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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 158701" data-attributes="member: 198">Aw, damn - they tracked me down! And here I was enjoying my break <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  Seriously, it's been a busy year, what with returning to the US, joining the Ph.D. program of Temple U. in Philly, teaching, etc. But I'll be back in India for 3 months over the summer, which'll give me time to do some more writing. To tide you over until then, here's another one on Creating Effective Villains (also up at <a href="http://dungeon3e.thedamned.ca/" target="_blank">The Dungeon Dimension</a> with my other essays). Enjoy!Creating Effective Villains:Introduction:Something which is a given for any DM in a D&D game is the job of running the PCs’ opponents. Since most parties are of a good, or at least neutral nature, this means that when the DM has to run their opponents, he is often running villainous characters. This article is an exploration of a few ways in which a DM can create an effective villain, i.e. one who will function as a worthy opponent for the PCs, and who they will gain great satisfaction in defeating. For the purposes of this article, a villain is a (at least somewhat) long-term opponent. While some of the ideas discussed here can be used with short-term opponents, most of them require too much effort to be appropriate for a one-off encounter, as opposed to the creation of the long-term Uber-villain, who can be a thorn in the PCs’ sides for a long time. After making a list of some aspects of an effective villain, I will create a sample villain, as an example of how these aspects can be put together into a complete unit.Motivation/Aim:The first step in creating a villain is to decide why he is a villain. In short, what is his motivation? While seeming a simple enough decision to make, the choice of motivation controls many other factors. For example, how & why the villain will interact with the PCs is dependent largely upon his motivation. In making the choice, one can range from the largest (the standard “world domination”, a la Sauron in LOTR) to the smallest (doing a robbery, perhaps) of motivations. It is probably best to pick one of intermediate level, where the PCs will be powerful enough to thwart the villain’s plans on their own (without needing powerful NPCs to help, which is a big no-no), but large enough where they will feel it is an important task (& so hopefully not ignore it & waltz off after the nearest dragon’s hoard, leaving you with an unemployed villain on your hands). Assuming you are planning to use the villain in an extended fashion, it is also preferable to pick one which is long-term, or at least unlikely to be defeated by the PCs in a single attempt (or vice versa). This gives you the opportunity to allow both villains & PCs to recover from setbacks & get back into the ring, so to speak, thus ending up as thorns in each others’ respective sides. Alignment/Class /Race:However much alignment is decried as a primitive holdover from 1st Edition, there is little denying the fact that it is one of the most useful indicators for a DM of how the PCs’ opponents will act. This holds equally true for your major villains. And this too is at least somewhat dependent on your villain’s motivations & aims. The same is also true for your villain’s race & class. Depending on what it is that you see your villain doing, there are some combinations which make more sense than others. Is your villain a merchant in a human town, who hopes to gain power by discrediting the nobility & becoming head of the merchants’ guild at the same time? In that case, a neutral evil human or half-elf rogue is much more likely a candidate for the role than a chaotic neutral dwarf fighter, for example. Or a lawful evil human sorceror, maybe? As soon as you have decided on your villain’s race, class & alignment, you have a good deal of your work done for you, especially as regards the ways in which your villain will react to minor actions on the PCs’ parts. Note that one of the more interesting avenues open to you is to have a non-evil villain. It is quite possible to have a neutral or even good character, whose ends and means conflict with those of the PCs, thus making him an antagonist of theirs. This actually helps in a number of ways, ranging from as mundane as the character not being perceptible to a paladin’s detect evil ability, to the fact that it vastly increases the potential options (& problems) for the PCs in dealing with the given villain. After all, there’s nothing like coming up against a paladin with an opposing agenda to give a predominantly chaotic good group of would-be heroes a headache. Three-Dimensionalism:One of the biggest (& easiest) mistakes which DMs can make in designing & playing a villain is producing just one more cookie-cutter opponent for the PCs. Producing memorable villains requires creating ones which do not appear to have been made at the All-Purpose Evil NPCs ™ factory. Avoiding standard “villainous” cliches is a good idea, for one. Evil laughter, long-winded explanations & last-minute gloating, etc. have been used so often in all kinds of popular media that their appearance invariably leads to humour of some kind. If that’s what you want, then use the standard cliches by all means, but if not, try to avoid producing monocled villains who carry white pussycats around with them. It is also worth remembering that being a villain is not necessarily a 24 hour job. A villain doesn’t spend every waking hour plotting evil deeds, & becomes much more realistic if he has some redeeming, or at least harmless & innocuous, aspects. Hitler, who most people would regard as a real-world villain, was also very fond of animals, children, painting, & listening