Fiendish Orcish Berzerker Horde

One of my Savage Tide players plays a teifling cleric who focuses on conjuring monsters. He asked about developing a creature, or a group of creatures that he can summon using the Summon Monster spells, who would be the same basic creatures at each level but would improve as he used higher level Summon Monster spells. I love coming up with custom stuff like this that makes the story we're all telling richer, so I started working with him to come up with something.

First I wanted to get a ballpark of how tough of a creature you get form SM 1-9. A little surveying and I came up with this chart. It's just an average of some monsters you get for each level of the spell.

SM level HD CR
1 1 1
2 2 2
3 4 3
4 6 4
5 8 5
6 10 5-7
7 12 6-9
8 15 8-10
9 18 11-12

His character is one of the daughters of his previous characters, Doombringer, an Orcish Warblade who died and became a petitioner in Archeron before traveling back to the mortal world to help throw down the Temple of Elemental Evil. That character retired to the outer planes somewhere and became something of a lord. Therefore we decided that his daughter could summon up orcish hordes from the netherworld to aid her. These are the stats for the summoned orcs, one stat block for each Summon Monster spell from 1 to 9.

Orcish Berzerkers in your game: Feel free to borrow these bruisers for your game. If your players ever end up in archeron, or if they're facing any type of orcish warlord these guys make a great army, or even just a crack squad or extra-bloodthirsty orcs in a group of normal orcs.

For your players, they could just as easily be re-cast as berzerkers from valhalla or another heavenly realm, summoned by a good cleric to help in their battles.

Summon Monster 1 orcish berzerker - CR 1
ce medium outsider
Init +0
Senses: darkvision

AC: 13 (studded leather +3)
HP: 9 (HD: 1d8+1)
Fort: +3 Reflex: +0 Will: -1
Resist cold & fire 5
Spell Resistance 6

Speed: 40 feet
Attack: greataxe +5 (1d12 + 4)

Special Abilities: rage (+2 / +3 to attacks, +1 hp, -2 AC)
Feats: Weapon Focus Greataxe

Skills: Climb +5, Jump +5
Abilities: Str 17 Dex 11 Con 12 Int 6 Wis 8 Cha 6

Equipment: Greataxe, Studded Leather Armor



Summon Monster 2 orcish berzerker - CR 2
ce medium outsider
Init +0
Senses: darkvision

AC: 14 (studded leather +3, natural armor +1)
HP: 13 (HD: 2d8+2)
Fort: +4 Reflex: +0 Will: -1
Resist cold & fire 5
Spell Resistance 7

Speed: 40 feet
Attack: greataxe +6 (1d12 + 4)

Special Abilities: rage (+2 / +3 to attacks, +2 hp, -2 AC)
Feats: Weapon Focus Greataxe

Skills: Climb +5, Jump +6
Abilities: Str 17 Dex 11 Con 12 Int 6 Wis 8 Cha 6

Equipment: Greataxe, Studded Leather Armor



Summon Monster 3 orcish berzerker - CR 3
ce medium outsider
Init +0
Senses: darkvision

AC: 15 (studded leather +3, natural armor +2)
HP: 22 (HD: 4d8+4)
Damage Reduction: 5 / magic
Fort: +5 Reflex: +1 Will: +0
Resist cold & fire 5
Spell Resistance 9

Speed: 40 feet
Attack: greataxe +9 (1d12 + 6)

Special Abilities: rage (+2 / +3 to attacks, +4 hp, -2 AC)
Feats: Weapon Focus Greataxe, Cleave

Skills: Climb +7, Jump +8
Abilities: Str 18 Dex 11 Con 12 Int 6 Wis 8 Cha 6

Equipment: Greataxe, Studded Leather Armor



Summon Monster 4 orcish berzerker - CR 4
ce medium outsider
Init +0
Senses: darkvision

AC: 16 (studded leather +3, natural armor +3)
HP: 37 (HD: 6d8+6)
Damage Reduction: 5 / magic
Fort: +6 Reflex: +2 Will: +1
Resist cold & fire 5
Spell Resistance 11

Speed: 40 feet
Attack: greataxe +11 (1d12 + 6)

Special Abilities: rage (+2 / +3 to attacks, +6 hp, -2 AC)
Feats: Weapon Focus Greataxe, Cleave, Power Attack

Skills: Climb +8, Jump +9
Abilities: Str 18 Dex 11 Con 12 Int 6 Wis 8 Cha 6

Equipment: Greataxe, Studded Leather Armor



Summon Monster 5 orcish berzerker - CR 5
ce medium outsider
Init +0
Senses: darkvision

