D&D 5E Suggest the enemy for my 5E war campaign?

[Satyrn]

5. Gnomish paladins riding flumphs, using rapiers as lances.

Oh sweet. Now I know what my next PC is gonna be.

 

[OGIHR]

First, let me thank you all for being so helpful.

As I said in my original post, I'm feeling a need for villains rather than monsters, so the various underdark races (drow, illithid, kuo-toa, aboleths, yuan-ti, etcetera) don't really fit with what I have in mind...

I want villains who need to be stopped, not because they've got inhuman shapes and colorations and languages and eating habits, but because of the inhuman agenda which their nation is pursuing. People first, monstrosity second. I hope that I'm making sense.

The evil necromancer with an army of undead is similarly a framework for a campaign of monstrosity-bashing, plus I do still intend to run the 5E Ravenloft book one of these days, so I definitely don't want to put myself into a position to get sick of using undead as antagonists.

Which means that the first answer (from Vincegetorix) is the one that best fits my desired flavor. A Wild Hunt drawing reinforcements directly from the Feywild, on a crusade for dominion over the entire (prime material) world, and considering any culture that speaks a language other than Elvish to be filthy animals undeserving of the basic rights of sapient beings.

And Lowkey13's gnomish paladins... I've got to work that in somehow. That's just too bonkers not to be included in one of my games.

Again, thank you all. And please feel free to continue suggesting things, if anyone desires. Until the first session is actually underway, I'm always open to changing every step of my GMing plan.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I love underdogs stories, so I suggest you have them at a clear disadvantage against the Wild Hunt: cities without unity, war profiteers, traitors etc. Have your player feel the pain of losing, like having them hold an army until the most refugees escape: they cant win the fight, the longer they hold the fort, the more will escape, but in the end they'll have to retreat and leave some behind. That hurts.

If you can get your hand of Reavers of the Harkenwold for 4e, you'll get a nice starter set where you village is captured by an hostile force and you have to sabotage and gain allies to hold the resistance base and mount a counter-attack against the forces occupying your village. This could get your PC from level 1 to 3 and established the enemy before they enroll in the militia.

 

[Dan Chernozub]

I would suggest radical xenophobe human state bent on erradicating all other humanoids from their land. Non-human PCs are instantly motivated and it is not hard for a human to disagree with such a policy.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

What about brain leaches? Or a similar concept to They Live. Or like the Yeerks from Animorphs. They have positioned themselves into various places of power, and have orchestrated a kind of take over. However, somehow the word got out and their over was blown, forcing a more open conflict against these creatures. And while portions of the continent, kingdom, however you draw the boundaries are known to house their forces, it is still difficult to trust who is who. They have spies everywhere because they can blend in, be your best friend, or your squad leader, and you would never know. Maybe the war is a losing one. And the mission of the players is to either find a weapon that can destroy them (possibly destroying their hosts, creating a moral quandry) or a way to successfully and reliably identify those infected without needing to kill the hose first. Creates a situation of paranoia and distrust. And the enemy is the very definition of ambiguous.

 

[Iry]

Giants

They have set out on a war to purge the smaller races, because the smaller races are only good for nibbling, stealing, and making messes. The greatest and grandest of human castles are just toy houses to them, elven forest homes are standing in the way of good lumber, and it's hard to care when your complaints are tiny squeaking things. Who can even see those tricksy halflings from way up here?

Giants offer a wide range of challenges, from misdirecting a group of hill giants into a trap, facing down a fire giant champion in battle, to the walls of a great city crumbling before the mighty storm giants. Framing giants into a coherent and efficient military would be frightening as hell, and excellent grounds for uniting the races against them.

Giants also offer an incredible range of set pieces and challenges of scale that are much more novel than your ordinary medium sized opponents. You can draw inspiration from fables, Roman conquests, and even Attack on Titan for imagery.

 

[ArchfiendBobbie]

Aarakocra

A group of fanatical aarokocra led by an insane monarch who has come to the insane belief that ground-based people are trying to ban all flight and magically limit it. Believing this would spell death for his people, he decided to strike first in a desperate bid to stop this from happening.

 

[DeanP]

Civil war sparked by a religious order or cult.

 

[cbwjm]

You could always make the enemy another human nation. Modelling them after Rome during its height could be interesting. Whether the eradicate nonhumans or integrate them into the empire will change the tone. Siege equipment might be pushed into place by ogres or hill giants. Giant's themselves could be used as siege engines. Orcs could be used as shock troops, sent in to weaken the enemy before the elite troops are sent in.

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[Quickleaf]

First, let me thank you all for being so helpful.

As I said in my original post, I'm feeling a need for villains rather than monsters, so the various underdark races (drow, illithid, kuo-toa, aboleths, yuan-ti, etcetera) don't really fit with what I have in mind...

I want villains who need to be stopped, not because they've got inhuman shapes and colorations and languages and eating habits, but because of the inhuman agenda which their nation is pursuing. People first, monstrosity second. I hope that I'm making sense.

The evil necromancer with an army of undead is similarly a framework for a campaign of monstrosity-bashing, plus I do still intend to run the 5E Ravenloft book one of these days, so I definitely don't want to put myself into a position to get sick of using undead as antagonists.

Which means that the first answer (from Vincegetorix) is the one that best fits my desired flavor. A Wild Hunt drawing reinforcements directly from the Feywild, on a crusade for dominion over the entire (prime material) world, and considering any culture that speaks a language other than Elvish to be filthy animals undeserving of the basic rights of sapient beings.

And Lowkey13's gnomish paladins... I've got to work that in somehow. That's just too bonkers not to be included in one of my games.

Again, thank you all. And please feel free to continue suggesting things, if anyone desires. Until the first session is actually underway, I'm always open to changing every step of my GMing plan.

A protectorate of a Byzantine magocratic empire has steadily been severing ties & affirming independence as the mages overextend themselves. Because the protectorate covers a wide swath of wild territory and the local rulers have their own magic, it's rare to find the dreaded "witch-finders" sent to "reclaim" magic items & abduct youth with the gift for magic to be trained in the wizards' towers & hunt down renegade magic-users. The mages are humans but they lose their humanity through their pursuit of power-mongering and esoteric arcane doctrines. War has been a long time coming, and any number of flashpoints could lead to escalating conflict that results in closing of borders. It's even possible the ruler of the protectorate (where PCs are from) is related to the empire's Archmage in some way - a former apprentice or niece/nephew, for example.