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we're going to start a 3.5 game with a standardish setting, most things allowed (bar from leadership *curses*) character lv12, all players will be playing evil characters. i need help in building a lawful or neutral evil character that's basically a controller, evil manipulator who plays the laws of the lands for his gain and manipulates others to do his dirty deads. he's going to be head of a house, a guild and a church (which means he probably won't have any money left for magic items unfortunatly)
so any suggestions on how i could build/optimise this character consept?
It's a little wide open here, so I am not really sure how to direct you as so MANY different builds would work very well with what you are suggesting.
Off the top of my head, Wizard is the king controller in 3.5 and certainly could fit in with what you are looking for.
An Ur-Priest might be an interesting way to go as well.
Finally I could see a bard fitting very nicely with your concept.
A cleric is a solid choice too.
Sean Mahoney
we're going to start a 3.5 game with a standardish setting, most things allowed (bar from leadership *curses*) character lv12, all players will be playing evil characters. i need help in building a lawful or neutral evil character that's basically a controller, evil manipulator who plays the laws of the lands for his gain and manipulates others to do his dirty deads. he's going to be head of a house, a guild and a church (which means he probably won't have any money left for magic items unfortunatly)
so any suggestions on how i could build/optimise this character consept?
A beguiler from the PHB II might suit your needs as well. I have not actually played one so I am not certain how well the character plays but I have been thinking of one. Or a wizard with enchantment focus? I think Sean's suggestion of the bard is a great one as well.
You could try Kirth's adaptation of the Beguiler as a Sorcerer bloodline. That's cool.
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I need help in building a lawful or neutral evil character that's basically a controller, evil manipulator who plays the laws of the lands for his gain and manipulates others to do his dirty deads.
A Cleric with Leadership could work. While Clerics aren't known for their enchantment spells, you'll have Diplomacy as a class skill, and with the right Domains (such as Charm or Mind (both available in the SRD, although Mind is hidden in the psionics stuff and often gets overlooked)), you can add in some useful mind-affecting spells.
Bestow Curse makes for an amazingly versatile 'lesser, lesser geas' option, afflicting your followers with various penalties if they don't play along. The ability to remove curses, restore ability damage, cure disease, etc. goes a long way to establishing and maintaining control, particularly if you also have ways of inflicting those conditions on others (such as some rebuked shadows, wraiths, spectres, greater shadows, etc. as servant creatures, floating along with you as a retinue, striking down anyone that displeases you). Shadows and Greater Shadows are particularly awesome, as quite a few encounters of the appropriate challenge rating can't even hurt them, and are helpless before them. Note that if you don't want to focus on direct mind-control magics (through the Charm domain), you might also want to look at various other domains that allow Rebuke / Command options.
Air - air subtype creatures (elementals, some mephits, some dragons), Earth - earth subtype creatures (elementals, some mephits, some dragons, thoqqua, gargoyles), Fire - fire subtype creatures (elementals, some mephits, some dragons, thoqqua, magmin), Water - water subtype creatures (elementals, some mephits, some dragons), Plant - plant type creatures (shambling mounds, assassin vines), Warforged (if available, from Eberron, rebuke / command constructs, including golems, homonculi, warforged, maug, raggomoffyns, etc.), Spider (spider swarms, colossal spiders, etc.), Scalykind (monitors, giant crocodiles, dinosaurs?)
Some get quite scary, as you can give the Plant type to pretty much *anything* by using certain templates (Topiary Guardian, Yellow Musk Zombie) and the Construct type via Raggomoffyn or Half-Golem templatage.
If going for extensive use of Rebuke / Command, it pays to take Improved Turning and as many items (such as an Phylactery of Undead Turning) that you can to improve your effective turning level. At 12th level, an evil Cleric with Earth and Fire, for instance, taking Improved Turning and a +4 Amulet of Turning, can have up to a 17 HD worth of undead, 17 HD worth of Earth subtype critters and 17 HD worth of Fire subtype critters rebuked, of up to 8 HD each. Other items such as a scepter of the netherworld (adds +3 effective levels) or sacred shield (adds +2 effective levels) only boost this higher (to 22 HD per control pool, of up to 11 HD each).
Lots of useful 3.5 Cleric info can be found
here.
Scepter of the Netherworld can be found here.
here.