To kick things into the Christmas spirit, here’s a re-post of a certain portly bearded gentleman in red robes, all primed and set for your Epic 4e D&D games. Enjoy!
“Who threw that?” The voice boomed from deep within the white beard as the figure turned. A handful of children skittered behind market stalls, giggling with glee. Nicholas’ laughed deeply as he swept the remnants of the snowball from his robes. “Ah children,” he muttered to himself, “I’ll be seeing you later. First, I’ve to pay a visit to a certain Demon Lord who deserves no presents this year.”
Born in an orphanage, Nicholas has spent his entire life with two obsessions; children, and thwarting evil. He considers childhood to be like the stars themselves – points of light where a person’s life shines brightest. Much to the annoyance of the Church of Pelor the common folk consider him a living Saint for his work protecting their young ones.
Notes: Here’s one guy who needs no introduction. Santa Claus for 4e D&D! He’s a kickass Epic level Star Pact Warlock complete with lots of lovely Following Yonder Star (O star of wonder, star of light) Powers. The key to this character though is his Rituals; spells such as Silence (punctuated with the sound of sleigh bells), Discern Lies (“Have you been a good little boy?”), Knock (for coming down chimneys), Wizard’s Escape (for going back up chimneys), Drawmij’s Instant Summons (calling Reindeer) and Hallucinatory Creature (“I want a puppy!”) all add to the whole Saint Nick-ness of it all.
In combat against Evil, Saint Nicholas is unrelenting using a combination of Starlight, Cold and curses to freeze the hearts of bad little boys and girls everywhere. You really, really better be good when this guy’s around!
His Scythe of Winter +4 counts as a Staff of Winter and the +4 bonus applies as both an Implement and to attack and damage rolls. The Iceburst Robes +4 act as Fireburst Armour except the damage is Cold rather that Fire.
I can’t heap praises on the Javascript 4e Character Generator enough. It took just 10 minutes to create this 22nd level character including Paragon and Epic options, Rituals from Dragon 366 and more. The only thing I had to do was reformat the output to my preferred blog-friendly layout and add magic items. Done.
While heaping praises, I’ve got to throw some Wizards’ of the Coast way too for the Warlock class for all of it’s flavour-filled three-classes-in-one goodness. Oh yeh.
Saint Nicholas Doomsayer
Lawful Good Male Human Star Pact Warlock / Doomsayer / Demigod – 22
STR 14, CON 19, DEX 13, INT 18, WIS 18, CHA 20
HP 136, bloodied 68, surges 34×12/day
AC 30 (Iceburst Robes +4), Fort 29, Ref 28, Will 29, Squares 6, Init +12
Scythe of Winter +4, +19 vs AC, 2d4+6, Heavy blade
Warlock’s Curse/w, Dire Radiance/w +19 vs Fort, Eldritch Blast/w +20 vs Ref, Eyebite/w +20 vs Will
Dreadful Word/e +20 vs Will, Ethereal Stride/e, Frigid Darknes/e +19 vs Fort, Sign of Ill Omen/e +20 vs Will, Fates Entwined/e +20 vs Will, Cold Fire Vortex/e +19 vs Fort/Ref, Strand of Fate/e +20 vs Ref, Entropic Ward/e
Dread Star/d +20 vs Will, Hunger of Hadar/d +19 vs Fortitude on secondary attack, Thief of Five Fates/d +20 vs Will, Shadow Form/d, Tendrils of Thuban/d +19 vs Fort, Eye of the Warlock/d, Delusions of Loyalty/d +20 vs Will, Long Fall Into Darkness/d +20 vs Will
/w = at-will, /e = per encounter, /d = daily
Acrobatics +14, Arcana* +20, Athletics +15, Bluff* +21, Diplomacy +18, Dungeoneering +17, Endurance +17, Heal +17, History* +20, Insight* +20, Intimidate +18, Nature +17, Perception +19, Religion* +23, Stealth +14, Streetwise +18, Thievery +14
Common, Elven
* Class Training
Action Surge, Alertness, Astral Fire, Durable, Human Perseverance, Jack of all Trades, Mounted Combatm Raging Storm, Ritual Caster, Skill Focus (Religion), Wintertouched, Combat Anticipation, Devastating Critical, Great Fortitude, Twofold Curse
Rituals Known:
Animal Messenger-1, Banish Vermin-1, Comprehend Languages-1, Magic Mouth-1, Silence-1
Endure Elements-2, Arcane Lock-4, Enchant Magic Item-4, Hand of Fate-4, Knock-4, Traveler’s Feast-4
Hallucinatory Item-5, Bolster Object-6, Discern Lies-6, Disenchant Magic Item-6, Leomund’s Secret Chest-6, Phantom Steed-6, Wizard’s Escape-6, Sending-6
Wizard’s Sight-8, Scribe-12, Drawmij’s Instant Summons-12, Hallucinatory Creature-12, Farsight-16
* The numbers after the Rituals denote level. Some are from Dragon 366.
Fate of the Void, Prime Shot, Shadow Walk, Warlock’s Curse
Doomsayer’s Action, Doomsayer’s Proclamation, Doomsayer’s Oath, Fates Entwined, Accursed Shroud, Long Fall into Darkness
Divine Spark, Divine Recovery, Divine Regeneration, Divine Miracle
Other equipment: Bag of Holding, Handy Haversack, Portable Hole, Ritual Candle, Flying Sleigh (counts as a Flying Carpet)
*pokes Greywulf to remind him to provide microlite20 stats to any character he creates – he -did- design the darn gamesystem, fer cryin’ out loud… * :)=
Chgowizs last blog post..Argh
Consider myself poked :) M20 stats coming soon.
Just FYI, I pimped your post on Dragonsfoot for the Santa Stats thead… :P
Chgowizs last blog post..Argh
@Chgowiz Cool! Post up a link, will ya? :D
Hmm… I would have thought Santa would be either a Wizard or a Sorcerer instead of a Warlock. He’s not really getting his powers from anyone, he just uses magic and that’s all there is to it. And the idea of Santa cursing anyone seems odd to me. But hey, why not.
At least he’s got a bag of holding!!!
@Thunderforge Each to their own. Me, I like the idea of Saint Nick getting his powers from the stars (more accurately, from the Star of Bethlehem) rather than from years of arcane study or an innate gift for magic. And I’m right behind the idea of Santa cursing folks – he does punish the bad boys and girls too :D
I’m baffeled to say the least.
I think using the warlock for Saint Nick is extremely creative and fresh, especially since I discussed just yesterday with one of my players how a fundamentally good aligned warlock could work storywise!
Only the scythe seems to be …. heck it’s also freezing cool! ;)
@Shardsmith The Warlock is easily my favourite new Class in 4e D&D. The idea that they have entered into a pact (or even sold their very soul) to gain their abilities is a fascinating one, and it’s pure role-playing backstory gold.
But back to Saint Nick. I remember seeing medieval woodcarvings showing Santa Claus with a Scythe or Sickle – perhaps speaking of his druidic origin, or to represent his guardianship of the end of the year (Father Time and all that).
Either way – Santa Claus with a Scythe is freakin’ awesome!