Statting a Deathlord.

[Hanat-Osul]

My players, gods bless 'em, have seriously pissed off a Deathlord of my own invention, called the Grim Potentate Wielding the Scythe of Souls (not the best name, but he'll have alternate titles, I swear).  They've dispatched armies and Abyssals he's sent against them, and they thwarted his plan for a stronghold in the North by slaying a necromancer in the midst of casting Inasupicious Citadel in his service.  So sooner or later, they may have to fight him personally.


The stats for Mask of Winters in the corebook are thoroughly unimpressive, and seem wicked low compared to the writeup on the First and Forsaken Lion in the Autochtonians book.  I definitely get that 'first among equals' thing WW's doing with the Lion, so I'd like to find some kind of middle ground between him and the MoW.


The Potentate is  not as accomplished a sorceror as the others, but has much more front-line battle experience due to his nomadic existence. Eye and Seven Despairs put a nasty curse on him ages ago that forbids him to keep a stronghold so long as he holds the Scythe of Souls.  The Scythe is a gift from the Malfeans (or so he claims) & powerful enough to make other Deathlords nervous.  It is reputed to be able to steal the soul of ANYONE he wounds, putting them under his control (I haven't decided yet if this is an exaggerated rumor or an actual power of the weapon).


Any ideas as to high-end Charms/ Combos a Deathlord might have?  Essence levels (I'm thinking 8 or 9)?  Combat tactics?

 

[wordman]

There are stats for two deathlords in cannonical books. The main rules has stats for Mask of Winters. The Autochthonians has stats for First and Forsaken Lion.


You also must read this wiki entry, involving a simulated combat where five 500xp solars whip FoFL in three turns. Importantly, this contest was limited to published charms only. Since FoFL has an essence of 10, and the highest essence charms I've seen published require Essence 7, this suggests FoFL was severely limited in this contest.


The lessons I take away from this simulation:

1. Having either of two additional specific artifacts (Adamant Spell-Capturing Cord or an Essence-Containing Gem) would probably have allowed FoFL to win.
   
2. High level combat is completely dominated by charm cancellation.
   
3. The true power of stunting is that it can allow you to break the rules.

Were I putting FoFL in a fight in my campaign, I'd give him an Essence 10 occult charm that could reflexively counter a charm as it was being cast more efficiently than Sequential Charm Disruption does. With this alone, FoFL would have mopped the floor with the solars in the simulation. If you are feeling charitable, this could cost willpower, which would limit how much it could be used.

 

[Jakk Bey]

Tactics?  Not getting into direct confrontations.


Traps. Ruses. Cheating.


Setting up an encounter, and then dropping a forty ton block of stone to choke off the exit, and leaving the poor bastards to choke on their own waste gases.  


Seriouisly.  Why in the heck should a Deathlord play with relatively newbie Solars?  They've lost Abyssals--who are essentially just relatively newbie Solars--no hoo hoo there, so long as he's got their Monstrances, they'll be back.  Just lost some time.  And time is what the Deathlords have a lot of.  


Army gets beat down?  Oops.  They're for beating down the Mortals and the Dragon Blooded.  Oh well, munch all the walking corpses you want, they'll make more.


If a Deathlord gets involved, the PC's had best be super, super, super bad, or super, super, super sneaky, and the chances are, the Deathlord should be prepared for that even.  


Gear up an encounter with the Deathlord, and trap the little bastiches.  Make your villains worth the chase.  Make them work smarter, not harder.  The Deathlord should never be put into a position where he is going to not be able to script the encounter.  He calls the shots, he chooses the ground, and the ground should NEVER be fair.  Not just with goodies and Artifacts, but heck, the ground itself should be a factor.  


The Deathlord is found, after a long, exhaustive chase through his Citadel, with hundreds, if not thousands of Deadites throwing themselves at the PC's.  The chamber opens, and the Deathlord is sitting in his throne, and beckons.  The ground is dusty and caked with the ashes of the dead, rising with billows with each step.  


The dust itself acts as a slow poison.  It also rises up, driven by ghosts to distract and inhibit the Deathlord's antagonists.  The ground itself as they rush to combat the bastiche falls away, a vast yawning pit opens, the throne itself is a device that shields the DL from attack.  


He's a Deathlord.  He is going to cheat.  He's going to have every advantage at his disposal, and not just with Artifacts.  If you play it right, the PC's are never going to ever be able lay a glove on the DL on their first encounter, and probably not even by their third or fourth for that matter.  


