D&D 5E Fun ideas for a Diviner mini-villain

[Trit One-Ear]

Hey all,

I'm about to introduce a new antagonist for my players to hate, and could use some help coming up with ways besides combat for them to clash with him.

A local Lord's attempts to muster his armies have been thwarted at every turn. No matter what he tries, messengers are intercepted, spells counterspelled, and spies caught. The reason - his enemies have hired a powerful Diviner to watch him and foil his efforts. The Diviner has allied himself with a Nothic, who possesses knowledge of a powerful item that allows divination magic to bypass wards and protection spells.

Neither the Nothic or the Diviner have particularly strong combat abilities (my group is 8th lvl), so I'm trying to think of ways his knowledge of the future can help him get the better of the party.

I'm already thinking he can easily set up ambushes etc, and I'll be borrowing an idea from OotS if/when the party ever catches up with him and kills him (pre-arranging for a raise dead spell after they leave). Any other fun ideas to make my players hate this guy before they ever meet him?

Trit

 

[ZenBear]

Check out Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire. It’s a fun read from start to finish, in my opinion, and has a Diviner Duel pretty early on in the overall story.

 

[Zardnaar]

The diviner could be CR 12 which would give them access to foresight, load up on diination spells and you are good to go. Also if they can cast foresight you can go

"I have foreseen it" a'la the Emperor. Mage Armor+ shield+ decent dex+ foresight makes the diviner hard to hit, just thorw in a few mostly non combat spells with a few stinkers just in case.

 

[seebs]

I had one of those as a lowish-level enemy once. Just used Augury before attacking any merchant caravans. No certain answer => don't attack.

 

[Trit One-Ear]

Loving the idea of upping him a few levels and giving him Foresight. Certainly would make him more of a threat.
I've been planning on using the Diviner stat block from Volvo's guide. I love Portent, but wish it recharged more/divination spells had more combat uses. I might tweak it a little and recharge on a 5/6, as it's a cool and unique aspect.

The more I've thought about it, the more it seems I can respond to whatever the players do with a little on the fly BS. If the Diviner has foretold their plans, I can fudge exactly how he outthinks them until I as DM see what they want to do. Throw in the Nothic with some creepy telepathic whispering and secret revealing and it should be a memorable pair of villains.

This all being said I'm very open to hearing more ideas if folks have them.

Trit

 

[Zardnaar]

Loving the idea of upping him a few levels and giving him Foresight. Certainly would make him more of a threat.
I've been planning on using the Diviner stat block from Volvo's guide. I love Portent, but wish it recharged more/divination spells had more combat uses. I might tweak it a little and recharge on a 5/6, as it's a cool and unique aspect.

The more I've thought about it, the more it seems I can respond to whatever the players do with a little on the fly BS. If the Diviner has foretold their plans, I can fudge exactly how he outthinks them until I as DM see what they want to do. Throw in the Nothic with some creepy telepathic whispering and secret revealing and it should be a memorable pair of villains.

This all being said I'm very open to hearing more ideas if folks have them.

Trit

Volos Guide has the CR 12 Druid that has level 9 spells. Have a look at that and see how many are combat spells but CR 12 is within the limits for a level 8 party.