Ashrum the Black
Explorer
What makes a really good villian?
I started thinking about this latley and dreged up my answer to this question form the RBDM fourums. I now pose this question to the rest of ENworld. As a DM or as a player, what makes an really good villian?
My take is as follows:
1) The villain needs a motivation. Why is he a villain. Is he out for power, revenge, money, is he simply insane? The answer for this question should be evidenced in the way he interacts with the world, and the PC’s.
Example: The dwarven villain Ombi is out to destroy our hero’s city. Why though? Our friend Ombi is heir to a fallen dwarven clan that was assaulted by an army of orks. He was sent, as the kings heir, to get help from their human allies. But the humans spent to long gathering an army and playing politics. They were to late, and his clan was destroyed. After a decade in mourning, he decides that the humans were the reason his clan fell. They took to long to come to their allies aid, and therefore his clan was destroyed. Honor demands that they pay.
Once the motivation for a bbeg’s evilness is in place we can start to understand how he’ll react, as controlled by the DM, when the PC’s jump left instead of right. Also, we will now understand how our villain should react when his plans are thwarted by the actions of our PC’s.
Example: Our hero’s have just spent the last month in the wilds clearing out the orc invested warren that once was Ombi’s ancestral hall. In the hall they have found the history of this dwarven clan carved into the wall. A final stanza added to the history noting that the clans final son would seek his vengeance on the people that betrayed him. Ombi’s agents hear of these humans defiling the halls, and their recovery of his fathers sword. This sword is now wielded by a human. He flies into a rage and orders his forces to invade the human lands before he had originally scheduled. Their target? The PC’s city, he wants to make the humans pay, and get back the sword that he thought was lost.
2) The next thing after a motivation is a well thought out introduction to our villain. I would normally suggest a meeting that doesn’t involve our beloved unholy combat machine actually being in combat. A chance encounter in a social situation, seeing him in action along with a horde of his underlings where the PC’s aren’t involved (be careful with this option, some PC’s will try to rush in even if the odds are hopeless and instead of an introduction you get a TPK), or even simply a letter. Anything that can be used to introduce the terrible evil of our villain without getting the poor guy dead.
Example: Our PC’s are sneaking through the sewers of the city desperately attempting to avoid the death squads searching the city for them. They have decided to sneak into the cathedral through the catacombs underneath, that just so happen to connect through the sewers. As they attempt to remain unseen they hear voices up ahead. Sneaking forward they come upon a drainage grate in the floor that leads to a level below. The can now see and hear as a dwarf, along with a troop of 15 warriors who are calmly torturing the cathedrals priest to find our PC’s. As their friend is defiant and resists heroically, our villain calmly beats him and threatens death if he doesn’t give them up. This is the first time they’ve seen Ombi, they don’t know who he is, but they do know that they want him dead.
3) The next thing besides having a well thought out motivation, is the wow factor. (To borrow a phrase from Mr. Cook) The villain needs to have something that just makes him stand out from the other villains the PC’s face. For my money this is more than just a few more levels and a couple of interesting trinkets. This needs to be something that marks them out as being the large and in charge kind of villain that they are.
Example: As the PC’s are silently watching the torture of their NPC friend, they can see that a dwarf in red armor the color of blood calmly stand behind the torturer watching the display. Just as our PC’s are about to blow their cover to save the NPC’s life, the dwarf steps forward and with a gesture sends the torturer flying across the room. The sorcerer’s and priest don’t recognize what just happen, but the affect is undeniable. He then, in a calm, rumbling voice tells the warriors that this was enough, for now. They didn’t want to brake their prisoner beyond repair. Not when he would make such a better sacrifice to the dark powers they had sworn themselves to.
Our heros now know he is powerful, as evidenced by his warriors obedience. He has powers that don’t fall into the normal scheme that clerics and wizards understand, as seen by his hurling the torturer without ever touching him. He is in an unholy pact that even a calm torturer calls “Dark Powers”. Finally he is distinctively dressed in blood red armor, setting him apart from his common warriors.
4) Our BBEG needs to have a glorious death that meets up with the build up we’ve given him. This can be an epic battle on the side of a mountain as the party clashes with the forces of the evil giants king, or a silent battle in the shadows of the sewers as the PC’s and the villain dodge and weave through the tunnels.
If you can’t tell from that, sentence my recommendation is location, location, location. Make the place he is to die mean something to the PC, or have it set a suitable mood. If our villain is going to be reoccurring then location is even more important. It can be used to set up our villains ability to reoccur. After all, there’s only so many times our villains can dimension door or teleport away at the last second before our PC’s start casting dimensional anchor, or just get fed up.
Example: As the rag tag army lead by our hero’s clash with the army led by Ombi they finally face him on the bridge that cuts though the city. This bridge is is 30 feet across and has towers along it that mount catapults. Catapults fire and the armies clash along this bridge the PC’s finally meet Ombi in mortal combat. He and his body guard square off against our hero’s in battle as bodies are pitched in the river, catapults launch, and arrows fly. As the combat moves on Ombi stays near the edge of the bridge using his powers to target the PC’s while his bodyguard’s act as a shield. As he dies he tumbles back into the water, carried down by the weight of his armor.