to classical music. Providing your NPC villain with similar traits will serve to underline the depths of the actions which actually are evil, simply by contrast. A villain who leaves his torture chamber to share a fine dinner & weeps while watching a tragedy afterwards, is a far more realistic & interesting character than one whose hobby is collecting his enemies’ skulls. And especially so, if you want the PCs to only gradually discover what the villain’s true nature is.Power:It is always a good idea to scale your villain’s power level to that of the party. This is extremely important in the case of long-term villains, & requires treading a fine line, so that the finished character is one who will neither overwhelm the party (which would raise the question of why he didn’t at his first chance), nor be easily beaten & captured by them. Naturally, this also requires consideration of the presence (or not) of any henchmen & followers, and their respective power levels too. Note that the details about the villain’s motivations, power level, and his alignment/class /race will control his manner of interaction with the party. A Lawful Evil human wizard level 6 with a number of fighter henchmen of nearly the same level will behave very differently to a Neutral Evil half-elf bard level 10 with no supporters. And this too will be mediated by the power level & nature of the party itself. A good rule of thumb is to keep the villain powerful enough to give the party a decent struggle alone, but not enough to beat them without support. Life & Growth:Not just villains, but all NPCs in a campaign, should have some kind of a life apart from their interactions with the PCs. A truly three-dimensional & realistic villain will have interests, agendas & concerns which the party will not intersect with. Naturally, there must be some area (& presumably an important one) where their respective desires interact & conflict, but there should also be considerable divergence. A truly long-term villain is one whom the party can battle (without winning or losing convincingly), move on to other concerns, & return to battle again & again. One fairly mechanical advantage to such a villain is that his power can grow & keep pace with the party’s, so that he can always be a worthy opponent, whether they are at 5th level or 15th. A good way of ensuring such growth is by deciding on a motivation for the villain which is obtainable through various means. Hence, if the party encounters the villain & thwarts one of his plans, he only retreats & regroups, to return later. By which time he will be stronger & more dangerous, just as the PCs will have become in the meantime. Creating a truly three-dimensional villain also works to achieve this end, since he is sure to have various interests & aims which the PCs should have no contact with, or even interest in. Distinctive Features (Strengths/Weaknesses/Quirks):In order for a villain (or any NPC, for that matter) to be truly memorable, the PCs should be able to recall him as an individual, apart from his deeds. One of the easiest ways to attain this end is by providing the character with one or more strengths, weaknesses & quirks. Nothing makes a character easier to recall than a distinctive feature, & this also serves to separate him from all the other characters whom your PCs encounter. At the same time, if used creatively, it may serve to make the villain more three-dimensional & affect his interaction with the party. After all, having a powerful villain with a specific strength or weakness allows your PCs one more avenue to consider when dealing with him. It is also possible to have strengths which can become weaknesses, & vice versa. Consider a character who is very attached to his sister. This little trait can be exploited by the PCs, if they so wish, & if something goes wrong (as they always do), can be used by the DM as a rationale for the villain’s single-minded pursuit of the PCs for revenge. One thing to remember here is not to get carried away in “fleshing out” a particular villain. If every minor noble your PCs encounter at court is described as “Lord or Lady so-&-so”, & you suddenly drop in one with a four page description, even the most obtuse of players will catch onto the fact that there is something special about this NPC. A little subtlety goes a long way when making your villain distinctive, & it is probably a good idea to let the PCs only gradually get to discover important traits about him.Interaction:One of the last (or possibly first) things to consider in putting together any good villain is exactly how you want him to interact with your PCs, both quantitatively & qualitatively. The degree & manner of interaction will govern many aspects of the character, & especially how much of it the PCs need to be aware of at various points. A “boss”-type villain, who will appear to the PCs only in a climactic encounter, needs almost no fleshing out except for stats & whatever information the PCs are likely to gain through investigation, divination magic, etc. On the other hand, a character who the PCs will encounter for some time before realising his villainous role, is one who needs a lot more detailed depiction, with combat statistics being less important. The level & type of interaction is affected to a great extent by the villain’s motivations. As stated before, it is useful to have these be such as to naturally intersect (& conflict) with those of the PCs. While avoiding any sense of railroading your players, it is possible to create the sort of villain whom their PCs will automatically wish to combat, for whatever reasons may be appropriate to the given party. If this is the sort of villain whom the PCs will combat on numerous occasions, especially if these are spread across a considerable time, some sense of growth