Drow infiltrator into human republic: help me build him

[Master of the Dark Triad]

So, the story behind this guy is that he's the son of the highest drow matriarch of the under dark below this unnamed human nation. He was sent to infiltrate the government magically disguised as a human so that the drow could get a political foothold in the world above theirs.

Well, now he's in his second term of president of this nation, and he's slowly readying the country for the drow invasion.

Stat wise, I want him to of course be a drow, but not a drow noble. The reason for this is because I like to use my BBEGs as PCs of mine later. He must take the racial feats to be able to eventually use deeper darkness at will, and he needs the greater shadow eye piercing for the see in darkness ability.

Weapon wise, I want him to use something 1. Elegant and 2. easily concealable. For these reasons, I've thought maybe dual wielding kukris, a sword (which he could "hide" as it sort of being ceremonial), or unarmed strikes (maybe with the nightmare fist tree if at all possible.

Class wise, I have no idea what would work. I'm most partial to the nightmare fist idea just because it meshes well with the deeper darkness (and because it's SO COOL), but he will probably be quite feat starved. The dual kukris could probably be pulled off quite easily with a ranger, but I'm not sure how to exactly flavor that correctly with his backstory. With a sword of some sort, maybe just a fighter? Lots of feats for a bunch of stuff like the necessary racial feats.

It's been quite a while since I've poured through the rule books, so I also don't know of much new stuff. If you know of anything that would add to this, I'd love it.

All advice is welcome. Thank you!

[Dafydd]

Rogue would be the class I would go with. Or ninja, with 1 level dip in swashbuckler (not needed for the unchained rogue)

Sword Cane as the weapon, role play a limp. "You would deprive an old man of his walking cane?" You could also use a rapier with the Rogue.

Slip in as many of the drow racial feats as you want and you are good to go.

Do not forget to max Bluff, Disguise, Sense Motive, Perception, stick a few points in a number of KN (nobility, local, history will all be handy) and equip with a ring of mind shielding.

[Master of the Dark Triad]

See? New stuff. I'll take a look at the unchained rogue, thank you.

Also, sword came is an awesome idea. Completely missed that.

[cavernshark]

Master of the Dark Triad wrote:

See? New stuff. I'll take a look at the unchained rogue, thank you.

Also, sword came is an awesome idea. Completely missed that.

I'd seriously consider an Inquisitor with the Infiltrator archetype. In a world with magic it seems very unlikely that the leader of a nation could go unexposed to magical detection for long periods unless a) he could counter it or b) he had lots of assistance around him to prevent that from happening. The Investigator Inquisitor at least gets some protections from the basic forms of magical detection (alignment detection, truth spells, etc).

An alternate approach might be an Infiltrator Investigator. A little less magical, but he could use his alchemy to create / modify disguises and wouldn't be a terrible combatant. It's pretty iconic for an investigator to use a sword cane with studied combat.

If you want a melee weapon alternative to the nightmare fist line, you could just go with the Moonlight Stalker line. Combat Expertise ->Blind-fight -> Moonlight Stalker would work well to support an at-will deeper darkness tactic.

[VRMH]

Master Spy.
That is all.

[Master of the Dark Triad]

cavernshark wrote:

Master of the Dark Triad wrote:

See? New stuff. I'll take a look at the unchained rogue, thank you.

Also, sword came is an awesome idea. Completely missed that.

I'd seriously consider an Inquisitor with the Infiltrator archetype. In a world with magic it seems very unlikely that the leader of a nation could go unexposed to magical detection for long periods unless a) he could counter it or b) he had lots of assistance around him to prevent that from happening. The Investigator Inquisitor at least gets some protections from the basic forms of magical detection (alignment detection, truth spells, etc).

An alternate approach might be an Infiltrator Investigator. A little less magical, but he could use his alchemy to create / modify disguises and wouldn't be a terrible combatant. It's pretty iconic for an investigator to use a sword cane with studied combat.

