The Yeti's Den (I'm BAAAAAAAAAAACK!)

[AmericanYeti]

Gandalf the Grey: Fey 8/Eldritch Knight 2; CR 9; Medium Fey; HD 5d6+2d8+16; hp 54; Init: +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 15, Flat-footed 14, Touch 11; Base Atk: +6/1; Grp: +8; Atk: Melee+8 (d10+3/19-20, Glamdring) or +8 (d6+2/20, Staff); Full Atk: Melee+8/+3 (d10+3/19-20, Glamdring) or +8/+3 (d6+2/20, Staff); SV Fort+7, Ref+7, Will+11; AL NG; Str 13, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 17.
Skills and Feats: Bluff+5 (+8), Concentration+6 (+8), Craft (Alchemy)+8 (+10), Decipher Script+6 (+8), Diplomacy+5 (+12), Handle Animal+6 (+9), Intimidate+7 (+12), Knowledge (Arcane)+4 (+6), Knowledge (History)+8 (+10), Knowledge (Nature)+5 (+9), Listen+4 (+7), Ride+7 (+10), Sense Motive+6 (+9), Spellcraft+6 (+9), Spot+5 (+8), Survival+6 (+11); Craft Wondrous Item, Eschew Materials, Iron Will, Natural Leader*, Veteran Knowledge*
*From Heroes of Battle
Sorcerer Spells Known (6/7/7/5; Caster Level 7): 0- Arcane Mark, Daze, Detect Magic, Flare, Light, Message, Prestidigitation, 1 - Charm Person, Comprehend Language, Hold Portal, Shield, Ventriloquism, 2 - Pyrotechnics, Scare, Scorching Ray, 3 - Heroism, Lightning Bolt
Possessions: Glamdring*, Staff of Power**, Elven Ring of Fire Mastery and Major Spellstoring
*+1 Orcbane Bastard Sword (casts Light if Orcs are within 60 feet
**Staff of Illumination
Notes: I know, I know. D&D is not a Green Ronin product. But while I’m without my computer, I went back into my D&D books. I'm just not good enough with 3E yet to make characters from memory. Besides, I think I've seen some other non-GR builds floating around here and this is the best roleplaying forum there is. Anyhow, I reread the Lord of the Rings, in my opinion the greatest work of fiction ever created (sorry, Star Wars…it’s close, though). A couple of years ago, I drove myself crazy trying to stat-out Gandalf. I was stuck in the “He must be like a 30th level Wizard at least! He takes on a Balrog and…and he’s a demigod and all!” rut. But now that I look about it, while Gandalf pulls off some pretty awesome stunts by real-world standards, a level 15 D&D Wizard would totally hand him his ass. One fireball from a character of that caliber would stand a pretty good chance of one-shotting him. So I settled on a few racial hit dice with ¾ Sorcerer progression and boom, you have Gandalf. That’s not to say that Gandalf isn’t awesome. He clearly is. He wades into melee combat like few wizards before or after, letting Glamdring do the talking for him. And also, the power of Middle Earth heroes is more in their influence than their single-handed army slaying and Gandalf does a really good job of subtlety making sure things turn out for the better. Veteran Knowledge and Natural Leader, two feats from Heroes of Battle, help him guide those around him. And remember that Gandalf is thoroughly in plot-device territory. If the GM decides that, despite all evidence to the contrary, Gandalf has this layer he can pull back and tangle with an eons old demon, more power to him.
Tactics: Gandalf's primary tactic is avoidance. If he can get away from a fight, he'll try. The longer he fights, the closer he'll come to having to really cut loose and that's not really allowed. But if he's forced into a confrontation, first order of business is casting shield. It's really a good spell when you're facing a lot of low-level guys, but you can see the Balrog crack through it in the movie. Then, he either bombards his enemies with fire and lightning (like in the Hobbit) or hacks them up with Glamdring.

