How to build a Puppeteer Villain

[ladycass]

I would love some suggestions on race/class/abilities for a (aprox) 15th level villain called "The Puppeteer" This will be a Pirate who is a reoccurring villain; the mastermind behind multiple plot lines. He is dark, drips with charisma, controls others both by manipulation and magic, and can escape from almost any sticky situation.

If you were building him how would you make him devastatingly difficult??

I have some ideas of my own but I would love to incorperate some things I wouldn't think of alone.

 

[Cadfan]

Well, it depends how you want to go about doing things.

First of all, most of that is roleplaying. You can give him a high charisma, but to make the players feel like he's "dark" and "drips with charisma," you're going to have to act it out, and describe him doing things that can only be done by a person who is dark and dripping with charisma.

Likewise, controlling others by manipulation and magic- do you mean as in a combat technique? Or long term. Because long term you're back to roleplaying again.

And escaping from any situation? Well, there are some mechanical ways to make a character escape more easily, but a lot of it is going to involve roleplaying. Mechanically, consider teleportation, or shapechanging (doppleganger, maybe?).

I can come up with a few gimmicks, but in the end its going to be up to your creativity in writing plotlines.

Here's one: He constantly out maneuvers his foes, and seems like he's in multiple places at once. Its because he is. There are actually three of him, which never meet, but communicate telepathically as if they have only one mind. This leads to many rumors about his true location, intentions, and actions, but no one guesses that all the rumors are true at once- and they all work towards the same dark goal.

They don't have separate names by which they refer to themselves, because they have no concept of self apart from the whole. Killing one of them causes pain to the whole, but no permanent damage, because a raise dead ritual performed upon a piece of the flesh of one of the surviving individuals results in a resurrection of the dead one.

 

[Tehnai]

Making him "that" powerful might be a little too much.

I'd suggest a Elite Controller/leader, using a power similar to the pit-fiend's minion bomb. I mean, when a guy can just tell one of his men to blow himself up, it's a sign of power. I'd say make it 3d10+6, burst 1 around the minion, target being an ally within burst 5-10

Have him constantly surrounded with minions, of course.

Also have a power similar to the Mind flayer's "thrall imposition"-thing, making him very tough to kill as long as he has flunkies.

He's a pirate, give him a recharge magical portable cannon that shoots lasers, or something. Range 10, 4d8+6. and for added fun, push 3

Also, he has a fancy flintlock pistol that deals 2d8+6 at range 10.

Finally, he'd have a necrotic cutlass, dripping with shadowstuff, deals 1d10+6 and eats a healing surge from the target.


I have to say I like Cadfan's doppleganger idea. Although I've seen it done so many times before.

I say RP-wise, always have an escape plan, always be perfectly in control, and set traps all over the place.

The players enters the room, it's made out of stone, but the stone on the ground are cracked, old and shaky. They floor won't collapse under the players weight, but if anyone attacks the floor, it makes the player fall for X feet (save cancels fall but makes prone). Of course, area attacks (such as suicidal minions) punch huge holes in the ground.

He'd be raining down death on the players from a hard to reach ledge, higher up (medium athletic DC, 10 feet up). Anyone who tries to get on top gets blasted with a cannon shot to the chest (thus fall down, most likely punching a hole in the floor, good times)

Plus, constantly send hitmen and mercenaries on the players the second he starts considering them a threat (probably not before they've seen him in person, if they don't, they're just nuisance). And have them live just long enough for them to reveal who sent them. The players will positively go on a revenge quest soon enough.

Plus, you'll be able to send them anywhere you want just by going : Oh, he went that way!

Last, but not least, if you ever player Ninja Gaiden 2, when you cut off an evil ninja's leg, he tries to stab you with an explosive shuriken and go all murder suicide. Add a warcry for "organization's name" before, and you have a bunch of very fightning little guys.

Little things scare more then fanatism, simply because nobody is truely prepared for it.

 

[That One Guy]

I would love some suggestions on race/class/abilities for a (aprox) 15th level villain called "The Puppeteer" This will be a Pirate who is a reoccurring villain; the mastermind behind multiple plot lines. He is dark, drips with charisma, controls others both by manipulation and magic, and can escape from almost any sticky situation.

