Did I build my BBEG correctly?

[blues.soldier]

I'm running a Dresden-inspired fantasy game, using the same crunch as the DFRPG. I'm working on the stat bits for the game, and I've been staring at the page in front of me for so long the math is getting all jumbly. So I'm going to post this guy up and let anybody who cares to nitpick him to death. Note that this guy is NOT a starting character; he is, in effect, my Darth Sidious/The Emperor and is in one way or another the originator of a lot of the evil the players will be facing.

Also, he works off of a nine-point elemental system: earth, fire, air, water, metal, wood, spirit, necrotic and radiant

Gwydion Ambrosius (aka Caladrius, leader of the Chantry)
played by Sir Patrick Stewart
HC: Heir to the Throne Nightmare Warlock
Other Aspects: Plans Within Plans; False Religious Zealot; Pact with the Nightmare King; Fear is the Greatest Weapon; Traded My Soul For Power;
Extreme Consequence Aspect: Horrific Burn Scars

Skills
+5: Conviction, Discipline, Lore
+4: Deceit, Intimidate, Academics (Scholarship)
+3: Resources, Presence, Contacts
+2: Rapport, Empathy, Alertness
+1: Craft, Stealth, Investigation

Stress Track (base 3 stress, not DFRPG 2)
Physical: 000
Mental: 00000 +1 Mild consequence
Social: 00000 +1 Mild consequence


Powers [Total Refresh  -15]
Thaumaturgy (+1 Summoning Complexity)[-3]
Evocation (fire, spirit, necrotic) [-3]
The Sight, Soulgaze, Wizard's Constitution [-1]
Sponsored Magic: The Nightmare Court [-2]
Refinement x6 [-6]

Specializations
Necrotic Control +1
Necrotic Power +1
Spirit Control +1
Nightmare Power +2
Nightmare Control +1
Divination Complexity +1
Divination Power +1
Summoning Complexity +1
Summoning Power +1

Focus Items
Black Chainmail Gauntlet (+2 necrotic control, +1 necrotic power) [3 slots]
Tome of the Nightmare Fae (+1 Divination Complexity+Power, +1 Summoning Complexity +Power) [4 slots]

Spellcasting
Fire: Power 5, Control 5
Spirit: Power 5, Control 6
Necrotic: Power 7, Control 8
Nightmare: Power 7, Control 6
Summoning: Complexity 7, Control 7
Divination: Complexity 7, Control 7

Rotes (all rotes require focus items)
Arshiul
Spirit Maneuver
Power 5, Control (targeting) 6
Instant
Defend: Might
Effect: Target takes the "Knocked Sprawling" aspect and is thrown 1 zone per additional shift

Lamh an Bais
Necrotic Attack
Power 7, Control (targeting) 8
Instant
Defend: Athletics
Effect: Claw of sickly yellow-green energy slashes at the target's life force

Eagla Mhor
Nightmare Maneuver
Power 7, Control 6
Defend: Conviction or Discipline
Effect: The energies of the Nightmare Fae assault the target's mind, wrapping them in a miasma of fear. Target takes the "terrified" aspect, 1 additional exchange of duration over target's defense

Fiseanna Tromuli
Nightmare Maneuver
Power 7, Control 6
Defend: Conviction or Discipline
Effect: Horrific visions of terror, violence and destruction attack the target. Target takes "Visions of Terror" aspect, 1 additional exchange of duration over target's defense.

Gadai Chumhact
Nightmare Block (Conviction)
Power 7, Control 6
Defend: Conviction
Magical energy assaults the target's willpower, sapping their resolve and sense of self. Target has difficulty 6 for all Conviction tests for 2 exchanges.

Background: Gwydion Ambrosius was destined to rule. Born in 941 (current year 993) to King Julius I and his wife Siobhan, sister to the High chief of Cambria, Gwydion is the scion of two powerful royal families. He was trained as a statesman and warrior for most of his youth, preparing his head for the heavy crown. But it was not to be. His younger brother Claudius attacked him while on a hunting trip, the court wizard ambushing Gwydion and burning him horrifically with magical flames. Left for dead and in agonizing pain, Gwydion's mind rages and screamed for vengeance--and was answered.

A mighty and twisted archfey named Shandoresh, and calling himself the Nightmare King, responded to the dying Gwydion. In exchange for his service and soul upon his death, the Nightmare King saved the young man from death and took Gwydion to his realm in Faerie. There Shandoresh taught the bitter, scarred man the ways of magic that harnessed the powers of fear, corruption and destruction to his will. The King also taught Gwydion how to manipulate others to do his bidding and the ways of politics, machination and subterfuge.

