Sup /tg/ I've been running a campaign with a not-Aku as

>>43556788
Isn't Aku basically weaker than jack since the beginning of the show?

>>43556812
Not in the slightest. Without WIELDING A MAGIC SWARD, jack wouldn't have even scratched THE EVIL THAT IS AKU.

>>43556843
I dont know man. I seem to remember an episode where aku got fed up and challenged jack to a one on one and lost soundly.

>>43556788
Posting just to say that I successfully read that in my mind as Aku.


Do your players know that they are facing a not-Aku? If not, throw in some transformations based on his few different forms shown in the prologue.

>>43556812
Only if Jack has the magic sword. If Jack has literally any other weapon, and Aku isn't using some absurd self-limitation, then Jack gets stomped into the dirt. The sword is literally the only thing that can hurt Aku.

>>43556788
I'd take a look and see the various forms he can take and how they interact with the environment. Once he's taken a certain amount of damage, he shifts form and takes a completely different strategy until the PCs figure out how to deal with it, counterattack, deal more damage to him, rinse & repeat until suitably climactic.

>>43556866
Depends on the episode.

Jack gets the upper hand in the first episode, hence the premise of the series

Episode 30 Jack gets totally fucked by Aku

In another episode he tricks the mafia into revealing Aku's position and he crushes Aku thoroughly but then the Mafia pulls him out to save him despite Jack winning

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So, do you guys remember how Aku turned itself into a woman and seduced Jack only to crush his spirit by revealing herself to be Aku?
He actually did it twice.

>>43556788
Wing it, but make it seem like you planned it from the beginning.

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>>43556904

This was my plan, but I don't really want to go fumbling with stat blocks mid encounter. Should I just make a ton and use them as they seem to fit?

>>43556871
I think one of my players is on to it. I haven't described him as more than "a huge black shadow in the vague shape of [X] with a face like a mask" with [X] being whatever he's shapeshifted into at the time.

I think I tipped him off because whenever he laughs I do the robotic "HA HA HA" laugh. I avoid the other tropes of his voice to not be too obvious though.

>>43556866
There's an episode (Jack and the Zombies) where Aku actually manages to steal the sword, and he beats Jack quite soundly, even without using the sword itself much. But the sword is forged from PURITY and so can't hurt Jack. Aku then loses when Jack gets the sword back. Basically if Aku wasn't immune to all damage besides THE MAGIC SWORD then Jack would win.

>>43556973
To be fair jack literally trained from childhood with every great master of combat in the world, he's samurai batman

>>43556973
Eh, no need to fumble with the sheets. Once you're done with a particular form you can just toss it, since recycling it will just mean the players use a recycled strategy.

>>43556973

Another thing, in the episode I mentioned here, Aku turns into what amounts to a sheet of shadow, crawling across the landscape.

I'd like to have this be his "trump card." Essentially becoming an all consuming shadow. I was thinking of trying to use the swarm rules from 3.5 for this, and modifying them to allow making big attacks as well. Would that even work? I've never even used a swarm in one of my games.

>>43556967
That would be the trick. I don't know if I'm up to the task though.

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>>43557095

I meant fumbling with making up a stat block on the fly is all.

I'm liking the idea of making up a bunch of stat blocks and just picking ones as I go. Its mostly what I've done up until now, lightly modifying dire animals and other creatures. I haven't used more than one per encounter yet though.

>>43556812
>>43556866
Aku is weaker than Jack. Aku is weaker than many other beings in the show. He got beat up by a bunch of elementals once. His greatest power was that he could not be hurt except by THE MAGIC SWORD.

>>43557014
I tried to stat Jack once. He was the greatest munchkin I have ever seen barring "master wizard mary sue of all the arcane magiks". The only weakness he had was not having armor, didn't matter when you factor in his insane agility and dodge feats, and that despite having a high wisdom he had a penalty to sense motive. Jack was tricked by almost anyone and was only capable of tricking Aku once in the episode with the mafia.

>>43557105
Sure, why not? You could go a couple ways with it. Using his magic, the shadow could deal once-per-round, low unavoidable damage as an aura of death destroys the PCs. Moving could be hampered by a constant bed of spikes coutnered by flying. For extra damage, the spikes could move causing rending damage. Hands could reach out and grab the players slowing moverment, large spikes could shoot out at them, tentacles could lash at them, maws could open and attempt to devour them, etc. Additionally, on his turn he could fire a large damagey spell, cast an illusion or mind control, release gravity, or attempt a failing time spell and be frazzled when he realizes they have the McGuffin. The PCs if smart will combat this with massive AoE spells while the fighters attack tentacles and spikes while levitating if possible.

>>43557147
Aku is actually a god and only other gods can harm him. The sword was made by gods and the elementals were too. However, mortals cannot scratch him, only relics and beings from the gods can.

In fact, he's pretty low tier compared to any god out there. For example, Anubis.

>>43557622
>>43557147
part of the reason Aku is such a problem is that he attacks areas when they're at their weakest, their gods are dead or have moved on to something else. His greatest ability is his general invulnerability to harm and his regeneration.

>>43557014
And he can jump really good, don't forget that.

>>43559637

So, Aku is pretty much a genre-savvy BBEG?

>>43559735
he explicitly doesn't kill Jack because the future he's created bores him. He could probably try and conquer another planet but that presumably would mean facing something that has a chance to defeat him and earth isn't quite used up yet.

so yeah, being the BBEG is his personal past time and he's TPK'd everyone whose gone up against him so far.

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>>43556788
Ok. Let's do this. If you'd brought this to us earlier, I'd have admonished you.

What game system are you using? Personally, I'd take a careful look at angryGM's boss monster rules (pic related).

Tell me more about his shapeshifting power. Is it like aku with his powers being shadows? Is he a demon, drawing power from the abyss?

Make him have two "forms," like a video game boss monster. Seperate stats, separate abilities, seperate hit point pools. in the first, Aku changes shape every round. If you've been using rules which make his polymorph function as other creatures, have him switch between a dragon, a high level shadow (the undead) rogue/shadowdancer and a fire elemental. These three forms all have the same hit point total, but the fire elemental has dr 5 vs holy weapon, and the dragon has dr 10/holy (or magic sword equivalent)

In this form, every 1d6+1s Aku casts wall of fire as a free action

Then Aku's true form is revealed. Powerful spell caster. Large sized. Damn good damage reduction. Powerful attack spells. Dominate person, to turn them against one another.

Every 30% of his health, he shrinks one size category. Doesn't change his spellpool or his saves, but he does get visibly weakened


A secret of this fight: before the fight, aku monologues, he Tries to engage the players. What they don't know is that aku has silent/still spell. Every six seconds he casts another buff spell on himself, which helps in his shapechanger form.

>>43557105
I really like the crawling shadow thing. I'd definitely use swarm rules, and make the swarm do ability damage

>>43557622
>In fact, he's pretty low tier compared to any god out there.
Makes sense considering in the episode that was about Aku's and Jack's background it was revealed Aku was formed from a small piece of some force of primal evil that got defeated by the gods aeons ago.