Building a trollish adversary

[DarkEternal]

So, for the campaign I am running, I was thinking of sending an enemy after the party that is a world class ****. As in, he comes at moments that they least need or expect him, battles them and probably is on the losing side, but always manages to inconvenience the party or make them lose valuable time-effort-resources before he inevitably escapes. That means he'd have to have some kind of an escape mechanism ingrained inside of him, like a teleport or a dimension door that he could spam and abilities that would make the party groan. Meaning area effects that would hinder them, ability drains or damage that would make them waste time and money to heal from.

I'd like for him to have the party's response being a groan and "not this guy again, come on!". He'd be about level 7, 8 at the most since the party would probably first encounter him at level 5 so he could have some punch to his stuff as well as capabilities of surviving a round or two. So, any suggestions? I was thinking of going Path of war Slayer since that has disciplines that give you a lot of movement abilities. I'd like to stay away from him being a full caster in any case.

[Tuvarkz]

So, something like this (http://i.imgur.com/dlMiBcY.png)? Not an actual enemy the party can combat if they catch him, but should do for ideas.

[Karl Aegis]

So you got this troll, see. He's in this big red coat, see. And he has a hat with a white puff ball on the top of it, see. And he goes in and out of chimneys on some sort of pixie dust trail, see. I want you to give 'im the ole red liver. -Boss Calgary.

[King of Nowhere]

there are rules, or at least the hint of rules, for making magical tattoos that work like scrolls or use-activated items. In my campaign world, everyone who is into shady dealings has one of those with teleport or dimension door. you scratch yourself in the right place while chanting the activation word, and poof!
my players got tired enough of it that the first spell the wizard prepared upon reaching 7th level was dimensional anchor. now the next opponents I'm throwing their way are a cleric that will use meld with stone (or whatever is called in the english version) to sink into roads and walls, and a wizard who uses that necromantic spell that lets you swap your soul with that of someone else and take control of their body,so that every homeless in the city could get up and cast 5th level spells at them.

[Azoth]

Gnome Shadowcaster Illusionist Wizard. Grab Skill focus Knowledge (your pick), Eldritch Heritage (Arcane), Deific Obedience (Mahathalla), and Effortless Trickery. Make your familiar a School Familiar for Illusion.

This lets you maintain two Illusion spells per turn, without spending your move or standard action. You pass one to your familiar to maintain, and then use your swift to maintain a second, while still being able to cast.

You can use Lesser Simulacrum + Marionette Possession to have him inhabit the Simulacrum, so that when he "dies" he just shunts back to his body unharmed.

Nothing like making the room constantly change, or creatures appear, or other shenanigans while dropping in real effects every now and again.

Emergency force Shield/ Dimension Door should be sufficient to keep your body safe if they get too close to it.

[Florian]

So, for the campaign I am running, I was thinking of sending an enemy after the party that is a world class ****. As in, he comes at moments that they least need or expect him, battles them and probably is on the losing side, but always manages to inconvenience the party or make them lose valuable time-effort-resources before he inevitably escapes. That means he'd have to have some kind of an escape mechanism ingrained inside of him, like a teleport or a dimension door that he could spam and abilities that would make the party groan. Meaning area effects that would hinder them, ability drains or damage that would make them waste time and money to heal from.

I'd like for him to have the party's response being a groan and "not this guy again, come on!". He'd be about level 7, 8 at the most since the party would probably first encounter him at level 5 so he could have some punch to his stuff as well as capabilities of surviving a round or two. So, any suggestions? I was thinking of going Path of war Slayer since that has disciplines that give you a lot of movement abilities. I'd like to stay away from him being a full caster in any case.

You know that crafty players always find a way to trap and kill a guy like that, there's no way around that.

If you'd still want to do a "recurring villain" thingie, maybe even a bit of comic relieve to it, go for something that can use possession and think about having a sinature style that can be identified whatever body it takes at the time.

A goo candidate would be a Shadow Demon Occultist with the Improved Possession feat and being able to trigger dreamscapes.

[DarkEternal]

You know that crafty players always find a way to trap and kill a guy like that, there's no way around that.

If you'd still want to do a "recurring villain" thingie, maybe even a bit of comic relieve to it, go for something that can use possession and think about having a sinature style that can be identified whatever body it takes at the time.

A goo candidate would be a Shadow Demon Occultist with the Improved Possession feat and being able to trigger dreamscapes.

I like that one. I might look more into it. And yeah, I know that the party is usually able to do things to stop such characters from doing many repeat visits. I'm just hoping that he'll at least come twice before his probable inevitable demise. Someone that comes at the most inopportune of moments to battle the party. When they are weak and down on their resources, just enough to throw a spanner in their works and then teleports away.

And yeah, I think that comic relief is almost certainly the way to go.