If you want a melee weapon alternative to the nightmare fist line, you could just go with the Moonlight Stalker line. Combat Expertise ->Blind-fight -> Moonlight Stalker would work well to support an at-will deeper darkness tactic.

The reason I looked at the classes that I did was because I'd assume that any other class would be feat starved for this build. I'll look at inquisitor.

I'll also take a look at moonlit stalker. Sounds cool.

And VRMH, I'll look at that too.

[Master of the Dark Triad]

Anything else?

[Master of the Dark Triad]

Bump

[Dafydd]

Master Spy and maybe a level of Assassin can help. The Infiltrator can sneak around and assassinate nobles and generals who want to get in his way. Interestingly, Master Spy improves your Assassinate ability from the Assassin, even if you would not have the ability yet via Master Spy.

[Master of the Dark Triad]

I feel like both of those PrCs drain power from the base class(es), especially in the way of getting the feats I need.

[Dafydd]

If going Ninja, I might agree.

Master Spy has a number of feat prereqs, but the nondetection is very useful. Does not hurt to be VERY good at lying either.

[Musrum]

How about a half-drow with albinism?

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/variant-rules-3rd-party/a damant-entertainment/Drawbacks#TOC-Albinism

Pick up the Pass for Human Feat:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/pass-for-human

and just boost your mundane disguise.

[Skylancer4]

I honestly find it difficult to believe someone could get all the way to being president while magically disguised in a fantasy game where a Detect Magic could ruin the ploy. It would also be near impossible that they were never in view of someone with True Sight when dealing with all those high profile and paranoid politicians, advisors and bodyguards.

I'm all for a plot line, but it should be well thought out and with as few holes as possible. Yours would need work in our group.

[Oly]

The Master Spy PrC sucks for a PC, but for an NPC infiltrator it seems very useful.

[Master of the Dark Triad]

Skylancer4 wrote:

I honestly find it difficult to believe someone could get all the way to being president while magically disguised in a fantasy game where a Detect Magic could ruin the ploy. It would also be near impossible that they were never in view of someone with True Sight when dealing with all those high profile and paranoid politicians, advisors and bodyguards.

I'm all for a plot line, but it should be well thought out and with as few holes as possible. Yours would need work in our group.

Thank you for commenting without helping the subject at hand. Really appreciated!!

[Skylancer4]

Master of the Dark Triad wrote:

Skylancer4 wrote:

I honestly find it difficult to believe someone could get all the way to being president while magically disguised in a fantasy game where a Detect Magic could ruin the ploy. It would also be near impossible that they were never in view of someone with True Sight when dealing with all those high profile and paranoid politicians, advisors and bodyguards.

I'm all for a plot line, but it should be well thought out and with as few holes as possible. Yours would need work in our group.

Thank you for commenting without helping the subject at hand. Really appreciated!!

How about the implied "choose classes that make your concept actually possible"?

Your players will quite possibly feel cheated if you were to hand wave this into existence after questioning how it managed to happen. And what are you going to tell them? That it was an idea you really liked and hand waved in? The game will feel significantly more " solid " if you have the abilities and background worked out and can answer questions posed with some well thought out back story and capabilities.

Fill the barn house sized holes in your concept with a character who could actually manage to do what you are envisioning. Think about how all this managed to happen and be ready to give "believable" (for a fantasy game) answers. You asked for help on creating the character, I'm telling you to figure out how it managed to do what it has, and work from there.

You don't have to detail every single day, but coming up with ways that the character managed to bypass said abilities can only help your game. As well as make you a better GM.

[Umbral Reaver]

High levels of Master Spy seem mandatory.

[Umbral Reaver]

Also it turns out that the leader of the Drow nation is secretly a surface elf plotting all this to pit the humans and dark elves against each other in a mutually destructive war.

Meanwhile, the leader of the surface elves is secretly a goblin that has no particular plans but thinks this will all be very funny when everything comes crashing down.

[VRMH]

/me calls for a spy check on Umbral Reaver...