Build a damn villain that's going to be worth it.  And nothing says "worth it' like kicking the crap out of PC's and leaving them for dead, abandoned and not even worth killing...with their families' and loved ones' bones raining down upon them, for even thinking about going up against your boy.

 

[psychoph]

You also must read this wiki entry, involving a simulated combat where five 500xp solars whip FoFL in three turns. Importantly, this contest was limited to published charms only. Since FoFL has an essence of 10, and the highest essence charms I've seen published require Essence 7, this suggests FoFL was severely limited in this contest.

I thought they redid this, or the method was argued and the second outcome was FoFL moping the floor with the Solars.  


First thing I would do is decide whether I want the Solars to all die, or what out come i want from a direct confrontation.  Once i figured out that I would then figure out what types of abilities I would want the NPC to have.  The thing to me with Deathlords is that they should have more than the given stuff.  They are more powerful than Abyssals and Solars and are the ones that Teach Abyssals.  They should have secrets that they haven't given to their ambitious minions.


Second I would have the Solars always come to the Deathlord, never the other way around, which to me gives the Abyssal a superior advantage in picking where the combat happens, thus he could have spells, minions and all the like.


I would run the Solars through his entire compound slowly wearing them out, causing them to use essence and will power and then I would have the Deathlord attack at their weakest moment.

 

[Hanat-Osul]

You also must read this wiki entry, involving a simulated combat where five 500xp solars whip FoFL in three turns. Importantly, this contest was limited to published charms only. Since FoFL has an essence of 10, and the highest essence charms I've seen published require Essence 7, this suggests FoFL was severely limited in this contest.


The lessons I take away from this simulation:

1. Having either of two additional specific artifacts (Adamant Spell-Capturing Cord or an Essence-Containing Gem) would probably have allowed FoFL to win.
   
2. High level combat is completely dominated by charm cancellation.
   
3. The true power of stunting is that it can allow you to break the rules.

Were I putting FoFL in a fight in my campaign, I'd give him an Essence 10 occult charm that could reflexively counter a charm as it was being cast more efficiently than Sequential Charm Disruption does. With this alone, FoFL would have mopped the floor with the solars in the simulation. If you are feeling charitable, this could cost willpower, which would limit how much it could be used.

That thing made my head hurt.  But it did make clear: 1 Deathlord vs. Bunch of Solars = too easy.  Although I must point out that my players are nowhere NEAR as powerful as those crazy-ass martial artists with Soul Fire Shaper and all that jazz.  I think two of my players have even bothered to build Combos.


So, next question: when the Realm arrives (and they will, sooner or later), would it make sense for a combat-oriented Deathlord to appear on the field alongside his Abyssals & warstriders and whatnot?  It seems like a couple choice spells/ Charms would make it fairly easy for him to regain Essence just by killing all kinds of extras, and with even a modest bodyguard he could take on any DBs who dared to attack him...

 

[Hanat-Osul]

Tactics?  Not getting into direct confrontations.
Traps. Ruses. Cheating.


Setting up an encounter, and then dropping a forty ton block of stone to choke off the exit, and leaving the poor bastards to choke on their own waste gases.  


Seriouisly.  Why in the heck should a Deathlord play with relatively newbie Solars?  They've lost Abyssals--who are essentially just relatively newbie Solars--no hoo hoo there, so long as he's got their Monstrances, they'll be back.  Just lost some time.  And time is what the Deathlords have a lot of.  


Army gets beat down?  Oops.  They're for beating down the Mortals and the Dragon Blooded.  Oh well, munch all the walking corpses you want, they'll make more...

Too many more good points to quote.


You're entirely correct.  Thanks for reminding me.  I get a little stupid sometimes, when I'm trying to impress my players.

 

[Forn Clakes]

I get a little stupid sometimes' date=' when I'm trying to impress my players.[/quote']
I know what you mean  :wink:


~FC.

 

[wordman]

It seems like a couple choice spells/ Charms would make it fairly easy for him to regain Essence just by killing all kinds of extras' date=' and with even a modest bodyguard he could take on any DBs who dared to attack him...[/quote']
In the middle of a battle, Reaping the Fallen is all he (or any necromancer) would need.

 

[wordman]

I thought they redid this, or the method was argued and the second outcome was FoFL moping the floor with the Solars.

Other way around. The first one had FoFL mopping the floor with the solars. The original link I gave was to the redo, which involved different people on each side. And different solars.