Generally sounds like a specialized necromancer, probably dropping evocation and conjuration. (If he's planning on recruiting lots of help from people going after him he probably needs to be able to use enchantments and illusions to twist their will and deceive them, unless he's going to have a really incredibly good silver tongue.)
Necromancers tend to be of two types: "Look at all my undead minions; once you hack through them I'm toast", and "I snuff out your soul, unless you make your saving throw". This guy maybe sounds more like the first type, so you might invest a few feats in helping him craft tough and unique undead. (Libris Mortis has many good undead-making feats, but you could just invent some as well.)
You need to think carefully about how he's planning to tempt/recruit the PCs; maybe part of what he does is observe them carefully and craft his approach to how they work. (One nifty feature might be giving him a spell that lets him look through the eyes of some his minions, and maybe talk through them; that way he can sound out the PCs without risking his own precious hide. And it's cool to have the eyes suddenly glow green and ANOTHER VOICE SPEAKS FROM THE LIFELESS JAW sort of thing.) You can wait on this for a bit while you observe how your players would react and what approaches the wizard would use on them.
You'll need to decide if he's the sort that stays in his lair all the time, or if he goes out and about a lot.
Note that at 11th level he could probably transform into a lich -- maybe he's not there yet and wants to manipulate the PCs into carrying out some of the requirements for his transformation ("Here, I give you the Sword of Microwaving Enemies, every soul you kill is trapped in the blade until it fuels my transformation", or "Your true foe is the Evil Nymph of Lake Superior, go kill here, so I can collect her hair to make the whip I'll flog myself to death with as part of my transformation.")
Also note that even if the PCs kill him maybe he can come back as a lich. You won't have to decide that until later.
The thing with high level wizards is twofold:
1) Make sure you get the most out of your spells. By this level he can use Quicken Spell effectively to get two castings a turn: his major one and a quickened 1st/2nd level. Likewise, a few good long-duration buff spells and even a contingency spell can make him much more survivable.
2) Try and arrange matters so the PCs have to fight your magic without getting close to you. Minions between you and them, thoughtful arrangement of defensive and concealing spells (a necromancer with illusions can be really hard to find among all the bones; I once had a necromancer hide inside a hollow statue and use ventriloquism to pretend to be the guy sitting on the throne -- who was a major melee monster the PCs really shouldn't have tried to close with), giving minions wands so they can cast spells as well and if one dies so what, just animate another.
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The plan is to have him out looking over his "recruits" personally in the guise of an old man with a staff...
I'm loving the plan already! Even when they try their best not to metagame, players often some to the table with preconceived ideas of the archetypical cast of characters and standard plots you get in a fantasy setting. Present this guy as Gandalf and, in many cases, they'll take him to be just that... until the evidence against him starts to mount up...
One big hurdle for you here is that detecting alignment in Pathfinder is a trivial matter (as long as you have a cleric or paladin in the party). Paladins especially are notorious for routinely sweeping each and every NPC they meet for signs of evil. You know your group, of course, so you're probably gonna' know if this is likely to be something that blows any chance of deception on the bad guy's part in round one of their meeting him, or if the party will go along with it until he gives them some reason to warrant suspicion.
The thing is, of course, you don't want to punish players who actually do check him for the eevills - after all, it is the reasonable and smart thing to do. Undetectable Alignment isn't on the Wizard spell list, and giving him some cheesy 'block anything the players try' magic item is just the sort of unfair punishment of smart players which one should avoid.
In some cases the solution to this is simple for the guy never to pretend he's not evil. He doesn't have to admit he's the guy they're after, just needs a plausable story as to why he's 'helping' them. 'I hate that necromancer and want you to help me get revenge...' is a good sort of place to start - he's giving them a belivable reason why someone like him wants their help while never pretending to be a 'good guy' - just pretending to be 'the enemy of your enemy'.
In any case, that's not really what you asked so - yeah, just be aware that Detecting stuff is easy for most PC groups and plan the bad guy's deceptions accordingly.
Edit: More along the lines of what I think you're asking...
If you'd consider giving the guy a familiar, a raven makes a great necromancer familiar - ravens peck out the eyeballs of dead men (and familiars can deliver touch spells for you, and spy for you, and all sorts of helpful stuff)...