AC: 17 (studded leather +3, natural armor +4)
HP: 44 (HD: 8d8+8)
Damage Reduction: 5 / magic
Fort: +7 Reflex: +2 Will: +1
Resist cold & fire 10
Spell Resistance 13

Speed: 40 feet
Attack: greataxe +13 (1d12 + 6)

Special Abilities: rage (+2 / +3 to attacks, +8 hp, -2 AC)
Feats: Weapon Focus Greataxe, Cleave, Power Attack

Skills: Climb +9, Jump +10
Abilities: Str 18 Dex 11 Con 13 Int 6 Wis 8 Cha 6

Equipment: Greataxe, Studded Leather Armor



Summon Monster 6 orcish berzerker - CR 6
ce medium outsider
Init +0
Senses: darkvision

AC: 18 (studded leather +3, natural armor +5)
HP: 58 (HD: 10d8+10)
Damage Reduction: 5 / magic
Fort: +8 Reflex: +3 Will: +2
Resist cold & fire 10
Spell Resistance 15

Speed: 40 feet
Attack: greataxe +15 (1d12 + 6 / 19-20 x 2)

Special Abilities: rage (+2 / +3 to attacks, +10 hp, -2 AC)
Feats: Weapon Focus Greataxe, Cleave, Power Attack, Improved Critical Greataxe

Skills: Climb +10, Jump +11
Abilities: Str 18 Dex 11 Con 13 Int 6 Wis 8 Cha 6

Equipment: Greataxe, Studded Leather Armor




Summon Monster 7 orcish berzerker - CR 8
ce medium outsider
Init +0
Senses: darkvision

AC: 19 (studded leather +3, natural armor +6)
HP: 81 (HD: 12d8+24)
Damage Reduction: 10 / magic
Fort: +10 Reflex: +4 Will: +3
Resist cold & fire 10
Spell Resistance 17

Speed: 40 feet
Attack: greataxe +17 (1d12 + 6 / 19-20 x 2)

Special Abilities: rage (+2 / +3 to attacks, +24 hp, -2 AC)
Feats: Weapon Focus Greataxe, Cleave, Power Attack, Improved Critical Greataxe

Abilities: Str 18 Dex 11 Con 14 Int 6 Wis 8 Cha 6

Skills: Climb +11, Jump +12
Equipment: Greataxe, Studded Leather Armor




Summon Monster 8 orcish berzerker - CR 10
ce medium outsider
Init +0
Senses: darkvision

AC: 20 (studded leather +3, natural armor +7)
HP: 96 (HD: 15d8+30)
Damage Reduction: 10 / magic
Fort: +11 Reflex: +7 Will: +4
Resist cold & fire 10
Spell Resistance 20

Speed: 40 feet
Attack: greataxe +19 (1d12 + 6 / 19-20 x 2)

Special Abilities: rage (+2 / +3 to attacks, +30 hp, -2 AC)
Feats: Weapon Focus Greataxe, Cleave, Power Attack, Improved Critical Greataxe, Lightning Reflexes

Skills: Climb +13, Jump +13
Abilities: Str 18 Dex 11 Con 14 Int 6 Wis 8 Cha 6

Equipment: Greataxe, Studded Leather Armor




Summon Monster 9 orcish berzerker - CR 12
ce medium outsider
Init +1
Senses: darkvision

AC: 23 (dex +1, studded leather +3, natural armor +9)
HP: 111 (HD: 18d8+36)
Damage Reduction: 10 / magic
Fort: +13 Reflex: +9 Will: +7
Resist cold & fire 10
Spell Resistance 23

Speed: 40 feet
Attack: greataxe +23 (1d12 + 6 / 19-20 x 2)

Special Abilities: rage (+2 / +3 to attacks, +36 hp, -2 AC)
Feats: Weapon Focus Greataxe, Cleave, Power Attack, Improved Critical Greataxe, Lightning Reflexes, Iron Will

Skills: Climb +14, Jump +15
Abilities: Str 18 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 6 Wis 8 Cha 6

Equipment: Greataxe, Studded Leather Armor

The Scholar's Lair

Here is where the player characters will find Jurgen the Learned, deep beneath the sewers and crypts of the city.Features of the Area:
Lighting: Illuminated by wall torches every 20 feet
Walls: Polished Granite
Floor: Brown Polished Flagstone

Room of Testing:
The PC's enter the first room of the lair from the west by a door disguised as a sarcophagus. Lining the circular room are eight more upright coffins, making nine in the room total. Inscribed in the middle of the room on the floor in common is the following riddle:

One comes in, and the Six take heart.
Fire brings death where the rest stand guard,
In the room of Nine, as time moves backward.

