Ranger. Damn you Yoshimo!
That said, that's a personality. Any class can work. Although those with teleport work best as recurring does.
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Access to magic always makes betrayal easier, but good planning and a decent skill selection can make non-magical characters just as viable. Maybe even moreso, since players would probably be expecting magic and the lack thereof may throw them off a bit.
Makes me think of using Sculpt Corpse to leave a trail of body doubles of party members just to mess with them. . .
I'm longing to use Master Spy sometime :)
alchemist with simulacrums
I'm longing to use Master Spy sometime :)
that one is awesome too
Ranger. Damn you Yoshimo!
That said, that's a personality. Any class can work. Although those with teleport work best as recurring does.
Yoshimo betrays you??? Spoiler warning would have been nice...
On a 10 year old game.
What class would be best for making an npc who could be a betrayer to the party, and maintain his place as a reoccurring villain? Would an illusionist be best?
yay, this takes me back... (story at the bottom)
Illusionist is great, one who never stands up to fight but unleashes chaos and escapes. Guiding the plot by misinformation can be fun for evil GMs.
If you have a suitable player, start the betrayer as a pc! Either the party will happily ignore any clues, or there will be a confrontation within the party which leads to the betrayal. In both cases it becomes more personal.
My favourite villain was a gnome illusionist betrayer starting out as a PC. There were some great moments.
When the druid confronted him about kicking cats and dogs, the player literally responded "i dont like them. But im not evil, im just chaotic: see it says chaotic good right here on my character sheet", and proceeded with sadistic selfish behaviour. The others muttered worries but didn't confront him.
The party rescued a powerful crystal ball/palantir from being stolen by raiding orcs (where a player jokingly said "it was so easy, you would almost the orcs were just a distraction so we would get it"). It was simple enough for him (now lvl3) to colour spray his fellow nightwatch, snatch the bag, go invisible and make ghost sound footsteps in several directions while sneaking away. The reactions ranged from "but.. you're a player, why did you do that?" to "cat-kicker, i knew it!" to "i'm gonna skewer that gnome if its the last thing i do".
Upon reporting their shameful failure and loss of powerful magic, they were saddled with a new commander - enter the arrogant paladin (same player) who spent the rest of the campaign reminding them of their failure to spot evil when it looked them in the face and pointing out all the evil that would have been prevented if they had been more vigilant.
In the meantime, I as GM had a villain who knew the party were after him, but could always keep a step ahead due to having a powerful scrying device (and becoming the servant of the demon inside) and knowing their weaknesses. Another great moment was when the party defeated assassins and found letters describing their looks, abilities and weaknesses in very nasty terms (i balanced that by some heroic bard songs, but they really hated that gnome).
When they finally pinned down the gnome, there were so many insults (and kicked cats) to be revenged that defeating him really was the climax of the campaign despite him beign a pitiful combatant.
Yoshimo's class was Bounty Hunter, actually. Not sure what that translates to in the official books. Also, cool story with that Gnome Illusionist, though I'm surprised it worked out without too much trouble for then guy who played the Gnome and the Paladin.
Actually the best man for this job would be a Paladin. Just make him follow some virtuous cause that will lead him to an unseen conflict with the goals of the PCs. A helpful NPC that the PCs will trust will suddenly face a misguded soul that might be driven by blind zeal and pride to on-spot conversion to Antipaladin? Either a dramatic scene where the PCs will save him from the fall or a fight that will pit a NPC geared to slay good characters + perhaps a few fallen angels in a memorable fight that may or may not end in plane shift away...
"I see the Angels! They are calling to me! They are comming! You! You must not stand in the way of Justice! Make way! Like the people of Skelligan did!"
I see... a noble with evil mustache and goatee.
Seriously, take cardinal Richelieu for sometimes help, often enemy (If you don't know where to look, than the one I like the most is the 1973 adaptation (unfortunately there's only the beginning on youtube)) and if you are looking for a more hands-on approach, then noone less than Long Jhon Silver is your man. This time there is a full movie to see. Can't help it but Charlton Heston plays two of my best loved bad guys :)
As I'm thinking about it, both of them have their own goals that make perfect sense and that at some points are crossing other character's path, while heading toward the same general direction. the closer the paths, the more opportunity for intersections and conflicts :)
You could use reincarnated druid for an npc that will keep recurring. Also has an ability that makes them harder to find out about.
For Cardinal Richelieu-type I'd recommend a cleric of a deity like Abadar that will be acting like a perfect member of his faith, having an access to vast resources and agenda to further his cause through any means.
Actually having an access to the trickery domain via separatist archetype to give him an extra edge. High INt for skills would be a burden, but worth it IMO ;)