The Gentle Repose spell is a must for a deceptive necromancer - with this puppy, and a fresh kill to animate, you can whip-up undead which look a lot more alive than usual. E.g. 'That poor maiden looks really pale and sort of out of it as she staggers down the road towards you... like maybe she's been attacked or something?' PCs: 'We must help her!' as opposed to 'The zombie shambles towards...' PCs 'We (re)kill it!'
At level 10 or higher your guy can make himself a flesh golem 'shield guardian' (Bestiary p.158, 160 and 314 for the Craft Construct Feat) as a bodyguard. Scale the thing back to medium size, give the guy some ranks in Crafting so he can be a bit artistic with it, and use that Gentle Repose every week or so, and his golem can look like a mysterious silent goth chick who follows him around, instead of like Frankenstein's monster. Just try not to laugh if one of the PCs trys to hit on her... :)
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Sounds excellent!
Right, you said level 10 to 11 - I'd go with 11 for several reasons:
a. It's the minimum caster level for the Craft Staff Feat - that staff of his sounds like one of his character hooks, and he's not sounding like a guy who'd have purchased it from someone else. (He's a guy who originates the powerful magic stuff). Character level 11 also gives him a Feat with which to get that Craft Staff.
b. As tonyz mentioned level 11 qualifies him for lichdom - all he needs apart from the level is the Craft Wonderous Item Feat and whatever ritual you as the DM deem appropriate. While the lich thing may not be part of the immediate campaign, it gives him a good way to come back if / when the PCs finally 'defeat' him. In fact, when he does return as a lich he can reveal that their 'killing' of him was, in fact, the final part of the ritual which he needed them to complete ('cos he needed to be 'cut down by a pure soul' or 'snuffed by one of your bloodline' or whatever you feel matches the situation). Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat is master villian gold.
c. At level 11 he can cast 'Create Undead'. That gives him the ability to create Ghouls as well as the Skeletons and Zombies he can make with Animate Dead. A 4 hit dice + humanoid who dies from Ghoul Fever rises as a Ghast, so he can indirectly create them as well.
You've made him a Wizard, not a Sorcerer, so he can justifiably cast any arcane spell up to level 6 - he's had the time to find and research anything he needs. Remember that oppositon schools are just harder to cast, not impossible, in Pathfinder, so if when glancing over the spell lists you notice that you'll only be using certain school's spells for long term stuff (like magical traps) then feel free to make that one of his opposition schools.
You mentioned his non-undead leadership qualities: are you giving him the Leadership Feat, or just handwaving it? In either case, his choice of lieutenants will be important - at 7 or more levels higher than the party he's designed to be out of their league, so they're more likely to toe-to-toe some of his underlings. Good cohort choices for a necromancer are the Skeletal Champion (which can't be purposely created, but kinda' just spontaneously happens in certain circumstances - and he's bound to have got lucky some time in his re-animating career), or an apprentice (a lite version of the big bad, with less experience and less caution). You mentioned he's old - a family member (child or grandchild) makes a great apprentice for a character like that (and explains why they're with him at all - he raised them). Maybe he's also secretly the grandfather of one of the PCs ('Luke... I am your father!')?
Animate Dead is your go-to minion creation spell. In Pathfinder this means you can make Skeletons, Zombies and their varients. Bloody Skeletons and Flaming Skeletons he can just make (at x2 Hit Dice 'value', x3 if it's a 'bloody, flaming, skeleton'). He'll want both Haste and Contagion in his spellbook so he can also make Fast Zombies and Plague Zombies (no hike in Hit Dice value, just need the extra spells). Fast Zombies in particular work well with the Gentle Repose trick I mentioned in my earlier post - Zombie Ninja rule! Also remember that he's not limited to human dead - animated skeletal dogs and zombie eagles are his to command (not to mention skeletal and zombie versions of anything else in the Bestiary). He can field a lot of variety, especially if he can also create Ghouls and Ghasts, and gets Craft Construct for making Flesh Golems and a Homonculus (thematically appropriate for a necromancer, but not technically undead - which mixes things up a bit and puts the PCs on their toes).
Inflict spells cure his undead minions, as does channeled negative energy. Making some of his followers (a few of the goblins for example) low level Clerics of some dark god will enable him to field unit commanders and medics for his undead troops. If the gobbos are death-worshippers that may be part of the reason they're working for him in the first place?