As the map indicates, all but the entrance and exit sarcophogi are trapped (Detect: DC 20 Thievery, Disable: 3 checks DC 25 Thievery). If one of the traps is activated, it unleashes a close blast 3, attacking all within blast at +7 vs. Reflex. On a hit, the explosion deals 3d6 + 4 fire damage, and the target is pushed 2 squares and knocked prone. If the players set off a trap, Jurgen will hear them, but ignore their troubles, preferring to let nature run its course on stupid people.

The Study
As the PC's enter from the door to the north, they are welcomed in by the glow of a fireplace along the east wall, where a large pot is producing the hearty smell of stew. Flanking the hearth and lining the south and north walls there hang lush tapestries depicting tales of yore. Rows of bookshelves occupy most of the east wall, with topics ranging from the fanciful to the mundane to the outright macabre. And in a large, comfortable chair in the middle of the room sits Jurgen, appearing deep in study of an ancient tome you would imagine he could not lift.
As the door creaks open, he looks up at you with a bemused smile, saying: "Ah, welcome to my humble home, young travellers," as he folds the enormous book and drops it unceremoniously on the table next to him.
If the PC's wish to ask him questions, He will hand them a puzzle box, saying: "If you can open this box, I may find you worthy enough to discourse with. Otherwise I may have to show you the exit," pointing to a large wooden door in the south wall.

Jurgen's Puzzle Box - 125 XP
Skill Challenge:
To open the box, the players must succeed at 4 skill challenges DC 20 using either Arcana, Thievery, or Insight before 3 failures. Each time a player fails a check, the box attacks the player (+7 vs. Will), forcing her to drop the box on a successful attack. The box contains one level 2 to level 4 wondrous item, such as a Belt of Vigor or Everlasting Provisions, which Jurgen will allow the players to keep.
If the players succeed, Jurgen will allow the players to remain and offer them some of his stew while he exchanges questions and answers with them. He will answer one question for each question the players answer for him. Surprisingly, Jurgen knows much about the happenings on the surface, and will always reveal the least amount of information possible.
If the players fail to open the box, Jurgen will exchange 3 questions with them before asking them to leave his den. He will, as they are leaving, invite them to return to try the puzzle box again if they need more information.

Dream Song

Dream songs are bard song that affects dreams. When sung as the party rests, this song can transport the party to the Dream Plane as they sleep, providing the bard hits all the right notes (DC 20 Perform check).

Dream Songs can also be used to provide effects for the following day. Each standard bard song can be played as the party rests to put tunes in their heads for the next day, providing morale boosts, the ability to heal quicker, etc. These effects are equivalent to the standard bard abilities.

Bards may only place one song in the heads of their companions, and that song plays over and over until the bard wills it to stop.

Unwilling participants must make a will save (DC 10 + the bard's level) at any time to overcome the effects.

Scholar in the Crypts

Presented here is an npc that the PCs may run into and be able to get information from. Unbeknownst to them he is also a worshiper of Vecna and will embroil the players in his plots if they do deal with him....

Beneath the sewers and catacombs of the city lives Jurgen, a hermit scholar with the mental appetite of a terrask. For many years he traveled with adventurers in search of treasure and knowledge, but has lately retired to his lair to do more extensive research out of harm's way. But by no means has his ambition dwindled.

Appearance:
Jurgen is pale, tall, and skinny, with the stoop of someone who is used to doing a lot of reading. His unkempt hair is black with patches of silver on the temples, and behind a pair of spectacles gaze a pair of piercing blue eyes. Sometimes, if one looks hard enough, she can see a glimmer of slow movement behind them. He wears simple robes of deep blue fabric with white scrollwork along the hems in Supernal. He carries no weapons on his person (he keeps his pact blade ready with Drawmij's instant summons)

Mannerisms:
Jurgen appears to be a polite, congenial man with an easygoing tone. Sometimes he can seem to be almost absentminded, forgetting where he put something for a second, before discovering it with an affirmative "ah." He is very patient, and never lets his true motives show.

Goals:
Jurgen is a priest of Vecna, and is by nature a keeper--and exploiter--of many secrets. He mainly wishes to further the goals of Vecna, including eliminating the influence and worshipers of other deities. In doing so he schemes to begin a new world order under Vecna, and follow in his deity's footsteps by becoming a lich king.

