A best class for party face/shapeshifter

[Pinjata]

Hey guys,

I am making the following BBEG that COULD be defined as party face/shapeshifter and I wonder how to build him. He is an elf who desires optimised power above all else. Taking this into account, he took notice of Dragon Cult and how stupid its dealings are. Basically, he says "this Cult needs new leadership". He wants to become a member of some good aligned group (Harpers, some good Temple ...) and find someproper people (PCs) to have them kill the Cult leadership and afterword take over himself.

Now I want to play him as diplomancer/insighter/persuader/deceptor shapeshifter - he apears to PCs as one person, to Harpers as another, can take guise of many people ... I was thinking of rogue with two levels of druid (Wildshape) or perhaps pure rogue with Arcane intellect option and illusion spells.

How should I go about it? He starts as a level 6.

thanks

[rollingForInit]

Any spellcaster with access to Disguise Self or Alter Self works.

Warlocks can take an Invocation that lets them cast Disguise Self at will, so that could be a permanent source of disguise. At higher levels they can get Alter Self at will as well. If you want to do a lot of disguising, this is probably your best options, since it won't drain away all of your spell slots.

[hymer]

Since you'll need to determine the CR later, independent of class and levels, why not simply give him the skills and abilities you want him to have? Construct him like a new monster.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

The existence of Hat of Disguise means that you could build him as anything.

However, when you say social skill specialist, my mind goes to Bard and Rogue. Arcane Tricksters and Bards can both use Disguise Self, so you don't need to give him a magical object that could fall into PC hands if you go with one of those two. Best of all, they're both thematically appropriate.

Those Expert Skill bonuses will be handy if the PCs try to use Insight on him.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Does it have to be an elf? Could you make him a half-doppelgänger or half-incubus or something? If not, I vote warlock. The class was practically built for this character archetype.

[mephnick]

The warlock in my campaign basically plays this character, so I'd agree with Warlock.

Or just don't bother using class levels and refluff a monster in the MM to have shapeshifting and then say it's an elf.

[foobar1969]

I am making the following BBEG that COULD be defined as party face/shapeshifter and I wonder how to build him.
... I was thinking of rogue with two levels of druid (Wildshape) or perhaps pure rogue with Arcane intellect option and illusion spells.
How should I go about it? He starts as a level 6.
You aren't playing 3E any more. Certainly use PHB features for guidance and ideas, but BBEGs don't need to (and perhaps even shouldn't) follow PC class levels. Take a look at the NPCs in the back of the Monster Manual. They use pared-down combinations of class features, monster abilities, and specific attacks.

[Daishain]

Agreed with Foobar. Classes are for PCs, NPCs (especially the important ones) can be considerably more flexible. Give your guy the features you want him to have. If that ends up making him mechanically stronger than a PC can normally achieve somehow, well, that does help with the whole "BBEG being a challenge" thing.

[Shining Wrath]

A druid can't wildshape into humanoid form. I don't think you want druid.

I would be thinking along these lines: an charisma based caster, an elf with some special powers.

Is it good enough to look like a different person, or do the different personas have to stand up to close scrutiny (e.g., being touched)? The distinction is between Polymorph and disguises of various sorts, and is important.

Anyway, the elf has the ability to appear as a different person, granted to them somehow. An ancestor? A patron? A device he found in the attic?

As for the specific caster type, Warlock is almost typecast here. For variety, a Wild Magic Sorcerer; that helps with the cover, actually, because a certain level of "that's odd, the elf's voice sounded different just then" level of clues can be dismissed as Wild Magic Sorcerer doing Wild Magic.

[Madfellow]

Hey guys,

I am making the following BBEG that COULD be defined as party face/shapeshifter and I wonder how to build him. He is an elf who desires optimised power above all else. Taking this into account, he took notice of Dragon Cult and how stupid its dealings are. Basically, he says "this Cult needs new leadership". He wants to become a member of some good aligned group (Harpers, some good Temple ...) and find someproper people (PCs) to have them kill the Cult leadership and afterword take over himself.

Now I want to play him as diplomancer/insighter/persuader/deceptor shapeshifter - he apears to PCs as one person, to Harpers as another, can take guise of many people ... I was thinking of rogue with two levels of druid (Wildshape) or perhaps pure rogue with Arcane intellect option and illusion spells.

How should I go about it? He starts as a level 6.

thanks

Quick question. Are you a player or the DM?

[tieren]

Don't assassin rogues get a whole suite of self disguise class features. Seems perfect without the need to worry about magical means.

[GiantOctopodes]

Assassin Rogue with two levels of Warlock, grabbing Mask of Many Faces. You can perfectly imitate anyone, can acquire virtually any identity, can appear as anyone or anything in a pinch. The only thing you're missing is Enlarge / Reduce, which would let you take on any form from small to large instead of just any medium form, but sadly that would require Bard, Sorcerer, or Wizard levels, and frankly an Assassin Rogue with practiced expertise is better at this than a Bard can hope to be. Should you choose to go Bard instead of Rogue, the Actor feat and the Charlatan background can both help replace the lost Assassin Rogue features. Also of note, a Bard would be worse imho for a BBEG than an Assassin Rogue, because getting sneak attacked by someone who you believed to be your buddy until 3 seconds ago for large amounts of damage is scary.

[Gritmonger]

Charlatan background, Actor feat, any class that can throw around illusions or mind affecting spells, possibly an outsider warlock who can essentially put thoughts in people's heads at range - maybe a helm of telepathy, and a ring of mind shielding. The former allows the person to occasionally hide somewhere and monitor folks' thoughts (say, behind a picture frame with the eyes cut out) while the latter allows them to even disguise their creature type, not just alignment, protect them from mind reading, and disguise their lies even in a zone of truth...

The ring of mind shielding would be a must-have for any disguise based BBEG in my campaign, mostly because it has the potential to have a disembodied advisor still in the ring.

[Malifice]

Vuman Fey pact Warlock 2. Charm person. Actor feat. Max Cha. Invocations are Mask of many faces and the other invocation that grants deception and persuasion as class skills. Splash a level of Rogue (or Bard) for expertise in both and you're set.

Look and sound like whoever you want, whenever you want. Charm them if that fails. Online from 2nd level.

[JoeJ]

Give him the actor feat, maxed out CHA, and expertise in deception, persuasion, and disguise kit. Add some powerful lieutenants, a suitably sized army of goons, and a large spy network.