Help with my Big Bad

[skycycle blues]

I can't figure out what combination of classes the Big Bad in the campaign that I'm running should be.

My players should get to the point of final combat with him and his crew when they are somewhere around level 14. His party has a Druid, a Sorcerer(into something that I haven't fully decided on yet), an Invisible Blade/Master Thrower, a Swift Hunter Ranger/Scout archer, and a Monk. They are all around level 13.

The world that this is set in hasn't had any sort of stable leadership for at least 500 years. Their leader is in the process of building an army large enough that he will be able to use it to conquer the world with little actual conflict, so that he can establish himself as ruler. He involves himself in any conflict he can find by ensuring that he helps the side that is going to win, in order to establish a reputation of a hero and leader. I think that all of this makes him Neutral Evil.

He is the tactical leader in combat and he should also be the most overwhelming melee combatant. He also needs to have enough diplomatic ability so that people would want to follow him into deadly combat. I can't figure out what combination of classes he should have.
He is a human, and for sake of ease, assume stats are 18, 17, 16, 14, 14, 12.

Books available are the Complete Series.

Thank you in advance.

[Yora]

As the PCs are only single class or with one prestige class, the villain probably won't need a very high degree of optimization.

I think he sounds like a good candidate for a Blackguard. If you want to keep things simple Fighter/Rogue/Blackguard could be a good basis for that character.

One thing to consider is how the final confrontation is supposed to play out. Having all five of the PCs attack him alone would be quite stupid for him to allow, so I think they should probably face him in a larger battle, at least with his personal royal guard. Making him 16th level with a handfull of 10th level guards and one or two sorcerers would be an idea.

[skycycle blues]

What I posted was the party that the Big Bad travels with. They will all be fairly optimized.

The PCs are a Fighter/Barbarian/Warblade/Blood Claw Master, Cleric/Radiant Servant Of Pelor, Swashbuckler/Wizard/Abjurant Champion, Ranger/Scout/Dragon Devotee, and a Barbarian/Warlock/Hellfire Warlock.

I think Blackguard could work though.

The players have been chasing him all over the world. The scenario that I'm thinking for the big confrontation is that they will catch up to him as he's in the final process of putting together his army, so it instead just stays as a bunch of separate factions instead of an overwhelming force.

[Legendairy]

Here is a build you would have to refluff completely because of the domains but pretty much makes a machine and a Cleric could easily fit into the tyrannical type of character playing all sides.


ECL Class BAB SavingThrows Feats Class Features
1st Cleric 1 +0 +2 +0 +2 Extra Turning, Persistent Spell Turn Undead, Extend spell Sun Domain, Planning Domain
2nd Cleric 2 +1 +3 +0 +3
3rd Cleric 3 +2 +3 +1 +3 Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell)
4th Cleric 4 +3 +4 +1 +4
5th Cleric 5 +3 +4 +1 +4
6th Cleric 6 +4 +5 +2 +5 Reach spell
7th Radiant Servant of Pelor 1 +4 +7 +2 +7 Extra Greater Turning, Radiance, Turn Undead +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
8th RSoP 2 +5 +8 +2 +8 Divine Health, Empower Healing +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
9th RSoP 3 +6/+1 +8 +3 +8 Power Attack Aura of Warding +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
10th RSoP 4 +7/+2 +9 +3 +9 +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
11th RSoP 5 +7/+2 +9 +3 +9 Glory Domain +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
12th RSoP 6 +8/+3 +10 +4 +10 Spontaneous Domains Maximize Healing +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
13th RSoP 7 +9/+4 +10 +4 +10 +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
14th RSoP 8 +10/+5 +11 +4 +11 Positive Energy Burst +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
15th RSoP 9 +10/+5 +11 +5 +11 Strength Devotion Turn Undead +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
16th RSoP 10 +11/+6/+1 +12 +5 +12 Supreme Healing +1 level of existing divine spellcasting class
17th Cleric 7 +12/+7/+2 +12 +5 +12

[Chilingsworth]

I'd suggest he might actually be lawful evil rather than NE. As for class combos, maybe a Paladin of Tyranny/either Warblade or Crusader. Whichever ToB class you take, make sure to get white raven tactics and take max ranks in diplomacy.

[skycycle blues]

Is anyone aware of any feats that allows ranged attacks to be made within melee range without provoking attacks of opportunity?

If there is one, I think that he will be Fighter 2/Warblade 4/Blackguard 5/Bloodstorm Blade 4.

I think Paladin of Tyranny would be great, but I can't reconcile the things that the party knows about him with lawfulness in any way.

[Inferno]

This is screaming Marshal. Maybe a few Warblade levels in there. It doesn't sound like it needs any huge amount of optimizing, just some minions to motivate and your set.

[Runestar]

Considering that classed npcs aren't really worth their cr, much less at higher lvs, you may really need to inflate those levels to ensure your npc can provide a decent challenge. If you want to use a straight fighter or a non-spellcasting equivalent, I recommend setting cr at 2/3 class lvs, so a human fighter21 would be cr14 (with gear appropriate for a cr14 npc). I find this puts him more on par with monsters of that cr, such as fiends and dragons. I agree with the earlier poster to also give him some bodyguards (4 cr10 mooks seem right) and spellcasting support, else he will still go down fast.

One interesting fighter build is to simply make him a full cleric17. Divine power gives him full bab, additional combat bonuses from divine favour, greater magic weapon/vestments/unholy aura further augment his defenses, and for the kicker, he uses miracle to replicate giant size (making him colossal) in the first round of combat! :smallcool:

[skycycle blues]

He has casting support through a Druid and a Sorcerer(which will likely prestige into a thing or two, losing as few caster levels as possible.) There are also plenty of mooks.

But does anybody know if there is a feat that allows for ranged attacks to be made in melee range without provoking AoOs? That would be ideal.

[Waker]

But does anybody know if there is a feat that allows for ranged attacks to be made in melee range without provoking AoOs? That would be ideal.
Offhand no, the only thing I can think of is the "Close Combat Shot" ability of an Order of the Bow Initiate from CWar.

[Chilingsworth]

I think there's an Epic feat that does this, I don't remember the name of the feat, though. There is also a 1st level spell (Arrowmind, spell compendium) that does this and allows you to make attacks of opportunity (within your normal melee reach) with ranged attacks as a bonus. You could give the BBEG a continuous use-activated item of it.

[DeAnno]

If you aren't too sure what to do with the Sorcerer, Direct Damage is fairly easy to run and has a tendency to not lose caster levels. It's also incredibly threatening to PCs though, so you might want to be careful if you aren't really sure they can take care of themselves (if the Cleric has Delay Death and they're generally on top of things it should be ok).

Sorc 6/War Mage 5/Arcane Devotee 2 is probably about as good as you can set things up at level 13 to that purpose, with prereq feats for War Mage and Quick Recovery to abuse Celerity with. Sorc 6/Incantatrix 7 isn't as good at that level but it has a lot more free feat space if you want to set up more gimmicks.

(War Mage is from Age of Mortals; Incantatrix and Arcane Devotee are Players Guide to Faerun; Quick Recovery is Lords of Madness)