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Message: <blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 6476729" data-attributes="member: 92511">EW's suggestion is, of course, the best way to go. There should be no question that this recurring villain NPC could [and would!] stomp the whole party without breaking a sweat.Couple other things to keep in mind/you might want to try:1. There is no "balance" with the recurring Big Bad. Don't try. Don't bother. THe PC's need to figure out their plans and thwart them, while maintaining as much life, and collecting as much treasure, as possible. Recurring toe-to-toe with the big bad gets old. They shouldn't have to until (or very near) the climactic finale.2. Who is this villain anyway? You want them to be scary? Make the party figure out who is behind this/that horror/atrocity/evil scheme on their own. They should have to hunt and figure things out, all without knowing who their adversary is...THAT'S what's scary and creates tension, "The Unknown."Obviously, if they've already engaged this guy, then that might not be an option, but you could have him take/play a backseat in future encounters...put one of his tougher/more fightery minions in charge. Play up the wood elf warlock as some other cowardly minion who stays in the rear and runs at the first sign of defeat. Cast a few spells, call up an invocation or two, throw around some [not ideally placed] eldritch blasts, do a little damage...he's testing the waters. Seeing what these pests are really about. Then, *poof* away. When they get to the final showdown and realize:"YOU'RE behind all of this?! But...But you're just some hedge-mage hack!""Am I, indeed? <invocation of crazy death for everyone>"3. With #2 in mind, Agents. The Big Bad shouldn't be doing anything themselves...or at least not right away. They should have a few moderately to very much tougher "lieutenants" out controlling/directing their mooks and minions. The party very well may come to the conclusion that the[se] second-third-fourth-in-commands are the ultimate mastermind...but they will be mistaken and eventually (if they live long enough) figure that out.The "Oh $#!t!" moment of revelation on players' faces when they realize the really tough guy they've been hunting/fighting through the campaign world for the better part of a year (or more), maybe lost some of their friends and/or allies before finally taking down, ISN'T the Evil Power behind everything is one of the simple priceless joys of DMing. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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