With our example our villain can now be brought back, but this begs the question how, and why? How did he live through this apparent drowning and his fatal wounds? This needs a decent explanation if only for the DM’s own internal running monologue. In our example this can be accomplished by using the necromantic energies unleashed by the evil artifact the PC’s themselves were using to win the battle. It’s energies were causing the dead to rise and fight for them. But once it was resealed the undead tumbled back to dust. But perhaps one undead, fueled by his hatred and rage did not return to death so quietly.
5) Excellent, now when he returns as an undead creature there is a reason, and the PC’s will undoubtedly smack themselves for not looking for his body harder. Why would he want to tangle with our hero’s again if they’ve defeated him once? Revenge, but that’s an easy answer. How about to gain the artifact they still have so he can claim the source of his immortality and posses the one thing that could bind him to the will of another again. If the PC’s only new it could. In this way the PC’s will see a villain who’s modes and methods change as the campaign progresses. His powers will increase, with his fall to undeath, so he is a challenge for a higher level party, yet the PC’s won’t have to wonder what he’s been doing to get more powerful. They’ll see.
Or perhaps instead of utilizing his undead powers and growing from them, he has started a cult sacrificing people to the “dark powers” he serves to garner the power he requires to get the artifact from the PC’s. His methods change from armies to cloaked cultist’s, and his power switches to “dark blessings” instead of his odd mind powers.
Example: Our PC’s, hot on the trail of a new lead on this cult that has sprung up in recent months have finally managed to catch them in the act. They stormed the warehouse used as the cults base of operation and now they’re ready to take down the cults leader. A rasping voice from under the leaders hood sounds eerily familiar as he thanks them for this new lease on life. As he lowers the hood to revel who he is and his undead state he thanks them for opening his eyes to the small minded pettiness of simple revenge that he had sought before. This cult is his tribute to the dark powers he serves, and to our PC’s for opening his eyes to his narrow mindedness.
The point is that the villain should not be static. He should grow and evolve just as the PC’s aims grow and evolve. If he’s a one shot then this really doesn’t matter as much, but for a reoccurring villain this is a must. A villain without the proper complex motivations, and goals, is nothing more than a cardboard cut out for our PC’s to ram a sword through. XP worthy? Perhaps. But memorable and hate-able as the ultimate villain should be? Not a chance.
-Ashrum
I started thinking about this latley and dreged up my answer to this question form the RBDM fourums. I now pose this question to the rest of ENworld. As a DM or as a player, what makes an really good villian?
My take is as follows:
1) The villain needs a motivation. Why is he a villain. Is he out for power, revenge, money, is he simply insane? The answer for this question should be evidenced in the way he interacts with the world, and the PC’s.
Example: The dwarven villain Ombi is out to destroy our hero’s city. Why though? Our friend Ombi is heir to a fallen dwarven clan that was assaulted by an army of orks. He was sent, as the kings heir, to get help from their human allies. But the humans spent to long gathering an army and playing politics. They were to late, and his clan was destroyed. After a decade in mourning, he decides that the humans were the reason his clan fell. They took to long to come to their allies aid, and therefore his clan was destroyed. Honor demands that they pay.
Once the motivation for a bbeg’s evilness is in place we can start to understand how he’ll react, as controlled by the DM, when the PC’s jump left instead of right. Also, we will now understand how our villain should react when his plans are thwarted by the actions of our PC’s.
Example: Our hero’s have just spent the last month in the wilds clearing out the orc invested warren that once was Ombi’s ancestral hall. In the hall they have found the history of this dwarven clan carved into the wall. A final stanza added to the history noting that the clans final son would seek his vengeance on the people that betrayed him. Ombi’s agents hear of these humans defiling the halls, and their recovery of his fathers sword. This sword is now wielded by a human. He flies into a rage and orders his forces to invade the human lands before he had originally scheduled. Their target? The PC’s city, he wants to make the humans pay, and get back the sword that he thought was lost.
2) The next thing after a motivation is a well thought out introduction to our villain. I would normally suggest a meeting that doesn’t involve our beloved unholy combat machine actually being in combat. A chance encounter in a social situation, seeing him in action along with a horde of his underlings where the PC’s aren’t involved (be careful with this option, some PC’s will try to rush in even if the odds are hopeless and instead of an introduction you get a TPK), or even simply a letter. Anything that can be used to introduce the terrible evil of our villain without getting the poor guy dead.
Example: Our PC’s are sneaking through the sewers of the city desperately attempting to avoid the death squads searching the city for them. They have decided to sneak into the cathedral through the catacombs underneath, that just so happen to connect through the sewers. As they attempt to remain unseen they hear voices up ahead. Sneaking forward they come upon a drainage grate in the floor that leads to a level below. The can now see and hear as a dwarf, along with a troop of 15 warriors who are calmly torturing the cathedrals priest to find our PC’s. As their friend is defiant and resists heroically, our villain calmly beats him and threatens death if he doesn’t give them up. This is the first time they’ve seen Ombi, they don’t know who he is, but they do know that they want him dead.
