BBEG Idea: The Frostfell Queen

[Tyler Dunn]

I have an idea for a BBEG, tell me what you think of it

The Frostfell Queen was once a Necromancer of great power who served an evil god of ice and death. She conquered much of the frozen north in his name. One day however, she was attacked by a group of powerful Storm Giants. After defeating them, she interrogated the survivors of the attack, from whom she learned that a storm giant prophet had a vision of her stealing the power of her god and using it to transform the world into an icy realm of death under her rule. She later captured this prophet and forced him to show her this vision. After seeing herself take over the world in this vision, she became obsessed with it and began to seek a way to steal the power of the god she served. She eventually slew the high priests of this god and turned them into her undead servants, and used them to cast a ritual that siphoned the divine power of the god. The god struck back by trapping her in a prison of black ice, but was drained enough by the ritual that he eventually faded away. The Necromancer, however did not become a god like she though she would, instead she was transformed into an Elder Evil through the unnatural way she took the power from a god.

In the campaign, her servants would work to free her from her prison so she could usher in an era of eternal winter on the world, where all who oppose her meet an icy death.

I took inspiration from Kyuss, the worm that walks, and the Lich King to create this BBEG

 

[Kurotowa]

The flavor, an Ice and Death themed evil being that's sealed away, is pretty good. What's weak is her motivation. She turns against her god and tries to usurp his power because she learned about a prophecy that she would turn against her god and usurp his power. Why?

What did she want so badly that she would go to such lengths? Was she always that ambitious and just needed a small nudge to go down that path? And if so, who sent the vision? If the only reason she went down the path of the BBEG is because she saw a vision of herself going down the path of the BBEG, then we're either talking about a temporal causality loop or someone was deliberately trying to tempt her.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I think it's a "cool" idea!

 

[Tyler Dunn]

I envisioned her as a girl who started out as a poor beggar until she discovered that she was a sorceress. The powerlessness she felt when she was growing up is what motivates her to gain power over others. She began working for the god of ice and undeath so he, in return, would help her master her powers.

As for the vision, I see it as sort of a self fulfilling prophecy like the ones in Greek Mythology. In their drive to avert the vision, the Storm Giants ended up revealing this path to her causing her to take it. Perhaps a part of her resented being beneath someone else as she had spent most of her life as a beggar, beneath everybody else.

If the storm giants vision causing it to come true is too contrived, however, than maybe she could learn the secrets of stealing godhood from a creature that resents the gods and would like nothing more to see them cast down, such as an Aboleth. This could add more urgency to to the players' quest to prevent her from being released (or to destroy her if that fails) as she could conceivably cast the ritual again to steal more power from different gods, possibly making her one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse. What do you guys think?

 

[Kurotowa]

As for the vision, I see it as sort of a self fulfilling prophecy like the ones in Greek Mythology.

The self fulfilling prophecies of Greek Tragedies followed a very specific template for a specific narrative purpose. Someone receives a prophecy of doom from the gods, they try very hard to avert it, and those exact actions end up causing it thus proving the futility of trying to escape your fate and defy heaven. That's why they were a staple of the Tragedies, not myths in general. Just throwing one in willy nilly misses the point entirely.

Which is not to say you couldn't shift things around. Say, instead, our budding Frost Queen was already working on a ritual to allow her to draw on more divine might because she wasn't satisfied with what she had. So her patron sends her a vision showing her that the completed ritual would kill him and doom the world, a divine "knock it off" message. Only she decides no, that's a great idea and exactly what she wants, and uses the clues from the vision to figure out how to make it happen.

 

[Tyler Dunn]

That is actually a great idea, thank you for the feedback

 

[jayoungr]

What's weak is her motivation. She turns against her god and tries to usurp his power because she learned about a prophecy that she would turn against her god and usurp his power. Why?

That's basically what happened to Macbeth. The only difference is that he had Lady Macbeth egging him on. So, maybe create a "Lady Macbeth" type figure who convinces her to go through with it?

 

[Kurotowa]

That's basically what happened to Macbeth. The only difference is that he had Lady Macbeth egging him on. So, maybe create a "Lady Macbeth" type figure who convinces her to go through with it?

It's been a long time since I read the play, but IIRC the deal with Macbeth is that once the idea is planted in his head his own ambition and ego (and wife) drive him to see it done. Again, it's a story that's explicitly a tragedy. "A great man brought down by his tragic flaw" is the point of the tale. If you're not intending to paint your BBEG as a tragic and sympathetic character, that's not the path you want to go.

 

[jayoungr]

If you're not intending to paint your BBEG as a tragic and sympathetic character, that's not the path you want to go.

I don't think it necessitates making the BBEG sympathetic. Macbeth starts out as an honorable and loyal soldier trying to benefit his country. This BBEG starts out as a minion of an evil god working to further an evil agenda. A tragedy is supposed to make you mourn the lost potential of the great hero the main character could have been if not for that one little flaw. I don't think anyone would mourn the loss of the evil god's most powerful enforcer. Especially when said enforcer becomes the evil god and can appoint new enforcers of her own.

 

[aco175]

It is nice to have a decent backstory, but you really only need to figure out what the PCs will know. Maybe there is just a legend of a necromancer or the story is that of a avatar of the god. The why does not matter, unless the PCs need to know.