Looking for a Villainous Monster Enemy Guy

[Madara]

Hey Fam,

I'm working on cranking out a dungeon and the basic premise is Trolls and giantkin. I want there to be a monster/NPC who has been breeding Puppetteers(the psionic worm things) to control the giants.

Are there any monsters or classes that you'd suggest?

3.P is good
Any source is ok
The mechanics don't need to be spot-on and fluff can be slightly altered but I don't want to rewrite a whole ton.
The party is a medium Op level 5. The enemy should be appropriate for a ECL 6-9 encounter. If it's a bit below or above, I can buff/nerf.

[DrMotives]

How about the Athach, the aberration that looks like a giant? Since it's too stupid (on average, there must be some oddly smart ones out there) to scheme like that, it could be controlled by a master puppeteer itself, or surprise! a tsochar (Lords of Madness). Athach weighs in at CR 8 with a huge advancement range, adding a tsochar commander would put that up a little higher than your goal, but it should still be manageable.

[Madara]

How about the Athach, the aberration that looks like a giant? Since it's too stupid (on average, there must be some oddly smart ones out there) to scheme like that, it could be controlled by a master puppeteer itself, or surprise! a tsochar (Lords of Madness). Athach weighs in at CR 8 with a huge advancement range, adding a tsochar commander would put that up a little higher than your goal, but it should still be manageable.


I really like the Tsochar. Do you have any suggestions on how the creature inhabited would maintain its Con while being drained regularly? I want the body to have been alive for awhile. If need be, I'm sure I can make something up that's fairly reasonable.

[DrMotives]

The standard way to protect against Con damage is to be a binder, and just a dip will do. Honestly, this works well for your theme. Binders take supernatural entities and invite them to inhabit their bodies in exchange for power, a willing host of a tsochar does the same. Putting puppeteers in giants could be seen by a binder / tsochar host as a way to share the blessings of foreign intelligences riding in mortal hosts for mutual gain. So what if the trolls & giants don't see it like that?