Deathbattle: Dorn Vs Sarevok!
DragonKing
Member Posts: 1,979
So its 2am and I'm bored, its time for me to annoy you all.
Competitors:
Dorn, the half orc blackguad
And
Sarevok the bhaalspawn
Dorn and Sarevok meats on the battlefield, which will walk away carrying the others head?
Rules...
1. This isn't a discussion of min/maxing stats, or manipulating things that the player can ultimately change (ex. Dueling Sarevok into a mage to give him a advantage). All examples must be based on lore and feats that the character has accomplished (novels and game, this is kind of unfair for one but sue me.)
2. No manipulating items, no giving them items that they don't START with, no no Carsomyr for Dorn, if he could wield it.
Now it's time for a brute battle, begin!!!!
Competitors:
Dorn, the half orc blackguad
And
Sarevok the bhaalspawn
Dorn and Sarevok meats on the battlefield, which will walk away carrying the others head?
Rules...
1. This isn't a discussion of min/maxing stats, or manipulating things that the player can ultimately change (ex. Dueling Sarevok into a mage to give him a advantage). All examples must be based on lore and feats that the character has accomplished (novels and game, this is kind of unfair for one but sue me.)
2. No manipulating items, no giving them items that they don't START with, no no Carsomyr for Dorn, if he could wield it.
Now it's time for a brute battle, begin!!!!
0
Comments
Sarevok takes a swing, end of story.
But in ToB, depleted of his essence, I think Sarevok would lose to the Blackguard who did an incredible journey across the realms with Charname and earned terrific dark powers.
For the record: I like Dorn.
Don't forget that Poison Weapon adds at least 12 damage per hit without save, and the damage animation triggers every second, so often that you cannot even move if you're poisoned more than a few times.
Sarevok wouldn't even get in melee range IMO.
In ToB, Deathbringer Assault would move the fight decisively in Sarevok's favor.
Both warriors will use Hardiness to get 40% damage reduction, and Dorn will also use Armor of Faith to get 25% more to a total of 65%
Poison damage isn't reduced by Hardiness, so each time Dorn hits Sarevok, he deals regular damage +12 unavoidable poison damage (which will screws up Sarevok's fighting animation and thus, his fighting abilities) while Sarevok has only 3% chance of dealing 200 piercing damages, reduced to 70 by Dorn's physical resistances.
On average, even with GWW, Sarevok will trigger Deathbringer Assault about once every 3 rounds (considering all attacks hit), dealing 70 damage in the process.
On average, with GWW, Dorn will deal 120 unavoidable poison damage per round (considering all attacks hits).
There is a clear winner to my mind. (In ToB)
But, I really want to see Sarevok all dressed up fancy, dancing with Charname or Imoen on a ball now :X
Funny.
as a pure thief in a ranged role he was not a liability because you've got great equipment for thieves at this point
after regaining level - since he had uai he could use the insane headband of the devout and carsomyr which compliments each other enormously (becase of carsomyr's d12 so it's a significant net damage increase). against crit-immune enemies this is almost as good as having fighter hlas
of course, i also gave him pips in quarterstaff, and let him backstab with the staff of the ram, which i did a lot. i also remember letting him use the staff of the magi but i don't remember for which function (maybe for the invisibility but maybe not...)
so as you can see it's super fun. but he's still stronger as a pure fighter.
the only thing that could put this dual build on top is carsomyr's dispel which may or may not be something that really enhances your party's ability to fight mages, depending on your party's configuration and also, whether you have a thief.
if you play with an evil party and pc is not a thief i think that this is an optimal choice.
Dorn is a little bit stronger, due to his Orc lineage, but by very little (Str: 19 vs 18/00). But in every other characteristic Sarevok is better. His reflexes are better (Dex: 17 vs 16) and he is much tougher (Con: 18 vs 14). Also, Sarevok is a master of weapons and combat, since he's a strinct Fighter, and would overwhelm Dorn if he dare to enter in a swordplay dispute.
Another thing to take into account is Sarevok's diabolic intelect. He has a freaking 17 genius level Intelligence! He would outsmart the half-orc in every single possible scenario, since Dorn is practically a peasent with his 10 intelligence.
So, even in a parallel time line where Dorn reaches Sarevok Experience Level (because in my game he doesn't. Because it doesn't makes sense), still Sarevok would win. Because he's physically superior, much smarter and better with a sword in hand.
D&D isn't mean to be balanced, there is a reason why Mages are so weak at low levels and can bend time and reality to their will after. Especially in 2E.
I truly see no way for Sarevok to beat Dorn at ToB levels.
Simply by using DUHM Dorn could reach 25 str, 20 con and 22 dex, which would be enough to straight out beat Sarevok's stats and GM.
Click Poison Weapon.
Click on Sarevok.
Watch Sarevok dies in a few seconds.