[AmericanYeti]

Aragorn II: Male Human Ranger 5/Ranger of the North 3*; CR 7; Medium Humanoid (Human); HD 5d8+3d8+16; hp 56; Init: +2; Spd 30 ft.; AC 16, Flat-footed 14 , Touch 12; Base Atk: +8; Grp: +9; Atk: +9 melee (d8+1/19-20, Longsword), +10 Ranged (d8/20, Longbow), +9 Melee (d4+1/19-20, Dagger); Full Atk: +9/+4 Melee (d8+1/19-20, Longsword), +10/+5 (d8/20, Longbow) OR +8/+8/+3 (d8/20, Longbow Rapid Shot), +9/+4 (d4+1/19-20, Dagger); SQ Favored Enemy (Orcs+6), Favored Enemy (Humans+2) SA Wild Empathy, Uncanny Dodge, Sneak Attack+d6, SV Fort+9, Ref+9, Will+6; AL NG; Str 13, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 14.
*Based on the Darkwood Stalker from Complete Warrior
Skills and Feats: Climb+4 (+5), Craft (Weaponsmith)+6 (+7), Handle Animal+6 (+8), Heal+8 (+11), Hide+5 (+7), Jump+3 (+4), Knowledge (Geography)+5 (+6), Knowledge (History)+4 (+5), Knowledge (Nature)+6 (+9), Listen+6 (+9), Move Silently+6 (+8), Ride+5 (+9), Search+2 (+3), Spot+5 (+8), Survival+6 (+12), Swim+3 (+4); Combat Expertise, Dodge, Endurance, Power Attack, Rapid Shot, Skill Focus (Survival), Track
Ranger Spell Prepared (Caster Level 5) 1 - Delay Poison
Possessions: Longbow, 30 Arrows, Dagger, Longsword, Chainsword, The Shards of Narsil
Notes: Now that I had Gandalf all statted up and all this computer-less time on my hands, Aragorn was second on the docket. He is obviously matchless in the woods, with a sky-high survival score only helped by his various knowledge skills. He is able to take four fat, at that point semi-useless hobbits who can’t stay out of their own way and avoid nine necromancers who can literally smell one of afore mentioned hobbits. Screw Boromir’s last stand, that’s as badass as the story gets. Oh, sorry, it’s even more badass when those necromancers finally do catch up to Aragorn and the hobbits and while his charges are all sniveling like little girls, Aragorn jumps up with two burning sticks and pretty easily fends them off. This is all while being outnumbered five to one and Frodo has already been critically injured. Yeah, Aragorn can take care of himself alright. Oh yeah, and he’s the heir to the throne of Gondor.

[AmericanYeti]

Boromir of Gondor: Male Human Fighter 6/Captain of the White Tower 2*; CR 7; Medium Humanoid (Human); HD 6d10+2d10+16; hp 65; Init: +1; Spd 20 ft.; AC 18, Flat-footed 15, Touch 11; Base Atk: +8; Grp: +11; Atk: +12 Melee (d10+5/19-20x2, Bastard Sword); Full Atk: +12/+7 (d10+5/19-20x2); SA Heroic Shield, Rallying Cry, Inspire Courage SV Fort+10, Ref+3, Will+2; AL LG; Str 17, Dex 12, Con 14 , Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 13.
*Based on the Purple Dragon Knight from Complete Warrior
Skills and Feats: Handle Animal+5 (+6), Intimidate+6 (+7), Knowledge (History)+4 (+5), Listen+7 (+7), Ride+5 (+6), Spot+7 (+7); Cleave, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Bastard Sword), Great Cleave, Leadership, Power Attack, Rallying Cry, Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword), Weapon Specialization (Bastard Sword)
Possessions: Mastercraft Longsword, Heavy Steel Shield, Breastplate, Horn of Gondor*
*Can be heard anywhere in Gondor if blown within its borders and casts Cause Fear on any evil characters within earshot
Notes: Boromir is referred to as the greatest warrior in the Fellowship. Whether or not it’s in the novel proper I can’t remember, but I know I have like ten LotR reference books that back that up. And it’s essentially stated when he single handedly kills dozens of Uruk-Hai. He owns them so hard that they pull back and literally fill him with arrows. Boromir’s the kind of guy you want standing beside you, or, even better, in front of you. He has a tragically low will-save, though, and that really cost him. I’m pretty convinced that Boromir’s the only one who turned because the Ring realized that he was the one who would be the easiest to sway, not through any shortcoming of his. His fault is that he’s too human - there is room for him to put his patriotism before his logic and that’s what the Ring jumps on.

