forcing desert-like conditions near her, and a Spell List dedicated towards debuffing and corruption she can have a huge impact on fertile land. This is technically not a PC Character due to Kyuss, but rather a creation of Death's Magic ran by the DM. As a threat to NPCs, she mostly attacks with nearby undead to soak up their most powerful spells weakening them for confrontation.
I think Dragon published a Spell like Animate Dead except the Zombies could also infect people, it'd be worth digging it up.

The Pale Horse of Death

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The last rider is the most powerful among them. The righteous extreme zealot Death does not discriminate between the living and undead, only sinners and the forsaken. If you were true to your God, he would have spared you long before you stood within his sight. You are a sinner, you are forsaken, and he will correct your hearth condition.

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Darth Stalin (aka Death)
Invisible Fist Dark Moon Disciple Monk 7 / Hellreaver 2 / Divine Crusader 1 / Ordained Champion 5 / Contemplative 1 / Church Inquisitor(?) 4
Feats: Battle Jump¹, Power Attack^B, Improved Bullrush^B, Weapon Focus^3rd, Shock Trooper^6th, Snowcast^9th, Energy Subsitution(electricity)^12th, Extraordinary Spellaim^15th, Energy Admixture(electricity)^18th, Energy Substitution(fire)^{Metamagic Storm}.
Combines the uber stealth & defensive capabilities of Shadow Blend with deadly offensive abilities. Uber charging, Death/War/Hatred Domain based 8th level Spells pour out tons of Save-or-Dies, Saveless dies (blasphemy & power words) with deadly area support like moving between the borders of intertwisted Admixture Double-Mystic Forbiddances (up to 112avg dmg!) ensue all but the most prepared & optimized PCs are killed within seconds. Not even Gated creatures stand a chance without Epic Spellcasting.

[Jackinthegreen]

Having looked at War Hulk, while the Strength boost and extra attack coverage is nice, Great/Mighty/Massive swing is it's own attack action, and doesn't key off every attack like Sweeping Strike does. I personally think I'm going to go with Warmind, as there's fewer hoops to jump through, and I get some basic Wis-based manifesting to buff with.

Errata changed the Mighty Swing to be a regular attack action.  http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/dnd_mi_errata.pdf is the link to it.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

This might sound a little light in the cakes, after SorO's post.

... Pathfinder ...

PF Warmind stacks it's festing with PsyWar.  You could go
PsyWar 1 / Warblade 2 / PsyWar 1 / Warmind 5 / X Y
Favored and Primary Contact feats are flavor specific,
to the organization that makes Warminds, and as level 1s
they are easily retrained out, say around level 6.
Then go UrPriest for intentionally exact flavor (wink).
Prestige Paladin for the horseman part ; maybe too literal here.

[Keldar]

Clearly Sacrilege is an Ur-Priest Fiend of Blasphemy.  Because nothing is more sacrilicious than stealing divine magic and giving it to your own horde of nihilistic zealots.

[ZeroSpace]

That errata for the Warhulk definitely makes it a better choice than before, but I'm still kinda leaning Warmind, as that gives me more options, mainly through self buffing. I will say that that makes it a lot closer between the two, enough that I feel I need to re-evaluate the 'hulk.

I'll probably be posting in this thread on and off for the next little bit, so if you guys feel you have something worth sharing, go ahead.

[Jackinthegreen]

If BAB might be a problem there's the Skillful weapon enhancement in Complete Arcane page 144 that grants 3/4 BAB of character level.

[ZeroSpace]

That might get used with the other Horsemen, but it would likely only hold Slaughter back. Anyways, I'm thinking of using this as a base:

Slaughter

Lolth-touched Goliath Fighter2/Hexblade2/PaladinOfSlaughter2/Warhulk4/Warblade6

Inherent stats
Str32 Dex10 Con24 Int14 Wis10 Cha16

Probable feats include Power Attack (duh), Knockdown, Knockback

[vaz]

Discord should be a shape changer. Some form of Outsider capable of taking the form of a Visilight with Metamorphic Transfer to drain charisma to look more like their targets. Wilder is quite good for access to Shatter Mindblank and Cha to touch AC. Marshal dip for Cha mod to become useful. Battledancer for Cha to AC. Otherworldly [insert favourite elf subrace] Wilder 18/Marshal 1/Battledancer 1

[ZeroSpace]

So, I've begun thinking on the other 'horsemen', and I've decided what I want to do with Entropy and Discord.

Discord I'm thinking will be a vanilla Rakshasa, with levels in Dread Witch, spec-ed for fear and screwing with peoples heads with confusion and illusions. Entropy meanwhile will be a Venerable Star Elf cleric that then runs through Walker in the Waste to become a dry lich, and using a bunch of fire/heat and energy drain type spells.

I'm still not sure what I want to do with Sacrilege however. I do at least have a few ideas for maneuvers for Slaughter though, like Emerald Razor and Mithril Tornado.

And as before, input is still welcome and appreciated.

[SolEiji]

I'm still not sure what I want to do with Sacrilege however. I do at least have a few ideas for maneuvers for Slaughter though, like Emerald Razor and Mithril Tornado.

Some manner of anti-divine caster build?  That one spell, Divine Indictment, the elder evil feats against divine spells, maybe caster-disruption in general?  It goes around defiling temples, raising undead, and being a nasty meany poo poo head?

[ZeroSpace]

I've remembered a monster that would be suitable as a base for Sacrilege; the Radiant Idol out of Sharn City of Towers. It's an 11HD evil outsider that gets almost all the abilities Fiend of Blashemy gives minus cleric sponsoring, as well as a free domain with both powers and it's spells as SLA's. Best of all, the default concept behind it is that it poses as an actual godly messenger and starts cults.

I figure give it some extra class levels (it's only CR11, I'm shooting for 18) and pick out some better feats, and I'm good to go. Any suggestions for strong, flavourful domains to use?