Making a Space Cadet A Credible Threat

[Leliel]

Well, in an Eberron campaign I am in the prenatal process of planning-basically, it involves giant mecha suits-the BBEGs second-in-command and technically daughter, Eshata, is a highly skilled swordmage with the ability to plan on the fly, adapt to battlefield conditions almost instantly and perfectly, possesses a supra-genius IQ...

And has the personality of this young lady (http://ultimatekai.deviantart.com/art/It-s-Azumanga-Daioh-58409944) combined with brain implants from GLaDOS.

While that is slightly terrifying in and of itself, its not what you would call a "threatening villain".

Now, I had always intended her to be a "comic relief" figure-her primary plan for spying is just putting on makeup and nothing else, as her personality is more than enough to make people think "harmless loon"-but when it comes down to business, I want the PCs to understand that Eshata is not to be trifled with.

So how do I make a genuinely sweet, bubbly, and halfway insane girl a villain to be, if not feared, then at least not laughed off the stage?

[quick_comment]

Psion levels

[BobVosh]

Been faking swordmage with wizard levels. Undead minions. Undead minions always get PC interest.

[ZeroNumerous]

The real question is: Why would you want to?

Let her use Obfuscating Stupidity as a screen. Let the players think she's harmless and move on. When they fail to fight her then she surprises them in the next encounter with a sneak attack'd Disintegrate.

[elliott20]

well, first it needs to be asked... what kind of threat are you looking for? There's dangerous as in she's personally dangerous through her own power and what not. And then there's dangerous because she knows how to manipulate the situation to become a genuine danger to the party, with or without her personal involvement.

The first kind is pretty simple. Just give her a metric ton of levels, powers, and basically combat prowess that she knows how to leverage and leave it at that. It's also incredibly boring.

The second kind though, you already have a good model for. Kubota and Nale are both great examples of villains who while not powerful combatants in their own right, have the ability to quickly turn a situation towards their own favor.

You've already said this character has genius intellect and can devise plans on the fly. That's a good start. the second would be that maybe she knows how to manipulate all those around the PCs to turn against the PCs at the drop of a hat.

Maybe behind her simple facade of inane looniness, she's actually a master at planting suggestions (maybe with a spell, maybe not) into people's minds that the PCs are in fact, far less noble, and far less savory characters at they'd like to think. And she would do so with a simple word or a phrase without really putting herself out there.

This is even more so when the PCs themselves have done things that might or might not be objectionable themselves.

It's not that she's got bluff checks through the roof, it's that she knows how to stretch the truth enough so that her even bigger lie following it hangs together, and will totally own the PCs in any kind of situation that is not about fighting her alone.

Maybe she has an amazing insight as to what kind of secrets the PC want to keep from people. Like people said, the best use of a secret is to let it come out at the worst possible time. Make her the queen of blurting out secrets at the worst possible time. (Your PCs do have some, right?)

to make it believable, give her a crap ton of resources like access to diviners, mercenaries, cultists, or any general faction that you can put into the story. Have her have some strange clout among them. Maybe she's got a rep as a harmless loon, but maybe she's also someone whose got a rep as the harmless loon who always speaks truth. (kind of like Loki, whose main power was to be able to spin lies that always ring true)

or maybe she's just someone who despite her disposition, generally doesn't care one wit about the well being of others, and will do things in the most expedient fashion to amuse herself. I'm not talking about goofy kind of evil where she's a sadist. That's boring and predictable. (And limited by how gruesome you can be) I mean that she's unpredictable in how she'll act. Maybe she'll help the PCs secure an informant for her own amusement, but she'll do so in a way that thoroughly terrifies and scars the informant. And she'll do it with a cheeky, innocent smile on her face as if NOTHING is wrong with what she did. (Yeah, think cartman kind of evil)