DM request: Big Evil Things

[Byrons_Ghost]

So: the party I'm DMing is roughly 18th level on the average, because I converted over one of my old campaigns, along with the original PCs. They're getting set to go into yet another situation in which they'll be stopping the forces of evil from corrupting the world, etc etc (well, that's the simple version).

At any rate, what I need is a powerful, intelligent, evil thing to throw at them. Thing is, they've been fighting the forces of evil gods for so long that I've pretty much run the entire gamut of undead, demons, devils and the like (I'm counting yugoloth in the same category, even though I haven't used them as such yet). While I could just use another evil NPC or templated NPC, I'd prefer to try something different.

So I thought I'd just make a post and see if anyone had any ideas. I need something suitably evil (I hesitate to use the word vile...), and appropriate to their levels, without being similar to the sorts of things that they've been fighting for years now.

Oh, and without making me spend too much money on a new book.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

A very smart dragon? Although it's a bit late for it to start long running plots against them - they could certainly have a go at trying to hunt one down to it's lair to take it on.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

An illithid dire bear!

Or any other illithid that uses a base creature larger than a humanoid... Add a few class levels to it, and you will have a terror that your players are unlikely to forget soon!

 

[Ashrum the Black]

How about an evil intelligent magical item that has possed an otherwise good person (perhaps somebody they know and trust?) into performing it's nefarious deeds.


A good hook for this one is that by 18th level these folks have aquired a number of magical items that they've managed to find and sell or give to some deserving cohort. Perhaps the item doens't registera s evil, but when given to a weak willed cohort, or sold to some noble that wanted a status symbol it made its move. Instant villian, and if played right can lead the Pc's to having some serous moral questions.

"Look the good father of the good church is threatening to unleash the evil he was gaurding for so long....how come the sword we gave him a couple of months ago is glowing? I don't remember it doing that.....and how come he still detects as good...umm somethings wrong here..."

That sort of thing. Sound like something off the beaten path enough or should we delve farther afield?

 

[KenM]

I know they have been done to death, but how about drow? Beholders?

 

[Nifft]

Ideas:

- An army of Fire Giants, all of them with class levels. They are allied with a small number of Great Wyrm Red Dragons, all of whom are also high-level spell casters.

- An evil mage has found a way to tap commoners for XP, and has created an army of golems. Each golem has some unique trait based on the souls used to make it.

- A high-level party of evil adventurers is using hit & run tactics against a large city / kingdom / whatever. Find out why & stop them.

- Aboleths have taken control of a high-level royal advisor (while on a journey at sea or at the coast). The party must discover why this person has something against them, then journey underwater to kill the aboleths and thier allies: six Krakens, a Shuagin tribe and forty Dire Sharks.

- Formians. Lots of Formians.

-- Nifft

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

Good ideas, everyone. Thanks bunches!

I'll probably end up going with dragon, although beholder also has some possibilities. The party is fairly mage-heavy, so the foe will definitely need some magic abilities, along with crunchy minions to toss at them.

Oddly enough, the party has never faced beholders or illithids (I don't have the latter on my campaign world, though they could be on the outer planes). They have faced off a couple of dragons, including one fairly nasty red one recently. It's the sort of thing that high-level characters hunt down when they need some quick cash....

I guess I should have mentioned that I've already got a module in mind for this next adventure, but it was originally for levels 3-4 and will obviously require some scaling. Since the module has a good amount of intrigue & trickery on the part of the villains, magic would be really useful for disguise and the like.

Sorry, Ken: no drow on this world. But we do have Shadow Elves.

 

[Undead Pete]

Two ideas are percolating in my head:

• An Atropal from the ELH: I mean how putrid is an undead stillborn godling?? You may have to lead up to it with...
• an Ulgurstaastaa from MM2: this thing is a gargantuan, bloated undead worm that barfs up CON draining necromantic acid along with scores of corpses that rise up against their foes

Always go for the grossout, man

 

[s/LaSH]

Here's one you might want: Evil clones.

Take everyone in the party and invert them. Make them evil, change their classes, and give them a base of operations that gives them access to vast resources... say an alternate universe that they've conquered?

It's even better if you twist up their histories as well. Have the strangest people in relationships. If the party has ever destroyed an artifact of evil, their clones have it. The clones are allied with duplicates of their old foes... or friends.

However, this might not fit too well into a module. You'd have to tweak it a lot. I thought it sounded good, though...

 

[S'mon]

Well the WoTC site's 'Fight Club' has loads of freaky opponents of suitable power levels!