D&D 5E Starting a new campaign and need some ideas for the BBEGs

[Abraxas]

I will be starting a new campaign soon and want it to have a Far Realms/H.P.Lovecraft feel to it.

I also want to try something new to get increased player buy in from the beginning. At the first session I plan to have the players run the BBEGs as they ransack the town the PCs all call home. I'll give them the BBEG pregens, with goals and personalities, and have them play out the destruction of the town. Now I'm not totally cruel - if they complete their BBEG's goals (and do it while staying true to the personality traits given) they'll be rewarded with tokens that they will be able to use to improve their PCs.

Right now I have the following PCs
Barbarian - Half Orc
Cleric - Dwarf
Druid - ?
Fighter - Human
Ranger - Elven
Warlock - ?
Wizard - Human

I'm thinking of the following BBEGs
Bard - Human
Cleric - Minotaur
Fighter - Dwarf
Anti-Paladin - Half Orc
Ranger - Gnoll
Rogue - Nothic
Sorcerer - Dragonborn

What I could use is help creating these BBEG characters with interesting personalities (especially traits that would make them memorable as villains)

Their starting levels for the town ransack will be 5th to 8th. I'm using a starting standard array of 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11 for these guys/gals because most likely, if the players are smart, they will find ways to get at 1 or 2 of them at a time with just minion types for support. So, does anyone feel like helping me create some bad guys?

 

[Quartz]

Presumably these are in fact lackeys of the BBEG, not the BBEG herself? Or are you recreating the scene from the beginning of Conan? In which case you should make one the leader and markedly higher level than the others.

And if you want to showcase the power of the enemy, make them 11th or 12th level and the PCs' mentors 5th level. Bounded Accuracy means that once the PCs reach 4th level or so they should be able to tackle the evil guys individually.

It might be better to not have such a variety of races, restricting them to 2 or 3 villainous races. To give them that Far Realms vibe, you might borrow the Gestalt concept from 3E and make them all gestalt Star Pact Warlocks.

I'll offer to start by stealing from Narnia:

The leader is a Tiefling Wizard // Warlock, level 14 or so, with everyone else level 11 or 12.
Her first lieutenant is a Minotaur Barbarian // Warlock,
Her second lieutenant is a Hobgoblin Anti-Paladin // Warlock
Her third lieutenant is a Hobgoblin Fighter // Warlock
The rest are Minotaurs and Hobgoblins, Rogues and Fighters, to taste, but still gestalted with Warlock.

 

[Abraxas]

That's an interesting Idea - and I like it. I think I'll make the leader a Nothic though - I just really like them for a far realms feel.

Thanx!

 

[Quartz]

A further thought: in the first session, have the PCs do practice combats against their mentors. This will show the PCs how powerful the mentors are. You can do this ostensibly to let everyone get the feel of the system in a non-lethal environment. It will help emotionally invest the players in the mentors. Then you, as a RBDM, can kill all the mentors with your village invasion in the second session while the PCs are away on an errand.

 

[Abraxas]

I'm having the players create the mentors - and I plan on a lead in session one on one with each player where I play the mentor they have created and they run their own PC.

That way, at the full session with everyone I'll have a feel for the mentor NPCs when the players run the bad guys that take the mentors out.

 

[Quartz]

I'm having the players create the mentors - and I plan on a lead in session one on one with each player where I play the mentor they have created and they run their own PC.

That's brilliant!

 

[Abraxas]

At those first one on one sessions I'll be able to drop some hints that will play into the whole "things aren't what they seem" and "the far realms might not be so far away" vibe I want for the campaign.

Then I'll take notes on what the players think might be going on and make sure to work those things into the campaign thus rewarding their astute observations and clever powers of deduction.