[AmericanYeti]

Gimli, son of Gloin: Male Dwarf Barbarian 2/Fighter 5; CR 6; Medium Humanoid (Dwarf); HD 2d12+5d10+28; hp 74; Init: +0; Spd 20 ft.; AC 18, Flat-footed 18, Touch 10; Base Atk: +7; Grp: +9; Atk: +11 Melee (d12+2/20x3, Greataxe), +9 Melee (d10+2/20x3, Dwarven Waraxe), +7 Ranged (d6+2/20x3, Throwing Axe); Full Atk: +11/+6 (d12+2/20x3, Greataxe), +9/+4 (d10+2/20x3, Dwarven Waraxe); SQ Dwarf Traits SA Rage 1/day, Uncanny Dodge, Fast Movement SV Fort+11, Ref+1, Will+4; AL NG; Str 15, Dex 11, Con 18, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 8.
Skills and Feats: Climb+4 (+6), Craft (Stonework)+6 (+6), Intimidate+4 (+3), Knowledge (Architecture)+4 (+5), Listen+4 (+5), Spot+4 (+5); Cleave, Diehard, Endurance, Iron Will, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Greataxe)
Possessions: Mastercraft Greataxe, Mastercraft Dwarven Waraxe, 6 Throwing Axes, Mastercraft Full-plate Armor
Notes: Gimli, like Boromir, is a tank. He likes to stand in front of his enemy and just wail away on them with any one of his many axes until they fall. Then he does it again on the next guy. Not much in the way of tricks - unless you count Rage - Gimli is just strong, tough and skilled. I went off the movies a bit in making him that tough. He takes a direct shot from the Cave Troll along with Frodo and Aragorn. Frodo is almost skewered, even with his mithril shirt and Aragorn is knocked out cold. Gimli is thrown straight through Balin’s sarcophagus but just picks himself up and hurls another axe at the thing. That’s tough.

[AmericanYeti]

Legolas Greenleaf: Male Elf Ranger 3/Fighter 2/Elven Sniper 2*; CR 6; Medium Humanoid (Elf); HD 3d8+2d10+2d8+7; hp 44; Init: +4; Spd 30 ft.; AC 16, Flat-footed 12, Touch 14; Base Atk: +7; Grp: +7; Atk: +12 Ranged (d8/20, Longbow), +7 Melee (d6/19-20, Shortsword); Full Atk: +12/+7 Ranged (d8/20, Longbow), +7 Melee (d6/19-20); SQ Favored Opponent (Orc+2) SA Close Combat Shot, Ranged Precision+d8, Wild Empathy SV Fort+8, Ref+10, Will+5; AL LG; Str 11, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 10.
*Based on the Order of the Bow Initiate from Complete Warrior
Skills and Feats: Climb+4 (+4), Craft (Weaponsmith)+6 (+6), Hide+4 (+8), Jump+3 (+3), Knowledge (Nature)+5 (+5), Listen+4 (+7), Move Silently+4 (+8), Ride+4 (+8), Spot+7 (+10), Swim+3 (+3); Endurance, Manyshot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (Longbow)
Possessions: Mastercraft Longbow, 60 Arrows, Shortsword, Leather Armor
Notes: By far the more boring character in the stories, Legolas is there to represent Elves. That’s about it. He sure can fight, though. Put a bow in his hands and he’ll drop an Orc with every shot. Every shot. He’ll be a little more vulnerable in close combat because he’s a little low on hit points, but the trick is not getting there. He’s fairly mobile because he can dish out a lot of damage with a single standard action inside of having to full attack to kill somebody.

[Kara]

I can't say that I know all that much about D&D but they look good all the same!

[JoshuaDunlow]

Agreed Kara. Gotta love some LOTR fandom.

[Sand Fox]

AmericanYeti, I haven’t seen you for a time, so I’d thought I’d drop by and bump your thread up. I really want to see you continue your story.
Also, I really like your Lord of the Rings builds. They may be Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 (which is what I play), but they still feel complete and really do the characters justice. Good work.

Sincerely, Sand Fox

[Thorpacolypse]

AmericanYeti, I haven’t seen you for a time, so I’d thought I’d drop by and bump your thread up. I really want to see you continue your story.
Also, I really like your Lord of the Rings builds. They may be Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 (which is what I play), but they still feel complete and really do the characters justice. Good work.

Sincerely, Sand Fox

Indeed. And happy holidays to you, Yeti, wherever you are!

[AmericanYeti]

You guys are too patient with me. I check on this to see how far it's fallen and you guys keep it bumped. Merry Christmas to all of you. I've just hit some major writers block, then my computer broke (again) but I got a new one for Christmas! This time, I'm not going to say when I'll finish the story because that's probably empty anyway, but I want to finish. Thanks for keeping me around.

