Has anyone tried out the mountebank class for a villain? How effective have they been and what tactics have you used to make them challenging? I want to convert a recurring bard opponent into a mountebank (rather than using the mountebank prestige class from Complete Scoundrel) in order to make him a bit more nefarious.
Well first of, the DCI version of the Mountebank is definitely much more interesting than the CS version.
As for using one as a villain, I cannot help you, but I have used one as a PC in a campaign. It wasn't an all-evil one. I think I was CN or CE, but I used that alignment hiding thing they had to make the paladin in the party think I was just a simple rogue who really liked to dress in black and creepy demonic stuff...still didn't get him completely off my back.
Was a while back though. I don't remember much more than that. It was a very short campaign if I remember correctly, so I don't have any details in my head besides the paladin thing.
Maybe I should use one as a villain sometime soon. I mean, they are really really cool.
I ran a game with a mountebank character (not a villain per se) for quite a while in Black days of Kor Kammor (see campaign journals). The character was reasonable effective with allies or when running a well-planned ambush, but quickly got whacked in a stand-up fight or when alone.
As a vaillain that has minions to assist, or *as* assisting minions, I think she'd work great. But if you want a big bad guy to take on the heroes alone, i recommend something beefier.
One of my Savage Tide groups features a Mountebank. The character works well with other PCs, filling in the "rogue" slot nicely without being a stereotype. The slow sneak attack progression hurts, but the gaze penalties have been more useful than any of us suspected in a variety of situations. The character's ties to Hell are only dimly known to the rest of the party, and an agent of the Lord of Lies fits in well in a quest against Demogorgon. Inspired by the diplomacy check to return from the dead mechanic and the novel Lord Toade, I actually allowed the Mountebank to return from the dead WITHOUT a spell because of a very convincing argument.
I find the class well balanced, thematically fun and comparatively appropriate for a bad guy pc in a good guy party, but I don't think the class would stand up as a villain without minions aplenty. That said, the gaze can be pretty effective when you have a friend to back it up. The half-fiend thing bothers me a little, too - esp. since it becomes an NPC - but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Eric,
Your suggestion got me thinking. Maybe level 20 will include the first level of the half-fiend template, which I can then spread over a few levels. The mountebank has already allowed me to bring the nine hells into the savage tide, which is great. By the time my group gets to Big D, they'll all be epic anyhow. You're right to saay that even if I just gave the PC the full template, it probably wouldn't do much as a +4 level adjustment template doesn't mean nearly as much at level 20 as it does at level 1. Thanks for the suggestion.