3) The next thing besides having a well thought out motivation, is the wow factor. (To borrow a phrase from Mr. Cook) The villain needs to have something that just makes him stand out from the other villains the PC’s face. For my money this is more than just a few more levels and a couple of interesting trinkets. This needs to be something that marks them out as being the large and in charge kind of villain that they are.
Example: As the PC’s are silently watching the torture of their NPC friend, they can see that a dwarf in red armor the color of blood calmly stand behind the torturer watching the display. Just as our PC’s are about to blow their cover to save the NPC’s life, the dwarf steps forward and with a gesture sends the torturer flying across the room. The sorcerer’s and priest don’t recognize what just happen, but the affect is undeniable. He then, in a calm, rumbling voice tells the warriors that this was enough, for now. They didn’t want to brake their prisoner beyond repair. Not when he would make such a better sacrifice to the dark powers they had sworn themselves to.
Our heros now know he is powerful, as evidenced by his warriors obedience. He has powers that don’t fall into the normal scheme that clerics and wizards understand, as seen by his hurling the torturer without ever touching him. He is in an unholy pact that even a calm torturer calls “Dark Powers”. Finally he is distinctively dressed in blood red armor, setting him apart from his common warriors.
4) Our BBEG needs to have a glorious death that meets up with the build up we’ve given him. This can be an epic battle on the side of a mountain as the party clashes with the forces of the evil giants king, or a silent battle in the shadows of the sewers as the PC’s and the villain dodge and weave through the tunnels.
If you can’t tell from that, sentence my recommendation is location, location, location. Make the place he is to die mean something to the PC, or have it set a suitable mood. If our villain is going to be reoccurring then location is even more important. It can be used to set up our villains ability to reoccur. After all, there’s only so many times our villains can dimension door or teleport away at the last second before our PC’s start casting dimensional anchor, or just get fed up.
Example: As the rag tag army lead by our hero’s clash with the army led by Ombi they finally face him on the bridge that cuts though the city. This bridge is is 30 feet across and has towers along it that mount catapults. Catapults fire and the armies clash along this bridge the PC’s finally meet Ombi in mortal combat. He and his body guard square off against our hero’s in battle as bodies are pitched in the river, catapults launch, and arrows fly. As the combat moves on Ombi stays near the edge of the bridge using his powers to target the PC’s while his bodyguard’s act as a shield. As he dies he tumbles back into the water, carried down by the weight of his armor.
With our example our villain can now be brought back, but this begs the question how, and why? How did he live through this apparent drowning and his fatal wounds? This needs a decent explanation if only for the DM’s own internal running monologue. In our example this can be accomplished by using the necromantic energies unleashed by the evil artifact the PC’s themselves were using to win the battle. It’s energies were causing the dead to rise and fight for them. But once it was resealed the undead tumbled back to dust. But perhaps one undead, fueled by his hatred and rage did not return to death so quietly.
5) Excellent, now when he returns as an undead creature there is a reason, and the PC’s will undoubtedly smack themselves for not looking for his body harder. Why would he want to tangle with our hero’s again if they’ve defeated him once? Revenge, but that’s an easy answer. How about to gain the artifact they still have so he can claim the source of his immortality and posses the one thing that could bind him to the will of another again. If the PC’s only new it could. In this way the PC’s will see a villain who’s modes and methods change as the campaign progresses. His powers will increase, with his fall to undeath, so he is a challenge for a higher level party, yet the PC’s won’t have to wonder what he’s been doing to get more powerful. They’ll see.
Or perhaps instead of utilizing his undead powers and growing from them, he has started a cult sacrificing people to the “dark powers” he serves to garner the power he requires to get the artifact from the PC’s. His methods change from armies to cloaked cultist’s, and his power switches to “dark blessings” instead of his odd mind powers.
Example: Our PC’s, hot on the trail of a new lead on this cult that has sprung up in recent months have finally managed to catch them in the act. They stormed the warehouse used as the cults base of operation and now they’re ready to take down the cults leader. A rasping voice from under the leaders hood sounds eerily familiar as he thanks them for this new lease on life. As he lowers the hood to revel who he is and his undead state he thanks them for opening his eyes to the small minded pettiness of simple revenge that he had sought before. This cult is his tribute to the dark powers he serves, and to our PC’s for opening his eyes to his narrow mindedness.
The point is that the villain should not be static. He should grow and evolve just as the PC’s aims grow and evolve. If he’s a one shot then this really doesn’t matter as much, but for a reoccurring villain this is a must. A villain without the proper complex motivations, and goals, is nothing more than a cardboard cut out for our PC’s to ram a sword through. XP worthy? Perhaps. But memorable and hate-able as the ultimate villain should be? Not a chance.
-Ashrum
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