Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
4E Paragon Tier Adventure/Campaign ideas?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="arscott" data-source="post: 4622661" data-attributes="member: 17969"><p>Alright. The big thing that you need is a villain and his plan. My advice is to comb through the monster manual in the level 18-22 range, and see if there's a creature in there that sparks your interest as a BBEG.</p><p></p><p>That Deathpriest Hierophant seems promising--and if you're planning on buying 'Open Grave', you're likely going to have plenty of undead threats to throw at the players. For the sort of necromancer that wears a giant horned skull thing on his head, raising an army of undead and taking over the world, one country at a time, seems like a perfectly reasonable goal.</p><p></p><p>So what would he need to do? Divine magic is particularly potent when it comes to stopping undead threats, so maybe the necromancer's first step is to weaken the prominent churches. Perhaps he'll send an early strike force of powerful undead to attack prominent temples (the level 11 vampire lord stands out as a good mini-boss to lead such a siege). Or maybe he'll be more subtle, and not involve his own troops yet. Maybe he just riles up some early-paragon antagonist (such as drow or yuan ti) to raid a poorly defended border area, diverting the priest's attention. Or maybe he uses his political influence to embroil the churches in scandal of some sort, pitting them against each other, or against the crown.</p><p></p><p>Once that's done, what next? The invasion of the undead army should probably wait until the end of the tier, so what other plots would he have in store? Maybe he's trying to get the essence of the shadowfell to bleed over into the world, strengthening his undead army--and the players will have to track down a ritual book in an ancient wizard's lair--and travel to the shadowfell to perform the ritual and stop the bleed.</p><p></p><p>continue this process of specific threats orchestrated by the BBEG until you're ready for the final, tier-ending confrontation.</p><p></p><p>Things to keep in mind:</p><p></p><p>-Keep your monsters thematic, but not monotone. Make sure there are sections of the campaign where they're facing off non-undead villians (such as that wizard's lair mentioned above, which might be filled with constructs and traps, or guarded by summoned devils, or overrun with unfriendly fey. And even in the sections where they're fighting undead, mix it up a bit--Besides undead, the party might fight mortal and demonic followers of orcus.</p><p></p><p>-Bring back old favorites. Did any badguys from the heroic tier survive? What are they up to now, and how does that interact with your BBEG's plan?</p><p></p><p>-Always be flexible. If the PCs go off and do something you don't expect them to, run with it. Feel free to retroactively alter your BBEG's plans so that your party ends up smack in the middle of things.</p><p></p><p>Besides the Hierophant, here are some potential BBEGs that stand out:</p><p></p><p>-If enjoy intrigue campaigns, something centered in the Feywild will probably work well. Slap a template on that Ghaele of Winter and you might have a powerful devotee of the Prince of Frost.</p><p></p><p>-There seem to be a lot of elemental creatures in the Paragon tier. Maybe an Efreet Cinderlord might make the perfect BBEG for a campaign focused on the denizens of the elemental chaos.</p><p></p><p>-And of course, there can be threats that are much more mundane in nature. A BBEG doesn't need to be a powerful necromancer, fey, or elemental. A greedy king with enough well-armed followers can still be a major paragon-level threat.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="arscott, post: 4622661, member: 17969"] Alright. The big thing that you need is a villain and his plan. My advice is to comb through the monster manual in the level 18-22 range, and see if there's a creature in there that sparks your interest as a BBEG. That Deathpriest Hierophant seems promising--and if you're planning on buying 'Open Grave', you're likely going to have plenty of undead threats to throw at the players. For the sort of necromancer that wears a giant horned skull thing on his head, raising an army of undead and taking over the world, one country at a time, seems like a perfectly reasonable goal. So what would he need to do? Divine magic is particularly potent when it comes to stopping undead threats, so maybe the necromancer's first step is to weaken the prominent churches. Perhaps he'll send an early strike force of powerful undead to attack prominent temples (the level 11 vampire lord stands out as a good mini-boss to lead such a siege). Or maybe he'll be more subtle, and not involve his own troops yet. Maybe he just riles up some early-paragon antagonist (such as drow or yuan ti) to raid a poorly defended border area, diverting the priest's attention. Or maybe he uses his political influence to embroil the churches in scandal of some sort, pitting them against each other, or against the crown. Once that's done, what next? The invasion of the undead army should probably wait until the end of the tier, so what other plots would he have in store? Maybe he's trying to get the essence of the shadowfell to bleed over into the world, strengthening his undead army--and the players will have to track down a ritual book in an ancient wizard's lair--and travel to the shadowfell to perform the ritual and stop the bleed. continue this process of specific threats orchestrated by the BBEG until you're ready for the final, tier-ending confrontation. Things to keep in mind: -Keep your monsters thematic, but not monotone. Make sure there are sections of the campaign where they're facing off non-undead villians (such as that wizard's lair mentioned above, which might be filled with constructs and traps, or guarded by summoned devils, or overrun with unfriendly fey. And even in the sections where they're fighting undead, mix it up a bit--Besides undead, the party might fight mortal and demonic followers of orcus. -Bring back old favorites. Did any badguys from the heroic tier survive? What are they up to now, and how does that interact with your BBEG's plan? -Always be flexible. If the PCs go off and do something you don't expect them to, run with it. Feel free to retroactively alter your BBEG's plans so that your party ends up smack in the middle of things. Besides the Hierophant, here are some potential BBEGs that stand out: -If enjoy intrigue campaigns, something centered in the Feywild will probably work well. Slap a template on that Ghaele of Winter and you might have a powerful devotee of the Prince of Frost. -There seem to be a lot of elemental creatures in the Paragon tier. Maybe an Efreet Cinderlord might make the perfect BBEG for a campaign focused on the denizens of the elemental chaos. -And of course, there can be threats that are much more mundane in nature. A BBEG doesn't need to be a powerful necromancer, fey, or elemental. A greedy king with enough well-armed followers can still be a major paragon-level threat. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
4E Paragon Tier Adventure/Campaign ideas?
Top