What sort of ruins did you have in mind? They're underground, and he has access to plenty of spells to reshape and mould the terrain to his liking, depending on how long he's been there. One neat necro-trick is to have underground earthen corridors where there are dead bopdies in the walls and ceiling (maybe he's just tunnelled under a cemetary) - he, or his necro-spell using minions, can animate dead which emerge from those places instead of the usual floor - dropping dead people on your PCs is nasty... but fun...
A note about my shield guardian suggestion from before - he can stick a spell of up to level 4 in the thing which it can 'cast' at a later date. Animate Dead is a level 4 arcane spell. He could make himself a medium-sized Flesh Golem 'fake necromancer' to throw the PCs off the trail: put the thing in a black cloak, have the PCs spot it 'animating the dead' and let their assumptions proceed to make 2+2 = 5.
Presuming he has Craft Wonderous Item (for his eventual lichdom) and Craft Staff (for his... um... staff), then he can supply some of his minions with magic items. He may want some of the other Craft Feats too if he's a 'lead from the rear' sort of a guy, to supply his troops with potions et al.
Is any of that the sort of stuff you're looking for?
You could make him the local Knacker man.
This would give him a reason to be turning up in odd places with a wagon full of things no one wants to look that closely at, as well as giving his lair a real Texas Chainsaw Massacre feel.
The other thing you might do with the staff is have it be an ancient artifact he discovered; it might have some unusual animating powers, or whatever you want. (That gives you a hook for later... who made the staff? where are they now? what other powers might it have that he never used?)
Some might not agree with this but i LOVE Necromancers. Some of my most favorite chars to play. I would suggest getting or borrowing a copy of The Complete Book of Necromancers. Yes it is a 2nd Edition book which is a bit of a set back. But it has alot of great into about Necros in it that can be used for both arcane and divine Necros. Some really good spells and nice items too. I'm sure with a little work or help anything in the book can be worked and updated for Pathfinder.
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For special fun early on...
Play him like a diviner. Not a nice guy, but reliable, fair on his prices, and always delivers. Make him very useful to the party for things like scrolls, maps, advice, and tactical suggestions.
Of course, he's taking notes as they go, tallying up their experiences and whatnot. But he's the go-to-guy for solid adventurin' information, and the PC's can't pass that up, can they?
Somewhen, when you want to pull the big reveal, I'd go with one of the above suggestions...a disposable mook does some "necromancy" hoobitygoo, gets the brunt of the PC's wrath, and BOOM: in steps Mr. Villain.
Make sure he gets away from the party at least once. Twice is even better, since they're likely gunning to keep him in place on the 2nd go-round. Aggravated PC's = Engaged Players = Fun Game!
I don't know what books you have access to, but some of the staves on the named NPC wizards/sorcerers in the latest AP's are nasty. Of course, you can just pick the spells you know you'd like to cast in a fight.
Some might not agree with this but i LOVE Necromancers. Some of my most favorite chars to play. I would suggest getting or borrowing a copy of The Complete Book of Necromancers. Yes it is a 2nd Edition book which is a bit of a set back. But it has alot of great into about Necros in it that can be used for both arcane and divine Necros. Some really good spells and nice items too. I'm sure with a little work or help anything in the book can be worked and updated for Pathfinder.
Seconded on Complete Necromancers, easily the best second edition book released.
Not much to add, but one trick I've used time and time again over the years is the "enemy of my enemy" bit. Basically, if there's an identifiable named enemy that the PCs think is leading their foes, then a NPC showing a little bit of contemptuous behavior towards the BBEG figurehead is likely to garner their trust. And if he solidifies their trust with some (not too much) advice against the pseudo-BBEG, then it will likely go a long way to getting their trust. Be sure not to overplay the amount of information the real BBEG in disguise gives them, you want it to correspond to how much information the cover identity could logically give.
Also, be sure to make sure you don't overuse deception. Put in some NPCs they can really trust and are obviously trustworthy. To mix things up, you might put in some red herrings that might seem untrustworthy at times but really are trustworthy. Perhaps these could serve as fall guys if the players expect a mole in their midst.
