Bard Villian

[FinnDragon]

Does anyone have any suggestion oh how to make a bard as a main villian for a group of PC's (5 fighter/wizard/sorcerer/cleric/bard) who are about 14th level. The villian should be imposing and able to fight the party 1 on 5 ideally. I know bard's aren't built that way but plot wise the villain needs to be a bard. Any advice?

[Talionis]

Bards are charmers. I would make sure they have some monsters and npcs in their sway so that the Bard can use his Bardic Music to some help.

[Novawurmson]

There's only one way that I know of (http://popeighties.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/tumblr_lepjfihHdj1qg5i95o1_400.jpg)...

[Novawurmson]

More seriously, Bard/Factotum would be a decent choice; extra standard actions eases the action economy. Save-or-suck spells (fluff as forcing the party to dance) will help him narrow down who to focus. Letting him start with all his buffs active (he gets the jump on the party) will help as well.

[Rhaegar14]

Bard 7/Sublime Chord 2/Virtuoso X

Boom. All the bardic music goodies on top of Sorcerer casting. Give him a beatstick minion to inspire.

[Incriptus]

I had a powerhouse bard villian once he was a War Weaver with 6 level 6 fighters. Bard was Flying Invisible, Eldrich Weave Buffing, Healing Hymm Curing. Those Fighters were really punching outside of their level. I don't really do high level games but I guess you could extrapolate from there. Perhaps some Sublime Cord to up him further.

If you want him to be a solo threat I'm really not sure where to go . . .

[Waker]

In a straight fight, 5 vs 1, the bard can't really do a whole lot. Most of it's abilities focus on either group effects or misdirection. You could take dips into other classes to make a melee monsters like a Bardblade or War Chanter, but that runs of risk of splattering the party on the walls, since damage is easy to pump up.
If you really insist on having the bard duke it out alone, I would suggest the use of skirmishing tactics. Use illusion and enchantments to wreak havoc on the party, scamper away and then return to dish out some more discord. The only likely target of your enchantments is the Fighter, but the illusions can work on the rest, since illusions only allow saves when they are interacted with. You may also want to consider trapping the area, disguising dangerous areas with magic and letting them stumble into danger.
Spells to consider: Summon Monster, Slow, Dimension Door, Grease, Glitterdust, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Silence, Confusion, Dispel Magic, Gaseous Form, Haste, Image spells, Dominate Person, Freedom of Movement, Shadow Conjuration/Evocation, Mind Fog.

[Treblain]

If you have a bard in the party and he remembers to use countersong, that could really screw up some of the villain's spells and music.

If he needs more HP, make him an undead bard.

Be tricky. Have the bard always strike from ambush, and always have the right scroll or wand to escape or reposition himself when in a bad spot. Abuse the Invisible Spell metamagic for Invisible Summon Monster and other nonsense. Cast Mindless Rage (SpC) on the spellcasters so they have to attack you with their fists, and Armor Lock on the fighter and cleric. Raise the save DCs on illusions and enchantments with Captivating Melody.

[Human Paragon 3]

Surprised nobody's mentioned the Joker Bard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5496158).

[Waker]

I considered the Joker Bard, but the post specifically said 5 vs 1, and the Joker is more about having expendable henchmen.

[Rubik]

Give him Leadership (but make it work more like the thrallherd class feature, so he keeps getting more minions without losing his Leadership score), and make all his first level followers crusaders and warblades. Pump up his inspire courage, go Dragonsonic Inspiration (sonic fits the bard motif quite well), and have them frequently perform guerrilla hit-and-runs. Play Tucker's Minions with well-planned out ambushes, as well as unusual tactics (throw jars of brown mold at the PCs, then fire flaming arrows at them).

Catch them in a place where dimensional travel is blocked for whatever reason, so they can't just teleport away.

Look up more Tucker's Kobolds threads for additional info.

[Coidzor]

Sublime Chord... would get 6-7 levels as a boss fight, maybe 8, which would put him about on par with the casting abilities of the fullcasters in the party.

But, really, if he's going to be soloing them, you're going to have to design the boss fight room so that the terrain/room itself is keeping the party from action economying him to death too quickly.

Maybe instead of dragonfire inspiration, he's got an effect that causes flaming tentacles along the lines of Evard's black tentacles that act as though buffed by his IC and wreathed in flames. That'll at least create an obstacle for melee and force casters up into the air if they weren't already.

[Runestar]

Use a lillend as a base (for the outsider HD and superior stats), tack on 3 lvs of bard (or fewer if you advance it), followed by sublime chord?

[Madcrafter]

Every time I hear bard villain, I think the Song and Dance Man. I'd imagine he could put up a pretty good fight, once the party forces their way through the crowd of dancing people and climbs up to him in the centre of the tent. Then the combat starts. Tasty outsider HD (lillend but some sort of evil refluffed version, or maybe some sort of fey) and sublime chord as runestar suggested. Short range teleporting all over the place, with melodic casting so the whole time the music goes on and on... and the PCs start to worry as their movements slowly become more and more in rhythm with the music as they move back and forth across the floor chasing him (receiving some wounds from the fiddle bow if they get close enough to engage). (eg some sort of time limit or repeated will saves). Play up the bardiness, the mass mind control, soul stealing, etc. That would be how I would try and do it.