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I'm currently designing a villain to go after one of my players in my pathfinder game and i want to make it a gnoll souldrinker, problem is i can't really decide what base class i want to go with. Right now I'm trying to decide between either a sin eater inquisitor or the horseman of famine, or a shapeshifter ranger of the same god. I feel that both have their strong points as excellent character backgrounds the former really playing off that whole souldrinking concept while the other helps to create a dark parallel with the player (himself a shifter skirmisher). My other issue I've been having is a way to tweak the prestige class a little bit so that it better suits these classes instead of the primarily arcane ones it was built for. Any help in either of these categories would be greatly appreciated.
I think the obvious answer is Bladebound Magus.
why?
The class and especially that archetype are based on Elric of Melnibone. His sword devoured souls. The capstone ability for the blade is called Life Drinker. Also, think Legacy of Kain games, if you're familiar, the blade was called Soul Reaver.
Why not go with a Gestalt BB Magus / Sin Eater Inquisitor?
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ehh well my reasoning behind the two options really comes from backstory and party interactions over the last two years of running this game with them. The player has found out that due to some of prior actions he has broken one of the primal laws of the multiverse and has made him not only one of the most hunted men in the multiverse and his soul one of the most valuable souls in all the verse. Due to this it kind of goes without saying that many an outsider has chased after him with bone devils, horned demons, and a kolyarut to just name a few. The gnoll is the next step in this line and is also a former enemy from way back. Last time they saw him he was a slaver they met encountered during one of their raids who managed to go down but survive the assault, stabilize, and drag himself back to the skiff they were using along with one of his packs hyena's. While on the skiff he nearly dies from exposure when the horseman of famine appears to him and offers him the chance to stay alive and get revenge on the one who left him to die. All he has to do is reap the most valuable soul in the verse. The gnoll submits all to willingly and is shown the power of souldrinking and is now on a collision course with the party. He's meant to represent the first inklings of the daemons coming for him and to help hammer home how relentlessly these outsiders are in their pursuit of him. On that regard i wanted something that can track and follow them endlessly, that fits with the horseman's want to mutate and change things, and liked the dark parallel that the shapeshifter brings since Filtran (the player in question) is a shifter scout with DR to silver which the shapeshifter can get. My issue with the bladebound is that I think it kind of takes away from the primal nature in tuned villain of feral cunning that is gunning him down. Also the idea of a bladebound is that the weapon is the key threat instead of the wielder itself which I'm not really feeling for this villain (though i may use this for someone else later), that combined with the high intelligence over wisdom kind of turns me off to the idea though i will say thanks i might use that for another guy to come later.
You might also want to take a look at the Hungry Ghost Monk archetype, and there's a trait in the Pathfinder Society book called Soul Drinker that should work thematically.