[PF] GM Looking for a BAMF Villain

[bugfoxmaster]

Hey all. I'm GMing a Pathfinder campaign, planned to go until Level 17 or 19. There are 6 players, with a very well-rounded party, who have the capability to at least go against any given obstacle.

I'm willing to use stuf from 3.5, on a case-by-case basis, though I'm trying to largely stick to Pathfinder

I'd like some ideas and advice for the main villain, and his varied miniboss henchmen. For you tropers out there, I'm planning on setting the villains as a direct contrast to the party, in the sense that there're six of them, covering all the roles of a 'Five Bad Band' - the Big Bad, a 'Dragon' (gotta be careful using that word, since it actually MENS something here...), an Evil Genius, a Brute, a Dark Chick, and an 'other'.

I've got the 'Other', 'Brute', and 'Dark Chick' roles worked out, with a noble archer guy, an orc barbarian/frenzied berserker, and a devil-summoning wizardess. I'd like advice and ideas for the others. I want to make them difficult to beat, but obviously not impossible. Pumping up their defenses is a big deal, because I want them to hold out for a pretty good time.

In terms of flavor, the main villain is more lawful, so devil-related stuff is better than demon stuff. It'd be nice if he were strongly capable both at spellcasting and melee combat - even a gestalt is fine, and templates are welcome.

The 'dragon' I'd prefer not to be an actual dragon, but other than that, I've no ideas. I'd like him to be loyal to the villain, so not chaotic evil...

The Evil Genius guy is open. Any ideas are welcome.

Thanks, in advance, for any advice and/or ideas!

[Morph Bark]

You could make the Evil Genius be an artificer/fleshwarper (if you have both the Eberron Campaign guide and Lords of Madness), he'll need either one level of wizard thrown in for a familiar or you could screw the rules and have him take the Obtain Familiar feat so that he qualifies for Fleshwarper (it requires arcane caster level 3rd, you could just say a 3rd-level artificer qualifies; there's a divine class with a familiar anyway!).

Pump his Int whichever way possible and you will have a genius inventor who alters his own body and those of others with grafts.

The Dragon could perhaps be a Crusader, who is secretly a Half-Dragon (making his title even more fitting) who sawed off his horns and hides his face or disguises himself because he hates dragons for some reason. Maybe make him Half-Red/White/Black, considering those are Chaotic Evil, so if he'd hate those but still be evil himself, fitting to be the BBEG's right-hand man.

The Big Bad? An unsuspicious commoner.

Secretly? He's the bastard son of a Pit Fiend general whom was left behind in the Material Plane by his Erinyes mother. He'd be a Half-Fiend-templated Erinyes to make him stronger than an ordinary one, boost his HD to 17 and give him the spellcasting ability of a Favoured Soul of level 18. Make sure to pump his Bluff and Disguise so he can roam around or travel with the party or meet up with them several short times to investigate their weaknesses.


Yes, most of this is 3.5, not really familiar with Pathfinder stuff, but they might have something similar for you perhaps.

[unosarta]

One of my favorite villains that I have made, was actually a duo. If I remember correctly, it was an Awakened Housecat Psion (Kineticist) and a Marshal/Bard//Crusader. But that was for more of an epic campaign that what I see you doing. They had the whole "Evil villain and his cat" thing going on too.

Maybe a variation on that? Like, a toned down version, without the Gestalt shenanigans. The Psion was Neutral Evil, and the Crusader was Lawful Evil. They had some fun times...

Edit: Ah, yes, regarding part of what M-Bark said, what might be fun is to have the BBEG be the one who is getting the Players to fight against his minibosses, without actually appearing to them as the BBEG. Like, the crusader had Leadership, and his Cohort was a Buomman Cloistered Cleric, who actually wasn't in on the scheme made by the Crusader and Psion, and was getting the PCs to collect materials for her master.

She also secretly had a crush on her master, and related this to the PCs. In the end, he revealed his plan to her, and she had to choose between doing what was right, and following her heart. I think she followed her heart, worked for the Crusader, but when she confessed her feelings (Spoken too, which Buomman take Wisdom damage for doing), he rejected her, turning her into her own epic Villain. Fun times...

Edit#2: Also, the evil genius role would fall perfectly for the Awakened Housecat Psion, who had a ridiculously high Intelligence.

[wizuriel]

For evil genius recommend looking at fleshwarper from Lords of Madness. Give him a few feats for grafts and let him build constructs and animate undead


To make him really creepy would keep his race as just human

[nedz]

From the title of your thread I thought you just wanted a villain who can teleport a lot, like BAMF.
Lots of ways of doing this, 6 levels of Horizon Walker, 6 levels of Warlock, Sorceror with the appropriate spells, Cleric with Travel domain and domain spontanaity, ...
But my favourite is Permanent Greater Blink.

[mabriss lethe]

How about a psionic variant mindflayer/illithid savant? His "dragon" could be a Deepspawn. The savant breaks powerful characters and then feeds them to the deepspawn. The deepspawn then respawns them as minions which the savant eats, growing stronger each time.

[Redrat2k6]

Go strait warlock. Their Item Imbue ability allows them to duplicate any spell with magic item creation feats. He is Devilish, and pretty good in melee with Eldritch Glaive.

For example he can create a Divine Power continual use magic item that gives him the BAB of a fighter while hitting people with full attack touch attacks with reach.

So +1 for Melee and +1 for spellcasting with great flavor and BAMF.

Plus with Pathfinder you don't even have to worry about him losing experience when he creates stuff.

[Cespenar]

For an Evil Genius, a Factotum in a trap-filled big hall would be an interesting fight, methinks.

And for the Dragon, a Fallen Paladin/Blackguard perhaps?