[Sand Fox]

AmericanYeti, my friend, where are you?! We all miss you on the Think Tank. Please come back to us.

Sincerely, Sand Fox

[AmericanYeti]

Ok, I make one of these posts once every couple of months but now that I'm out of school for the summer, I think I should have time to get back into building. I haven't been gaming that much lately but I decided to come back. Don't know if I'm going to be doing any stories and I'm probably going to go back to 2E, but I promise promise promise that I'll get some builds up TONIGHT!!

[AmericanYeti]

Thor

"We would have words with thee!"
PL 13
Str 44 Dex 16 Con 38 Int 12 Wis 10 Cha 14
Skills: Concentration+4 (+4), Intimidate+6 (+8), Knowldege (Arcane)+8 (+9), Knowledge (Tactics)+6 (+7), Knowledge (Theology)+8 (+9), Notice+4 (+4)
Feats: Attack Specialization (Mjolnir), Attractive, Lionheart 2, Luck 2, Martial Artist, Power Attack, Rallying Cry, Ritualist, Status 3: Norse God, Takedown Attack, Trance
Fighting Style:
Wrestling (Unarmed, 3 pp) Chokehold, Improved Grapple, Improved Pin, Punishing Throw
Powers:
Earth Control 7 (14 pp)
Immunity 11 (Aging, Life Support, Starvation and Thirst) (11 pp)
Mjolnir (Hard to Lose Device 21, Power Feats: Restricted 2) (86 pp)
• Flight 9 (Normal Speed: 5,000 mph, Top Speed: 20,000 mph)
• Strike 5 (Power Feats: Mighty, Returning, Thrown)
• Teleport 10 (Extras: Accurate, Portal, Flaws: Long-range, Power Feats: Dimensional 2 [Realms of the Aesir], Progression 7 [12.5 tons]) (200,000 miles)
• Weather Control 5 (Variable Power, Multiple Powers of the Weather Descriptor)
o Lightning: Blast 14 (Flaws: Full-round Action, Power Feats: Indirect [Can Come from the sky]) linked to Audio Dazzle 10 (Extras: Explosion, Flaws: Full-round Action)
Protection 2 (Extras: Impervious 12) (14 pp)
Super-strength 10 (20 pp) (Heavy Load: 5.7 kilotons)
Weather Control 14 (Hamper Movement) (28 pp) (100,000 foot radius)
Combat: Attack+7, Mjolnir+9, Damage+17, Mjolnir+22, Lightning+14, Defense 15/12 while flatfooted, Initiative+3, Knockback-14
Complications:
Honor: Warrior’s Code
Responsibility: Prince of Asgard
Rivalry: Hercules
Rivalry: Loki
Saves: Toughness+16 (Impervious 12), Fort+14, Reflex+6, Will+4
Abilities 74 + Skills 9 + Feats 18 + Powers 173 + Combat 24 + Saves 7 = 304 pp
Notes: I've decided to take a new approach with builds. I stopped caring about PL, at least in the sense of saying "I think such and such is level such and such." So for my first build in my comeback, I went with somebody who would let me try that out because he has such wildly differing offensive and defensive power levels. Also, I saw the movie on Friday, so there's that too. Well this Thor is "only" PL 13, but he is a lot more powerful than that, due to his ability to deal a whopping 22 damage with a fairly accurate attack (I'm going to be posting my benchmarks immediately after this, +9 isn't bad at all). His low defense is due less to a lack of skill than a lack of concern. He's simply convinced that he can't be hurt by most opponents, so he just lets them hit him most of them time. And most of the time, his unbelievable offensive prowess means that even against somebody strong enough to damage him, he can get them out of there before he takes any serious damage. Basically, he serves as the obvious strong man of the Avengers, the center of their battle line. When Thor's around, everyone breathes a little easier, because he is going to take care of business. And if Thor goes down, everyone is in trouble.

[Arthur Eld]

I'm afraid I don't understand your new design philosophy, Yeti. If Thor is at +9 with Mjolnir and if he provokes Toughness saves of DC 37 with it, doesn't that make him PL 16? I can see not caring to say well Thor should only be PL x because so and so is PL y and when they fought, z happened, but then where did you get 13 from?

[AmericanYeti]

9+22/2 = 15.5 OPL
5+16/2 = 10.5 DPL

10.5+15.5/2 = 13 PL

I should have clarified that.