Crisis on Infinite Oerths: 12 Heroes, 12 Anti-Heroes, and 12 Villains of the D&D Multiverse

[Dungeonosophy]

Warduke the villainous warrior.

Yeah, Warduke from the LJN action figures, from the D&D Cartoon Show, from Mystara, and from Greyhawk!

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Aleena is a good choice although, as you say, she's presumed dead in canon.

In 1987 Aleena was given a description and stats in GAZ1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos as a 12th level cleric along with a note stating that if it were established that she had died in the solo adventure from the Basic set to change her name to Anielle. In 1994 she was again found in Karameikos: Kingdom of Adventure with basically the same descritpion but with no mention of a possible earlier death.

I like Eric the Cavalier as a choice, but... as an antihero? Seems a bit harsh to put him in with folks like Raistlin and Artemis Entreri. Eric is a whiner and a coward, but he's not malicious. He's never killed an innocent (in fact, probably never killed anyone at all). I know that the strict definition of antihero is "a protagonist lacking heroic characteristics like morality, courage, etc", but still...

haha - well, there'd be a spectrum of Anti-Heroes. IIRC, he was a pretty close to betraying the Kids at certain points in the Cartoon Series. I'm picturing that a major Anti-Hero (e.g. Dalamar) has recruited a team to reach the goal before the Heroes, so as to bend the outcome to their mixed intentions, and selfish purposes (but also to prevent True Evil from taking over the Multiverse). By the time of the story, Eric may've wavered more into a darker shade Grey/Neutral. And he may've become a serious Cavalier who has a sword to go with his shield.

As for the Egg of Coot - phew. That might be too deep a cut.

Yeah, it's a deep cut, especially since no one is sure what he/it is. I gotta have Blackmoor though. Maybe the Great Svenny could be one of the heroes.

Did Spelljammer and Birthright even have any notable characters? I can't think of any.

I don't know them well enough either, but there must've been. The Spelljammer novel series must've had somebody who could make the roster.

Arguably, there should be more characters from other media options. I thought very seriously about including Jim Darkmagic. Given how many people come to D&D through podcast views, there should probably be one or more notable podcast characters on the list. Maybe even some webcomic characters: how about Durkon from Order of the Stick? D&D, and D&D-inspired work, has gone far beyond the tabletop these days.

Could be cool - but if not owned by WotC, the homeworlds of these characters would need to be officially included in the story. Would expand the audience - good idea.

 

[cbwjm]

One thing about who is and isn't dead is that the timelines of the different settings don't necessarily line up together so characters from what we might consider an earlier timeline could still possibly be used, particularly if a setting makes use of time travel spells.

Thinking about Greyhawk, some of the less powerful wizards from the Circle of 8 (I don't know of the names) could make it into the hero group and the Wizard Rary who betrayed them all could perhaps be part of the villain group.

From Darksun, Rikus the gladiator who killed Kalak would make a good hero, I think he was a mul but I'm not 100% on that. Apart from some of the sorcerer kings, he's the only name that I can recall from the setting.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

some of the less powerful wizards from the Circle of 8 (I don't know of the names) could make it into the hero group and the Wizard Rary who betrayed them all could perhaps be part of the villain group.

Given the number of iconic high-powered Good and Neutral wizards, such an epic Multiverse-spanning event would probably feature a sort of expanded "Wizards Three" or "Circle of Eight" (Wizards Twelve/Circle of Twelve).

 

[gyor]

The problem with naming 12 Villains is, villains are supposed to be defeated - therefore they don't have much staying power*. Contrast that with the heroes, who each get multiple serieses of novels about them.

Are there any Living Greyhawk or Living Forgotten Realms characters that could qualify for the list? ('Diversity' of an unexpected sort.)

* For instance, in Star Wars, Thrawn made a profound impression but only survived for three novels. (He subsequently got retro-fitted into the Prequel generation for a handful of novels.)

I don't think FR villians like Szass Tam, Bane, Asmodeaus, Lloth, Shar, Gilgeam, Set, Sebek, and Manshoon got that memo. I guess you could add Greyhawk/FR immigrant Acerak to that list. There villains that you defeat and there are villains that will always live to fight another day and keep reappearing again and again. You might kill Demogorgan in your game, but in the setting he keeps popping his heads up again and again.

 

[David West]

Good thread. I may disagree with 'diversity' only because I'd definitely be looking at those who are well known over race/gender. Maybe further books will give us heroines like Alias, the woman from Spellfire (whose name is escaping me), Cattie-Brie, etc.)

Not mentioned: Elminster, Tenser, Raistlin (anti-hero), Rary (Villain), Iuz, and Vecna. If you want 'Oriental' flavor, Temujin of the Golden Horde (from the Horde trilogy) is somewhat an anti-hero.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Eberron will be tricky because it never received a lot of novel-based support, so lacks iconic characters such as Elminster and Raistlin.
Jaela Daran might be one for the Heroes, particularly if ethnic diversity amongst the humans is a serious issue. She is more likely to be a supporting character rather than a hero due to her limitations.
King Kaius or the Lord of Blades could probably be placed in either the Anti-heroes or Villains. Erandis D'Vol is more powerful and more definitely in the Villain camp.

The sheer power differential between settings can be an issue however. Elminster for example is depicted as dealing with epic-level threats, while most of the other settings' heroes are several orders of magnitude less powerful.

Regarding FR, Temujin of the Golden Horde is probably not a good example: He's a blatant (even for FR) rip-off of an actual historical figure.

 

[Dungeonosophy]

Temujin of the Golden Horde (from the Horde trilogy) is somewhat an anti-hero.

Yeah that's a good one. Genghis Khan would be quite an addition to the Anti-Hero team.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Jester David]

That's a LOT of characters.

Abraxis Wren might be good for Eberron.