People have added alot of good info here for you. Something you can consider is adding a Skeletal Champion. He could be your Necromancers big bad heave hitter/muscle. Just give it class levels in a melee class and your good to go. You could have your Necromancer use it as a way to get close to the party while providing a controlled bad guy for them.
Or you could have it so that seeing as Skeletal Champions have Int, they hate the fact they have been enslaved and tend to always be looking for a way to free themselves and their souls. You can have it so over the course of the campaign he slowly begins to see that he can use the party to help him break free so helps them in some ways. From maybe letting them go, info, some small sutle help while in battle to turn the tide in the party's favor and go from there.
Another think you can consider if you have a Cleric or Wizard who you think might be interested and you'll be throwing alot or enough undead at them. Offer them the option to become Undead Hunters or something of the like. After all not all Necromancers are evil.
Another think you can consider if you have a Cleric or Wizard who you think might be interested and you'll be throwing alot or enough undead at them. Offer them the option to become Undead Hunters or something of the like. After all not all Necromancers are evil.
Sorry i meant Undead Slayers. But no reason you couldn't have Undead Hunters as well.
As an interesting variation, check out the Undead-bloodline Sorcerer. Their bloodline arcana allows them to use any mind-affecting spells on ex-humanoid undead as though they were still humanoid--thus, you can use dominate person on your animated skeletons. That way, not only can you mentally command your undead from way far away, you can also sense everything that's going on around them--makes for one hard-to-sneak-up-on bad guy, that's for sure. Plus, dominate person still works equally well on living humans, allowing him an easier time of manipulating the townsfolk if he focuses on both necromancy and enchantment spells.
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Hey, I love that idea wynterknight - may have to steal that one for one of my games at some point! :)
Even if the main bad guy's a Wizard necromancer, if you go with the 'he's recruited one of his grandkids' idea then the younger generation bad guy has a great excuse (grandpappy's messing with things that weren't meant to be) to have grown up into an undead-bloodline sorcerer like wynterknight suggests.
I don't know if this will help in any way, but one of my players casually mentioned this at our game table the other week (and did so to another player, who likes playing necromancers occasionally... who sound like Christopher Walkin by-the-way). The character build suggestion was as follows... take one level of sorcerer (undead bloodline), then one level of cleric (with Domains Death and Magic), next level take wizard 1 (Necromancy specialty/school)... the players idea/suggestion is that most or all of these class abilities stack or have synergy with each other. (The rest of the idea would be to continue with cleric and wizard, get each up to level 3; so a Sorcerer 1/Cleric 3/Wizard 3... and then go into Mystic Theurge). If you use traits (and my group does) he suggested that the player take Magical Knack (I think) for his sorcerer level.
I think it's an interesting concept/idea and I wouldn't mind seeing this character in action... sure it'd be a pain in the butt for several levels (until you begin MT, and maybe still a pain since you aren't a full arcane or divine caster...) but... should this character come to pass, I happen to know that 2 other players of mine have a single class sorcerer, and a single class cleric ideas for our next game. (And I really want to try Council of Thieves).
The only thing, the player for whom this concept was even mentioned, can be contrary at times, and just because someone might want him to try something out (a class, a race, whatever) doesn't mean he will.
Heh heh, there wasn't any specific point to this, other than mentioning it in this necromancer thread. If you find it intriguing, give it a go, and see how it works. (Oh, and do let us (me) know about it). :)
Cheers!
Dean (TMW)
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The character build suggestion was as follows... take one level of sorcerer (undead bloodline), then one level of cleric (with Domains Death and Magic), next level take wizard 1 (Necromancy specialty/school)... the players idea/suggestion is that most or all of these class abilities stack or have synergy with each other. (The rest of the idea would be to continue with cleric and wizard, get each up to level 3; so a Sorcerer 1/Cleric 3/Wizard 3... and then go into Mystic Theurge).
A Mystic Theurge necromancer is a cool idea (see that goth girl in OoTS), but you'd be better off taking your first 5 levels in Cleric (to get Animate Undead - the go-to spell for being a necromantic type), then levels in either Sorcerer or Wizard (Necromancy) to get the 2nd level arcane spells prerequisite. Otherwise, even if you go the 'fast track' to Mystic Theurge (3 levels Cleric, 3 levels Wizard) you're looking at level 8 before you can even create any undead. Of course, if you're starting at a higher level anyway that's all moot.