Café de Nuit

Actually, he's still the same history-wise, same stats, same gear.

But Gaz. 2 was before 3.5.

So, with this in mind, on an idle whim, I've let our favorite phallic symbolism-obessed evil warlord invade 3.5, and though he lost (as always, he's made off with some new material, and gained a couple levels in the bargain to best capitalize on the new material.

Drakov, after all, doesn't have a lot of magickal might or fancy supernatural oomph to call on. What had originally started as an update soon grew to my attention that Drakov was kind of spotty in his combat ability -- didn't we once ponder why he would use such a small weapon as a short sword, being big, burly Drakov?

The answer came to me as I put together his new statistics: It would work darned well in a phalanx-type situation. Drakov also had the fondness for spears, obviously (or at least kept them handy), so further evidence!

The new Drakov is a bit slimmed down in focus, trimming out his archery feats and most of the mounted ones to give him a more powerful edge in his "favored" form of combat.

Without further ado:

Male Human Fighter 18, Neutral Evil

Strength 20
Dexterity 12
Constitution 16
Intelligence 15
Wisdom 12
Charisma 16

HD: 18d10 + 54
HP: 195
BAB: +18/+13/+8/+3 (+23/+18/+13/+8, +29/+24/+19/+14, 1d6+12 17-20 x2, +3 Short Sword)
F/R/W: +11/+6/+6 (+16/+9/+9)
Armor Class: 34 (Flat-Footed 33, Touch 19) - +3 Short Sword and +3 Heavy Steel Shield
Initiative: +1 (Dex)

SKILLS
Climb +5 (+10)
Craft (Armosmithing) +4 (+6)
Craft (Weaponsmithing) +4 (+6)
Handle Animal +20 (+23)
Intimidate +20 (+23)
Jump +5 (+10)
Knowledge (Local) +5 (+7)
Listen +5 (+6)
Ride +5 (+6)
Sense Motive +5 (+6)
Spot +5 (+6)

FEATS
Combat Brute [Complete Warrior] {TACTICAL}
Combat Expertise
Driving Attack [PHB2]
Greater Weapon Focus (Short Sword)
Greater Weapon Specialization (Short Sword)
Improved Critical (Short Sword)
Improved Sunder
Intimidating Strike [PHB2]
Melee Weapon Mastery (Piercing) [PHB2]
Mounted Combat
Phalanx Fighting [Complete Warrior]
Power Attack
Shield Specialization (Heavy) [PHB2]
Shield Ward [PHB2]
Shock Trooper [Complete Warrior] {TACTICAL}
Weapon Focus (Short Sword)
Weapon Specialization (Short Sword)
Weapon Supremacy (Short Sword) [PHB2]

* * *

Anything not here can be considered unchanged.

Thoughts?

Very nice! I'll be going over this with my Complete Warrior handbook in a short while. Looks very good!

I agree that Ftr 14 is a bit low for him. I also found the short sword specialization a bit weird - I'd have thought of him as a longswordsman or even a Zweihander wielder. But the explanation of his military background would probably work: a short sword is not an oversized dagger but is still a proper sword, and works better in tight situations and in formations and close scrums.

One possible explanation too is that Vlad Drakov may have been known to get into up-close-and-personal fights against single key opponents, e.g. enemy generals, enemy champions, etc. Thus, he may have simply become most famous for those bouts against key enemies, and hence the shortsword association is the main one he's known for.

Bear in mind that even in modern armies, the commanding officers generally do not have heavy weaponry - they're not there to fight so much as command, and the heavy weapons are held by the soldiers under their command.

It would be nice if there was some statisitcal advantage to be derived from the use of the short sword that could be folded into his numbers. But weapon Finesse doesn't work for him. And I am not sure if two handed fighting does either. Still, perhaps he was a celebrated two handed fighter, once his shield got pulverised at least.

Maybe give him a magical short sword that is a Legacy weapon? He does have an aversion to magical weaponry, but if you change the sword so that it's one he's had since he was a kid, and which has gained some mystical powers through long association with him in every battle, every skirmish, that might be less of an "assembly line" mentality about magical items.