When Gwydion returned to the natural world,  he realized he had been played as thoroughly as he had been taught to play others. Time runs strangely in the Nightmare Realm, and almost 50 years had passed while Gwydion had studied for only 10. His betrayer had borne children of his own and perished, splitting the kingdom that should have been Gwydion's into three constantly infighting princedoms. Gwydion knows in his heart that he is the true and rightful heir to the throne of Albion and the squabbling children of his vile brother are not going to stop him from claiming what is his by law.

But Gwydion knew he needed a plan; simply declaring his heritage, especially when he appears to be only a man of 36 winters, is folly and will result in nothing but his death. Thus, he has built a network of intelligence and contacts all across Brittanis, and is setting the stage for all three kingdoms to be brought to their knees. Then Gwydion will step in and declare himself and his heritage and unify all the lands that should have been his by right under his own iron fist.

Gwydion started his master plan by forming a religious sect known as the Chantry. Based around the tenets of the Church of Light, Gwydion manipulated his followers into a small army focused on putting spellcasters of all kinds either under Gwydion's control or in the ground. The magics taught him by the Nightmare King make him exceptionally good at brainwashing and inspiring fear; it was a short step in taking the Chantry from guarding against evil magic to striking out against all spellcasters except those "educated" by the Chantry.



 

[Richard_Chilton]

The HC looks a bit crowded.

Richard

[Belial666]

The stats are not "wrong" but a few things you should note;


1) He is an evil warlock that sold his soul for power but he has no "Lawbreaker" powers. Lawbreaker signifies how evil magic and power can twist someone's soul, body and very identity. He should have a couple of those IMHO even if your setting does not use the Laws of Magic; they don't have to symbolize metaphysical laws after all - they could symbolize part of his pact with the nightmares or his choices to sacrifice himself for Power. Plus, Lawbreakers can boost his power. More on that below.


2) I don't know how powerful you want to make this guy but for a -15 refresh, he is not that powerful. He does 7-shift rotes and a baseline 7 refresh wizard could do that if he focused on blasting. (5 conviction +2 focus, 5 discipline +2 focus). He also has no dodging skills. At all. For a campaign BBEG you might want to boost his power else a full group of PCs might take him out with a couple of attacks. For example, a Weapon 7 Fuego spell that rolls 7 for control and gets an Invoke via Fate Point for another +2, could do to him a whopping total of 16 physical stress, killing him outright. That from the average blaster wizard. A few things you could change;
a) Give him higher athletics. As is, he always gets hit for lots of damage.
b) Give him a defensive rote - a magical shield. That should help him if he is prepared for attack. At least for a couple of times.
c) Give him some sort of Item Of Power that helps in defense. All Sith had their Lightsaber that was a sword which could also defend from being shot in the face. If you don't want to give him such a weapon, give him some suit of armor that gives armor rating and also gives some defensive ability - supernatural toughness for example.
d) Give him an ability like "A Few Seconds Ahead" a seer gal has in the books that allows Lore to be used for most defenses. A custom equivalent would be "My Will Is My Shield" that allows Lore for the same thing.

[Mal_Luck]

I've always been of the opinion of "Pick a five element system and effing stick with it." Ask MijRai.

Both Metal and Wood could be specialized uses of Earth, I cannot see a specific situation where the Earth element could not supersede or replicate the effects of Metal or Wood.

I do not know what Radiant is, I assume it's some sort of Holy element. Necrotic is not an element of Evocation. Necromancy can however be taken as Thaumaturgy specializations. You may want to consider looking at Kemmlerian Necromancy (YS291), which you could make your own variation of.

I'm not sure what the Nightmare magic does, so I can't comment on it.

Other than that, Bel's advice is what I would do. Lawbreakers, Defensive Rotes/Items, etc. May I suggest a secondary method of attacking (Fists, Guns, or Weapons), unless you want to fudge (pardon the pun) the mental stress for NPCs... he'd likely wear himself out quickly (even with 5 stress and conseqences). A couple of stunts would also likely help (or maybe even powers if he has someone's sponsored magic).

[luminos]

How much of a challenge do you want him to be for the PC's in the final confrontation?

[Mal_Luck]

How much of a challenge do you want him to be for the PC's in the final confrontation?

I'm curious with this as well. What's the power level of the group, high concepts, etc?

Is in a Big Bad Evil Guy making mood...

[blues.soldier]

Well like I said earlier, he's a Darth Sidious/Emperor kind of character-- very much my inspiration here. That's why he's so heavily front-loaded with mental and social skills, because a great deal of his power comes from influence and status, not raw blasting power. When the Final Confrontation comes, it won't be just him, it will be him and his version of Darth Vader, too.