If you were building him how would you make him devastatingly difficult??

I have some ideas of my own but I would love to incorperate some things I wouldn't think of alone.

Controls others with magic, huh?

Doppleganger tangent... the three as one idea is pretty cool. But, what if those three were actually just 'puppets' or undead or brainwashed people or something that didn't actually have telepathy but were controlled by a true mastermind? That could lead to some fun confusion. Along the lines of the aforementioned assassin idea (one I endorse. Random assassins make everything better), another doppleganger-style thing is introduce an ally who reoccurs and has some chip on his shoulder against the puppeteer (killed his friends, family, and stole his fortune). In actuality, this favored friend is the mastermind at work, studying his foes. As a form of 'getting away', he could take on the form of AlternateIdentity and do a, 'he went that way! Let's get him!' After the second or third one of these the PCs'll probably figure it out. He'll have to throw down a few rounds of ownage before retreating through some means... maybe some sort of quick-cast teleportation ritual that can only be performed once a week and is set to a singular location? (to give him some killability)

Start with whatever race (be it human, doppleganger, or whatever) and then add rogue/warlock template stuff and it should be awesome.

 

[erik_the_guy]

Definitely go with a rogue (artful dodger). Rogues have many skills that are specifically made for escaping from any situation.
Ignoble Escape: Rogue utility 6, With nimble ease, you sidestep one perilous situation after another.
Certain Freedom: Rogue utility 10, You are as slippery as an eel.
Leaping Dodge: Rogue utility 16, With nimble ease, you sidestep one perilous situation after another.

Although halflings are good at avoiding trouble, I suggest an eladrin (for the teleportation abilities). Rogues can be pretty decent at swordplay and deal good damage.

EDIT: Artful dodgers benefit greatly from high charisma, so your villain is likely to have a decent following of lackeys. As far as magic goes he can't offer you much without multiclassing, but I wouldn't bother, his charisma makes him manipulative enough. Take a look at some rogue skills which allow him to force enemies to use their attacks against themselves and allies. Pair him up with a few brutes for defense when he gets into combat. The cannon and the ledge is a great idea. Rogues certainly can 'rain death' with shurikens and daggers (not to mention cannons).

 

[ladycass]

You are awsome and wonderful people. Great ideas thus far. The role playing aspects are of course essentials. Additionaly I had intended to have a high degree of "escape plan" and "environment control" for any encounter that involves him. The player characters are going to start feeling his presence soon but should not actualy encounter him for a very long time. Through minions and underlings they will become aware of his existance but unable to find/touch him for some time. If he causes them sufficient problems they may have more powerful underlings set to counter them. The first inkling they will have is a dominated goblin who is stealing large quantities of a special substance from a paper maker's guild. The substance is a valuable type of seaweed that is used to make waterproof spellbook pages. ( I have a water heavy world). The goblins are both using the substance to line thier den and shipping to the puppeteer. The main goblin will have a token from the puppeteer in form of a necklace. The man likes to mark those under his influence and often makes these tokens seem like honors and gifts.

The second inkling will be a couple of people the pcs currently assume to be freinds. They are going to betray the group and steal some important records. They are also going to kill one of the pc's twin brother who catches the fiends in the act and tries to stop them. They will carve a "P" onto his chest.

I love the doppleganger idea and I like the idea of 3 of them who turn out to be controled by 1. Hrummm you have given me a ton to think about. I was leaning toward rouge/warlock multiclassing.

any further ideas appreciated.

Some of the item and skills you have suggested are superb!

 

[Tehnai]

I say don't build him as a PC.

You can do anything if you stay away from that part of the 3e mentality.

Don't forget to find him a decent motivation. No villain would be quite perfect without one.

For the triple doppleganger idea, it works but be careful about your balance. If you make one too powerful, it'll be exponentially harder (and perhaps impossible) to defeat the bad guy. You want tough NPCs, not immortal ones

I mean... the best piece of GMing advice I ever got was : "Your NPCs suck and they're all going to die."

 

[Mallus]

I suppose you could start with a horse and cut off one leg. Next, surgically attach a second neck and head. Then... wait, that's not the kind of Puppeteer you mean, is it?