[3.5] BBEG Help

[esorscher]

I have a Sultan, who's the BBEG for the desert campaign I'm running. I want him to be between 10-12 level, who has deception (bluff, disguise as a class skill, illusion magic) and considerable, versatile, magic power.

I don't want him to be a boring basic class, and I'm fine with him having a template, as long as he can still appear human.

Any ideas?

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Bard. Bards are awesome. Beguiler works well, too.

[Kyace]

I'd second Beguiler for general BBEG-ness, but your Disguise line made me think of something in specific. The Chameleon PrC in Races of Destiny can pretend to be a wizard one fight (including casting spells), a divine caster another fight or the helpful desert guide the group passed along the trail another time.

Basically, by spending an hour getting into character they get the class features of most any base class (slightly worse than usual, but hey). You'd need some moderately decent stats to pull it off, but you'd end up with a floating feat to help your disguise along with the eventual ability to mix the roles to create and getting into character faster. Bard 5 or Beguiler 5 meet the requirements easily.

[Malacode]

A Djinni disguised as a human? Only works if the PC's don't have access to True Seeing or similar... Few class levels in Wizard or Beguiler and he's both thematically appropriate and (hopefully) effective. If he's human, then still, beguiler or wizard with School Focus - Illusion. If you want to have soemthing particularly odd, have him specialise and bar Conjuration and Evocation. After all, why would a Sultan need such spells?

Doppelganger or the Chameleon PrC if you want him to have that... morphic quality, but I'd shy away from this in an Arabic/Desert campaign

[Hal]

A Djinni disguised as a human? Only works if the PC's don't have access to True Seeing or similar... Few class levels in Wizard or Beguiler and he's both thematically appropriate and (hopefully) effective. If he's human, then still, beguiler or wizard with School Focus - Illusion. If you want to have soemthing particularly odd, have him specialise and bar Conjuration and Evocation. After all, why would a Sultan need such spells?

Doppelganger or the Chameleon PrC if you want him to have that... morphic quality, but I'd shy away from this in an Arabic/Desert campaign

Why would True Seeing matter? The Djinni's court probably doesn't have magic, they either don't believe the PCs or they're in on it (or convincing the court is a quest line). Even if the PCs manage to strip off the illusion, the Djinni can just say that the PCs cast an illusion on him to make him look like a Djinni.

I could see it working well.

[esorscher]

I like the idea of a Janni Sultan, because that lends itself well to a half-Janni princess.