The Nightmare Court is a smaller and far nastier group of faeries, on par power-wise with the Erlking and his Wild Hunt. To use Dresden terminology, the Nightmare King made a deal with one of the major Outsiders for power in order to bring his Court to the level of Summer and Winter, twisting and dementing his entire Court along with him. That's the reason the Nightmare King is sponsoring Gwydion-- the more fear and havoc he can create in the natural realm, the easier it is for Nightmare creatures to cross the border (like the weakening of the Nevernever in DF). And the more creatures that cross the border, the more powerful the Nightmare Court gets. Very nasty fae with a focus on mind magic, fear spells, and illusion. It's just another kind of Sponsored Magic.

So my additions based on the suggestions herein are as follows:

Lawbreaker (First) [-2]
Lawbreaker (Third) [-2]
Lawbreaker (Fourth) [-2]
Refinement x2 [-2]
Domination [-2]
Mind Over Matter (use Discipline for Melee or Dodging] [-2]
Item of Power-- Varathorn, the Blade of Broken Dreams [-2]
---Unholy Insight (as Guide My Hand) [-1]
---Supernatural Toughness [-4]
---The Catch [+2] (holy stuff--OR-- non-Nightmare faerie magic)

That's an additional -14 Refresh, taking Mr. Ambrosius to -29 Refresh, on par in some ways with Cowl and Nicodemus (I'm a firm believer that the writeups for the higher-power baddies are severely underpowered). That's exactly what I'm looking for.

Using the Refinement entirely for Enchanted Items, basing off of Harry's Duster, we get:

Mithril Arm (5 slots)
A complement to his mithril chain gauntlet, Gwydion wears a blackened mithril plate armor on his left arm, inscribed with runes of protection and warding in the language of the fae. This item does not provide any armor in game terms; instead it conjures a flickering, magical disc of force that the wielder uses in the same fashion as a material shield. This, combined with the Mind Over Matter stunt and his Toughness, make for pretty good defenses.
6-shift Spirit Block, 5/session

Ring of Pain (3 slots)
Not actually a ring, this heavy steel bracelet hangs upon Gwydion's right wrist, covered in ancient pictograms depicting the wearer's foes writhing and screaming in agony.
4/session, may add +3 to the damage of a single physical attack. This item does NOT have the ability to spend mental stress for additional uses. Instead, the wearer must pay a fate point.


This stuff gives me a whole lot of ideas for new scenarios and hooks. As more about this guy is revealed, specific instances will let the party in on his abilities and the like. Domination means I can drop in Renfields regularly. I am thinking he's not going to start the game with the Sword; that will be a chance for the PCs to "power him down" if they can foil his minions from retrieving it... and then keep it away from him. Likewise, I really like the idea of his pact eating him from the inside out-- much like The Emperor. He has the Mithril Arm and the sword as ways of keeping his glory days close to him, before his brother betrayed him and twisted his body with flame. And, now that I think about it, the wizard who did the burning might still be around-- once Gwydion finds this out he'll be on a warpath for sure to get revenge. Which is another place the PCs can step in.

[TheMouse]

If you're boosting him to -29 Refresh from powers, I assume that makes him at least a 1 Fate Point having type character? If so, that's 20 Refresh worth of milestones. That should translate out to at least 20 more skill points (if not more) and an increase of the pinnacle by probably 2ish.

I personally tend to assume at least as many Significant as Major Milestones. That tends to translate to about twice as many bonus skill levels as Refresh. So an increase of 20 Refresh will probably come in around 40 more skill points. Ish. More or less.

A simple way to do that is to just add three skills at +6 and three at +7. That's 39, which is quite frankly close enough. Move the spell casting ones up to +7. Toss in some skills at +4 to +6 that would be useful in a physical fight so that he can take a few hits, then adjust the rest to fill in the empty slots.

Expanding the number of categories of spell from five to nine makes his spell casting less powerful. It means you have to spread out your refinements more, which means you get less for each one you take.

If you really feel the need to rework the five elements, you can go with the Chinese system of earth, air, fire, metal, and wood. Fire covers your fire and radiance. Metal covers your necrotic and spirit. Air covers your air and water (with some of the things that water might otherwise cover trickling over into Metal).

[blues.soldier]

Good call on the skill ranks. I missed that. Thanks.

[luminos]

Yeah, now you've got a seriously scary final boss.  This will be good.  The players will have to give that fight everything they've got to win it.

[blues.soldier]

And the really awesome thing is that I don't have to worry about the fight for a long time. A REALLY long time, if he ends up being the final BBEG. His interpersonal skills and influence are powerful enough to keep layer upon layer of machinations and minions between himself and the party. That will be the best payoff-- after a whole campaign worth of fighting this guy's plots, they finally get to fight HIM.