is probably recommended, both as a character and as regards his statistics & levels. It is also a good idea to provide your villain with a broad agenda, which can interact with that of the PCs’ on may levels.Sample Villain:All of the above are just a few aspects which go into creating effective villains. As a sample example of one such villain, consider the following villain, Lord Roric of Dupell…Situation: The heroes (a standard group of five PCs of 5th level each) are only one of numerous adventuring parties who are licensed to operate in the kingdom of Dupell. Lord Roric, a retired half-elf adventurer, is in charge of issuing these licenses, keeping track of the activities of the parties, taxing them, etc. Unknown to the PCs, who have met Roric on more than one official occasion, he is more than he seems, & has a hidden agenda.Motivation/Aim: Roric has a specific grievance against the reigning rulers of Dupell. While he does have some royal blood, he was shunted aside from any major position at court due to his half-elven heritage. His human mother was literally exiled from her family at court & died young (of sorrow, or so Roric believes). Although Roric has proved both his mettle & abilities as an adventurer & afterwards, he was only provided with this position, while he is admittedly deserving of much better treatment. Roric has some very specific plans for the future. He wishes to use his contacts among the local adventuring parties to build up a core of supporters. He does this by aiding parties loyal to him (or disaffected with the Crown), & seeing that parties which contain staunch supporters of the royalty fall into disfavour. He also obtains magic items from these parties & stockpiles them, in hopes of building a stockpile of magical weapons & the like. Lastly, he tries to aid other half-elves in the kingdom, both by improving their lot in general if possible, & by individual acts of charity.Alignment/Class /Race: As a half-elf ex-adventurer, Roric can be of any class, but it seems most likely that he is a fighter (rogue, sorceror, or wizard are other possibilities). He is currently of a Neutral alignment, since he is neither good, nor overtly evil, but is slowly leaning towards a Neutral Evil alignment due to his recent actions. This makes him less of a dyed-in-the-wool villain than the PCs are used to, & may cause them various kinds of problems in dealing with himThree-Dimensionalism: The description of Roric’s motivation already show him to be a multifaceted character. Despite being a villain, his aims are not clearly evil. While some of his actions are deceitful & may lead to evil ends, others are laudable, especially his kindness towards other half-elves. His aim is not power, but the redressal of what he views as a distinct wrong done to both him & his kind. He sees the rulers of Dupell as more than a little racist, and definitely lacking in charity and broad-mindedness. All of these aspects go into making Roric a realistic character, rather than the one-dimensional bloody-minded villain one encounters so often in D&D games.Power: As an opponent for a 5th level group, Roric should not be much higher than 6th or so himself. His primary power lies in his position, rather than his individual abilities. This makes him an interesting opponent, since he is not the sort of villain the PCs can afford to openly antagonise or accuse without definite proof of wrongdoing. And direct physical violence is definitely not an option for the time being. Assuming the PCs take a long time in realising Roric’s true agenda, he may grow in his abilities, & if not so, definitely do so with regards to his position as a noble, in the number of his supporters, & in his store of magic items.Life & Growth: Roric’s agenda is a long-term one, & may take a long time to develop, let alone come close to fruition. This provides him with a chance to grow & develop as a character. Besides changes in level & statistics, it is also possible that Roric may change in his aims & intent. Since his motivation is not an emotional one (greed or lust, for example), but an intellectual one (since he thinks he is redressing a wrong), it is possible for him to consider that his agenda is doubtful, if not completely wrong. In fact, the PCs may actually serve to bring about this realisation to Roric, depending on the manner of their interaction with him.Distinctive Features (Strengths/Weaknesses/Quirks): Like many characters, Roric’s strength & weakness spring from the same source. His belief in the rightness of his cause is what impels him to continue with it, and as a result, if he is convinced that he is wrong, it is possible that he may give it up. Other strengths and weaknesses can be chosen from various sources, one of which is his statistics. If he has a high Charisma & low Wisdom, for example, he may be a smooth & persuasive talker who is impulsive in nature. Other such combinations of strengths & weaknesses (& quirks) can be chosen so as to flesh out the character.Interaction: Roric’s agenda is one which can allow the PCs to interact with him in many ways. As the noble in charge of adventuring parties, he is sure to have some contact with them. Besides this, he may be interested in finding out the depth of their loyalty to the Crown, he may send them in search of some powerful magic item & may try divesting them of it if they are successful, he may have discredited another adventuring company which included friends of theirs, etc. The possibilities are endless. Similarly, there are many ways in which they may interact with him after learning something of his hidden agenda. They may try to find proof of his wrongdoing, convince him that he is wrong, take him on in direct physical confrontation, etc.</blockquote>

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