I think of Vlad as being a bit like Beowulf or the old Anglo Saxon heroes. Extremely dangerous to have around because of his berserker rage, but indispensable if you need a very powerful fighter on your side.

That's probably how most of his former nation's rulers saw him, as well. He's too flipping dangerous to risk having your ENEMY field him in battle.

If nothing else it could give him a Dex bonus and a few AC-boosting feats.

In battle, I envision him being a mixture of outright raging demon fury, and animal cunning with flashes of astounding combat brilliance.

Thus the Phalanx FIghting expert, and the Driving Attack/Shock Trooper type feats. That's the image I was going for: He's capable of locking shields with his honor guard of sorts, but when the time comes he can rush forwward, slam you to the ground with an impaling thrusts.

That's my intent anyway.

Doesn't he have one of those neat magical shape-changing weapons? A rod of flailing or even a rod of lordly might? That's a very versatile weapon in itself.

I like the Shock Trooper image. The only rage he will get will have to come from his bloodline (LotB) else he would have to have a few Barbarian levels which i don't think are justified. So no real Berserker...

Well, nice work, but I would prefer him as a 15th-16th level fighter, just personal preferance. Why? Because I don't want him as an uber-fighter.

Well, nice work, but I would prefer him as a 15th-16th level fighter, just personal preferance. Why? Because I don't want him as an uber-fighter.

Isn't that sort of his bag, though?

Personaly, I've always kind of rooted for Azalin getting it in his head to, somehow, throw down with Drakov one on one, and proceding to get his body ass handed to him. Drakov's like Dick Dastardly....he loses so much that you sort of want him to win sometimes.

No, no, no ... Compared to Drakov, Dick Dastardly is likeable. Hmmm ... If ol' tricky Dick ever wound up in Ravenloft, wouldn't he be an antihero? o_o

The difference is that Azalin keeps coming back. With Drakov, his life is much more fragile. There's nothing in the rules to suggest that he'll ever come back from a dagger in the braincase.

The difference is that Azalin keeps coming back. With Drakov, his life is much more fragile. There's nothing in the rules to suggest that he'll ever come back from a dagger in the braincase.

Sheer stubbornness?

DocBeard wrote:

The difference is that Azalin keeps coming back. With Drakov, his life is much more fragile. There's nothing in the rules to suggest that he'll ever come back from a dagger in the braincase.

Sheer stubbornness?

Like I said, all flippancy aside, there's nothing in the rules to suggest that Drakov regenerates, respawns, or will otherwise reappear after you kill him.

A feat that cries out for Vlad from Champions of Ruin (and it even fits with his shortsword fetish):

Skewer Foe: A ruthless combatant, you like to impale enemies on spears and similar piercing weapons.

Indeed. Though he would need to use a piercing weapon for that.

For reference:

Skewer Foe

Type: General
Source: Champions of Ruin

A ruthless combatant, you like to impale enemies on spears and similar piercing weapons.

Prerequisite: Str 15, base attack bonus +6, proficient with piercing melee weapon.
Benefit: If you hit the same enemy more than once in a single round with a piercing melee weapon, you deal an extra 1d6 points of piercing damage with each hit after the first.
Special: A fighter can select this feat as one of his fighter bonus feats.

-------(from this great feat index)

So anyone can tell me which of these magic weapon he has: the rod of flailing or the rod of lordly might ? The latter turns into a spear among other things...

Just out of curiousity Big Bad Jack why didn't you give him the feat Hawk's Cry from Legacy of Blood?
I don't have my PH2 at the moment so I don't understand the Intimidating Strike completely in the feat progression but it does not seem to be a part of the chain and if I remember correctly it just causes opponents to be shaken while Hawk's Cry can cause those below 6th lvl to become frightend. I just wonder because I am not sure on the effect of the above feat!

Other than that Great Work on the Revamp!!!