Using Jurgen in your Game: It is best to introduce Jurgen to your characters early on in the game. He will be far to powerful for them to defeat at this point, and he will only be interested in helping them in order to gain their trust so that he can begin to use them to accomplish his own ends.
He will attempt to enlist the PC's to retrieve components for the ritual to become a lich, such as: dragon's blood, arcane phylactery pieces, and the ritual in book form. As a master of the arcane, Jurgen also longs for the Eye and the Hand of Vecna, and will pay the PC's handsomely for them, in gold or with information. He will gladly assist the PC's while they work to further his own secret ends, and he will part with information that will help them do so--but never more that he absolutely has to. Additionally, he will hide parts of the truth in order to set the PCs against his enemies, or cover for his own ill deeds. The priest will also enlist the aid of others to follow the PC's and ensure that his goals are met, whether they know it or not.
If you use Jurgen in this way, it may also be good to provide them with a more reliable, if perhaps less well-informed, source of information as well.

Jurgen the Learned

Level 18 Cleric, Multiclass Warlock(Star Pact) Human Male. Age 45, Height 6'3" Weight 150lbs. Unaligned. Initiative: +14 Senses: Normal Vision. Passive Insight: 30 Passive Pereption: +25 Hit Points Max: 99 Bloodied: 49 Surge Value: 25 Surges per day: 7 Resist: 5 necrotic, 5 poison Saving Throws: +3 Defenses: AC: 28 Fort: 21 Ref: 21 Will: 27 Speed: 6 Action Points: 1 Basic Attacks Basic Melee: Pact Blade (Sickle) +15 vs AC 1d6+6 dmg +5d6 +1d10 on critical hit Basic Ranged: Eldritch Blast +18 vs Ref 1d10+9 dmg +5d6+1d10 on critical hit Powers At Will: Sacred Flame, Lance of Faith, Eldritch Blast Encounter: Plague of Doom, Enthrall, Dire Radiance, Sign of Ill Omen, Dreadful Word Daily: Purifying Fire, Blade Barrier, Thief of Five Fates Utility: Astral Shield, Knights of Unyielding Valor, Divine Vigor, Ambassador Imp Feats: Pact Initiate(Star Pact): Dire Radiance Novice Power: Dreadful Word Acolyte Power: Ambassador Imp Adept Power: Thief of Five Fates Improved Initiative +4 to Initiative Action Surge: +3 to attack bonus when an action point is used Weapon Focus: Light Blade Human Perseverance: +1 to Saving Throws Linguist: Supernal, Abyssal, Draconic Action Recovery: When you spend an action point to gain an extra standard action, immediately roll a saving throw against each condition affecting you a save can end. Great Fortitude: +2 to Fort Saves Devastating Critical: +1d10 on a Critical Hit.

Skills: Acrobatics: +9 Arcana: +16 Athletics: +8 Bluff: +13 Diplomacy: +13 Dungeoneering: +15 Endurance: +9 Heal: +20 History: +16 Insight: +20 Intimidate: +13 Nature: +15 Perception: +15 Religion: +16 Stealth: +10 Streetwise: +13 Thievery: +9 Ability Scores: Str: 8 (-1/+8) Con: 11 (0/+9) Dex: 12 (+1/+10) Int: 15 (+2/+11) Wis: 22 (+6/+15) Cha 18 (+4/+13) Languages Known: Common, Elven, Giant, Supernal, Abyssal, Draconic Equipment: Pact Blade +5, Sickle Magic Holy Symbol of Vecna +5 DeathCut Armor +5 Power (Daily, Necrotic): Immediate Reaction. You can use this power when an enemy hits you with a melee attack. Deal 2d10+4 necrotic damage Ring of Protection +1 Handy Haversack Simple Blue robes Rituals Known Drawmij's Instant Summons Raise Dead Secret Page Magic Mouth Phantom Steed Leomund's Secret Chest Planar Portal Linked Portal View Object Consult Oracle

Stealing Moments Released!

This is a dungeon adventure for 10th-level characters. Finally released (in third printing!) after much deliberation and perfectionism... finally getting over that... Here's the blurb:

A group of rogues has moved into a cave in the Silvermist Mountains a few miles uphill hike from the local town of Farreach. These false heroes were once noble and devout, but have become corrupted by loot, lust, and the desire for greater power. They are now working for, or more accurately controlled by, begotten of the old ones, who in turn are working for a stalking eye. They have been performing experiments on the Silver Orb of the Ages, a magic artifact made of magesilver, a magic metal which amplifies arcane magical power.

The Orb can help control the flow of time, making it a powerful item indeed. However, the stalking eye knows not how to wield the Orb's power, and must rely upon the false heroes to learn its secrets.

The party steps in and time flies like an arrow.

This adventure features the veteran writing of Stephen Hilderbrand, author of six other role-playing adventures soon to be published by Unicorn Rampant and Inverspace Press.

And here's the download link.