RP wise Sarevok is fantastic but gameplay wise ... Sarevok is just a Fighter sadly.
Deathbringer -> Blackguard.
Poison is amazing, until you get one single item that makes you immune to it.
And if we go with gameplay, then dual class Sarevok to a thief, get use any item and Dorn doesn't stand a chance.
And no way of beating Dorn in ToB? I can think of a couple.
1.) Equip poison immune item.
2.) Strike Dorn and get a Deathbringer assault, bye bye Dorn.
Now if we dual class to a rogue, we get more options.
3.) Timestop, dead Dorn.
4.) Backstab, dead Dorn.
5.) One of many mage spells, dead Dorn.
Gameplay wise, Sarevok has a much higher potential than Dorn will ever get, because he can become a rogue and gain use any item. Carsomyr on Sarevok? Yes please.
So...
Lore - Sarevok
Gameplay - Dual class Sarevok to a rogue, and Dorn doesn't stand a chance. Or try to get lucky with a Deathbringer assault.
Lore - Sarevok wins.
If both gets to use buffs before the fight, Sarevok wins by default because of Arcane spell and timestop. If they stand close to each other and aren't allowed to use buffs, Sarevok uses a potion of invisibility to get away from Dorn and puts down a time stop trap. Now Dorn either stay where he is and buffs, or runs down Sarevok and trigger the Time Stop trap, if he triggers the trap he is dead. (Time stop trap + time stop scroll = auto hit). If he starts buffing instead of chasing down Sarevok, Sarevok can fully buff with his arcane spells, if Dorn gets close, time stop trap will trigger. By now Sarevok is buffed up and can chain time stop to kill Dorn. Even if Dorn isn't on your screen, you can use a timstop to stop him where he is, and with Improved Haste you'll run him down in seconds. That reflection shield is lovely, returning missiles can be really useful.
Even without time stop, Sarevok using Carsomyr will remove all Dorns buffs. What is that?
No Armor of Faith?
No DuHM?
Damn, that's a 19/16/14 Dorn against a Sarevok that can use a Potion of Storm Giant Strength that brings him up to 24/17/18, and he also has Grand Mastery in Two Handed Swords. Oh, you want to use a Potion too? Well I'm sorry but Carsomyr removes those as well.
We could also throw in Protection From Magical Weapons and Aslyferund Elven Chain +5 to make him immune to normal weapons as well. Hmm, it sure does suck when you can't deal any damage.
And now when we are dual classing him to a rogue, we can ignore leveling up until we hit a level where we've gotten past the figher level and that way put all our proficiency points into staff, so we can use Staff of the Ram +6 and have Grand Mastery in it. Hmm, wouldn't it be neat if we also had Assassination up, every strike is a backstab, with the Staff of Ram +6 AND Grand Mastery? Neat!
There are so many option for Sarevok to use when he is a Fighter -> Rogue and there is absolutely nothing Dorn can do. The one main thing that makes Dorn good is his poison.
So now you'll probably think, "But Sarevok would NEVER dual class to a rogue". Well, I'll agree with you. LOREWISE Sarevok would never dual class to a rogue, but LOREWISE he is on a completely different level than Dorn. We're talking about gameplay now, and my Sarevok can easily dual class to a rogue, even after getting HLA as a fighter. The one thing that makes it so awesome to dual class into a rogue, is that a rogue requires so little experience to gain levels, and you'll get back your primary class very quickly.
Plus I already explained above why Deathbringer Assault isn't that strong.
Under these rules Sarevok cannot win.
"no giving them items that they don't START with". Someone please remind me, what items does Sarevok start with when you get him in ToB?
No giving them items that they don't start with! - Sarevok is naked.
All examples must be based on lore - Dorn can STACK poison several times, a game mechanic.
I could do one of these fights as well!
Nalia vs Minsc. They aren't allowed to cast any spells, and both of them get to pick a melee weapon of their choice.
Biased topic much?
[Edited] Oh and for your BG:EE example Gotural, does your Dorn start with a short bow or Arrows of Detonation? If i remember right, Dorn starts with Rancor (+1 Two handed Sword) and a splint mail. Against Sarevok who has a Two handed Sword +5, and a really good AC.
It is a Dorn versus Sarevok deathbattle, not a Dorn versus UberCheeseLordSarevokDualThief.
Right now it is a : Dorn versus naked Sarevok Deathbattle. What a brute battle.
Of course in my BG:EE example Dorn has some equipment and some levels under his belt but it was just a fun example to show that even a level 5+ Blackguard could take down Sarevok. Comparing a level 1 Dorn versus the final boss of the game does not make sence anyway in my opinion.
I'm pretty sure the OP didn't want a comparison of Dorn and Sarevok at each points of the game, but rather a global, balanced and fair fight between the two warriors. And in that case, I'm pretty sure Dorn will win because he has strong powers compared to Sarevok who is simply a Fighter.