BBEG build (Ginorbol, Aira, Uial and Z'd'nt absolutely don't read this)

[Lord Il Palazzo]

I'm working on putting together a build for the BBEG of a campaign I'm running. The villain will be a rakshasa who has been controlling things from the shadows for at least as long as the campaign's been running. The PCs have met him a couple times in various disguises and have worked with one of his minions on several adventures without knowing exactly who the minion works for. (They think the minion's up to no good and suspect the same of his boss, but they've never shown any suspicion of the rakshasa himself when they ran into him; the rakshasa might even help them off that particular minion, if he thinks it'll get him on their good side.)

Naturally, the rakshasa is more interested in manipulating the PCs to get what he wants than he is in provoking a confrontation with them, and will definitely keep this point of view as long as he thinks they can be useful. When he does inevitably turn on them, it will almost certainly be through underlings and minions rather than a personal confrontation. That said, the PCs and the villain will, of course, have to come face to face for a climactic final battle eventually and I'm trying to figure out exactly how to build him.

If all goes according to plan (that is, he manipulates the PCs to get what he wants for long enough), he will likely have a fair number of lower level rakshasa (probably including Naztharunes and/or Zakyas) on hand as cannon fodder for the fight. I'd like the BBEG himself to be at least competent in both melee* and magical combat and am considering some mix of Abjurant Champion and Swiftblade levels for him. Do you have any other suggestions for how to build a Rakshasa villain?

For the record, my players play low-to-mid optimization and will probably be somewhere between levels 15 and 17 when they reach the climactic showdown.

*I probably won't be sticking to the Monster Manual's "disdains close combat" fluff.

[Linkscoolfriend]

Have you considered gestalting him as opposed to multiclassing him? I know my DM (and myself, when I have the reigns) doesn't hesitate to use a gestalt character as a boss for an important part of the campaign. Powerful baddies tend to make deals with otherworldly forces to gain power above even that of a gifted PC.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Hmmm. That could be cool. What classes would you suggest gestalting for him? (I've never built a gestalt character before, though I do know (generally) how it works.)

[Linkscoolfriend]

Level adjust applies to both classes, then pretty much get the best of both worlds. I would make a fighter sorcerer, honestly. Sorcerer > wizard imo, as long as you know what kind of spells you want this guy to have. And since you said you want him to be able to manipulate the party, I think you do.

Alternatively, if you're willing to go into other books and such, warmage (Comp Arc) offers great spellcasting for destructive purposes, and when coupled with another Int based melee class like swashbuckler (Comp War), you could do some hefty damage from two different sources while utilizing mostly the same stats, plus being able to cast in light armor.

Also, the reason I suggested the core classes first is the ease of building an otherwise confusing baddie using two simple core classes.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Hmm. The thing here is that rakshasas come with 7 levels of sorcerer casting built in, so any casting class I add, I'd want to either be sorcerer to advance that or a prestige class to advance it (this being part of why I'm looking at abjurant champion and swiftblade).

Also, those prestige classes give so many more (and better) abilities than a fighter's bonus feats, while also advancing his casting that I'm not sure a fighter/sorcerer gestalt would be better (except on the Swiftblade levels that don't advance casting).

I imagine the character being strongly focused on charisma (after all, his race does give him +6, right out of the gate and he's playing a very manipulative behind-the-scenes game) with pretty strong intelligence too (to fit the whole evil mastermind thing and help him keep putting skill points in his bluff, disguise, etc. even once he's taking non-rakshasa levels.) If I go gestalt, I could see bringing in 3 levels of swashbuckler (and maybe a dash of factotum) to make his INT bonus pay off in melee combat. (Part of what has me attracted to swiftblade is the emphasis on mobility which would make it easier to move him 10 feet to use Slipper of Battledanciung (DMG2, I think) to use his charisma instead of strength on attack and damage rolls. Adding intelligence too would be crazy.)

[Linkscoolfriend]

Like I said, I only suggested the base classes for ease of creation. I find it much easier to create a baddie out of base classes and make him customized through magic items and such.

I do, however, see where you're coming from with your class choices. A high enough level caster like him could also go Mystic Theurge and use Divine Power (PHB Pg. 225) to equal out the playing field in melee. That plus a few teleport spells or items for a quick getaway to heal himself could make for one powerful cat.

[OracleofSilence]

Uh, i may be wrong but the level adjustment only applies to one "side" of gestalt. Your issue is that as a rakshasha he also has 7 levels of outsider, meaning he will only have 6 free levels on one side of his build. so something like this
Rakshasha 14/Fighter 2/Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian 1/Rogue 3//
Sorcerer 6th/Mindbender 1st/Shadowcaster 1st/Incantatrix 10th/Sorcerer +2

End result is an illusion and metamagic (which is great against players since he need not worry about slot conservation) focused spellcaster, that has decent melee/gish abilities from racial stuff and pounce, in addition to rage if it is ever really neccisary. Great at deception, great at staying behind teh scenes, and more then able to mix it up if players get to cocky. (also the three levels higher will make him a ver, very real threat.)

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Don't worry too much about the level adjustment. I'm willing to (and planning to) handwave/houserule a fair chunk of it away if it lets me make a more interesting character/boss fight. (And I consider +7 too high for a rakshasa anyways.)

[Linkscoolfriend]

Hm. Thought it applied to both. In any case, I guess given the recommendations its up to you from here on in. The Mystic Theurge has given me an idea for my own campaign however, so I'm off to the creating table.

[Runestar]

The raksasha's stats don't scream "melee" at first glance. It has a fairly high cr for its HD, and its physical stat bonuses aren't really that good. However, being an outsider opens him out to a fair variety of potent polymorph forms like planetar or 12-headed hydra, or if he gets shapechange, simply change forms into a strong melee form such as pit fiend.

My suggestion would be to simply use a achzachar raksasha (MM3) straight out of the book.