Statting the enchanting BBEG

[Ormur]

Ernir and Haukur stay out.

It's not my first thread on the subject but I'm running a long campaign (I hope) where the main adversary is supposed to be a king that's trying to take over the known world, resurrecting an old empire and having himself crowned Emperor. He uses enchantments to control his henchmen and defeat his enemies since he only trusts his cleric cohort that's the high priest of the state religion. It's the only way for a paranoid dictator to have some peace of mind.

I was thinking about making him a Beguiler/Mindbender because of the capstone that allows him to dominate one person permanently and of course the other abilities. But loosing five caster levels hurts. Although I don't want him to be a full caster, I'd still like him to pose an individual threat. I pictured him as level 18-20 and if he can only cast 6th or 7th level spells he's going to be weaker than his cleric cohort that's two levels lower. As a DM would it be fair and balanced to just give the Mindbender a full caster level progression since his base class is just beguiler, or are there other better ways of representing the concept?

Since he's primarily an enchanter I'd also appreciate ways of negating defenses against them, like high will saves and abjuration spells (Mind Blank). They don't all have to involve combat since most of the people he'll be charming/dominating will be his subjects and underlings that could have it done to them in conditions favourable to the BBEG.

Edit: Wrong spell school.

[Saintjebus]

This is the BIG BAD EVIL GUY( caps intended). He should be a beast to fight, and should make the players say, "What is this guy? How is he doing this? AHHHHHHH!!!!!

So, yes. It is fair and balanced, by DM standard(In other words, neither fair nor balanced, but par for the course).

[erikun]

If he has a bunch of dominated clerics following him around 24/7, then he could just have them buff him up and stand around healing him. Sure, it's not a solo encounter, but I doubt most PCs will gladly hack appart the armorless, mindcontrolled NPCs who are doing nothing but casting Heal each turn. (I'm sure some would.)

Mind Blank makes finding any information about him impossible, while a permanent False Vision (somehow) will make his city-state look as peaseful as he wants to remote viewing. I'm not sure the name of the spell, but I know there is one that hides magical auras - he'll probably blanket his entire town with it, so that Detect Magic doesn't reveal anyone mind-dominated.

Your best bet in affecting PCs is simply to use Spell Focus and similar feats along with Empower Spell to up the DC. Still, that won't likely help - the PCs can simply use Mind Blank also (or, heck, Protection from Evil) and become immune to basically the entire school of enchantment. A better deal would be to combine a bebuff school (like Necromancy) with dominated soldiers. So what if your injured soldiers were killed by Wail of the Banshee? You have dozens like them in the next room, still at full health.

[Wings of Peace]

If he has Mindbender then he can qualify for the Mindsight feat from Lords of Madness. It makes life a million flavors of good for any combat scenario.

Players: "We sneak through the thrown room keeping to the shadows."

DM: "As you draw your weapons to attack the king he speaks and you notice his hand resting calmly on his weapon. 'I've been expecting you.'"

[Gametime]

Following the suggested adaptation for the Nightmare Spinner to grant the ability to bypass immunity to mind-affecting spells is a good way to make Mindbender more attractive. If the players hate it when the DM doesn't play by the same rules, they might cry foul, but if they're the type to appreciate a difficult boss fight then discovering their standard defenses are useless might add some great drama.

[taltamir]

make his a custom BBEG class that is stronger than normal and is not available for PCs...

You already came up with a way of doing it (giving him full caster progression).

[Totally Guy]

Maybe the Cleric is his equal in their partnership. Then there's 2 of them.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Ooh, some feats you should consider for him:

Enchanter: Prereq: SF:Illusion (Lets you use metamagic'd enchantment spells with a spell slot one level lower than they'd otherwise be)
Beloved Master: Anyone in melee with him under the effects of any of his enchantment spells provides him with half-cover, and any damage taken while providing this bonus does not grant them saving throws/cancels the spell.

Both from Ultimate Feats, which is fantastique.

[dsmiles]

You BBEG doesn't necessarily need to cast spells him/herself. If he has a cohort that can do it for him/her then your BBEG can focus his/her skills in other areas. Combat, sneakiness, Charisma-based skills, etc, all make for a doable BBEG (esp. Charisma-based skills).

[Cyclocone]

I was thinking about making him a Beguiler/Mindbender because of the capstone that allows him to dominate one person permanently and of course the other abilities.

Don't bother. Mindrape (BoVD) and Programmed Amnesia (SpC) do the same without lost caster levels.

Anyway, mandatory link to the Enchanter Handbook.

[Ormur]

I'm glad I can get away with the "homebrew". My players are actually more knowledgeable about D&D than me and optimizers to boot so changing the classes if probably the only way of surprising them. As long as it isn't completely unfair they won't complain, two of them have DM'd so they should know.

You're right about him not having to be awesome at solo combat, he has his high level cleric cohort and the resources of a whole kingdom to draw upon. He'll probably just focus on the enchantment spells and running the kingdom. Being a charisma based enchantment focused caster, with maxed out social skills and bonuses from being a mindbender he won't have trouble inspiring his henchmen to fight the PC's.

Maybe his throne room or the entire castle can be warded with something that weakens character's will saves, either selectively based on intentions or subtly to everyone, any ideas? His cleric can probably focus on debuffing the opponents like you said, dispelling mind blank, level draining etc. He'll also have plenty of charmed arcane casters but since this isn't a very high level campaign the BBEG and his cohort would probably be the only ones with 9th level spells.

While the cleric would be in charge of the divine casters in the state church (Hextor of course) I was thinking about organizing most of the arcane casters in a sort of secret police in charge finding and neutralizing internal threats. It's head would be a sadistic rakshasa with a few sorcerer levels on top. The army is headed by a military genius and a former opponent that got dominated permanently.

Thanks for the suggestions, keep em' coming.

[Cyclocone]

What about making him a Psion/Thrallherd?

It fits the mindcontrol theme to a T and comes with two free wizards.